Hey there, Jennifer! I am so happy to see that you found us here at planDisney to ask your question about park hopping!
When you purchase your Walt Disney World
theme park ticket, you will be given the option to purchase park hopper at that time. Should you decide NOT to, you can absolutely add it on once you are at The Most Magical Place on Earth. I will, however, suggest that you add it on immediately, as the cost is the same for one day or 4 days of park hopping, so you may as well have the option for your entire vacation.
Now, I’ll share some park hopping tips:
-
The easiest “hop” is from EPCOT to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (or reverse that). The reason here is because you have three different transportation options that are all very efficient to do the hop. You can either take the
Disney Skyliner (you will change gondolas at the Caribbean Beach hub), or a Friendship Boat, or walk (I know!). Our family “raced” from Disney’s Hollywood Studios to EPCOT; we each took a different transportation option (boat, Skyliner, walk) and we all arrived within a few minutes of each other. This hop takes approximately 20ish minutes.
-
Animal Kingdom is a great park to do in the morning and then hop somewhere else. Since Magic Kingdom is usually open later, that is where we go. I’ll make a dining reservation for lunch at Whispering Canyon Café in Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, eat there, and then take the boat over to Magic Kingdom for the remainder of the day.
-
You usually won’t hop away from Magic Kingdom if you start there. There is simply TOO much to try and do in less than a day.
-
When scheduling your theme park reservations, you will schedule for the park you wish to BEGIN your day, and then you will check for park hopping availability on the
MyDisneyExperience mobile app beginning at 2:00 PM.
I hope this helps with planning for your fall visit to WDW. Please visit us again with other questions that you might have.
Happy Traveling,
Tracy