Disney World Is Nixing Its Park Hopper Ticket, Using a New Reservation System — What to Know

As Disney World prepares to open next month, the Happiest Place on Earth is introducing a reservation-based system aimed at reducing crowds and making it easier to enforce social distancing.

Disney World in Orlando, which has been closed since mid-March as COVID-19 spread throughout the world, will reopen the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on July 11, followed by Epcot and Hollywood Studios on July 15. In addition to other measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, the parks will utilize its new Disney Park Pass System, which requires guests to make a reservation in advance for each park.

To make a reservation, visitors need to link their admission to their accounts and select the date they want to visit each park, according to Disney. Visitors can only select one park each day and will not be able to park hop.

Guests who have a valid park admission ticket who are staying in a Disney Resort — many of which are slated to open this month — will be able to make their reservations starting on June 22. Annual pass holders who don’t have a hotel stay can make their park reservations starting on June 26. And on June 28, park goers who already have tickets will be able to make their reservations.

Those visiting (or planning to visit) Disney, will be able to make reservations for parks through Sept. 26, 2021.

Travelers who want to book a new vacation or purchase new theme park tickets will be able to do so starting June 28, but for arrivals starting in 2021, according to Disney. For new visits in 2020, Disney said it will resume selling those tickets later this summer based on availability.

When Disney does reopen its parks, however, the experience will look a lot different than before COVID-19. Capacity will be significantly reduced, guests will go through temperature checks, and parades, fireworks, and character meet and greets will be temporarily suspended.

In Florida, Disney has already been reminding people of the importance of wearing masks at its Disney Springs location, which began a phased reopening on May 20. There, a couple of vocal Star Wars Stormtroopers watched over the crowd, pointing out people’s face masks.

Disney also plans to reopen Disneyland in California in July with similar capacity restrictions and social distancing measures in place.