Firenze Card Confusion- are reservations to Accademia and Uffizi now needed?

Here is what I wrote on a recent thread regarding this issue:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/firenzecard-and-the-uffizi-well-this-is-new

I just booked both the Accademia and the Uffizi Gallery on two separate days in June for three people without first having a Firenze Card. It was pretty easy. At first when I called the number, it was hard to understand what button to push for English, but I guessed "two", and that was correct. Then it switched to an English-language automated phone lady, and it was really hard to understand the first two questions because the computerized voice was sort of tripping over its words. I don't really remember what the automated computer voice asked me about, but I ended up pressing "one" (yes) for the first question and "two" (no) for the second question. After that, it put me in a waiting queue and I was number five in line. It didn't take very long to reach a real person who spoke very good English. She was super nice and wanted to know if I had a Firenze card yet, how many people total in my party including kids, and when I wanted to go to each museum. She gave me separate booking numbers for each museum and told me where to go for each place, too. She said I will need to present my Firenze card at each location and give them my booking number. That's it! :o)

Thank you so much, Adrienne!

I will try on Monday to get reservations. I am hoping springing for the Firenze Card will let us get in to the Accademia. The individual reservations are sold out for when we will be in Florence. I am so bummed I didn't realize this change in policy earlier. :(

Iorna: we just realized we are in the same situation and our trip is next week. We didn't realize the policy change, and now online reservations are sold out. Can you confirm whether you were able to book via the phone with Firenzecard. Thanks so much.

Thomas, Iorna looks to be an infrequent poster so may not see your question until after your trip. As time to try and get your reservation is short, I would call them tomorrow via the number on the FAQ page of the Firenzecard site.

http://www.firenzecard.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&lang=en

Otherwise, you'll need to try and get your reservations when you get to Florence per the #2 and #3 methods listed on the FAQ page.

Hi! Yes, it is no problem getting reservations if you buy the Firenze card. You can do it before you get there by calling, you just tell them you are going to buy the card. When you call, don't be discouraged by the recording saying reservations are sold out- that does not apply if you are getting the card. The person on the phone asked when we wanted to go, and booked the day and time. You can also make the reservations after you arrive and buy the cards. We were so glad we bought them! We never would have gotten in to Accademia without it, because we actually missed our booked time due to a medical emergency. Thanks to the card, we were able to call up and reschedule for the following day.

There you are, lorna! Your last post was in early May so it was possible that you were going to miss Thomas' question. Welcome back; glad you were able to assist! :O)

PS: Hope that "medical emergency" wasn't anything too serious.

I was in Florence a few weeks ago and used the Firenze Card.

We just went to the Uffizi first thing in the morning and used our Firenze Cards to get reserved tickets with a timed entry that was like an hour later. Then the next morning we did the same thing with Accademia.

Thanks, Kathy! We had an absolutely wonderful trip to Italy. One of my children had a serious allergic reaction and we ended up in the ER in Ravenna until 1:00 AM, but she recovered nicely, and it didn't ruin the rest of our trip. My takeaway, regarding the Firenzecard , is that yes, you now have to reserve a time for your visits to Uffizi Gallery and Accademia, but you can go any time of your choosing, and you don't have to stress about doing it ahead of time. So it is still like a VIP pass, and it buys you a lot of convenience and flexibility.

I'm so glad that your child ended up OK and that ya'll had a great trip! Ugh, getting sick away from home is NO fun at all.

This is a really helpful thread and I'm interested that you, Aaron and Adrienne found this (sort of annoying) new reservation thingie to be working pretty smoothly. I'm reading that in Rome, Roma Pass holders are having a bit of a time with mandatory Colosseum reservations, especially if trying to do that at the last minute, so have been concerned for our RS friends having to do the same with Firenzecards.

Thanks, all, for your valuable updates "from the ground"! 🌟