Most Efficient Way to Park Hop?

[SBWB48]

Our FP day is Monday and I was hoping to get some insight from the experienced park hoppers. This will be our first time with PH and while it feels like our plans sound great (without taking into account bad weather) with hopping between ADRs and during F&W, I get nervous about whether we will "waste time" doing so...

It seems to offer so much flexibility even just at the planning stages, and for just two adults (myself and DBF), I can't imagine hopping between parks will be too difficult? We will have a car, but wonder if there are days/parks when we should use Disney transportation? Is it just easier to drive from park to park if we have that option?

Right now, our plans are:

Day 1:
Am - MK
Pm - EP/DHS

Day 2:
Am - AK
Pm - DHS/SW Dessert Party

Day 3:
Am - EP
Pm - DHS

Day 4:
Am - MK
Pm - EP

Day 5:
Am - Rest Day (Unplanned - DS or Resort Hop)
Pm - MNSSHP

Day 6:
Am - MK
Pm - AK

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[gules]

I personally love hopping, but it does take a bit out of you. I'd say take the in Park transit as much as possible to reduce stress. Since it's during food and wine your plans might change a bit depending on weather and how much you want to taste. Food and wine kiosks open at 11 and close earlier than you think, so I usually end up there for a few hours, stroll and eat halfway around then do the other half another day.

HS is less crowded in the morning but it's pretty rockin at night, plus there is Fantasmic if you want to see that. Your choice.

AK I do exclusively only until lunch. It's a personal preference. The animals tend to be active earlier in the day, and AK trends to open early. I always Park hop AK days, even if it means coming back another morning. The only reason to go at night or for emh is if you want to ride something, but I usually fastpass what I want and go in the morning lol.

Mind that AK is the park furthest from the others. If you have a reservation elsewhere, plan for 50 minutes for the bus : 15 to 20 in case you miss one and have to wait, and 30 for the actual transit. That doesn't include time to get to your restaurant. But that is assuming you are trying to go straight from AK to a reservation in another Park or resort.

I find hopping fun, since I don't have to stay in one place of I change my mind. But don't be afraid to just stay in a park of things are going your way and you're having fun. I stay entire days at MK sometimes, and when I get caught up in food and wine I'll blow a day and a half in EPCOT easy. But I kind of love food and wine lol.

Hope some of my rambling helped!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

It depends on what's important to you and your group. For instance, this trip it's just me and DH, so we are going to EP early. I have a 9 am Mission Space, 10 am Soarin, and an 11:15 am Spaceship Earth which I will band tap and head to the monorail, and score a fastpass for MK. It will be our 2d Epcot day, with our first being a whole day at Epcot. However, we don't have to do some of the kid stuff like Nemo and the M&Gs because we will not have children with us. Same with our AK day. I got early fps for AK, then at noon break, then head over to MK for the later parade and fireworks. There are only 3 late nights at MK while we are there and I want to see Wishes. Also, this is a good thread to get some tips from; I have linked this page on purpose because it explains how to get your passes for 1 park, then get more for another park. http://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpass-frequently-asked-questions.3491680/page-37 I wouldn't hop that much though. Most of our days are full park days with some breaks, but only 2 hop days. Now, sometimes we get to a park and we're not feeling it, so we head elsewhere, but not that often.

ETA: Start at post #728

 

[hiroMYhero]

Here's info on booking FPs and Park hopping:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fp-and-park-hopping.3514422/

 

[cshell624]

I personally love hopping, but it does take a bit out of you. I'd say take the in Park transit as much as possible to reduce stress. Since it's during food and wine your plans might change a bit depending on weather and how much you want to taste. Food and wine kiosks open at 11 and close earlier than you think, so I usually end up there for a few hours, stroll and eat halfway around then do the other half another day.

HS is less crowded in the morning but it's pretty rockin at night, plus there is Fantasmic if you want to see that. Your choice.

AK I do exclusively only until lunch. It's a personal preference. The animals tend to be active earlier in the day, and AK trends to open early. I always Park hop AK days, even if it means coming back another morning. The only reason to go at night or for emh is if you want to ride something, but I usually fastpass what I want and go in the morning lol.

Mind that AK is the park furthest from the others. If you have a reservation elsewhere, plan for 50 minutes for the bus : 15 to 20 in case you miss one and have to wait, and 30 for the actual transit. That doesn't include time to get to your restaurant. But that is assuming you are trying to go straight from AK to a reservation in another Park or resort.

I find hopping fun, since I don't have to stay in one place of I change my mind. But don't be afraid to just stay in a park of things are going your way and you're having fun. I stay entire days at MK sometimes, and when I get caught up in food and wine I'll blow a day and a half in EPCOT easy. But I kind of love food and wine lol.

Hope some of my rambling helped!

I hope it's ok if I ask this here and sorry if it's a silly question, but do the buses go from park to park? We have never hopped before and seldom use the buses. TIA!!!

 

[Alesia]

I hope it's ok if I ask this here and sorry if it's a silly question, but do the buses go from park to park? We have never hopped before and seldom use the buses. TIA!!!

There is direct transportation between all of the parks.

 

[gules]

There is direct transportation between all of the parks.

There is also tranportation to Disney Springs and the resorts, although you cannot go directly from one resort to another unless they are monorail resorts. Monorail runs from parking and ticketing to either epcot or mk, and the mk line runs to some of the high end resorts if you want to poke around. I love the poly myself. I end up there eating breakfast almost every time I go. Total mystery....

 

[Alesia]

Our FP day is Monday and I was hoping to get some insight from the experienced park hoppers. This will be our first time with PH and while it feels like our plans sound great (without taking into account bad weather) with hopping between ADRs and during F&W, I get nervous about whether we will "waste time" doing so...

It seems to offer so much flexibility even just at the planning stages, and for just two adults (myself and DBF), I can't imagine hopping between parks will be too difficult? We will have a car, but wonder if there are days/parks when we should use Disney transportation? Is it just easier to drive from park to park if we have that option?

Right now, our plans are:

Day 1:
Am - MK
Pm - EP/DHS

Day 2:
Am - AK
Pm - DHS/SW Dessert Party

Day 3:
Am - EP
Pm - DHS

Day 4:
Am - MK
Pm - EP

Day 5:
Am - Rest Day (Unplanned - DS or Resort Hop)
Pm - MNSSHP

Day 6:
Am - MK
Pm - AK

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

When park hopping, using Disney transportation is faster and easier than driving.

 

[bryanb]

When park hopping, using Disney transportation is faster and easier than driving.

Agree. Even on the trip where I stayed offsite and drove to the parks, it was faster to stand in line for busses and monorails. The alternative is to go to the parking lot, wait for the tram, walk to the car, drive, park again, walk or take another tram, etc.

For example, when hopping from MK to Epcot, I left my car at the TTC rather than move it.

Hopping does take a lot of time at WDW, but if you put yourself in a vacation frame-of-mind, you can consider it all part of the vacation experience.

 

[lovethattink]

Disney says to allow 90 minutes. But I've only on rare occasion had it take more than an hour to hop.Usually 20 to 30 minutes is all it takes.

We've had AP or park hoppers tickets every visit to WDW. We rarely hop or use Disney's transportation. We prefer to stick with one park.

 

[Laura's Dad]

Our FP day is Monday and I was hoping to get some insight from the experienced park hoppers. This will be our first time with PH and while it feels like our plans sound great (without taking into account bad weather) with hopping between ADRs and during F&W, I get nervous about whether we will "waste time" doing so...

It seems to offer so much flexibility even just at the planning stages, and for just two adults (myself and DBF), I can't imagine hopping between parks will be too difficult? We will have a car, but wonder if there are days/parks when we should use Disney transportation? Is it just easier to drive from park to park if we have that option?

Right now, our plans are:

Day 1:
Am - MK
Pm - EP/DHS

Day 2:
Am - AK
Pm - DHS/SW Dessert Party

Day 3:
Am - EP
Pm - DHS

Day 4:
Am - MK
Pm - EP

Day 5:
Am - Rest Day (Unplanned - DS or Resort Hop)
Pm - MNSSHP

Day 6:
Am - MK
Pm - AK

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I noticed your Day 1, Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6 all begin at the MK. Disney transportation is always better to the MK as it drops you off at the park entrance. You don't have to park your car, wait for the ferry and/or monorail, then travel across/around Seven Seas Lagoon. On Day 4 I would ride the monorail to the TTC and then transfer to the Epcot monorail. It is one of the best rides at WDW. On Day 3 I would leave Epcot via the International Gateway entrance and take a relaxing boat ride to DHS. It looks like you have enough time and the crowds will be light (we just made our FP+ plans last week) for you to have a great time. The only day I might consider a car would be Day 2 as the AK is the theme park that is furthest from the others. Hope this helps.

 

[aretha30]

We always hop, love the flexibility of being able to go where we want when we want. Before kids we went from one park to another using park transportation. After kids we hit RD at one park (MK we use park transportation the other parks we use our car) take a break back at our resort and then hop to another resort most of the time using our car. The only exception would be if we want to hop to a third park, if we do then we take park transportation. If you're not taking a break park transportation is the way to go.

 

[SBWB48]

Thank you all! Very helpful advice!!

 

[gap2368]

Our FP day is Monday and I was hoping to get some insight from the experienced park hoppers. This will be our first time with PH and while it feels like our plans sound great (without taking into account bad weather) with hopping between ADRs and during F&W, I get nervous about whether we will "waste time" doing so...

It seems to offer so much flexibility even just at the planning stages, and for just two adults (myself and DBF), I can't imagine hopping between parks will be too difficult? We will have a car, but wonder if there are days/parks when we should use Disney transportation? Is it just easier to drive from park to park if we have that option?

Right now, our plans are:

Day 1:
Am - MK
Pm - EP/DHS

Day 2:
Am - AK
Pm - DHS/SW Dessert Party

Day 3:
Am - EP
Pm - DHS

Day 4:
Am - MK
Pm - EP

Day 5:
Am - Rest Day (Unplanned - DS or Resort Hop)
Pm - MNSSHP

Day 6:
Am - MK
Pm - AK

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I would not hop every day you do wast a lot of time but hoping can also give you a nice break I will begging for 6 days soon ( I go for 6 days about 3 or 4 times a year) I normally only have 2 or 3 days were I will hop.

on day 1 I would not go to 3 parks stick with 2 at most

day 4 I would just stay at MK then on day 6 do EPCOT and AK.


this is just what I would do also I would leave at lest an hour to hope between parks some times it takes longer some times less.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

It depends on what's important to you and your group. For instance, this trip it's just me and DH, so we are going to EP early. I have a 9 am Mission Space, 10 am Soarin, and an 11:15 am Spaceship Earth which I will band tap and head to the monorail, and score a fastpass for MK. It will be our 2d Epcot day, with our first being a whole day at Epcot. However, we don't have to do some of the kid stuff like Nemo and the M&Gs because we will not have children with us. Same with our AK day. I got early fps for AK, then at noon break, then head over to MK for the later parade and fireworks. There are only 3 late nights at MK while we are there and I want to see Wishes. Also, this is a good thread to get some tips from; I have linked this page on purpose because it explains how to get your passes for 1 park, then get more for another park. http://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpass-frequently-asked-questions.3491680/page-37 I wouldn't hop that much though. Most of our days are full park days with some breaks, but only 2 hop days. Now, sometimes we get to a park and we're not feeling it, so we head elsewhere, but not that often.

ETA: Start at post #728

Thanks muchly for the other link. I had no clue I could only book 2 and then get a 3rd in another park (subject to availability of course). That is awesomesauce! Now to get them to allow prebooking in 2 parks!

 

[practicallyperfect77]

I love to hop and looking at your tentative plan it makes sense to me as mkst are b/t MK and Epcot (so can take monorail) or Epcot/HS where you can take the boats or walk. I personally haven't walked but a friend did (was pregnant at the time) and actually beat a boat. (She was super proud of that).

I went to all 4 parks one day (beginning of Dec crowd level was predicted at a 4) and was able to get all my fave rides and snacks in on one day..all using Disney transportation. Granted it was a tiring day, but much fun. Hopping is the best.

 

[tinka-belle]

We don't PH every day, find that it takes too much time out of our trip to do that daily. Have found that when we do sometimes it's just an hour or so and sometimes if it's later in the day this time of year that a sudden storm can ground all transportation for while and it takes a lot longer. Have been late to many an ADR when we thought we had enough time but were waylaid by bad weather or lightening in the area that halted some transportation.

 

[BobC]

I always park hop and visit 2 parks in one day. A morning park a little after opening. Then, I go back to my resort after lunch to rest for a few hours and/or swim. Then for the evening I travel to the evening park where I usually have a dining reservation.

Very easy and not tiresome.

 

[OB1]

We have park hopped for 20 years. We prefer to drive in most cases - and feel we arrive 10-30 minutes quicker at our destination. Only the MK could be quicker by Disney transport. For adults, Epcot is a favorite to hop to for late afternoon/evening, and especially with F&W. HOWEVER, we skip it on FRI/SAT, just too hectic. We might do Epcot as our morning park, then hop elsewhere on those nights.

I also think driving depends on how your normal travel goes at home. I have a short drive to work, so I don't mind driving. Friends that have LONG drives prefer to let Disney drive them while on vacation.

For a fun day, try bus roulette. Go to the bus stop at your hotel, and take the first bus that arrives. That is your first park for the day. I have done that a few times and it certainly is a time saver.

 

[tinkerbella16]

I don't remember a trip where we didn't have park hoppers, and we frequently park hopped and loved it! Now we spend time at the resort, so we love doing rope drop and then heading back to the resort by 12:30-1pm to swim and relax, and then back to another park at night. We love doing it this way, so we aren't so worn out and exhausted.