park hopping worth it?

[Mickey'sZebra<3]

is park hopping each day to avoid crowds worth it? we do already have hopper tickets by the way

i purchased Tour Guide Mike and used the crowd calender, and now all my days seem to involve park hopping eg. animal kingdom and then HS for Fantasmic! and then another day... epcot and then MK for MSEP etc

we will be using disney bus/monorail as transport so is the time it takes to travel between parks worth it for an empty park?

Low crowds in a park will be great not just for rides, but shops etc as its difficult in my wheelchair to get round when its busy and its not nice when people walk into you and fall on you and well just stand in your way and pretend you dont exist

so really what I'd like to know is if the changing parks on the buses is easy, not too time consuming and well worth it??!

thanks!!!

 

[Chilly]

I think park hoping is good on some days but not all days. At the beginning of the holiday I tend to stay in one park all day, then towards the end I park hop to do all my fav things again and to see fireworks etc.

It is always good to have a plan but to then go with the flow. If its busy you may want to head to another park or if its quiet and you get everything done really quickly you might want to also leave and go to another park.

 

[2Tiggies]

We hop because we use EMH with staying onsite. From my experience, using morning magic hours is usually only worth it if you arrive at the beginning of them and then leave and hop to another park when it gets busier. I can't remember if you are staying on or offsite EMH are not applicable to hopping if you are an offsite guest as they are partly irrelevant. By irrelevant I mean that you wouldn't be able to take advantage of them, but you will want to try and avoid the park that has EMH that day as it will be more crowded. This is the reason we hop once the morning EMH park has started getting busy.

Another factor is the time of the year you are visiting. Prior to last year we had only done Easter which is busy, but the parks are open much later. This gives more usable hours to play with during the day and will accommodate park hopping. Travelling from one place to another takes more time than most people anticipate and when we went in October last year, we hopped far less as it was a waste of usable hours.

So to confirm my answer to one of your questions: yes, it does take a lot of time to transfer from one park/resort to the next. The general rule is to allow 60 - 90 minutes. Of course it rarely takes this long, but it can happen and setting aside at least an hour will be a must. It also depends a lot on where you are and where you want to get to.

Since you have subscribed to a touring plan/guide, follow the advice on there. I don't know TGM as I use UG, but even when something doesn't seem to be logical, there is usually a reason for it. As you get acquainted with actually using the plan while you are there, you will find little aspects you want to ignore or tweak to suit.

 

[Bookstamper]

Hi there! I am also in favour of park hopping - though as 2Tiggies says, this may depend of what time of year you are visiting. We have found it really useful when one-off events pull extra visitors to the parks, such as Star Wars weekends or Osborn Lights in DHS. It's nice to check these out and then move on before the crowds catch up to you!

As transfer times between parks can be long, we often use these as an opportunity to try dining at, or just looking around, different resorts (plus busses to hotels can be quicker than those to other parks). For example, we spent the morning at DHS, transfered to the GF for lunch and then took the monorail to the MK in the afternoon which worked well.

Enjoy your upcoming trip!

 

[crabbie1]

I think as the others have said it depends when you go.We dont tend to use it and think we did it once last year but that was because the food and wine festival was on and we wanted to have lunch using our snack credits to try different foods.Also the 14 day hopper and the premium pass both allow it anyway so the option is there. We tend to ensure we do a day at each park and then have a pool morning and park afternoon or visa versa. Its personal choice. I dont tend to follow the guides in the week though at weekends and holidays they are quite good.Happy planning but dont let it run your holiday by having too stricter schedule.Have the bones planned then play it by ear. You have picked a lovely time by the way.Really loved september/october.

 

[fairytale]

We've been many times always stayed on site, and never used the hopper element of our tickets.

Saying that I would hate not to have the option so would always make sure I could hop, just in case If you know what I mean

 

[Mickey'sZebra<3]

il try not to over plan then on our first trip to DLP we planned for practically every minute of the day!! It was a bit crazy but in 2 days we did every single attraction! when we went in January for 5 days we did so much less, no planning at all and just did what we felt like...that was a much more relaxing, enjoyable holiday!

I do sometimes feel though that there is too much to get done in Florida to not plan!! and I dont want to miss anything as its not something we can afford every year unless we get really hooked to Florida and have to stop eating etc to save up every penny for another trip

We didnt know Sept was such a good month to go, we booked it as it was our only choice with my friends holidays... it sounds like we have been really lucky and picked a great month

I might just pick on park a day then, and maybe plan for week one but then do whichever bits we liked best in week two maybe try park hopping after the EMH that sounds good...we're staying onsite in All Stars Movies

Thanks for everyones great tips

 

[2Tiggies]

Comments in red

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I do sometimes feel though that there is too much to get done in Florida to not plan!! Yes, you are right

and I dont want to miss anything as its not something we can afford every year You do need to be realistic - there is a lot to do there and you will not fit everything into two or even three weeks ... BUT ... you can choose the things that are really important to you and make sure you prioritise those.

unless we get really hooked to Florida and have to stop eating etc to save up every penny for another trip Well you wouldn't be the only ones

Well done on your great choice of season to visit. Looking forward to hearing more of your plans.

 

[Reddy]

What we really enjoyed doing was go to one park in the morning
then go back to hotel & eat lunch
then hit a different park at night (get the firework show)
I know when we did AK we stayed until the parade (I had scrappages made up so we had to get the pics for that) then went back to hotel for a short break then headed to DHS for Fantasmic which was wonderful

 

[dizzyredhead83]

We don't tend to park hop just because the non hopping park tickets are so much cheaper. However, if you have got the tickets already it is definitely worth planning into your day especially if you are at one park but want to end the day with fireworks at Epcot for example. I would see what it is like when you get there and see what seems the best options. Everyday I reckon would make you lose a lot of time.

 

[torsie24]

We are definitely hoppers!

With 2 whole weeks we like to hit a park early, get out once it gets crowded then laze in the afternoon and go to a park for fireworks.

Sometimes the same park sometimes different. Or we'll maybe go to Epcot then fancy a stroll or cake on the boardwalk and get tempted to have a ride on tower of terror etc.

I wouldn't not get a hopper ever I don't imagine. But then we never do a full day in any park.

 

[T16GEM]

We haven't hopped since they took the hopper element out of the tickets and you had to pay more for it.

We wouldn't do it with the kids, as it takes so long to get to another park with them and all there gear in tow! We tend to spend a whole day in one park usually until they close.

Maybe as they get older though we will add that part back into the tickets, depending on what they want to do.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

When it was just the two of us we used to hop all the time - sometimes to 3 parks in a day - but then we had been so many times that we often only wanted to do a couple of rides in each park.

Now we have 2 young boys everything takes a lot longer to get around and to be honest once we get to a park we stay there as long as they can manage and then we are done for the day. In fact next year we are taking our friends and I have (for the first time ever) said that to save cost we will opt for tickets without the hopper option - we are trying to cut back cost wise as much as possible and as the children will still only be 8 and 5, I have decided not to pay for it on the slim chance we will want to hop - we will just have to return to the same park in the evening as we've been in the morning - thats if we EVER get back to a park once the children have left for the day!!

 

[darthtatty]

Lots of great advice there. Im sure others have pointed you to the DisABILITY board (in your other threads) as they may be able to answer a few questions.
The wheelchair does make it harder to park hop. Theres loads of ecvs these days, so the spaces on the bus are limited. Think theres only 2 spaces per bus. When we went May 2009 the bus drivers were still slow in fixing your chair to the bus- allow at least 15 mins for this. From what i remember the bus drivers are not allowed to ask other guest to move if theyre sitting in the seats that raise for the wheelchairs (that didnt stop me asking )
The buses are very frequent, sometimes a 2nd one would arrive minutes after the 1st one. Although theyd have to park at an angle so the ramp wouldnt be able to position properly.
It also takes a while to unhook your chair- allow another 15 mins for this. So youre probably looking to add an extra half an hour to each bus journey (if you get the 1st bus) Thats on top of the 60-90 minutes.
Some bus drivers are very quick, some are very slow.

We do park hop but we stay at The Contemporary resort hotel on the monorail loop. So its a lot easier for us as it means only 1 return journey.
we generally plan a day at just 1 park and then depending on how much weve done. park hop later on.
where abouts are you staying?

We're going in August so i can let you know how the buses are when we get back.

I know exactly what you mean about people pretending you dont exist

 

[Elise79]

We don't hop park to park much and if we do it is either MK to Epcot (on the monorail) or Epcot to DHS on the boats.

We tend to do one park in the morning back to the resort for swim rest and change and then another park in the evening.

Oh Amy - if you get MYW tickets for your friends and really want to hop it can always be added at the gate

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Oh Amy - if you get MYW tickets for your friends and really want to hop it can always be added at the gate

thanks Tracy thats great info - really made my mind up now - just base tickets for us and we'll just upgrade if we need to - thank you!!!