PHOTOS: Here's What Disney World Looks Like When It's SOLD OUT!

What does Disney World look like on a sold-out day?!

Cinderella Castle

In early 2024, Disney World got rid of its park pass reservation system for the majority of its guests — those with date-based tickets. However, Annual Passholders and other people with specific tickets still need to make reservations. Park pass reservations can “sell out” on busier days, meaning that those folks will be blocked out from visiting the parks that are “sold out” — and that’s exactly what happened on Monday, January 6th.

BAD NEWS if you’re in Disney World today because things are CROWDED! Park pass reservations are completely sold out for Annual Passholders and others with specific tickets — so if you haven’t already snagged a reservation and still need one, you might be out of luck. We headed into the parks to check things out and see what you might be up against if you’re in the parks today. Over at EPCOT, things didn’t seem too crowded, at least near the entrance…

EPCOT entrance

…but as we moved further into the park, things started getting a little bit more chaotic. The end of the line for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in the France Pavilion went all the way down the promenade, around the corner, and around the corner a SECOND time into the original part of the pavilion.

That’s a LONG line!

Over at Magic Kingdom, things were looking a lot more crowded — which isn’t that surprising, since that’s how things normally go at this park. We spotted quite a congested area near Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and the rest of Fantasyland!

Crowds

Keep in mind that even if you can’t get into your chosen park at the moment, you will still likely be able to visit another park while you’re waiting to see if your first park of choice has any capacity free up (this does occasionally happen but isn’t a sure thing!). Your best bet is to keep checking on all four parks to see if there is any room. Unfortunately, all four parks were sold out on January 6th — so unless lots of people leave and more room opens up, you’re out of luck if you were hoping to snag a last-minute park reservation today.

Fantasyland crowds

Another thing to note if you’re visiting during busier times of the year is that Disney World will typically send out notifications through the My Disney Experience app when a park reaches capacity. However, if you want to check before you head to a park on one of these busy days, you can also call the park capacity hotline at (407) 560-5000. You’ll be able to find out quickly which parks have reached capacity and which ones are still available. It’s also a good idea to call this phone number if you want to park hop — because even if you are “in” at one park, when you get to your next one, you could be turned away if it reaches capacity.

We even saw several rides with wait times well over an hour and creeping up into the multi-hour mark…

©Disney

Hopefully, the crowd levels will start to even out as the holiday rush is finally coming to an end. Of course, Disney World crowds are unpredictable and you never know what you may be walking into on any given day. Luckily, you have us to keep up with the latest crowd info and wait times!

In the meantime, we’ll be on the lookout for the latest news from Disney World and more — stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog so you don’t miss any important announcements and updates.