Everything Park Hopping - Please Read Post 1

[CarolynFH]

Ok here is our scenario: We have park hoppers, we are stating at Epcot (RD) , and will go to MK staying till close at 11. Our issue is parking. Our plan is to drive to MK from Epcot verses taking the monorail, because our car would be stuck in Epcot's parking lot and I'm not sure how we would get back there after 11. If the lot would even be open? Are we crazy to do this? Will driving between parks be a huge nightmare?

No, driving from Epcot to MK, even at park hopping time, won’t be a nightmare. It’s what you need to do, because you’re right, getting back to your car when Epcot has been closed for over an hour would be difficult.

 

[paults]

If we have a park reservation for MK to enter first, and we park hop after 2 pm, can we re-enter the MK later that night? Or are we locked out once we leave?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Once you enter MK earlier in the day, you will then be able to return to MK anytime the rest of that day, or hop to any of the other 3 parks after 2PM.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes that's fine.

You could go MK, AK, Epcot, HS, Epcot, MK if you wanted to, as long as AK was after 2pm.

 

[sewingmolly]

Of all the changes that have been made in the 5 years since I was at WDW, the no park hopping until 2:00 pm upsets me the most. We would often rope drop MK or DHS and then go to EPCOT for lunch. Not being able to do this is really upsetting my planning. Also there seems to be little reason to stay DHS for more than a few hours in the morning. It looks like that by 11:00 am all the lines, except Star Tours, are over 90 minutes and most genie+ are out. I would like to be able to move to different park before 2:00, but that's not allowed. I just wanted to vent about how much this change bothers me. I can understand that many of other changes are money grabs, but I don't understand the benefit to Disney regarding no park hopping until 2:00pm.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Of all the changes that have been made in the 5 years since I was at WDW, the no park hopping until 2:00 pm upsets me the most. We would often rope drop MK or DHS and then go to EPCOT for lunch. Not being able to do this is really upsetting my planning. Also there seems to be little reason to stay DHS for more than a few hours in the morning. It looks like that by 11:00 am all the lines, except Star Tours, are over 90 minutes and most genie+ are out. I would like to be able to move to different park before 2:00, but that's not allowed. I just wanted to vent about how much this change bothers me. I can understand that many of other changes are money grabs, but I don't understand the benefit to Disney regarding no park hopping until 2:00pm.

While I’m not a fan either, my guess is it’s when some parks are at capacity. The 2:00 rule evens out the crowds so that people don’t make a reservation at any available park then hop to the park that is already at capacity. My guess is at 2:00 it’s a pretty even number of people swapping to a different park thus not overwhelming one park.

As you shared DHS is already a mess. If people could hop whenever they want to it would make the more popular parks even busier.

personally I don’t see the park hopping restriction going away until park reservations do and that may never happen. I would like to see them modify it to earlier though like 12:00 or 1:00.

 

[meethinx]

Thanks for this thread. We have never been to WDW, but am doing some research about it for future.

 

[Leevaughn]

Some advice on this scenario - some days we would just hang at the pool and not get to a park until late afternoon/past 2pm. Does it matter what park I make a reservation at in this scenario? Or can I just show up to any park after 2, regardless of which one I reserved for the day? Thanks

 

[scrappinginontario]

Post 1 contains a lot of info.

Whichever park you enter first, regardless of what time of day/evening it is, you must have a reservation for that park,

 

[las3888]

Hi all, quick question about park hopping these days. If we want to hop, is there a place to make a reservation or do we just go? Do we have to notify Disney Genie in some way? It sounds like we can start making G+ ressies in some way if we tell it we are hopping to a different park without having entered the park? Any more details on this? It would be great to leave one park at 1pm, take a pool break and make G+ reservation for our next park in advance.

Also, a simple question about adding days to tickets. I understand the cost for adding days well in advance but if we have activated our park tickets and are in the middle of our stay and then decide to add a day, is there a different cost at that point or is it the same?

Thanks!

 

[UrsulaTime]

Thanks for this thread. We have never been to WDW, but am doing some research about it for future.

You're in the right place

 

[UrsulaTime]

Of all the changes that have been made in the 5 years since I was at WDW, the no park hopping until 2:00 pm upsets me the most. We would often rope drop MK or DHS and then go to EPCOT for lunch. Not being able to do this is really upsetting my planning. Also there seems to be little reason to stay DHS for more than a few hours in the morning. It looks like that by 11:00 am all the lines, except Star Tours, are over 90 minutes and most genie+ are out. I would like to be able to move to different park before 2:00, but that's not allowed. I just wanted to vent about how much this change bothers me. I can understand that many of other changes are money grabs, but I don't understand the benefit to Disney regarding no park hopping until 2:00pm.

Same.

While I’m not a fan either, my guess is it’s when some parks are at capacity. The 2:00 rule evens out the crowds so that people don’t make a reservation at any available park then hop to the park that is already at capacity. My guess is at 2:00 it’s a pretty even number of people swapping to a different park thus not overwhelming one park.

Well, thank you for trying to explain it. I'm afraid it's still lost on me but I kind of understand what you're saying?

 

[UrsulaTime]

I should clarify that on my (very quick) trip last month I had a park hopping experience that was, in retrospect, just silly.

I wasn't feeling well the morning of my first (out of two) park day. I was solo that day - so while I was disappointed I was also relieved that no one was relying on me to initiate plans. I let myself sleep (thinking that I'd never have to tell anyone how many hours of precious park time I missed, ha). Luckily it did the trick and I felt better! As I was walking out the door I remembered I couldn't just go straight to HS, where I'd planned to be by then; my park reservation was at MK. So I went from Coronado Springs to MK, tapped in, and made a 180 degree turn back to the buses to take me to Hollywood Studios. Honestly I was just excited to be at Disney World and so I wasn't too upset. No use crying over spilled milk! I didn't make it to HS until 6pm. I shook it off and enjoyed what was left of the evening. Only later did I think that I should have asked someone - a CM at concierge? - if there was a way I could have skipped that journey to the Magic Kingdom. I wonder what the outcome would have been!

 

[1lilspark]

If your ticket is a hopper i believer there is a way you can change the tip board in mde to a different park to book a Lightning Lane so long as the return time in park #2 is for a 2-3 pm return or later

You don’t need to make a second reservation you just go…. There IS a number you can call to see if a park is open to hoppers but as of now the only time hopping was suspended for capacity was October 1st you couldn’t hop to magic Kingdom

 

[holden]

Technically to hop you have to have a park reservation that you tapped into earlier that day. I will say that we had a reservation for AK one day that we didn’t use. Instead we showed up to MK after 2 and the CM helped us get in. You do not need a reservation for the park you hop to, but you do need a reservation for a park that day.

You can add days to your ticket. Price is based on the date. You will also have to make a park reservation to use the extra day/days.

Genie+ will allow you to book LL for any park. It doesn’t know if you have a reservation for that park or not .

 

[scrappinginontario]

I should clarify that on my (very quick) trip last month I had a park hopping experience that was, in retrospect, just silly.

I wasn't feeling well the morning of my first (out of two) park day. I was solo that day - so while I was disappointed I was also relieved that no one was relying on me to initiate plans. I let myself sleep (thinking that I'd never have to tell anyone how many hours of precious park time I missed, ha). Luckily it did the trick and I felt better! As I was walking out the door I remembered I couldn't just go straight to HS, where I'd planned to be by then; my park reservation was at MK. So I went from Coronado Springs to MK, tapped in, and made a 180 degree turn back to the buses to take me to Hollywood Studios. Honestly I was just excited to be at Disney World and so I wasn't too upset. No use crying over spilled milk! I didn't make it to HS until 6pm. I shook it off and enjoyed what was left of the evening. Only later did I think that I should have asked someone - a CM at concierge? - if there was a way I could have skipped that journey to the Magic Kingdom. I wonder what the outcome would have been!

Did you check to see if there were any reservations available at DHS? You could have cancelled your MK and booked DHS.

If it was full, you could have tried going directly to DHS but there are mixed reports if a CM allows you in or not. You may still have had to go to MK to tap in. Technically you need to go to the first park you have a reservation for.

 

[UrsulaTime]

Did you check houser if there were any reservations available at DHS? You could have cancelled your MK and booked DHS.

If it was full, you could have tried going directly to DHS but there are mixed reports if a CM allows you in or not. You may still have had to go to MK to tap in.

All four parks were fully booked that day (Thursday March 18). Still I wouldn't have thought of changing my park reservation (on the app?) at 5pm.
If I could go back, I would have at least stopped at concierge on my way out. It wouldn't have hurt.

Two days later, my aunt had MK booked, which we forgot until our bus was pulling up to HS at noon! They let her in. I was shocked! She was early, and she hadn't tapped into her first park. (And, we didn't have a special reason to give to the CM! We were like, "We forgot!") We appreciated it but...this strict system, consisting of park reservations and park hopping limitations, should have major and clear benefits.

 

[disneyworldsk]

reevaluting my park reservations and one day i chose animal kingdom park. but i'm realizing now we don't do much there (not big ride people and no small children). so i'm thinking park hopping at 2 p.m. may not be worth this park as a morning reservation for me. should i switch it to another park instead because i think i may be not doing much there until 2 p.m.

 

[CarolynFH]

reevaluting my park reservations and one day i chose animal kingdom park. but i'm realizing now we don't do much there (not big ride people and no small children). so i'm thinking park hopping at 2 p.m. may not be worth this park as a morning reservation for me. should i switch it to another park instead because i think i may be not doing much there until 2 p.m.

That makes sense to me. An alternative I can suggest would be to make a lunch reservation at Sanaa. Visit AK, then bus to AKL Kidani, have lunch, then bus to your next park.

 

[blueram]

Would appreciate some advice here: We (2 adults and a 6 year old) have a park reservation at AK on May 2 and planning to get Genie+. We have a reservation at YC for May 2 - 3 (check-in on May 2 in the afternoon), before this we are staying offsite (Marriott near Seaworld). Our original plan was to drive from our hotel offsite to YC, park our car then take the bus to AK for early entry then park hop to Epcot at 2pm (since when we booked, Epcot did not open until 10am and AK opened at 8/830am) and spend some time in the room to rest in between. We also have reservations at Tutto Italia at 730pm. Now that hours have shifted and AK is open at 7am (early entry) while EPCOT is open earlier as well (8am early entry), I am now contemplating whether it makes more sense to start at EPCOT, just drive to YC and park the car then walk to International Gateway and tick off the main Epcot rides during early entry / rope drop period (Test Track, Frozen, Ratatouille) while using Genie+ and ILL to book stuff in AK for the afternoon. Then park hop to AK, tick off FOP, Safari, Dinosaur etc using Genie+, head back to hotel in the late afternoon to rest before dinner, then Epcot again for dinner and extended evening hours. I prefer our original plan still but concerned about having to drive straight to AK from our offsite hotel and having to be there by 6:30am for early entry. Also now that Epcot is open earlier, it may be more worthwhile to start there since it's also closer to YC. Appreciate any experience / feedback people have here. Thanks!