Why do you park hop?

[davisdenyel]

I have never figured out why there is a park hopper option. I went to Walt Disney World last year and found that 1 park alone filled up a whole day and night!!! And we still did not see the entire park!!! How can people fit more than 1 park in 1 day ? We were so exhusted and the kids were really cranky by the time we left the 1st park there would be know way to do another park. Sorry if this is a really stupid question but I have wonderd it for a long time now

Thanks

 

[LadyZolt]

Yes, you can spend all day in one park, but many of us also enjoy hopping from one park to another. For example, I usually stay at the Beach Club and will go to EPCOT in the morning and do things there, then go to MGM for dinner and Fantasmic. I also have gone to Animal Kingdom in the morning when it's cooler and it also closes earlier than the other parks, and go to MK to see Fantasmic and Wishes later that same day. For my family, hopping just makes sense because all the kids are teens and don't want to do things like "It's a Small World," and this way, they can do just the "roller coasters" and other scary rides (well, scary to me -- LOL!) and hop from park to park.

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[cmassey]

i don't know.

we have been numerous times and have decided that park-hopping is one of those things that is a waste of time and energy. we prefer to remain where we are. it may get crowded; but, (SPOILER ALERT) you are at disney world. it is always crowded. why not relax and enjoy the day?

too many fast pass running around creates the same problem.

i say, take it easy.

 

[lonegungirl]

We park hop because we generally leave a given park in the middle of the day for lunch or a nap, etc. Then, in the evening, we usually end up at a different park. Sometimes this is an advantage because, for example, it might be early magic hours in the morning at one park, and evening magic hours at another park, and you may want to switch.

We also are all about the food, and sometimes will switch to one park (EPCOT) in the evening just to eat dinner. Also, if you take tours, you may need admission into one park for the tour, but then want to redo rides at a different park afterwards. It just gives you more flexibility to do what you want, when you want to do it.

But I would agree, most people, with or without children, would find it difficult to do all of MK or EPCOT in one day.

 

[aprince&princess]

We always opt for the park hopper. Most days we have stayed in one park, but there are days when we want to see a few things in one park and then finish the day somewhere else. Or we switch at dinner time if we want to eat at a particular place. Also there are days when we are in a park that closes early and we switch to a park that has late hours.

 

[jswalker1981]

I have an AP, and I go at least once a month if not more. And I like to park hop because when we go, we like to take our time, but also, we notice that when we are done with everything we want to do in one park, we still have plenty of time left. For instance last time I went with someone, we hit MK first, did a lot of rides there, and then decided, hey, let's ride E:E, so we went to AK and rode a few rides. We wanted to see Illuminations, but we still had plenty of time so we went to MGM to catch a few rides. There are times when we will stay all day in MK or Epcot, and then there are days when we hop all over the parks. It is just that we go so often, that we can pick and choose what we want to see. The last time I spent an entire day at MK, we went on a total of 25 rides/attractions, and that was us going on some attractions twice. So, now when we are done with a park, we will hop. It really depends on the person, but park hopping is great for those who just want to do a few things in one park and want to see different things in a day.

 

[SusanMomOf2]

Yeah, there may be some days when you go back to a park you've already seen, and you may finish seeing it in the afternoon, so you want to go check out another park. On my 6 day WDW trip, I have so many Magic Kingdom days, and only 1 day at Epcot, that I may make one of my Magic Kingdom days split with Epcot. I won't know until I experience it, really.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

We never stay in the same park all day.

During our summer trips we hit the EMH park in the AM then when it starts to get busy we hit either the Pool or Waterpark for a few hours of down time.

Then we hit the nighttime EMH for those extra hours.

Sometimes we hit a park just for the fireworks or parade and a few bigger thrill rides.This frees that park up on another time to do rides at that time as everyone else is sitting waiting .

We have done up to 3 parks and a waterpark all in the same day and did all the attractions we wanted to.

 

[davisdenyel]

Thank you everyone For me I just cant seem to do it. At least not now. I will be bringing a double stroller when we go next time. And I cant seem to even think about having to lug that huge thing around more than I have to.

 

[kakiegirl]

As others have stated, we too take an afternoon break and often go back to a diffrent park that evening. Plus we usually go to the parks 7 days straight when we are on vacation alot of times we will start off the week doing a park a day and then the last three days we will hop and go back and hit our favorites. To us it is just nice to have that option if you want it. We went on a spontaneous trip back in October because we had one day left on our tickets from three years ago and the whole family had Disney fever waiting for our vacation in June. We hit three parks on one day and did just about everything we wanted to.

 

[wdwfanatic80]

I have an AP and when we go for the most part we do about two parks some days. Usually we start out at one and do a bunch of stuff there and then move over to another just for a change of pace. And with AK closing early most of the time we always go to another park that day. And some days when we are feeling up to it we will go to MG watch Fantasmic and when the times are right we make the walk over to EPCOT for Illuminations. Once we did Wishes and then Illuminations. We just are park hopping types I guess! I think some people enjoy it and some don't so that is why Disney offers it. I think it is great that it is not an automatic thing like it used to be though so that people who are not interested in like the OP can save on not adding that feature.

 

[WillCAD]

I hop because the parks don't take me as long to tour. AK never seems to take more than half a day for me. MK and MGM are each about 3/4 of a day. And when I finish at one of these parks, I like to round out my day at another park.

The hopper option is particularly useful if I'm on a very short trip; a trip of 4 or 5 days is not enough to have a full day at each park when you factor in arrival and departure days, so shortening my time in each park and splitting days makes it possible for me to hit all of my favorites.

I also like to evaluate the crowds in each park when I arrive. If the crowds are too heavy, I just hop to another park where the crowds are thinner.

 

[BostonTink85]

The hopper option is particularly useful if I'm on a very short trip; a trip of 4 or 5 days is not enough to have a full day at each park when you factor in arrival and departure days, so shortening my time in each park and splitting days makes it possible for me to hit all of my favorites.

I also like to evaluate the crowds in each park when I arrive. If the crowds are too heavy, I just hop to another park where the crowds are thinner.

This is why we always do it too. This last trip it was just me and some friends and it was quick, 4 nights 5 days. We ended up being able to hit all the parks atleast 2x and MK 3x. We weren't killing ourselves either, we'd go in the morning to one park then come back and relax then head out for the night to a different park. It ended up working out great!

 

[blestmom]

It's really just a personal thing. Each family/situation is different, and I think it's great there are choices. We don't hop right now...we take l-o-n-g trips and just hit one park a day. We're going to go back to the villa and relax in the evening. If we took shorter trips, however, we would probably hop, so we could fit more in. Also, right now I'm traveling with 5 kids, and would rather just stay in one park. But I can definitely see how hopping could be fun...and useful...in other situations. Do what feels right for you. Have a great trip!

 

[SorcererDonald16]

We always park hop the last full day we're in WDW, but that's the only time. Usually 3 parks, visiting a couple things we missed in either MGM & AK or AK & Epcot, and then spending the last 5 or so hours in MK. Works out nicely when your vacation's ending and you have just a couple things to finish up in 2 parks. MK we never get anywhere near finished with, nor Epcot, but the extra time does help a little.

 

[Miss Stitch]

We love to park hop. We all like different things and we tend to always end up at Epcot every day of or two weeks to ride test track and soaring just to finish our day off, on days we dont do wishes or fantasmic. It is so easy to hop with all the transport. Our complete last day at WDW, we do all our favourites from all parks to save arguing.

 

[STEAMBOAT209]

We like park hop because it will break up the day, morning to one park, back to the resort for a break, then off to a different park for the afternoon and evening. We will finish those parks during other split days .

 

[Quinn222]

We usually leave the first park we go to around 2 in the afternoon (or even earlier) for a break at the hotel. Then we might go to a different park for whatever their nightime show is or have dinner at a resort and want to go to the park nearest to that resort or we might want to have dinner in a park other than the one we spent the morning in. We've got annual passes so it doesn't matter to us, we don't have to pay extra to do it.

 

[tmfranlk]

For us we don't usually take a break at the hotel because it is more work getting there and entertaining my 3yo in the hotel room than to just go a little more slowly in the parks. Instead, the process of park hopping is one of our breaks in the day. It gets us out of the park atmosphere for a little while and gives us variety in the day. Now I don't have a double stroller to contend with and only one child, but we do travel by ourselves so I have to get me, her, a stroller and our bags on and off buses by myself. In the end though it is worth it to us. In fact, I had our Dec trip planned with very little park hopping and ended up revising the whole plan as I didn't like the idea of staying in the same place all day. We still get to do everything we once, it's just broken up a little more than all day at a given park.

 

[Bete]

you get more hours out of the parks especially if you stay on-site. It's even more important on shorter trips to park hop; so, you can see all the parks.

The biggest advantage for on-site guests is you go to the early priveleged park of the day first and end your day with one of the latest parks of the day.
Animal Kingdom closes way before the other parks and it's always good to park hop when you see Animal Kingdom; you can gain at least 4 hours by park hopping on those days. There are times you have an early and late park privelege on the same day; so, it's really advantageous on those days to park hop. You start your day at the early park and end your day at the late park.

In addition, it's a good back-up plan if the park you are in gets really crowded then you can park hop to a less crowded park. MK doesn't show their fireworks show everyday; so, it can be nice to plan a day at another park for the daytime and end your day at MK with the fireworks.

For us, we are at the point where we don't go everywhere and see everything at one park; so, we choose our favorites and move on to another park. Also, we like a break in our day at the resort; so, it's easy to park hop that way. I feel dinner choices at Epcot are better than the rest of the parks; because, each place in World Showcase has offerings for a meal.

If park hopping doesn't suit you then I would save the little extra that it costs to do it. Obviously, Disney feels many like to do it; because, they charge you for the privelege.