Park Hopping with Young Kids

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

Hi everyone!

I could use some planning advice. We're going to WDW for 8 nights in August and staying at Pop Century. My kids will be just turned 5 and almost 3 at that point.

We've done two kid trips in recent years, but this will be the first time getting park hoppers, going to the water parks, and taking the bus (we always got a rental car before).

I've been wondering about the best use of park hoppers with such young children. Should we:

1. Rope drop, eat lunch, then go back to the resort for pool/break, then out to a second park at night? My kids go to bed between 8-9. so would it be worth it to go back to the park? Will taking the bus use up a lot of time?

2. Spend a full day at parks. Rope drop one park, then after we've done everything we want to do switch to second park. Go back to resort at night.

3. Mostly go to one park per day as we usually do.

Also, how do you fit in water parks? Should we designate water park days, or will it be easy enough to go to a water park for half a day and a theme park for half a day? We have 7 full days for parks. We are not planning on going to any parks on our 2 traveling days. Traveling with two young kids is tiring enough.

Thanks for sharing any experiences with this, tips, and advice!

 

[WaterLinds]

I can’t speak to water parks—we did one day at TL a few years ago, but it was because our flight had been cancelled and we were out of Park days, and since the Poly pool was closed we got free admission. Otherwise we’ve been going in February/March and while it is often warm enough for the pool we haven’t wanted to plan water days.

Our first trip with a kid was with a 3 yo, we got a great deal and stayed at the Poly, so park hopping was pretty easy. We’d take a midday break and then it was quick to pop over to MK or Epcot for the evening if we wanted.

Last time we stayed at POFQ with a 2 and 6 yo. We had hoppers, but could have skipped them. We took a midday break everyday, we all needed it. Several times we got back and were so tired or having so much fun at the pool that no one wanted to go back to the parks. We went back two evenings, once to MK and once to AK, both on days we’d been to those parks already.

This trip were at POFQ again and I bought hoppers, because there are a few days we have morning/eveningthings scheduled at different parks and that’s how it worked best. I expect it will be similar to last time, we will head back to the hotel early afternoon, some will nap, some will use the pool, etc., and then we’ll regroup and decide about the evening. We will go back to parks a few evenings because we have plans, but probably not everyday.

My kids normal bedtimes are 7-8 pm, so a few nights we will stay in and stick with that. Maybe once we’ll start late and push through the midday time and call it quits by dinner. And a few nights we’ll push our luck and stay out later, hoping that the midday break gets us through! When we do go back, it would typically be about 4-5 pm (depending on dinner plans) and plan to stay until 8-9,but we have earlier Park closes that you would in summer.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

I can’t speak to water parks—we did one day at TL a few years ago, but it was because our flight had been cancelled and we were out of Park days, and since the Poly pool was closed we got free admission. Otherwise we’ve been going in February/March and while it is often warm enough for the pool we haven’t wanted to plan water days.

Our first trip with a kid was with a 3 yo, we got a great deal and stayed at the Poly, so park hopping was pretty easy. We’d take a midday break and then it was quick to pop over to MK or Epcot for the evening if we wanted.

Last time we stayed at POFQ with a 2 and 6 yo. We had hoppers, but could have skipped them. We took a midday break everyday, we all needed it. Several times we got back and were so tired or having so much fun at the pool that no one wanted to go back to the parks. We went back two evenings, once to MK and once to AK, both on days we’d been to those parks already.

This trip were at POFQ again and I bought hoppers, because there are a few days we have morning/eveningthings scheduled at different parks and that’s how it worked best. I expect it will be similar to last time, we will head back to the hotel early afternoon, some will nap, some will use the pool, etc., and then we’ll regroup and decide about the evening. We will go back to parks a few evenings because we have plans, but probably not everyday.

My kids normal bedtimes are 7-8 pm, so a few nights we will stay in and stick with that. Maybe once we’ll start late and push through the midday time and call it quits by dinner. And a few nights we’ll push our luck and stay out later, hoping that the midday break gets us through! When we do go back, it would typically be about 4-5 pm (depending on dinner plans) and plan to stay until 8-9,but we have earlier Park closes that you would in summer.

Thank you for sharing your experiences! I also think we'll use the hopper just some nights and for certain special attractions we got fast passes for, or to see a certain night time show. We got them to have flexibility and because we want to go to the water parks.

 

[WaterLinds]

I think in August the Hopper+ makes perfect sense for the water parks alone! I know I’ve read that they get quite busy in the summers too so I’d guess planning a few hours in the water, midday break when the crowds get intense, and then maybe dinner and a few rides in the parks could be a nice day too.

 

[rdaky]

In Summer, it gets so hot and everyone is more likely to get cranky and exhausted. In Summer, we always rope drop and do as much as we can by 12 or 1. And then we either head to the pool or a water park. Sometimes we'll go back to another park at night, maybe just for dinner and a couple of hours. And sometimes we just go back to the hotel to relax after dinner and go to bed. Don't underestimate how much the heat will wear everyone out.

Also, although we can park hop, we really don't do mid-day hopping from one park to the next without a break very often. It's very time consuming and feels like wasted time to just go from one park to another without a good reason.

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

In Summer, it gets so hot and everyone is more likely to get cranky and exhausted. In Summer, we always rope drop and do as much as we can by 12 or 1. And then we either head to the pool or a water park. Sometimes we'll go back to another park at night, maybe just for dinner and a couple of hours. And sometimes we just go back to the hotel to relax after dinner and go to bed. Don't underestimate how much the heat will wear everyone out.

Also, although we can park hop, we really don't do mid-day hopping from one park to the next without a break very often. It's very time consuming and feels like wasted time to just go from one park to another without a good reason.

Thank you! This is helpful.

 

[EllNat11]

Whether WDW or at any other location, we always get up early, have some fun in the morning, get lunch and hit the pool/relax in the afternoon (especially when it's summer/hottest part of the day) and then go out refreshed for more fun in the evening. Experience varies with what the kids can tolerate, but my daughter (currently a few weeks from turning 7) always does better with lots of pool floating and a mid-day recharge!

 

[Krj16]

We always get the park hopper too. Usually do mornings and take break mid day to swim and relax. Go back to any park in the evening. We like to be able to go wherever and not be committed to one park for the day. Really depends on how tired the kids get, how hot it is, etc. where we go and when.

 

[amberpi]

We went twice in 2018 with a 2.5 yo and a 4 yo. There is no way we would even go to WDW without park hoppers. We all love Epcot, and usually end every evening there, or we hit a few parks depending on crowds so we can pivot. Phers are AWESOME.

 

[Nancyg56]

In August with kids I think Hoppers are a life saver. The parks get HOT so rope drop is your friend, but that can be exhausting in itself, never mind the afternoon heat.
We hit the parks early, leave around lunch time Either eating in the park or back at the resort. We like using to pool and resting, showering and then we have dinner in a different park.

 

[Clark W Griswold]

We park hopped once with 2/5 year olds. Early morning breakfast before rope drop each day in parks. Go until 2-3. Rest for an hour. Go to dinner at next park. We really like trying Epcot restaurants so we went there a few times at night.

 

[monorailsilver]

I have gone with kids that little and younger in the summer.

We always rope drop. We have breakfast in our room so while the kids are eating, dh and I can get ready and we also eat (but are quicker than them). We bring water, lots of water.

We do the early entry park if possible. Have lunch somewhere in the park and then return for a nap! My kids would pass out, even when my oldest was 12, she’d be he first one to pass out. We would shower and return to a different park around 5 and find dinner.

We always stayed til closing and never did more then 2 park days in a row. August we did every other day for a park and had 5 park days, 11 days in total.

 

[rg35]

We're not a fan of park hopping anymore, even though my trips to Disney before kids always included hopping.

For our first trip with our kids (4 year old triplets at the time) we had actually bought park hoppers, but when I put together our touring plans I discovered that hopping wasn't necessary so we didn't. For our 4 trips after that, we simply haven't bought hoppers.

Once our kids were around 6 we started going full park days (it was their option to stay or go back to the room or pool). We found that eventually naps were no longer really helpful because it took them a while to fall asleep, and when they woke up were usually miserable and cranky. Now they want to spend as much time as possible at the pool (they will be 10 when we visit this year) - I sense that our park time will begin to really lessen over the upcoming years.

If your kids go to sleep at 8-9 going back to the parks in the evenings doesn't seem worthwhile to me, especially since you're using bus transportation. Without a car I'd be even more reluctant to hop around. Disney bus is a nice service, but it takes much longer to get around compared to having your own rental car. You'll also need to account for a potentially crowded bus and the possibility of tired kids not having seats. It's a very different experience than being able to hop in your car, seatbelt the kids in, put on the A/C and be back at your hotel in about 10 minutes.

Some of what you do in the evenings will also depend on your dinner plans. If your kids nap, you'll have to wake them up early enough to eat dinner, then get back to a park, and then be back for bedtime all while leaving additional padding for bus travel. One option you might want to consider is using your evening park visit for dinner, for example CRT or somewhere at EPCOT, riding some things until you sense the kids are tired and then heading back to the room.

I think you might be OK mixing in some later park nights as long as you are not doing a morning rope drop park day the next morning. That's just going to be very taxing on everyone. As long as you're not dragging everyone out of bed the following morning, the kids will probably be OK staying out past their bedtime (at least the 5 year old).

 

[Smittolis]

Where are you coming from? Is there any time zone difference? I would also factor in that while being at home bed time may well be 8-9, but at Disney with all the stimulation and excitement that could perhaps change. We are West Coasters so the time zone difference works in our favor so we like to finish up being kicked out of MK when it closes given the 3hr time difference. Kills you in a morning I guess, but you reap the benefits later on.

We like the hopper function because it allows some flexibility with your plans. Even just to pop over to the Emporium to check out some gifts, or perhaps the big top to grab some snacks etc... It also builds in some insurance should things go pear shaped.... rides closed, weather issues, or just kid meltdowns and desires. Being able to switch it up psychologically is worth it for my family, maybe not to everyone but it works for us.

So I would ask yourself whether this ability to do it (whether you actually do it or not) is worth the extra money. To a lot of people it is, to a lot of people it isn't. So just weigh up your priorities and what you are comfortable with.