As Disney World starts to put its re-opening plans into action, the parks will be making a lot of modifications to fit with the health and safety guidelines they have put in place.
Cinderella Castle
Since there will be limited capacity in the theme parks when they reopen, guests will need to make reservations through the Disney Park Pass system in order to visit the theme parks. Due to the lower capacity as well as limited options available to guests once the parks reopen, Disney made the decision to pause all park hopping — which means “hopping” between Disney World theme parks in the same day — temporarily. (Note that Disney is selling park hopper add-ons for 2021 tickets at this time, so if your trip is in 2021, you’ll likely be able to park hop. This information is primarily for guests headed to Disney World in 2020.)
So what about all those guests who had purchased the Park Hopper add-on with their 2020 tickets?? Can they get refunds for that extra cost?
OK let’s break down the options. When Disney World reopens, guests are only allowed to make a park pass reservation for one park per day. While they can leave a park and return back into that same park later that day if capacity allows, guests can no longer spend a morning in Magic Kingdom before hopping over to enjoy an afternoon in Disney’s Hollywood Studios (for example).
Disney’s Hollywood Studios entrance
Disney has been offering refunds for guests who have been affected by the closures as well as a few options for Annual Passholders whose passes have been impacted.
And Disney will also be giving guests options for how to handle Park Hopper and Park Hopper Plus add-ons that had been previously added to their tickets.
Tamu Tamu Refreshments at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Option 1: Ticket Use Dates Have Been Extended, So “Wait and See” If Park Hopping is Reinstated
Disney has stated that guests with Park Hopper tickets can use their “current date-based ticket by September 26th, 2021, with the existing add-on options, should the options return by that date.” So if Park Hopping is allowed any time in the next year+, you can use your tickets as normal.
Based on our reader responses when we asked about park hopping add-on refunds, this is what many guests are choosing to do: wait it out. Currently, there’s no penalty for not changing your tickets. So guests who have vacations booked later in 2020 can simply wait to see if park hopping is reinstated by the time their vacation rolls around. OR they can postpone their vacations into 2021, as many tickets have been extended for use into September 2021.
If park hopping is not reinstated by the time your vacation approaches, then it’s time to move on to Option 2… .
Flower and Garden Festival
Option 2: Modify Your Tickets
Resort packages that include tickets are able to be modified by contacting the Disney Reservation Center at (407) 566-4985 or your travel agent directly. “Modifications” is likely where you will be able to switch your tickets to a different type and receive a refund on the park hopper add-on. We’ve had several readers confirm that they were able to modify their tickets with Disney and receive refunds.
That said, when I reached out to Disney World directly via website chat, I didn’t get as satisfactory an answer as I was hoping for. Initially, my chat companion, Wendy, told me that ticket cancellation would be as close as I could get to a refund:
Then, I started asking about modifying ticket packages directly. Wendy told me that I could keep everything else in my package the same and JUST modify my tickets… .
And that sounds to me like I’d be able to change tickets to non-park-hopper tickets and get a refund. But when I got down to brass tacks, Wendy tapped out.
So, yes, we have had some readers confirm that they were able to refund their park-hopper add-on by modifying their tickets. But you’ll need to speak with Disney directly to see if that’s an option for you.
Moving on to Option 3… .
Magic Kingdom
Option 3: Cancel Your Tickets
However, if you choose NOT to visit Disney World, you can also cancel your ticket or package. The Disney Reservation Center and travel agents will have more details so that you can explore your options.
But please be VERY careful with canceling tickets right now. Remember — Disney is NOT selling tickets for 2020 right now, and has not stated when those sales would return beyond “later this summer.” So if you have tickets for 2020 at the moment, those are precious commodities and you might not want to be too hasty with canceling those if you have them. If you cancel, you may not be able to purchase more for this year.
Epcot
So there we have it — three options for trying to manage your park hopper ticket add-on here in 2020! Remember, if you’re not going for a while, your best bet is probably to sit tight and wait to see if park hopping comes back by the time your trip rolls around. You can always “modify” or cancel your tickets later if needed!
Mission Space
Other Things To Note About Disney World Park Tickets
So while you’re deciding what to do with your tickets, here are two more details that Disney has released that may impact your decision:
Ticket Use Dates Have Been Extended For Most Guests and Flexibility Has Been Added
First — guests who have just about any kind of multi-day theme park ticket may now be able to use those tickets through September 26, 2021.
Second — we have also confirmed with Disney directly that if you have tickets for specific dates and they’ve been extended, those tickets can be broken up and used separately. For example, if you have a 5-day ticket dated November 1-5, 2020, you can use those five days — individually or altogether — anytime between park reopening and September 26, 2021.
Speak with a Disney reservations specialist to get more details on how to do this. And note that things are changing very quickly right now, so this could be updated at any time.
Via Napoli in Epcot
It’s important to note that guests will need a valid park ticket in order to use the Disney Park Pass system to make reservations for the theme parks. If you plan on visiting Disney World any time soon, be sure to talk to Disney or your travel agent to decide which option is the best for your situation!
Take a look at the full process of making reservations through the Disney Park Pass system!
Disney Park Reopening Details and Info
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TUTORIAL: How To Use Disney World's NEW Park Pass Reservation System
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I would live to be able to modify my park hopper (if I can’t hop) to a water park option like the park hopper plus to get water parks and put-put golf included.
Thank you for this!!! Very helpful!
Will modifying my tickets mess with my park pass reservations? I need our park hopper refunded, but don’t want to lose our park passes!
So we canceled our reservations for our 2020 trip and now only have our tickets left. We are not planning on going in 2021, so would we be able to get a full refund for our tickets, since we won’t be able to use them?
Kim, here’s what the Reopening page says about cancelling plans: Ticket Cancellation: If you do not want to use your ticket, you also have the option of cancelling your ticket or package. To discuss your options, please call the Disney Reservation Center at (407) 566-4985 beginning June 22, or contact your travel professional. I hope that helps!
Michelle, I wouldn’t think so, since you’re not cancelling your base ticket, just cancelling the add-on.
Good luck getting through on any of the 37 phone lines I’ve found for Disney. Circuits are always busy. I have gotten through on Chat but the people I’m chatting with do not know anything. They all suggested calling for answers. Honestly, why even offer the Chat feature?
Hi Sarah me again,
I have the Military Salute Certificates that are the park hopper passes. We don’t activate them till we get to WDW or to Disney Springs. Do I need to exchange these for regular park passes? I already have the Park Reservations done. I’m so afraid to mess with them and mess everything up. Our trip is in Mid-September.
This is frustrating. A CM told me last week if I called after June 26 I would be able to get a refund on the park hopper+ part of our tickets. It was not cheap for 6 people and for them to just say then cancel is not really right.
We are in this predicament. When we called Disney reservations they said that they didn’t recommend trying to change the tickets yet because then we would lose the desired dates we had chosen to go after reopening. He said when we go to Disney we can go to ticketing on the day we go into the parks and they will be able to refund us. Hopefully though park hopping will be back by the time we go! Hope this helps!
Dawn, if you have the Military Salute Certificates, those are turned into admission tickets on-site, right? I think as long as you’ve got those, and you’ve got your DPP, you should be fine. You could try to call Disney to confirm, but I don’t know if they’ll have an answer for you.
Disney stated if your dining was canceled you would receive 35% off your room rate. When calling Disney they stated my dates of travel are not part of this. What dining have to do with dates of travel in October since vacation was canceled twice because of parks and resorts being closed. Guest relations sent an email with someone’s name stating they are closed if so why did you respond stating the closure and someone would get back to me in the order it is received.
I purchased two flexible tickets back in November 2019. I was unable to use the, in Dec. because of a death in family. I rebooked my trip for March 2020 a new the pandemic hit which we were not able to visit then. Y husband has a compromise heart condition and we are told not to be in contact with our crowds. I would like to know if it possible to get a refund on my tickets. If not will they be extended to use at much later date.
Thank you,
Sandra Panico
We initially had an 8 night free dining package for early Sept 2020 with reservations at All Star Music and park tickets for 8 days with Park Hopper. Since our free dining was cancelled, we finally tried last week to cancel the Park Hopper option and we were told by one of the Disney phone line castmates that if we cancelled the Park Hopper, we would lose our 35% room discount. We were told the room discount is tied to having the Park Hopper option, even if we don’t use it or it’s not available. So, we will keep the room discount and park hopper (if we decide to go).
Sandra, I would expect you could get a refund on those tickets (or at least an extension — the date for which seems to be September 26, 2021), but I don’t know that for sure. Basically, I’m not seeing specific language about a refund on a flexible ticket, and I don’t want to steer you wrong. Hopefully a call (or chat) with Disney will give you some clarity.
Thanks, Stephanie!
I called and spoke with a representative on June 22nd. We have a seven day hopper ticket we would be using in August (still deciding if we are going). I asked about a refund for the hopper portion. I was told I could do that, but my tickets were converted to an expiration date of 9/26/2021 instead of the date specific tickets we purchased for our original May vacation. So if I took the hopper refund, they would then be date specific for my dates in August only. I’d still retain the value of the date specific ones if we cancelled, but I’d have to really check the numbers to see what is better. We purchased our tickets before the annual price increase, so if we rescheduled for 2021 (with another price increase) it might be less expensive to just keep what we have. We may just change them To non-hoppers when we arrive in August and keep our options open.
We have 10-day park hopper tickets for Sept. 2-15. Apparently they will not refund the “park hopper” add-on cost and still extend the ticket. In other words, I would have to use the tickets during the time they were originally purchased for (Sept. 2-15). I’m hoping that we will be park hopping by September, but realistically I don’t think that will happen.
We have reservations to stay at a Disneyworld resort in December, but have NOT purchased park tickets yet, and Disney isn’t selling any. Will we be able to get tickets and make park reservations before the reservations are taken?
Lenny, Disney is still just saying “later this summer” for resuming new ticket sales. We will update when they release info (or the tickets go live).
Awesome…. thanks for the info… much appreciated!
I have a Resort Reservation for December 2020 and I was told that the price does not change if I change my tickets from Park Hopper to Base Tickets. How are others receiving a refund?
After reading everyone’s comments I called WDW again and stated that when I called in late June and was told I could not receive a drop in package total because there was no cost adjustment between the Park Hopper Ticket and the Base Ticket. The WDW Representative stated that was not true and I received a $255.61 dollar credit towards my outstanding balance from changing my tickets to Base Tickets. Also, my Park Reservation, for each day of my trip, was not impacted.