Everything Park Reservations - Please Read Post 1

[lilkuf10]

Not sure I see a direct correlation between park reservations and park hoppers. Whether you have a park hopper or not, you still need a reservation and ticket to an original park. Hopping is optional after that.

Being that I wasn’t able to directly book the park I originally wanted, I could have reserved another park and bought the hopper to go to where I actually planned to go. It would have gotten me to spend more money for a hopper that I never wanted in the first place.

 

[mefordis]

At first I hated the park reservation system but once I got there I found the parks to be a lot less crowded. We wanted MK but it was sold out the day we went -- a last minute visit - (all the parks were except Epcot), so we reserved Epcot, went there until after 2pm, then hopped to MK. Both parks were very manageable as far as crowds go.

MK seems to be the first park to sell out, and Epcot is the last.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Completely agree. I was so aggravated for a week straight trying to book this park. Seems Disney May be using this as a way get more hoppers purchased and direct people to less popular parks. For us it is annoying, for them it’s genius.

Being that I wasn’t able to directly book the park I originally wanted, I could have reserved another park and bought the hopper to go to where I actually planned to go. It would have gotten me to spend more money for a hopper that I never wanted in the first place.

I think they would actually prefer less people have hoppers.

The parks opened with park reservations in place but without park hoppers. Park hopping was only reintroduced Jan 2021 when the parks reopened July 2020.

I think they knew they couldn't realistically have a park open forever without allowing park hopping, them placing a limit to the time of when you can park hop would actually serve to dissuade people from purchasing them. Park hours such that they can be can mean a decently shorter timeframe of park hopping allowed and even to some the idea that they have a confined time frame of when they can even park hop serves as a deterrent.

I agree the way they have the reservation set up such that you can make one and then park hop is as I've described elsewhere a quirk of it but everyone still has to have a reservation for some park so no open availability at any parks doesn't make your park hopper more powerful. And the general public isn't going to be highly likely to even think to purchase a park hopper just to get into a park they originally wanted because in general people will be more likely to see the park reservation isn't available and try to for a different day.

Also while it has only happened for a few hours at MK on the 50th anniversary Disney reserves the right to deny park access to any park for park hopping.

 

[lilkuf10]

I think they would actually prefer less people have hoppers.

The parks opened with park reservations in place but without park hoppers. Park hopping was only reintroduced Jan 2021 when the parks reopened July 2020.

I think they knew they couldn't realistically have a park open forever without allowing park hopping, them placing a limit to the time of when you can park hop would actually serve to dissuade people from purchasing them. Park hours such that they can be can mean a decently shorter timeframe of park hopping allowed and even to some the idea that they have a confined time frame of when they can even park hop serves as a deterrent.

I agree the way they have the reservation set up such that you can make one and then park hop is as I've described elsewhere a quirk of it but everyone still has to have a reservation for some park so no open availability at any parks doesn't make your park hopper more powerful. And the general public isn't going to be highly likely to even think to purchase a park hopper just to get into a park they originally wanted because in general people will be more likely to see the park reservation isn't available and try to for a different day.

Also while it has only happened for a few hours at MK on the 50th anniversary Disney reserves the right to deny park access to any park for park hopping

I almost purchased the hopper to ensure I would be able to get my group into Epcot at some point during the day. I wasn’t trying to offend but it is plausible that Disney found the reservation system to increase revenue and direct traffic in a positive way.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I almost purchased the hopper to ensure I would be able to get my group into Epcot at some point during the day. I wasn’t trying to offend but it is plausible that Disney found the reservation system to increase revenue and direct traffic in a positive way.

I know you did (that was in your comment) but like I said your average guest likely won't, it won't be a thought in their mind (they'll be more likely to just look at what day they can get into the park they want or give up on it) or at least it won't be a significant amount of guests just purchasing park hoppers just to be able to go to another park for less than half the day. We're not average guests on the Boards. It's really more or less a non-advertised way to get into the park you want but it only works when there's reservations available elsewhere for the time you are there.

I don't think you offended anyone, I think me and the other poster are just trying to say it's not as likely as you may think that having a park reservation system is Disney trying to upsell you into a park hopper.

We'll be in WDW 5/8-5/14 and originally I think AK was supposed to close at 7pm or 7:30 on our trip (they have lengthened it to 8:30pm but that was just a few weeks ago), that extra expense to get 5 or 5 1/2 hour access to that park? We bought our tickets in February I believe but people buy tickets long in advance. If park hoppers weren't about the only thing we buy added on I think we would have skipped the park hopping because it's extra expense for not much reward. Now eventually you'd hope they would remove the time requirement but as is it's there and it's making people frustrated at purchasing it but not being allowed to have more freedom over when they use it, there are people forgoing purchasing it when ordinarily they would.

When you say direct traffic in a positive way..yes but Disney does that by setting whatever number of park reservations on any given day and any given bucket (normal tickets, hotel guests and AP holders) to any given park and they can take from one bucket and add to another. They don't need to add park hoppers to upsell, they just fluctuate the number of park reservations for any given park. This is why you also see park reservations open up when they were previously unavailable.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

At first I hated the park reservation system but once I got there I found the parks to be a lot less crowded. We wanted MK but it was sold out the day we went -- a last minute visit - (all the parks were except Epcot), so we reserved Epcot, went there until after 2pm, then hopped to MK. Both parks were very manageable as far as crowds go.

MK seems to be the first park to sell out, and Epcot is the last.

Did you do any moving of your reservations after you had booked them? Or were all those days you were there the parks mostly unavailable to switch around your plans?

 

[lilkuf10]

L

Did you do any moving of your reservations after you had booked them? Or were all those days you were there the parks mostly unavailable to switch around your plans?

Looks like they got a hopper purchase.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

L

Looks like they got a hopper purchase.

Can I ask the question to the poster about whether they switched their park reservations? Believe it or not I wasn't asking in relation to the park hopping conversation. I was asking because we're about to be there and wondered what if they did that. I haven't heard of too many people doing it and wondered if someone who recently had so we would have recent knowledge if someone had.

There's at least one day right now we have reservations for DHS in the morning but don't know if that's what we want to keep because we have a wedding event at noon at Disney Springs so we're not sure if we want to switch to Epcot or not. Both parks open at the same time and aren't too far in distance so it's like a toss up if we want to try for some ambience in DHS or attempt maybe 1 ride or if we want to try and go for Flower and Garden stuff at Epcot. Park hopping is irrelevant in my question.

 

[CeeCee101]

One question as a oldie/newbi: if I make a park reservation for say Epcot and I decide that morning don’t feel well or want to sleep in and go to DS or something, can I just blow off that Epcot reservation and still park hop to another park after 2 pm?

 

[Meglen]

One question as a oldie/newbi: if I make a park reservation for say Epcot and I decide that morning don’t feel well or want to sleep in and go to DS or something, can I just blow off that Epcot reservation and still park hop to another park after 2 pm?

If you want to hit another park after 2pm you NEED to tap into Epcot. Check availability you might be able to just change parks to the one you want to go to tho.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Let's take this back to information solely about booking Park Reservations.

There are many discussion threads available for what people like/don't like about the current park options. This thread in intended to be of assistance for people specifically finding out or asking about park reservations. Please take the park hopping questions to the Everything Park Hopping thread.

Off topic posts will be removed.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Can I ask the question to the poster about whether they switched their park reservations? Believe it or not I wasn't asking in relation to the park hopping conversation. I was asking because we're about to be there and wondered what if they did that. I haven't heard of too many people doing it and wondered if someone who recently had so we would have recent knowledge if someone had.

There's at least one day right now we have reservations for DHS in the morning but don't know if that's what we want to keep because we have a wedding event at noon at Disney Springs so we're not sure if we want to switch to Epcot or not. Both parks open at the same time and aren't too far in distance so it's like a toss up if we want to try for some ambience in DHS or attempt maybe 1 ride or if we want to try and go for Flower and Garden stuff at Epcot. Park hopping is irrelevant in my question.

I’m really interested in anyones experience being able to change a TPR on a day that shows no availability- I believe I have a ressie at a park MUCH higher in demand (MK) but still nervous about straight up canceling to try and switch!!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’m really interested in anyones experience being able to change a TPR on a day that shows no availability- I believe I have a ressie at a park MUCH higher in demand (MK) but still nervous about straight up canceling to try and switch!!

Yeah that's what I was wondering about too.

I mean the day I mentioned (which is the 14th) as of yesterday (haven't checked today) all parks are available however all the other days we'd be at the parks there's at least once (usually 2 or 3) parks showing as unavailable at least online (which I know isn't likely to be updated in real time, per the other comments on this thread) and two of the days we'd be there are completely unavailable (9th and 12th of May).

 

[Erica Ladd]

Yeah that's what I was wondering about too.

I mean the day I mentioned (which is the 14th) as of yesterday (haven't checked today) all parks are available however all the other days we'd be at the parks there's at least once (usually 2 or 3) parks showing as unavailable at least online (which I know isn't likely to be updated in real time, per the other comments on this thread) and two of the days we'd be there are completely unavailable (9th and 12th of May).

Yes!! I am also concerned about the 9th! Seems so odd that a Monday is completely booked. And AK was available that day just last week. I am sooo kicking myself for not switching but I didn't think we were going to go to the parks at all!

 

[limace]

I am desperately trying to get the 9th. Our only park day-we are there for GOTG previews. So have a park reservation with the preview but we can’t buy tickets. Ugh.

 

[Erica Ladd]

I am desperately trying to get the 9th. Our only park day-we are there for GOTG previews. So have a park reservation with the preview but we can’t buy tickets. Ugh.

Try calling. I wanted to purchase a 2 day ticket and save the 3 day ticket I have attached to MDE but it wouldn’t let me buy online since the 9th is sold out. So I called and explained what I wanted to do so as to not lose my TPRs and they put me on hold and came back to say that ticket services could convert my 3 day to a 2 ds and I could use the extra $$ for another 3 day in the future so it’s worth a shot especially if you have the preview!!!

 

[Erica Ladd]

Just an FYI that park availability has changed for may 9&10! I was able to switch my reservation from MK to AK fir May 9th. I’ve been stalking availability and just noticed it a few minutes ago!

 

[CarolynFH]

Just an FYI that park availability has changed for may 9&10! I was able to switch my reservation from MK to AK fir May 9th. I’ve been stalking availability and just noticed it a few minutes ago!

@limace if park reservations are available for May 9, so are tickets!

 

[Erica Ladd]

@limace if park reservations are available for May 9, so are tickets!

Yes!!!! I was going to have to call Disney to get my new tix on my account and switch my existing tix to September but then I realized as long as there is availability I could do it myself!!! So after all that stressing I have new tix and the park reservations I want!

 

[js]

Hi.

If I have a ressie for one park, do I need to make another ressie to park hop with either an AP or PH?

Thank you.