How to Maximize Park Hoppers Without Exhaustion, or does Staying in One Park Create Exhaustion?!?

[carimar]

I am going on a quick, 3-day trip with 15 yo dd in Feb, and the more I think our plans are set, the more I doubt my plans. I have two days planned for MK over the second weekend of Presidents Day break. It looks like the hours may extend (looking at TP last year) to 11pm, so we have from 8am-11pm both days and FP+ reserved from the 9am-12pm hours both days. Was hoping to catch the parade and fireworks one of the days, so we have CRT one night and the dessert party the following night.
The third day, I have AK FOP FP+ and two others reserved and intend to hop to DHS for ST, TSM and F! For the evening.
We don’t have too much interest in EP, but now I’m wondering if I’ve killed the flexibility of my park hoppers by reserving these early FP’s, or wondering if we should start off with HS FP+ one of the other two mornings.
Two full days like this looks like way too much MK, right? Does park-hopping break up or cause more exhaustion, in your experience?
Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[CAQDaddy]

I feel that park hoppers remove stress for me. I like your FP+ strategy the way it is. My family likes to schedule our FP+ for early to mid day and then if we feel the urge to go to a different park we do, but we may also stay in the park we're in if we're enjoying ourselves. It does seem like you have a lot of MK time, but you may very well want to spend that much time in MK. I just feel like the hopper gives you so much flexibility to adapt your plans the day of. As for your third day, I would do the AK FP's just like your plan and hop to DHS and use the refresh option to get 4th FP at DHS.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We use park hoppers for our midday break. One park all day is a bit much.

We always have a rental vehicle, and a well packed cooler will keep drinks and snacks cold even in a Florida summer. Also, if AK is the evening park it’s very easy to slip out via Sherbeth Road for a quick snack.

FPs are always prebooked for the first park. We’ll take advantage of refresh plus short lines at night for the 2nd park.

 

[brockash]

I am going on a quick, 3-day trip with 15 yo dd in Feb, and the more I think our plans are set, the more I doubt my plans. I have two days planned for MK over the second weekend of Presidents Day break. It looks like the hours may extend (looking at TP last year) to 11pm, so we have from 8am-11pm both days and FP+ reserved from the 9am-12pm hours both days. Was hoping to catch the parade and fireworks one of the days, so we have CRT one night and the dessert party the following night.
The third day, I have AK FOP FP+ and two others reserved and intend to hop to DHS for ST, TSM and F! For the evening.
We don’t have too much interest in EP, but now I’m wondering if I’ve killed the flexibility of my park hoppers by reserving these early FP’s, or wondering if we should start off with HS FP+ one of the other two mornings.
Two full days like this looks like way too much MK, right? Does park-hopping break up or cause more exhaustion, in your experience?
Any advice would be appreciated!

For us, all the extra transportation us too exhausting for us. We used to get hoppers, but barely used them so eventually decided to stop wasting the money and the time it took and we just stick to 1 park/day.

 

[JETSDAD]

We find hopping actually less tiring as we get a bit of a break in some A/C while moving from one park to the next. Normally we will take a mid-day break and then hope elsewhere but we've also done 4 parks with no break but the time to travel between parks was enough of a break. We also book our FP's starting first thing at the first park.

 

[Gehrig1B]

If you use hoppers properly they can allow for great flexibility and relieve stress. If you are trying to cram in as much as you can in a short stay hoppers may not work for you. We visited 3 parks yesterday but at a leisurely pace with nothing other than an ADR scheduled for park 2. We did MK early, Epcot fast passes, HS for dinner, MK for late night!

 

[JessM]

I personally love the flexibility of park hopping. We often start our day in one park, with early FP+ booked there and then hop to a different park in the evening. It allows us to customize our days and see the nightly entertainment as it works best for our schedule. I think scheduling FP+ in your first park for morning is a good idea, you can always try for more FPs once you use those 3.

Does your 15 year old like thrill rides? I would consider adding a morning at DHS if you think you'll want to ride TSM, SDD, RNRC or TOT. I know at 15 I liked the MK but was more into thrill rides at the time.

I have rented a car in the past but often found it easiest to leave the car parked at the resort and take Disney transportation. I don't find it exhausting to park hop. Sometimes we take a mid day break back at the resort but most times we just book an ADR somewhere and then continuing touring after that. It is a nice break between parks on the A/C buses or monorail. We are normally park hoping late afternoon so they are hardly ever crowded and you can normally sit.

 

[pooch]

I agree, we usually stay in the first park til around 4 then use the transportation between as our break.

 

[ejyip]

When my wife and I go alone, we always use park hoppers for the mere fact that we tend to "turn and burn" the parks quickly and then are left with a lot of time left. Beyond that, we generally like to head back to Epcot every night for dinner in the world showcase. For the price differential to add the option, it is well worth it for us, however, we went with a larger group last month and ended up foregoing the option, because we knew that the others would have dragged us down. It ended up being good, because they indeed did that, haha.

 

[singingpixie]

Personally, there are parks where I like to prioritize rides which work well in the morning (MK, DHS), and parks where I like to take more time wandering and enjoying entertainment (AK, EP). There are exceptions... if I had a full week, I'd want at least one morning and one evening in each park... but generally, I find an evening in Epcot much more relaxing than one in the MK. Hopping allows me to balance my days that way.

 

[DavidNYC]

Hopping works if you use it wisely. We hop usually for specific purposes like restaurant reservations, evening shows, and being at certain places at optimal times. For example, world showcase is almost always somewhere we hop to after using FP somewhere else. MK is usually very easy to get multiple extra FP at so good park to hop to later in day. Many good reasons if part of a plan. I don’t like hopping just to hop.

 

[greg9x]

The exhaustion would depend on your stamina and your plan. We liked hoppers because we do the mid day break... so 3-5 hours in a park, go back to hotel to cool off/nap, then hit up another park in the evening usually based on fireworks/show want to see or if get a good 4th FP.
If you do it commando style and going to be in parks all day, then hopping takes away from your park time, adds extra walking, could put you on time restraints depending on your schedule. But you have to make your plans to see what works best.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I, personally, don't find it exhausting. The transportation between the parks is kind of a respite in itself as you travel to the next park. If you think you might want to hop to EP, I would suggest trying to change your CRT dinner to a lunch, catch the MK parade and then decide what you want to do from there. This would give you the ability, after you complete your 3rd FP+ in MK that day to check for your next FP+ in EP or MK depending on what you decide to do.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I don't do hoppers, because for me, going from one park to another just takes up extra time I don't want to lose. Yes, I know. I can leave one park, head back to the resort for pool time and then have lunch. Then use the hopper to visit another park in the evening. Well...if I visited the parks all the time in the evening this would work well....but EPCOT is the ONLY park I go to in the evening after doing Futureworld in the morning. I like visiting the World Showcases in the evening. We do AK in the evening too, but that's because we aren't going into that park till about 1pm. We usually stay till around 5 or 6 and leave to go have dinner offsite.