Everything changing in WDW for 2024
Disney Parks blog have announced 5 major updates to Walt Disney World all starting January 9th 2024. This is also the date that the ‘Early Booker’ packages for UK residents start.
Why is everything happening on January 9th? This is the end of the Christmas season and technically the start of the first low season of the year.
Lets take a look at each of these updates in more detail and talk about how they may affect those travelling from the UK
Park Reservations will no longer be required for those people booking date based theme park tickets for visits from January 9th 2024.
This is wonderful news!
As UK residents if you purchase the ‘14 day for the price of 7 day’ ticket you have to select a start date for this ticket. This means your ticket will fall into the category that does not need to make park reservations. If you booked tickets through a 3rd party website, as long as those tickets have a start date after January 9th 2024 you will not need to make park reservations.
No more planning which park you want to go to on which day. When I used to go to WDW pre covid we would see which bus turned up first and then hop on that, it made it a much more exciting start to the day.
For our trip in 2024 we will be staying from the 3rd January to 12th January so any tickets we purchase will mean we still have to make park reservations. It will be interesting to see if there is a marked difference between the attendance levels between the 8th and 9th of January, only time will tell..
The second update is for those guests with annual passes. The “Good-to-go-days” for Annual Passholders will offer select days when they will not require a park reservation. It is unclear how frequently these day will be offered or how in advance they will be told.
What this does signify is that Disney are slowly removing any restrictions to the amount of guests that can visit a park, and we may see parks getting busier as a result.
There has been no official announcement that Disney are changing park capacity with the reduction in the use of park reservations. Disney do not comment on guest attendance numbers, but we may see a return to the traditional ‘peak’ periods like Christmas and Spring break rather than a continuous flow of guests as the parks have experienced in these past few years.
The ‘Disney Dining Plan’ will be returning!
This is possibly the most important update for UK residents. At the moment UK residents can take advantage of the ‘Early Booker’ package which we talk about in our previous blog. This deal offers up to $2100 in dining and merchandise vouchers plus a $200 gift card just for booking a package through Disney and an extra $200 for booking the flights. This deal is valid for travel from the 9th January 2024 for bookings placed before 6th July 2023.
From The Walt Disney World website.
“Beginning 31st May 2023, you can add a dining plan to Walt Disney Travel Company packages that include a Disney Resort hotel stay with arrivals on or after 9th January 2024. While some dining plan information is currently available on the Walt Disney World website, complete details and participating locations will be shared beginning 31st May 2023. Please check back on 31st May to learn more.
Up to $2,100 Disney Dining Credit included in our 2024 Early Booker Package cannot be used to pay for a dining plan. However, you can still purchase a dining plan (beginning 31st May 2023) and use your Disney Dining Credit to boost it!”
If you have already booked your trip using the ‘Early Booker’ package you will be able to add the dining plan from 31st May 2023. This will be an additional cost, details of which won’t be released until 31st May 2023
In the past families have used the dining plan as a way to budget for their trip in advance. It also helps to plan where you eat as only select dining locations accept the dining plan and these may also include a limited selection of items. The food booths at Epcot for instance, display the dining plan logo alongside certain items that are eligible.
Disney have announced 2 different dining plans. You will need to have a Walt Disney World Resort hotel reservation to add a dining plan, and the dining plan will be added for each night of your stay, and for every guest in your travel party ages 3+. We do not know yet if there will be a difference between the child and adult price.
It is unclear if this is also avaliable to ‘Good Neighbour’ hotel guests or Disney Vacation Club members.
The Quick Service dining plan offers 2 quick service meals and 1 snack/non alcoholic drink per night of your trip. If you are travelling for 14 nights you would have to purchase the dining plan for the entirety of your stay. You would get 28 quick service meal credits and 14 snack/non alcoholic drink credits. These can be spent in any amount per day, and you can keep track of how many credits you have left on the ‘My Disney Experience’ app.
If you are visiting Epcot and want to try multiple food booths you would be able to use all of your 14 snack/non alcoholic drink credits in one day if you wanted to, but then you would have none left for the rest of your trip!
Pre covid you could combine 2 quick service meal credits into 1 table service credit or character meal, but this information has not be released yet.
The Disney Dining plan offers 1 table service meal, 1 quick service meal and 1 snack/non alcoholic drink per night of your trip. If you are travelling for 14 nights you would get 14 table service meal credits, 14 table service meal credit and 14 snack/non alcoholic drink credit. This plan is great for those people that enjoy a table service meal each day whether that’s breakfast, lunch or dinner. However it does mean that you may loose more of your day to eating then exploring the parks. Depending on the cost of the Disney Dining plan you may also find you need to eat the most expensive item on the menu to get the most value from your credits.
If you are considering a trip in 2024 you may want to wait until the 31st May to see how much adding a dining plan would be to your holiday. However bear in mind your trip may increase in price during this time.
I would recommend for anyone that is travelling as just 2 adults to take advantage of the ‘Early Booker’ package and then see how much it would be to add a dining plan. You may find that the dining and merchandise gift card is more than enough to cover your food bill.
We will not be able to add the dining plan to our January 2024 trip as our booking is from the 3rd. As the dining plan must be added to each night of your trip we would not be able to add it from the 9th - 12th jan.
The 4th update of the day confirms that Disney will be continuing to offer early theme park entry for all Disney World Resort hotel guests in 2024 This allows you to enter the parks 30mins before everyone else.
Disney will also continue to offer extended evening hours on select dates for those guests staying in deluxe resort and deluxe villas.
For our trip in June 2023 we will be able to enter Animal Kingdom at 8.30am and then park hop to Magic Kingdom after 2pm and stay there until midnight as we are staying at Bay Lake Tower which is classed as a deluxe resort. That’s 15 1/2 hours in the parks!
The final update isn’t really an update with much information. Disney will be making adjustments to its Genie+ service in 2024 to help those that want to plan their trips in advance. At present you can only purchase Genie+ from 7am on the day you enter the park. This is frustrating for some guests who miss the old ‘Fast Pass’ system which meant you could plan out all your rides 60 days in advance.
As we get more information we will make sure to keep you all informed.
If you haven’t already why not follow us on instagram and Facebook so you don’t miss out on any updates.