Yesterday marked the debut of bookings for 2025 trips to Walt Disney World (well, January through October, at least), along with some other small updates. These are things that will eventually make their way into all our other posts, but immediately they’re worth noting here.
Most 2025 Dates Now Available for Disney World Bookings
Packages, room only reservations, and tickets for arrivals January through October 2025 have debuted at Disney World. That means if you’re looking to book a trip that starts anytime before November 2025, now is the time to start planning.
Disney World has relatively generous deposit / cancellation policies, which means it’s almost always a good idea to book early. If discounts debut later, they can be applied to your existing reservations.
If you’re thinking “holy smokes I’m nowhere near ready to think about 2025”…don’t worry. Us too. But of course we’ve thought about it somewhat. We’ll be updating these posts in the near future, now that 2025 is more relevant, but for starters I’d recommend checking out:
And, as always, if you’re thinking about booking a trip, we recommend reaching out to Travel With Character LLC.
Disney World Prices Go Up for 2025
No news here, really. Disney World prices go up year after year, and 2025 is no different. In general, we’re seeing increases of a few percent (less than 5%, in many cases, for rooms and tickets).
We’ll add a short 2025 section to our post on How Much It Costs to Go To Disney World, but nothing I’ve seen so far is out of the ordinary.
Room Only Cancellation Limit Extended to 8 Days
Beginning with 2025 arrivals, guests with room only hotel reservations at Disney World (as opposed to room + ticket packages) will now have to cancel 8 days prior to arrival in order to have their one-night deposit refunded. This is up from 5 days.
Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours Available in 2025
Both the Early Theme Park Entry perk (available to guests of all Disney Resorts) and the Extended Evening Hours perk (available to guests of Deluxe Disney Resorts) will be available in 2025.
These perks debuted in 2021 to replace the old “Extra Magic Hours” offering. While many of us preferred the old system, there’s no reason to expect significant changes to these perks anytime soon. (On the plus side, that means all the decision-making and strategies surrounding these perks stays mostly the same as its been the past few years.)
Weird New Water Park Perk Debuts in 2025
Per Disney, beginning in 2025, guests of Disney World resorts “can enjoy admission to one of our water parks, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park or Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, on their check-in day.”
Before I discuss these new “perk”, I want to point you to our posts about the water parks:
Now, I’ve checked into Disney World hotels probably close to 100 times, and I can honestly say that I’ve never thought about visiting a water park on my check-in day in any strategic sense. It’s possible it’s happened—I do split stays, I do one-night stays as part of longer visits to Florida—but it would have always been a coincidence.
The biggest problem with this perk is that the water parks typically close around 5PM. This means someone leaving their home at 7AM to get to the airport at 8AM for a 9:30AM flight that lands at noon who then gets from MCO to their Disney World hotel to drop their bags by 1PM will probably get to the water park at 2PM with about 3 hours of time.
That’s probably enough time to enjoy most of the water park, to be fair, but is it really worth all the hassle? Is it that much better than relaxing poolside after your travel day? And you wouldn’t rather go to a park (but $) or Disney Springs (open way past 5PM).
Probably the biggest situation in which this perk makes sense is the aforementioned split stay. I absolutely love split stays, and this definitely makes them even more appealing. Since the day you leave your first hotel is also the day you check in to your second hotel, you’ll have water park access on that transition day. Water park hours of 10AMish (just before check out time) to 5PMish (just after check in time) makes this a pretty efficient way to fill your time between hotels. (And, remember, Disney will transfer your luggage between your two hotels.)
Split stays aside, let’s just say that while I hope you find value in this perk, I simply won’t be putting much emphasis on it throughout this site.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.