Hey Howdy Hey Jason and welcome to planDisney!
How exciting it is to be in the early stages of planning your Magical vacation! There is so much to look forward to in 2025 and I'm sure your vacation will be full of excitement. Thank you for stopping by with your question about theme park tickets and special events. I will be happy to give you the details and some places to check Disney's work as you experience your vacation.
When it comes to theme park tickets and
Special Events, these are separate events and require special ticket purchases for each. Such as a a theme park ticket for a day in Magic Kingdom will not allow for experience at Mickey's Not-So-Scarry Halloween Party that evening unless you have a specific ticket for the event. This is one step Disney takes to differentiate between the two. The other will involve the details of the Special Event.
Special Events such as
Mickey's Not-So-Scarry Halloween Party or
Disney Jollywood Nights in Disney's Hollywood Studios, these events have very specific start times. They will typically let you in the parks a few hours before the party officially starts. As long as you are within that window, the system is good at recognizing your Special Event ticket and only using that versus using a general admission theme park ticket. The few times I have experienced special events in Disney, I have done so with theme park tickets linked to my app as well and once I tapped into the parks, the system only used the Special Event ticket without an issue.
That being said, technology is great and typically works really well but it is always good to check on Disney to make sure things are used as they should be. When booking your vacation, you need to set up a My Disney Experience account. The
My Disney Experience app will connect to the same information and will be readily available for you during your vacation as well. Once you tap into the parks, you can open your app and go to the "My Tickets & Passes" section which will show you what tickets you still have available. After you tap into the parks, your Special Event ticket should drop off and your regular theme park tickets should still be available. If you notice anything that did not go according to plan, feel free to let the Cast Members know at Guest Services and they will make sure any issues are corrected.
I hope this information is helpful to better understand not only the details of Special Events but also how to check on the status of your tickets with your My Disney Experience app. If you have any other questions, please let us know, we are always happy to help!
To Infinity and Beyond,
Nick