Non park hoppers-how do you plan your day?

[Gorechick]

I've always park hopped and did EMH days. My last trip was 2012 so I've only been pre MB. I'm hoping to plan a trip for August 2017. This trip, I'm considering not park hopping, doing RD and following EasyWDW's recommendations instead. I tend to tour land by land, usually starting in Fantasyland. I also sometimes do PPO breakfast in the park. How do you plan your day when not park hopping?

 

[JessicaW1234]

We usually also do RD, sometimes a PPO breakfast, then fantasyland & tomorrow land. We usually start using FP around 10ish. I always save one FP for BTMRR for after lunch (QS). We usually do Adventureland last. Once we are out of FP, we can always get a 4th FP for Jungle cruise, and normally a TS dinner.

If you have other questions, I'd be glad to help

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Inside the parks, touring is the same. Hopping at WDW always costs time. We don't hop unless there is a compelling reason.

1. dinner in the WS, mostly only when we stay at a BWK area or value hotel+DDP.
2. very short trip, where we only ride the highlights.
3. Special event.
4. to take advantage of extended hours in one of the parks.

 

[niffer5150]

we just pick a park a day and stay in it till we are done. we try to do longer vacations so there's no rush and you get to do everything multiple times. the only reason i'd consider hopping is for food but we just can't accept the amount of time it takes to travel. food is important to us, but not THAT important.

 

[kappyfamily]

We also normally only do non park hoppers, but for this trip we bought thru park savers and basically got the PH part for free. We will really only use the PH for after we eat dinner then we will head to a park that has extended hours. Have a good trip!

 

[Praying Colonel]

Generally we're at the park at RD, doing high-demand attractions until about noon, then we eat lunch and do 1-2 attractions on our way out the park before taking an afternoon break. Early dinner at a TS restaurant at or near the park and then touring it in the evening, taking it easy--either low-demand attractions or using FP+.

 

[Gorechick]

I've never done a full day in a park. Always took an afternoon break and went somewhere else for dinner/touring. Last trip, we hit the heat/crowd wall around 1 pm and went back to resort to swim/chill until about 4-5pm. It was also first time with kids so I wanted that break just in case. Since that trip, my son passed away from leukemia, so it will only be my DD, DH, and I. This trip will be drastically different in other ways than figuring out a touring plan but that's for another thread.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We went on several trips during Free Dining without purchasing hopping. I made our ADRs and chose the park of the day based on the location of where dinner was that day.

 

[merrick]

i am with JerseyJanice... our first trip we did dining plan (not free - ugh!) and just planned our days around ADRs at that specific park....breakfast, lunch or dinner. it would have been nice to also coordinate with crowd calendar but booked with TA and it was our first trip so we knew next to nothing.

it worked out well because we stayed at the contemporary... our next trip we are planning for yacht club because we want more varied dining near epcot (free dining - yay!) and the park hopper will allow that flexibility.

 

[VickiVM]

Next month will be our 10th trip and we've never purchased hoppers. For a family of 5, I just couldn't justify the extra $$. Like others have said, we planned which park we would be at each day and ate our meals accordingly. We would often take a break and go back in the evenings or just stay all day. Never once have I felt like we've missed out. But I'm a planner - a more spontaneous visitor may feel confined or limited.

 

[summerlady]

We never hop, it's too time consuming and labor intensive for us. I had hoppers once, back in 2008, and we only used them once to get to a dinner res in Epcot. Now that I was forced to buy hoppers to get the free dining bounceback, I don't know what to do with them! Probably will hop once, just for the heck of it.

 

[Stormeyes]

I am usually a non park hopper. I get my ADRs and then plan my park around my single table service meal for the day.

 

[got15]

We have never parked hopped. We usually check crowd calendars, EMH, park hours. We pick whichever parks will work best for us for that day. From there- we do our ADRs. We do afternoon breaks and leave the park between 12-2 pm- so dinner at a resort then back to the park after dinner for nighttime awesomeness.

 

[Disneymom1126]

We don't do hoppers. Like others we choose which park we want to be in for each day based on crowd calendars, then we decide if we want to do a table service meal that day and if so choose those. We typically rope drop about every other day. If it's the day after we stay at a park late for fireworks, etc, we may not rope drop the next day, but just use FP+ smartly when we get to the parks.

 

[crazy_for_the_dis]

I think we hopped every day other than one this past week. Between special events, like dessert parties that sometimes don't schedule until a month before, to early morning events, to ADR's that need to be changed and you can't always get the day you want, hopping was invaluable to us in keeping our schedule flexible.

 

[forevertrueblue]

Did first two trips without Park Hopper and since we get the QS Dining Plan and book only one or two table service restaurants we haven't needed to worry about planning too much. We did get PH for out upcoming one but only plan to use it on a couple of the days. If you're not getting PH and are going at a busy time I'd avoid EMH parks unless you're sure you're going to use them.

 

[MataHari22]

I was never a big park hopper, and for my last three trips, I haven't at all. I just try and go with easyWDW's recommended park days to pick my park days. Then I decide what I'd like to do for my ADRs. I like to do PPO breakfast for one of my days at MK and for my AK day. (I like Crystal Palace and Tusker House.)

I am also not a mid day break taker, either. I take my "break" in the parks by making sure I have at least one, if not two table service meals, but I have special needs with my food, so it's easier for me to be able to find something I can eat when I can have the chef work with me. Also, I make sure I see some shows and spend time off my feet in AC. I also do not have kids and I go in the fall, and not the unbearable heat of the summer. I also do not tour like a commando anymore. Lol. I schedule a couple of early nights and late starts. Although since AK used to be a shorter day, since it closed early, I'm not sure what I'd do these days so I could see the night time entertainment, maybe arrive later, but that makes me miss out on my TH breakfast.

I hope you will have a good trip.

 

[Nancyg56]

we just pick a park a day and stay in it till we are done. we try to do longer vacations so there's no rush and you get to do everything multiple times. the only reason i'd consider hopping is for food but we just can't accept the amount of time it takes to travel. food is important to us, but not THAT important.

We try to have longer trips so we don't have to do it all in a condensed time frame, but depending on what we want to do, we may add hoppers. Most of the time the hopper is to gain access to another park for evening entertainment or dinner. I think it is easier not to plan when you do not have hoppers. The last time I added them we used them one time in that trip. Wasted money that trip.

 

[dreiwhit]

We don't hop, so we pick a park, get there at rope drop and then stay in the park all day. For some parks - DHS and AK - we take our time and when we run out of things to do, we will leave (which is usually from 6-7pm.) For us, MK and Epcot will be full days. We also eat one meal in the park.

 

[Veronique]

We also do rope drop every day, unless we stayed out late the day before. We try to get PPO if we can.

We like longer trip and we like to do everything. Watch shows, meets, attractions of course and next trip we'll try all the games (Agent P, Pirates and Sorcerers). Next trip will be 11 night so 10 + a half day.

We're never sure when we'll be able to afford our next trip (I'm still a student and we're from Canada) so we usually spend all day in one park and we try to do each park twice. We rarely leave before closing time. We never do "breaks" where you leave, but we try to do more relaxing thing in the afternoon (shows) and our third FP ride is usually between 1pm and 3pm. I cannot justify the hours of park time I'd loose taking a break and going back to the resorts, but I'm also very cheap in general so that's just me We are travelling with a 6 years old and a 18 months old but they're super easy kids and we bring a stroller that fits both kids and a baby carrier, so my 6yo can take a break.

I use EasyWDW, undercover tourist, Kenny, etc. crowd calendars and double check with Touringplan when my days are in their free crowd calendar.

I wrote down recommandation for every day of the trip in a word calendar I make or on Google calendar. I check events and special activities that will happen when we're there and make sure we get to see it. I ask the family if they have request (my husband wants 2 days in Epcot MINIMUM, I want to see AK at night, etc.) and we make decisions based on this.

We usually follow the general recommandation like: don't go to a extra magic hours park, don't go to MK on a non-party night in halloween/Christmas season, do go in a park the day AFTER it has extra magic hours, don't go to MK on saturday and monday, etc. But we do not freak out if something does not work out. This time, we're going to DHS on an extra magic hours night because it's the only day it fits, and we'll go to MK on saturday because it's the last night before we leave and our only chance to see Wishes!


Our trip plan right now start on wednesday and its : DS / EP / AK / DHS / MK / Universal / MK halloween from 4PM / EP / an undecided day / a water park and night at DHS / MK.