Disneyland announced yesterday that it will be ending its Early Entry perk for guests staying at the Disneyland Resort Hotels and replacing it with a new Lightning Lane Multi Pass perk. Now, readers are wondering whether a similar change will come to Early Theme Park Entry at Walt Disney World Resort.
We have received multiple emails and dozens of comments suggesting this could happen at Walt Disney World, and so we had to offer our thoughts. Below, we dig into the history of Early Entry, whether this change is likely, and what you need to know ahead of planning trips for next year and beyond.
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Disney's Recent History of Early Entry Changes
Disneyland will be ending its Early Entry perk for guests staying at the Disneyland Resort Hotels starting January 5, 2026. Once early access ends, it will be replaced by a new Lightning Lane perk for Disneyland Resort Hotel guests. Guests will receive one Lightning Lane entry for an available Lightning Lane Multi Pass attraction of their choice to use during their stay, subject to attraction availability. See all the details and our commentary on the Disneyland Early Entry change.
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Early Entry access at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World has gone through some changes since 2020. Before 2020, there was a version of Early Entry and an offering called Magic Morning that allowed Disneyland guests some access to the theme parks one hour early if they were staying at the resort hotels or had a 3-day or longer park ticket. After the parks reopened, the Magic Morning aspect that allowed 3-day and longer ticket holders early access was eliminated and the resort hotel guest access was reduced to only 30 minutes. This change next year will eliminate the perk entirely.
Walt Disney World Early Theme Park Entry used to be called Extra Magic Hours and gave resort guests one hour of early park access each day at one rotating theme park, with a three-hour evening option available as well. When it returned in 2021, the service was expanded to all four parks each day but was limited to only 30-minute early morning access. Evening access is now limited to deluxe resort hotel guests and is called Extended Evening Hours.
Since we've seen the two parks undergo similar changes to early entry access, it's reasonable to wonder if these newest changes at Disneyland will also come to Disney World.
Will Disney World Get Rid of Early Theme Park Entry?
While Disneyland has now established that this perk could go away, the expectations and guest mix at Walt Disney World is completely different. I do not think Walt Disney World is going to follow Disneyland's decision to get rid of early theme park access in the future. Disney has previously confirmed that Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Hours are continuing through 2026. There are key factors at play here that we discuss below.
Walt Disney World operates on a different scale than Disneyland. Walt Disney World has a far larger number of hotels to keep occupied, which is a major part of how they generate revenue. We see the navigation of this throughout the year as Disney World consistently releases targeted hotel discounts to raise its occupancy in its hotels. There are far more discounts for Walt Disney World Resorts than Disneyland Resort Hotels.
Losing Early Theme Park Access at Disney World would upset a large number of guests. There is still some residual frustration with Walt Disney World over perks that didn't come back when the parks reopened in 2020. One of these is Disney's Magical Express, which would pick guests up from the airport for free and bring them to their hotel. That service has been gone for years, and yet we still see so many comments about it. When Disney announced the expansion of a luxury Minnie Van service to pick up deluxe hotel guests at the airport at a high cost, most of the comments we received were outrage connected to the loss of the free Disney's Magical Express.
Early Theme Park Entry at Disney World isn't necessarily a huge advantage since so many guests have it because the majority of those visiting stay on-property. But the perceived value of the perk is a big part of the larger incentive to push guests to stay inside the “Disney bubble”. Since Early Theme Park Entry is utilized so much at Walt Disney World, this is another reason we won't see that perk discontinued.
The cost of opening the theme parks early is spread over so many more hotel rooms at Walt Disney World than at Disneyland. At Walt Disney World, there are over 30,000 hotel rooms, while at Disneyland, there are about 2,400 hotel rooms. For Disneyland, if even half of the people staying were using Early Entry, then there would be only 1,200 people using the service. At Walt Disney World, using the same assumption, even spread across four parks it would be more than triple that per park each morning. My assumption is that the percentage of people using it is actually lower than that each day and is somewhere closer to 20% and not 50%. That Walt Disney World number is also even higher than the 30,000 because of the other hotels located on property that contractually get access to Early Entry.
Free Lightning Lane Perk Would Throw Off Disney World's System
In my humble opinion, Walt Disney World's Lightning Lane Multi Pass system is far superior to Disneyland's and now works like a well-oiled machine after recent tweaks. Disney has undergone large efforts to reduce the overuse of their Lightning Lanes at both resorts to make the service more effective.
If Walt Disney World were to replace Early Theme Park Entry with a free Lightning Lane option, this would have a measurable impact on the queues due to the sheer number of resort hotel guests. There are more than 25 official Disney World Resort hotels, plus other hotels on-property that get to access this perk, in comparison to just three official Disneyland Resort Hotels that will benefit from this new perk. Even at Disneyland, they are being cautious with the number of Lightning Lanes that they are giving to each guest. The fear of impacting the balance of the system was definitely why Disney opted to give guests one pass per stay rather than one per day.
Walt Disney World's return to advanced Lightning Lane selections (similar to the FastPass+ program before 2020) has received plenty of positive buzz. The last thing Disney World needs at this point is to throw a wrench into the program they worked so hard to get right again. They also do not want to sacrifice the revenue generated from hotel guests purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass.
The changes at Disneyland may illustrate a general change in thinking about including all access Lightning Lane slots to be included as part of hotel and vacation packages. Before the closure, there were times when Disney offered packages that included pre-booked FastPass+ slots. Perhaps we could see that come to life again at Walt Disney World if there is a shift in need to drive hotel demand. Right now, hotel demand remains strong and for the periods where it is not they are using hotel discounting to entice stays.
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I would not worry about Early Theme Park Entry going away at Disney World. Based on the different dynamics and scale of Walt Disney World, we expect the current system to remain in place. If hotel demand lowers in the future, Disney could consider packaging Lightning Lanes into stays as a perk, but there’s no sign of that yet. Please read our strategy for maximizing your Walt Disney World Early Theme Park Entry to ensure you enjoy the best start to your day in each park.
At Mickey Visit, we are constantly covering the latest Disney news and providing planning resources. We are closely watching for any shifts in policies and will share them with you here and on our newsletter.
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1/2 hour is not enough for WDW early entrance. It takes that much time just to enter the park with long lines waiting to get in! As for Disneyland, the 1 hour prior to park entrance is valuable, get in early prior to the crowds at Both parks. Can eat breakfast, shop or just get in line early for an “E” ride.
If they want to do something, maybe 3 lightning lane passes per day while staying at the “expensive” 3 Disneyland Hotels. All the hotels are over $600+ per day. A 3 day stay is $1800, and the hotels around Disneyland are “example Howard J across the street from Disneyland” $203 and up. Half the price of Disney, and many other Hotels. So just 1 pass for a 3 or day stay? Many folks will be looking for a more reasonable nights sleep. At least in WDW you can choose a reasonable priced hotel.