Reservation expansion

[JMcMahonEsq]

Exactly. For those of us that used FP+, this really isn't much different in terms of knowing what park you might be going to. That's why we loved it. We frequently made our 3 FP+ selections for the second park we were going to that day. So we'd rope drop MK first thing, hit the stuff we wanted, then monorail to EPCOT for lunch and our 3 FP+ attractions. Worked great for how we like to travel. Other days we'd use them at the first park. It just depended on what we were doing that day.

I agree that the 2pm sucks, as we would usually hop prior to that. You've hinted that we might have more flexibility next year, so keeping our fingers crossed for that. Yup, FP+ going away totally sucked. We've been twice since they started their G+ crap, and we haven't paid a dime yet. Still rode what we wanted, just had to adjust our timing a bit.

Hell, in the past we were making dinning reservations 180days out. Functionally between dining reservations and FP you were making your park selections long in advance.

As for the 2PM time slot for park hopping, If you are going to bother having park reservations at all, functionally you need to have a timeframe where park hopping starts. Otherwise you know people would just book Epcott as their park reservation, and then jump to whatever park they want to go to. So while you can debate if park reservations are needed, but WDW has decided they are, therefore you need something in place to prevent the obvious work around.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Hell, in the past we were making dinning reservations 180days out. Functionally between dining reservations and FP you were making your park selections long in advance.

We never had a problem booking ADRs at 180 days, since we already had our resort reservations done several months prior to that anyway. I know that people say they don't know what they want to eat 6 months out, but if you book a favorite place, what difference does it make? Go eat there.

As for the 2PM time slot for park hopping, If you are going to bother having park reservations at all, functionally you need to have a timeframe where park hopping starts. Otherwise you know people would just book Epcott as their park reservation, and then jump to whatever park they want to go to. So while you can debate if park reservations are needed, but WDW has decided they are, therefore you need something in place to prevent the obvious work around.

It isn't necessarily the time frame for park hopping, we would just prefer it be around 11am, since we typically eat lunch at an EPCOT restaurant or browse for Food&Wine. Being at 2 means that limits us for lunch.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I think if they let you hop from only EPCOT to another park at any time that would solve most of the issue people have with the rule.

 

[Jeff4272]

I think if they let you hop from only EPCOT to another park at any time that would solve most of the issue people have with the rule.

or To Epcot...........

 

[mikejs78]

I think if they let you hop from only EPCOT to another park at any time that would solve most of the issue people have with the rule.

The big thing for me is the fact that you *have* to tap into your first park, even if it's after 2 PM.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Spoke to reservations yesterday about possible upcoming trip and they told me for an August vacation park hops would require reservations as well as the initial park. After 2 pm he said you can hop to another park that has available reservations, he said people who stay onsite would have priority and would be most likely to be able to visit other parks except on very busy days. He said refunds would not be given to people who purchased hoppers and couldn't use them when i asked. The WDW webpage has not updated this yet.

Going back to the OP...

This is literally the exact same thing they do today, except now you'll be able to confirm it ahead of time rather than schlep yourself to a different park just to be told they're at capacity. It's already true that park hopping is subject to availability at your destination park.

 

[bhg469]

Going back to the OP...

This is literally the exact same thing they do today, except now you'll be able to confirm it ahead of time rather than schlep yourself to a different park just to be told they're at capacity. It's already true that park hopping is subject to availability at your destination park.

That scenario is extremely rare. There are probably 10 days that MK is at max during the year?? Maybe less??

 

[CaptainAmerica]

That scenario is extremely rare. There are probably 10 days that MK is at max during the year?? Maybe less??

As far as I know, it's only happened once ever. Only at MK on October 1.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

it’s so bad it borders on self parody.

This is why I’m sure it’s true.

 

[GhostHost1000]

The big thing for me is the fact that you *have* to tap into your first park, even if it's after 2 PM.

Exactly and sometimes weather changes plans

 

[Jrb1979]

The big thing for me is the fact that you *have* to tap into your first park, even if it's after 2 PM.

Yes it sucks. From their perspective they don't like those who stroll through Epcot to grab lunch or breakfast and leave. They want people spending time and significant money in each park.

If it didn't impact profits I'm sure Park Hoppers would be a thing of the past.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I caution anyone from jumping to conclusions here. Disney is looking to add flexibility, not hinder it. Just wait for the actual change and you’ll see it’s nothing to go crazy about.

Since you now have to purchase Genie+ at midnight to ensure that it won’t get sold out and have to wake up at 7 am to make your first fastpass, I’m sure they’ll let you make park hopping reservations starting at 3 am the day of, because Bob Chapek hates people who go to Disney World.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes it sucks. From their perspective they don't like those who stroll through Epcot to grab lunch or breakfast and leave. They want people spending time and significant money in each park.

If it didn't impact profits I'm sure Park Hoppers would be a thing of the past.

The problem, operationally, is that they have "morning parks" and "evening parks," so hopping is a one-way street. People hop from Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, while they hop to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The return of Fantasmic should help with this somewhat, but Animal Kingdom will always disproportionately be a morning destination and Epcot disproportionately and evening one. If there was rough parity between the parks on where people were hopping to, none of this would be a problem.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Since you now have to purchase Genie+ at midnight to ensure that it won’t get sold out and have to wake up at 7 am to make your first fastpass, I’m sure they’ll let you make park hopping reservations starting at 3 am the day of, because Bob Chapek hates people who go to Disney World.

Genie+ isn't even technically able to be sold out yet. It's possible that functionality was finally released in MDX 7.10 but no guests are being prohibited from purchasing Genie+ at 7am. It hasn't happened once.

 

[Jrb1979]

The problem, operationally, is that they have "morning parks" and "evening parks," so hopping is a one-way street. People hop from Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, while they hop to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The return of Fantasmic should help with this somewhat, but Animal Kingdom will always disproportionately be a morning destination and Epcot disproportionately and evening one. If there was rough parity between the parks on where people were hopping to, none of this would be a problem.

In that sense I agree. Where I the issue seems to be is I'm sure they still want people to spend time in the parks no matter the time of day. My point being is the guest they don't like is those who walk through Epcot to get to DHS only stoping for a bite to eat. It goes with those who go to MK for an hour or 2 in the morning then hop somewhere for lunch.

 

[mmascari]

The big thing for me is the fact that you *have* to tap into your first park, even if it's after 2 PM.

That was the worst on our trip. On days when we wanted to go to a park not reserved instead, and just resort or water park in the morning to deal with the 2:00 restriction, the tap in requirement still created a significant amount of disruption. We stayed on the Skyliner and had to tap in at DHS and EPCOT, so it wasn't so bad. If we had stayed at a monorail resort or anywhere else, it would have been a huge pain.

I'm imagining someone staying at Poly with a second DHS reservation to be sure they get on RotR in case of issues the first day. Then, they get it the first day and don't want to go back to DHS. They cannot just sit in the Poly pool until 1:00 then start heading towards MK. Instead, best case of getting to MK is to take a bus from Poly to DHS around 12:00 so they can tap in and bus back. Cannot even monorail to EPCOT. Alternatively, they could cancel the DHS reservation and reserve EPCOT since it's almost always available, start at 12:00 (or earlier) and monorail to EPCOT tap in and leave, maybe get some lunch at least. Now you have a guest who paid extra to be near MK but they're forced to travel far away before going into MK at 2:00.

The problem, operationally, is that they have "morning parks" and "evening parks," so hopping is a one-way street. People hop from Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, while they hop to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The return of Fantasmic should help with this somewhat, but Animal Kingdom will always disproportionately be a morning destination and Epcot disproportionately and evening one. If there was rough parity between the parks on where people were hopping to, none of this would be a problem.

Today, AK opens an hour before MK and it closes 2 hours before MK too. Combine with early access driving more people to rope drop. They're clearly pushing more people into the parks earlier. Those decisions in operating hours and crowd push have direct ramifications on the hopping outcomes. Plus on other operations stuff too, like when busses are needed.

From our trip, it felt like each of those decisions was done in isolation without the other things adjusting based on the impacts. From the very basic of AK opening earlier and the early access push but then not having enough busses running early to effectively use it. The left hand not talking to the right.

 

[bhg469]

In that sense I agree. Where I the issue seems to be is I'm sure they still want people to spend time in the parks no matter the time of day. My point being is the guest they don't like is those who walk through Epcot to get to DHS only stoping for a bite to eat. It goes with those who go to MK for an hour or 2 in the morning then hop somewhere for lunch.

I'm sure they want people to spend time in the parks as long as it is early enough to send home staff and close the parks earlier and earlier!

 

[mikejs78]

The problem, operationally, is that they have "morning parks" and "evening parks," so hopping is a one-way street. People hop from Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, while they hop to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The return of Fantasmic should help with this somewhat, but Animal Kingdom will always disproportionately be a morning destination and Epcot disproportionately and evening one. If there was rough parity between the parks on where people were hopping to, none of this would be a problem.

That was the worst on our trip. On days when we wanted to go to a park not reserved instead, and just resort or water park in the morning to deal with the 2:00 restriction, the tap in requirement still created a significant amount of disruption. We stayed on the Skyliner and had to tap in at DHS and EPCOT, so it wasn't so bad. If we had stayed at a monorail resort or anywhere else, it would have been a huge pain.

I'm imagining someone staying at Poly with a second DHS reservation to be sure they get on RotR in case of issues the first day. Then, they get it the first day and don't want to go back to DHS. They cannot just sit in the Poly pool until 1:00 then start heading towards MK. Instead, best case of getting to MK is to take a bus from Poly to DHS around 12:00 so they can tap in and bus back. Cannot even monorail to EPCOT. Alternatively, they could cancel the DHS reservation and reserve EPCOT since it's almost always available, start at 12:00 (or earlier) and monorail to EPCOT tap in and leave, maybe get some lunch at least. Now you have a guest who paid extra to be near MK but they're forced to travel far away before going into MK at 2:00.


Today, AK opens an hour before MK and it closes 2 hours before MK too. Combine with early access driving more people to rope drop. They're clearly pushing more people into the parks earlier. Those decisions in operating hours and crowd push have direct ramifications on the hopping outcomes. Plus on other operations stuff too, like when busses are needed.

From our trip, it felt like each of those decisions was done in isolation without the other things adjusting based on the impacts. From the very basic of AK opening earlier and the early access push but then not having enough busses running early to effectively use it. The left hand not talking to the right.

It's also nighttime entertainment. Epcot and MK have it, DHS barely does and AK not at all. They need more nighttime stuff. Fantasmic should help but they should also bring back Galactic Spectacular (or similar) and a Rivers of Light replacement.

 

[mmascari]

It's also nighttime entertainment. Epcot and MK have it, DHS barely does and AK not at all. They need more nighttime stuff. Fantasmic should help but

If a park closes before sunset, is anything at the park really "nighttime" stuff?

they should also bring back Galactic Spectacular (or similar) and a Rivers of Light replacement.

We really missed the DHS Galactic Spectacular. They had some animation show, but it wasn't as good.

 

[Patcheslee]

The problem, operationally, is that they have "morning parks" and "evening parks," so hopping is a one-way street. People hop from Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, while they hop to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The return of Fantasmic should help with this somewhat, but Animal Kingdom will always disproportionately be a morning destination and Epcot disproportionately and evening one. If there was rough parity between the parks on where people were hopping to, none of this would be a problem.

Crazy thing is, I loved walking around AK at night. They just don't have enough dark hours it seems.