Park Hopping returned to Walt Disney World Resort today, although a little different than it used to be. Visitors can now visit a second park starting at 2 pm, provided they have visited the park for which their initial Disney Park pass was made. This morning, we presented all the new information about Park Hopping. Now that Park Hopped is really here, here’s everything else you need to know.
Before Park Hopping
Even before Park Hopper hours began today, there were signs at the theme parks with information about the new system. For now, Park Hopper hours are 2 pm until the park closes, but that can change at any time. Be sure to check each park’s opening hours before trying Park Hop. You can see the hours posted this week here.
Park Hop guests must have a Disney Park Pass reservation for the first theme park they plan to visit and must enter that theme park before visiting another. We visited Magic Kingdom with our Park Pass this morning and then left for our second park in the afternoon.
Bus Park Hopping
We parked on the Magic Kingdom bus to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Now, gate 8 goes to EPCOT, gate 7 goes to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and gate 6 goes to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
This is the first time that a bus parking service has been available since the parks reopened in July. To board a park-to-park bus, you must have a valid ticket or pass with Park Hopper benefits.
A cast member examined our MagicBand to make sure we were allowed to Park Hop.
Cast members at a park-to-park bus stop will be able to tell if the second park you want to visit is full. You can also ask at Guest Relations or call the hotline at (407) 560-5000.
We had to wait a few minutes for a bus to arrive. The lines are socially distant, using multiple doors for a row.
They had a second bus stopped, knowing that many people would be at Park Hopping at 2pm.
See our video of the entire process at the bus stop below.
Remember that when you leave your first park, you will not be guaranteed access back if it reaches maximum capacity.
If you are driving and forget to check the capacity before leaving, the toll plaza cast members in your second park will be able to tell you if the park is full.
Arrival
Soon we arrived at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
There was another sign about Park Hopping near the bus stops here.
As soon as we digitized our MagicBand, we were in!
Visiting more parks
After a quick look at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we Park Hopped to EPCOT! We heard that you could now visit the four parks in one day, but we wanted to be sure.
We took the bus from Disney’s Hollywood Studios to EPCOT. Although it was not advertised as a Park Hopping option, guests can also use the Disney Skyliner to get around between these two parks.
Unfortunately, if you are going from Magic Kingdom to EPCOT, the EPCOT monorail line is not yet available.
Finally, we left EPCOT so that we could visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom before the end of the day.
It’s official! We visited all four Walt Disney World theme parks in one day for the first time since March 2020.
Are you excited about Park Hopping’s return to Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments!