Last month, Disney announced that all day park hopping will return January 9, 2024. In this post, we break down what this means for guests, including how to get the most out of park hopping now that the 2PM restriction will be dropped. Read on to learn more about the return of all-day park hopping!
What’s Changing January 9?
A few things are changing January 9, but two are particularly relevant for this post. First, guests with dated tickets (i.e. most tickets) won’t need parks pass reservations to enter the Walt Disney World theme parks anymore.
While parks are still always subject to close due to capacity, this change signals that Disney is returning to a pre-2020 mindset. This means the parks will usually only hit capacity on or around major holidays, and still only rarely even on those days. (Note: Annual passholders will still need parks pass reservations to visit the parks.)
The second change—the subject of this post—is that annual passholders and guests with park hopper tickets will no longer need to wait until 2PM to “hop” between parks. Beginning January 9, 2024, these guests will be able to come and go between the parks as they please.
While Disney could have kept the 2PM restriction while dropping the parks pass requirement, it makes sense to drop them both at the same time. The bottom line here is that these systems were no longer health/safety related, and I suspect they were kept this long because they helped the business keep the parks more efficiently staffed.
But since 2020, planning a Disney World vacation has become even more complicated. This means people are less likely to visit (we’ve even endorsed Universal Orlando Resort as a better alternative for some guests). The complicated park entry systems may have saved the business some, but they probably cost it a lot. I’m glad to see these things go.
How much more valuable is park hopping in 2024?
Well, of course it’s somewhat more valuable, but that doesn’t mean we think it’s anymore of a necessity than it has been the last few years.
If you used park hopping strategically the last few years, you probably weren’t tied down too much by the 2PM rule. Magic Kingdom sometimes closes at 10PM or 11PM. Nine hours in that park, hopefully with a nice Genie+ stack, is plenty. Of course, Animal Kingdom can close at 5PM, but you hopefully simply were not hopping to that park the last few years.
Moreover, we remain fans of full days at the parks. Hopping is a “nice to have” not a “must have” for us, as long as you can spend one full day at each park.
The biggest winners, then, are guests planning 3-day trips or 2-day / weekend trips. It makes more sense to fit four parks into these short trips because a morning park doesn’t have to fill the bulk of the day—you can get in, ride a few rides, and get out.
While the 2PM restriction was annoying—even I’d write a paragraph in a post and then realize it wasn’t possible because of that rule—I don’t think the return of all day hopping is truly a game changer. That said, there are specific instances where you’ll get a lot of value out of taking advantage of the new (old) rules.
What touring strategies benefit most from this change?
There are two particular strategies that benefit a lot from this change.
First, you’ll be able to get in and get out of Animal Kingdom early in the morning. I’m long on record as loving Animal Kingdom, once writing that it was Disney’s best theme park. I’m older now. Maybe I’m wiser. Maybe I’m just grumpier. But my honest opinion is the park probably doesn’t need a full day, and on short trips it doesn’t justify a full day.
If Animal Kingdom opens at 8AM with Early Entry at 7:30AM, you can easily get out of there by 11AM feeling satisfied. You could be done with a few major items by 10AM most days. For the past few years, you were forced to fill another 2-3 hours at the park (not awful—it’s got good shows and good spots for lunch). Now, you can TCB and get on with your day.
Second, you’ll be able to hop to Epcot for lunch. Epcot definitely can fill a full day. It definitely deserves a full day. But if Epcot opens at 9AM, you’re not losing so much arriving at 11AM. Particularly, if you’re hyped for the Epcot festivals and the World Showcase, you really prefer the park after 11AM to the park before 11AM.
The last few years, guests wanting to indulge at Epcot after starting at another park had to wait until 2PM. This meant either delaying your lunch or showing up at the park already full. Neither of these are great options. With Hollywood Studios so close and offering amazing rope drop options, it’s nice to have the opportunity to start there with some big thrills and then hop to Epcot for lunch and a chill afternoon.
Finally, more a fun item than a real strategy, the four-park day is a lot easier when you can hop before 2PM. Now, you could spend 8AM to 11AM at one park, 11:30AM to 3PM at a second, 3:30PM to 7:30PM at a third, and 8PM to 11PM at a fourth.
What about Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios?
Right. So, above I basically said Animal Kingdom is better to hop from now and Epcot is better to hop to now. What about Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios?
First, it’s worth remembering both of these are good for hopping to Epcot. Magic Kingdom is connected to Epcot by monorail (with a transfer at TTC), and Hollywood Studios is connected to Epcot by Skyliner, walking path, and Friendship Boat service. You can get in some excellent rides with early entry at either of these parks, and a good Magic Kingdom rope drop strategy will have you with some short waits during Early Entry and at regular park open.
But the bigger point with these parks is that they’re both clearly worthy of a full day each. Magic Kingdom is a titan of a park and easily fills a full day. The big “win” in terms of Magic Kingdom is that the new park hopping rules will better allow you to rope drop that park twice in one trip, if necessary.
Same for Hollywood Studios. It’s a full day park, albeit with significantly fewer rides than Magic Kingdom. Hollywood Studios is sort of an outlier in the context of this post, though. A fan favorite strategy the last few years was to build a “stack” of Lightning Lanes in the late afternoon at Hollywood Studios. Why? Because Lightning Lanes in that park booked so fast the times were push to after 3PM just a few hours into the day.
This meant that lots of people were happy hopping to Hollywood Studios after 2PM anyways. If you book 1-2 Lightning Lanes in your first park and your Lightning Lanes at Hollywood Studios don’t start until 3PM, you don’t really need to rush there. That will probably remain true even after the January 9 changes.
Conclusions
All-day park hopping returns January 9, 2024. This won’t shake the foundations of Disney World touring strategy (as least not from our perspective), but it does bring back some valuable strategies, like the early morning at Animal Kingdom or the lunchtime entry to Epcot. In any case, we’re looking forward to having one less thing to remember starting in 2024.
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Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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