Having trouble with a touring plan with park hoppers

[Abra Cat]

Hi all-- my family has visited WDW once or twice a year for the past 15+ years. We NEVER get the park hoppers-- we tour commando-style, and we've always found that we're most efficient if we stay in the same park all day. Now this year, with the free dining package, we've got park hoppers, and I'm not sure what I want to do with them. I considered just not bothering to use them, but seeing that we'll be visiting at a very busy time (12/15-22-- a couple weeks later than we usually do), I'm starting to wonder if it'd be better to give them a try.

A couple ideas running through my head are:

Do one park a day for the first half, then use the hoppers for "floater days," to do things we missed or want to re-experience later in the trip, when the parks are more crowded (I'll admit this idea of spontaneity gives the mega-planner in me hives)

Go to the park with the lowest predicted crowd level at open, then leave mid-afternoon for the park open latest (this plan has us visiting MK and Epcot pretty much every day )


So, any other suggestions? I'm getting ready to make our dining reservations in a few days, and I'm trying to firm up our plans. Oh, and we'll have our car. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sharonabe]

It sounds like you're more late EMH than early EMH, but for what it's worth, the best way we've found to use park hoppers is to go to the park with EMH during EMH (for us, that is morning EMH) and hop to/from the most recommended park. This gives you the best of both worlds. I would recommend to choose either early or late EMH as burning the candle at both ends makes for some very tired, and possibly cranky, travel mates.

The other thing for the time you're going is the MVMCP. MK will be less crowded on those days, so it's a good time to go to MK until about 4:00 and then hop to another park for the evening. Then, you can also hop to MK on a night when Wishes/MSEP is showing, and just do the night time entertainment there. It will be very crowded on that night, no matter which one you choose. It's the nature of the beast when party nights are happening, so hopping just for those shows makes your life a little easier.

 

[Abra Cat]

Hi sharonabe-- yes, that's true, without hoppers we never do morning EMH, since we don't want to be stuck at a crowded park, so that's another option to consider. And I hadn't considered leaving before MVMCP-- we usually do MK on a non-CP day, but I keep forgetting we have the hoppers now. Thanks for the suggestions!

It sounds like you're more late EMH than early EMH, but for what it's worth, the best way we've found to use park hoppers is to go to the park with EMH during EMH (for us, that is morning EMH) and hop to/from the most recommended park. This gives you the best of both worlds. I would recommend to choose either early or late EMH as burning the candle at both ends makes for some very tired, and possibly cranky, travel mates.

The other thing for the time you're going is the MVMCP. MK will be less crowded on those days, so it's a good time to go to MK until about 4:00 and then hop to another park for the evening. Then, you can also hop to MK on a night when Wishes/MSEP is showing, and just do the night time entertainment there. It will be very crowded on that night, no matter which one you choose. It's the nature of the beast when party nights are happening, so hopping just for those shows makes your life a little easier.

 

[tinka-belle]

We are not big park hopping people either, usually just get the basic pass. When we do get hoppers we use them on our AK day since that park closes early, go to Epcot or MK for a few hours after we finish at AK. Also use the hoppers to finish up a few rides or attractions at a park that we missed earlier in the week or want to repeat, then after a couple of hours go to our "main" park of the day. We definitely don't park hop every day, too much travel time.

 

[tinka-belle]

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[tinka-belle]

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[Abra Cat]

Thank you!

We are not big park hopping people either, usually just get the basic pass. When we do get hoppers we use them on our AK day since that park closes early, go to Epcot or MK for a few hours after we finish at AK. Also use the hoppers to finish up a few rides or attractions at a park that we missed earlier in the week or want to repeat, then after a couple of hours go to our "main" park of the day. We definitely don't park hop every day, too much travel time.

 

[C.C. Langley]

I agree with using the park hoppers so that you can go to the EMH, but without having to be tied to that park all day, as it gets busier. However, what we usually end up doing with ours.... We for the most part stay in one park all day, but because MK stays open so late compared to the other parks, we really just use our park hoppers to close down MK every night. For instance, we will be there in June.... and on June 27th, we will spend our day in Epcot, then after illuminations, we will be heading to MK as they will be open to 2am! Best of both worlds! (Just take a mid day nap!)

 

[Lucius Best]

Do one park a day for the first half, then use the hoppers for "floater days," to do things we missed or want to re-experience later in the trip, when the parks are more crowded (I'll admit this idea of spontaneity gives the mega-planner in me hives)

Go to the park with the lowest predicted crowd level at open, then leave mid-afternoon for the park open latest (this plan has us visiting MK and Epcot pretty much every day )

Don't forget to factor FP+ into your plans. We used to always get park hoppers, but on our first FP+ trip, we opted to stay in one park all day long, use our 3 FP+ before lunch, and then get as many additional FP as possible after lunch. Another option is to go to a morning EMH park (or busy park) at rope drop, stay for a couple of hours, and then hop to a different less-busy/more-recommended park in the afternoon where your 3 FP+ will be.

On our free dining trips, we hopped to Epcot a lot at the end of the day for dinners. Our second days at HS/AK ended up being half-day parks, hopping to Epcot or MK which is usually open much later.

Also, just because you have park hoppers doesn't mean you have to use them a lot, or at all. One of the benefits for us was flexibility. For example, if we were at AK and it started raining, we could hop someplace with more indoor rides.

 

[Abra Cat]

Thank you!

I agree with using the park hoppers so that you can go to the EMH, but without having to be tied to that park all day, as it gets busier. However, what we usually end up doing with ours.... We for the most part stay in one park all day, but because MK stays open so late compared to the other parks, we really just use our park hoppers to close down MK every night. For instance, we will be there in June.... and on June 27th, we will spend our day in Epcot, then after illuminations, we will be heading to MK as they will be open to 2am! Best of both worlds! (Just take a mid day nap!)

 

[Abra Cat]

Good point-- so I should probably save our FPs for the 2nd park.

My husband would love to eat dinner at Epcot every night! We do plan on making HS a half-day park, but we're planning to drive over to AKL to spend the rest of our day exploring the resort and eating dinner at Sanaa. AK is one of my favorite parks, so we'll be closing it down, and hopefully staying past closing with the latest available Tusker House reservation.

Good point about AK-- we actually missed most of our day there on our November 2014 trip due to rain and lack of park hoppers. The park opened at 9, we rode Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl three times each, got on line at Everest and it started pouring for the rest of the day. Most everything was shut down, and we left after lunch. Thanks!

Don't forget to factor FP+ into your plans. We used to always get park hoppers, but on our first FP+ trip, we opted to stay in one park all day long, use our 3 FP+ before lunch, and then get as many additional FP as possible after lunch. Another option is to go to a morning EMH park (or busy park) at rope drop, stay for a couple of hours, and then hop to a different less-busy/more-recommended park in the afternoon where your 3 FP+ will be.

On our free dining trips, we hopped to Epcot a lot at the end of the day for dinners. Our second days at HS/AK ended up being half-day parks, hopping to Epcot or MK which is usually open much later.

Also, just because you have park hoppers doesn't mean you have to use them a lot, or at all. One of the benefits for us was flexibility. For example, if we were at AK and it started raining, we could hop someplace with more indoor rides.