News Park hopping to return January 1st 2021

[dreday3]

What could possibly go wrong with this plan?



Think about it a little deeper than that.

No. It's a park hopper. It will be available for my Disney trip in the spring.

I don't feel a need to spend the day thinking "deeply" about it to try and come up with reasons why this is a bad thing.

 

[Touchdown]

Welcome news, the chance of me going after I get a vaccine this winter just went up dramatically.

 

[Epcotfan21]

Wonderful news.

 

[HauntedPirate]

No. It's a park hopper. It will be available for my Disney trip in the spring.

I don't feel a need to spend the day thinking "deeply" about it to try and come up with reasons why this is a bad thing.

I needed all of 6 seconds to see why. If you need to spend a day trying to figure out why this isn’t a great idea, there’s no point in continuing this discussion. Go “be thrilled in your corner”, as you said.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Interesting that you don't need to make a second reservation at the park, but also limited to the current capacities. I wonder if they will have anything in the app saying if each of the parks are full or not. Something like green there is plenty of capacity, yellow means little capacity left and you may not get in depending on how many others get there before you, and red meaning already reached capacity.

That just tells me they don’t expect enough crowds to have to even consider influx into a park. Which says two things:

1. They don’t expect real crowds until at least april
2. No shows/new ride openings, etc

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

No. It's a park hopper. It will be available for my Disney trip in the spring.

I don't feel a need to spend the day thinking "deeply" about it to try and come up with reasons why this is a bad thing.

The word “my” takes the guesswork out of it.

I needed all of 6 seconds to see why. If you need to spend a day trying to figure out why this isn’t a great idea, there’s no point in continuing this discussion. Go “be thrilled in your corner”, as you said.

Yep. Common sense still not that common

 

[dreday3]

I needed all of 6 seconds to see why. If you need to spend a day trying to figure out why this isn’t a great idea, there’s no point in continuing this discussion. Go “be thrilled in your corner”, as you said.

In other words - "I want you to be upset and find an issue, you aren't, so you aren't worth talking to."

Got it.

 

[senor_jorge]

Great News! Guests will no longer be limited to visiting only one park per day which had its entertainment segment gutted by layoffs.

But it will be good news for EPCOT, because now more guests will be able to enjoy all the dining options (that have reopened). I know I'll have a smile on my face dining at the Biergarten in Germany being served by Betty from Alabama with a wonderfully distinctive Southern German drawl.

Guten tag, ya'll!

 

[dreday3]

The word “my” takes the guesswork out of it.



Yep. Common sense still not that common

Yes. I have zero common sense.

Yeesh! Curmudgeons....

 

[HauntedPirate]

In other words - "I want you to be upset and find an issue, you aren't, so you aren't worth talking to."

Got it.

Except... I'm not upset. I'm simply pointing out that a lot of people are going to be upset when this system doesn't work for them because it was not thought through. Carry on.

 

[Nottamus]

I think it’s great! Now all I can hope for is that the things we park hop for will be open when we get there

We mostly park hop for food or drinks anyway...with the occasional rides or show thrown in ..

April trip is coming up fast. Last trip was December 2019...seems like a lifetime ago!

 

[UNCgolf]

When I hear about something like this, I immediately get worried that they're going to eventually make this the standard process going forward even once Covid is over for operational efficiency reasons (although the free for all after 2 isn't exactly efficient, so they'd probably make changes there). Leave the park reservation system in place and then also allow you to hop to one other park in the afternoon, and that's the limit of a park hopper.

While it's of course better than not having the ability to park hop at all, if this type of reservation and park hopper system becomes permanent, it's going to really dampen my enthusiasm about ever returning to WDW. I want more freedom than that for the amount of money it costs.

 

[arich35]

I think it’s great! Now all I can hope for is that the things we park hop for will be open when we get there

We mostly park hop for food or drinks anyway...with the occasional rides or show thrown in ..

April trip is coming up fast. Last trip was December 2019...seems like a lifetime ago!

We went for our first time the first week of December 2019, I can't believe it has already been a year. We are hoping to go back in May with our 2 year old for her first trip

 

[Ldno]

So does that mean that parks that’s would be at capacity have a change of heart? The article mentions DHS to Epcot but it feels like it be harder to get back into DHS if it’s full for the weekend IMHO. They should change the time to 3pm, with the new park hours 2pm is too short

 

[larryz]

I know I'll have a smile on my face dining at the Biergarten in Germany being served by Betty from Alabama with a wonderfully distinctive Southern German drawl.

 

[mattpeto]

When I hear about something like this, I immediately get worried that they're going to eventually make this the standard process going forward even once Covid is over for operational efficiency reasons (although the free for all after 2 isn't exactly efficient, so they'd probably make changes there). Leave the park reservation system in place and then also allow you to hop to one other park in the afternoon, and that's the limit of a park hopper.

While it's of course better than not having the ability to park hop at all, if this type of reservation and park hopper system becomes permanent, it's going to really dampen my enthusiasm about ever returning to WDW. I want more freedom than that for the amount of money it costs.

I wouldn't put much effort to overthinking any pandemic-state protocols. It's a limited capacity, they still can't have a free for all right now.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Some people just don't like to listen when people say it's coming.

Admittedly though, if you had asked me how they were going to do it, free-for-all after 2 would not have been my guess. This only makes the case stronger for making most reservations for DHS.

I assume it’s data driven. Perhaps the parks in general are quieter after 2 PM because the mask-holes “can’t breathe.”

Can’t breathe when you are dead either.

 

[nickys]

No. It's a park hopper. It will be available for my Disney trip in the spring.

I don't feel a need to spend the day thinking "deeply" about it to try and come up with reasons why this is a bad thing.

It will be available and may work for some who like to make spontaneous decisions.

However making plans to hop to a specific park might not be wise. If you booked an ADR at the second park and then found that park was full when you got there, not only do you not have a dinner ADR you might get charged a no-show fee. And then have to waste time at Guest Services to plead your case and get it refunded.

Imagine heading to AK and finding so had everyone else and when you got to the tap stiles you were told “sorry, the park is now full”

Dinner at Epcot would be the safest bet but you’d need to plan to be there for most of the afternoon.

It’s a step in the right direction but there are reasons why it might not be all it seems.

 

[dreday3]

It will be available and may work for some who like to make spontaneous decisions.

However making plans to hop to a specific park might not be wise. If you booked an ADR at the second park and then found that park was full when you got there, not only do you not have a dinner ADR you might get charged a no-show fee. And then have to waste time at Guest Services to plead your case and get it refunded.

Imagine heading to AK and finding so had everyone else and when you got to the tap stiles you were told “sorry, the park is now full”

Dinner at Epcot would be the safest bet but you’d need to plan to be there for most of the afternoon.

It’s a step in the right direction but there are reasons why it might not be all it seems.

It's better than no option for hopping at all.

If we want to hop to AK after a morning/early afternoon at DHS (assuming AK is open until 7 or so), we can certainly find something to eat there without needing a reservation.

I'm not going to make a dinner ADR in a park that I already don't have a reservation. I mean, that's just common sense...

I think anyone going during this time is already being flexible and a bit more spontaneous with their planning. Hopping coming back can only help if you keep that same frame of mind.

(everything has it's set of issues, but sorry, I can't be convinced this is anything but a good thing)

 

[UNCgolf]

I wouldn't put much effort to overthinking any pandemic-state protocols. It's a limited capacity, they still can't have a free for all right now.

It's more that keeping a park reservation system in place would allow them to operate more efficiently. They could have less staff and thus cut costs, which seems to be a major driver for the current leadership.

It wouldn't be the first time a company has had to create a process due to unforeseen circumstances, and then decided that process was more conducive to profits and thus instituted it full-time.