Disneyland has made another change to its park hopping rules. Beginning June 9, 2026, Disneyland is removing the rule that prevented guests from park hopping prior to 11am. Guests will be able to jump between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure at any time, assuming there’s availability.
Unfortunately, there’s still a hoop for park hoppers to jump through. Guests with park hopper tickets will need to make a theme park reservation before their visit. But, they don’t need to scan into that first park before going to the other. For example, a park hopping guest could make a reservation for Disneyland Park but they could start their day at Disney California Adventure.
Despite the theme park reservations being effectively useless for park hopper guests, Disney is keeping them in place because it provides a data point. Disney knows how many park hopper tickets and Magic Keys they’ve sold. Requiring a guest to book a theme park reservation (effectively signaling their intent to visit on a specific date) helps Disney manage operations on that day.
We’d love to see park reservations dropped entirely. That’s not exactly a hot take. The theme park reservations are an added annoyance that feel completely unnecessary. We know Disney uses the data to manage staffing, but they managed to operate the parks for decades without reservations. They can do it again. Hopefully this is another step in that direction.
