Park Hopping Strategy

[SaintsManiac]

We buy hoppers, so we can go to the MK as much as possible. We'll hit a park in the AM, go back to the resort and hang out, then hit the MK at night.

 

[MamaMaleficent2016]

We usually stay at Beach or Yacht and always get hoppers. Mostly , it's for the following 2 reasons: 1) dinner in a different country at night So no matter where we spent our daytime we would come back to hotel freshen up and then dinner at the World Showcase 2) we like to walk through Epcot to catch the monorail for Magic Kingdom and the monorail resorts.

 

[Gehrig1B]

We were there last week and had 8 Day Hopper tickets. We visited MK 5 times, Epcot 5 times (3 evening ADR's), HS 3 times and AK twice. The express bus made the hopper even more valuable to us. We were staying at Wilderness lodge.

Our old strategy was always early morning rope drop one park and hit headliners before the park gets busy then hop to a second park for our FP+ rides. Now, with the hopper express bus it made things more interesting, and easy.

One day we started with our usual strategy (hit Epcot for Test Track at rope drop and a few other rides), we then used the express bus to hop to HS where we had fastpasses. If you time your fastpasses well you can hit 3 rides using them in just over an hour. We did RRC just before the end of the first fastpass window, then did Star Tours and had some quick service lunch before going to HTOT...all in a little over an hour. We then grabbed a 4th fastpass for Toy Story somehow? We were done before 3:00. We used the bus to return to WL for a nap then finished at MK by boat for an ADR at BOG and Wishes.

In fact, we did 3 parks in a day several times during the week. It is nice to make ADR's at Epcot and hop over after a day at another park (or two).

 

[dmband]

The only hopping tip I really can offer is make fp+ at park two (generally speaking) because the lines are shorter early in the day and getting same day fp is typically limited to rides that are not as high demand. You will never get a Soarin fp late in the day/"same day" for example

 

[amberpi]

I've been to WDW at least 30 times in the last 15 years and literally wouldn't go without hoppers. I don't understand it. Not for me. Every day we touch Epcot in some way. ALWAYS. Being so close, other than your first 3 fps and where you want to have dinner, its really not a big deal, once you've dispensed with rd, you don't have to have a plan. I never have. Go to MK, hop back to Epcot for lunch, walk back to BW for a rest, hit AK for their night time stuff and then maybe even hit a late Wishes or Epcot again. Just go, hoppers are amazing.

 

[SuperTink]

We RD the first park, return to the hotel, rest, then use our FPPs at the second park. If we feel like it and are not too tired, we'll close the second park and enjoy those later rides without FPPs.

On one day of our upcoming trip in 2 weeks we are not returning to the hotel. Our trips are short and the hours are short--we have to maximize our time. The only person I'm worried about being able to handle it without a nap is DH.

 

[disneyseniors]

I got it from Josh. Lol. My Feb 2017 calendar shows a crowd level 4 on the 15th, 7 on the 16th, 8 on the 17th & 9's on the 18th & 19th.

3's & 4's are what we're used to, so the 7, 8 & 9's scare me a little.

Oh, I see. I only cared about up to the 16, which will be lower. Thanks

 

[mickey&minnie04]

We always hop...we usually do one park for half day and then go to another. I will finally be in Disney on my birthday so I plan on hitting all my favorite parks and favorite rides in one day! can't wait!!

 

[loafskier]

Staying at an Epcot resort makes hoppers (or an AP) almost a "must do".[/QUOTE]

Exactly!

The first time we did hoppers was our last trip when we stayed at Yacht Club. Previous stays were MK resorts or AKL and we didn't feel the need to hop. But we love the variety of food and atmosphere at World Showcase at EPCOT and being so close did make the hopper almost a "must do" as the other poster said. I planned which park AM and PM and I always plan one sit down ADR for each day. I would choose a place for lunch at the AM park or dinner at the PM park. The PM park was EPCOT most of the time and DHS one night due to the close proximity. We always take a pool (nap for DH) break anyway, even when we didn't have hoppers, so switching parks wasn't a big deal for us. FPs were made for late morning, early afternoon of the AM park most days and occasionally the PM park with tiered FPs. The hoppers allow more flexibility for the tiered FPs since you visit the same park more often with a hopper during one trip.

If lunch was the ADR it made the night time park very flexible and we could change our mind a the last minute.

I am not a 3-4 park per day kind of person, too much schlepping for me. Just not our thing, two parks a day max worked well for us.

 

[tlmadden73]

How I use hoppers:
I've gotten them in the past (when it was relatively cheaper)
And I currently have them due to no-expiration tickets (so my cost/per day (even with hopper) is extremely low (until they run out!).

I just have used them if I am on a short trip (less than 4 days) and want to go to another park.
I usually just plan on using them on my AK day (at least until Pandora and Rivers of Light makes that park a full day park) or my DHS day (at least until the new lands make that park a full day park).

That's basically it .. just use it to take advantage of the short hour parks (or parks that you can "finish" early) .. and go to another park to enjoy a dinner or night show.
I've seen people try to hop every day and that just seems tiresome.

 

[amberpi]

Also, with hoppers, if things get a little too crowded, you can check the app and any others you might use to assess wait times across property. There's lots of times I've bailed at of MK at 11, hit Epcot for lunch and then realized I could be somewhere with little crowds in no time. I'm stoked about using the new express service too. WOOHOO!

 

[Farps]

We too always hop, we hit early EMH hit all of the headliners within the first 2 hours and then some of the rides with shorter lines. And hop when it starts to get crowded saving our FP for the second park. Love love love the flexibility !!

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I'll just reiterate what others have said -- being close to Epcot really makes hoppers worthwhile. We have stayed at Yacht Club the last few trips and our typical day (though not every day of the trip) involves going to a park either for morning EMH or morning rope drop, heading back to the resort around noon, sometimes grabbing a bite to eat at the resort or walking over to Epcot and eating at England/France/Germany/Italy, hanging out at the pool, and then heading to a different park in the evening, and often having fast passes for the evening park (or dinner reservations somewhere).

 

[Davey Jones II]

In addition to a lot of the strategies mentioned in this thread, we also used hoppers to go to the water parks in the afternoon, when it gets too hot and crowded in the theme parks. Then we can go to any park we want in the late aft/early evening (usually where our FPs are scheduled).

We also use them to switch to a park for nightime events.