Disneyland requires reservations. Yosemite should too | Opinion
California’s two U.S. Senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, have asked the Department of the Interior to consider reinstating a day-use reservation system at Yosemite National Park.
That makes sense, but don’t hold your breath. Federal leaders within U.S. National Park Service have been ignoring reports of chaos at California’s most popular park and issuing assurances that all is well.
At a June 23 Senate hearing, Kevin Lilly, interim assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, said getting rid of the reservation system has been an “enormous success.”
“We have actually greatly reduced that wait time, sir, and we have increased the attendance and also increased the revenue generated by the park in one of its busiest seasons. And in fact, last week during the holiday weekend, we had wait times as short as 12 minutes,” Lilly said in response to questions from Padilla.
Padilla wasn’t having it: “Constituents are reporting to me, bumper-to-bumper traffic around the valley floor. Hiking trails backed up with people. And parking lots full in the early mornings, resulting in visitors illegally parking off roads, in meadows. To me, that doesn’t sound like metrics of huge success,” he said.
No, it does not.
Visitors on Reddit are comparing the lines to Disneyland, which requires reservations.
Yosemite used to require advanced day-use booking for visitors driving into the park during the summer and other peak times.
But not this year — even though visitor demand has increased. In May, attendance was up 11% over May 2025. In March, it was up a staggering 45% over the previous year. According to the Fresno Bee, park advocates have described the crush of Yosemite visitors as “pure chaos.”
Making matters worse, the Trump administration’s staff reductions have “created critical gaps in park operations,” according to the letter that Schiff and Padilla sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting National Park Service Director Jessica Brown.
And it’s not just park visitors who are affected.
“It has been reported to our offices that multiple bears have already been hit by vehicles this summer. Increased visitation, picnicking in areas of the park with no trash receptacles and continued staff shortages in the campgrounds are all factors that contribute to more bear and other wildlife conflicts with visitors,” the senators’ letter says.
The question is, why did the NPS ditch the reservation system?
To increase revenue?
Lilly said during the recent Senate hearing that he found it “unsettling” to limit access to national parks.
Making reservations to create a more orderly experience and limiting access are not one and the same. Never mind how unsettling it can be to wait hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic. This is not to mention the ordeal of finding a (legal) parking space and wasting more time waiting for shuttle buses to take you from here to there.
A reservation system does not deny the American people access to their national parks. It just requires them to do a little planning — just like they would do for a trip to Disneyland.