Everything Park Hopping - Please Read Post 1

[avalovesminnie]

Is there somewhere with approximate times it takes to park hop? We have a car. Looking to go by whatever method is fastest.

 

[scrappinginontario]

It really depends on what park you’re in and which you’re hopping to. If trying to get to a dining reservation, the rule of thumb is to allow for 90 mins.

 

[CarolynFH]

Is there somewhere with approximate times it takes to park hop? We have a car. Looking to go by whatever method is fastest.

It's generally faster to drive yourself, since you don't have to wait for the next bus/boat/Skyliner gondola. The exception is MK, where you have to park at the TTC and take monorail or ferry to the actual MK entrance, whereas the buses drop you off right there. Actual driving time is 10-20 minutes, but if we drive, I estimate about an hour from the time we walk out of one park to the time we're walking into the next one, including the time it takes to get from the park exit to our car, driving time out of the parking lot and to the next parking lot, time to park the car, and time to get through security at the next park. It's often less, but if I have an ADR or LL, I don't want to be late - so I'll do as above and allow 90 minutes!

 

[avalovesminnie]

It's generally faster to drive yourself, since you don't have to wait for the next bus/boat/Skyliner gondola. The exception is MK, where you have to park at the TTC and take monorail or ferry to the actual MK entrance, whereas the buses drop you off right there. Actual driving time is 10-20 minutes, but if we drive, I estimate about an hour from the time we walk out of one park to the time we're walking into the next one, including the time it takes to get from the park exit to our car, driving time out of the parking lot and to the next parking lot, time to park the car, and time to get through security at the next park. It's often less, but if I have an ADR or LL, I don't want to be late - so I'll do as above and allow 90 minutes!

Thank you! I don’t normally get hoppers but it was the only option with the cheer competition package and feel like we should use it, but it sounds tiring

 

[buddylee]

We are doing 2 parks in one day, and want to change from starting with Magic Kingdom to starting with Epcot. We have the park hopping option on our ticket. However, after looking at the reservation calendar, Epcot is available for us to select to start with but NO magic kingdom is available on that same day. Since we have hopper even though on the day we want to switch to start with Epcot that Magic Kingdom is showing no reservations can we still hop to Magic Kingdom at the 2pm hour?

 

[Gehrig1B]

Hopping has not been restricted but once, on the opening day of the 50th celebration. Two weeks ago all 4 parks were at reservation limit and Genie+ sold out 4 days in a row but hopping was still allowed every day. You will be fine hopping from EPCOT to MK in my opinion.

 

[luvdisney14]

If hopping from Epcot to HS, can u get on boat or Skyliner any time before 2:00, we wanted to get to next park as early as possible even though we can’t swipe in until 2:00 pm. Do they ever swipe in earlier?

 

[ezma]

If hopping from Epcot to HS, can u get on boat or Skyliner any time before 2:00, we wanted to get to next park as early as possible even though we can’t swipe in until 2:00 pm. Do they ever swipe in earlier

If hopping from Epcot to HS, can u get on boat or Skyliner any time before 2:00, we wanted to get to next park as early as possible even though we can’t swipe in until 2:00 pm. Do they ever swipe in earlier?

Yes, you can take any transportation to Epcot at any time of the day. It doesn’t have to be after 2:00…And sometimes Epcot may let you in before 2 o’clock when you’re hopping. We’ve been there at 1:45 and they let us in. We do wish they would get rid of the 2 o’clock time for hopping… And go back to the good old days when we could hop whenever we wanted to.

 

[mom2rtk]

We were allowed to swipe in at 1:45 at Epcot in January.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Yes, you can take any transportation to Epcot at any time of the day. It doesn’t have to be after 2:00…And sometimes Epcot may let you in before 2 o’clock when you’re hopping. We’ve been there at 1:45 and they let us in. We do wish they would get rid of the 2 o’clock time for hopping… And go back to the good old days when we could hop whenever we wanted to.

We were allowed to swipe in at 1:45 at Epcot in January.

Yes, park hopping may be allowed anytime from 1:45-2:00 but the exact minute it's allowed seems to change daily. By 2:00, all guests at all parks are allowed hopping entry.

 

[edgecrusherr160]

Am I crazy to park hop from Animal Kingdom to Epcot in early to mid July, with 2 adults and 2 kids (5 year old and a 8 year old)?

We’re mostly interest in Animal Kingdom for the Expedition Everest roller coaster and the animal safari, then in Epcot for Spaceship Earth and the world showcase.

I was thinking Animal Kingdom first, because the 8 year old’s dream is to ride Expedition Everest (this is for her birthday), and I’ve read that the animal safari is best early in the morning. Then Epcot second to eat around the countries and stay for the night show.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Am I crazy to park hop from Animal Kingdom to Epcot in early to mid July, with 2 adults and 2 kids (5 year old and a 8 year old)?

We’re mostly interest in Animal Kingdom for the Expedition Everest roller coaster and the animal safari, then in Epcot for Spaceship Earth and the world showcase.

I was thinking Animal Kingdom first, because the 8 year old’s dream is to ride Expedition Everest (this is for her birthday), and I’ve read that the animal safari is best early in the morning. Then Epcot second to eat around the countries and stay for the night show.

This is a doable plan. Nothing crazy about it.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Just as another data point, I went from DHS to MK last Tuesday and hung around outside the tapstiles waiting for 2:00pm. Other folks clearly were doing the same thing. Around 1:45pm or so, a CM came around to ask everyone "Park hopper?" and upon hearing yes, she told us to go right in. So we might not get our fifteen minutes of fame, but we DID get our fifteen minutes of park-hopping.

 

[gratefulmouse12]

In general how difficult is it? Any tips? We have a reservation for dinner in Epcot, but are starting the day in MK. I am just wondering in general if availability is good and haven't seen exactly WHEN I can make the hopping reservation...is it 7 AM or after I have entered the first park?

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

In general how difficult is it? Any tips? We have a reservation for dinner in Epcot, but are starting the day in MK. I am just wondering in general if availability is good and haven't seen exactly WHEN I can make the hopping reservation. Thanks.

Not sure what you mean, do you mean make a dining reservation? You can make that now but you do not need to make a reservation to park hop. Just book MK for your park pass reservation that day and if you are going to use G+, select Epcot in your MDE plans for park hopping. What's exactly available may or may not be great since it's spring break but you really won't know what ride returns times/available attractions are until the return times available are after 2pm. If you don't plan to use G+, you just hop after 2.

ETA- We do not use G+ in Epcot, we've only bought it for MK/DHS as I don't think it's super useful for us at Epcot/AK. We have bought iLL$ at Epcot before to ride headliners with less of a wait but otherwise we'll just do standby. We've done this over spring break and other peak times. If you do decide to use G+, make sure you have your rides you want to do favorited so they show up first and make sure you are a friend of refreshing.

 

[erionm]

In general how difficult is it? Any tips? We have a reservation for dinner in Epcot, but are starting the day in MK. I am just wondering in general if availability is good and haven't seen exactly WHEN I can make the hopping reservation. Thanks.

You don't need a park "hopping" reservation. Since the current hopping restrictions were put into place, park hopping has only be restricted ONCE and only for a few hours. That one time was on the actual day of the MKs 50th Anniversary.

 

[gratefulmouse12]

Well that explains why I couldn't find information.....So just head over any time we want 2 or later, and hope the 50th anniversary day crowds don't repeat themselves? Or would they post in the app that it's closed? It would be awful to go over there and find out they are closed.

Not sure what you mean, do you mean make a dining reservation? You can make that now but you do not need to make a reservation to park hop. Just book MK for your park pass reservation that day and if you are going to use G+, select Epcot in your MDE plans for park hopping. What's exactly available may or may not be great since it's spring break but you really won't know what ride returns times/available attractions are until the return times available are after 2pm. If you don't plan to use G+, you just hop after 2.

ETA- We do not use G+ in Epcot, we've only bought it for MK/DHS as I don't think it's super useful for us at Epcot/AK. We have bought iLL$ at Epcot before to ride headliners with less of a wait but otherwise we'll just do standby. We've done this over spring break and other peak times. If you do decide to use G+, make sure you have your rides you want to do favorited so they show up first and make sure you are a friend of refreshing.

When I made the dinner reservation for Epcot I got a notication that they strongly adivsed not making a dinner reservation unless we already have a reservation for the park we are dining in, and our reservation is at MK. Seems odd they would say that unless it's possible for the park to close to hoppers. Thanks for the reply!

 

[gratefulmouse12]

Not sure what you mean, do you mean make a dining reservation? You can make that now but you do not need to make a reservation to park hop. Just book MK for your park pass reservation that day and if you are going to use G+, select Epcot in your MDE plans for park hopping. What's exactly available may or may not be great since it's spring break but you really won't know what ride returns times/available attractions are until the return times available are after 2pm. If you don't plan to use G+, you just hop after 2.

ETA- We do not use G+ in Epcot, we've only bought it for MK/DHS as I don't think it's super useful for us at Epcot/AK. We have bought iLL$ at Epcot before to ride headliners with less of a wait but otherwise we'll just do standby. We've done this over spring break and other peak times. If you do decide to use G+, make sure you have your rides you want to do favorited so they show up first and make sure you are a friend of refreshing.

ALso thanks for the favoriting tip for rides we want - I had not thought to do that!

 

[CarolynFH]

Or would they post in the app that it's closed? It would be awful to go over there and find out they are closed.

I believe they did post in the MDE app that one time that MK was closed to hopping.

There's also a phone number 407-560-5000 that Disney published as the one to call for information about hopping on any given day. I can't tell you whether it still works or not because I don't think anyone has posted recently that they called it!

 

[ars0525]

When I made the dinner reservation for Epcot I got a notication that they strongly adivsed not making a dinner reservation unless we already have a reservation for the park we are dining in, and our reservation is at MK. Seems odd they would say that unless it's possible for the park to close to hoppers. Thanks for the reply!

I feel like Disney now has to say that for everything so that when the XYZ family doesn't get into a park for whatever ADR or tour they have scheduled & goes into full on rage mode on a CM they can point at the policy & say admission isn't guaranteed for park hopping. The only admission you are guaranteed is the park you have reserved that day.

As stated previously the only time park hopping has been stopped was on October 1st in MK for a few hours. I don't think you will have an issue at 2pm (or later) getting into Epcot.