Need strategies for park hopping.

[WendyLovesPeter]

Never had luck with this. Seem to waste more time than anything. Haven't gotten hoppers prob the last 4 times just cuz it's never seemed time efficient. What am I doing wrong?

 

[tomatecerise]

We use It for the morning in one park and spen afternoon in Other.

Animal Kingdom close early and We hit Magic Kingdom after to see electric parade and fireworks.

You can spend Time to Hollywood studios and hop at epcot for dinner

 

[aidansmom]

You're probably not doing anything wrong. You may just not need them. I think that there are touring styles that don't require them - great for you that you don't need them. It's a pretty significant savings.

If you're asking because you have free dining and they're automatically part of your package, though, I would say that we like them because we enjoy a resort break during the afternoon and we go during MVMCP time (but, we don't enjoy MVMCP - too hectic for us). It gives us the opportunity to do one park - say, MK on a slow day of a party night - and then move on to another park in the evening. But, there's definitely the possibility that hoppers just don't work with your touring style.

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

I understand why...We have just had bad luck with waiting for bus and boat

 

[401Disney]

On our honeymoon my wife and I did 3 parks on our first day. Our flight landed and around 10am and we got to out hotel (Contemporary) by 11am. We started at MK to do the People Mover since that's our first ride tradition. Then we hopped on the monorail to Epcot to walk the world showcase and have dinner at Teppan Edo. Then we went back to the hotel to change and we hopped on a bus to HS for the SWW fireworks that night.

I think that its all about your time table and doing what you want to do. We've been to Disney together many times so we knew exactly what we did and didn't want to do that day so we were able to do what we absolutely wanted to do with no problems. We normally purchase the park hoppers and to the same thing the above posted mentioned. Wake up and hit a rope drop or get there within the first hour of opening, go back to the hotel for a quick rest and change of clothes after lunch and then hit a park in the evening.

 

[Alesia]

I understand why...We have just had bad luck with waiting for bus and boat

I just want to make sure that you realize that there is direct transportation between the parks. A lot of people think that you have to transfer at a resort which eats up a lot of time. FWIW, It's never taken us more than 30 minutes to get from one park to another.

 

[tomatecerise]

The only place you have to go at your resort is Disney Springs

 

[LisaCM614]

Never had luck with this. Seem to waste more time than anything. Haven't gotten hoppers prob the last 4 times just cuz it's never seemed time efficient. What am I doing wrong?

Hi, I don't know if you are doing anything wrong but I do know how it has worked for us!
We like to visit a park for Rope Drop in the morning and then head back to our resort for a swim and some down time after lunch. We'll use the park hopper so that we can go to another park for dinner and evening entertainment. Also because we tend to stay at an Epcot area resort we like the flexibility of heading into World Showcase for the evening. If you are an open to close person - meaning you never leave the park then I can see how maybe the Park Hopper might feel like you are losing time since you will be in transit during a time when you could be experiencing more attractions!

 

[JimmyV]

Never had luck with this. Seem to waste more time than anything. Haven't gotten hoppers prob the last 4 times just cuz it's never seemed time efficient. What am I doing wrong?

You're probably not doing anything wrong. You may just not need them. I think that there are touring styles that don't require them - great for you that you don't need them. It's a pretty significant savings.

Up until the introduction of FP+, we were (and to a large extent, still are), in this camp. We couldn't justify the cost and the downtime when we could enjoy one park per day. And when we went to the parks that didn't really occupy a full day for us, (AK and DHS), we would typically leave those parks before the dinner hour and use those evenings to have nice dinners. Our thinking was always, "by the time you get to the second park of the day, you are behind the "line curve", with long SB waits at most attractions that you care about, and little FP availability. What's the point of hopping in to Epcot only to find that Soarin' has a 75 minute wait?" So we didn't.

But now, with FP+, you can indeed have a new strategy. You can hit park #1 in the morning and get the benefit of lower crowds for several hours. Don't book any FPs there. When the crowds get to be unmanageable, you leave and head to park #2. Only at park #2, you use your three FP+s to bypass three long lines. This works best if you are hopping to a non-tiered park (MK and AK). Whereas hopping into AK at noon in the past might have meant confronting 75 minute waits for the Safari and Kali Rapids, and a 45 minute wait for Everest, now you can hop into that park and walk on all three rides using your FPs. Now, I have to admit that I still have an issue with paying for the hopper upgrade just to hop once or twice in a 7 day trip. But at least there is a strategy out there that makes sense due to FP+. Ignoring all the noise in the echo chamber about the negatives of FP+, it is undeniable that FP+ is a huge positive when it comes to making park hopping worthwhile.

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

I just want to make sure that you realize that there is direct transportation between the parks. A lot of people think that you have to transfer at a resort which eats up a lot of time. FWIW, It's never taken us more than 30 minutes to get from one park to another.

Do you take a cab
I know the monorail set up for MK & EPCOT...not as zippy as one would think
Haven't had luck with friendship boat for DHS and EPCOT either
What direct transportation is there other than a cab?

 

[Pmlocke]

Hi Wendy, Peter here. Not sure how you utilize the Hopper but this is how my wife and I use it. First of all, my wife and I are in our 60's and we travel down every year in February. We usually spend the entire morning and have lunch in one park, return to the resort and take a 3-4 hour break pool side to catch our breath and work on our tans. Then we head to another park for dinner and fun. That said, we enjoy two parks every day and it seems to break up the days for us. No one long marathon in one park every day, we spend several hours in one park, in the morning and after the pool break we spend several hours at another park. This allows us to enjoy differing aspects of the parks every day and at differing times of the day or night and tends to break up the day not allowing for us to tire of any one park. I don't think we could ever go down without our hopper option.

 

[Hootch]

We are usually there in the summer. With the high temperatures and the longer hours, we usually take afternoon breaks. That is when we mostly hop between parks so it doesn't really take time.

The park to park buses is one of the better additions at WDW over the last few years, and I am not being facetious.

 

[Alesia]

Do you take a cab
I know the monorail set up for MK & EPCOT...not as zippy as one would think
Haven't had luck with friendship boat for DHS and EPCOT either
What direct transportation is there other than a cab?

No, we use Disney transportation.

There are buses from MK to AK or DHS
There is the monorail from MK to Epcot
There are buses from Epcot to DHS and AK
There is a boat between Epcot and DHS, but you can walk it a bit faster
There are buses from AK to MK, DHS, and Epcot
There are buses from DHS to MK, AK, and Epcot

 

[NJ Goofy]

We wouldn't think of being at WDW without hopper passes especially when the parks are open late. We are usually at the 1st park around opening time (not RD), we stay at that park until about 3:00 pm then head back to out resort and take a pool or relaxation break. Then we usually head back out for an ADR at a different park @ 7:00 pm and do something at that park until closing. It has always worked well for us. I usually plan to be at each park one morning and return to that park another day in the evening except EPCOT, we're usually there at least three nights.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Do you take a cab
I know the monorail set up for MK & EPCOT...not as zippy as one would think
Haven't had luck with friendship boat for DHS and EPCOT either
What direct transportation is there other than a cab?

There are park to park buses at every park. Other than going from DHS to Epcot (or vice-versa), you can just hop on a bus right outside one park gate and be dropped off at another. Hopping should take no longer than 30ish minutes. Using the Friendship Boats between DHS and Epcot might take longer, but we would walk that route instead.

 

[caracarn]

We use park hoppers, but other than doing MK and Epcot as a pair we drive between parks. You do spend too much time on the transportation system otherwise. Our family is too large to fly so we always have our family vehicle when we go to Disney. If your only option is Disney Transport it does become a bigger decision.

 

[ErinInCT]

For us AK and DHS are only half day parks. Generally, like many others above, we spend the morning at one park, come back to the hotel for a break (swim, shower) and then head back in the evening. Sometimes it is all at one park, but more often than not it's a different park.

 

[Alesia]

Other than going from DHS to Epcot (or vice-versa), you can just hop on a bus right outside one park gate and be dropped off at another.

There's a bus between Epcot and DHS, too.

The only two parks that don't ave a bus between them are MK and Epcot.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Like many others we RD one park and shift to another in the afternoon. Using FP in the 2nd park. We tend to start at a park that has morning EMH or is a 'non' recommended or less recommended park then hop to a park that is highly recommended (thus taking advantage of lower crowds in the 2nd park). We do drive (even to MK) and have done 3 or even 4 parks in one day (we are not above hopping to a park or resort for lunch and a ride or 2 and then on to somewhere else.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

You can save a tremendous amount of time by having your own transportation. We've hit all 4 parks in 1 day, visited over 20 attractions and didn't even start until noon.