September Trip - Questions

[GeorgiaHoo]

Trying to determine if we want to keep our September trip and had a couple questions I thought someone here could answer pretty quickly without me researching. TIA.

1. Looks like we still need to make park reservations for September. Anyone know if that is expected to continue? We usually visit MK our first day and then play it by ear after that so I'd prefer not to be tied to a certain park.
2. Is FP+ back?
3. We'll have parkhoppers. I recall reading at one point you could only visit a second park after a specific time and only if the park had availability. Is that still the case?

 

[shawthorne44]

1. Make Park reservations. If they are needed, then you will at least have someplace to go. At the moment, people are reporting that they either can't get reservations or only at Epcot for their entire trip. You can always try to modify them once you are there. But, at least you will have a plan B.

2. No.

3. Yes

 

[Marionnette]

Trying to determine if we want to keep our September trip and had a couple questions I thought someone here could answer pretty quickly without me researching. TIA.

1. Looks like we still need to make park reservations for September. Anyone know if that is expected to continue? We usually visit MK our first day and then play it by ear after that so I'd prefer not to be tied to a certain park.
2. Is FP+ back?
3. We'll have parkhoppers. I recall reading at one point you could only visit a second park after a specific time and only if the park had availability. Is that still the case?

The Park Reservation system is expected to last until at least 2022. It may become permanent.

FP+ has not returned.

Hopping can occur after 2 PM but only if you have visited the park that you originally reserved for that day. If you had no park reservation for that day, you cannot hop. Hopping is subject to capacity limits but there have not been any reports of anyone being turned away when they hop.

 

[Katie1174]

Trying to determine if we want to keep our September trip and had a couple questions I thought someone here could answer pretty quickly without me researching. TIA.

1. Looks like we still need to make park reservations for September. Anyone know if that is expected to continue? We usually visit MK our first day and then play it by ear after that so I'd prefer not to be tied to a certain park.
2. Is FP+ back?
3. We'll have parkhoppers. I recall reading at one point you could only visit a second park after a specific time and only if the park had availability. Is that still the case?

1. Yes, you will need to make park reservations for each day. No one knows yet how long it will be that way, end of year? Forever? And if you don’t have your tickets yet, keep in mind that park reservations fill up. When we went in May, I had made mine 6 months out, but the park reservations for our stay were full about a month in advance except for annual passholders.
2. FP+ is not back yet. The lines are standby only but move pretty quickly. No one is sure exactly when they will come back of if they will even be the same when they do bring them back.
3. we had parkhoppers also.You can only hop to another park a little before 2pm. And you must have tapped into your first park(the park you reserved for that day) or you wont be let into the 2nd park. 2 pm is the official time you can get into another park but sometimes we were let in when we arrived about 1:45pm. Disney says park hopping is based on availability but not a single person has been turned away from hopping even on all days that the parks were completely out of reservations. So as far as I can see and experienced first hand, hopping is fine for any park after 2.

 

[MomOTwins]

Just to explain a bit more on the third point, what counts as "capacity" for park hopping purposes is not the same as what counts as "capacity" for park reservations. So while a park may show as "sold out" for park reservations, it would still be available for hopping after 2pm unless Disney announces it is "sold out" for hopping. To date, there has never a park that is sold out for hopping purposes, but that may change particularly on days when there are big events (e.g., Oct 1 50th anniversary celebration, resumption of fireworks, holidays like Christmas/New Years).

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

Very helpful info! We'd prefer FP+ (well, I'd actually prefer the old FP system) but sounds like that may not be a dealbreaker at this point. It will just be the wife and I this trip and we'll probably want to hit all the "big" rides only so will have to think about the best way to do that. Hopefully late September won't be too crowded with everyone presumably back in school.

 

[gharter]

We were there in April and did not miss FP+ as much as we expected. With no FP, the standby line moved pretty quickly.
We were able to ride everything we wanted and rarely had a wait over 30 minutes and we got to see the entire queue, which you often miss with FP. For some rides, that doesn't matter, but for others, its fun to see.
For park hopping, currently you must tap in the park where you have a reservation first before you are allowed to park hop at 2. Will that continue as they increase park capacity? Nobody knows at this time. You can return to the park where you have a park pass as many times during the day as you wish and are no subject to capacity limitations (whereas you might be for the park you are hopping to).