2pm park hopping is ridiculous now

[durangojim]

With food and wine occurring and EPCOT still not opening until 11am each morning, it means many people with park hoppers have to decide if they want to wait to do nothing in the morning when it comes to parks if they’re going to EPCOT. My wife and I are here for a long weekend and we enjoy having lunch at the food and wine booths between 11 and 12. We’re also early risers which means after we go for a long walk in the morning we either need to wait to get into EPCOT at 11 or go to a different park and get lunch there at 2. In the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal but still seems silly now. I spoke with guest services today and they said they understand our frustration but due to covid there are no plans to change it.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Its annoying for those of us that are rope droppers but you'll get the later nighters that enjoy being able to sleep in and stay until 10pm.
So its a wash really.
Nice thing about it right now for me personally is that I plan on taking advantage of the later opening one day to go to Kona Cafe for breakfast and not have to worry about missing rope drop.

 

[Clamman73]

Even more so now with the Epcot monorail open…I would do a rope drop MK and then go to Epcot for an 11 opening if you could.
But in general I hope it goes back to a 9 opening in the fall.

 

[zapple]

The 2:00 park hopping is ridiculous and I hate it.

 

[Ayla]

Even more so now with the Epcot monorail open…I would do a rope drop MK and then go to Epcot for an 11 opening if you could.
But in general I hope it goes back to a 9 opening in the fall.

You can't park hop until 2pm or later.

 

[Clamman73]

You can't park hop until 2pm or later.

Right…my comment is that a 2pm Park hop time is even more ridiculous now b/c you can (could) easily ditch out of MK at lunchtime via monorail like old times, but w/ the 2pm time…no good.

 

[The_Jobu]

It helps them allocate the minimum amount of staff that keeps the lines barely tolerable. Aka it saves them money and the guests can pound sand so it’s not changing anytime soon, if ever.

 

[Ayla]

Right…my comment is that a 2pm Park hop time is even more ridiculous now b/c you can (could) easily ditch out of MK at lunchtime via monorail like old times, but w/ the 2pm time…no good.

Ok. I thought you were advising them to start at MK and then go to Epcot at 11. My bad!

 

[durangojim]

Its annoying for those of us that are rope droppers but you'll get the later nighters that enjoy being able to sleep in and stay until 10pm.
So its a wash really.
Nice thing about it right now for me personally is that I plan on taking advantage of the later opening one day to go to Kona Cafe for breakfast and not have to worry about missing rope drop.

I don’t care if Epcot doesn’t open until 11, it’s just that I can’t go to any other park before 11 if I want to go to Epcot before 2

 

[tanc]

last august I honestly really missed park hopper. The crowds were so low, we were doing parks within like 6 hours and had nothing else to do afterward. Park hopping would have been great at that time, but knowing how crowded EPCOT gets, it's not good that it exists at 2PM.

 

[TokyoMiki]

Hopping is such an inefficient way to spend time at WDW. I would never do it unless under very unusual circumstances. And if you're bussing, then
forget it. Game over. That ain't even vacationing anymore.

The only workable combos are Epcot & Studio(barely) and Epcot & MK. But even those come with a fairly nasty consequence.

Imagine being at AK and looking to get to Epcot Germany via bus. You be half nuts to play that.

 

[vikescaper]

Hopping is such an inefficient way to spend time at WDW. I would never do it unless under very unusual circumstances. And if you're bussing, then
forget it. Game over. That ain't even vacationing anymore.

The only workable combos are Epcot & Studio(barely) and Epcot & MK. But even those come with a fairly nasty consequence.

Imagine being at AK and looking to get to Epcot Germany via bus. You be half nuts to play that.

I guess I have never really had any issues park hopping, before or during the pandemic. You just have to make sure you give yourself enough transit time to make it to the other park.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Hopping is such an inefficient way to spend time at WDW. I would never do it unless under very unusual circumstances. And if you're bussing, then
forget it. Game over. That ain't even vacationing anymore.

The only workable combos are Epcot & Studio(barely) and Epcot & MK. But even those come with a fairly nasty consequence.

Imagine being at AK and looking to get to Epcot Germany via bus. You be half nuts to play that.

Its really not all that difficult.
I park hop every time.
If you're a first timer well then no no need to park hop but when you've been a number of times and know what you enjoy doing at what park at what time of the day then park hopping is pretty easy.
I usually hop from HS to EPCOT and MK to EPCOT. (What are the "nasty consequences"??)
I've done it all ways though.
Its also very helpful on quick and dirty weekend trips. You can hit the highlights with a 2 day park hopper and an after hours/party ticket

 

[Ayla]

Hopping is such an inefficient way to spend time at WDW. I would never do it unless under very unusual circumstances. And if you're bussing, then
forget it. Game over. That ain't even vacationing anymore.

The only workable combos are Epcot & Studio(barely) and Epcot & MK. But even those come with a fairly nasty consequence.

Imagine being at AK and looking to get to Epcot Germany via bus. You be half nuts to play that.

LOL Then you get on a BW, BC or YC bus at AK to get to Germany. It isn't hard or inefficient at all if you know what you're doing.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Exactly why we did not buy into a PH option for the first time in all our trips. Usually we take full advantage of using it at our pleasure but now with limiting us theres very little value in it. For the first time we ate at a restaurant in the same park we were in all day. At the end of our trip it felt like we had been short changed by not getting through multiple parks on multiple days.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Exactly why we did not buy into a PH option for the first time in all our trips. Usually we take full advantage of using it at our pleasure but now with limiting us theres very little value in it. For the first time we ate at a restaurant in the same park we were in all day. At the end of our trip it felt like we had been short changed by not getting through multiple parks on multiple days.

I get what you're saying but at the same time you short changed yourself by not adding PH...
You could have still gone to multiple parks on multiple days.
I guess it all depends on how you tour because I've been to 3 parks in one day and usually don't leave my first park until at least 1pm. So right now Iif I left my first park at 1:30pm I'd be right on time for park hopping at 2pm.

 

[JIMINYCR]

I get what you're saying but at the same time you short changed yourself by not adding PH...
You could have still gone to multiple parks on multiple days.
I guess it all depends on how you tour because I've been to 3 parks in one day and usually don't leave my first park until at least 1pm. So right now Iif I left my first park at 1:30pm I'd be right on time for park hopping at 2pm.

Not worth it to us with the time limitations. If we lose the freedom to choose to hop when we want it has less value for us to buy and use.

 

[DisneyMusician2]

Eh the 2PM doesn't bother me much, I actually don't mind the late rise Epcot day. When I was there a few weeks ago, it was nice to book a sit-down breakfast, sleep a little later and feel like I wasn't losing a ton of time on my day. I think its all about how you approach it

 

[durangojim]

forget it. Game over. That ain't even vacationing anymore.

The only workable combos are Epcot & Studio(barely) and Epcot & MK. But even those come with a fairly nasty consequence.

Imagine being at AK and looking to get to Epcot Germany via bus. You be half nuts to play that.

I must be nuts then. Not sure what planet you’re from but efficiency is the last thing on my list when I stay at WDW, which is usually 4-5 weeks out of the year. I much prefer to get up early, go for a long walk, hit a park for a couple of hours then go to EPCOT for early lunch during the festivals and then back to the room for a while to take it easy. Get some dinner later and do another park. My park commando days have been long gone.

 

[durangojim]

Hopping is such an inefficient way to spend time at WDW. I would never do it unless under very unusual circumstances. And if you're bussing, then
forget it. Game over. That ain't even vacationing anymore.

The only workable combos are Epcot & Studio(barely) and Epcot & MK. But even those come with a fairly nasty consequence.

Imagine being at AK and looking to get to Epcot Germany via bus. You be half nuts to play that.

Hop on a bus to beach club and then walk to Germany? Doesn’t seem that tough.