Anybody park hop just to eat?

[Crystal_27]

Let me just qualify my question by stating that the last time we went to Disney was before the whole "park hopping" phenomenon, so the whole concept is entirely new to me. Anyone do this or is it more trouble than it's worth?

 

[rascalmom]

Definitely - we usually hit one park early in the morning before the lines get huge, taking advantage of EMH when possible. We usually have counter service for lunch at that first park. For dinner (usually after an afternoon break), we will go to a different park or dine at one of the resorts.

Back to a park for fireworks later in the evening - so we have been known to hit 3 parks in one day. That said, we usually have a car. Being dependent on bus transporation would make all of this take much longer.

It really just depends on your touring style. We have fairly frequent visitors with older teens, so we don't feel like we have to spend every minute trying to hit all of the rides anymore. We enjoy some of the restaurants & our favorites are well worth "hopping" for to us!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Yup- all the time!! Most of our dinners are at Epcot so we start the day at one park, break at the hotel mid day, hop to Epcot for an early dinner and hop again to another park for the evening.

 

[my4kids]

Let me just qualify my question by stating that the last time we went to Disney was before the whole "park hopping" phenomenon, so the whole concept is entirely new to me. Anyone do this or is it more trouble than it's worth?

Of course we do, is there any other reason to hop? It is not more trouble than it's worth if you design your meal into your day. The park that has the Exta Magic Hours that night is always very crowded for that day with people that don't have hoppers. So we go to a different park that is not as crowded, then hop to the park that is open late for dinner, and stay for extra magic hours. Or we design breakfast into the park that is open earlier that day, then hop outta there when it starts getting crowded at the time of the regular opening. And sometimes for a really nice meal like LeCellier, it worth hopping just for the meal and then we go back to the resort. It depends on if you have little ones that it might be too much on, how nice the meal it is, how tired you are, etc. But sometimes it is worth the trouble.

 

[Mom of 3]

Personally I don't park hop just to eat. For me that seems like to much trouble, driving time or catching buses.

Now last year we did park hop. We did one park in the morning and another in the late afternoon and into the evening. I'd plan my meals around where I would be at the time.

This year we're not getting park hoppers. I got moaned at for running everyone ragged, so this year we are only doing one park per day and only for 6 or 7 hours and then going back to our hotel to enjoy the pool.

Since we have a car some of my meals have been planned so that we can leave the park, drive to one of the hotels for dinner, then back to our own resort.

I'm jut trying a more relaxed approach this year.

 

[EmptyCinema]

Just to eat? No. But we do plan a lot of our park time around our meals. For example, on our last trip, we had dinner at 1900 Park Fare (not that great, IMO) and then spent the rest of the evening at the Magic Kingdom.

We had lunch at 9 dragons one day, so we started that day at Epcot.

As far as park hopping in general: YES. I don't believe I have spent a full day at ANY park in WDW over the 24 days (ok, not that many) I have been there. I like the variety of the different parks, and different parks are better at different times of day... I won't be caught dead in AK after about 2 o'clock.

 

[toocooltobeMom]

Sure did. We went to AK in the morning. We ate an early lunch at Tusker House (A must do) then we hopped to MGM for the afternoon. The next day, we dropped rope at MK in the A.M., but went back to AK for Flaming Tree BBQ and Tusker House (DS carved for the Chicken sandwich again) After lunch and a couple of rides, we hopped back to MK late afternoon. Do you the trend already??

 

[Crystal_27]

Thanks for the awesome replies, guys! I'm sure I'll get right into the swing of park hopping once we get there, but it seems so overwhelming right now to think about going from park to park to park. However, since our schedule is pretty much limited to what a 3 year old can handle pre-meltdown, we'll just have to play it by ear. Thanks again!

 

[ZoZo]

We go in October for F&W festival. We always buy hoppers, so that we can experience the food booths for afternoon and evening meals/snacking. Because most of our party participates in the wine tastings (I'm the only one who doesn't), we often start off at a different park and end up at Epcot most evenings.

We probably wouldn't do nearly as much hopping if not for F&W festival, but it's certainly a nice option most days (especially when you're at a park like MGM that doesn't have much to offer for CS meals). I'd much rather hop over to Epcot than settle for a mediocre CS meal at MGM.

 

[sunee]

Never. I often eat dinner in a different park than I had breakfast or lunch, but I would never hop to another park just to eat and then go back to the original park.

A huge waste of time and energy, IMO.

 

[hvivona]

Last week we were at MGM and left for lunch at Epcot the headed back to MGM. I love the park hopper.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

We very rarely eat at Magic Kingdom.. we go and then park hop to eat at Epcot or MGM....sometimes DTD or AK...

We do like eating in Epcot so we usually park hop there.

 

[dalt01]

we also eat a lot in world showcase so we hop there for dinner. we do not however go back to the original starting park that day.

 

[tinkandpan]

we'll change locations for dinner or lunch but we don't go back to where we came from. WE usually have a car so it is pretty easy to do.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

We do it all the time.