
For most, planning a Walt Disney World Resort vacation takes months. Many plan for an entire year or more! That’s unsurprising, considering many people claim that a Disney World trip has gotten too complicated. If you’re planning a Disney trip in 2024, you’ll want to circle tomorrow on your calendar and set your alarm bright and early!
Disney typically releases packages for the following year sometime between the beginning of May and mid-June. This year, they are being released tomorrow (May 31, 2023). Usually, we wouldn’t say that there will be a ton of demand on package release day, just Travel Agents booking their waitlist clients. This year, however, we expect there to be enough demand that you’ll want to get online early.
Why is this year different? Because the Disney Dining Plan is back! After three very long years without it, this fan-favorite add-on is finally available to book. We’ve heard from many people who have said they were waiting to go back until Dining Plans returned (in fact, we even speculated lower attendance and decreased earnings might be the reason it’s coming back).
We expect an influx of people booking their trips. Unlike in years past, we may actually see some hotels fill up entirely tomorrow (tiny Port Orleans French Quarter comes to mind). That means the early bird is going to get the worm. Booking opens at 7:00 am, and you’ll want to be on Disney’s website a few minutes early.
You can call to book your reservation, but expect long hold times. Back when free Dining plan discounts were a thing, it wasn’t uncommon to wait on hold for 8 hours to speak to a Cast Member the day the discount dropped. Because of its popularity and the fact that it has been gone for so long, we think it’s wise to treat tomorrow like Free Dining Day.
One final note, Disney’s website is not known for handling large amounts of people at once. The website will likely crash (only once, if we’re lucky). Please be patient. Calling won’t help because, as we stated above, hold times will be long. When Annual Passes resumed sale recently, guests were on hold both online and on the phone for hours (and yes, the site crashed). Be kind and courteous to any Cast Members you speak with while booking as well- they are likely having very stressful days.