Walt Disney World could remain at reduced capacity until 2022

New annual passes on hold at Disney

Some people ditched their Disney annual passes during the pandemic. It could be a while before you stroll through the pass holder lines at the parks again

LAKE MARY, Fla. - For months, capacity at Walt Disney World has remained a mere 35%. That limited capacity may be here to stay for a while.

"We’ve got to see the vaccine working. A whole lot of things have to happen before Disney is going to feel comfortable allowing more people back in," said Dr. Mark Johnston, professor of marketing at Rollins College.

Dr. Johnston predicts the earlier the park may open to full capacity would be this fall, but he says even that doesn’t seem likely.

"It’s very difficult to see that happening until possibly late 2021 or more likely early 2022."

Disney World recently announced it wasn’t selling new annual passes. Experts say with limited capacity, the parks can make more money from people paying for the day pass.

Bloggers are hopeful new annual passes will return eventually. Those who currently have them can still renew.

"They could have canceled that too. They could have said you know, once your annual pass runs out, we’re stopping it. They didn’t do that which tells me they still have an interest in keeping the annual pass holders happy," said BigFatPanda.com blogger John Saccheri.

But when new annual pass holders and normal capacity resume are dependent on one thing: COVID-19.

"There’s what Disney wants to do to maintain safety protocols but then there’s the comfort level of the guests in going to a park that will be more crowded."

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