Disney has announced that the 11 a.m. Park Hopping rule will be retired and all-day bouncing between Disneyland and California Adventure will be restored. This post covers the full details about the change, and our commentary about why DLR is doing this now.
This isn’t a huge surprise. Disneyland has gradually moved forward the start of the Park Hopping time since reopening 5 years ago. The last big change occurred over 3 years ago, back on February 4, 2023.
From that date through today, guests who enter a Disneyland or Disney California Adventure with a Magic Key pass or a Park Hopper ticket may begin crossing over between the parks starting at 11 a.m. Pacific. It was previously 1 p.m. prior to that.
The last big change occurred as part of the package of Good Changes Coming to Disneyland: Park Hopping, Ticket Prices, PhotoPass & Annual Passes. That was announced shortly after Bob Iger returned as CEO, replacing Bob Chapek. Iger was reportedly “alarmed” by price increases at Walt Disney World and concerned that Chapek was “killing the soul” of Disney.
He acted accordingly, making several changes one month later to improve the guest experience at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, like bringing back free overnight self-parking at on-site resort hotels, adding on-ride photos to the Lightning Lane service, relaxing reservations rules, and more. An additional round of guest-friendly changes were announced several months later that undid more of the damage.
Fast forward three years, and current Parks Chair Josh D’Amaro will soon replace Bob Iger as CEO. Accordingly, we’ve been expecting a similar package of guest friendly changes as D’Amaro seeks to win over fans and set the tone for his tenure as CEO. (See 11 Great Changes Josh D’Amaro Could Make for Big Wins as New CEO, which covers Walt Disney World.)
The latest update comes courtesy of another Disneyland Resort Business Update. We were invited to attend an intimate media gathering with Disneyland President Thomas Mazloum and other leadership from the resort, who shared plans for the future and subtle changes they’ve made over the last year to improve the guest experience (more on that later).
Mazloum announced that all-day Park Hopping will return soon, with the 11 a.m. restriction eliminated later in 2026.
An exact date was not given. Mazloum also did not reveal whether this meant that park reservations would change as a result.
Currently, guests must select reservations for Disneyland or Disney California Adventure.
Then, guests who purchase or have a Park Hopper ticket or Magic Key pass and an appropriate park reservation may cross over and switch between parks on the same day beginning at 11:00 a.m. (subject to availability).
However, guests who arrive at or after 11:00 AM are not required to enter the park for which they have the specific reservation. Meaning that after 11 a.m., it’s essentially a reservation for either or both parks. This is unlike Walt Disney World, which still requires entering that first park.
With the Park Hopping time restriction being eliminated, it stands to reason that so too could park-specific reservations.
Assuming the current policies hold, distinct reservations for DCA or Disneyland would become a formality once the Park Hopping restriction is dropped. Guests could make a reservation for whichever park is available, and then just start their day at the other park from the very beginning. Again, assuming the system uses the same logic that it does currently.
Arguably, eliminating the park-specific reservation would be as much of an incremental improvement as ending the Park Hopping restriction.
One thing we are not anticipating is the retirement of park reservations.
A couple of years ago, Walt Disney World long ago ended park reservations for regular ticket holders, relaxed rules for everyone else, and introduced Good to Go Days. That same change has not yet been made at Disneyland, which is just now “catching up” with the restoration of all-day Park Hopping.
More recently, we have argued that Walt Disney World should drop park reservations entirely, or at least make Good to Go Days the default. Meaning that days needing reservations should be the exception, not the rule. We have made no such argument for Disneyland, because it’s a fundamentally different destination.
Across Walt Disney World’s four parks, there zero danger of capacity constraints or problems on all but a couple of weeks per year. Even then, this is pretty predictable, with dates around Easter, Christmas, New Year’s, Columbus Day, etc. being hot spots due to the influx of tourists.
It’s a totally different story at Disneyland, where half of the visitor base is Californians. There’s a massive population of Annual Passholders within driving distance, and on top of that, resident ticket deals are a huge driver of attendance. In California, reservations are a useful tool for spreading attendance across the calendar, preventing surges over weekends, towards the end of ticket deals, etc.
Fans often point to park reservations as coming post-COVID, but that isn’t exactly true. They were actually one of new CEO Josh D’Amaro’s projects when he was President of Disneyland via the Flex Pass. They were an inevitability regardless, just as was paid FastPass. The only way that COVID changed the equation was enabling Disney to accelerate its reservations plans with a hard reset.
While we could see reservation rules relaxed at Disneyland, we’d be shocked if they ever truly go away. And unlike at Walt Disney World, it’s not something for which we’d even advocate–despite being Disneyland locals and Magic Key Annual Passholders.
Nevertheless, the return of all-day Park Hopping at Disneyland amounts to an incremental positive change.
That’s how Mazloum framed this during our conversation with him, sharing his perspective that a lot of little changes can amount to big changes in aggregate.
He wasn’t trying to spin this as some hugely consequential change–because it isn’t. He instead recognizes that ending the Park Hopping restriction and returning to 2019 normal is one step of many that’s needed to remove friction from the guest experience and simplify visiting Disneyland.
I know the Park Hopper rules bug a lot of locals, but there aren’t many times when I’ve wanted to Park Hop before 11 am. Maybe there have been a couple of times when we’ve wanted to get a jump on the lunch rush, but that’s really about it.
The best “use case” for an earlier Park Hopping time is probably rope dropping Disneyland and knocking out Fantasyland+ via standby while making Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ride reservations for DCA. Then, switching parks as soon as the first reservation window is close to closing. Depending on the day, I could see that being around 10 a.m., so there is some advantage to this for savvy strategists.
Accordingly, I don’t think any further commentary is all that necessary here. This is a small step in the right direction, but my view is that this is more symbolic than it is substantive. A recognition that Disneyland needs to simplify the guest experience and remove friction from the process. But really, that’s about it.
My sincere hope is that there’s more to come once Josh D’Amaro becomes CEO, which also could be accompanied by Mazloum ascending to Parks Chair and Disneyland getting a new President. (See Who Will Replace Josh D’Amaro as Head of Disney Parks & Resorts?) Even if those final two things don’t happen, that’s the optimal timing for a ‘package’ of guest experience improvements. Hopefully we’ll have more to share soon on that front, because this alone is pretty inconsequential.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you excited for the return of all-day Park Hopping once again at Disneyland? Does this move the needle for you, or would you not change parks before 11 a.m. (or at all) regardless? If you’re a Park Hopping Power User, what’s your ideal or niche use case for aggressively changing parks? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!