Welcome to planDisney, Kara. It's so nice to virtually meet you.
At this time, Guests with date-based
theme park tickets do not need to make
Theme Park Reservations, and because of this, they are unable to. If you picked dates from a calendar when purchasing your tickets, you likely have date-based tickets and do not need to make these reservations. Some examples of
tickets that currently need reservations would be
Annual Passes, Military Salute Tickets, student group tickets, and Sports and Convention Tickets. If you have a ticket that requires reservations, you must visit the first park for which you made your reservation before you can hop to another park with the
Park Hopper Option. If you decide to change your first park on the day of your visit or sooner, you can do so as long as there is still availability.
It's always important to note that whether you need a Theme Park Reservation or not, the parks
can reach capacity and if that's the case, you will not be able to enter. But this only happens on incredibly busy days like the week of Christmas, the 4th of July, and spring break. And when it
does happen, it's typically
Magic Kingdom Park and
EPCOT. In other words, you shouldn't stress about it unless you're going during a very busy time and even then, if you get to the parks early and only leave the park when you're done for the day, you're usually good.
I find January to be a great time to visit the
Walt Disney World Resort. The weather is usually cooler, but warmer than we're used to in the northeast! And starting January 17th, 2025, the
EPCOT International Festival of the Arts will take over EPCOT. I'm really excited to be taking my father to the festival this year. It'll actually be his first time at the resort in about 30 years! I have a sneaking suspicion being in EPCOT and enjoying this festival is going to be a highlight for him. Especially those
Food Studios!
Kara, if you have any other questions,
I'm just a click away!
You must be bold and daring,
Matt