Park Hopping Returns on January 1st!

[loves to dive]

This is such good news, the not being able to hop was a reason I wasn't going. We tend to spend the morning in one park and the afternoon in another, 2 is a little late for us but heck I'll take it. Like others, we stay in the Epcot resorts and tend to spend part of every day at either Epcot or HS. I'm thinking unless this changes before my next trip, I will probably do a morning in AK then hop to Epcot, a morning in HS then hop to MK (MK has always been a half day park for us even when my son was a toddler), then split the rest of the time just wherever our feet take us.

 

[nekonekoneko]

I suspect it'll be based on park-reservations moreso than counting entry/exits. In other words - if DHS has no park reservations available for the day, I wouldn't expect to be able to hop there in the afternoon. But we'll see, that's just my assumption.

I think Disney has an idea of how many people filter out after 2:00 from DHS, especially when they can't get a Boarding Group to Rise. I would also imagine that a few people, but not as many, would want to go to DHS after all the Boarding Groups have been distributed.

There may be people who want to go solely to eat at HBD or 50's, or to catch a ride on MMRR.

 

[Katie1174]

I think Disney has an idea of how many people filter out after 2:00 from DHS, especially when they can't get a Boarding Group to Rise. I would also imagine that a few people, but not as many, would want to go to DHS after all the Boarding Groups have been distributed.

There may be people who want to go solely to eat at HBD or 50's, or to catch a ride on MMRR.

We would happily hop to HS in the afternoon just to ride Tower of Terror or take a spin on Toy Story Midway Mania. From there we would also walk or Skyliner over to Epcot to get a treat at Les Halles and walk around World Showcase or vice versa

 

[KGolf31]

That's a good point. You can't enter another park until 2 but don't you have to be tapped in to DHS in order to get a BG?

Correct. I think Disney is trying to make sure they don't have a mad rush of people entering at say, 1:30pm simply to try and get a BG and if they fail bail and create chaos at the gate. Just a speculation.

Also, it allows people who've allocated DHS as their primary park, and initially entered the park with their reservation a second chance without substantially putting the odds against them with more people entering.

 

[Shellyred8]

Wonder if they'll start up the TTC/Epcot monorail loop after 2:00 PM to facilitate hopping between MK/EC? Or just provide bus service?

I hope they start it up and run it full day, so we can take the monorail to EP from the MK resorts! I really missed that last time we were there.

 

[JoJoGirl]

YESSSS! Staying at the YC in late January so this is welcome news. Now we will have to see how easy/difficult it is to secure a hop to Epcot in the evening.

 

[skeeter31]

This is a thing to note, but I think the 2pm hop time coincides beautifully with the 2pm distribution for ROTR at HS.

AKA, avoid a mad rush over to HS after people complete a morning park and attempt to secure boarding passes later in the day

They specifically stated in the press release and on the website that hoppers into HS would NOT be eligible for ROTR. Plus, you need a park reservation at HS to get a boarding pass, hoppers wouldn’t have that either.

 

[Pyxie]

Exciting! I'm tempted to add it now for our March trip because we will likely be there during F&G. Epcot isn't currently on the list with just 2 days but heading there for a bit in the afternoon could be nice.

 

[gharter]

We have our next trip in April (hopefully). Looking forward to being able to Parkhop again.

 

[miamimama]

Our main concern was being able to go to Epcot for dinner every night since we stay at BWV. I assume ADR doesn’t guarantee park entry. looks like it’s possible EP might be full In the evenings if everyone wants to park hop there for their second park? We might just have to make our park res at EP every day, check in, then go over to DHS or MK from 2 to 5. Depending on park hours. Then back to EP for dinner. Sounds crazy though.

 

[miamimama]

May have already been answered/ can you reenter your original park if you’ve hopped to another park?

 

[Bullseye]

Yeah Hopping Lite is a good sign! Were going to turn the corner on this thing pretty soon.

 

[fly girl]

So happy to hear this!

We really missed park hopping in August. Especially since we stayed at BWV (our favorite resorts are Epcot resorts) and dining options were limited. We repeatedly said we miss our nightly venture into Epcot for dinner.

 

[FoodieFriend]

Our main concern was being able to go to Epcot for dinner every night since we stay at BWV. I assume ADR doesn’t guarantee park entry. looks like it’s possible EP might be full In the evenings if everyone wants to park hop there for their second park? We might just have to make our park res at EP every day, check in, then go over to DHS or MK from 2 to 5. Depending on park hours. Then back to EP for dinner. Sounds crazy though.

I was thinking the same thing for our March trip but what happens if EVERYONE wants to hop to Epcot for dinner & the park is at capacity? It would be a bummer to upgrade to a hopper & not be able to use it. Currently Epcot is the only park with later park hours. I'm crossing my fingers all parks will extend evening hours to make the hoppers worth it.

May have already been answered/ can you reenter your original park if you’ve hopped to another park?

See @yulilin3 response below in regards to reentering the park you have a park reservation for.

Whatever park you have a reservation for you're guaranteed to get in at whatever time.

 

[BoatDriver]

Begins exactly two weeks after we get back home. The lack of park hopping, more than any other change, is the most disappointing part of our upcoming trip.