Park Hopping - Observations + Thoughts 2021

[sethschroeder]

January 1st 2021 will see the return of Park Hopping. With that the big question is how will that impact your trip.

Current Rules:
Must have park reservation for the day
Must enter park that your originally reserved
Park Hopping does not start until 2PM
Currently no Park Hopper reservations

Note:
Disney can change hours of Park Hopping per park (MDE will have latest hours)
Disney can require a Park Hopper reservation

We will have to wait until January 1st to see how the system work.

 

[sethschroeder]

Question to group how easy do we think it will be to get in to other parks? Do we think a certain park will be more trouble? Do we think Disney will put in reservations for Park Hopping?

 

[gharter]

I think it will be interesting to see how this works.
It will be nice to be able to parkhop again. Depending on the crowds and hours, the 2 pm time could work well.
It will also require a change in how people parkhop. When there was EMH, people would go to that park early, then leave after about 2 hours. None of that will be an option under the new plan.
I expect HS will still be the most difficult to hop to. However, as long as the 2nd drop for RoTR occurs at 2 pm and you have to be in the park to get time to ride it, hopping to HS might not be as popular.
Once GoTG and Ratatouille open, I expect EPCOT to be very popular.

 

[lanejudy]

One more caveat to the rules above: hopping will be subject to park capacity limitations.

I think hopping to DHS will be very limited if not impossible some days. That is the one park most frequently unavailable for park reservations, followed by MK.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Think with early park closing hours it might even be more difficult when relying on Disney transportation to get between parks.

 

[DWillowBay]

Though I like the idea of Park Hopping, early in the year, park hours are often reduced anyway, so until hours are published, I'm not sure that PH is worth the added expense. Later in the year, as park hours increase, there's no doubt that PH will be viable.

 

[sethschroeder]

In January park hours start at like 9am and end at 8pm ranging across the parks.

Its a good option for those who are staying next to Epcot as an example for dinner after a day in another park.

 

[DisneyCoach13]

In most cases with rope dropping my family was able to complete parks by around noon to 1pm. A lack of park hopping was really frustrating. And with Epcot essentially only having 3 attractions I hated wasting a park reservation on it.

my initial strategy will essentially be to book a reservation for MK and HS and then park hop from there.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

In January park hours start at like 9am and end at 8pm ranging across the parks.

Its a good option for those who are staying next to Epcot as an example for dinner after a day in another park.

Incorrect information on your part

January 8 Hollywood Studios 10-7
January 9/10 MK 9-6

That’s when we are going to be there and most updated hours listed in MDE as of today.

 

[sethschroeder]

Incorrect information on your part

January 8 Hollywood Studios 10-7
January 9/10 MK 9-6

That’s when we are going to be there and most updated hours listed in MDE as of today.

Sorry you are wrong.

January 8th, 9th, 10th you have MK/AK open at 9am and Epcot closes at 8PM

Like I stated if you are next to Epcot getting back to the resort around 2-4 and then heading to Epcot for the evening is very doable. Epcot is a great place for dinner, grab a couple rides, and then get back to the resort around 9 or 10 depending how late dinner went.

With HS it's even easier since HS and Epcot are so close it's a quick boat, walk, or skyliner away.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Sorry you are wrong.

January 8th, 9th, 10th you have MK/AK open at 9am and Epcot closes at 8PM

Like I stated if you are next to Epcot getting back to the resort around 2-4 and then heading to Epcot for the evening is very doable. Epcot is a great place for dinner, grab a couple rides, and then get back to the resort around 9 or 10 depending how late dinner went.

With HS it's even easier since HS and Epcot are so close it's a quick boat, walk, or skyliner away.

Direct from Disney site as of 5 minutes ago
So how am I wrong in hours I listed in my post you state I am wrong in

 

[sethschroeder]

Direct from Disney site as of 5 minutes ago
So how am I wrong in hours I listed in my post you state I am wrong in
View attachment 540842View attachment 540843View attachment 540844

Yes and as stated you have AK and MK both opening at 9am then in the evening you have Epcot closing at 8pm.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

Yes and as stated you have AK and MK both opening at 9am then in the evening you have Epcot closing at 8pm.

In my original post stating hours I only mentioned HS and MK
I’m done
I listed correct times for two parks and am being told I’m wrong
My whole point is if you can only hop to one additional park and park closes early relying on Disney transportation might not make worthwhile.
That is my view on hopping between parks- say I wanted to go to AK and I can’t get in until 2pm and park closes at 5. Three hours total in AK plus probably an hour to get there from MK. Not worth it imho.

 

[DisneyCoach13]

I’m with you and I follow what you’re saying. Only place worth park hopping to is Epcot. Which I think is their thought process anyways. I’m assuming Epcot is struggling the most with guests attendance with the new process. It’s also the park with the largest attendance potential? Since it’s based on a percentage?

park hopping to other parks with the condensed hours is pretty much pointless. My plan would be set plans for the other three and only go to Epcot based on park hopping. Just my honest opinion

 

[DL1WDW2]

Don't forget the return of parkhoppIng could bring announcement of APs returning just in time for all that money Santa put in your holiday stocking.

 

[sethschroeder]

In my original post stating hours I only mentioned HS and MK
I’m done
I listed correct times for two parks and am being told I’m wrong

My whole point to my post was Epcot and the example of dinner. You stated I was wrong in my example so I corrected you that I was not. You then said I was wrong with screenshots which stated the range of hours I originally outlined.

In January park hours start at like 9am and end at 8pm ranging across the parks.

Its a good option for those who are staying next to Epcot as an example for dinner after a day in another park.

So I am not sure why you now say "I only mentioned HS and MK" when you responded to my post telling me I was wrong on hours that encompassed all 4 parks. As outlined parks open earliest at 9am and close latest at 8pm. You can make it an 11 hour day by starting at MK/AK then hopping to Epcot which was my point.

 

[sethschroeder]

Don't forget the return of parkhoppIng could bring announcement of APs returning just in time for all that money Santa put in your holiday stocking.

Thats a hope I think for more. I wonder if they start selling on January 1st when hopping returns.

My plan would be set plans for the other three and only go to Epcot based on park hopping. Just my honest opinion

Thats what we are thinking for our January trip. If we hit up Epcot in the late afternoon/evening 5 or 6 times we should be able to get to everything we want.

 

[DisneyCoach13]

One thing I’ll say right now is HS ran so smooth this past week. I was honestly blown away that even on “capacity days” we were able to ride everything by mid day.

 

[KNovacovschi]

Keep in mind if you park hop to HS you are not allowed to try for ROTR at 2pm, only those that have been in the park all day. So I think that may deter people from hopping there constantly.

 

[Avery&Todd]

I think it will be interesting to see how park hopping will work with an ADR in a 2nd park that might reach capacity and what happens to my reservation.

I'm taking my adult cousin in Feb for her first trip since she was an infant and she wants to eat in all the castles which we can do on our MK days but if 220 is open I'd love to take her there - but for our plans, we would need to hop to Epcot hat night after spending the day in AK or HS....

AND, in 3 weeks when I can book ADRs for that trip, do I play it safe and only book dining for same-day parks or do I risk it??

makes me nervous for this pre-planner!