Hey there, Julie. I'm so glad you've stopped by
planDisney to chat about
park hopping. It's my favorite way to spend a Disney day.
Julie, it sounds to me like you understand it perfectly. To park hop, you must have
park pass reservations for an initial Walt Disney World Theme Park to visit each day. Then, on the day of, you must scan in and enter the theme park with the park pass reservation first before continuing on to other theme parks later in the day. This sort of "activates" your park hopper feature each day. Then, after 2:00 p.m. you are able to hop over to any or all of the Walt Disney World Theme Parks without securing more park pass reservations for the day. It's not necessary or even possible to do so. The system only lets you hold one park pass reservation per day.
Park pass reservations are only available for the four main
Walt Disney World Theme Parks - Magic Kingdom Park, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. If you'd like to visit
Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park, which is the only water park currently open, all you have to do is show up. There is no advanced planning needed to visit. You can purchase your water park ticket ahead of time or the day of, it really doesn't matter. If you are on the fence about going, I'd just wait until the day of to make sure you have great weather. Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park is so much fun. My family and I have enjoyed countless days splish-splashing around having fun in the Florida sun. If you get the opportunity to visit, I highly recommend it.
I hope this helps clear up any confusion you might have had about park hopping, Julie. If you have any other questions as you plan your Walt Disney World vacation, please feel free to stop back by and
ask me. I'm here to help.
Have fun and happy hopping!