The idea of park hopping, or visiting multiple Disney parks in the same day, is a wonderful option. But it isn’t always the best use of your time, money, and energy.

Most readers here know that Disney World is huge – about 40 square miles. Getting from point A to point B inside Disney World can take some time.

And park hopping isn’t free. It can cost as much as $15 on a single day ticket, or less per day for multiple day tickets.

So when should you park hop? And when should you skip it and stay in a single park? Let’s take a look:

Park Hop When You Need To Cover A Lot Of Territory

If your vacation is very short, or if you know that you have a certain list of things to see or do and little time to do it, consider park hopping. You will spend some of your time just moving around between the parks, but you will also be able to hit the highlights that are most important to you, even if they span multiple parks.

Tigger likes to hop - but park hopping isn't for everyone all the time.
Tigger likes to hop – but park hopping isn’t for everyone all the time.

Park Hop When You Are Very Close To A Park

If you can take a short walk or a quick monorail ride from your hotel to a nearby park, especially the Magic Kingdom or Epcot, it is often worth taking a few minutes to do so. Taking advantage of short transportation time to one park makes it easier to justify the longer transportation to another park.

Park Hop When You Are A Wanderer

Do you like to wander around to wherever the mood strikes you? Make your plans on the fly? Use a park hopper to feed your wanderlust. Enjoy your freedom of choice!

Park Hop When There Are Special Events

Often times when a park holds a special evening hard-ticketed event, like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, the crowds at that park are low during the day. It makes sense. People don’t want to pay a full day’s admission and then have their day end at 7pm. You can take advantage of that. Visit the Magic Kingdom and enjoy the short lines and low crowds, then hop over to another park to finish off your evening while the next crowd files in for the special event.

Skip The Park Hopper When You Need To Save Cash

Sometimes every dollar counts. There is certainly plenty to do in every Disney park to fill up the entire day. You can save some money by skipping the park hopper option.

Skip The Park Hopper On Your First Trip

Similar to the previous item, you can’t see and do everything in a park during a single day, especially for your first trip. So if you are planning your first vacation to Disney World, you can very easily spend a full day in a single park with no regrets.

Do you get the park hopper option, or do you skip it?