Hey Howdy Hey Jillian and welcome to planDisney!
I am so excited to hear that you will be visiting Walt Disney World Resort early next year. This will be such a great and exciting time to visit the parks. Just taking a break from the cold weather will be celebration enough but you will also be visiting around the time of the
EPCOT International Festival of the Arts. This festival has a little something for everyone. From interactive art displays to seasonal food and drink offerings this festival is growing in popularity every year! Thank you so much for your question regarding theme park tickets, let's review a few things and talk details!
Adding an extra theme park ticket to your trip should be easy enough. Since you will be in Walt Disney World at the time you decide, you can do this in several ways. The first is through your
My Disney Experience app. If you log onto the app, tap the three horizontal lines at the bottom and then tap the "Tickets and Passes" tile. At the top, you should see a "+" that will bring down the menu of "Select Tickets" or "Link Tickets & Passes" which you will tap "Select Tickets". Scroll through and select the tickets you would like and you can make the purchase right from your phone. If you wanted, you could talk to the Cast Members at the front desk of your resort to help you through this process as well.
As far as when to add them, as soon as possible. The one thing that no one can predict is theme park availability. If you are visiting in February, this usually is a time where historic crowd levels have been on the lower end, however, since COVID-19, numbers in the park have been high for an uncharacteristically long time. This would be your biggest issue when it comes to deciding to add to your trip or not. Keeping an eye on the
Theme Park Availability Tool might also help you gauge this decision. If things are starting to fill up you would know here. If you could make the decision after your first day that would be best, but you could wait until the day of to purchase tickets as long as there was availability.
I wanted to let you know about a program available in the parks that may help your situation which is
Disney's Disability Access Service (DAS). This service was made especially for those that have difficulty waiting in long lines, which might apply to your family's situation. The benefit you would have is that you would be able to apply for
DAS Advanced Planning before leaving for your trip. You can request a virtual interview with a Cast Member online and if you are approved you get special access to planning. With DAS Advanced planning, you will get a text-only phone number to text a Cast Member and have the ability to book two return time windows for attractions on your park days before you even get into the parks! You will also have access to a rolling one pass which will be available through your My Disney Experience app to book a return window on your own for most attractions in the parks as well. This will help to decrease wait times and make things a little easier for those that may have difficulty with that process.
I hope this information helped plan your upcoming trip. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out and let us know, we would be happy to help!
Have a Magical Day,
Nick