Caitlyn Burke
Park hopping is coming back for VIP Tours, but will still not be available for regular guests. Anything “VIP” at Disney is expected to come with some serious benefits since these experiences are not exactly cheap. However, this benefit seems to be a big priority for Disney to bring back for these high-paying VIP guests.
In an announcement made in June, Disney stated that VIP Tours would be returning on August 16th. These tours can be made 60-days in advance and come in various forms, such as private tours of the parks, walk-on access to attractions, and nighttime tours. Normally these tours include direction from a private tour guide who makes a schedule for your party for the tour. They also will allow for walk-on access to rides, mobile order your party’s choice of food, and will tell you a load of facts about the parks along the way.
One major benefit to these tours is that you only need theme park admission to participate in the experience. Normally guests would need to purchase a Park Hopper in order to bounce between parks. However, your tour guide allows you access into various theme parks while on your tour.
This may seem like a pretty standard benefit for an experience like this, but the new COVID-19 procedures have cancelled Park Hopping altogether. This procedure was put in place in order to regulate the capacities within each theme park, which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is how Park Hopping will be prioritized for VIP guests over regular guests, whom are also paying a lot of money to be at Disney World.
One family participated in an early preview of these VIP Tours. They came under fire when guests saw that they could Park Hop. The family was able to ride multiple attractions across the four theme parks all in one day. Many guests were frustrated by this since Park Hopping is still unavailable for regular guests.
To Disney’s point, it is pretty easy to regulate tour groups going to and from each park since they have a tour guide to relay this information. On the flip side, Disney is able to track every single person that attends their theme parks. It seems like this could be something that could easily be tracked or regulated with the high-powered technology that Disney has.
The return of Park Hopping for VIP Tours has led to several questions. Could this mean that Park Hopping is coming back sooner than we think? Will Disney make an announcement soon about Park Hopping returning? Will Park Hopping change altogether in the future? It is hard to tell in the world of the coronavirus.
Should guests that go on VIP Tours be allowed to Park Hop? Do you think Park Hopping is coming back for everyone soon? Let us know what you think!
