park hopping

[septembergirl]

Does anybody really "hop" from park to park or do you just go to one park in the morning, take a break, then hit another for the evening?

[mttafire]

The most we've ever done was 2 parks in a day. However, We now no longer parkhop. For us not parkhopping was a way to slow down a bit and" smell the roses" Plus..It saves us money not to hop.:mickey:

[Rekced]

I have actually done 3 parks in one day. I believe it was something like Animal Kingdom in the morning, and then went to Epcot in the afternoon, and finished with Magic kingdom in the evening when they had extra magic hours that night.

We quite often will do two parks in a day though, and using go right from one to the other without a break in between.

[chrisb26]

We usually just one or two parks a day. I don't think we have ever done more then two in one day unless maybe it was our last day and we where just going back to do what we wanted to do again. It all really depends on how we feel sometimes we just want to do a park and stay all day long others we will just do part of the day. However over the course of our trip we are usually in each park in the morning and the night :D

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I have done all 4 parks plus DTD in one day. But as a rule, I might go to 2 parks in one day, sometimes back and forth between the same 2 multiple times.

[IloveDisney71]

I'm a parkhopper. The most parks I've hopped in one day is 3. I usually only hop to 2 parks in a day. Sometimes I take a break in between parks (it depends on what time of year I go). We find it to be practical for us so we aren't tied to one place especially if we have multiple dinner reservations at one park. We usually eat two meals at Epcot but we don't want to spend 2 whole days at Epcot, so we go to another park and then go for our reservations.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Does anybody really "hop" from park to park or do you just go to one park in the morning, take a break, then hit another for the evening?

I guess I'm a little confused about the definition of Park Hopping being used. What's described in the quote is park hopping which is just the ability to go to more than one park in a day.

Do that all the time and have done 4 parks in one day on a couple of occasions.:mickey:

[angedeaile]

We did three once.

MGM one morning, came back and changed to go to MK and then over to Epcot. We also went to DTD that night.

I think what we wanted to do was cram in all the things we missed since this was our last full day in FL.

I think our norm tends to be one park in the morning and another in the evening. I wouldn't do the three parks in one day ever again. It just felt like we didn't really get to enjoy the parks.

[Friend of Figment]

I arrive on a red-eye from Seattle that gets in at 7 am. I like to check into the hotel (usually Contemporary but next week the Poly) and then take the monorail around to MK and have coffee and a pastry before heading over to Epcot. The smell on Main Street says Disney to me, but I like Epcot better as my slightly jet- lagged arrival park.

[Tinkerfreak]

We usually go to one park until early afternoon then go back for a break and head to another park in the early evening. There have been times though when we have been in a park in the morning and it has been alot more crowded than we like so we would hop to another park for a few hours then go back for our break and then back to another park at night. We don't usually plan to do more than 2 parks because it seems like you spend more time on the bus or waiting for a bus than actually enjoying the parks.

[luvdiznee]

When we used to buy the "park hopper" option to park hop, we would take a break from one then go to another later in the day. It only seemed natural to us that once you get on the bus to leave a park, to go back to the room for a rest then later to another park. Now I don't mind going back to the same park after a rest. We plan according to shows and emh. :mickey:

[DizneyRox]

We ususally take a bus... But we do go from park to park fairly often. Most of the time it's from MK to somewhere else. MK just gets crazy and it's nice to get away from that mess. It all depends, sometimes you just want to do a ride in another park and it's nice to just head over, do it, and then do something else.

[mainemajor]

Does anybody really "hop" from park to park or do you just go to one park in the morning, take a break, then hit another for the evening?

THis is often what we do, but add to that a third park later in the evening. Hopper option gives you the flexability to see more than one park per day. You don't have to do it, but you can :party:

[Fantasmic]

Yep, I'm a park hopper. I like to chop and change between the parks.

[kaliepooh]

We don't park hop. We plan our days around a park, our meals and special shows, etc. Not hopping helps us to save some money for shopping.:thumbsup:

[LauraF]

Does anybody really "hop" from park to park or do you just go to one park in the morning, take a break, then hit another for the evening?
I'm not sure what you're asking here. Park hopping, by definition, is about going to more than one park during the day.

But to answer your perceived question, yes I do really park hop. I like the flexibility to decide where we want to go - one park might be crowded, so we turn around and go elsewhere. Actually it tends to work that we go to one park for the day, then another for dinner that night, and maybe stop back at the first with PM EMH. (To go to more than 2 or 3 parks in a day is a waste of time, IMO. You spend too much time in transit unless you bring a car)

[battle beast]

Park hopping for me is great, but I only use it close tot the end of my trip to get in the few things i haven't done yet... or to buy souveniers that I want. Something from ANimal, then run to Epcot, etc.:marg:

[wdwfansince75]

Our family usually has more fun by accident than most people do on purpose. If it ain't fun, Park Hop...

Sometimes, we do it to avoid the worst crowds...

Sometimes we do it because of meal plans....

EMH's can be enjoyed or avoided, depending on that day's crowds....We adapt

We enjoy the boat between MGM and EPCOT, and the Monorail....use them as sort of a break in place....get refreshed without returning to room.

I am a morning person...I love entering a park with the first wave.....DW loves to sleep in....Solution....Park Hop....I get my entry fix, she gets her sleep...then we go to a park together, on her schedule.

Summary....It works for us.

[pixiesmimi]

We've only done the Park Hopper one trip. Basically all we used it for was to go from one park to another for ADRs. We decided it is easier for us and cheaper just to do a whole day in each park (or two) and make our ADRs accordingly. We don't have enough energy to run from one park to another. :)

[Marker]

I've often done 3 in a day. Start in one park in the morning, move to another park in the afternoon, eat dinner at another another park.

On one occasion, I watched Illuminations at 9 (Epcot), Fantasy In The Sky at 10 (MK - the fireworks show prior to Wishes), and Fantasmic at 11 (Studios)

As a family, we've definitly done all 4 in a day... we don't often stay together all day. We'll start out together, then some will go back to the pool, or go to a water park, or a variety of other parks, then come back together for dinner somewhere. But then my kids are 25, 23 and 19, so it's ok for them to wander off alone. :mickey:

Extra Magic Hours often prompt some hopping too. I'm up and out early to where ever the early EMH is, leaving my family to sleep. We usually meet up around 10 or so at whatever park is on our agenda for the day. Then some of us may head to the late EMH.

So yeah, we definitly hop. Maybe not each and every day, but often enough that I can't imaging not having that option.

[Gottaluvgoof]

I never park hop. I thought everybody did, so it's interesting reading that other people don't. I just see it as a waste of money. To me, it would be a waste of time and energy catching all the different buses. We fly down, so it's all magical express and Disney buses for us. I go to a park in the morning and don't leave until closing time. I can easily spend an entire day in one park. On our extra days, we usually do a 2nd day at Magic Kingdom and then a 2nd day at whichever other park we desire. Our ADRs are made according to the parks we choose each day.

[TINKERBELL_82]

We have done all 4 parks in one day. We started at AK, went to MGM, then MK and then Epcot for Illuminations. The best advice I can give to anyone who does this is to drive their own vehicle from park to park. Lots of valuable time is wasted waiting for buses and monorails.

[MinnieMommie]

We do both but I think more ofen we take a break between parks. It depends on a variety of vaiables. :mickey:

[January-2007]

If we go to one park and it's too busy or we finish what we wanted to do we might go straight to another park, and we do sometimes, but more often than not we go to one park in the morning, have a break at the resort, then go to another park in the evening, and that is our hopping.

[BelleBeauty]

When we park hop, we usually just do two parks in one day or switch for ADRs. However, we have done all 4 parks in one day on the last day of the trip - to hit up the favorites. For me, I would rather spend the money on the hopper tickets and save in another aspect of the trip because it just makes me feel like I have more freedom to have the hopper. We always use it, and rarely spend a full day in any of the parks. It just works well for us.

[Vinny]

I have done all four parks in one day a couple of times before, once without even realizing it until that evening going to EMH's at MK. I will usually try to do about two parks/day. We stay at one park from morning to mid/late afternoon and go to another for fireworks or parades after dinner. I have found myself 'park hopping' more towards the end of our trip to WDW as the time to go home gets closer.

[LoriMistress]

DH and I will be parking from park to park and also taking breaks during the early afternoon and returning to the park later.

[eLPack]

I enjoy having the option to park hop - and more often than not I do so - usually 2 parks, sometimes more. Especially with the AK closing much earlier than the rest, and sometimes the MK as well.. it give me much more park time.
Though I have to say that my most enjoyable and memorable park hop was when I went to the Magic Kingdom in Florida in the morning... and that same day went to the Magic Kingdom in California.. now that's park hopping at its best :mickey:

[Followthatmouse]

While two-park days are our usual schedule, we have visited three parks in a day. I believe it we were in Animal Kingdom early, but found it unbearably hot. I think we only stayed for a performance of the Festival of the Lion King and then went on to MK. We spent the afternoon in the park before heading back to the hotel. Epcot was the park of choice for the evening and we stayed to closing.

We hopped to three parks that day. Four, while possible, would not be prudent. It would certainly exhaust our family.

[irish1967]

I enjoy having the option to park hop - and more often than not I do so - usually 2 parks, sometimes more. Especially with the AK closing much earlier than the rest, and sometimes the MK as well.. it give me much more park time.
Though I have to say that my most enjoyable and memorable park hop was when I went to the Magic Kingdom in Florida in the morning... and that same day went to the Magic Kingdom in California.. now that's park hopping at its best :mickey:

I bow down before you as the king or queen of parkhopping!

Our typical visit is 2 nights/3 days so to do it all, parkhopping is a requirement.

Often will start at one park thru lunch, take a break and the finish the day at a second park.

But with several families vacationing together, we will also split up our party and hop to different parks based on what people want to / are allowed (based on height restrictions) to do and meet up later.

[Tink-N-Me]

When our children were younger we use to Park Hop. Basically, the kids enjoyed MK and MGM more than Epcot & AK. So we would do Epcot & AK on the same day to allow more days at the other parks. Now that they are older they enjoy Epcot and AK more. So we dropped the Park Hopper option and spend all day at each park.

[MOJoe]

After reading a few of the posts here, i feel that i want to respond. For many of us, Park Hopping is not a waste of money. It is not even a luxury. It is a necessary component to a successful Disney Trip. Necessary because most of us, and especially our children, have favorite attractions that are not to be missed.
Even the best vacation planners cannot avoid the occasional ride breakdown. On our last trip, Expedition Everest was down when we wanted to ride. Without a Park Hopper we would have to make the difficult choice to spend another day at AK, even though Everest was really the only thing we wanted to see, or skip it for this trip. I shudder at the thought. Also, with so many things happening at the parks, it is easy to miss getting to someone's favorite attraction, even if you spend the entire day at that park.
I suppose if you do not have an agenda, park hopping would not be necessary. But considering all the money spent on a Disney vacation, the extra $45 is small change compared to the disappointment my family would have if we had to miss some of our favorite attractions.

[Jasper]

We also find park hopping to be a great money saver. Since we are a family that is always on a budget, we don't have a lot of days to spend like many others do. Thus, we plan our days to start at whichever park opens earliest and then work our way through the day finishing at whichever park is open the latest. We are what you might call park kamikazies. Without park hopping we would have to add more days to our week to get in as much as we do.

Of course, you have to be smart about your park hopping and not just do it willy-nilly. Regardless of whether you travel by car or Disney Transport you almost always have to plan on at least one hour to get from park to park. With careful planning park hopping becomes an actual tool to save money vs. having to add more days to our stay.