Park Pass- Was this a huge mistake???

[boxer]

We have our trip from 5/6-5/15, and I mistakenly only reserved HS Park Reservations, as I figured those would be the first to do. I just checked today to start finishing-up our plans, and noticed that MK and suprisingly AK is booked-up for most of our trip!!! Got a couple questions:

1. Is there any flexibility to those opening up? When we went in fall, all these parks were pretty much 'open' even day-of, so this was really a surprise.
2. Does this mean they are also closed to park-hopping? Meaning, I wouldn't even mind so much if we couldn't get into these other Parks until after 2PM.


Any help or advice is appreciated, as I don't want to be blamed for ruining our vacation, lol

 

[GBRforWDW]

You may be out of luck with park passes, but keep checking as people are always dropping and canceling vacations.

As of now, no park has been closed to hopping, even when all are full for reservations, so you can always do HS in the mornings and head to other parks later.

 

[kevgraub]

You should be fine with regard to park hopping. I am yet to see a single report of someone that was unable to hop after 2:00 pm because the park they wanted to go to was closed to capacity. That includes all the reports over spring break, when all of the parks were completely booked.

I'd say keep checking on getting either MK or AK reservations, as there is a reasonable chance they will open up. But worst case scenario is you will hit DHS every morning, and then hop to wherever you want to go later.

 

[boxer]

THANK YOU both so much! I'm more worried about the evenings, as that is tied to my dinner reservations, lol. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't need to be in a park BEFORE 2PM to be eligible to hop, correct? Meaning, if we just decided to sleep in, we are still eligible to go to a park after 2PM that day (so long as its open)?

 

[lanejudy]

if we just decided to sleep in, we are still eligible to go to a park after 2PM that day (so long as its open)?

You will still need to tap-in at the park where you have a reservation. It can be after 2pm, but you cannot hop without first going to the reserved park.

 

[Raimiette]

I think yes BUT you need to make sure you go to the first park you have reserved and scan in, otherwise I've been reading that the hopper won't be valid.

 

[NashvilleMama]

THANK YOU both so much! I'm more worried about the evenings, as that is tied to my dinner reservations, lol. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't need to be in a park BEFORE 2PM to be eligible to hop, correct? Meaning, if we just decided to sleep in, we are still eligible to go to a park after 2PM that day (so long as its open)?

you have to go to the park you have reserved that day before you can hop to another park. So if you had DHS park pass, you have to go there first no matter what time it is before it'll let you enter into another park after 2pm.

ETA: duplicate to the above, sorry!

 

[FCDub]

1. Is there any flexibility to those opening up? When we went in fall, all these parks were pretty much 'open' even day-of, so this was really a surprise.

Maybe. Maybe not. A LOT of people are running into the same issues, and competition for these spots is high. All you can do is keep checking.

 

[Shellyred8]

We have our trip from 5/6-5/15, and I mistakenly only reserved HS Park Reservations, as I figured those would be the first to do. I just checked today to start finishing-up our plans, and noticed that MK and suprisingly AK is booked-up for most of our trip!!! Got a couple questions:

1. Is there any flexibility to those opening up? When we went in fall, all these parks were pretty much 'open' even day-of, so this was really a surprise.
2. Does this mean they are also closed to park-hopping? Meaning, I wouldn't even mind so much if we couldn't get into these other Parks until after 2PM.


Any help or advice is appreciated, as I don't want to be blamed for ruining our vacation, lol

On the plus side, with having HS reservations every day, you have the maximum potential for getting RotR boarding passes!

 

[Lehuaann]

I don’t think you meant ‘mistakenly,’ but rather booked DHS everyday as a placeholder for RotR, like people did last year with 1 park per day/low attendance (we also went last fall and dec)

Completely different beast right now with attendance up and PH. We will be there in a couple of weeks and was surprised by how booked up the parks are. Sometimes we want to sleep in and don’t want to PH.

I‘d say keep refreshing online, even up until the night before. Worst case scenario, you will be forced to show up to DHS everyday and PH to another available park at 2 pm. However, that would stink to only have 5-8 hrs of park time

 

[ajgardner]

Also, even if the availability calendar says a park is closed, try it anyway. Sometimes there are a few openings that just aren’t reflected in the calendar. I was able to get reservations for my family of 4 this way even though the calendar showed Magic Kingdom as red.

 

[ScrampShopper]

Did you book HS for everyday or did you just book the few days that you definitely wanted HS? Because if the other days have no reservation, you should at least make the rest as Epcot because if there’s no reservation for you at all, there’s no option to hop.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Also, even if the availability calendar says a park is closed, try it anyway. Sometimes there are a few openings that just aren’t reflected in the calendar. I was able to get reservations for my family of 4 this way even though the calendar showed Magic Kingdom as red.

This could be dangerous as you have to cancel a current reservation to try for reservations in a different park. Though if you have 6 HS park days, it may be worth the risk.

 

[ajgardner]

This could be dangerous as you have to cancel a current reservation to try for reservations in a different park. Though if you have 6 HS park days, it may be worth the risk.

Ohhh! Good point - I didn’t think of that. I had no other reservations when I tried it!

 

[GBRforWDW]

Might still be worth a shot, but dang it'd be so much easier to try without cancelling the current. Also, you'd have to hope you did the right day for the right park.

If OP does decide to try this, I've heard others say they cancel 1 reservation at a time and try in a different park, that way if there's not space, you might be able to get the original reservation back. It might also be better to do this at an odd time of night, so the fewest people possible would be up and trying the same thing.

 

[mickeymom629]

Good luck, OP! I really don't like this park reservtion system.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Yeah, would be better if it allowed you to change a reservation without canceling...

I remember years ago someone talking about how they were talking about the technology allowing Disney to better control crowds... we are getting closer and closer to that time. Park Reservations, Virtual Queue and FastPasses - totally planned out and rigid with no, I want to bring a friend or hey let's go to Disney this week. Or allowance if something breaks and you don't get to ride something in the one "slot" open to you.

 

[Princess Katelet]

Wish I could trade you a day or two! I am going the week after you and was not able to get ANY Studios days. I have multiple of all the others, but no Studios means no Rise of the Resistance, period. This was a last minute trip and I only booked my parks last week and all three other ones were available, but this week MK is completely booked for all my days and some days E and AK are, too.

 

[Magnoliafan]

Yeah, would be better if it allowed you to change a reservation without canceling...

This is my biggest issue with the system. I’m going in 2 weeks myself and I’m happy to know that having reservations means that I’m not going to show up at a park and be turned away because I slept in or had a leisurely breakfast and the park filled to capacity in the meantime. But I think it’s crazy that if I want to switch parks, then I have to cancel my existing reservation first with no guarantee that I’ll be successful with the new reservation. It should be like Fast Pass or ADRs where you can try to modify without first giving up what you have.

OP, I’d echo the advice of others and book any available park for the days you don’t have HS. Then at least you have the option to park hop if nothing opens up.

 

[cgattis]

But I think it’s crazy that if I want to switch parks, then I have to cancel my existing reservation first with no guarantee that I’ll be successful with the new reservation. It should be like Fast Pass or ADRs where you can try to modify without first giving up what you have.

Totally agree.