On January 9, 2024, Disney officially lifted the reservation requirements previously required to visit Disney World. Well, sort of.
Annual Passholders, unfortunately, are still required to make a reservation in order to visit the parks. However, there are some dates where Annual Passholders do not need a reservation in order visit the parks. These are known as "Good-to-go days"
Good-to-go days allow you to visit any of the Disney World theme parks before 2:00 p.m. without needing a prior reservation. Good-to-go days will roll out on an ongoing basis and Disney has announced the first wave of dates for January 2024.
Good-to-Go Days for Annual Passholders in January 2024
For January 2024, there looks to be five good-to-go days:
- Tuesday, January 16
- Thursday, January 18
- Tuesday, January 23
- Wednesday, January 24
- Saturday, January 28
- Thursday, February 1
It's unclear what Disney uses to determine which days will be good-to-go days. Perhaps there's some sort of prediction model they use to determine possible low attendance days.
It's worth noting that of these first five good-to-go days, only one of them is a weekend date, which suggests that the majority of these days going forward will be weekdays. That seems to make the most sense as weekdays are typically slower than weekends.
Although good-to-go days apply to all four of the Disney World parks, blockout dates for Annual Passholders still apply. The Pixie Dust Passholders, for example, will still not be able to attend on January 28. It seems that Disney will provide ample notice for which days in a month will be good-to-go days.
In addition to these good-to-go days, Annual Passholders are also able to visit any theme park after 2:00 p.m. without needing a reservation, except on Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom.
Even though good-to-go days are limited, these changes are a refreshing update to the wildly unpopular reservaion system that Disney implemented during the pandemic. It's also a wonderful reminder of how simple and stress-free it used to be to just be able to wake up and go to a park without having to plan in advance.
In addition to the park reservation changes, Disney also brought pack all-day park hopping. Previously, daily ticket holders and Annual Passholders had to visit the first park and then wait until 2:00 p.m. before they could "hop" from to another. Now, on days when reservations are required for Annual Passholders, you are able to park hop any time after visiting your first scheduled park. You no longer have to wait until 2:00 p.m. to visit your second park of the day.