Can you believe it? 2024 is almost here!

And with the new year, there are a TON of things coming to Disney World — new rides, restaurants, and more! We’re beyond stoked for all that’s new, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are a couple of things that we’re dreading when we think about Disney World in 2024!

With all that’s coming to Disney World in 2024, what could we possibly be dreading? Let’s go over it.

January 9th

There’s a LOT going on January 9th — The Disney Dining Plan will be returning. Park guests with date-based tickets won’t need park passes to get into the parks. All-Day Park Hopper Access will be back, so guests with a ticket with park hopper benefits or an annual pass will be able to visit another park any time during the day (subject to capacity limitations)! No more waiting until 2PM to hop over to your favorite ride from your favorite snack stop or vice versa. You can park-hop it up to your heart’s content!

While all of these things are great and changes we’ve been looking forward to for some time, we’re just dreading the technical difficulties that might be coming too!

We’re not anticipating that there will be outages or other tech issues, just hoping against hope that there won’t be any!

Transportation Closures

As you know, rides aren’t the only things that get temporarily closed for maintenance, which brings us to the next thing we’re dreading. Even certain modes of transportation (that practically are rides themselves) need to be properly maintained. That’s right, we’re talking about the Disney Skyliner.

This ride in the sky transports you between several Disney hotels, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios. But starting on January 16th through January 21st, 2024, the Skyliner will be closed for routine maintenance. We’re pretty glad about this as we swing and travel way up in the air!

The areas between Pop Century/Art of Animation to the Caribbean Beach Resort and Caribbean Beach Resort to Hollywood Studios will be closed from January 16th through January 21st, 2024. The section between Caribbean Beach, the Riviera Resort and EPCOT will remain closed until January 27th, 2024.

While the Skyliner is closed, there will be complimentary bus service for each of the Skyliner resorts to and from EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. So if you’re planning a trip between those dates, be sure to be prepared to use other modes of transportation! We’ll keep an eye on this and if any other modes of transportation will be down, too!

Big Crowds

Our next dread is the crowds! Now, we know that Disney World crowds can be pretty predictable — the winter holidays and spring break are a time when we expect big crowds in Disney World, as well as during the summer. However, there are a lot of other dates and events that draw BIG crowds in the parks.

Disney World hosts many major events including runDisney weekends and cheer competitions, in addition to all the festivals at EPCOT and major holidays. It’s going to be your best bet to check the dates and make sure there aren’t any major events happening at the resort before you book that will cause major crowds!

Price increases

This particular dread of ours happens to show up every year. We’re talking about price increases.

We’ve already seen increases at the restaurants, Disney Genie+, Disney World Annual Passes, and even over at Disney Springs this year, and we won’t be surprised if we see prices increase across the board next year, too.

Construction Walls

I’m sure you’re familiar with this dread of ours, construction walls. For a while now, there’s been a ton of construction at EPCOT. The CommuniCore Plaza Festival Area and CommuniCore Hall should also be complete in December 2023. So, that’s good news to hear that we’ll finally see those construction walls come down, but that’s not the only place where they’re at currently.

There is a TON happening over at Disney’s Grand Floridian, Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground will be redesigning their cabins, and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort is getting some brand new Disney Vacation Club villas. There are also new restaurants coming to Disney’s Boardwalk and Disney Springs. So, you can tell that we’re going to have to keep “enjoying” those construction walls for the foreseeable future.

Coming Attractions

Now this is definitely a first-world problem, but we’re dreading having to wait almost the entire year before we get to ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure! It’s the new ride that’s coming to Magic Kingdom and is set to take visitors through the bayous of Louisiana to help Tiana with her new endeavor, Tiana’s Foods.

This ride will pick up the moment after The Princess and The Frog ends and we will “join Princess Tiana and Louis on a musical adventure – featuring some of the powerful music from the film – as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance.” 

So what actually happens after the film? Tiana opens Tiana’s Palace and requires the riders’ help finding a missing key ingredient for the Mardi Gras party she’s throwing for the people of New Orleans. We’re going to be seeing old and new characters, hearing familiar and new songs, and embarking on a whole new adventure with Tiana! It’s set to open in 2024.

We hope you’re ready for all these changes because they’re coming up fast! 2024 will be here before we know it.

In the meantime, don’t forget to check back to DFB for more Disney updates.

10 Big Changes Will Affect Disney World Ticket Holders in 2024

What things are you dreading about Disney World in 2024? Let us know in the comments!