Okay, everyone stay calm. It’s really happening! The day we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived!

It’s January 9th and that means that a LOT of changes are happening in Disney World today. First, we can enter the parks without making a park pass reservation (at least most of us can). Oh, Happy Day! But all-day park hopping has also returned and we’re going to park hop ALL day. PLUS the Disney Dining Plan has officially returned and we’re ready to give it a good test drive. So hang out with us while we take on all these Disney World changes today.

There have been a lot of changes in Disney World! If you don’t want to go through all the stress of booking your Disney World trip alone, we have a solution! Reach out to our friends at Small World Vacations. Their experienced agents monitor your reservation for possible future savings, compare discounts, and determine which works best for your travel party, dates, resort, and touring plans. They even share expert tips and first-hand advice with you.

Park Pass Reservations

We’ll admit, after three years, we were a little nervous (but also excited) to enter our first park today, without having first made a park pass reservation. Will this actually work? Are park pass reservations really gone? Or is Disney punking us? We scanned into our first park of the day, Magic Kingdom!

We noticed that the park wasn’t too busy today. There is the potential for some ugly weather today, so perhaps that made a difference. But for such a big day, there weren’t many people. It was very easy to enter the park without needing a reservation (we forgot what that feels like)!

Okay, well, that was easy. Excuse us while we let out the breath we’ve been holding because we never thought we’d see this day. Note that some Disney World visitors still need to make park pass reservations, though. Anyone who does not have a date-based ticket (including Cast Members, those who get tickets through conventions or as part of student groups, etc.) will still have to make a park pass reservation for the first park they plan on visiting that day. 

Annual Passholders also still need to make park pass reservations, except on their “good to go” days, which are days Disney specifies that no reservations are required.

Disney Dining Plan

Today also marks the return of the Disney Dining Plan, which is basically a way for Disney World visitors to pre-pay for their food. You can learn all about it here. So with its return, we are a little worried about how busy some restaurants may get during the day. Right away this morning, we tested out Mobile Ordering a snack using the dining plan. It was a pretty simple experience!

You can choose to use your dining plan or not if you decide to pay for something extra that’s not included with your plan or outside your daily limit.

We did notice some treats are not going to be eligible as snacks for the Disney Dining Plan in Magic Kingdom. We confirmed with a Cast Member that our beloved Tropical Serenade DOLE Whip at Aloha Isle will NOT count as a snack, so if you want to get that in Magic Kingdom, you’ll just have to pay for it.

If you want to use your dining plan to purchase a snack, be sure to check for the DDP symbols or ask a Cast Member which items count as snacks at that restaurant. And for a FULL LIST of restaurants that are participating in the Disney Dining Plan, click here!

If you want to check your dining plan credit balance, you’ll go through your Disney World app and your room reservation.

Here’s what the Disney Dining Plan looks like on your My Disney Experience app in Disney World (go in through your room reservation to check credits): pic.twitter.com/oAP4FLeNQC

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) January 9, 2024

If you’re interested in getting the Dining Plan for your next Disney World trip, you will need to decide if it’s worth it for you and your group. If you don’t plan on spending a lot of money on food or you think you’ll spend less than the cost of the dining plan, you may want to skip it. However, if you want the convenience of having your food paid for BEFORE your trip, it could still be worth it.

Note that you can get the Disney Dining Plan for FREE with a new Disney World promotion, so you might want to look into that, too.

Park Hopping

Park hopping is BACK, baby, and we are going to park hop ALL over Disney World to test it out. We did a speed run of all the parks to see just how fast we could do all 4 parks in one day! We started out in Animal Kingdom.

Then we made our way over to Hollywood Studios at 9AM!

By 9:15AM we were over in EPCOT! Going between Hollywood Studios and EPCOT is super simple with the handy Disney Skyliner.

And with the convenience of the monorail, we were in Magic Kingdom by 9:34AM.

Yes, we had to treat ourselves to an “I’m Celebrating” button for this momentous occasion!

Of course, we had to time ourselves. We made it to all four parks in Disney World in under 1 hour and 5 minutes. That has to be a record!

It’s awesome to finally be able to do this again! Disney transportation was on point and very quick right away this morning. As a note, remember, you can ONLY park hop if you have a valid Disney World ticket that includes Park Hopper benefits or a Disney World Annual Pass. You can add the park hopper ticket option to your ticket for an additional price.

FAQ

Okay, so you might still be a little confused about all these changes (and it IS confusing), so we’re going to take questions from you, our DFB Readers, and answer them right here. So leave us a comment and let us know what you want to know about these new Disney World changes.

Could they change this day to day? Say I want to go on a day next week that is “good to go”– could they possibly change and make it blocked out at the last minute unless you have a park reservation? And can we make a park reservation anyway to prevent that from happening?

Disney has made it sound like they can add “good to go” days on short notice, such as days or weeks in advance. If they change a day you have a reservation for to a “good to go” day, then they will remove your reservation and not count it toward your total reservations. It is unlikely that they will block out dates on short notice, but instead make “good to go” days on short notice. Having a reservation can help protect you on dates you for sure want to visit the parks, and if it becomes a “good to go” day it’s no big deal.

Can Annual Passholders make a park pass to a park other than Magic Kingdom, scan in at park open, then and immediately park hop to Magic Kingdom? Does it work on Saturdays and Sundays, too, or do we need a park reservation for Magic Kingdom on weekends if it’s not a “good to go” day before 2PM?

 Yes, with the new park hopping rules, even non-date-based ticket holders, such as Annual Passholders, can scan into their reservation park and immediately hop to Magic Kingdom. The new all-day park hopping is available every day of the week. The only 2PM rule that still counts for Annual Passholders is the exception to the reservation rule. This means that any day you DON’T have a park reservation you can still enter a park after 2PM. The exception to this rule is for Magic Kingdom on Saturdays and Sundays. On the weekends, you will need a reservation to visit Magic Kingdom (unless you’re park hopping from a different park). If a “good to go” day falls on a weekend, then this rule wouldn’t apply.

Whew! It’s already been a day, but it’s far from over. We’ll continue to update this post throughout the day with our experiences, so stay tuned to DFB for more. Thanks for following along!

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