A cautionary tale for annual pass holders trying out the new park hopping rules for the first time. We had park reservations at Epcot. We went to Epcot and then to Magic Kingdom for our dinner reservation at Liberty Tree. We were denied entry into the Magic Kingdom because not everyone in our party had entered Epcot first. Guest Services cancelled our Liberty Tree reservations and we were left with no dinner reservations. To add to the frustration, the app said there were no reservations on property available until after 9 pm. We figured out if we kept refreshing the app, a reservation would pop up and if you grabbed it fast enough you could get it. We heard others expressing frustration at the lack of available dining reservations. We have been pass holders for years and finding any dining reservations (let alone your favorite restaurant) seemed to be harder than it was during the busiest of holiday times. The story ends well as after refreshing many times, we finally got a reservation at resort restaurant we had never tried and it was a nice meal.
Park Hopping Fail - Not Allowed Entry for Liberty Tree Reservation
- Thread starter MKMK
- Start date
So the members of your party who had a park reservation at Epcot and went to Epcot would have been let in to Magic Kingdom, but some didn’t go to Epcot and didn’t have a park reservation for Magic Kingdom and they weren’t allowed in?
Did those who were denied entry to Magic Kingdom have a park reservation at Epcot and just didn’t enter Epcot? Or did they not have a park reservation anywhere?
Did those who were denied entry to Magic Kingdom have a park reservation at Epcot and just didn’t enter Epcot? Or did they not have a park reservation anywhere?
Olaf Myfrenzargay
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2021
Have to say these new park hopping rules seem arbitrary and capricious.
Correct. Everyone in our party had park reservations at Epcot. But some of our party decided to hang out at the Wilderness Lodge pool instead of going to Epcot. We didn't know that if everyone didn't enter Epcot first, they wouldn't allow us into Magic Kingdom for our dinner dining reservations.
PCFriar80
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2004
Couldn’t you have just changed the folks who had Epcot reservations and didn’t enter to MK reservations?
Brett Wyman
Legacy Guest
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2018
If MK wasn’t at capacity a quick switch of park passes in MDE for those that had yet to enter any park that day would have solved your issue. Guest relations could have quickly fixed that too. Now if MK was at capacity, that’s another story.
They said there no passes available at MK.
Brett Wyman
Legacy Guest
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2018
Yeah that’s the end of it then.
Hindsight is 20/20 and all but the folks who skipped Epcot should have tried to switch passes the moment they made that decision.
disneygirlsng
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2017
Yea, the park hopping rules state that you must enter the park you had reservations for first before you are allowed to hop. Sorry it happened, but that's what it says.
Couldn't agree more. We learned many lessons yesterday.
I guess that rule is to ensure that everyone making a reservation actually uses it to make sure that others can get in if they want. In other words, spots won’t be filled by people not showing up if other people want to....just trying to figure it out in my brain. The ins and outs have me dreaming at night about the logistics of our trip! Thanks for sharing your experience.
piccolopat
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2014
You can make an ADR for one number of guests and then show up with fewer and not pay the penalty so I'd like to ask OP for clarification. The members of your party that did go to Epcot and then hop should have been allowed in and allowed to keep your ADR. The people that didn't go to Epcot and didn't or couldn't change to a MK reservation were denied entry to the park and wouldn't be allowed in just for the ADR. Once your entire party couldn't get into MK, did Guest Services cancel your ADR at your request so you wouldn't be charged the penalty since you didn't want to keep it if all of you couldn't go in? I can't imagine they would have canceled the ADR automatically if some of you had properly hopped.
Thank you. That is why I posted our experience, so that others could learn from our mistake. This is a new type of logistical planning I hadn't completely investigated before we arrived.
AEA1127
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2015
Forevermarypoppins
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
Sorry, I do not see this as a PH Fail.
It was a mistake on the human end.
It was a mistake on the human end.
Trattoria al Forno. Been coming to Disney forever and have never been there. Everyone loved their dinner and the waitress was amazing. Even though Liberty Tree is the family favorite, all agreed my planning fail turned out just fine.
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