Park Hopping has officially returned to Disney World!
Park Hopping became available again beginning today, January 1st, but like many other things since Disney’s reopening, it’s a little bit different than before. While Park Hopping was on hiatus, park-to-park transportation was, too. Well now, they’re both BACK and we’re giving you a look at the changes to Disney’s park-to-park transportation!
Disney previously shared that the monorail line that runs from EPCOT to Magic Kingdom would not operate, even once Park Hopping returned. But don’t worry, we’ve got buses, boats, and the Skyliner to check out!
Buses are one of the main options for transportation at Disney World. There are bus options to bring guests from park-to-park in the afternoon, with Park Hopping beginning at 2PM. For our first experience, the park-to-park buses began to arrive about 15 to 20 minutes prior to 2PM.
On our way to catch a bus, we spotted this sign out in front. It gives details on Park Hopping, reminding guests of the regulations for the modified system.
Buses are continuing social distancing procedures as we’ve seen in the past, with certain seats marked as unavailable to maintain the space. We got in line for the buses early (around 1:30PM), but didn’t see any park-to-park buses arrive at the depot until closer to 1:45PM.
The lines for the buses weren’t long at this point, and we were able to get on the first one that arrived. Before we loaded, a Cast Member scanned our MagicBand to make sure that our ticket was a Park Hopper.
A Cast Member is scanning Molly’s MagicBand to make sure she has Park Hopping! pic.twitter.com/o7h8AbVXBM
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) January 1, 2021
The seating is still divided up on the buses to allow for social distancing. Once we got loaded, we headed to our next destination, which so happens to be Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We didn’t arrive until after 2PM, due to the amount of time it took to travel from Animal Kingdom.
On the bus and park hopping over to Hollywood Studios! pic.twitter.com/ZLVreCoiCV
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) January 1, 2021
Along with the buses, you are also able to take other Disney World transportation options such as the Skyliner! After visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we were able to take the Skyliner over to our next stop of the day, EPCOT.
Skyliner view! pic.twitter.com/Xl2CqB8Eo8
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) January 1, 2021
Recently, we’ve been using the Skyliner just to visit spots along its route like Disney’s Riviera Resort. Now, guests can use it to get to and from EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the afternoon. The gondolas are currently only being seated one party at a time.
Skyliner view! pic.twitter.com/Xl2CqB8Eo8
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) January 1, 2021
Even with parties being loaded one at a time, the wait for the Skyliner was nonexistent when boarding at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the afternoon. This will fluctuate based on crowds, but we had a very smooth experience traveling to EPCOT. There wasn’t anything we noticed during this ride that was significantly different due to Park Hopping.
If you’d prefer not to take Disney transportation, you are also still able to take your own transportation from park-to-park as well.
Stay tuned as we continue to attempt hopping to other parks and using other forms of Disney transportation. We’ll be updating this post with all the information!
Click here to learn how many parks you can visit now with the return of Park Hopping!
Will you be Park Hopping this year? Tell us in the comments!
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