No More Waiting Until 2 to Park Hop!
Our least favorite change that Disney instituted during the pandemic was the limitation of park hopping to only be available between 2 PM and closing. We disliked that even more than we disliked the requirement to make a park reservation for your first park. We are avid park hoppers. In fact, we've park hopped every single trip we've taken to Walt Disney World - next month will be our first time not hopping, and we'll let you know if this changes our mind significantly - and we loved that in the past we didn't really have to think much about it. Didn't like the vibe of the park we were in that morning? Park hop! Got a sweet dining reservation but it's at a different theme park? Park hop!
And then the pandemic ended all that. Until now. Disney has announced that effective Jan 9, 2024, park hopping will return to the pre-pandemic state of "normal".
So what does that mean?
Well, a few things. First, it means that you don't have to wait until 2 PM to hop to your second (or third, or fourth) park. That's the major news. Second, though, it's not exactly pre-pandemic normal and there are a few things you need to know:
You still have to enter your starting park before you can hop.
Disney has done away with park pass reservations effective the same date (Jan 9, 2024), but only for date-based tickets. Meaning if you have an annual pass or guest pass or any sort of ticket where you didn't have to select your date span, you will still need to make park reservations for your starting park.
Park hopping is more expensive in two ways: First, the ticket price. If you select one theme park and stick to it, the ticket price will be that for the theme park. If you select a park hopper ticket, the ticket price will be at least the cost of the most expensive theme park ticket. Also, Genie+ now has varying prices depending on the park you plan to use it in. If you purchase it and designate a park, you pay the price of Genie+ for that park. If you purchase it and designate park hopping, you will pay the same price as the most expensive park's Genie+ that day.
Guardians of the Galaxy on a busy EPCOT night
Why Are We Excited for This Change?
Despite the extra cost of park hopping both in terms of ticket price and Genie+, if using, we are still pretty happy about this. Here are some reasons:
It means we have a little more flexibility for dining reservations.
It means we could live out our dream of starting every day riding Flight of Passage and then moving on to another park.
It means we can leave if we're not enjoying the "vibe" of the park we entered that day, and we'd have somewhere to go.
It means we can use EPCOT as a transportation hub.
That last point deserves a little explanation. EPCOT has two entrances: International Gateway (in the back of EPCOT), and the main entrance (in the front of EPCOT by the EPCOT parking lot). The international gateway entrance is connected by walking or skyliner to several resorts, and by walking or boat to Disney Hollywood Studios. The main entrance is connected to all the other resorts via bus, and the TTC via monorail. At the TTC, you an walk across the platform and connect to Magic Kingdom via monorail. While entering EPCOT via one entrance, and walking through it to the other is no short walk, here are two possibilities this opens up:
Avoiding bus transportation to the Magic Kingdom from the International Gateway area/Skyliner resorts. Simply walk or use skyliner to EPCOT, walk through it, and then take the monorail, transferring at the TTC to the Magic Kingdom.
Easier transportation from any Disney resort to the dining and resorts that are walkable from EPCOT, such as the Boardwalk resort, or Topolino's Terrace at the Riviera. Take transportation to EPCOT's main entrance, enter, and walk through to your destination (or take the skyliner. This is also true in reverse. Say I'm staying at Art of Animation and want to get to the Polynesian resort for a meal at Ohana. Currently, I could take a bus to the Magic Kingdom, then the monorail to the Polynesian. This is fine, but buses are not fun for some, and the new system opens up the possibility of taking the skyliner to EPCOT, entering, exiting out the main entrance, and taking the monorail to the TTC, then either transferring to another monorail or walking to the Polynesian.
Rock N Roller Coaster plaza at Disney Hollywood Studios
How Will This Change How We Tour?
We're waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop, but tentatively, we also see some possibilities opening up with how we tour.
Lightning Lane stacking can start much earlier. Some people already only stack lightning lanes for their second park, with the restriction being that they could only be booked for times after 2PM. However, we feel we had more luck using Lightning Lanes for the first few rides in our starting park, and then starting to stack for our second park as the good return times dwindled in our starting park. Some parks, however, don't need Lightning Lane as much as others if you plan to also show up at opening and rope drop. One example of such a park is Animal Kingdom. Say you rope drop Flight of Passage. After this ride, you should easily be able to get on Na'Vi River Journey or Kilimanjaro Safari with minimal wait. The only other ride that seems to stack up significant wait times is Expedition Everest. Kali River Rapids is almost always a walk on unless it's really hot out. And the rest of the major attractions are shows, which are a waste of a Lightning Lane in our opinion since most theaters easily fit the holding area's worth of crowd into the next show. So if starting the day at Animal Kingdom, one might think about stacking from the beginning for their second planned park.
Virtual Queue flexibility. For rides that operate on a virtual queue/boarding pass system, the current rule is that you can get a virtual boarding pass at 7 AM whether you are on-site or off-site, but you must have a park pass reservation. We are interested in how this will work once those aren't required. If two rides in two different parks are operating on a virtual queue system, for example, could guests try to get a boarding pass for either? For example, if TRON were out of boarding passes for the day, if this is allowed, and if another ride at a different park is operating on a virtual queue, could I try to get one for that other ride which might still have them? It's an interesting possibility.
Another interesting possibility is that one could be able to get a virtual queue boarding pass for a ride that is not in their starting park. For example, if we really wanted to ride TRON but planned to be in EPCOT that day, and had a park hopper, I could still go for a TRON boarding pass knowing that I could hop to Magic Kingdom when it is close to being called. This, if it even ends up being allowed, would need to be done with caution because once your group is called, you typically have an hour to arrive at the ride. This should be possible between some parks, but would be difficult between others.
Pre-parade at the Magic Kingdom
What We'll Be Watching
We've already hinted at some things we want to know, but we're watching Disney closely to see if there are changes to:
The price of the park hopper ticket or park hopper Genie+. We already know this will be at least the cost of the most expensive park, but with expanded hopping hours, is there a possibility it will cost even more?
Virtual queue rules. With park pass reservations ending and hopper expanded, will Disney place new restrictions on which guests can join a virtual queue?
Will afternoon and evening Lightning Lanes go faster than morning Lightning Lanes? Lightning Lanes will still be given in chronological order, but we predict the possibility of park hopping at any time will cause Lightning Lanes for popular rides in less popular parks to go quickly since now, a guest can enter, ride, and not have to stay.
Will EPCOT festival food booths get busier earlier? When EPCOT has a festival on, it gets very busy in the evening. We don't know how much of this is locals visiting and how much is park hopping, but we can assume it is some mix. If guests can park hop earlier, might they be making lunch out of EPCOT festival booths, meaning it will get busier earlier?
Are you excited for park hopping returning to an all-day situation rather than just a 2 PM thing? Tell us your reasons over on our Facebook page, where you can follow us to see when new articles are posted each week.
We also have an update. We'll begin a new trip report right here sometime in mid-late November. This trip report will cover some new ground for us as we'll be staying off-site for the first time ever, and using Lyft or Uber to Disney. We've also decided not to park hop this time, so we'll see how that goes. And finally, we'll be at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and will give you the scoop on that! In the meantime, life has gotten a little bit busy, so we will be posting some oldie but goodie links to past blogs on our Facebook page. Please enjoy them and be patient - we will be back with more in a few short weeks! Until next time...
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