Hiya, Amy!
As a fellow Buckeye (and a fellow Amy, for that matter), I'm happy to welcome you to planDisney. For me, there's nothing quite as wonderful as visiting Walt Disney World Resort with a small child –– seeing the excitement and wonder in their eyes as they take everything in for the first time is pure magic. But as incredible as a visit with small children can be, it also comes with its own set of challenges, especially in the transportation department. So, let's talk through some of your options with your little one to make your upcoming visit to The Most Magical Place on Earth as seamless as possible.
While I love
Walt Disney World's complimentary bus transportation, with my youngest children still in a stroller, I also prefer to use other methods of transportation when possible. Between all the folding and unloading (not to mention the frustration of having to wake a sleeping toddler), the buses aren't always an ideal solution. For this reason, we often choose to stay at one of the
Disney Resorts Collection hotels that are on the monorail line or near EPCOT around Crescent Lake so we have plenty of options to use the monorail, boat, or even walk to reach many of the parks. Since it sounds like you and your family are planning to take a similar approach (great minds think alike!), I'm happy to report that it's definitely still possible to take advantage of the
Park Hopper Option on your ticket to walk through EPCOT on your way to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
The one thing you'll want to keep in mind, however, is that Park Hopping between Walt Disney World theme parks isn't available until after 2 PM each day. This means that in order to cut through EPCOT on your way to Disney's Hollywood Studios, you would either need to make a
Disney Park Pass reservation for EPCOT that day and hop to Hollywood Studios starting at 2 or make a theme park reservation for a different location, such as Magic Kingdom Park, and then enter EPCOT and Hollywood Studios after that 2 PM window opens. However, if you're hoping to enter Disney's Hollywood Studios earlier in the day, it might still be necessary to consider taking the bus or other transportation in order to head to the park before 2PM.
I hope this helps to answer your question, Amy, and I really appreciate you visiting planDisney. I'm wishing you and your family lots of pixie dust and hassle-free transportation during your upcoming visit to Walt Disney World Resort!
See Ya Real Soon,
Amy