Park Hopping and Driving?

[disneyluver1994]

Nearly 30 trips in and I have found something I actually don't know anything about planning wise. We are taking a very short trip to Disney in December. We are staying in a good neighbor hotel and driving to the parks. I am trying to get some opinions on the best ways to park hop when you are driving to and from the world. Is it easier to just park at the TTC and take Disney transportation everywhere, is it faster to drive yourself to each park, or is it best to park at the first park you go to and then just take Disney transportation between the other parks?

(We have annual passes so we aren't worried about paying for parking)

Thanks!

 

[ELSA711]

We just spent 2 weeks at WDW with APs and we park hopped nearly every day.
10x easier and faster for us to drive.
We lucked out a lot and trams pulled up literally as we were parking our car so we just hopped on and they took us to the front of the parks.
Much less walking even from the bus depots.

 

[danielocha30]

when we park hop we actually park on the parking lot of the park will be closing, early morning let's say will park and magic kingdom and instead of entering we will hop to any other park, using disney transportation, using our own car will take too long and returning to TTC at closing time will be a nightmare

 

[ELSA711]

when we park hop we actually park on the parking lot of the park will be closing, early morning let's say will park and magic kingdom and instead of entering we will hop to any other park, using disney transportation, using our own car will take too long and returning to TTC at closing time will be a nightmare

True! Returning to TTC at closing time was tough with Monorail being so packed, but we never really close out MK but once during the entire trip.
That is kind of our morning park

 

[disneyluver1994]

Awesome! Thank ya'll for the input! I have stayed offsite and driven one other time but the friends I went with didn't have park hoppers (that was a totally new experience for me) so we didn't have any issues trying to get multiple places. We just want to make sure we use our time as efficiently as possible since it's such a short trip and one member of our group has never been to see the Christmas stuff and didn't want to waste time sitting in traffic or waiting in bus/monorail/ferry lines all day!

 

[goofy4tink]

I would look into the Express Transportation. Yes, there is a cost. But, you don't go through bag check and tap in each time. Just the once. The bus picks up and drops off inside each park. It's a terrific service, especially if you're doing a short trip.

 

[disneyluver1994]

I would look into the Express Transportation. Yes, there is a cost. But, you don't go through bag check and tap in each time. Just the once. The bus picks up and drops off inside each park. It's a terrific service, especially if you're doing a short trip.

We did that on our last trip and it was wonderful. Our only hold back this time is being able to get back to the park we left our car at since the express system stops running a few minutes before the park closes.

 

[tobikaye]

I find just driving from park to park is the best way for me. The only time I leave my car is if I am doing MK & Epcot back to back. Then I just park in one of the lots and use the monorail.

I really only plan 1/2 my day so if I plan where I am starting that morning, then I need my car because I do not know where I might end the day or when. If for some reason I was actually planning my entire day, I might use transportation, but only for specific shares. For a MK & EP day, I would probably just park at Epcot and for a EP & DHS day, I would just park at DHS. For any other combinations, I would just drive.

 

[disneyluver1994]

I find just driving from park to park is the best way for me. The only time I leave my car is if I am doing MK & Epcot back to back. Then I just park in one of the lots and use the monorail.

I really only plan 1/2 my day so if I plan where I am starting that morning, then I need my car because I do not know where I might end the day or when. If for some reason I was actually planning my entire day, I might use transportation, but only for specific shares. For a MK & EP day, I would probably just park at Epcot and for a EP & DHS day, I would just park at DHS. For any other combinations, I would just drive.

That's what we were thinking. We usually walk between HS and E anyways and then with the monorail, the only time we would need to drive was if we were in AK or going from HS to MK or vice versa. We are trying to plan our itinerary today and see what the easiest way to do things will be.

 

[goofy4tink]

We did that on our last trip and it was wonderful. Our only hold back this time is being able to get back to the park we left our car at since the express system stops running a few minutes before the park closes.

I would plan to leave my car at the car I was going to end the day at then. Park at say, Epcot if you planned to end the day there. Then head to whatever park you want to start with. Then start using the Express Bus.