Park hopping: Best Park Pairings?

[TikiWiki33]

Long story short: The tickets for our next trip are park hoppers. This will be trip #4, but we have never park hopped! As an over-planner I'm excited and overwhelmed by the possibilities, lol. Talk me down.

• Are there parks you prefer for the mornings or afternoons?
• And what about party days? We're going the week before Thanksgiving and want to take advantage of the slow MK days before MVMCP. Is hopping to other parks that evening crazy/busy?
• Transportation between Epcot and MK, and Epcot and DHS looks easy-peasy. Any other transportation tips for hopping?

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

I like AK and Epcot as a combo for park hopping, especially if you are planning a mid day break.

Do early entry at AK (7:30am) and knock out as many rides as you can before the crowds kick in, then slow your pace and enjoy the shows and animal trails.

Take a mid day break back at your resort and then hit up Epcot in the late afternoon and evening. By this time, most of the “formerly known as future world” rides will have low wait times. Knock those out and then enjoy a leisurely stroll around World Showcase.

The only sticky bit is if you’re a big FEA/Remy fan… wait times get high early and stay high all day. If you have PH tho, perhaps plan another day with a rope drop at Epcot to get those rides done.

This will also change a bit once Test Track has reopened.

Good luck and enjoy your Park Hopping!

 

[scrappinginontario]

I like the idea above of AK + Epcot in one day.

I highly recommend taking advantage of the quieter days in the MK when there is a party in the evening. We normally hop to Epcot or DHS after that. Yes they’re busier but not so much that we don’t enjoy ourselves.

We find we often hop to Epcot after another park, especially if we have a VQ for Guardians or, for food. We stay at Pop so Epcot is also an easy flight ‘home’.

 

[bray632]

I think it depends on the time of year. We went in September last year and were able to do HS and Epcot (from Boardwalk Villas) and covered both parks fully. I wouldn't want to attempt it when busy : )

 

[Skippyboo]

I like rope dropping HS and then going over to Epcot. Also like hitting MK in the evening a lot of people will bail after the fireworks. Going to MK on party day and then hopping somewhere else is also useful.

 

[HeiHei2018]

We did an MK party day, hotel break, then Epcot until fireworks. We bought LLMP. Did all the rides in Future World, plus Frozen (booked at 8:30 am). That was manageable. The next day, we did Epcot, HS, hotel break, then MK until close. We again had LLMP. Prebooked Remy 9 days ahead. I wouldn’t recommend going quite that hard if you have a longer trip.

 

[BrianL]

Epcot <> HS just makes so much sense with the Skyliner. I like to hit Epcot from the front, work toward the back, then exit the International Gateway to the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios. Of course, MK <> Epcot does have the Monorail too, so that's not a bad one. I do always do AK int he morning then just go to any other. If I hit Epcot, I might make it qick and still hit HS too, for a 3 park day!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Animal Kingdom is a morning park. Getting on one of the first safaris is a must for me. The animals are much more active in the morning - a) it is a bit cooler; b) it is breakfast time; and c) they are just coming out of their nighttime enclosures so they have a bit of excess energy. Plus - I personally feel that Animal Kingdom is the hottest (temperature wise) park. I don't know if it's all the trees or what but I always feel like it is 10* hotter and much more humid than any other park so morning time is a must.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Long story short: The tickets for our next trip are park hoppers. This will be trip #4, but we have never park hopped! As an over-planner I'm excited and overwhelmed by the possibilities, lol. Talk me down.

• Are there parks you prefer for the mornings or afternoons?
• And what about party days? We're going the week before Thanksgiving and want to take advantage of the slow MK days before MVMCP. Is hopping to other parks that evening crazy/busy?
• Transportation between Epcot and MK, and Epcot and DHS looks easy-peasy. Any other transportation tips for hopping?

Go to MK on a party day. MK usually isn't very busy at all in the morning. Then hop to Epcot or DHS later.

AK is a morning park.

It is very easy to hop to Epcot from MK via the monorail. It is also easy to hop between Epcot and DHS via boat, Skyliner or walking.

 

[weather_lady]

If you have purchased Lightning Lane multi-pass access, I love AK -> HS as a hopper pair. Book your LLs in HS ahead of time for the 3 attractions that will have the longest waits, with late afternoon and evening return times. Then head to AK 1 hour before park opening so you can be among the first in line for Flight of Passage, then River Journey, then the Safari, and work your way around clockwise from there. By lunchtime (on a non-holiday), you should be done with every ride, plus one live show or character meet of your choice. Go back to the hotel and take a break until at least 3pm, and then head off to HS and start knocking out your LLs.

 

[MemoryMakers]

We also like hoping to Epcot in the early evening but...we are two adults. Depending exactly when you are going (and whether you are going with kids), if Food and Wine is still going on, you might want to avoid Friday and Saturday evenings...or at least avoid World Showcase. Gets more crowded those nights.

 

[Mtraynom]

I usually head to AK in the morning and then head to HS late afternoon/evening. Epcot and MK are usually full day parks for me, so I don't park hop on those days as much. Definitely head to MK on a party day, so much less crowded.

 

[Dug720]

When I hopped, it would likely be HS at opening to do the 2 or 3 things I do there and then to MK.

Epcot and AK are all day parks for me. I cannot imagine just doing partial days in either one of them.

 

[pens4821]

We personally like to start at HS. We feel like we can get alot done with early entry. Things aren’t as spread out so you can get 3/4 rides done before you start hitting longer waits. We usually do a mix of SDD,TSM,MMRR,TOT,RNR. Even the last two trips during extremely busy early March spring break weeks we can get three rides in before the waits would start getting long.

I know others have said AK is a morning park, but we like going in the early evening. Guess it depends on closing time, but when we’ve gone lately it’s open until 8 I’m pretty sure. Most the rides are very short waits around 6, and save FOP until last and that isn’t bad either.

MK we feel is ok either morning or evening. Evening is better when open 10 or later (especially if onsite and can do extra hours). Epcot is just too spread out for us and we always have a hard time getting the big rides done without a couple long waits. We did early entry in March for remy. By the time we rode that and made it to frozen I’m thinking it was already 45 minutes or more.

 

[TikiWiki33]

Thank you for your thoughts! There were definitely some things brought up that I would not have factored in (i.e.; we'll be there mid-November during Food and Wine)

I'm intrigued by afternoons/early evenings at AK. I've never been in that park past 2-3pm and since we'll be staying a couple nights at AKL, it might be an interesting, new experience!

(I probably should have mentioned, we're doing a crazy split stay: 2 nights at Pop, 3 at Bay Lake Tower, 2 at Animal Kingdom Lodge)

 

[tigertides]

WANT TO PIGGYBACK OFF THIS AND ASK FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER PARK-HOPPED
We are Disney veterans otherwise / multiple trips

Best Strategy for Epcot & DHS?
Will be using EE at the Dolphin
Going late August (low crowds)

Priorities

• Remy
• Test Track
• Slinky
• MMRR
• Fantasia Evening Show
• +/- Rise (not paying for LLSP)
• Avoiding GOTG

Where to Start? It makes sense to get Slinky for later in the day, and Rope Drop Remy/Frozen.

Comparing cost for Epic vs EP/DHS is insane. Of course, Epic has 11 rides. And park hopping EP/DHS has maybe.... 5 good rides. What to do????

 

[Indio]

We always plan our hopping so that we get a morning and evening in each park. We usually start at MK then hop to Epcot, then day 2 start at AK and hop to HS. Then the rest of the week, we bounce around doing the opposite AM/PM parks. Basing the middle days on dining, parties, etc. Last day for us is almost always EP/MK. Start the week at MK and end the week at MK!

 

[tigertides]

We always plan our hopping so that we get a morning and evening in each park. We usually start at MK then hop to Epcot, then day 2 start at AK and hop to HS. Then the rest of the week, we bounce around doing the opposite AM/PM parks. Basing the middle days on dining, parties, etc. Last day for us is almost always EP/MK. Start the week at MK and end the week at MK!

Nice

But that sounds….. expensive

 

[parasail_of_congress]

WANT TO PIGGYBACK OFF THIS AND ASK FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER PARK-HOPPED
We are Disney veterans otherwise / multiple trips

Best Strategy for Epcot & DHS?
Will be using EE at the Dolphin
Going late August (low crowds)

Priorities

• Remy
• Test Track
• Slinky
• MMRR
• Fantasia Evening Show
• +/- Rise (not paying for LLSP)
• Avoiding GOTG

Where to Start? It makes sense to get Slinky for later in the day, and Rope Drop Remy/Frozen.

Comparing cost for Epic vs EP/DHS is insane. Of course, Epic has 11 rides. And park hopping EP/DHS has maybe.... 5 good rides. What to do????

We did something similar late August last year from the Dolphin, except we did MK -> EP -> HS and did pretty much everything we wanted to. We purposely chose the order we did because we wanted to go to the late Fantasia show at HS. Assuming you aren't going on the weekend, and popup storms do not hinder your plans, you should be able to do all of what you listed pretty easily. We did everything on your list except Test Track (wasn't open) and Slinky, but we rope dropped MK and did SM, HM, BTM and Tron plus several smaller rides; GoTG, SE and a couple other things at Epcot; and ToT and RnR plus other stuff at HS.

 

[erinch]

Thank you for your thoughts! There were definitely some things brought up that I would not have factored in (i.e.; we'll be there mid-November during Food and Wine)

I'm intrigued by afternoons/early evenings at AK. I've never been in that park past 2-3pm and since we'll be staying a couple nights at AKL, it might be an interesting, new experience!

(I probably should have mentioned, we're doing a crazy split stay: 2 nights at Pop, 3 at Bay Lake Tower, 2 at Animal Kingdom Lodge)

I’d also consider a resort day at AKL. There is so much to love there.