Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom Is CONFUSING Right Now. Here's Why.

Park hopping is a popular practice among guests looking to maximize each day at Disney World, but the process is a bit complicated at Disney World’s most popular park this summer.

Disney Starlight crowds!

It’s no secret that Magic Kingdom is buzzing right now, thanks to the incredible debut of “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away!” The show premiered on July 20th to plenty of fanfare, drawing in some hefty crowds. In anticipation of the park becoming more crowded, Disney World adjusted Magic Kingdom’s attendance rules — which, undoubtedly, have caused some confusion.

“Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” will be garnering massive crowds for a while, causing Disney World to implement a special reservation rule for Magic Kingdom.

Disney Starlight

Per Disney, for a limited time, Disney World Annual Passholders can only visit Magic Kingdom with a theme park reservation due to the show’s high demand.

©Disney

With that said, this new rule DOES NOT APPLY TO PARK HOPPING. Confusing, right?

Disney Royalty Float

Essentially, what this means is that as long as you have a reservation to one of the other three parks and scan in first there, you can still hop over to Magic Kingdom at any time of day WITHOUT a park reservation. The main change here is that you cannot start at Magic Kingdom without a reservation — period.

Disney Starlight

The difference here is that while you used to be able to enter Magic Kingdom without a reservation after 2PM on weekdays, you can’t do that anymore. You either have to have a reservation for Magic Kingdom to enter at any time of day, or you have to have already been to another park with a reservation and then hop to Magic Kingdom.

Disney Starlight

Of course, like every day, the park could reach capacity and you may not be let in — that is a very rare situation, though. You can check the theme park reservation calendar, the Annual Passholder Admissions calendar, and/or the home screen of the My Disney Experience app.

Disney Starlight — Coco Float

Park hopping also remains subject to availability. If you intend on visiting another park first and hopping over to Magic Kingdom later in the afternoon, you could still get turned away if the park is at capacity. With the demand for the new show being high, the probability of that happening slightly increases.

Disney Starlight

As we previously mentioned, this rule change is NOT permanent. However, we don’t know when it will be lifted. We’ll update you with that info as soon as it’s made available.

Have you seen the new “Disney Starlight” parade? Do you plan on seeing it soon? Let us know, and continue to follow us here at DFB for all the latest Disney World updates!

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