Walt Disney World has announced a rule change for Park Pass reservations starting on the opening date of Starlight: Dream the Night Away, strongly signaling that heavy attendance and high demand is forecast at Magic Kingdom for the new night parade in its opening weeks. This shares details of the change, plus speculation about how long it’ll last, potential suspension of Park Hopping, heavy congestion & crowd levels, and more.
As background, Walt Disney World relaxed reservation rules and introduced “good-to-go days” for Annual Passholders and Cast Members over the course of the last year-plus. Good-to-go days are select dates when APs may visit a Walt Disney World theme park without needing a theme park reservation (subject to pass blockout dates and capacity limitations). Good-to-go days will be added periodically, and may be released days or weeks in advance. Check the Annual Passholder admission calendar for good-to-go days.
Normally, Annual Passholders may visit the theme parks after 2:00 PM without a theme park reservation, except on Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom. Applicable pass blockout dates still apply. This is separate from good-to-go days, which apply before 2:00 PM. The rule change announced today by Walt Disney World applies to this after 2:00 PM rule, but it also essentially rules out the possibility of good-to-go days in Magic Kingdom once Starlight debuts. No surprise there, as Cast Members are also blocked out for the entirety of the parade’s debut window.
Magic Kingdom Park Reservation Rule Change
Due to anticipated high demand, for a limited time upon the opening of this new parade on July 20, 2025, Annual Passholders visiting Magic Kingdom at any time of day (including after 2:00 PM) must have a theme park reservation. Passholders will continue to be able to enter EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park after 2:00 PM without a theme park reservation.
Before July 20, 2025, Annual Passholders may visit the theme parks without a theme park reservation on a good-to-go day or after 2:00 PM (except on Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom park). Theme park reservations are limited and subject to availability, and reservation requirements are subject to change. Applicable blockout dates apply.
When to Make Reservations?
Obviously, you should make reservations ASAP for Magic Kingdom on July 20, 2025. If you want to see the debut of Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away, you’ll absolutely want a Magic Kingdom park reservation on that date.
I’d also recommend reservations of July 19, 2025. Our best guess is that Starlight will debut a night or two earlier than announced, as a “surprise and delight” experience for guests. This most recently happened with Harmonious (rest in pieces), which had a 2-night soft opening prior to its official opening on October 1. (Over at Disneyland, it just occurred a couple of weeks ago with Paint the Night.)
We’d expect something similar here. Starlight’s official opening date is Sunday, July 20, 2025. This is actually perfect timing, as the popular Pixie Dust Pass is blocked out July 19-20, 2025–meaning Walt Disney World could quietly debut Starlight on Saturday with one tier of APs excluded entirely. Let’s keep this between us, though!
My hope is that I’m wrong about this, and Walt Disney World actually has a weeklong soft opening period planned for Starlight. I absolutely do not expect that to be the case, as it’s my understanding that the debut is a race against the clock. But a longer soft opening would be a great release valve, giving Parade Audience Control (PAC) Cast Members a chance to get a handle on crowd control before July 20, 2025 arrives.
When Will This Reservation Rule End?
Walt Disney World has only announced that the rule will apply “for a limited time.” That suggests it’ll be short-lived. Maybe a week or two? We would be hesitant to draw that conclusion. Keep in mind that this is the same company that retained the virtual queue for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure that was originally intended to last for the attraction’s opening days…for over 6 months.
It’s possible that Magic Kingdom will only need this rule for a couple of weeks, and the new night parade smell will wear off Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away pretty quickly. The second week of August usually does usher in the off-season, and locals tend to get their fix of new offerings pretty quickly.
I’m highly skeptical that’ll be the case here. First, it’s been so long since Magic Kingdom has had a night parade and a lot has changed since then in terms of guest demographics. There are more fans in Central Florida. There are thousands of additional Disney Vacation Club rooms. Many more Annual Passholders. With each passing year, Walt Disney World comes closer to resembling the guest profile of Disneyland. There’s still a long way to go on that, but closer is a relative term.
At Disneyland, demand for Paint the Night is insanely high and is projected to remain at that level throughout the summer. And Paint the Night is not a brand-new parade. There’s also ample nighttime counterprogramming in California–those two parks have as many evening entertainment offerings as Walt Disney World’s 4 parks.
Second, and more importantly, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away debuts on July 20, 2025 and the first Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party is on August 15, 2025. That’s less than a month of runway for nightly performances of Starlight. And because Walt Disney World delayed the start date of MNSSHP while maintaining the same number of total MNSSHPs in each month, there are immediately 3 parties per week in August (as opposed to 2 in prior years).
Once Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party begins, there’s almost 5 months of Magic Kingdom closing early multiple nights per week. This causes massive disruptions to attendance patterns, which is a dynamic we’ve discussed on this blog for over a decade.
Accordingly, my prediction is that, regardless of when Walt Disney World currently intends upon relaxing this reservation rule, I suspect there’s a strong possibility it sticks around until the second week of January 2026. It’s been so long that Magic Kingdom has had a night parade, and my gut is that whatever Walt Disney World’s internal crowd projections are for Starlight, they’re too low.
Does This Mean Heavier Crowds at Magic Kingdom?
Yes, absolutely. We’ll have a full update on crowds relatively soon, but Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away will certainly induce demand. Walt Disney World wouldn’t have spent tons of money to develop the parade and operate it unless it’d move the needle on attendance and per guest spending. It is a foregone conclusion that Starlight will increase crowds.
However, the new night parade will not have an immediate, across the board impact. One thing that we’ve observed with MNSSHP and MVMCP is that entertainment offerings can create isolated congestion on Main Street and along the parade route, while hollowing out other areas of Magic Kingdom. Meaning that a scenario with higher attendance but lower wait times for rides at night in Magic Kingdom starting July 20 is entirely possible.
There’s also the question of how Starlight will impact forward bookings and occupancy. The debut date was announced less than 2 months in advance, and that’s insufficient lead time for most guests planning summer vacations. However, the same is not true for tourists taking Christmas-time vacations–meaning the biggest impact among non-locals might actually occur from November 2025 through March 2026.
Will Park Hopping Be Suspended?
As you’re likely aware, all-day Park Hopping returned at the start of last year after being suspended for 4 years. Guests with a Park Hopper ticket or an Annual Pass are once again able to visit another Walt Disney World theme park at any time of day during regular park hours. The only limit now is capacity limitations.
This means that, in theory, you could get turned away upon arrival if your destination park has already hit its attendance limit–but that was true even with the 2 p.m. Park Hopping rule. This has only ever been an issue twice in the post-reopening era–for a few hours on October 1, 2021 at Magic Kingdom, the day of the park’s 50th Anniversary. It then happened again last year, during the peak of Spring Break (not really sure why it occurred that second time–there were over a dozen busier dates last year as measured by wait times).
Otherwise, Park Hopping has not been restricted, including on incredibly busy days, like the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. In fact, that peak week that rang in 2024 was the busiest period at the parks in the last 4 years, with the highest average wait times since 2019, and not once were there any capacity closures. Avatar Flight of Passage maxed out at a 300+ minute wait time and over a dozen other rides had triple-digit waits, but there were no limits on Park Hopping during that week.
Note that this only impacted those who were Park Hopping. Guests with park reservations for Magic Kingdom were perfectly fine. It was also our understanding that guests with Advance Dining Reservations in Magic Kingdom (or any park that might pause Park Hopping) are still allowed to enter. All of this was consistent with an old school phased closure.
It’s important to stress this reality because getting turned away is a common concern among readers, but it’s very uncommon. The easiest way to find out the status is by calling Walt Disney World’s Park Hopping phone line at (407) 560-5000. We’d caution against simply asking random Cast Members inside the park you’re visiting–that’s not knowledge they’d have.
Perhaps I’m overestimating demand, but I strongly suspect Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom will be suspended in the early evening on July 20-21, and perhaps more dates in the week that follows. I could also see this same suspension occurring throughout October to December, during the weeks when MNSSHP and MVMCP occur 4 nights per week, meaning only 3 days when Starlight can be shown.
The reason the suspension of Park Hopping is more likely with the debut of Starlight is due to parade route capacity, not the whole park. The exact same reason it was suspended on October 1, 2021. It doesn’t help that the prime parade viewing is the very front of Magic Kingdom, but Disney can use the big bypass to Tomorrowland to push arriving guests over there, not even giving them access to Main Street.
This approach of closing the parade route to capacity, issuing a parade-wide announcement, and letting arriving guests have access to the rest of Magic Kingdom is a workable approach to PAC. At least, in theory. Crowd control is going to be a herculean challenge. Walt Disney World has lost so much institutional knowledge since the park last hosted Main Street Electrical Parade that they might not know how to handle operational logistics for a night parade. Summer Nightastic was 15 years and a pandemic ago, which resulted in a lot of early retirements among the old guard who knew how things worked. I could see either of these possibilities playing out in the early days of Starlight.
Assuming Park Hopping does get suspended July 20-21 or any dates in the two weeks that follow, it could happen again from October through December during the height of Party Season. If it doesn’t happen in July, it probably won’t occur later, either. It’ll mean Disney has perfected the art of pushing people to Tomorrowland and keeping the chaos of Main Street under control. PAC will have prevailed in maintaining order in the Magic Kingdom.
Regardless, Party Season is going to exacerbate the attendance disparity between party dates and non-party dates. Starlight is going to sow chaos and craziness during this stretch of the year, but it should also present strategic opportunities to exploit for savvy planners. It’ll be interesting if Disney attempts to mitigate any of this.
They attempted last year by offering free Park Hopper upgrades–if they do the same this year, it’ll backfire. Guests will start at other parks on non-party days and the Park Hop to Magic Kingdom for Starlight. I really hope they realize this, and don’t offer the free Park Hopper upgrade. It would be a colossal mistake (I argued that it was a mistake the first time around).
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Walt Disney World changing park reservation rules for Annual Passholders for the debut of Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away? Do you view this as a positive measure to attempt to control crowds, or are you upset at having your access restricted? Think this means that, internally, the company is forecasting heavy attendance for Magic Kingdom? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!