DATE ANNOUNCED for Park Pass CHANGES in Disney World

Buckle up friends — Park Pass changes are coming soon to Disney World!

Magic Kingdom

Disney previously announced that an important Park Pass change would be made for Disney World Annual Passholders that would provide them with more flexibility when entering the parks. But, at that time Disney only shared that the change would be made within the next few months. Now, we’ve got an official start date!

Disney has officially shared that the newest Park Pass CHANGE will start on April 18th, 2023. Wait…what’s the change? Well, beginning on April 18th, Annual Passholders will be able to visit the Walt Disney World theme parks after 2PM WITHOUT a Park Pass reservation (with some exceptions).

The exception will apply to Annual Passholders wanting to visit Magic Kingdom on Saturdays and Sundays. If an Annual Passholder wants to go to Magic Kingdom on Saturdays or Sundays, they’ll need a Park Pass regardless of what time they want to visit.

Dumbo Magnet

Keep in mind, Annual Passholder blockout dates will continue to apply, so you’ll want to take a close look at those when planning your visit.

Disney shared the following message about this change, “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.”

Annual Passholder Magnet

Again, note that this change only applies to Annual Passholders and is just for visits after 2PM (except for Magic Kingdom on Saturdays and Sundays).

Here are a few examples of how it’ll work:

Got an Annual Pass and you want to go to EPCOT at 9AM on a Tuesday? You’ll still need a Park Pass!
Want to visit Animal Kingdom at 11AM on a random Wednesday? Book that Park Pass!
Want to visit Magic Kingdom at ANY time on a Saturday or Sunday? A Park Pass WILL be necessary.
But you want to visit Hollywood Studios after 2PM on Thursday? No Park Pass is needed if you’re an Annual Passholder (and a blockout date doesn’t apply).

Hollywood Studios

Aside from that change, Disney has also announced that starting on March 20th, Annual Passholders will get access to Disney PhotoPass lenses and ONE complimentary Cinderella Castle Mural of Memories experience. Typically, the PhotoPass lenses are special things you can access if you purchase Genie+, but it seems like Passholders will soon get this perk too!

The Castle of Memories feature is essentially a way to create a virtual mural on Cinderella Castle. This typically costs $9.99 to participate in, but soon Passholders will get to experience it ONCE for FREE. Click here to learn more about the feature.

©️Disney

Plus, on March 20th, Passholders will get a NEW offering where they will be able to “create and share short Disney-themed video slideshows with favorite photos from [their] theme park visits.”

Sounds like lots of photo-based fun is on the way.

PhotoPass photographer

Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, Josh D’Amaro, previously indicated that this was just the start of changes coming to the Park Pass system. D’Amaro noted that the current system can make guests lose some of the serendipity so they’re working on “trying to create ease,” while still making sure guests have a good experience.

D’Amaro shared that there are people at Disney working on how to improve the process. He shared that they are working to “make that reservation process as easy and flexible” as possible. D’Amaro shared, “Are you going to see more initiatives like you saw last week [in reference to the Annual Passholder Park Pass change that was announced at that time]? I think you will.”