Hi, Joe! Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel and thanks for stopping by to chat with us! I have some magical news for you and some, well, we will just call it less pixie-dusted news. In the end, I would still say your vacation is going to be practically perfect in every way!
At this time, only guests currently staying in a Walt Disney World Resort hotel are able to take advantage of
Extra Magic Hours at the theme parks. Since you will be checking out of your resort the day before you visit a theme park, then you will not be eligible for the Extra Magic Hours. Cast Members will be scanning MagicBands at the entrance to the theme park, looking to make sure their Resort hotel stay is active. No worries, as you can still make your day magical with FastPass+!
Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel begin making their
FastPass+ selections up to 60 days in advance of their check-in date. The FastPass+ calendar will extend to allow the guest to make selections for their entire trip all on that magical day. Joe, once you hit that 60-day mark, you will notice the FastPass+ calendar will extend to cover not only your check-in date, but also your check-out date). If you look at the calendar that next day, it will still show the same days highlighted. Here is the magical-for-you part: the next day after that, the calendar will start "walking forward." In my experience, the way this FastPass+ calendar has worked is that once it opens 60 days for an upcoming stay, it continues to show the next 60 days until we reach the day we are actually checking out of our resort. So, you should be able to make FastPass+ selections 60 days from the day you plan to visit a theme park!
Joe, please let us know if you have any other questions as you continue to plan your pixie-dusted adventures!
Brandy