If you’re staying at a Disney-owned hotel during your Disneyland visit, you can enjoy some special perks. One of the best perks is Early Theme Park Entry!

Guests staying at any Disneyland Resort hotel can enter the parks 30 minutes before the official park opening, which means they can get on the most popular rides before the rest of the crowds show up. However, that policy is CHANGING soon!

Right now, both parks — Disneyland Park and  Disney California Adventure — open early each day, so Disneyland Resort hotel guests can choose whichever one they want to visit. On Disneyland’s website, there’s an update that states that the rules are changing beginning January 20th, 2024:

“Starting January 20, 2024, the early entry benefit will be updated, and Guests with valid park admission and reservations who are checked in and staying at one of the Disneyland Resort hotels may take advantage of this 30-minute early entry into a designated theme park for every day of their hotel stay. Each day, either Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park will be open early. Please check the theme park calendar for the schedule.”

Guests will still get the extra 30 minutes, but only at whichever park has Early Entry that day. It sounds like Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park will switch off which one has the perk for each day.

Early Entry only started at Disneyland last year, on August 8th, 2022.

If you’re planning to travel to Disneyland soon, make sure you check out this list of what’s available in each park during Early Entry:

Disneyland Park Attractions:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Astro Orbitor
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Disneyland Monorail
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• King Arthur Carrousel
• Mad Tea Party
• Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
• Snow White’s Enchanted Wish
• Space Mountain
• Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

Disneyland Park Dining and Shopping

• Churros near Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Esplanade Stroller Shop
• Fantasyland Fruit Cart
• Guide II
• Little Green Men Store Command
• The Mad Hatter in Fantasyland
• Main Street Fruit Cart
• Market House
• The Star Trader

Disney California Adventure Park Attractions

• Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission BREAKOUT!
• Incredicoaster
• The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
• Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
• Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
• Soarin’ Around the World
• WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure

Disney California Adventure Park Dining and Shopping

• Cappuccino Cart
• The Collector’s Warehouse
• Esplanade Stroller Shop
• Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe
• Fillmore’s Taste-In
• Mortimers Market
• Seaside Souvenirs
• Oswald’s
• WEB Suppliers

Currently, it sounds like the Early Entry rules at Disney World will not be changing — all four parks will continue to be open 30 minutes early for guests staying at Disney-owned hotels on the East Coast.

Stay tuned to DFB for more updates on all the latest Disney news!

Click here for our FULL REVIEW of the newest restaurant in Disneyland!

What do you think of this change? Let us know in the comments.

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With just nine days until Haunted Mansion reopens at Disneyland for Haunted Mansion Holiday on September 1, the outdoor décor for the overlay is starting to take shape.

Pumpkins Added Outside for Haunted Mansion Holiday

While on a recent visit to Disneyland, we noticed various pumpkins were being added outside on the mansion grounds. Haunted Mansion originally closed on August 14 to begin the transition to Haunted Mansion Holiday.

One of the newly added pumpkins has its own Sandy Claws hat.

Here’s a closer look. You can see this pumpkin is perched on top of the hearse parked outside, which is why it can be seen from over the attraction entrance gate.

Here’s another, which looks to be located in the attraction’s pet cemetery.

Are you excited to see Haunted Mansion Holiday return to Disneyland Park? Or do you prefer the Mansion with no seasonal overlay? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Last year, Haunted Mansion Holiday was originally scheduled through early January before being extended for three more weeks. This wasn’t the first time the popular holiday overlay has been extended, but it doesn’t happen every year.  When the holiday overlay is extended, it’s usually to help with ride capacity throughout the park when other attractions are already closed for refurbishment.

The overlay includes figures of various “The Nightmare Before Christmas” characters, including Jack Skellington, Sally, and Oogie Boogie. A unique gingerbread house is displayed in the ballroom scene each year. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were atop last year’s gingerbread house.

Watch our full video of the Haunted Mansion Holiday 2022 below:

The Haunted Mansion

This classic Disney attraction can now be found at several Disney Parks around the world. The first iteration opened in 1969 at Disneyland as part of New Orleans Square. Two years later, it was an opening day attraction in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom, and in 1983, it was an opening day attraction at Tokyo Disneyland.

The Disneyland Paris version of Haunted Mansion is named Phantom Manor, and at Hong Kong Disneyland, Mystic Manor is a completely different attraction that draws some inspiration from Haunted Mansion.

The Haunted Mansion is full of famous ghostly characters like Madame Leota, the Bride, the subjects of the stretching room portraits, and the Hatbox Ghost.

The Hatbox Ghost was in the original Disneyland Haunted Mansion on opening day. Technology had not quite caught up to the ghost’s vanishing and appearing head, however, so the ghost only last a few weeks before disappearing for nearly 50 years.

The Hatbox Ghost returned to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in 2015. He appears at the end of the attic scene, after the Bride. He will soon be installed in the Magic Kingdom version of the Haunted Mansion.

Haunted Mansion Movie

The new live action “Haunted Mansion” film follows a doctor (Rosario Dawson) and her 9-year-old son (Chase Dillon) moving into the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans. Dawson’s character ends up calling in a priest (Owen Wilson) to exorcise the mansion. They also get help from a widowed scientist-turned-failed-paranormal expert (LaKeith Stanfield), a French Quarter psychic (Tiffany Haddish), and a historian (Danny DeVito).

Jamie Lee Curtis portrays Madame Leota and Jared Leto portrays the Hatbox Ghost. Curtis called the film “modern, fresh, old-fashioned, and scary, but not scary like a monster movie. It’s scary like a Disney ride, and funny. If you go on that ride, there’s a lot of humor as well as the scary, ghost-y stuff.” You can read our full review of the movie here.

For more Disneyland Resort news and info, follow Disneyland News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Disney Parks news worldwide, visit WDWNT.

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The updated Walt Disney World dining reservation system is now rolling out on the My Disney Experience app.

Updated Walt Disney World Dining Reservation App Experience

Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort are updating how guests can book dining reservations via their websites and apps. As of this evening, August 24, the update has gone live in the My Disney Experience app for Walt Disney World. Let’s take a look at the new user experience.

You can check dining availability by clicking the “+” at the bottom menu. Then, you select your party size (up to 20 people), date, and time preference. The options for time preference are “All Day, Morning before 12 p.m., Afternoon from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., Evening after 4 p.m.”

With the update, guests can see all reservation slots available to them for their selected dining location and time-frame. Previously, only a few available reservation slots were shown. Some restaurants even give a “show more” option in addition to the times listed. The reservation slots also list their meal period — i.e. breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner — so guests know which menu is being served at the time of their reservation.

From the results page, guests can change their search by tapping “Edit” or filter by specific criteria.

The Disney Dining Plan will be returning to Walt Disney World with January 2024 vacations.

What do you think of the new user experience for booking dining reservations at Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments.

For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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In 2024, Disneyland Resort is updating its policy on hotel guests using the early entry benefit to enter parks before other guests.

Disneyland Resort’s New Early Entry Policy in 2024

According to the Disneyland Resort website, changes are coming to the early entry policy in January 2024.

Starting January 20, 2024, the early entry benefit will be updated, and Guests with valid park admission and reservations who are checked in and staying at one of the Disneyland Resort hotels may take advantage of this 30-minute early entry into a designated theme park for every day of their hotel stay. Each day, either Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park will be open early. Please check the theme park calendar for the schedule.

Of course, the most notable change in this policy is that only one of the two theme parks at Disneyland Resort will be available each morning for early entry. Currently, hotel guests are able to enter either Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure early. Guests will now have to check the park calendar to know which park is offering early entry for each day of their stay.

This policy change isn’t exactly new, as the Disneyland Resort followed a similar policy prior to the 2020 pandemic shutdown; however, guests could enjoy a full hour of early entry at one of the two parks each morning.

What do you think of this policy change? Let us know in the comments.

2024 Disneyland Resort Vacation Packages on Sale Now

2024 Disneyland Resort vacation packages will be available beginning today, August 24, 2023. Vacation packages include theme park tickets and a resort hotel stay at one of the hotels of the Disneyland Resort.

By next year, Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel will have completed its transformation into Disney’s Pixar Place Hotel. Coinciding with, but not necessarily part of, the hotel’s reimagining is the construction of Great Maple, a “modern . . . eatery [that] specializes in playful takes on upscale comfort food.”

At Disneyland Hotel, the former Steakhouse 55 is becoming a flexible lounge space. Steakhouse 55 — with the “55” referencing the 1955 opening of Disneyland — has been closed since 2020 when it was initially shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney announced the restaurant’s permanent closure with a statement in the summer of 2021.

The new Disney Vacation Club villas at Discovery Tower will open next month. These villas will be the second Disney Vacation Club property at the Disneyland Resort after The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.

Tour some Disneyland Resort hotel rooms in our posts below:

• PHOTOS, VIDEO: Tour a King Bed Downtown Disney District View Room at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel
• PHOTOS, VIDEO: Tour a Remodeled Premium Pool View Room at Disneyland Hotel
• PHOTOS, VIDEO: Tour a Woods-Courtyard View Room in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa

For more Disneyland Resort news and info, follow Disneyland News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Disney Parks news worldwide, visit WDWNT.

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As Universal Orlando Resort prepares for the heavily-anticipated arrival of Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) and the Halloween season in general, the Coca-Cola Refresh shop and nearby Cold Drinks stand in Universal Studios Florida are getting in on the festive fun. New Coca-Cola-branded Halloween decor has been added to both locations as the September 1 start date of HHN 32 rapidly approaches.

Halloween Decorations at Coca-Cola Refresh in Universal Studios Florida

The Coca-Cola Refresh station is located in the World Expo section of Universal Studios Florida near the Men in Black Alien Attack attraction. It contains electronic Coca-Cola Freestyle machines that offer a variety of sodas made or owned by The Coca-Cola Company.

A red decal that combines the iconic Coca-Cola bottle with traditional Halloween iconography adorns the store’s entryway. The bright bottle with white typography and outlining is topped with the red silhouette of a cat head. A curled red tail emerges from the bottle’s base, giving the overall image the appearance of a cat.

More Coca-Cola-inspired spooky iconography appears on the windows. The cat/Coke bottle design again appears on the windows in the form of a small red decal, and it’s joined by a symbol that blends the Coca-Cola packaging with a bat.

Additional decals include pumpkins, stars, and curved arches that emulate the entryway of Men in Black Alien Attack. The stickers are distinctly Halloween-themed while also fitting into the retro-futuristic aesthetic of the World Expo section of Universal Studios Florida.

Halloween Decorations at Cold Drinks Stand in Universal Studios Florida

The Cold Drinks stand (which serves various drinks in addition to quick snacks) has also received a Halloween refresh. The iconography present is largely similar to that found on the exterior of the Coca-Cola Refresh shop; the red decals are identical, if not a bit smaller, and the cat/Coca-Cola bottle symbol is also present, this time in black on the stand’s facade.

HHN 32 at Universal Orlando Resort

Universal Orlando Resort celebrates Halloween with the annual Halloween Horror Nights event. HHN 32 commences on September 1, 2023, and runs on select nights through November 4. There will be 10 haunted houses, including:

• Stranger Things 4
• The Exorcist: Believer
• The Last of Us
• Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count
• Universal Monsters: Unmasked
• Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins
• Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate
• YETI: Campground Kills
• The Darkest Deal
• Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings

There will also be five scare zones:

• Dr. Oddfellow’s Collection of Horror
• Dark Zodiac
• Jungle of Doom: Expedition Horror
• Vamp ’69: Summer of Blood
• Shipyard 32: Horrors Unhinged

Halloween Horror Nights is also offered at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Several decorations have recently appeared around Universal Studios Florida in preparation for Halloween Horror Nights 32. The 2023 Halloween Tribute Store facade was recently installed in the New York section of the park; the store, themed this year to a “mysterious NYC Comic Book Shop,” will open when HHN 32 commences and can be previewed by Annual Passholders on August 30.

Portals have also recently appeared around Universal Studios Florida. They will ultimately indicate the entry points to the haunted houses and will contain house names, wait times, and warnings.

How do you feel about the new decorations added to the Coca-Cola Refresh shop and the Cold Drinks stand? Are you excited for Halloween Horror Nights 32? Let us know in the comments.

For more Universal Studios news from around the world, follow Universal Parks News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Disney Parks news, visit WDWNT.

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