Heigh-Ho Scouts! We will be discussing tips for park hopping on Monday night’s podcast so let us know below!
Honestly it would be to not overdo it with hopping. Everything just takes so much longer than you might expect. Hopping to too many places will eat up valuable park time. We find it easier to just choose 2 parks and hop once per day.
I really didn’t like park hopping until I had at least 10 trips under my belt! Even when I had spent the extra for a park hopping ticket, I’d still spend the full day at the same park. There is just so much to do in each park that you can easily fill a full day.
That being said, with who knows how many trips under my belt now I love the ability to come and go as I please! We’ve done the 4 parks, 1 day challenge a few times and had a blast!
My #1 tip for trying to utilize LL when park hoping is to get comfortable “playing the slots” and you can often pick up those hard to get LL at some point! I use the info found on thrill-data.com, they have a section with a list of common times in the day certain attractions will drop more LL availability.
I think people overestimate how helpful park hopping is, especially for a first trip. Trying to cram four parks into two park days on a first trip just isn’t worth it. Frankly my kids liked having TWO days at MK on our first trip and no other parks. Takes the pressure off everything getting times perfect or allow you to feel like you “know” a park and hit favorites a second time.
But park hopping is especially useful during party season because you can enjoy lower wait times during the day at MK on a party day and then hop somewhere else. Or fit in an evening at MK to make sure you see the happily ever after fireworks you missed.
Conventional wisdom is to check the park hours and start with the one that opens the earliest and then hop to the one that stays open later but sometimes it’s worth doing the opposite — lines at AK are usually shorter in the afternoon, for example, because everyone goes there in the AM and then leaves mid day.
Park hopping buses don’t start until 10am
Be mindful of where you park if driving. Some parking lots will close at Park 1 before you’re done at Park 2.
You can’t skyliner to the back of Epcot and walk to the parking lot after park close.
I like MK or HS as my second park because they have the best nighttime shows
Park hopping makes LLs a bit trickier. You can purchase for the first park you’re going to and then after you scan in at a ride at park 1 you can book at park 2 — but then you’re often missing some rides or the best times. If I’m doing Epcot or AK first and then heading to HS, I’ll usually just get a single pass for guardians or flight and just start off my Multipass LL at HS to ensure I can get slinky for example.
Also, it is KILLING me that Thrill Data isn’t working. I hope they get it sorted out soon. I feel so blind!