Park Hopper "procedure" question

[Mommyofaprincess]

This may sound like a weird question, but what's the procedure for park hopping? Can you just go back through the turnstiles and swipe your card at a new park or do you have to do a re-entry/handstamp sort of thing? I'm asking because DIS can't tell us how many days we have left on 4-day passes we used in '98 and I'm trying to plan what tickets we might need. When we were there in '98 we went to Epcot one day (didn't hop) and the next day went to MGM then hopped over to MK for the evening. We went through the turnstyles and swiped our card. I'm afraid now that maybe we were supposed to do a re-entry procedure and that by doing it incorrectly it may have charged us with using a 3rd day. I hope to goodness we didn't accidentally use a 3rd day for a few hours at the park!!! CM's I've talked to won't even tell us the procedure--they just keep saying we have to check in at the park, so I thought maybe someone on here could help me get an idea of whether we have only 1 day left or the 2 that we should have. THANKS!

Also-- can they tell us at our resort how many days are left or do we have to go to the park??? I hate to waste time figuring this out when we get down there!

 

[safetymom]

You shouldn't have been charged an extra day if you hopped with a hopper pass. You should get a hand stamp because if the computers go down they can tell that you already used it. The light is positioned in a way that they can usually see the hand stamp without asking you for it.

It also is your proof that you were the one that used the ticket earlier in the day not someone else.

 

[maxsmom]

If you call Disney they can give you an address where you can send a copy of the front and the back of the card and they can tell you. I don't know the 33, dh got it, and the address is at home. Let me know if you can't locate it. I hope I can still find it myself!

 

[safetymom]

I don't know how recently you did that but they will only tell you at the parks. Not sure about the resorts.

 

[BCKatie02]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure getting your hand stamped after leaving a park is in the case that you are going back to THAT park on the same day. Something about not being able to run the same pass through at one park more than once a day. Using your pass at another park on the same day should NEVER cost you another day off our your hopper. Sounds to me like you should still have 2 days left.

Hope it works out for you!

 

[Traveliz]

I had old hoppers read at the resort on Easter so at least that recently resorts were reading old cards.

Liz

 

[shellybaxter]

Disney seems a little confused about the hand stamp part right now. We were in the world from April 9 - 17. At the beginning of our trip it seemed they wouldn't let us leave without a stamp, whether we were going to another park or not. Then about half way through we were exiting and asked for a stamp and the CM asked if we had done biometeric scan that morning. We said yes and she said we didn't need a head stamp and wouldn't give us one. This was true the next couple of days. Then, on our last day, the most confusing part happened. We went to lunch at the Rainforest in AK and exited through their gates. This CM was VERY adament - get a stamp or don't get back in, and the stamp was on the inside of the left arm (weird placement I thought). When we re-entred we had to incert our tickets like normal and then they checked for our stamps. About two hours later at the front gate, what maybe a hunderd yards from the Rainforst gate, we heard the CMs telling people they didn't need stamps with the new biometrics. Very confusing. We never had any problems entering another park though, with or without the stamps.

Shelly

 

[Matt'sMom]

We had to do the hand stamps the last time we exited and re-entered at the DAK gate to the Rainforest Cafe also. They prefer to place the stamp on your arm, so that if/when you wash hands prior to sitting down to eat, you are less likely to wash off the stamp. I believe the reason they are doing the hand stamps at this specific gate is because people were begining to use the Rainforest gate as if it were a general public entrance to DAK. (I even recall seeing it recommended on several web sites prior to our 2003 trip--they said you could get a jump on the opening crowds, by cutting through Rainforest). Let's face it, Rainforest doesn't necesarily want to become a major throughway for people who are simply attempting to bipass any lines that may be forming at the main entrance to the park. When the CM at the Rainforest gate said that you could not get back in without the hand stamp, he most likely meant that you could not re-enter via that gate without the stamp. You may very well have been able to re-enter DAK via the main gate, or hop to another park, using your valid ticket (w. PH option) and the biometric scan (hence what you heard CMs telling guests at the main gate).

 

[DrTomorrow]

Shelly,

That makes sense, in a way .

In the olden days (last year), officially you needed a hand-stamp AND your admission media to get into the second park. The ticket was to verify you had paid for that day, and the hand stamp was to show that it was you that used it in the first park. [Otherwise you can start to have situations where 4 people share three tickets]. But with the biometric scanning, that should be enough to prove that you're the same person at both park. We had an AP for the first time last year, and they told us we didn't need a hand stamp.

 

[GoldenOldie]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure getting your hand stamped after leaving a park is in the case that you are going back to THAT park on the same day. Something about not being able to run the same pass through at one park more than once a day...

Having a hand stamp has nothing at all to do with whether a day is taken off your ticket no matter how many parks you visit in one day. That's all controlled by the computer when you insert the ticket into the turnstile. Having a hand stamp or not will not affect what the computer does. Safetymom's explanation is basically correct in her above post.

And yes, the resorts can tell you what is left of old tickets.

Now to the problem of some CM's saying yes you need it and some saying no you don't. Sadly this happens all the time. Most CM's are used to telling pre-2005 AP holders that they don't need to use the stamps since they're biometrics control who uses the tickets for re-entry. And that was true. But now since MYW started, the sheer number of people relying on that system has increased many fold. If the computers go down for any length of time now, the numbers of people affected will be huge and there's no way for them to prove that they previously used their ticket that day without the hand stamp. Can you picture the outcry if you were told that since you can't prove that you were in a park already today that they are going to deduct a day from your ticket for this admission when the computer is back up?

The suggestion that Disney really needs to get their act together on this is very true. Sadder still is the realization that it will never happen. The problem of conflicting and/or misinformation is endemic to all of Disney and nothing short of a complete overhaul of management and policies from the top down will cure it. And that won't happen in our lifetimes.

The basic premise to remember that will never cause you a problem is to get the hand stamp. Think of it as better to have something that you don't need than not have something that you do. If the gate CM won't give you one, go to another one who will.