Disney World has a lot planned for the new year.
2024 will be an exciting time!
From new restaurants and new rides to the return of the Disney Dining Plan, 2024 is going to be a big one for Disney World. In January, five new rule changes will hit the parks…are you ready for them?
All-Day Park Hopping
Back in October, Disney announced that all-day park hopping would be returning!
Entering the Park
Beginning January 9th, 2024, anyone who has a park ticket with Park Hopper capabilities or an Annual Pass can visit another theme park at any time of day during park hours.
Magic Kingdom entrance
Currently, park hopping is limited to after 2PM each day, and it’s been that way since it returned in 2021. With the new rules, visitors will be able to have a more flexible park experience — and likely get more value out of a park hopper ticket!
Park Pass Reservations
In another exciting update this year, Disney announced that Park Pass reservations would be going away for most guests in 2024.
Animal Kingdom entrance
Starting January 9th, those who purchase date-based tickets will no longer need a reservation! While the rules are changing for these types of tickets, keep in mind that other types of ticket holders, like Annual Passholders, will still be required to make reservations on most days to enter the parks.
“Good to Go” Days
Although Park Pass reservations are not going away for Annual Passholders just yet, starting on January 11th, new “Good to Go” days will start to appear on the calendar.
Annual Passholder Magnets
Currently, Disney has Bonus Reservations for Passholders, which are reservations that they can make on top of their reservation limit. While they don’t count against their reservation limit, Passholders still have to make them to enter the park.
Disney World Annual Pass
With Good to Go days, that’s changing! On select days throughout the year, Passholders can simply enter the park without a reservation.
Virtual Queues
With all-day park hopping returning, another rule change will hit Virtual Queues. Starting on January 9th, guests who do not need a Park Pass reservation to enter the park will not need one to book a Virtual Queue at 7AM.
TRON Virtual Queue board
At present, Disney World offers Virtual Queues for two rides: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and TRON Lightcycle / Run. The two standard Virtual Queue drops are at 7AM and 1PM. Currently, in order to get a Virtual Queue at 7AM, you must have a Park Pass reservation for that ride’s park.
Cosmic Rewind
With this rule change, however, those with date-based tickets will be able to book a Virtual Queue without reservation. Keep in mind that you will only be able to book one Virtual Queue at a time, however, so you’ll have to choose either Guardians of the Galaxy or TRON for the 7AM booking.
Lightning Lanes
Lastly, Lighting Lane rules will be changing as well. Currently, if you want to book a Lightning Lane for a ride at a park you are planning on hopping to, the 2PM park-hopping rule currently limits your selections. This applies to both Genie+ selections and Individual Lightning Lane selections.
You can find Lightning Lanes at many attractions within the parks!
Since you can’t park hop until 2PM at the moment, you can’t make a Lightning Lane selection for a ride in your second park until all of the Lighting Lanes leading up to 2PM have been booked.
Lightning Lane at Peter Pan’s Flight
Once all-day park hopping returns, however, you’ll be able to book Lighting Lanes for whichever times are available!
Tower of Terror Lightning Lane sign
There you have it — 5 rules that are changing in 2024. As always, stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney news!
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Disney has really complicated visiting the parks with contrary rules, especially for passholders. So parkhoppers and pass holders can hop any time of day, but only if the lassholder has first attended the park they reserved u less it’s a good to go day when no park reservation is necessary? Who’s on first?
Too complicated for the guests who only visit on occasion. Takes away from the whole experience. Too much work.
If I have an annual pass with a reservation to a particular park, will the new park hopper rules apply to me as well? For example, if I have a Magic Kingdom reservation, enter there at 9 am and decide I want to go to EPCOT at 10am, can I do that?
Thank you for sharing! We are heading in the right direction! This IS positive! I’m good with this!
Hi John! Yes, as long as you check in to the first park where you have a reservation, you can park hop at any time after January 9th.
Harder to decode than an Ikea assembly sheet. Sheesh!