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Effective today (January 9), Walt Disney World Resort will allow guests with a Park Hopper ticket to jump between theme parks without any restrictions.
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Disney Park Hopper Tickets
Park Hopper tickets were introduced in 1982 when Walt Disney World Resort added the EPCOT Center. With the addition of the second theme park, it only made sense to allow guests to hop between the two Disney Parks.
Credit: Disney
Over time, park hopping went from being included to a feature you could add on for a fee. As Walt Disney World Resort added Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom (and Disneyland Resort added California Adventure Park), park hopping became a common element of a Disney vacation.
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The only limitations were park hours.
Policy Changes After Pandemic
However, since 2020, the Park Hopper ticket at Walt Disney World Resort has been on an unorthodox path. When the theme parks reopened, park hopping wasn’t available at all.
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In 2021, Walt Disney World restored the Park Hopper option, but it could only be used by guests after 2 p.m. And, of course, when factoring in the required park reservation system and Genie+, jumping from park to park became more complicated and less valuable.
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For the past three years, Walt Disney World guests have been waiting for the full-day park hopping option to return. And it’s finally here!
All Day Park Hopper Returns!
Disney Park guests (with dated Park Hopper tickets or Annual Passholders on “good to go days”) are finally allowed to jump between any four of the Walt Disney World theme parks at any time of the day. The only restriction would be if one of the theme parks all day, hits capacity (which is rare).
“And then… all our worries were over.”
Welcome back all-day Park Hopper. pic.twitter.com/bjPRRtlPfU
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) January 9, 2024
Currently, a standard one-day Disney base ticket starts at $109, and the Park Hopper ticket starts at $187. Prices for those offerings go up if you visit at a busy time of the year.
Credit: Todd F. Burgess, Flickr
The end of the unpopular park reservation system and the 2 p.m. requirement, may return some value to the classic Park Hopper tickets.
I’ve never found WDW park hopper passes to be practical. Unless you have a dinner reservation somewhere that you REALLY want, you simply lose too much time of the day transporting yourself between parks, because there is no direct way to get from one to another. Ever possible path to another park always involves at least one other stop somewhere.