Making the parks easier to access in 2024 and beyond

Though all COVID-19-related restrictions are long gone, many longtime Disney fans were upset when Disney announced that the reservation system that they introduced during the pandemic would be sticking around for the foreseeable future. However, Disney has seemingly heard this criticism and has announced that theme park reservation requirements for date-based tickets will be phased out, and will no longer be required after January 9, 2024. In addition, it was announced earlier this year that annual passholders can visit the theme parks after 2 p.m. without needing a park reservation, except on Saturdays and Sundays at the Magic Kingdom.

All of this will hopefully make guests less wary about trying to juggle reservations in the future and make the parks easier for guests to access overall. 

Bringing back the Disney Dining Plan

Another pandemic-era change that stuck around for far too long was the unavailability of the Disney Dining Plan, which allowed guests staying at Walt Disney World resort hotels to pre-pay for their meals in advance and potentially save a little money as well. And though it took nearly four years, Disney has announced that both the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan and the Disney Dining Plan are making their long-awaited comebacks on January 9, 2024.

Both Disney Dining Plans are available to book now for stays in 2024, but as you might expect, prices have changed significantly. Now, the Standard Dining Plan will cost $94.28 per adult, per day and $29.69 per child (ages 3 to 9), per day, and the Quick Service Dining Plan will cost $57.01 per adult, per day, and $23.83 per child (ages 3 to 9), per day. These price changes are much higher for adults, which reflects the higher cost of food at the resort since the last time the Dining Plan was offered in 2020. You can learn more about the Disney Dining Plan's return here.

Making changes to Genie+ 

Though Genie+ continues to be a popular service at Walt Disney World, frequently selling out even when guest levels are soft, no one who has used the service would likely call it intuitive or user-friendly, and as frustrations with the service have been well-documented since its inception. Fortunately, it looks like the lull in guest levels has given Disney time to re-think its strategy with Genie+, and Disney has acknowledged that they will be taking a cue from the legacy FastPass+ service and will be allowing guests to plan what attractions they want to experience with Disney Genie+ service and individual Lightning Lane selections before the day of their park visit, starting in 2024.

This should hopefully alleviate a lot of stress for visitors who don't want to worry about waking up super early on their vacation to make Genie+ and Lightning Lane selections, or deal with disappointment when the attraction they wanted to experience is unavailable. 

Though a lot of these changes aren't taking effect until next year, its clear that Disney has heard guest complaints about some of the barriers that are keeping guests from coming back to the theme parks, and perhaps get things back on track in 2024 and beyond!