Park Hopping Tips for Your Next Visit to Disney World

Hey Disney Parks fans! Let’s talk about Park Hopping! The Park Hopper ticket allows guest to visit more than one park per day. This is a wonderful option for Guest visiting Disney World with a limited amount of time to visit all four parks.

After the 2020 COVID closures, the Park Hopping system return different that guest remembered pre-closure. Let’s review the new Park Hopping policies:

• Park Hopper hours will start at 2 PM each day and end at the park’s scheduled close time.

• With the updated Park Hopper experience, Guests must make a Disney Park Pass reservation for the first park they plan to visit AND enter that first park prior to visiting another. At this time, a park reservation is not required after the first park, however, reservation requirements are subject to change.

Please note that the ability to visit another park will be subject to the park’s capacity limitations. In the event that the Park Hopper option is unavailable at a theme park, Guests will be notified in real time via a push notification from the My Disney Experience app.

How to get from Park to Park

As you many already know, Disney World is very large! Getting from one park to the other can be more challenging than you may expect. That being said, some park are more convenient to hop to than the others. Some parks offer several different transportation options.

MAGIC KINGDOM

• Monorail to EPCOT

• Bus to all parks

EPCOT

• Monorail to Magic Kingdom

• Boat to Hollywood Studios

• Skyliner to Hollywood Studios

• Bus to all parks

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

• Skyliner to EPCOT

• Boat to EPCOT

• Bus to all parks

ANIMAL KINGDOM

• Due to the distance from the other parks, Animal Kingdom only offers bus transportation.

Park Hopping Tips & Tricks

There are a few things that you can do to make park hopping a easy process. Knowing the park you want to hop to and the what transportation you want to use will be very important. When you park hop will can help you avoid crowds at transportation as well. Let’s review our top tips.

• Check Park Times:

  We recommend hoping to a park that closes later at night and offer nighttime shows. Animal kingdom often opens earlier and closes later making it a good park to start with. You will want to finish your day strong at a park with a nighttime show like Harmonious(EPCOT) or Enchantment(Magic Kingdom). Soon Fantasmic, located in Hollywood Studios will reopen. This is a must see show in our opinion!

• Consider Capacity Limits:

  If you’re traveling during a busy time of year, like around the holiday season you may run into an issue with park hoping. If the parks are at max capacity you will be turned away from entering the park, even with the park hopper ticket. In the event that the Park Hopper option is unavailable at a theme park, Guests will be notified in real time via a push notification from the My Disney Experience app. We recommend that you do not make dining reservations for parks your hopping into during Disney’s peak seasons, or else you can be charged a $10.00 per person no-show fee.

• Avoid Park Hopping Right at 2pm:

  As you may expect, those that are park hopping will leave the park to head over to their next park directly at 2PM. This makes transportation lines a little longer that normal. We recommend leaving your 1st park around 1:30PM or after 3PM to avoid the longer transportation lines.

• Try to Avoid Buses:

  If possible, try to avoid using buses. The buses are sometimes unpredictable and can take a little longer than expected. We recommend using either the monorail, Skyliner, or boats to hop over to your next park.

• Know the Weather before Park Hopping:

  If you know a storm is heading your way around the time you’re suppose to park hop, be prepared for all transportation expect for buses to cease operations. It’s not fun to get into line for the Skyliner in EPCOT an a storm hit! You’ll have to walk all the way to the front of EPCOT and take a bus, this is a 20 minute walk in the rain my friends. Do not let this happen to you!

As always we hope this information helps you all add a little extra magic to your stay. If you would like assistance planning your stay, please contact us to learn more about out free services. If you would like to receive more tips and tricks, please follow use on social media and subscribe to our free newsletter.