Pacing: Park hopper or 3 day pass?

[toodycat]

My family and I are visiting WDW for four nights my 60th birthday. (I’m actually turning 61, but my 60th involved severe food poisoning in Mexico, so this is a do-over.) We’re arriving Friday night, doing one night at a good neighbor hotel and then checking into the WL for three nights. On our last Disney trip, DH and I had that “Wow, we’re not as young as we used to be” moment and he suggested we adjust the pace. Our favorite parks in order are: MK, Epcot and DHS. We can spend days in MK, but usually only do a half day at Epcot and DHS. Do you think it makes more sense to buy three non-park hopper passes and do a park a day and if we’re done at Epcot or DHS by 2 or 3 pm, just go back to WL and relax? The alternative would be to get two day park hoppers and take one day off in the middle to recharge. The day off is a little concerning because if it were summer, that would 100% be a pool day, but since it will be January, swimming becomes less inviting and we don’t shop enough to spend a day at Disney Springs. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[scrappinginontario]

If taking time to recharge each day is best for you then a 3 day ticket sounds more reasonable. When we go with my parents the trip is very different as they're done by mid-afternoon too. Even if they had park hopper tickets they would not have the stamina to use them.

When we do those trips we go in with a different mentality and know that we'll probably get 3-4 things done in each park then call it a day. Sometimes we relax in the room, swim or after a rest, head to DS. It's really up to them. They also find that ECV's help them have a much more enjoyable trip so we rent one for each of them.

 

[loves to dive]

It's hard to say and really just depends on what you think you would enjoy. I'm closer to 70 then 60 (66 1/2) and I always get hoppers. Always have and always will. But, we have never been stay in the parks from open to close and go hard people. Caveat, we have been going since 1983, every other year at first and in the last 10 years twice or more a year so we don't have to go hard. I like to take breaks mid-day so hoppers work well for that. A typical day would be go to park A in the morning until we are tired then back to the resort to recharge then park B. I'd never skip AK but that's just me. Given your boundries, I'd go MK day one, maybe go back to the room to recharge then park B. Heck, I might even just do a few hours in park B, get some supper then back to MK since it's your fav. Day 2, start out in park C, back to room to recharge then back to MK. In Jan. park hopping goes back to being able to hop at any time instead of waiting until 2 so it would be easy enough to do a couple of hours in any park during the morning. But again, that's just how we do it, I can't imagine spending all day in just one park.

 

[Skippyboo]

I voted 3 days 1 parks. I would do DS on your arrival day at good neighborhood, Check in at WL next morning, leave bags and get the boat to MK. Then Epcot/HS next to 2 days. HS to me is a rope drop park. Get the rides done and go back to hotel (or another park) and then comeback later in the day especially now that Fantasmic is back. Epcot you can probably sleep in a bit and then hit it up. Festival of the Arts is pretty good. I like looking through all the various booths selling art and doing the big paint by numbers.

 

[CarolynFH]

We’re in the older group who can’t spend all day in the parks anymore. We go late in the afternoon or early evening, after relaxing at the resort all day. We’ve found on our last few trips that we didn’t really use our hopping privileges very much. So I too voted for three days of non hopper tickets.

OTOH, we usually go for a week, so we can spend more than one day in MK or DHS and ride all our favorites without hopping!

 

[toodycat]

Thanks, everyone. Three day non-hopper passes sound like the best solution. Appreciate all your feedback.

 

[SnowWhitee]

I vote for 3 day tickets. Then you can focus solely on one park for ride strategy, shows, eating, etc. Plus, until the 2pm limitation is removed from park hopping, I just don't feel it's the best value. I'm not familiar with the park hours when you go, but you could consider rope drop, go back to the resort for a rest midday, then go back to close the park.