Hiya, Ashley! Welcome to planDisney!
Your choice to add the
Park Hopper Option onto your
Theme Park Ticket for your upcoming visit to The
Walt Disney World Resort is fantastic! I love the flexibility of jumping from one park to another based on crowds, dining reservations, or just because! You are right; there have been some changes with ticket types and reservation requirements, so you have come to the right place.
Theme Park Tickets are date-based, meaning that you need to choose a start date when you purchase your tickets, and there will be a date range for when those tickets can be used. Even better, no more park reservations! In your case, since you bought a 3-Day Theme Park Ticket with Park Hopper Option, you will have five (5) calendar days to visit three (3) times. You likely selected a start date that coincided with your arrival at your Disney Resorts Collection hotel or the first day you plan to visit the parks. This date would be the start of your five-day window. The date range is given so you don’t have to use your tickets on consecutive days, which is a great perk. If you bought your tickets through a vacation package, they are also considered date-based, so they no longer need a park reservation.
Ashley, since you plan on park hopping, have you considered resort hopping? This is one of my favorite activities on our non-park days. I like to check out the unique theming of each resort, sample some of their dining and bar options, do some shopping for Disney merch, and get an idea of whether or not I would consider staying there in the future. Resort hopping made me leave my comfort zone of
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort for
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and again to try
Disney’s Beach Club Resort. I have fallen in love with so many different resorts at this point that all of our Disney vacations include split stays, where we stay at one resort for a few nights and then transfer to another for the remaining portion of our vacation. It’s the best of all worlds!
If you have any additional questions, please come back to planDisney. We love spreading our Disney knowledge, tips, and recommendations to fellow Guests like you!
See you real soon!
Brent