Park Hopping with Magic Key

[LisaT91403]

We bit the bullet, and got our MKs today I went to make some reservations, and I'm a little confused about park hopping. I think it looks like you can pick which park you want to start in (assuming both are available), and then you can hop after 1:00 to the other park based upon availability? So...how/when do you know if the 2nd park is available on the day that you are there? And is there no way to reserve both parks on the same day? I'm used to the old AP system, so this is going to take some getting used to!

 

[l4dyj8]

Only need to reserve your starting park. One reservation needed per day. Magic Keys are park hoppers (after 1).
If you arrive after 1, it doesn't matter where you go.

But you do have to make reservations for each day you plan to visit.

 

[LisaT91403]

But is the park hopping subject to availability? Or do you get to hop after 1:00 no matter what?

 

[amyg1975]

I don’t think anyone has been turned away yet from hopping since Magic Key began.

 

[figment_jii]

As others have said, you can park hop after 1:00 pm. I think they just include the "subject to availability" wording to cover themselves in case one of the parks does actually reach capacity (or whatever capacity they choose to start restricting admission). I haven't heard about that happening since the parks re-opened, but it used to happen during Christmas in the pre-COVID times. If a capacity closure does happen, I'm sure it would be all over social media pretty quickly.

 

[LisaT91403]

As others have said, you can park hop after 1:00 pm. I think they just include the "subject to availability" wording to cover themselves in case one of the parks does actually reach capacity (or whatever capacity they choose to start restricting admission). I haven't heard about that happening since the parks re-opened, but it used to happen during Christmas in the pre-COVID times. If a capacity closure does happen, I'm sure it would be all over social media pretty quickly.

Ah, I see. Yeah, I'm familiar with the occasional dates when the parks reach capacity. It's very rare, and not on any day that I'd want to be there!

 

[DisneylandFan22]

The reservation system is kind of confusing, because when you make the reservation you select a park for "All Day," but you can definitely switch parks after 1:00 PM or enter either park after 1:00 PM without doing anything additional when making the reservation.

 

[Epicnemesis]

Also worth noting that you can only get a 7AM boarding group for the park you are booked for. A few weeks ago we tried getting web slingers since we weren’t planning on being in the park until afternoon anyways. They didn’t let us because we selected Disneyland as our starter park.

 

[LisaT91403]

Also worth noting that you can only get a 7AM boarding group for the park you are booked for. A few weeks ago we tried getting web slingers since we weren’t planning on being in the park until afternoon anyways. They didn’t let us because we selected Disneyland as our starter park.

Can you try for the noon boarding group if you have a MK but have to start in the opposite park of the one you want the BG for? For example, if we have to start in DCA, can we still try for the noon ROTR?

 

[Epicnemesis]

Can you try for the noon boarding group if you have a MK but have to start in the opposite park of the one you want the BG for? For example, if we have to start in DCA, can we still try for the noon ROTR?

I haven’t tested it but I think you should at that point.

 

[mel2014]

Can you try for the noon boarding group if you have a MK but have to start in the opposite park of the one you want the BG for? For example, if we have to start in DCA, can we still try for the noon ROTR?

You can do this, but you must have scanned into DCA before noon in order to do that. So if you aren't going to be in the park until the afternoon, you are out of luck for getting a boarding group for that day at DL.

 

[figment_jii]

Ah, I see. Yeah, I'm familiar with the occasional dates when the parks reach capacity. It's very rare, and not on any day that I'd want to be there!

Yeah, I can't imagine (at this point) be there when the parks reach the old levels of capacity crowds!

Can you try for the noon boarding group if you have a MK but have to start in the opposite park of the one you want the BG for? For example, if we have to start in DCA, can we still try for the noon ROTR?

Yup, as long as you've entered DCA (or whichever park your reservation is for), you can try for the noon boarding group in either park. Just note that the system will only let you be in one virtual queue at a time. So if you joined the 7 am virtual queue for RotR, but your group hasn't been called at noon, you can't try for Webslingers until you use the RotR boarding group. So far, I've tried:

• Starting in DL, joined the 7:00 am virtual queue for RotR and then joined the noon virtual queue for Webslingers
• Starting in DL, missed the 7:00 am virtual queue for RotR and then joined the noon virtual queue for RotR
• Starting in DCA, joined the 7:00 am virtual queue for Webslingers and then joined the noon virtual queue for RotR

The hardest part (and you really have no control) is using the first boarding pass before noon.