Hi Michelle,
Thanks for bringing us your question today. I'm happy to help!
As of January 9, 2024
theme park reservations are no longer required for date-based tickets. If you have tickets as part of a room and ticket Vacation Package or purchased stand-alone tickets and selected an arrival date, you won't need to take any further steps. In fact, I don't believe your
My Disney Experience Account will even allow you to create a theme park reservation for the tickets in question.
As an
Annual Passholder, I am still required to make a theme park reservation when visiting the parks, since my admission has a variable usage window. When I go in to make my reservations I have to confirm which ticket media they are being created for, so I believe you'll hit a roadblock at that stage of the process with existing date-based tickets. My pal and fellow panelist Elaine is also an Annual Passholder and had an existing reservation removed once the new
"Good-to-Go Days" were announced. She previously reserved a visit that no longer required a reservation when these dates were released, and as such,
it no longer counted against the maximum number of reservations she could hold with her Annual Pass tier.
Over the years, my family has frequently visited during spring break, on Easter Sunday and throughout the week of Christmas and only saw the parks reach capacity for a period of time on Christmas Day. Guests had a similar experience at
Magic Kingdom Park on October 1, 2021, for the 50th Anniversary celebration but this is not the norm. This doesn't mean that the parks
can't reach capacity on other dates, but it usually only happens during extremely busy holidays like Christmas and New Year's Eve, or other special occasions.
Michelle, I hope that with a little faith, trust, and pixie dust you'll enjoy your visit without delay or worry. You can keep an eye out for any updates in your
My Disney Experience Mobile App once on-site. I make sure push notifications are enabled in my phone's settings so I don't miss any important announcements. If you have any questions or concerns during our trip, you can speak with a Cast Member at the main entrance ticket booths or a member of the
Guest Experience Team which can be found stationed under blue umbrellas in each park. They have always been friendly and eager to help whenever I've stopped by.
I hope this puts you at ease! Please come back and see us again with more planning questions as you count down to your trip.
Magic and memories,
Amy