Question for Park Hopping Veterans

[MamaMeggie]

On our first trip we did not have park hoppers tickets so I have zero experience with this, but for our upcoming trip in February we do. I'm trying to come up with our daily park schedule. Are there general recommendations for parks between which it's easier or harder to hop? I know we can take the monorail from MK to Epcot, for example, so that's an easy one. What about MK to AK or AK to HS?

Also, would hopping from HS to Epcot and back again waste too much time? The reason behind doing that would be to be at HS for EMH to sign up for Jedi Training, and at HS again that night for Star Wars fireworks (hopefully), but I wasn't sure if we'd need to spend all day there.

 

[Serenebean]

There are direct busses in between parks, so it isnt necessarily hard to get from one to the other, just a matter of how long it takes. We have done AK to another park later in the day. I don't usually hop, but I feel like its useful if you are going back to the hotel for a nap/break mid day and then you go to another park at night. It seems to work well if you want to do AM EMH at one park and then leave when it gets crowded to go to another park. I dont think it would be terrible to do HS-EP-HS. Sometimes there is a wait for the boat...it might take 30 minutes each way. You can always walk as well.

 

[cindyfan]

Couple things we always consider that take extra time......
The boat from DHS to Epcot can take long.... and if you are tired and if it's hot, the walk can be exhausting... so we look for the boat, take the boat to Swan, walk over to Boardwalk and on to Epcot.
The buses at Epcot are so far from the front gate it takes a while, so we only use the buses at the front of Epcot if going to or from our resort.
So we almost never hop from Epcot to AK, seems to take too long. But if we are in the World Showcase at Epcot, we think it's easier to walk to Boardwalk then take the bus to AK from the Boardwalk bus stop.
From DHS to MK.... the bus for MK is pretty far too.... like out by the parking.... and can be a longer wait so.... depending on time of day... we sometimes will take the bus from DHS to the Contemporary and walk to MK.
AK to DHS or visa-vera is pretty straight forward with the bus.
AK to MK ... we use either the bus straight to MK or the bus to Contemporary and then walk.... as we walk up the buses at AK we look to see if either one is there.... but if we can't tell, then we just hope the bus directly to MK.
As you can see.... we are walkers.... I'd much rather do a 15-20 min. walk than sit in a stinky bus for 20 min. unless it's crazy hot!

 

[Nohal]

We always buy park hoppers. Since we have the dining plan most of our table service ADR's are in Epcot. We also aren't interested in spending an entire day at AK or HS. We usually start in the park with early opening and then make FP's for another park which we hop to. There are buses at every park to take you to another park. I like the suggestions that cindyfan wrote they are spot on.

 

[MamaMeggie]

As you can see.... we are walkers.... I'd much rather do a 15-20 min. walk than sit in a stinky bus for 20 min. unless it's crazy hot![/QUOTE]

I would much prefer to walk too! And in Feb it won't be too hot to walk. Thanks so much for all the information.