Park Hopping......

[HopperFan]

Exactly. There are other ways of getting you where they want you, but without forcing it on you.

They are overcomplicating it by letting the data science people have too much influence. They were doing alright for themselves without 2PM or reservations and will be OK when the get rid of it.

In the end they will get what they want, but right now, I’m not getting what I want and I’m paying too much to feel like that.

Which is why when folks come to me and ask about going to Disney I tell them "Don't go. There is still alot that is not operating well and you'll likely come home disappointed given the cost. Wait a couple years."

 

[peder]

And at the absolute minimum, why don't they offer a Park Hopper+ that allows price-insensitive customers to have an unlimited hopping option?

 

[Tigger's ally]

Which is why when folks come to me and ask about going to Disney I tell them "Don't go. There is still alot that is not operating well and you'll likely come home disappointed given the cost. Wait a couple years."

But, people like myself understand that my grandtinker and kids like her are only young and innocent and princesses and wide eyed and cute and inquisitive and sweet and eager to go for a certain time period. Hence we go every year and her face tells me all I need to know about "waiting a couple years".

 

[HopperFan]

But, people like myself understand that my grandtinker and kids like her are only young and innocent and princesses and wide eyed and cute and inquisitive and sweet and eager to go for a certain time period. Hence we go every year and her face tells me all I need to know about "waiting a couple years".

I'm not talking about you ... "we go every year" ...

I'm talking about people who ask me to "help" in regards to their first time - once in a lifetime or decade trip. Most haven't been since they were a young child. They want to DO IT ALL! They want to MEET all the characters. They want to EAT at all the special places. These are people that will miss the magic in their eyes because they are so worried about getting to everything, stressing in the long lines, sticker shock when their dinner bill comes. And then they come back disappointed and complaining it wasn't like the commercials, and it was SO EXPENSIVE.

 

[Tigger's ally]

I'm not talking about you ... "we go every year" ...

I'm talking about people who ask me to "help" in regards to their first time - once in a lifetime or decade trip. Most haven't been since they were a young child. They want to DO IT ALL! They want to MEET all the characters. They want to EAT at all the special places. These are people that will miss the magic in their eyes because they are so worried about getting to everything, stressing in the long lines, sticker shock when their dinner bill comes. And then they come back disappointed and complaining it wasn't like the commercials, and it was SO EXPENSIVE.

Problem is, through time, it has become impossible "to do it all". because WDW just has so much to do and is constantly changing.

So, if people come to me I simply ask them what they want to do? How much do they want to see and then give them the best plan. If they say they want everything and to do it all, I tell them it will take them more than 60 years because I still haven't done that. And yes, it will cost them a lot of money.

That won't change in the next how many years.

 

[Nickylv]

I don’t know, to me for park hopping years ago you could visit any park any time you want. During COVID the rule was pick a park and after 2 you can go to another park. Well COVID is over so maybe the 2 o’clock rule was not because of COVID. I assume a park hopper ticket doesn’t mean you can park hoop when you want anymore, so why not change the name to “Partial hopping after you visit your 1st choice then wait until after 2 pm to hop to another park” ticket. Should cost less than a full park hopper ticket. Just saying.

 

[Leigh L]

And at the absolute minimum, why don't they offer a Park Hopper+ that allows price-insensitive customers to have an unlimited hopping option?

Don't give them any ideas lol

The 2 p.m. is too restrictive at this point in the world. Disney appears to be strictly thinking along the lines of operational, which is an important consideration and understandable, but to what extent at the cost of the guest experience to save a few dollars?

If it was me, I'd start weighing tangible vs. intangible costs. At some point it's this kind of decision - and ones like it - that will negatively impact the park brand and cost a lot more over the long term.

To me comparing Universal and Disney is apples and oranges, but Universal does make it a heck of a lot easier to plan and visit.

 

[irlandaise]

I don’t know, to me for park hopping years ago you could visit any park any time you want. During COVID the rule was pick a park and after 2 you can go to another park. Well COVID is over so maybe the 2 o’clock rule was not because of COVID.

Well, it was, but then Disney realized the benefits of keeping the system in place. As Leigh and others have noted, it's now an operational benefit to Disney. When combined with park reservations, they can almost precisely plan how many CMs they'll need at each park for each shift each day. Even when reservations go away at WDW, the restricted hopping will still give them a fair bit of predictability. As Leigh mentioned, the question becomes how much the controlled hopping is interfering with guests' enjoyment of their WDW visit and thus giving them one more reason not to come back any time soon.

 

[Zaranthenia]

The 2 p.m. is too restrictive at this point in the world.

I don't especially mind the reservation system because I like to plan and this gives me a neat layout in the MDE app but I agree the 2pm park hopping rule needs to go.

At this point I'd even be okay with a 12pm park hop so you can hop before some of the VQs and have a better view for the parade. I still think people would be incentivized to stay for lunch in their original parks but the flexibility would be SO MUCH better.

I know as an AP I'm getting the 'bang for my buck' as much as I go but if I were still paying for individual park hopper tickets I would feel as though the value wasn't equal to their price gouging.

 

[snikki]

Park reservations will stop in January for the hopping rule has not been confirmed to be ending.

I believe once the park reservations are done they’ll implement booking G+ in advance which will essentially lock you into a park. I felt that FP+ did that since most people wouldn’t switch their FP+ last minute if they had Tier 1 rides that would book up 60 days in advance.

Disney will get their way in the end.

 

[Jacq7414]

And at the absolute minimum, why don't they offer a Park Hopper+ that allows price-insensitive customers to have an unlimited hopping option?

Don’t give them any ideas . Any way to make more money, I’m sure they’ll try

 

[Cfabar1]

The sense I get from the recent Iger interview he feels that what needed to happen with the parks has just about happened. I'm not holding my breath for other major changes to be implemented soon.

 

[loves to dive]

Park reservations will stop in January for the hopping rule has not been confirmed to be ending.

Except for AP holders, they will still need to make reservation unless the don't want to enter a park until 2, or go to MK on the weekend at any time, or unless they hold their mouths wrong while hopping on one foot and humming a tune.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I'm taking a wild guess but I think the 2 pm park hoping rule is still in place because of the rides currently using a virtual que so that pole can't be in a second park that they hadn't reserved to be in top get a chance at the 1 pm virtual que release. That being said I think they should change it to only the parks that currently have attritions that have a virtual que, so basically right now you can park hop at any time between animal kingdom and Hollywood studios but you have to wait until 2 for EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom.

 

[fla4fun]

It is my understanding that making park reservations is only stopping for people who buy date and park specific tickets. A park reservation will automatically be made by Disney for those tickets for the date and park your ticket is valid for. If there are no reservations left, they won’t sell you a ticket for that park that day. All they are taking away is the extra step of making the park reservation yourself. If you have any kind of multi day or annual pass admission, you still have to make a separate park reservation like you do now.

Everyone will still have a park reservation. The difference is whether Disney is making it or you are. They aren’t doing away with park reservations in reality.

I usually don’t park hop, although I am allowed to with my AP, but I understand why some people want to. I don’t think they will move the park hopping time earlier so long as they have virtual queues for popular rides. I think they want to control who has access to those virtual spots and if they were to move the park hopping time earlier I believe they would move the second drop of virtual queue earlier as well. That gives them greater control over guest satisfaction, because they have limited the number of people vying for a spot. Is it fair? Your answer may depend on whether you are already in the park or you want to hop. It can’t be fair for everyone.

Do they still have an am/pm shift change around 2:00pm for front line CM’s? They could be trying to align park hopping to minimize the am shift staff levels as much as possible while being more flexible on where they add/reduce staff for the afternoon.

 

[Jacq7414]

I'm taking a wild guess but I think the 2 pm park hoping rule is still in place because of the rides currently using a virtual que so that pole can't be in a second park that they hadn't reserved to be in top get a chance at the 1 pm virtual que release. That being said I think they should change it to only the parks that currently have attritions that have a virtual que, so basically right now you can park hop at any time between animal kingdom and Hollywood studios but you have to wait until 2 for EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom.

You can easily get a 1 pm VQ for Guardians though. We were at HS and were hopping to Epcot that night. We were staying at BWI, so we literally just took the skyliner to Epcot from HS, tapped into Epcot at 2 pm went to the side to book our guardians VQ and then left the park . We went back later to the park after our afternoon break.

 

[Leigh L]

Is there a reason why the 2nd VQ drop can't be moved back to 11 am or noon?

 

[RedHead0186]

Park reservations will stop in January for the hopping rule has not been confirmed to be ending.

No. Those with park-based tickets will no longer need to make park reservations (since a date-based ticket essentially is a reservation). Those with other types of tickets, including APs, will still have to make park reservations (though APs may have some bonus days, that's to be clarified).

 

[disneyseniors]

Exactly. There are other ways of getting you where they want you, but without forcing it on you.

They are overcomplicating it by letting the data science people have too much influence. They were doing alright for themselves without 2PM or reservations and will be OK when the get rid of it.

In the end they will get what they want, but right now, I’m not getting what I want and I’m paying too much to feel like that.

I agree that they were doing alright without park hopping at 2pm. The guests could go where they wanted and the parks were regulated in that way naturally by people rotating through the parks. It's time to go back to that and quit regulating every. last. thing.!

 

[Lesverts]

My only gripe about the 2pm thing is that it makes it very hard to do the 4-in-1 day.