Park Hopping 5 or 6 Days

[bless03ings]

If we are planning on doing the parks for 5 or 6 days, is it really a necessity to park hop or can we visit all parks with this timeframe in a comfortabe manner. We are 2 adults and 2 kids ages 3 and 8. :

 

[RJmurphy]

There are alot of variables here. Are you staying onsite. Your children are young and could benifit from an afternoon rest (and so could you). It may be an advantage to go to any early entry park then change gears in the afternoon. If you are staying offsite I don't think park hopping will be as easy, although could be done. 5 -6 days is enough time to spend in the parks if you have a plan. I've been reading posts about the extra evening hours, and most reflect my experience, the park is really too crowded to be of much benifit. Good luck and remember, plan, plan, plan. These boards are an invaluable tool too get the most of your Disney World vacation.

 

[dcmbshafe]

I agree with RJ, there are a lot of variables here. In general, I look at park-hopping as a means of flexibility. For me, it is to know that I can go to a different park if need be. That said, with 5-6 park days, you should be able to get by without park hopping, particularly if you will be going during an off-peak time of the year.

 

[ErinInCT]

Welcome to the DIS.
I think one park one day is very do-able. I have been trying to plan the same thing so I can get the cheapest price for tickets. We go in Sept when parks are less crowded but hours are also shorter. We are not morning people so we cannot do early mornings & my kids are 1 & 4 so we don't do late nights either. We always leave for a afternoon break too. We had no problem doing everything we wanted to do in 4 days. Well, I take that back -we had a day planned at MGM but had to leave due to dd4's behavior! And we did not realize how much dd4 would LOVE EPCOT so I would have used another day at EPCOT. And we did not do AK since dd's are not really in to animals. Planning next trip dd wants to do AK & that is the only day I am having a problem planning. I would do AK in the am & then would like to park hop but to save money we may just stay longer at AK (normally we are at a park from around 9:30am - 12noon & then from 3:30ish to 8pm) & then take a later break & do FW in the evening (hayride, campfire sing-a-long & movie). With 5 or 6 days you should have no problem. That leaves time to do each park for a full day, a day for a water park if you want or extra days to visit MK & EPCOT.

 

[bless03ings]

Thanks for your replies. We have POP booked for 5/28/04---6/4/05. My DH would like to stay at his friend's timeshare for more space (Fairfield Cypress Palms). My kids usually don't nap during the day and we will have a rental car.

 

[sconstantz]

the only thing that disturbs me about no park hopping option....

If, even with careful planning, we make a mistake and end up at a park that is really over crowded, we will just leave, go to another park, and plan to go back to the first park on another day.

For instance, last time we went to MK thinking we would have nice peaceful morning.... Well, every person at WDW must have thought the same thing. It was really hectic. I looked at my mother and said let's get out of here.

We jumped on the monorail and hightailed it for Epcot (with DS5). We had a great time. The next day we went to MK and it was back to normal.

I hate to lose that flexibility. My time is precious and I want to be able to zig when others may be zagging....

Shelly

 

[eeyore0062]

We definitely rely on the park hopping option. We usually start in one park for EMH and about 11 am when that park is getting busy we hop to another. Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do if I could only visit one park in a day. But, whatever works for you, because if you get into a park and decide that maybe you wished you had gotten the park hopping feature, take your tics to Guest Relations and they can add it at any time. It would be best if you did this early in the trip, though, since you will pay the same cost whether you haven't used the ticket or have only one day left.

 

[aec]

We go during non-peak times. I like park hopping. It makes it easier to catch all of the evening shows that are not shown everyday (wishes, spectro, fantasmic, illuminations) during off-peak times. We are usually ready to leave AK by 2:00, with hopping we could go over to Epcot in the evening for dinner and illuminations. Also one time we were at AK and it started to rain. We'd already seen the shows, so we left and went to EPCOT and spent a few hours in FW to avoid the rain. The rental car makes hopping easier too.