Where Should You Park Hop Based on Your First Walt Disney World Park of the Day?

Park Hopping at Walt Disney World certainly looks different these days. Before the closures in 2020, park hopping was as easy as leaving your first park at your leisure and heading into your second park when you were ready to do so. Nowadays, it’s a little more complicated.

For starters, you cannot park hop at all until 2PM each day. Additionally, with reduced park capacity, it may not always be possible to hop from one park to another. And don’t forget: you still need a Disney Park Pass for your first park of the day.

With all of these stipulations in place, which park hopping combination is best depending on where you start your day?

If your first park of the day is Magic Kingdom…

…you may want to consider hopping either to EPCOT or to Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

Magic Kingdom is jam-packed with rides and attractions, and you may find that when 2PM rolls around you aren’t ready to park hop! You may want your second park to be one that stays open a little later in the evenings. Currently, EPCOT has consistently stayed open later than all the other theme parks.

Getting to EPCOT from Magic Kingdom, however, isn’t as easy as it used to be. The EPCOT Monorail loop is unavailable as of this writing, so you’ll be limited to Disney’s bus system or a ride share service (or your own car, if you brought one).

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is another option to consider as your second park of the day. Just keep in mind that if you want to ride Rise of the Resistance, Hollywood Studios MUST be your first park of the day that you visit with a valid Park Pass Reservation. Currently, that is the only way to secure a Boarding Group to experience the attraction.

If your first park of the day is EPCOT…

…you may want to consider hopping to Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios!

Despite being open later in the evening than the other theme parks, EPCOT also opens the latest of all the theme parks (often as late as 11AM). This also means that, like Magic Kingdom, you may not have done everything you want to do at 2PM, so you’ll want to hop to a park with later evening hours.

Like we mentioned, once EPCOT’s Monorail loop reopens, it’ll be much easier to hop to Magic Kingdom. Currently, hopping to Disney’s Hollywood Studios from EPCOT is a breeze thanks to the Disney Skyliner. If you want to get to your second park as quickly as possible, your best bet is to hop to Hollywood Studios on your EPCOT day.

If your first park of the day is Hollywood Studios…

…you may want to consider hopping to EPCOT or Disney’s Animal Kingdom! 

We typically wouldn’t recommend making Animal Kingdom your second park of the day, simply because they’ve been closing quite early. Usually, you’ll only have a few hours to hop to Animal Kingdom when 2PM rolls around. If you have to hop to Animal Kingdom, however, make it on your Hollywood Studios day. Geographically, Hollywood Studios is the closest park to Animal Kingdom, making for a quicker hopping experience than if you were to hop from EPCOT or Magic Kingdom.

Just keep in mind that you could be held up at Disney’s Hollywood Studios if your plans include riding Rise of the Resistance. If you have a later Boarding Group, you may not be called back until later in the evening. You can, however, leave Hollywood Studios and return when you get closer to your Boarding Group number being called — just be mindful of those return windows!

If your first park of the day is Animal Kingdom…

…you could hop anywhere!

If you’re looking to Park Hop on your Animal Kingdom Day, you will likely have more flexibility than the other three parks. With no entertainment at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as of this writing, your day won’t be taken up by longer attractions like Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo: The Musical. You may find that you’re completely done with Animal Kingdom before 2PM!

The other three theme parks are typically open a couple hours later than Animal Kingdom, so you should have plenty of time to get to your second park and enjoy the afternoon and evening.

Keep in mind that you can Park Hop to any of the three theme parks after 2PM once you’ve visited your first park. Not only that, but you can Park Hop as many times after 2PM as you wish! Note that park hopping is dependent on park capacity availability, though we haven’t encountered problems with this yet. We hope these suggestions help maximize your time in Disney World next time you visit!

Click here to read more about what it’s like to Park Hop in Disney World in 2021.

Have you tried park hopping yet since its return this year? Share your experience in the comments!

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