3 Changes Walt Disney World is Making to Bring More Value & Flexibility to Your Visit

From the Disney Blog: 3 Changes Walt Disney World is Making to Bring More Value & Flexibility to Your Visits | Disney Parks Blog (go.com)

Happy New Year from Walt Disney World Resort! 2022 was a big year for us as we continued our 50th Anniversary celebration with cast, guests and the community, debuted our newest groundbreaking attraction with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and reopened beloved experiences from “Fantasmic!” to the Walt Disney World Railroad.

2023 brings even more to look forward to – from the triumphant return of the “Happily Ever After” nighttime spectacular to the opening of TRON Lightcycle / Run at Magic Kingdom, and one I personally can’t wait to experience, Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana at EPCOT!

Today, we’re excited to announce a few other updates we’re making to improve the guest experience and to let our fans know we are listening to their feedback, including Annual Passholders, who are some of our most loyal guests:

Enjoy complimentary self-parking when staying at a Disney Resort hotel

Beginning this evening, Jan. 10, overnight self-parking will once again be offered complimentary to guests staying at Disney Resort hotels at Walt Disney World. This is a Disney difference many of you have asked us to bring back, and we’re happy to reintroduce it to make your vacation a little easier and more affordable – whether you’re road tripping across the country, renting a car or vacationing as a local Florida resident. As a reminder, Disney Resort hotel guests also continue to receive complimentary standard parking at Walt Disney World theme parks, daily early theme park entry (with valid admission and a park reservation) and complimentary on-site transportation options such as buses, monorails and Disney Skyliner.

Walt Disney World Annual Passholders: Park reservation requirements will be relaxed for visits after 2 p.m.*

Beginning in the next few months, Walt Disney World Annual Passholders will be able to visit the theme parks after 2 p.m. without needing a park reservation, except on Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom Park. Pass blockout dates will continue to apply like they do today. While the theme park reservation system remains important to manage attendance in our parks, especially on busier days, we realize our Passholders enjoy more spontaneous visits – and this change will make that possible. Passholders will also receive access to Disney PhotoPass lenses and one complimentary Cinderella Castle Mural of Memories experience (age restrictions apply). Visit Cinderella Castle Mural of Memories and Disney PhotoPass Lenses for details, restrictions and other information.*

We’ll share a start date with Passholders soon for when these offerings will become available, as well as information about a new offering that is planned where you can create and share short Disney-themed video slideshows with favorite photos from your theme park visits.

Attraction photo downloads will be included with Disney Genie+ service

Beginning in the next few months, guests purchasing Disney Genie+ service will also receive digital downloads of their Disney PhotoPass attraction photos, taken in the park on the day of their purchase, at no additional charge. Attraction photos are taken while in the parks at more than a dozen of our most popular attractions including Space Mountain, Slinky Dog Dash, Test Track, Expedition Everest and more. I always love looking back at family photos at our favorite attractions – it’s a perfect way to remember and celebrate your theme park visit together. An exact launch date will be announced at a later time. Disney PhotoPass terms and conditions and expiration policy apply.

All of these updates are specific to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida – be sure to check out this blog post from Disneyland Resort on updates they announced today.

Please know we will keep listening to you and adapting as we focus on making the guest experience even better for more people who visit us here at The Most Magical Place on Earth.

That includes making planning easier for everyone. For example, we recently added the ability to modify Disney Genie+ attraction selections in the My Disney Experience app, began automatically making theme park reservations with the purchase of 1-day, 1-park specific tickets and made our dining reservation policy more flexible if you need to modify or cancel.

As we’ve shared before, we’re also committed to providing a wide range of options to visit, which is why we roll out special offers from time to time for Florida residents and other guests. Visit DisneyWorld.com/Offers for more details, including a few offers we launched to kick off the new year.

We hope these updates make your next visit more convenient and enjoyable, so you can focus on making memories with your family, friends and loved ones. We’re grateful for fans like you and look forward to seeing you real soon!

Those are definitely welcome changes. The parking fee going away at the resorts is definitely going to make a lot of us happy. It really, really, really ticked me off to have to pay for parking at their resort, onsite, in a parking lot I have been parking in with no charge for decades.

I know there has been a lot of negativity the past few years but everyone should realize that if we did not complain constantly, they never would have made these changes.

Now, can we do away with the park reservation system? That is now at the top of my annoying things list.

So, I think it's bunk at a resort that they have plenty of parking and you are outside - to charge. This is a place where Disney could and should have led the way instead of being a follower. Glad to see the reverse in this decision as long as they don't start now adding resort fees...

Park reservations need to go away along with limiting when you can hop - AND - Annual Passes need to return.