Park Hopping: What am I missing?

[dbanzai]

I've been reading for a while about how people plan to do this park in the morning, lunch at another park, and then maybe hit a third park in the afternoon.

I'm a male adult without children. When I'v gone to Disney parks in the last few years, I've gone solo (once) or with friends. With the possible exception of AK, I find the parks in Orlando all to be worthy of a full day, and have fun spending each day in whichever park I am in.

Is there a reason parkhopping seems so popular there? When I was in Anaheim, I hopped enough, but the parks are so close to each other and as a solo I wasn't on lines that long. I don't see the advantages of hopping between parks in WDW though.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

The reason that I like to park hop is that we always stay onsite and take advantage of the early EMH. However, EMH parks can get pretty crowded in the late morning or early afternoon. So, as the crowds begin to thicken, we leave that park and take a break. We usually go to a different park in the evening.

I also like the fact that when we're done visiting the AK (and we're always done before closing time), it doesn't mean that we're done visiting the parks. There are 3 to 4 hours or more of park time between the time AK closes and when the other parks close. We can get more time in at another park without taking another day off of our tickets.

Lastly, have you ever gotten to one of the parks and just decided that you've made a bad choice and you'd really like to leave and go to another park? We have. And we were glad that we were able to "hop" to another park at no additional cost.

 

[dbanzai]

The only time I've felt that way about a park was at AK... And I forget what we did for the rest of the day that day.

 

[Leota]

We used to always travel to WDW off-season, meaning shorter Park hours. We would hop to Epcot at night after the other Parks closed.

Also, we like to mix up our experiences. Each Park has a different tone or feeling - Sometimes you just want to do attractions, sometimes shows, other times shopping - hopping allows us to mix it up.

Another bonus to hopping is for Dining experiences. For instance, we enjoy MGM, but find the dining less enticing than Epcot's options. So we'll hop over to Epcot for dinner.

Also, like AKA said - we hop when the Park gets crowded after an early entry morning.

I think I can count on one hand with fingers left over, the days we've spent all in one Park. I just can't imagine NOT hopping. But that's just what works for us - to each his own......

 

[ncbyrne]

I've never been much of a park hopper either. Just never felt the desire to leave. We figured the travel time would eat up park time. HOWEVER...for our next trip, our AAA TA got us hoppers. Rather than change them, we've decided to try it out - mainly for restaurant options, since we also got the dining option with the package.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

I do not like park hopping. We would rather stay in one park the whole day.

 

[madalex]

When we park hop, we used to do one park during the day and then Epcot in the evening. For a couple years, this was done in order to catch the Tapestry of Nations parade and Illuminations fireworks at night (we all loved that stuff, so we would go virtually every night). We still do Epcot most nights, often to catch the fireworks, but also just because we all just love wandering around World Showcase. Since we usually stay at YC, this is very convenient and a great way for us to end each day at WDW.

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

We used to always travel to WDW off-season, meaning shorter Park hours. We would hop to Epcot at night after the other Parks closed.

Same here - many times MK closes at 6 or 7 in off-season...we hop over to Epcot. We also find we are not in AK for a full day.

Its also great when we travel with the DS 2 - who likes to take a nap, or just needs a break from the parks.

 

[Bill From PA]

Ditto the EMH (or some other) park early with a hop to Epcot. When it was just EE, we'd hit that park, do the major attractions until crowds got too bad for us, usually 1 pm, then we'd hit Epcot and finish the day there. We last visited this Jan. 1 through 10, a very slow time I'm told, and EMH was just starting. Due to the low crowds we ignored EMH but still entered our park of choice in time for rope drop, then went to Epcot by 2 or so. I figure it takes 30 mins plus or minus from the time you finish your last ride in park A until you actually enter park B, so when the stand-by lines get to be 30 mins., hopping makes sense.

Bill From PA

 

[dbanzai]

Hmm. Maybe that's why I don't worry about park hopping. I'm usually there in off-peak seasons.

I think we may do AK one morning and then EPCOT for lunch and later... So I guess I may be hopping afterall.

Oh, and I have two baseball games to go to, so I have to hop a bit.

 

[snappy]

Although our children are no longer that young (youngest is 9 now), we still take an afternoon break. We are older parents and we need our rest!! We like to swim and just relax, it really breaks up the day and everyone feels renewed for the evening. Since you are leaving anyway, it does not much matter which park you return toa slong ar you have park hopping. By going to a different park we tend to feel fresher, if that makes sense. We tend to ride our favorite attractions over and over so they can become a just a little bit stale.

However, we tend to go for longer stays. Our last stay we were in the parks only 5 days, and it did seem we missed out on some things by taking the break. However, we are returning during the summer so we did not feel the need to do and see everything this trip.

 

[Luigi's Girl]

We use the park hopping option after we've already spent full days at all the parks. It's nice to go back to whatever parks you like so you can finish up or try things again. I wouldn't like the feeling knowing that I COULDN'T hop over to another park if I wanted to.

 

[cbsunfish]

We use the park hopping option after we've already spent full days at all the parks. It's nice to go back to whatever parks you like so you can finish up or try things again. I wouldn't like the feeling knowing that I COULDN'T hop over to another park if I wanted to.

That, and one time I went it was only for three days. To do 4 parks in three days, you need to be able to hop. And honestly, Animal Kingdom only takes me half a day. If I want to do something for the rest of the day, then I have to be able to hop

 

[muguet27]

We like being able to park hop to suit our mood. We may have spent the morning at MK, but then want to hit TOT and RnR because we're in the rollercoaster mood. We usually go in off-season times, so Spectromagic may only be going on a Saturday night...I don't want to spend any Saturday at MK, even in the off-season, so we just hop over there for the parade. Epcot is the only park that I have ever spent open to close in.

 

[mhingher]

We always liked park hopping. Sometimes we would plan on going to one park, and it would be too crowded when we got there. So then we could just hop on a monorail or bus and go to another park. We have never been huge EPCOT fans, there are only a few things we like. So EPCOT isn't usually a full day for us. AK isn't either. But I think it is definitely easy to spend an entire day in one park, esp MK or MGM (for me anyway!)

 

[LisaRay]

On our last trip the 2 days we spent in MK we didn't hop at all. We just spent all day there on 2 full days. However, when we go to Epcot we don't enjoy spending the whole day there we usually spend 2 half days there. This way those in our group that don't LOVE epcot don't get tired of it. Also we usually never spend a full day in MGM. Again 2 half days to mix it up. You see the thrill riders love MGM but me and my 5 yr. old get bored just doing shows ALL day at MGM so we like to hop to give a little mix to our day.
AK is one that we also don't spend a full day at but we have grown into about a 3/4's day there. Then we can go somewhere else with what is left of our day.
We also go when there are shorter hours and like the flexability of hopping. If the thrill riders want to hop over to MGM at the end of the day to ride there favorites while the little guy and I go back to the room to relax it is not a problem.

I will say that with the new tickets and now having to pay for hopping I was thinking of living without it. Then I thought about the extra evening hours and various parks and what if that is not the park I want to spend my whole day at PLUS and extra 3 hours! And how will it effect crowds at those parks for that day. So for the extra $100 I think I am going to add the hopping and give myself peace of mind to do what I want when I want.