Park Hopping for AP's since July 20, 2025 - PERSONAL EXPERIENCES ONLY PLEASE

[scrappinginontario]

Please ONLY RESPOND to this thread/poll if this is your own, personal, first hand experience.

We are looking for very specific information to be of the most help to our fellow DISboard members.

We are trying to find out if park hopping is being allowed/denied to guests who require a park reservation and are trying to hop to the Magic Kingdom, since July 20, 2025. This is a very specific poll thus the request for ONLY first hand experiences.

In this poll we are not looking for responses from those who did have a MK park reservation.

Thanks!

 

[subtchr]

I did not answer the poll because it was not my experience, but I have two friends who are there, who had Epcot reservations on Sunday, and hopped to MK at 3 pm without any issues.

 

[trishadono]

For 7/28 I have Epcot for morning but booked a single ILL for tron for that evening hoping that would ensure entry to MK.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

We had park reservations to AK on 7/24 and encountered no issues hopping to MK.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

7/26. Saturday
Reservations at Epcot
Hopped to MK with no issues

 

[mom2febgirls]

7/25 reservation at Epcot; hopped to Magic Kingdom with no issue.

 

[Minnie1222]

IncrediPass member.
7/24: reservation at MK due to the fear of being locked out. Stayed at MK until the end of Starlight Parade.
7/25: reservation at Epcot, hopped to MK. No problem.
7/26: reservation at Epcot again (due to the inability to get on Test Track 3.0 the day before). Hopped to HS. Hopped to MK. No problem.
7/27: reservation at AK. Hopped to MK. No problem.

 

[Little E]

Please pardon my ignorance. I have an AP and I'm heading to WDW in August. I'm wondering what the problem is with park reservations and Magic Kingdom? What do I need to know before I head out in August?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Please pardon my ignorance. I have an AP and I'm heading to WDW in August. I'm wondering what the problem is with park reservations and Magic Kingdom? What do I need to know before I head out in August?

Starting July 20th, The wording on the Disney website was a little unclear if an AP would require a park reservation for MK in order to visit the MK or, if they just required a park reservation to any park and as long as they tapped into that park, could they hop to the MK?

The latter true. An AP with a park reservation at any park can go to that park and then hop to the MK.

These changes are due to the popularity of the new nighttime Stsrlight parade. Prior to July 39th, an AP could visit the MK in some instances, without a park reservation. Thus is not currently true.

 

[lovethattink]

@Little E if you go into MDE app, most likely you’ll have a notification about the reservation change.

It says “For a Limited Time: Due to anticipated high demand for the new Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Passholders visiting Magic Kingdom park at any time of day (including after 2:00 PM) must have a theme park reservation. Passholders may enter EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park after 2:00 PM without a theme park reservation.”

 

[loves to dive]

Please pardon my ignorance. I have an AP and I'm heading to WDW in August. I'm wondering what the problem is with park reservations and Magic Kingdom? What do I need to know before I head out in August?

Disney likes to complicate their wording. Basically, before if you had an AP and it wasn't a good to go day, you could go to any park after 2 pm without a reservation, even if it was your first park of the day. The exception to that was MK on weekends. Then you had to have a reservation for any park, didn't matter which, tap into that park and you could hop into MK. Now, "for a limited time", you can still get into the other 3 parks after 2 without having had a reservation anywhere that day but if you want to go to MK, no matter the time, you have to have a reservation for a park (any park) tap into that park first then you can hop into MK. Of course, that depends on if the park is not at capacity.

Good to go days are days when you don't need a reservation for any park that day, you can just go to whichever one you want. I haven't read the exact wording for the new policy so I'm not sure how that works at MK "for a limited time". Normally, on a good to go day, you don't have the option to make a reservation even if you wanted to.

Then there is the whole how many days you can make a reservation for if you aren't staying on site. I'm not sure about this since I'm not local and always stay on site so I can make reservations for the length of the trip.

Mostly, you have to cross your fingers, turn around 3 times and spit into the wind, pray to the pixie dust goddess and hope none of the AP rules have changed on the day you are going. Sorry, I'm a bit salty that as an out of state visitor I have to pay the most for an AP and get treated as less than a person who buys a day ticket.

 

[Little E]

Thank you all for the info! I haven't been to WDW since March, and I was just function under the "I need a park reservation but I can hop anywhere after 2 pm" rule. Good to know that there have been some confusing (it's Disney, after all, right??) changes that I might have to navigate. If I plan to go to another park first, should I plan to then make a park reservation at MK (after we tap in to the other park) right before we hop?

 

[Wood Nymph]

The way I'm interpreting the new rule is this: The rule is that people with AP's can enter a park without a reservation after 2pm. Those AP holders who haven't had a reservation at all are the ones who will be denied entrance to MK. Everyone who answered your poll already had a park reservation for a park.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I would not want to risk any interpretation and definitely wanted to see the Parade so I made sure I had Park Reservations for Magic Kingdom .
It was Very crowded at Parade Time !

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

This rule has now officially ended. Park hopping for Annual Passholders is now back to the pre-starlight rule. You can enter MK without a park pass after 2 pm on a weekday regardless of whether you’ve tapped into another park first.

Source: https://wdwnt.com/2025/07/breaking-...ation-restrictions-lifted-annual-passholders/

 

[Minnie1222]

RIP Starlight Confusion, 07/20/25 - 07/27/25.

 

[lovethattink]

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thread closed as temporary reservation restrictions have now ended.

Pre July 20th park reservations are once again in place for APs. Please refer to the Everything Park Reservations thread if you hold a non-date based ticket which requires a park reservation.