splitting the parks or 2 in 1 day

[jamoka]

My husband likes to go to 1 park in the morning, and then another in the evening. Personally, Im not a fan because I feel like you do the things you love twice and the things you don't love, you don't do at all!

So - how do you all that like to split parks this way make sure you get to do everything? We have time to do a morning and evening at every park (5 days total).

I know it sounds like a stupid question, but I just wondered how others do it!

Thanks!

 

[ArmyVet80]

We only do HS and AK for half days and spend the other half of those days at Epcot during the F&W Festival. We go early (rope drop or shortly there after) to the morning parks which is HS or AK depending on the day. We'll ride our favorites a couple of times and end up leaving the park around 1 pm. Depending on what we have planned we'll either go straight to Epcot or we'll go to the hotel/resort and relax for an hour or two and then head to Epcot.

We always schedule 2 full days at MK and do 8 day/7 night trips so it works out well for us.

 

[Figmentmommy]

My husband likes to go to 1 park in the morning, and then another in the evening. Personally, Im not a fan because I feel like you do the things you love twice and the things you don't love, you don't do at all!

So - how do you all that like to split parks this way make sure you get to do everything? We have time to do a morning and evening at every park (5 days total).

I know it sounds like a stupid question, but I just wondered how others do it!

Thanks!

We will often hop to a different park in the late afternoon/early evening for dinner and then enjoy what that park has to offer for the rest of the night. We try to plan our different park days and nights - along with any must-do dining - based upon which park is scheduled to be open late.

 

[dkrauss]

My wife and I do this..........just not every day. We usually do a park in the morning.........and then since I'm old we go back to the resort for the pool and a drink (my wife) and a nap (me ). There have been times we've gone back to the same park or split it and go to a different park. A lot of times it'll depend on our plans for dinner. It really depends on the plan.

One thing we do kinda live by is...............doing everything is impossible so we don't even try!

WDW is just to big to even attempt everything............we pick a few things we "want" to do during that trip...........we make sure to do them. Anything else is gravy. I use to always want to book the Beach Club breakfast as a way to hang with my dog Goofy........one trip last year we couldn't make it work...........the trip was wonderful anyway. Disney is what you make it!

OP, your question doesn't sound stupid to me at all..............everyone has an opinion or a way they tour. Asking is how we gain knowledge. I can't tell you how much I've learned here at the DISboards...........keep asking!

Have a wonderful vacation!

Doug

 

[gatorlisa]

I almost always go with hoppers. In 2010 we started staying on site. We almost always split our day up with 2, sometimes 3 parks. If there are AM and PM EMH in the same day, we start with the AM EMH park and then move to the PM EMH park in mid to late afternoon, using the bus, boat, or monorail ride as break time. If no EMH, we just start with whichever park opens earliest or the one we most want to visit and finish at the one that closes latest. About the only time we take a break back at the resort is if we happen to be doing a MK evening EMH that goes til 1 or 2 am, which is now rare for us since we do long weekend trips and MK PM EMH is now in the middle of the week most of the time. When hopping, I book FP+ for the second park usually, since we are able to get a lot done with little wait by being at the first park before RD.

Full disclosure: we do much shorter trips than many, typically with 3 park days, so doing RD to park close is manageable. There is no way we could do the parks the same way if we did a week long or more trip like so many others do.

 

[Accident]

I don't see a difference between doing 1 park all day with a resort break and doing all the parks 1/2 a day at a time. You still get a morning and evening in every park. If your not a rest in the middle type of person then sure there is an interruption in the day to switch parks and I can see how some don't enjoy that.. i think where your struggling could be you just don't like that method, which is understandable, or your goal isnt' realistic when you get to the park (or you don't have one in the first place). The goal should never be the park, the park is where your goals are, not the goal itself. It's not realistic to experience everything, every time you walk into the park and your trips to the park become the same thing over and over and over again..

From a goals standpoint, what works best for us is we arrive at WDW with a must do, would like to do and don't care about list. The don't care about is probably the best thing we started to make. We know right away what everyone doesn't care about and don't try to fit it in.. We also include places to eat in that. Generally our must dos are the couple would hate to be at disney and not see things. Earlier in the trip it's all about what our must dos are.. Partially this is because some of our must dos are impacted by weather so if we don't get it right away we have other days in the trip to come back and try again. As we go around, we generally get the must dos out of the way, some of the wouldn't minds and experience some things we just forgot about, haven't done in a long time or we just felt in the mood as we were walking past it.

now where it might be helpful is we don't go back in with the same list.. It doesn't mean our favorites will be skipped, but that's not really a goal and it's a if it happens it happens. A lot of our changing parks for 1/2 day is really about mood. we'll get the must dos somewhere done and then the must dos elsewhere start to pull at us. Daydreaming about somewhere else in disney I find takes away from seeing what is around you and why stay in a park when what you want to do is in another park.. We'll go freshen up in the afternoon and now we're in the mood for a different park and head there. If we've been in the park, we probably had somethign we were in the mood for and we'll discuss if there is anything we don't want to miss while in this trip (edit: trip=trip into the park this time). sometimes it's not a specific goal.. "let's go check out things we haven't done in awhile".

Now some other reasons that it works well for us is my daughter has an anxiety disorder and sometimes the stimulation is too much and we just need to go elsewhere after a break somewhere outside the park. Sometimes we walk into a park and realize after walking around for a little while it's just stupid crazy crowded or a really rude crowd.. Instead of having a less productive time in the park and wanted to go all nycer on everyone around us, we head somewhere else and hope it's better (usually is). And last but not least, maybe we're just not in the mood and realize that before we head to a park we had planned to see or after we just got there. We like to be excited, happy and enjoy ourselves.. If we're just in the park like a zombie because "we picked this place 12 months ago" we get out of there and head to where we really want to be....

 

[tobikaye]

I usually do not plan out my hops, but when I have in the past, I usually split MK and Epcot. One day, I start with MK in the morning, usually for EMH AM, and stay until about 2 and then take a slight break before heading to Epcot for WS in the evening. Then on another day, I start at Epcot for the attractions and 1 or 2 things back in WS, then take a break around 1 or 2 and head to MK.

I actually prefer not to plan my hops. I usually just plan either the morning or the evening and then go where I feel like the other half of the day. I know this does not work for everyone, but I like it.

 

[Delirium]

We don't go that often (every other year or so). But, when we do, we'll hop virtually every day. After spending 5-6 hours at one park in the morning, it's fun to anticipate what the next park holds for the evening. It just seems different to hop over to HS for Fantasmic versus being in that park all day. Or, hopping over to MK for nighttime entertainment versus seeing the castle 50 times already throughout the day. Can't wait for nighttime at AK when we go in October, even if Rivers of Light is not up and running yet.

 

[babyruth]

I like to park hop. Depending on where we could get our dining reservations and which shows we might want to see, and this trip have a daughter on a princess mission...I feel like hopping gives us the most relaxed experience. The trip is definitely doable in your 5 days without hopping if you are concerned about the hopper cost and that's factoring in why you don't want to. If you really don't want to hop, get to the parks at opening and hit them all once saving the last day to try and get to something you didn't do yet. That would be my plan. What you will find without a hopper is that if you are done at AK or DHS in less than a day...you may regret you don't have the ability to hop somewhere for dinner etc.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

My husband likes to go to 1 park in the morning, and then another in the evening. Personally, Im not a fan because I feel like you do the things you love twice and the things you don't love, you don't do at all! So - how do you all that like to split parks this way make sure you get to do everything?

I'm a little confused. Do you mean that your husband has a shorter "must-do" list of things he loves in the parks than you do? And that by hopping every day, you're afraid you'd miss out on your favorites (because he doesn't prioritize them the same way)? My partner and I are this way--he has a much shorter "must-do" list in the parks than I do. I usually spend more time in the parks than he does in order to balance things out, but we've never found a way to spend all our park time together and keep me happy. Maybe you could schedule a morning or evening where he's off re-riding his favorites in one park, and you're getting to your favorites in another?

 

[goofyintoronto]

I'm a little confused. Do you mean that your husband has a shorter "must-do" list of things he loves in the parks than you do? And that by hopping every day, you're afraid you'd miss out on your favorites (because he doesn't prioritize them the same way)?

I was going to ask the same thing. I honestly dont have a clue what the OP is trying to say.

I always hop. I find it "boring" (perhaps boring isnt a good word) going back to the same park I was touring earlier in the morning. I prefer to do a different park in the evening. And my hops are always planned (due to FP and ADRs) BUT i do change things up quite a bit. For example, i'll do rope drop at MK as planned...as well as Epcot in the evening as planned...but in between MK and Epcot i'll go to Disney Springs on a whim. I did this last trip. Thats just one example.

 

[jamoka]

I'm a little confused. Do you mean that your husband has a shorter "must-do" list of things he loves in the parks than you do? And that by hopping every day, you're afraid you'd miss out on your favorites (because he doesn't prioritize them the same way)? My partner and I are this way--he has a much shorter "must-do" list in the parks than I do. I usually spend more time in the parks than he does in order to balance things out, but we've never found a way to spend all our park time together and keep me happy. Maybe you could schedule a morning or evening where he's off re-riding his favorites in one park, and you're getting to your favorites in another?

Good question... The problem is (as an example) that if we start in MK... we ride our top 3 or 4 rides... then it is time to hop... so we go to epcot and do our top 3 or 4 rides there.... So then the next day we start at epcot (please know this is all for example purposes, we really wouldn't go to epcot again the next morning), but we will re-ride our top 3 or 4 again at epcot, and never venture to our lesser favorite things... Which is really my problem, I think if we spent all day in one park, we would try a wider variety of things... So... It has helped to see that we probably need to plan ahead and make sure we hit all the things that interest me. I might have to spend some time in the park without him too... I can make it all day whereas his interest wanes a bit...

 

[Accident]

Thanks for offering that insight into how your touring now. I remember those days and it sucks and I am with you that you need to try something different.

before you change your husbands need to change parks style, try fitting in some changes. Get the favorites out of the way the first time you go into each park but also get something you haven't done in a long time. then after the favorites are done, try 1 day where all you do is things you've never done in a long time. you pick the parks and start by just walking around and do what feel like it. Let him get a favorite in when you walk by it but don't walk the same way you always do to get to it...

My daughter hates when I do this but I notice things that I've seen a dozen times before but never appreciated. It might be some painting on the wall.. Some little statue in the hub. something in a ride.. Purposely looking elsewhere and then annoying the person your with kind of gets them to look at things differently as well. before you know it, he'll be distracted pointing things out to you. At that point you've sparked the we're not enjoying everything around us idea and hopefully it'll be a very different trip by the time you get home.. If it doesn't work out than that 4th day go more drastic and try the day by yourself but invite him also. If he's not happy, make him feel welcomed to hop to anywhere in the park or even another park and make dinner plans or something to meet back up..

just be careful, there is a negative side to this. I'm now in a situation where I am hunting out things i've never done or experienced and in the past few months, I've eaten at more places around disney than I have ever in my life and been to more ticketed events than I can count, tours, love the tours.. Of course the moving here to be able to experiencing these things may not be a bad thing but it's not saved me any money going to disney.