Making the Most of Park Hopper Tickets
When you are planning a Disney vacation, you want the most out of your trip, right? You’ve paid a good bit of money for the experiences and magic Disney has to offer so you want to cram as much into your vacation as possible. One way to help you make the most of your park days is purchasing Park Hopper tickets but to get your money’s worth, I have a few tips for you!
1.) Know Your Parks
You can waste so much time if you are wandering around the parks questioning where everything is and what exactly you want to do. Add kids into this equation and your park day goes from magical to tragical. Look at park maps ahead of time to familiarize yourself with the park layouts. If you have toddlers who are being potty trained or know your children will need frequent bathroom breaks, really look at where restrooms are located. If maps aren’t your thing, watch some YouTube videos, to familiarize yourself with the layouts!
2.) Know Your Transportation Methods
Park hopping requires transporting yourself and other members of your party, to your next destination. Ask your travel agent or look on Disney discussion boards to see which modes of transportation are quicker. For example, you can easily get on the monorail from Epcot to Magic Kingdom but did you know you will have to change monorails midway through your ride? You wouldn’t want to waste time riding the wrong monorail line. Ask your agent or a friend and make note in your plans!
3.) Know Your Goals and Expectations
4 Parks in 1 day sounds like an awesome goal right?! Maybe not so much with your little ones. Keep it realistic: know where you want to go, what you will want to do, and what you and your family are capable of doing. If you and your family are slow walkers, don’t try to do four parks in one day, do two parks instead. Pick a few must dos from the parks you will go to, for a given day, and stick to it. For example, don’t expect to ride Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, Rock’n’Rollercoaster, and Tower of Terror all in 2 hours so you can make it to two other parks. Instead, realize what’s the most important to do, choose a couple, and move on to your next park! Keep your goals and expectations realistic for you and your travel party!
4.) Know Your Extra Magic Hours
Disney provides its resort guests with access to extra magic hours! This can cut down on some major wait times but often will draw in bigger crowds throughout the entire day. Use your park hoppers to your advantage! Attend the AM extra magic hours and once they’re over and the park has officially opened for all guests, park hop to another park! If extra magic hours are at night, do the other parks during the day and once extra magic hours start for a specific park, go to that park! This way, you can hopefully check a few must dos off your list without the huge wait times. *Rides such as Flight of Passage, Slinky Dog Dash, and other popular attractions could still have long wait times.*
5.) Know Your FastPasses
Did you know once you’ve used your three FastPasses, you can select a fourth FastPass? Then once you’ve used your fourth, you can select a fifth, and so on? Use this to your advantage! If you’ve used your three FastPasses and you aren’t sure which park to go to next, look at your FastPass selections in each park and go from there! Especially if you see FastPasses for rides such as Flight of Passage, Slinky Dog Dash, Space Mountain, etc. You can keep selecting FastPasses the entire day, if they’re available, allowing you to do more in the parks! I hope these tips will help you with your park hopping Disney vacation!
As always, I am here to help you with your family Disney vacations! Contact me at [email protected].
