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Disney World Regulation Now Restraining Guests on Christmas, New Year’s Eve: Entry Prohibited
If you are planning on visiting Walt Disney World over the holidays, you may be out of luck.
Walt Disney World offers a magical and immersive experience for guests, providing a plethora of activities ranging from thrilling rides to enchanting hotels and diverse dining options. The four theme parks—Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios—each offer a unique atmosphere and attractions, ensuring there’s something for every visitor.
In Magic Kingdom, guests can embark on iconic rides like Space Mountain, experience the enchantment of Cinderella Castle, and meet beloved characters throughout the park like Mickey Mouse. Disney’s Animal Kingdom combines a safari adventure in the Kilimanjaro Safaris with the breathtaking Pandora – The World of Avatar, offering guests the chance to soar on the back of a banshee in Avatar Flight of Passage.
EPCOT, known for its futuristic vision and international showcase, boasts attractions like Test Track and Frozen Ever After, along with the opportunity to sample cuisine from around the world in the World Showcase. Disney’s Hollywood Studios immerses guests in the magic of movies, featuring attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and the thrilling Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
Choosing accommodation at Disney World is an adventure in itself, with over 25 Disney resorts. From the enchanting Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, where guests can dive into the worlds of The Lion King and Finding Nemo, to the luxurious Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, offering monorail access to the theme parks, and Victorian elegance — there’s a resort for every preference and budget.
Dining at Disney World is a culinary journey, with a wide array of restaurants catering to various tastes. Guests can enjoy a delightful meal at Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’ in Disney Springs, indulge in seafood at Boathouse, or savor international flavors at the diverse options in EPCOT’s World Showcase. From character dining experiences to fine dining establishments, Disney World ensures that every meal is a memorable part of the overall magical experience.
While there is so much to do at Disney World, that means there is also a lot for guests to plan.
In order to visit any of the theme parks, guests have to book their theme park tickets, which can be quite costly. At peak times, such as the holidays, tickets can cost up to $180 per person for the day. If you have a family, and you are visiting a few parks over a few days, it is easy to spend thousands on Disney tickets alone.
While this used to be the beginning and ending of the planning when it came to reserving a spot in a Disney park for the day, things have changed since the pandemic.
In the past, Disney visitors were accustomed to a straightforward process: they would purchase their park tickets and freely enter the park of their choice without encountering any restrictions. However, in the post-pandemic era, aiming to enhance safety measures by reducing capacity, Disney introduced a new step.
Under this updated protocol, guests were now required to utilize the My Disney Experience app. Here, they had to link their tickets and specify their chosen park for the day.
This rule has caused massive upset for many guests who were unaware of the added step, and ended up rejected from the park that they were planning on visiting that day. While Disney Park Pass reservations have opened up a lot more, just this past Veterans Day we saw multiple days sell out of Park Pass Reservations, showing that capacity limits are still being hit.
Now, Christmas and New Year’s Eve reservations are quickly disappearing.
Reservations are also now unavailable for Resort hotel guests for Magic Kingdom on December 25 and 31, and for EPCOT on December 31. So, if you are staying at a Disney Resort and have your tickets purchased, you will not be able to visit Magic Kingdom on Christmas, nor will you be able to see fireworks at EPCOT or Magic Kingdom on New Year’s Eve, the two parks that actually host a celebration.
Annual Passholders are still able to make a reservation, as well as ticketed guests not staying at a hotel. In the past, we have seen Disney allocate more tickets for hotel guests, so it is interesting to see all of those spots already taken. It does seem likely that Disney may open more spots for hotel guests as they are their priority, and they are the higher-spending guests.
For now, guests without their reservations may have to look to alternate plans for the holidays.
Theme park reservations are required to enter a park through January 8, 2024. Beginning January 9, 2024, theme park reservations will no longer be required for date-based tickets. For other admission types, theme park reservations may be required.
Are you planning on spending the holidays at Walt Disney World?
If you are looking to visit Walt Disney World Resort for a magical vacation, the Walt Disney World Website can be a great tool to begin planning your trip! You can begin exploring their theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT. You can also take a look at their water parks where you can splash around in the chill of Disney’s Blizzard Beach (alongside new Frozen characters, Anna, Elsa, Sven, and Kristoff), or hit the waves at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. When you get hungry or want to go shopping, Disney Springs is the place to be, especially with World of Disney there ready to help you pick up some souvenirs! You can also begin looking for your Disney World Resort! If you are looking to stay at a Deluxe monorail Resort like Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa or a Value Resort where you can hop on the Skyliner like Disney’s Pop Century Resort, it is always fun to begin looking for a room that would best suit you and your party. Plus, it has all the information you need to know on Disney Genie+ so that you will be ready to go on your My Disney Experience app once you download it! Click here to check it out today.
This post is originally appeared on Inside the Magic.
