Big changes may be on the horizon for Disney World park hopping
Disney is reportedly considering making some adjustments to park hopping. Do you like these changes?
Park Reservations and Hopping
Disney implemented the park pass system in July 2020 to help spread crowds out among its four theme parks. In addition to valid park hopping tickets or annual pass, Guests must now reserve the park they would like to visit for each day of their trip.
Many do not like this change as it takes out all planning flexibility. You may be stuck at a park if there is no availability at the park you wish to visit. Additionally, if you wait too long some dates/parks may not be available. Be sure to book as soon as you can, especially for holidays.
In addition to park passes, hopping is still limited to 2:00 pm and after. Before March 2020, anyone could freely come and go unless a park had reached capacity. With this new change, you may be waiting much longer to head to another theme park.
For our complete guide to park hopping, head over HERE.
Are changes on the way?
Disney is reportedly considering making some changes to this system. This includes expanding the park pass reservation system to park hopping as well. Guests may need to make an additional pass in order to park hop.
This could be a downgrade from the already frustrating park hopping rules. Many people hate waiting until 2:00 pm and adding another step to park hop would be even more infuriating.
However, there may be a silver lining. To offset this extra step, Disney is reportedly considering allowing park hopping before 2:00 pm.
This new change may not restrict Guests to the 2:00 pm park hopping.
So you may have greater flexibility in your trip planning, but it may come at a cost. Which do you prefer? Free park hopping after 2:00 or reserved park hopping before 2:00 pm?
So many questions
According to these rumors, the ability to make park hopping passes may be tied to various types of tickets or annual passes. Onsite guests may have a benefit over those staying offsite as well. So, would offsite guests have to wait until 2:00 pm? Will annual passholders see a benefit?
What if the park you want to park hop to does not have any reservations available? Can you not visit at all? I see pros and cons to this change. Please keep in mind this is a rumor! We will be sure to update if/when Disney announces any changes to the park pass system or park hopping.
Which do you prefer? Free park hopping after 2:00 or reserved park hopping before 2:00 pm? Let us know in the comments below and on Facebook.
H/T: WDWMagic
I AGREE with what everyone here is saying. This is so inconvenient and ridiculous already! NONE of this accommodates the customer who is already paying and arm and a leg for Disney Park tickets! Having to wait until 2pm is horribly inconvenient! And they DO NOT let you in at 1:59..it's 2PM on the dot!
This whole "waiting until 2pm" is nonsense and I don't know why Disney is so keen on pissing off their loyal customers, like us!
DISNEY...ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOUR GUESTS??? WE HATE THE 2PM PARK HOPPER! GO BACK TO HOW IT WAS ALREADY!!!!!
All the while building more DVC units at the Poly. Like...what!?!?
How to complicate the complicated. How to to inconvenience the inconvenienced. How to completely and systematically destroy a legacy.Thanks Chapek and thanks to the board members whom unanimously voted to give him 3more years. Bob Chapek only knows what's ahead and I promise you he is laughing all the way to the bank.... because people still will pay for ridiculous costs and he has proved it with the genie plus system
You forgot to mention that all resort guests in years past could go to extra magic hours. Now it is only the guests that can afford to pay for deluxe resorts.
Keep park hopping after 2:00, but eliminate the requirement that you have to visit the park you made a reservation for before you can park hop. This requirement does not work for people who are disabled or have mobility issues. Do not add additional park reservations. This is ridiculous. Disney used to be in the business of providing an exceptional experience for all guests. That is why they could charge more than other venues. The Disney experience is becoming less and less magical. Universal and SeaWorld just keep getting better and better.
Yet the parks are packed. Might want to rethink this.
My daughter has severe health issues. I was going to get park hopper so that she wouldn't miss any parks if she had a bad day and couldn't leave her room or had to leave a park early (it's pretty frequent). Now, I'm not so sure. The whole purpose of getting park hopper was to get more flexibility for her special need. If it isn't flexible, I wouldn't want it.
It's very frustrating, because before the reservation system took effect, we could have gotten a five day pass to allow for going to a missed park on a different day or filling in what was missed on a partial day. Now that flexibility is gone, and it looks like park hopper may be losing it as well. We may have to have some hard discussions about whether she can handle the disappointment of missing out on one or more parks entirely if she is ill.
I feel stressed out already and I arrive in November! We will need a vacation after our vacation. Things have gotten so out of hand, is Disney being run by Communists?? It doesn't sound too magical anymore....what a shame.
I agree that Magic App isn’t very magical and I don’t want to have to stare at my phone the whole trip. The having to preorder your food as soon as you get there in the morning wasn’t convenient at all. I did enjoy having my Ticket and hotel room attached to my Apple Watch but everything else was a pain.
We’re DVC Members and I never thought I would ever consider selling my membership but things like Genie+, no Magic Shuttle, and No dinning plan just make it so expensive to go there even with our rooms already pre paid. I think Disney is sadly trying to purposely price people out.
No more reservations! Definitely NOT more.
We have a trip planned in August but it will be the last one for a long time. They have made it too cumbersome.
They have RUINED the Disney experience. Why would you pay to ride rides you have already paid to ride with an admission ticket? Why would you pay to park in a hotel parking lot when you are already paying twice the value of the room plus taxes and resort fees? Why would you pay for a park hopping ticket when you cannot use it except for 1/4 of the day? Why would you go back to Disney when Magic Express and Fast Pass and NO RESERVATIONS were always free and available and now are gone? Why would you visit an overcrowded park where you are waiting in 100 degree heat to MAYBE get on one ride at 4pm IF it doesn’t break down? They are alienating their core customer base with a money grab that is so obvious a toddler could figure it out. Cut costs, cut the quality, diminish the experience and bleed the suckers dry. Wake up, Disney. In these hard economic times, your clients will not return.
We are going in Aug. We paid for the park hopper tickets and made our park reservations. IF Disney changes park hopping to an earlier time, and we already purchased park hopper tickets, we would need to pay MORE?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! I don't go often, it's averaging every 4 or 5 years, but this time seems to be the most stressful in figuring out what we need. Why can't they have the dining plan for restaurants that are open? Guests are going to eat whether they purchase the plan or not. Not everyone has used it, and not everyone will going forward. Stop trying to figure out if it benefits the company. Let us have a benefit to enjoy our Vacation.
It's so sad how Disney doesn't listen to their customers. The last time I was there everyone was looking at their phones trying to figure out where they go next how to get there what reservation they need to make etc etc.. Disney's supposed to be an escape from the world instead everyone's entrenched with their phone no communication with family or friends or enjoying the scenery. So sad
I think Walt is spinning in his grave.... They have taken away all of the magic they he instilled and always wanted in Disney... I wish there was a way I could bring it back!
I have loved Disney parks for over 40 years. I have hesitated to go back because of the restrictive changes. We have stayed at Deluxe resorts for the ease and flexibility. We always park hopped. I just seems like it is getting ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated.
Disney has lost us as customers. We used to be APs but the whole appeal was the flexibility to go to a park after work. With reservations, it takes away the appeal of living near Disney and stopping in to enjoy k. We’re now universal annual pass holders.
So…….none of this is required at universal……hmmm. Ask yourself why they are throwing road blocks after roadblock at us? They are tone deaf and universal seems to building a new park and disney is doing nothing in rebuttal
No shortage of tourists willing to go there every day despite the inconvenience and high cost so it does us no good to complain. The parks are packed each day with both new and returning guests. Therefore, Disney has no incentive to make their policies more guest friendly and easier to use.
And Disney just gets more and more ridiculous. In 2 weeks, it will be a year since this "Disney Family" has been in a park. It's SO SAD, but I don't think we'd enjoy what's there now. We kept our passes through Covid and supported Disney when others weren't, but I can't pay twice the price for 1/8 of the value/joy that's there now. I didn't mind booking reservations and a few FP months in advance b/c those were bonus opportunities. Booking where you're going to be every second of every day with no other options is just awful. My straw that broke the camel's back will always be sadly watching HEA from the Contemporary b/c we couldn't waste one of our precious 3 park reservations for the holiday weekend (off property-out of state APs) just to watch HEA on our arrival night. I paid big money only to be told "Nope! You can't go in!"
This has got so far out of hand and ridiculous. My family and I are spending our time elsewhere. Everything that made Disney is gone and not coming back.
Get rid of reservations all together, bring back free fast passes, free airport transportation, and the dining plan. Disney.. were all your nightmare come true!
Honestly, is it too much to ask to have free park hopping whenever we darn want? Or maybe after 12? That would be a big help.
Additional reservations for another hop is RIDICULOUS. We will never buy park hoppers again- the value is already diminished with the 2:00 restriction- throw would make it way worse.
Universal doesn’t have restrictions on their park hopping….
Ian Lamble hit the nail on the head!!
I have been wondering since the start of park reservation system, since their excuse was they needed people to make reservations in order to staff the parks adequately, then why would they have not needed people to make reservations after 2 also? Using their own logic, wouldn’t they need that to adequately staff the parks after 2?
I dislike the reservation system entirely. Some days we rope drop and ride everything we can, but on more relaxed days, I’d like to eat breakfast at one park and casually hop over to another park-and have to not wait until 2 pm.
Is this a joke ? How to complicate the complicated. How to to inconvenience the inconvenienced. How to completely and systematically destroy a legacy. That’s enough now. Bye bye.
Free park hopping after 2 is best for us,I don't like making park reservations now whether alone making them for park hopper doesn't make sense just let park hopping any time without reservations
Free park hopping after 2PM. I don't want to have to make additional reservations!