Question regarding park hopping

[Cdlam]

My DH and I are planning a trip for June 30 – July 6. We have only been to WDW once, many years ago. It was a very hectic family trip, this time it's just the two of us. We are really wanting to have a relaxing week and have some time to visit Disney Springs, relax at the pool, do some resort hopping and are also planning a beach day. I am thinking we will only take two park days. I have gone back and forth as to whether or not we should park hop with only two days because I don't want to spend a huge chunk of our limited time moving from one place to another, but it would be nice to be able to have at least a bit of time in each.

I am thinking of one day splitting AK/Epcot and another HS/MK. We loved AK so definitely want some time there. My husband isn't a big rider but really enjoys "atmosphere" and we both love the animals. We are also wanting some time in World Showcase, although we could skip Future World and not miss it. I don't plan on spending much time at all in DHS but TOT was my favorite ride so I'm considering EMH just for TOT and then leaving to go to MK for the remainder of the day.

My question is whether we are going to be limiting our time so much by hopping that we would really be better off just focusing on two parks and making the tough choice of which ones. I know it will be an absolutely crazy week and am hoping to plan around that as much as possible.

 

[rwdavis2]

With only 2 days? No. If you don't mind the extra cost I would get 4 day tickets but not necessarily spending all day, every day in the parks. Our last trip we slept in half the days, went to a park, hit the pool, and sometimes went back to a park after dinner.

 

[Anthony1971]

First we have been going to Disney for 28 years -- my wife when she was a child so more for her... so my answer may not apply to you.
we go to the parks 2-3 times each trip now as we spend time doing other things.. We hop between 2 parks or more each day we find the hop park relaxing as the bus/boat ride cools you down and you can relax. with that said we know what we want to see and do in each park, where it is and with 95% accuracy that lines will be short. We once did all 4 parks in one day before a cruise and hot EVERY major attraction without issue -- it did rain in the morning and that helped. I will add it was also with a large group who went many times as well.

 

[sponica]

I park hopped for 2 days. I think we did AK/MK/Epcot and HS/Epcot

Honestly it was blurry, but I remember we did all 4 parks in 2 days and had dinner in epcot both nights. We got most of the "must do rides" done.

 

[Oneanne]

I always hop. And I always take a mid-day break at the resort: some people would consider the transport time back-and-forth to be a waste, but I find that with a break to rest and refresh I can actually spend more time in the parks.

If you hop between HS and EPCOT you can take the boat instead of a bus... it isn't fast but it's almost like an attraction in and of itself and if you are hopping to EPCOT you go in thru International Gateway between England and France in WS, so that does save time. If you hop between EPCOT and MK you can take the Monorail instead of a bus.

 

[sharonabe]

I'll throw out another option. The 2-day park hopper is right around $290, but a 3-day base is just $324. Personally, I'd do the 3-day and skip HS this trip. The new Toy Story Land opens the week you are there and most of us fully expect HS to be CRAZY busy. With the 3-day, you can spend the morning in the park, take a long afternoon break, then return to the same park in the evening.

 

[kniquy]

but it would be nice to be able to have at least a bit of time in each.

limiting our time so much by hopping

Buying tickets for less time than your trip is usually asking for disappointment. If you really want to have a relaxing time I would consider getting nothing less than a 4 day ticket. This way you could go to the park in the morning leave by noon, relax by the pool in the afternoon, have dinner and go back to the park for later evening. Having those extra 2 days of tickets will also allow you to get 6 more FP, which will make your planning and time in the park more efficient. You could make MK a full day with a nice dinner at one of the monorail resorts and then back to watch HEA. AK could be a park where you are done early 1ish and then you would have your evening to relax and have a nice dinner. Epcot -- the countries could be a whole day themselves, so trying to rush through doesn't sounds like fun to me. Plus there are so many great restaurants there i would want to pick something. HS i would book a dinner at the Brown Derby - and if you didn't care about the night time entertainment you could leave early from there.

I always revert back to a story that one person on this board posted. They had a 10 or 14 day trip to WDW, but only bought 5 days of tickets. Needless to say they were disappointed with what they accomplished, complaining how busy the parks were and how long the lines were. They really did not have a magical time. Had they bought tickets for more days - they could of had many more FP selections (which cuts down on waits and trying to pick and choose what rides you want to get FP for), could of done rope drop and left the parks when they were too busy, been able to tour at a much more relaxed pace knowing that they could come back another day, but because they were trying to cram everything into the 5 days, they didn't feel like they had a good time and though it was an awful trip.

Planning things out and giving you more park time is what can make or break your trip. When you start adding on days it gets cheaper in a sense but also gives you more freedom.

If I was in your shoes and i had a 7 day trip i would at least get a 5 day ticket, doesn't have to be a hopper. I think especially because it is summer and a holiday week at that, I would get as many park day tickets as you can. Then you don't have to make the tough decision as to which parks to do.

 

[RocketCityMama]

I'll throw out another option. The 2-day park hopper is right around $290, but a 3-day base is just $324. Personally, I'd do the 3-day and skip HS this trip. The new Toy Story Land opens the week you are there and most of us fully expect HS to be CRAZY busy. With the 3-day, you can spend the morning in the park, take a long afternoon break, then return to the same park in the evening.

I agree with this, unless you want to do DHS due to Toy Story Land being open, you could still do 1/2 at DHS and then over to Epcot for the rest of the day. I would do a full day at MK, a full day at AK, and either a full day at Epcot or early at DHS and the rest at Epcot. We always buy hoppers no matter the length, so we can come and go as we please based on the park busyness.

 

[georgina]

I think hoppers are more important for short trips, so I can do favorites at each parks. Sometimes I only spend a few hours in the morning at one and hop to another. I don't feel it takes much time to hop, but I usually drive between parks (except Epcot and HS, then I walk!)

 

[NJ Goofy]

I agree with getting the 4 day pass with hoppers. We are usually at Disney for 5 or 6 days now, but even on shorter trips we basically follow the same routine. We hit the parks @ opening or a little later, do our FP+ rides and a few others, then leave the parks @ 2:00 pm to head back to the resort for some pool time. We then go to a different park at night or walk over to EPCOT if we're staying at BWV's. I don't think I could be at Disney without a park ticket !

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Paying for park hopping is about the only add-on cost I'm totally comfortable with paying.

I like the flexibility but that's us. Last trip we did 2 parks each of the 5 total WDW park days. Worked out great for us.

One thing I would do since it's been so long since you've been is go through each of the parks and figure out what you're interested in doing. IF you are ok with skipping a park because there is not enough there to interest you it helps your choices.

For example: Let's say you don't find enough at DHS well that means out of 2 days you have 3 parks you'd be interested in. Then you could decide if you either want to add an extra day and do 1 park per day for 3 days or if you would eliminate another park or if you would opt to add on park hopping for a 2-day ticket or if you'd add on parking hopping and upgrade your ticket as well.

If you find enough for you to go to all 4 theme parks I'd look into park hopping more seriously if you're adamant about the number of days. 2 days is hard to cram it all in (I like 5 days myself as I would do MK 2 days total) but it does depend on your interests.

I can understand though that for you it's a balance between park and resort/relaxation days.

 

[Cdlam]

We only have 5 full days, so I think we will probably go with 3 day tickets and spend a day at MK, AK, and Epcot. We might possibly add the hopper to this as well if I decide I just can't go without a ride on ToT or want the flexibility to leave and go somewhere else. I don't see that we will want to go to the parks on back to back days since we are really wanting a lot of downtime and time to enjoy things outside of the parks, so planning on every other day would probably be ideal. Thanks for the responses!

 

[Delirium]

You did not mention which resort you are staying at and that is a BIG factor in whatever plan you have in place for park hopping.

HS and Epcot offer the most convenient hopping option. So, if there is any way you could pair those two up, I would do that.

Based on the info you provided (again the resort you are at is a factor), I would get a 3 day ticket, go to HS one morning and hop to Epcot for the rest of that day. The other two days I would spend the bulk of one each at MK and AK, and then hop to whatever nighttime activity or dining option you would like for that night.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You did not mention which resort you are staying at and that is a BIG factor in whatever plan you have in place for park hopping.

Actually no that isn't at all.

We park hopped back in 2011 being offsite the same as we park hopped at All-Star Sports this past September.

Regardless of what resort you are at it's easier to park hop between MK and Epcot the same day due to the monorail system. Regardless of what resort you are at it's easier to park hop between Epcot and DHS because they are right next to each other and you have the friendship boats you can take if you want a leisurely pace or you can opt to walk. Regardless of what resort you are at it will not be as easy to park hop between MK and AK because of their distance from each other and no transportation other than bus connecting the two. Regardless of what resort you are at it will not be as easy to park hop between AK and any of the parks because of their distance from AK and no transportation other than bus connecting the two. You can opt to drive to each of the parks/TTC if you want to and have a rental car/personal car if relying on the bus is not as desirable.

Now the resort you stay at may impact your ease at which you can go back to your resort and enjoy the amenities but in regards to park hopping..not really.

 

[Delirium]

Actually no that isn't at all.

We park hopped back in 2011 being offsite the same as we park hopped at All-Star Sports this past September.

Regardless of what resort you are at it's easier to park hop between MK and Epcot the same day due to the monorail system. Regardless of what resort you are at it's easier to park hop between Epcot and DHS because they are right next to each other and you have the friendship boats you can take if you want a leisurely pace or you can opt to walk. Regardless of what resort you are at it will not be as easy to park hop between MK and AK because of their distance from each other and no transportation other than bus connecting the two.

Now the resort you stay at may impact your ease at which you can go back to your resort and enjoy the amenities but in regards to park hopping..not really.

Hopping with the boats, or even walking, between HS and Epcot is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH faster than taking the monorail between Ecpot and MK. So, if you were to pair Epcot up with just one other park, HS is the better choice.

And, yes, I was factoring in the possibility of having some resort time. If you want some resort time, it's easier to build hopping into the plan when you are at a monorail resort or a Crescent Lake resort, than it is if you are staying at Coronado Springs, or one of the other more remote resorts.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Hopping with the boats, or even walking, between HS and Epcot is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH faster than taking the monorail between Ecpot and MK. So, if you were to pair Epcot up with just one other park, HS is the better choice.

I think you missed my point. I'm not debating which method of transportation is faster between the parks I'm saying that it doesn't matter what resort you stay at if we're talking about getting between Park A and Park B (if for argument's sake you park hop between 2 parks only) because you are reliant on what method of transportation is between the two parks.

Pretty sure I said getting between MK and Epcot is going to be easier because of the monorail. Pretty sure I said getting between Epcot and DHS is easier because of the friendship boats and ability to walk between the two since they are right next to each other. So I'm not quite certain what you are getting at in your first paragraph with that.

And, yes, I was factoring in the possibility of having some resort time. If you want some resort time, it's easier to build hopping into the plan when you are at a monorail resort or a Crescent Lake resort, than it is if you are staying at Coronado Springs, or one of the other more remote resorts.

Yes if you want to go back to your resort location of that resort can matter but it shouldn't exclude you from getting park hopping period. That really depends on what parks you want to go to. Would it matter if you're at the CR but want to park hop between DHS and Epcot? No it won't because you're still going to have to take a bus from whichever park you end up at back to CR. If you're at CR and want to park hop between MK and Epcot but want to go back to CR very easily then yes the location of CR matters. But no matter what your location won't work out 100% of the time if you're planning on going to at least MK, Epcot or DHS and AK.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I agree with @sharonabe. I would pay for more days over hopping.

You can upgrade your ticket while you’re there if you feel compelled to hop or add days. One thing, though, is that you need to do it before the whole ticket is used up, so by midnight of the last day on your ticket.

We took many trips back in the days when hopping was included in every multi-day ticket. When MYW was introduced, I thought about it and realized we hopped once per trip—if that.

Nowadays, I stay at the Swan with people who have APs so I do spring for hopping now. It’s nice to have the option of going between MK and Epcot or Epcot and the Studios. If and when my husband is able to travel with me again, we probably won’t buy hopping.