Talk to me about park hopping!

[ClaraOswald]

My husband and I haven't been to WDW since 2012. And this will be our first trip with our son - he'll be 10 years old and is autistic.

We are planning to get park hoppers. At Disneyland, we like to take a break at the hotel in the afternoon. But I'm realizing that would just eat up too much time at WDW. So we're basically going to consider the buses/monorail our "break" and park hop in the afternoon.

Tell me if this is correct.....(we won't have a car and don't want to use a service like Lyft.)

For hopping between Epcot and MK, the ONLY way is the monorail? And you make a transfer at the TTC?
For hopping between Epcot and HS, you can walk, take the skyliner, or the boat?
Between all other parks it's just buses?

How long are typical waits for the monorail, bus, and boat when park hopping? I'm a bit nervous that my son will struggle if the waits are super long.

Oh, and we won't be using the skyliner because it freaks us out. Ha!

 

[loves to dive]

I can't say as far as your child is concerned as I've not had to deal with that but I can speak to hopping with a child. I was a single mom and we always hopped from the time my son was 3 years old and there were only 2 parks. We always stayed on site, in the beginning the only places to stay were the deluxe MK resorts but after they started building the Epcot ones we moved over there.

You will be told to allow at least a hour to hop if using Disney transportation. I guess that is good info. but it has never in all our years of going and using Disney transportation taken that long. We always take a break around 1 and go back to the room or to swim for a few hours then go to a different park at night. How many days will you be in the parks? What are your goals in the parks? I don't think taking a break and going back to the room for a little while is going to hurt if you have more than 4 days in the parks.

Technically, yes the monorail is the only way to hop between MK and Epcot and yes you transfer at TTC but you just walk across a platform (it's not that way if you are going Epcot to MK, you have to walk down a ramp and up another one). I say technically because you could take a bus to any of the Epcot resorts (YC/BC, BW, Swan/Dolphin) and walk or boat to the International Gate.

Yes, hopping between Epcot and HS is walk, boat or sky liner. Or you could do some combination of walking and boating, getting off at any of the resorts along the boat and walking the rest of the way.

Yes, between AK and any other park it is buses. Between HS and AK or MK it's a bus. Between Epcot and AK it's a bus. I think there might even be a bus between Epcot and HS but I'm not sure as I always walk it.

The waits for any transportation really depends on a lot of factors. If you arrive at the station (bus, monorail or boat) right when they leave, you could wait anywhere between 20 or 30 minutes for the next bus/boat/monorail. The monorail runs more than one so the wait isn't as long between that but the actual trip usually takes longer than a bus (I've timed it a number of times). If you get to the station right when whatever is pulling up, it's no wait. Then the wait just depends on how long it's been since the previous whatever just left. Time of day can factor in sometimes. Mid day, say 3:30 or 4, or mid-morning say 11 it might take a little longer leaving the parks since they typically don't send as many buses as they do during the busier parts of the days. The longest I've waited was from MK to a resort about 3:30 in the afternoon. Early mornings they tend to send more buses for the rope drop/park open crowds. Late nights they do the same. During those times the transportation is going to be crowded, there will be people standing.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Thanks! Great info!

We will not be going to the parks to rope drop and we will not stay until close. At Disneyland on our last trip, we got to the parks and hour or more after opening. We'd go back to the hotel sometime after lunch for about an hour or maybe 2. Then walk back to the parks for the evening but leaving well before park close. Of course, it's drastically different when you can just walk to both parks and your hotel. So this will be quite a change for our son!

We will have 4 park days. It will be late January and we are probably going to be at SSR. Being at SSR makes me think taking the hotel break might be more of a pain than it's worth. But I don't know. We may have to just wait and decide once we're there when we see hour our son does. He might really need that hotel time, who knows. He gets really stuck on routines and that was just our routine at DLR every single time so not sure if he'll want there here too or not.

So let's say we start our day at Hollywood studios. Then after 2pm, we want to go to Epcot. Does the boat go directly from HS to Epcot? What if we wanted to just check out Beach Club (to see if maybe we'd want to stay there some day.) What's the best plan for that? Boat to Beach Club then walk to Epcot? (Or if we're at Epcot and heading to HS....walk to BC then boat to HS?)

If a bus is just pulling away and we have to wait for the next one, is it ever more than 20-30 minutes?

 

[lucydachs]

The boat always takes the same route between Hollywood Studios and Epcot. If you catch it at Hollywood Studios then it will travel to Swan/Dolphin, Yacht/Beach, Boardwalk and finally Epcot. It reverses course going from Epcot to Hollywood Studios. Each of the hotels have two sides to the dock depending on which way you want to head.

 

[CarolynFH]

I agree with @loves to dive about everything. I'll just add that if park hopping still isn't allowed until 2 PM when you're there, then the park to park buses won't be running until around 1:30. However, that would affect only the routes that are bus-only, like MK-DHS and AK to/from any of the other parks.

I also agree that taking a mid-day break may be feasible depending on where you end up staying as well as what the park hours look like when you're there. If MK is open until 11, if Deluxe Extra Evening Hours are available when you're there, etc., that might allow a break at the resort, if you'd be able to stay for those later hours. I don't know what a rest break entails for your family - when the kids were younger it meant an afternoon swim, then return to the park, but later there was a time when for DH and me it meant an actual nap in our bed! - but in addition to round trips on Disney transportation, a visit to one of the resorts can be restful too. The near-park resorts tend to have seating in the lobby, places to get a drink and/or snack, etc., and you can use Disney transportation to and from them.

Thanks! Great info!

We will not be going to the parks to rope drop and we will not stay until close. At Disneyland on our last trip, we got to the parks and hour or more after opening. We'd go back to the hotel sometime after lunch for about an hour or maybe 2. Then walk back to the parks for the evening but leaving well before park close. Of course, it's drastically different when you can just walk to both parks and your hotel. So this will be quite a change for our son!

We will have 4 park days. It will be late January and we are probably going to be at SSR. Being at SSR makes me think taking the hotel break might be more of a pain than it's worth. But I don't know. We may have to just wait and decide once we're there when we see hour our son does. He might really need that hotel time, who knows. He gets really stuck on routines and that was just our routine at DLR every single time so not sure if he'll want there here too or not.

I think that's a really good plan, to see how he does and what he wants/expects.

So let's say we start our day at Hollywood studios. Then after 2pm, we want to go to Epcot. Does the boat go directly from HS to Epcot? What if we wanted to just check out Beach Club (to see if maybe we'd want to stay there some day.) What's the best plan for that? Boat to Beach Club then walk to Epcot? (Or if we're at Epcot and heading to HS....walk to BC then boat to HS?)

Yes, the boat from DHS stops at the Swan/Dolphin, then at the Yacht/Beach, then at Boardwalk, finally at Epcot. From Epcot to DHS, it's the reverse. You can get on and off anywhere you want, so boat DHS to BC, then walk to Epcot, is completely reasonable. Or ride the boat again (although if you visit the actual DVC BCV, that would mean backtracking to the dock, so it's shorter to walk).

If a bus is just pulling away and we have to wait for the next one, is it ever more than 20-30 minutes?

Yes, but rarely. The boats between Epcot and DHS are a bit more predictable, plus you can see them coming - sometimes that makes the difference for us in deciding whether to walk or ride.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Thanks!

Breaks for us are usually to cool off/change out of sweaty clothes, if needed. And our son just plays in the room. Swimming is a possibility but maybe not on just a 4-day trip. Depends on weather too.

This trip is basically like a 'trial' for us with our son to see if adding WDW into our vacation destinations would be a good fit for us or not. If he loves it and it isn't too much of a hassle compared to DLR, I could see us staying 5 or 6 days next time.

I highly doubt we'll stay late, which bums me out because I love the parks at night. But our son tends to want to head back to the hotel by 8pm or so. Again, this could all be totally different at WDW for him so who knows. I just want to go into the trip with as much knowledge as possible. Thankfully I have 7 months to learn!

 

[Her Dotness]

We always get the PH and generally go to WDW the week before Thanksgiving week, a less-busy time comparable to January except for those January holiday weekends.

We typically are able to walk onto the DHS boat or very nearly so from around 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. or so. I suspect the Skyliner has such appeal anymore that boat use from DHS has dropped off significantly. I can't attest to that being so around ropedrop or late afternoon when families may be heading out of the park for dinner or to end their day.

Generally speaking, we find the big MK-TTC ferry and the smaller boats elsewhere easier to get onto without a wait compared with the monorail or buses.

That's likely due to boat transportation being much more leisurely and thus not popular with those seeking to use every possible park minute to the maximum.

Just making your way to wherever you want to be at WDW can be both time-consuming and tiring. The place is enormous! I suggest keeping to your customary afternoon break even though you've a short stay. DH and I find an afternoon break of 2-3 hours essential and keep to that schedule even for stays as short as yours. Otherwise, we could audition for roles as Grumpy for sure!

 

[ClaraOswald]

So there's a boat from TTC to MK? I can't remember that at all. My memory is the worst.

I guess my fear is that if we don't make it into the park until 9 or later and my son wants to be back at the hotel by 8....taking a chunk of the afternoon for a break doesn't leave much park time. We'll have DAS which should help on time management. But we are definitely more leisurely paced people, in general. And I have RA so my joints can't handle a lot of powerwalking. On our last trip we walked around 8-9 miles a day but it was all very...slow. Ha!

 

[CarolynFH]

So there's a boat from TTC to MK? I can't remember that at all. My memory is the worst.

Yes, the big ferry docks between the monorail and the Poly at TTC and at MK it’s next to the buses. When we drive to MK we prefer to take it across the lagoon instead of riding the monorail around. There’s quite a diversity of transportation options at MK, which allows for a variety of breaks from the park. You can ride the little launch to GF and then to Poly, getting off at either one and riding the monorail back to MK, or take the little launch to WL, or the one to FW. Easily combinable with ADR or QS meal at a resort.

I guess my fear is that if we don't make it into the park until 9 or later and my son wants to be back at the hotel by 8....taking a chunk of the afternoon for a break doesn't leave much park time. We'll have DAS which should help on time management. But we are definitely more leisurely paced people, in general. And I have RA so my joints can't handle a lot of powerwalking. On our last trip we walked around 8-9 miles a day but it was all very...slow. Ha!

Yes, when it comes to planning your park days you’ll need to be strategic. The parks are huge, as you probably remember. You might want to consider listing the top-3 or maybe 5 must-dos in each park for each of you, to be sure you hit them, and consider anything else as gravy. We do that too now since we don’t move as fast as we used to.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I agree with @loves to dive about everything. I'll just add that if park hopping still isn't allowed until 2 PM when you're there, then the park to park buses won't be running until around 1:30. However, that would affect only the routes that are bus-only, like MK-DHS and AK to/from any of the other parks.

I also agree that taking a mid-day break may be feasible depending on where you end up staying as well as what the park hours look like when you're there. If MK is open until 11, if Deluxe Extra Evening Hours are available when you're there, etc., that might allow a break at the resort, if you'd be able to stay for those later hours. I don't know what a rest break entails for your family - when the kids were younger it meant an afternoon swim, then return to the park, but later there was a time when for DH and me it meant an actual nap in our bed! - but in addition to round trips on Disney transportation, a visit to one of the resorts can be restful too. The near-park resorts tend to have seating in the lobby, places to get a drink and/or snack, etc., and you can use Disney transportation to and from them.


I think that's a really good plan, to see how he does and what he wants/expects.

Yes, the boat from DHS stops at the Swan/Dolphin, then at the Yacht/Beach, then at Boardwalk, finally at Epcot. From Epcot to DHS, it's the reverse. You can get on and off anywhere you want, so boat DHS to BC, then walk to Epcot, is completely reasonable. Or ride the boat again (although if you visit the actual DVC BCV, that would mean backtracking to the dock, so it's shorter to walk).

Yes, but rarely. The boats between Epcot and DHS are a bit more predictable, plus you can see them coming - sometimes that makes the difference for us in deciding whether to walk or ride.

The boats between DHS and Epcot take a total of about 30 minutes each way, including time unloading and loading at each of the docks. We stay at BWV, so I’ve had a lot of opportunity to observe them and time these trips. There are either three or four boats running, depending on expected crowds. Even in January, the weekends usually had 4 boats running. When that happens, they are generally 15 minutes apart. If only three boats are active, time between boats slips to 20 minutes. In our two most recent trips, January and April, they had plenty of cast members/crew members to keep to a consistent schedule. Those boats are our favorite means of transportation to and from the parks.

 

[Jimsig]

This trip is basically like a 'trial' for us with our son to see if adding WDW into our vacation destinations would be a good fit for us or not. If he loves it and it isn't too much of a hassle compared to DLR, I could see us staying 5 or 6 days next time.

Is it a 4 park days in a row or 4 park days with a non park days in the middle? With WDW being more spread out and most of the parks being larger compare to DL (for example MK can fit in the Epcot lagoon) a couple park days then a resort day/Disney Springs day and 2 more park days can be a big help in spreading things out and make for a more relaxing vacation over all.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Is it a 4 park days in a row or 4 park days with a non park days in the middle? With WDW being more spread out and most of the parks being larger compare to DL (for example MK can fit in the Epcot lagoon) a couple park days then a resort day/Disney Springs day and 2 more park days can be a big help in spreading things out and make for a more relaxing vacation over all.

4 park days in a row. Before our son, we always planned a "rest" day where we relaxed and didn't do tons. But we realized that when we've done that in recent years at DL, our son was pretty upset to not be in the parks and it made for a very unpleasant day. Last time at DLR, we did 6 days in a row in the parks. I think it helps that we get to bed early and don't rush out of bed in the morning so we get a lot of sleep. But I'm really curious to see how we handle WDW now that we'll be 12 years older than the last time! (And I've since been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that wrecks havoc on my body.)

It's also going to be weird to just do 4 days. Pre-kid days we would do 7 or 8 days, I think.

 

[Jimsig]

4 park days in a row. Before our son, we always planned a "rest" day where we relaxed and didn't do tons. But we realized that when we've done that in recent years at DL, our son was pretty upset to not be in the parks and it made for a very unpleasant day. Last time at DLR, we did 6 days in a row in the parks. I think it helps that we get to bed early and don't rush out of bed in the morning so we get a lot of sleep. But I'm really curious to see how we handle WDW now that we'll be 12 years older than the last time! (And I've since been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that wrecks havoc on my body.)

It's also going to be weird to just do 4 days. Pre-kid days we would do 7 or 8 days, I think.

That's understandable.

I would think about planning AK for your 3rd day. If planned correctly, having the DAS pass will help, you can get through it without having to spend the entire day there and it could be some what of a rest day. One nice thing about AK is you can book say the Safari with DAS and do the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail while you wait for your return time or book or do the Maharajah Jungle Trek while you wait for a return time for Kali River or Everest.

 

[miksicnarf]

My opinion: I wouldn't worry so much about travel time between parks or parks/resort. We almost always stay at SSR or OKW so we use the busses, always have park hoppers or APs, always take breaks and always do at least 2, sometimes 3 parks per day. We are also not rope droppers and I am not a park closer...some of my adult kids may, at times. As a frequent WDW visitor and DL local, I have a more relaxed attitude about it but honestly, I believe you can cover your must-do attractions in 4 days while still taking a slower pace. I'm not experienced with DAS, we use Genie+ and it works well. Personally I wouldn't want to do full day at WDW without a nice break back at the resort!

 

[ClaraOswald]

That's understandable.

I would think about planning AK for your 3rd day. If planned correctly, having the DAS pass will help, you can get through it without having to spend the entire day there and it could be some what of a rest day. One nice thing about AK is you can book say the Safari with DAS and do the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail while you wait for your return time or book or do the Maharajah Jungle Trek while you wait for a return time for Kali River or Everest.

Yeah, I'm thinking we will start each morning at a different park. I think AK on day 3 is probably a good idea since there are really only a few actual attractions our son will go on there. The rest we'll just kind of wander around. So that can definitely be a slower day. I bet our son could go without a hotel break for days 1 and 2 (maybe) but by day 3 he may need a break. Or I will! Then we go hit up MK or Epcot in the evening. My husband and I LOVE Epcot so I really hope our son does too.

My opinion: I wouldn't worry so much about travel time between parks or parks/resort. We almost always stay at SSR or OKW so we use the busses, always have park hoppers or APs, always take breaks and always do at least 2, sometimes 3 parks per day. We are also not rope droppers and I am not a park closer...some of my adult kids may, at times. As a frequent WDW visitor and DL local, I have a more relaxed attitude about it but honestly, I believe you can cover your must-do attractions in 4 days while still taking a slower pace. I'm not experienced with DAS, we use Genie+ and it works well. Personally I wouldn't want to do full day at WDW without a nice break back at the resort!

Good to hear! We are definitely not commando park people so it's nice to hear from others who aren't as well. It's a bit harder to do a 'relaxed' trip these days with things like reservations, LL, virtual queues, etc. But I'm hoping we can make it work.

Of course, now I'm trying to decide if we could make 5 days work. Mainly because I always love the last day to basically be the day where we go to our favorite places. Right now I'm thinking if we do 4 days it would look like this....

1. Start at Epcot
2. Start at MK
3. Start at AK
4. Start at HS

Not sure where we'd hop each day. Just decide as we go maybe. I feel like we tend to get more accomplished in the morning than in the afternoon, which is why I think we need to give each park a full morning. But the idea of starting the last day at HS is kind of a bummer since it's my least favorite park. But I also don't really want to save our favorites until the end either (we've had to cut trips short due to illness.)

So I was just reading this thread to my husband and was like..."maybe we could manage 5 days....?" I always do stuff like this. Plan something smaller and then it gets bigger and bigger.