Does hopping eat up too much time?

[3Gsandme]

I am in advanced planning mode. Our plan is to take a trip after Thanksgiving/very early December. We will have in our immediate party three adults, 2 Disney adults and 2 kids. MVMCP will be in full swing during our trip. Magic Kingdom is given a very low crowd number on MVMCP days, so I'm considering starting out the day in MK and then hopping to a park we can stay at later. Is a lot of time eaten up by a plan like that? And, I guess, does it make sense? We'll be staying on property, either at the Beach Club or Poly. Is MK uncrowded, comparatively, on MVMCP days?

 

[mesaboy2]

I am in advanced planning mode. Our plan is to take a trip after Thanksgiving/very early December. We will have in our immediate party three adults, 2 Disney adults and 2 kids. MVMCP will be in full swing during our trip. Magic Kingdom is given a very low crowd number on MVMCP days, so I'm considering starting out the day in MK and then hopping to a park we can stay at later. Is a lot of time eaten up by a plan like that? And, I guess, does it make sense? We'll be staying on property, either at the Beach Club or Poly. Is MK uncrowded, comparatively, on MVMCP days?

It makes a lot of sense, so much so that many others with the option will do it too. MK is generally not crowded on party days. Figure about an hour or so to get between parks, and often less.

 

[sharonabe]

We went that week a few years ago, and we found the hopping time to be our "rest" time. During the hotter months, taking a break back at the resort is nice, but in the cooler months, you don't really need to get out of the heat, nor is the heat zapping your strength. Still, it was nice to sit and relax for a few moments on the bus, monorail, and boat. AK will also be closing really early, so being able to hop elsewhere on that day is great too.

 

[3Gsandme]

I promised my husband that this trip would be more relaxing, so I will have to build in some resort breaks.

Do enough people employ that strategy to consider not using it? I'm hoping on most park goers being less educated than me in that regard.

 

[robndani]

We've done MK in morning, then monorail to Epcot, then slow walk back to BC. It was great!

 

[robndani]

I promised my husband that this trip would be more relaxing, so I will have to build in some resort breaks.

Do enough people employ that strategy to consider not using it? I'm hoping on most park goers being less educated than me in that regard.

I always promise my husband that. I guess with 5 year olds it's pretty impossible! Planning for October and I figured if I give him enough golf time, he'll be fine! Also, when we stayed at BCV, all I wanted to do was sit at Stormalong Bay. We kept switching our plans around bc the kids just wanted to swim! My husband LOVED it!

 

[Mikie]

I have traveled several times during the Halloween parties, but not MVMCP, however the concept is the same. Party days are wonderful in MK because people without hoppers avoid it on the shortened day. I travel with little ones and don't hop, so we either swim, eat dinner at a nearby resort after MKs 7pm close (which extends quite late by the time we travel there, eat, use disney transport back to our own resort) or go to downtown disney.

If you have the energy to go late into the evening/night, I think hoppers are pretty key that time of year to maximize park time. However, if you're looking to save the money and being busy through about 9-9:30 or so as I describe for my family, then you can get plenty of park enjoyment without the hoppers.

 

[tobikaye]

I agree that it makes perfect sense. Since not everyone wants to buy PH tickets, those people will normally stay away from early closing days. Since I like to PH anyway, I do not see the time as being a problem. I had a 1 day visit a few years back during MNSSHP. We went to DHS mid-morning and waited and rode TSM, then drove to TTC and went to MK. We did not get to MK until about noon and left about 5 pm. When we left we took the monorails to Epcot for the rest of the evening.

During those five hours, we took our time and spent a lot of time just wondering around. We still had time to eat at Cosmic Rays, meet some characters, and get about 10 attractions in. We could have easily doubled that number if we had wanted to with little problem.

 

[Mikie]

I forgot to add regarding the "too much time" to hop - if you try to stay in MK right up until 7, it does get extremely crowded on Main Street and getting into/out of the park. The sheer flow of people made it difficult to get TO the monorail and it was crowded on it, though we didn't have to wait for multiple trains, and the bus lines were very long. I'd say if you want to hop out of MK, you will save time doing it well before 7.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

Hopping is the perfect strategy for this time of year in order to get the most value out of your tickets. With the parties the MK closes early and AK will probably be closing early too. When we went at this time a couple of years ago, hopping was the only way we got to see Wishes because we were able to hop over to the MK on a non party night after the start of the day at EPCOT.

 

[Farps]

We always hop, and as a PP stated hopping is our well deserved break with all of the walking that is involved during a WDW vacation. Last trip my wife had her fit bit and we were walking 12-15 miles per day on average.

 

[Hootch]

We hop every day we are at Disney. It's usually attached to a resort break, but we go in the summer. Looking at last year's park hours, the parks are fairly late so you should have plenty of time to do attractions while also taking breaks.

 

[bookgirl]

Depends on how much time you have. If you are limited on time and trying to get a lot of things done in all the parks, then you'd probably be better off sticking to one park per day.

If you have some time to spare (multiple park days) or you are not trying to do EVERYTHING at any particular park then I think hopping is worth the time.

 

[Hopefully]

We go in October during MNSSHP and this is always our plan. We go to the MK on a party day and the crowds are significantly lower than non party days. Since the night time entertainment is limited to 3 nights/week during the party, those days/nights are way more crowded.
We do not feel the time to hop is a problem. We too enjoy the rest off our feet as we hop
Have Fun, I think you have a great plan

 

[mesaboy2]

I promised my husband that this trip would be more relaxing, so I will have to build in some resort breaks.

Do enough people employ that strategy to consider not using it? I'm hoping on most park goers being less educated than me in that regard.

Not in my opinion. MK should be nice crowd-wise, whatever park you hop to later will probably be a bit more crowded than it otherwise would be.

 

[lustergirl]

<<<< Hopper here.

 

[rwdavis2]

It makes a lot of sense, so much so that many others with the option will do it too. MK is generally not crowded on party days. Figure about an hour or so to get between parks, and often less.

I had forgotten about the fact the party days are usually not busy. It's an excellent day to hop and you can stay later into the afternoon (I would think) than normal before hopping. With all the FPs at the next park.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I think that is a perfect reason to hop. There are times when hopping doesn't seem advantageous to me, but I am doing something similar on my next trip - I planned a dessert party on a night when AK closes early.

 

[3Gsandme]

I have a teen, so I'm assuming I will have to throw a few late nights at her. I figure my husband and I can take turns. Grandma is coming with us, so I'm thinking the husband and I can get a night alone too.

Thanks for confirming that it makes sense and works. Too bad it's so far away, I'm already excited.

 

[GillianP1301]

I like hopping, I find it recharges me a bit. We drive between parks, so the down time is really not that much. But even using Disney transportation and eating up a bit more time, I think the value is still there, especially if you have days with early closings.