Park Hopping suspended today (4/4/24) at Magic Kingdom -???

[Amydisneyfan]

Was there any restrictions on re-entry in Magic Kingdom with people who had 1 day ticket Magic Kingdom

 

[mrsap]

On our way out. Lines for the monorail and ferry. No wait for local boats.

 

[Amydisneyfan]

I think it's busy because of Easter holidays

 

[SkyGuy]

Current situation.

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Too much humanity for me!

 

[DisTXMom]

We are coming the week of NYC spring break- can anyone give us an idea how crowded that will be? The websites tracking crowds all say it’s a pretty quiet week, but NYC districts are large so it has us a bit worried.

 

[brightlined]

Pre-covid (and pre park hopping restrictions and reservations), a dining reservation did not allow you into the park if it was closed to hopping. I have not seen this info updated to allow for that. I don’t know about the paid activity, though.

Missed this before -

Pre-COVID / pre-reservations, a restriction on park-hopping meant a gate closure - it meant that they hit actual capacity. If they hit capacity and you were outside the park, you weren't getting back in, even if you had a 1-Day MK ticket - the fire marshal wouldn't allow any one else in. (That was the kind of thing that happened around Christmas Day.) What happened this afternoon was not a gate closure - it was just an access restriction.

Having said that, everything I've said here goes out the window if they ended up having an actual gate closure tonight (which would be implied by that announcement that the fireworks had reached capacity).

If they ended up with a gate closure today, somebody in management is getting reamed out right now.

The park reservation system was explicitly designed to stop this from happening. Even with the current "looser" version of the system, Disney has enough data on their hands to be able to calculate (in an actuarial fashion) how many tickets they can sell without this happening. That it happened at all suggests that somebody pushed the numbers to try to cash in on the busy season.

For everyone who's complained about park reservations in the past - this is precisely the kind of thing that would happen all the time if they actually got rid of them.

 

[ngl]

The problem is "spring break" can span about two months straight!

Yes! Here in FL, most get the 2nd or 3rd week of March off for Spring Break depending on the year. (Private schools tend to do the same and is not tied to Easter even for many Catholic schools). We find many schools in the northeast and midwest are off the week prior to or after Easter as we have many friends that visit during that time. We were in the parks last Thurs & Fri (our kids get Holy Thurs and Good Fri off) and it was a "normal" crowd day that we experience many other days of the year.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I think it's busy because of Easter holidays

Not entirely, yesterday was crappy weather.

And was the 4 day ticket deal valid this week? If so anyone who entered MK on the deal was forced to stay, they couldn’t have hopped if they wanted to…

 

[Tom_E_D]

Not entirely, yesterday was crappy weather yesterday.

And was the 4 day ticket deal valid this week? If so anyone who entered MK on the deal was forced to stay, they couldn’t have hopped if they wanted to…

The 4-park Magic Ticket became valid April 2. Obviously, Disney thought this week would be the beginning of a slow period.

 

[Amydisneyfan]

We are coming the week of NYC spring break- can anyone give us an idea how crowded that will be? The websites tracking crowds all say it’s a pretty quiet week, but NYC districts are large so it has us a bit worried.

It's very hard to predict on how busy WDW will be I think spring break New York is around April 19–30.

Missed this before -

Pre-COVID / pre-reservations, a restriction on park-hopping meant a gate closure - it meant that they hit actual capacity. If they hit capacity and you were outside the park, you weren't getting back in, even if you had a 1-Day MK ticket - the fire marshal wouldn't allow any one else in. (That was the kind of thing that happened around Christmas Day.) What happened this afternoon was not a gate closure - it was just an access restriction.

Having said that, everything I've said here goes out the window if they ended up having an actual gate closure tonight (which would be implied by that announcement that the fireworks had reached capacity).

If they ended up with a gate closure today, somebody in management is getting reamed out right now.

The park reservation system was explicitly designed to stop this from happening. Even with the current "looser" version of the system, Disney has enough data on their hands to be able to calculate (in an actuarial fashion) how many tickets they can sell without this happening. That it happened at all suggests that somebody pushed the numbers to try to cash in on the busy season.

For everyone who's complained about park reservations in the past - this is precisely the kind of thing that would happen all the time if they actually got rid of them.

Do you mean the difference between entrance temporarily closure and access restrictions?

 

[gottalovepluto]

The 4-park Magic Ticket became valid April 2. Obviously, Disney thought this week would be the beginning of a slow period.

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Aaaaaand we have a winner for today’s debacle. The Genius who decided Spring Break/Easter ended after Easter Monday. Let’s take a moment and remember their career…

 

[brightlined]

Do you mean the difference between entrance temporarily closure and access restrictions?

Pretty much, yep.

The limit on park-hopping this afternoon was just an access restriction. In that case, you would have absolutely no problem getting in with a 1-day MK ticket - they're essentially saving space in the park for you.

But if they hit actual capacity, that would mean an entrance closure. If that happens, you would not be able to get in with your ticket, even if you'd already entered the park that day. At that point, nobody gets in who isn't already in.

The strategy in the old days was to plan on getting there relatively early and staying the whole day. If you have to leave the park, make sure you get back inside before 6pm at the latest.

 

[HopperFan]

On our way out. Lines for the monorail and ferry. No wait for local boats.

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Just an FYI we have found on busy days there is usually a bus going to the TTC. Since folks don't think about checking for that it is usually a short line. We've always gotten to sit too!

 

[Rex1993]

We left after the announcement to go back to VGF for a break. We came back about 7:30 and had no problem getting back in.

Stayed until close and the line for the monorail was a sight to behold.

 

[elvispursley]

I’d have a nervous breakdown in those crowds! This is one of the reasons we’ve never done a trip over Christmas. What a mess!!

 

[mrsap]

I’d have a nervous breakdown in those crowds! This is one of the reasons we’ve never done a trip over Christmas. What a mess!!

What’s weird is I’ve been for Christmas and still felt yesterday was worse!

Just an FYI we have found on busy days there is usually a bus going to the TTC. Since folks don't think about checking for that it is usually a short line. We've always gotten to sit too!

I was going back to The Grand, so did not even venture over that way to check out the situation there. We had just missed the first boat back, which was the small boat, but they came back shortly after with the large one.

 

[DisTXMom]

It depends what kind of ticket you have. Park reservations are not needed for dated tickets.

So if someone had a dated ticket high does not require a reservation and was hopping to MK would they have been prevented from getting in?

 

[lanejudy]

The limit on park-hopping this afternoon was just an access restriction.

In the past, WDW had phased closures. Those were access restrictions. It's the same thing, they are just using different criteria to allow the restricted access. In the past there was different criteria used to determine who could gain access, and it depended on the phase of closure -- ticket type (AP, multi-day, single-day, comp, etc.), onsite guests, ADR or paid experience, etc. What's been communicated by WDW now is "closed to hopping." What we don't know is if there are other criteria which might allow a PH to enter. Hopefully folks who were there yesterday respond.

 

[Tom_E_D]

So if someone had a dated ticket high does not require a reservation and was hopping to MK would they have been prevented from getting in?

Hopefully, someone in that situation who was there yesterday will let us know whether they were able to get in or not.

 

[Mango7100]

I’d have a nervous breakdown in those crowds! This is one of the reasons we’ve never done a trip over Christmas. What a mess!!

We have done 3 trips between Christmas and New Years over the last 5 years and have never seen it like what it was reported today…