Imagine watching the sunrise by the Tree of Life in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, then watching the sunset in front of Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom — talk about the perfect day! Thanks to Disney’s special Park Hopper tickets, guests can hop from park to park all on the same day. Whether you’re trying to maximize your time or just want a little variety in your day, park hopping is a popular option among many Disney World guests.
LET’S GO PARK HOPPING!!
If you haven’t been to Disney World in a few years, you might be surprised by the number of changes we’ve seen around the parks and resorts. Park hopping, for example, is a little different now than it was before the pandemic. What’s changed? Let’s take a look.
How Does Park Hopping Work in Disney World?
First, let’s run through a quick overview of how park hopping works in Disney World right now. In the past, guests could come and go from the Disney parks whenever they wanted. Now, there are a few important things you need to keep in mind if you want to park-hop under the modified system.
First — you need a theme park ticket with the Park Hopper option or a pass that includes park hopping abilities (in other words, a basic one-day, one-park, standard ticket won’t allow you to hop around).
Balloons!
Second — you need to make a Park Pass Reservation for the first park you want to visit each day of your trip. Third — you MUST visit that first park in order to hop later. You can’t just skip that first park and go directly to a second park later. Instead, you MUST enter your first park (the park you have a Park Pass Reservation for), and THEN you’ll be allowed to hop.
Fourth — Disney World guests can only hop to another park beginning at 2PM each day. Disney has hinted that the 2PM Park Hopping start time is subject to change in the future, but for now, guests must wait until 2PM to visit a second park.
That view tho
Additionally, keep in mind that you can only hop at 2PM IF there’s availability. Lately, park pass availability has been wide open (except on busy holidays), so you probably won’t have to worry about hitting park capacity on a normal day. This rule was more important back when the theme parks first reopened in 2020, as theme park capacity was limited.
Click here to see our page full of information about Park Hopping!
The 2023 Park Pass Update
Beginning in April 2023, Disney modified its Park Pass rules — but only for select Disney World guests. Currently, all Annual Passholders can visit the Disney World theme parks after 2PM WITHOUT a Park Pass reservation, except on Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom.
Annual Pass
Keep in mind that this change only allows Passholders to enter the Disney parks without a Park Pass after 2PM. This means that Annual Passholders can park hop without making a Park Pass reservation and tapping into that park before hopping at 2PM. Really, this change just takes a little of the advance planning out of visiting the parks!
Tower of Terror
If Passholders want to go to a park earlier than 2PM, they will still need to make a Park Pass reservation. Further, Annual Passholders planning to visit the Magic Kingdom on Saturdays or Sundays still need a Park Pass, regardless of what time they want to visit the park.
Click here to read more about the new park pass rule change and who is impacted
Let’s talk about Park Passes
In the past, we’ve seen Park Passes completely fill up or “sell out” for one or more parks during the busy spring months and winter holidays.
Spring Break crowds
Let’s say all of the Park Passes for all 4 parks are completely full — that means the parks are ALL expected to reach capacity. Some may worry that if all of the parks are at capacity (or are just very busy), there may not be availability to Park Hop.
Animal Kingdom crowds
Luckily, as we mentioned earlier, Disney has slowly expanded its park capacity since reopening, so this has been less and less of an issue for Disney World guests lately. Unless you’re visiting on a VERY busy day (think New Year’s Eve, Christmas, etc.), you likely won’t have any trouble entering the Disney parks.
Do your research ahead of time to prevent big crowds!
Our biggest advice is to do some research before your trip to make sure you aren’t visiting the parks during a busy holiday if you want to guarantee full Park Pass availability.
Click here to see the Park Passes you should book WAY in advance
Here’s What You Need to Know
Now, we visit the Disney World parks pretty much every single day, and, to our knowledge, we haven’t seen anyone encounter a park at capacity for hopping. Though it’s possible that things could change, we’ve visited the parks during spring break, recent attraction openings, AND new fireworks shows, and (while super crowded) we didn’t have any issues come time to park hop.
Waiting for the park to open
As with most Disney World rules, things are subject to change, and Disney could decide to start limiting the park capacity or change its Park Pass rules, so make sure to do your research before your trip.
Mexico Pavilion Crowds
If you find yourself in the park during a particularly busy time of year, you can check the park hopping availability by calling (407) 560-5000 for the most up-to-date information on park availability. When you dial, a recording will tell you which parks have availability for hopping. We recommend you call this number BEFORE you leave your first park, just in case a second park is at capacity.
Tree of Life
If you and your family absolutely MUST visit a particular park or ride a specific ride, then you’ll probably want to make a Park Pass for that park and make it the first park you visit (at least during one day of your trip). That will help you at least guarantee your entrance to the park, and (if the ride is up and running) give you the best chance to ride that must-see attraction.
Hollywood Studios
If your plan only includes that must-do park as one you’d hop to in the afternoon, you run the risk that the park might not have Park Hopping availability, and you might not be able to enter it (though, as we said, this is pretty unlikely most days). If it’s a must-do, you might not want to leave it to chance.
Main Street
And if you’re traveling during a really busy time when the parks are set to reach capacity, you might want to consider whether Park Hopping is something you absolutely need, whether the cost is worth it for you, and whether you should plan your trip for the possibility that Park Hopping won’t happen. Again, it hasn’t been an issue with us yet, but you never know when Disney could change the rules.
Overall
Overall, being able to hop to the parks we’ve wanted to visit, even on busy days, hasn’t been the issue we were concerned it might be. Now that Annual Passholders can enter the parks at Park Hopping hours WITHOUT a Park Pass reservation, it seems like Disney is slowly relaxing the rules.
Pandora
Remember that you can always add on the Park Hopping option to your tickets (even part-way during your trip). But, Disney will charge you as if you’ve added the Park Hopping option on for your entire trip. So if you have a 4-day ticket and you decide to add the Park Hopper option on day 2, you’ll still be charged the park Hopper upgrade for all 4 days. So, if you are going to add it to your ticket, be sure to do so early on! And keep in mind that you generally cannot remove a Park Hopper option from a ticket, so you want to carefully consider whether you need it before paying for it!
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Check out the video below to learn more about some major changes in Disney World.
Our reporters will continue to visit the Disney World theme parks all the time, so we’ll keep hopping around to see if the rules continue to lessen, and we’ll let you know what we see. Stay tuned for more!
Bizarre Things That Make People MAD in Disney World
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What would happen if we made reservations in Epcot, but have a park reservation for a different park in the morning? If the Epcot gets to full capacity are we SOL with our reservation?
What happened to “third” ;-P
Jnoel, it was up in the paragraph after “second”. 🙂
Jenny, we have not yet encountered that problem. We expect you’d be let into the second park, but we haven’t been able to confirm this.
Does a park pass reservation grant guaranteed access for the whole day? For example, let’s say I have a reservation for Epcot and I got there in the morning, but decide to go back to the hotel for a couple of hours and come back later. If I come back after 2pm and people have hopped to Epcot, is it possible that the park is at capacity and I can’t get back in?
Re: park reservations/hopping
I have a park pass reservation for EPCOT.
If we go to Blizzard Beach for the morning THEN go to EPCOT in the afternoon, say around 3, are we considered “hopping?” We have dinner reservations at the Biergarten. Will we be allowed entrance if it’s full?
Must we always report to any park we have reservations for in the mornings?
If you leave your original park to hop to another, will you always be able to get back into the original park or could you be blocked from coming back in due to increased crowds while you were gone?
I hopped from HS to AK to Epcot all in one day on Tue 5/11/2021. Didn’t have any problems. Oh and we drove and got to AK really late 4pm ish and no parking attendants so you don’t pay (we didn’t anyways with AP) and you can park as close as you want.
We just returned from a week at WDW, 05/08 thru 05/15 – We park hopped 3 days No problems for us, worked well – what is surprizing is how they say they are at 35% capacity and the lines are long, dining is difficult and walkways are crowded – its far more crowded then when at full capacity and that just is so confusing to me, I mean if we are at 35% I expect to have walk on rides and ease of dining, NOT SO NOT SO
Hey Sarah! That was a sort of question of mine. I am going to WDW the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I already have my PH tickets with my 1st park pass set for each of our days.
Ex. I have a park pass for the MK with a lunch res. for JNC. I want to hop over to EPCOT for dinner.
How do I get the Dining Res system to let me make one for Monsieur Paul?
I have not seen this addressed as of yet. If one of your members can check this out for me, it would be appreciated. I have time since I cannot make DR’s until Sept.
Thank You for all your hard work in keeping us updated. I always refer every one I know to DFB.
Loyal reader
Diane
Diane, if Monsieur Paul has reopened by the time of your visit, you’ll be able to make an ADR there without a Disney Park Pass for EPCOT. The system doesn’t require DPP info in order to allow you to make an ADR.
Melissa, you could be unable to return if that park were to reach capacity while you were gone.
Beverly, as long as you have a Disney Park Pass, you should be able to tap into the park, regardless of the time of day. You would not be considered Park Hopping because the water park requires a different, separate ticket.
Mike, as long as you have not tapped into a second park, you can return to EPCOT.
DFB Sarah: Hey, thanks for being so responsive to your readers/viewers! It’s a nice touch.
Jim, this means so much to me. Thanks for saying that.
Now that it is later in the summer, is park hopping hard to do?
Erin, we still haven’t had trouble hopping.
If one park says limited availability now, as in I can not buy a ticket for say magic kingdom but can for the other parks. Is it likely I will still be able to park hop into Magic Kingdom on that day?
Chris, we have not yet had trouble Park Hopping. That’s not to say no one ever will, but so far it’s been doable.
Is park hopping limited to 2 parks at the moment? Would it be possible to have a reservation at EPCOT, go to Animal Kingdom at 2 PM, then go to Magic Kingdom later in the day?
Jessica, no limit to Park Hopping! You can hit all four Parks in a day if you want (and if there’s capacity in each one to do so).
Curious to get an update on how park hopping went over the busy summer now that it’s over. Did anyone experience any issues at 2pm transferring parks, especially to one that was previously fully reserved?
Mr. F, the only day we’ve had trouble Park Hopping so far was October 1 when Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom was halted for a while. We suspect this may happen during the holidays, specifically Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, when crowds tend to be at their highest levels.
We didn’t have an issues hopping to the parks we wanted to go to this past summer!
We love to hop to Epcot for dinner at the Table service restaurants. I really don’t want to choose Epcot as my reserved park each day of our vacation. How concerned should I be that I will be turned away from my hop to Epcot and not be able to make the reservation? Having access to the Epcot restaurants each evening is why we hop!
Hi Lynn! You should be able to park hop to Epcot every night with no issues. The only time Epcot might get full would be when the 40th anniversary comes around on October 1st. If that’s when you’re planning on visiting, I would definitely make a park reservation for that day just to ensure admission.