Early Theme Park Entry At Walt Disney World
Earlier this year we learned that Walt Disney World would be doing away with Extra Magic Hours. This program, which was considered to be one of the perks you could enjoy when staying on property, allowed guests to enter select parks on select days prior to other guests. However, the concept wouldn’t be eliminated completely. With that announcement, Disney also said that they’d be introducing something called Early Theme Park Entry. This new program would allow all guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel early entry into every theme park every day.
When this announcement was initially made, it did not go over well with repeat Walt DIsney World Resort guests. This is because Early Theme Park Entry promised guests staying at Walt Disney World Resort hotels a perk they’d been enjoying for years; entering the parks 30 minutes prior to other guests. However, in a post over on Disney Parks Blog made yesterday [June 30, 2021] there is no mention of a specific time. The post simply says:
“Just in time for the start of this magical celebration, on Oct.1, we will be rolling out a new early theme park entry benefit for Disney Resort hotel guests and guests of other select hotels, giving them the first chance to enjoy select attractions at EVERY theme park, EVERY day. These guests will also be among the first each day to see the dazzling decorations and EARidescent excitement.”
Though we can only speculate at this point, the lack of reference to anything pointing towards “30 minutes” leads us to believe that some changes have been made after that initial announcement. What exactly those chances will look like is anybody’s guess, but we think that it’s likely to be something beyond 30 minutes, giving guests time to enjoy those select attractions that were referenced in the quote above.
Whatever it turns out to be, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy that early entry to theme parks starting October 1st. In order to take advantage of this early entry, guests will need a valid ticket or pass and a theme park reservation for the same park on the same date for early entry theme park entry. Guests will also need to be staying at one of the Walt Disney World Resort hotels or one of the select hotels that Disney is including in the early entry program. The list of those hotels have yet to be announced.
What do you think of this change? Are you optimistic that this will be a good thing or do you think that this is a lazily recycled perk from pre-pandemic days? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so head on over to the Jamboree to chat with us! See you there. . .