2022 Park Hopping at Disney World Tips

Park Hopping is back at Walt Disney World. Guests who buy Park Hopper tickets and Annual Passholders can visit Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom all in the same day. This guide shares important details, info & tips, and strategy. (Updated March 6, 2022.)

As a reminder, Park Hopping was temporarily suspended along with the Disney Dining Plan, FastPass+, Extra Magic Hours, character meet & greets, etc. At that same time, the Disney Park Pass theme park reservation system was rolled out to manage attendance and adherence to capacity caps.

Whereas some of those other things still haven’t come back (and some never will), Park Hopping returned at the beginning of last year. It also suggests that Disney is not concerned about hitting its capacity caps in the afternoon most days, which should be good news when it comes to crowd levels going forward. There’s only a couple, rather significant, caveats.

We’ll start with basic info on modified Park Hopping at Walt Disney World. First, although Park Hopping is being added, Disney Park Pass reservations are not being dropped. That’s still required for the first theme park you’re visiting each day. At present, the that reservation system is in place to manage capacity through January 2024. (We believe Walt Disney World will end up ditching it well before then.)

Not only do you need to have a Disney Park Pass reservation, but you actually need to scan in at the turnstiles and enter your first park to “validate” and enable Park Hopping. Savvy as the decision might seem, you can’t book DHS but skip it and head to Magic Kingdom to loop Country Bear Jamboree all day. That requirement should be pretty simple for most guests to fulfill due to the next caveat.

Second, unlike before when you could hop whenever, now Park Hopping does not begin until 2 pm each day. Walt Disney World has noted that this is subject to change, and our expectation there is some parks might allow Park Hopping earlier in the day (not later) at some point.

For instance, it’s easy to envision a scenario where EPCOT has no limitations on Park Hopping–both because of its higher capacity and lower demand. By contrast, it seems unlikely that Disney’s Hollywood Studios will allow Park Hopping before 2 pm–because of its lower capacity, higher demand, and the fact that crowds there are heaviest in the morning and midday.

You also do not need a reservation for subsequent parks that you visit. More accurately, you can’t book Disney Park Pass reservations for multiple parks per day. There also are no limits on how many parks you can visit when Park Hopping. It’s possible to do all 4, and it’s also possible to return to the original park you booked.

The only limitation with Park Hopping at Walt Disney World is predicated upon capacity caps. This means that, in theory, you could get turned away upon arrival after 2 pm if your destination is already hit its attendance limit. However, in reality this has only ever been an issue once–on Magic Kingdom for a few hours on October 1, on the 50th Anniversary.

Otherwise, Park Hopping has not once been restricted, including on incredibly busy days, like New Year’s Eve, Christmas, or Thanksgiving. It’s important to stress this reality because getting turned away is a common concern among readers, but it just has not been happening aside from the actual 50th Anniversary day, and even then, Park Hopping resumed after only a few hours of being paused.

If you’re still concerned about the capacity status of a park to which you’re considering hopping, the easiest way to find out is by calling Walt Disney World’s Park Hopping phone line at (407) 560-5000. We’d caution against simply asking random Cast Members inside the park you’re visiting–that’s not knowledge they’d have. (The bus stop Cast Members should know, though.)

The most interesting wrinkle to modified Park Hopping is that park-to-park bus transportation begins running each day shortly before to the start of Park Hopper hours.

In terms of transportation, options are car (yours or rental), ride share (Uber or Lyft), Skyliner gondolas, FriendShip boats, or Disney buses. MagicBands and/or tickets are no longer being scanned at the buses to verify whether guests are eligible to Park Hop, but you should know whether you bought Park Hopper tickets. (They cost more!)

When it comes to strategy, there are a multitude of different approaches. One is to “emphasize” Disney’s Hollywood Studios when making your Park Pass reservations. This isn’t really new advice, but the reason has changed.

Previously, it was to have multiple tries at the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance virtual queue. That’s now gone, but DHS still has more high-profile headliners than any other park at Walt Disney World. Knocking those out early in the day can be incredibly advantageous, but only if you’re eligible for Early Entry. If not, you need a different strategy.

One such strategy would be booking Epcot in the morning and Park Hopping to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the afternoon or evening. There are a few reasons why this approach is advantageous.

First, a lot of guests who arrive for park opening get “burnt out” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, since most of its popular attractions draw hour-plus wait times by noon. This leads to a mass exodus of guests around 2 pm and falling wait times for the remainder of the day.

Second, Disney’s Hollywood Studios currently does not have a nighttime spectacular. Fantasmic still isn’t back and the projection shows aren’t big draws.

Because of this, the last couple hours of the day tend to be especially uncrowded, as many guests head to Epcot for Harmonious.

Finally, due to the top-heavy nature of the attraction lineup mentioned in the first point, Genie+ return times are often in the afternoon and evening in Disney’s Hollywood Studios even if you start the day there.

As such, it can be a better course of action to start elsewhere, and book Lightning Lane reservations for DHS while at that other park. (For more info and answers to common questions, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ.)

It’s easiest to Park Hop between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios due to the Skyliner, boat service, and walkway between the two parks. Intuitively, this makes these two parks the perfect pair. However, Harmonious throws a monkey wrench into that.

We think starting your day at Animal Kingdom and bouncing to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the afternoon and evening makes more sense. This is our preferred way to experience both parks, which also works well given normal operating hours. If you’re really ambitious, you can also scramble over to Epcot for the end of the night to see Harmonious, too.

Speaking of which, one great way to extend your day at Walt Disney World is starting out at Animal Kingdom (normally open from 8 am until 6 pm) and finishing at Magic Kingdom or Epcot, which typically close at 9, 10, or 11 pm.

This works well because it’s easy to accomplish everything at Animal Kingdom in roughly one half-day, whereas many guests like multiple days in Magic Kingdom. (Although it’s not always possible due to operating hours and sunset times, we also love evenings in Animal Kingdom. The last two hours that park is open, lines are virtually nonexistent.)

Two nights in Magic Kingdom can be especially advantageous for seeing the Disney Enchantment fireworks twice during your trip. While we don’t like these nearly as much as we enjoyed Happily Ever After, they’re still fireworks above Cinderella Castle–and that’s an awesome experience.

For all of these reasons, we highly recommend buying tickets with the Park Hopper option. See our Guide to Discount Walt Disney World Tickets for money-saving tips and other need to know info.

Ultimately, we’re happy to have Park Hopping back, even if it’s not the totally normal version, which may never return. Even though we could easily spend a full day in every single park at Walt Disney World, there are a number of strategic reasons to do two parks in one day.

This is especially true with Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which can be frustrating to do in a single day. Splitting it up into multiple mornings or evenings makes for a considerably easier and more enjoyable experience–and you can save a ton of time in lines that way. To a lesser extent, Animal Kingdom and Epcot also can be conducive to half-day visits, albeit minus the same time-savings. Anyway, hopefully these updated Park Hopping tips provide you with more strategy to add to your “toolkit” for visiting Walt Disney World in 2022!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

Are you excited to Park Hop once again at Walt Disney World? If you’ve been postponing a trip, does this move the needle for you, or do you still need more ‘temporarily suspended’ offerings back? Think this will have a ripple effect on anything else at Walt Disney World? What do you expect to come back next? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!