Who’s planning a trip to Disney World this year? Raise your hand!

If you’re heading to the parks soon, you’ve probably got a hefty to-do list with all the new additions. Just this year, we’ve had TRON Lightcycle / Run open at Magic Kingdom, Roundup Rodeo BBQ open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the return of the popular Happily Ever After fireworks show. But besides all these things that have been added…there are some things that are going AWAY! We’re sharing the list of things you’ll do in Disney World for the LAST TIME in 2023.

Walk Through the “Old” EPCOT

Let’s start things out at EPCOT, where we’ve got some BIG additions we’re excited about! The park is currently undergoing a massive transformation, and you’ve definitely noticed the construction walls if you’ve visited in the past few years — they’re hard to miss.

But the good news is that the transformation is set to be complete later this year! By the time 2023 is wrapped up, we’ll have Journey of Water — Inspired by Moana, CommuniCore Plaza, CommuniCore Hall, AND we’ll be able to walk through the middle of the park once again. We know we’ve missed doing that!

Thankfully, we’ll only have to deal with those obnoxious construction walls for a little while longer. Once they come down, there will be plenty of new offerings to explore.

Click Here to Get the Deets on the EPCOT Transformation!

Visit the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser

Earlier this year, Disney World made the announcement that they would be closing the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser permanently. The final “voyage” for those staying at the hotel/experience will be September 28th-30th, 2023.

And if you don’t already have a reservation in the coming months, they’re sadly all booked up. The experience was a unique venture for Disney, allowing guests to participate live in a 2-day Star Wars adventure, but from the beginning the price tag was hefty. Because of this, many average Disney-goers were priced out from being able to visit.

The entire experience involved you “boarding” the Halcyon starcruiser and essentially participating on a cruise in “space.” Meals and rooms were included, along with a number of activities and experiences like lightsaber training and individual missions. Guests were also given a day ticket to Hollywood Studios to take an excursion to Batuu.

Disney mentioned in the closing announcement that they learned a lot from this experiment and that they will likely apply some of those lessons to projects in the future. We’re interested to see what comes next!

Click Here for Our Star Wars Hotel Guide!

Make Park Pass Reservations…Possibly

Disney World has announced some big changes for packages in 2024, including the return of the Disney Dining Plan. As part of some of those updates, the Park Pass Reservation System will be changing for some visitors!

Park Pass reservations will no longer be required for those with date-based tickets starting January 9th, 2024. This means that most guests will be able to visit without reservations for the first time since 2020. These new rules will not apply to those with annual passes, student group tickets, or sport and convention tickets.

Currently, the policy is that all guests are required to make reservations unless they have a single-day, single-park ticket. Annual Passholders are also not required to make reservations if they’re only visiting after 2PM (unless it’s a Saturday or Sunday at Magic Kingdom).

Click Here to See the 3 Times You’ll Still Need a Reservation in 2024!

Maybe Watch EPCOT Forever

2023 is the year of The Walt Disney Company’s big 100th Anniversary, and Disney is celebrating HARD! We’ve seen a lot of offerings at Disneyland Resort, but the party is coming to Walt Disney World too. There will be special offerings at EPCOT this fall, and we can’t wait to check them out.

As part of the special offerings, EPCOT is getting a new nighttime spectacular themed to the 100th Anniversary. Before that show premieres, EPCOT Forever is serving as the temporary fireworks show, so it’s possible that we could watch it for the last time this year.

EPCOT Forever originally premiered as a temporary show between Illuminations and Harmonious back in 2019, then returned again for a brief stint when fireworks came back post-pandemic in 2021. Disney hasn’t shared if the show will come back once the 100th Anniversary show is over, so we’ll have to wait and see. For now, we’ll enjoy it and treat it as if these are our last months together!

So there you go — some of the changes you can expect in Disney World in 2023 and early 2024. We’ll make sure to keep you in the loop with all of this news, so stay tuned to DFB.

11 Major Changes Coming to Disney World in 2024 — Click Here!

Are you visiting Disney World before the end of the year? Tell us in the comments!