Welcome to planDisney, Austin! Thanks so much for coming to us with your question today. This is a great question, and with the recent updates to the
park reservation system, it's super smart to double-check how everything works. Let's walk through it together!
At this time, up until July 19,
Annual Passholders can visit the theme parks without a theme park reservation on a good-to-go day or after 2:00 PM, except on Saturdays and Sundays at
Magic Kingdom. For a limited time starting July 20, Magic Kingdom will require a reservation for Annual Passholders every day of the week. Passholders will continue to be able to enter EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park after 2:00 PM without a theme park reservation, but if you want to
start your day at Magic Kingdom, you'll need to make a park reservation there in advance.
But here's the good news: you can still park hop to Magic Kingdom at your leisure without needing a reservation. As long as you've tapped into the park you
do have a reservation for first, you're good to go.
Let's say you have a reservation for EPCOT. You start your day by scanning into EPCOT, grabbing a snack and ride on
Spaceship Earth, of course, and then you are totally free to hop over to Magic Kingdom whenever you want, no reservation required. Just make sure you've entered your reserved park before hopping, and then the rest of the day is open for magical adventure!
The same rule applies whether you're hopping to Magic Kingdom from EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, or Animal Kingdom. You only need that one reservation for your first park, and then you can include any other park later in your plans.
So yes, you'll need a reservation to
begin your day at Magic Kingdom, but if you're using your Annual Pass and hopping later, just make sure you've entered your first park and you're good to go!
Have a magical day, Austin!
Jessica