Information About Using Park Hopper Tickets at Disney World

Hi M.. I love Disney. Your family will enjoy it. I always suggest to my travel clients to use the Disney FastPass. The FastPass is a special ticket dispensed from a FastPass machine that displays a window of time in which you may return and enter the express (shorter) line for a specific ride.
Hint: Try to arrive to the park about 30 minutes before it opens and and when it opens head for your most desired ride at that time get your FastPass and go on your ride. After that head out to next favored ride and repeat the process.
Healhwise: I suffer from Peripheral Vascular Disease so I understand how you feel. Wear comfortable walking sneakers that was previously broken in and made comfortable before your trip. No new sneakers. Secondly and very important, purchase some support socks or stockings. I wear the men's knee length ones because my calves are big.
You can get them on the internet for a reasonable price.
I get mine from here: http://www.ameswalker.com/rxfitsuphoss.html

Another suggestion is to pace yourself. Sit down when you can. And lastly what helped me a great deal was to lose some weight if that is needed. In my case, I have been overweight and when I lost my first 26 lbs it made a great difference. I have lost a total of 54 so far. I have much less pain.

Enjoy your trip!

***Edited to add- Get a prescription from your doctor first, He will tell you the "weight" or amount of compreesion of the stocking or socks that you need.

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I think you should buy the "Unofficial Guide to Disney World". This is written by a team of people NOT related to Disney, so it is very unbias. Basically, a hopper pass allows you to go to more than one park in a day. You should get to the parks early, go back to your hotel in the afternoon for pool time and relaxation and than go back to the park at night. You can always eat at the food courts (might be a line) or make reservations at restaurants. I would DEFINATELY make reservations, you can not wing it. However, you could eat at the hotel or the surrounding area. IF you stay off site, there are SO many options to eat and do stuff. We stayed in the Comfort Suites Maingate East ###-###-####. There is a charming street with no cars allowed , 500 feet from the hotel. Also carnival rides and race cars right there. Perfect for you children. THe rooms are inexpensive. and they provide a very nice breakfast. Cereal, muffins, donuts, breads, waffles. It is cheaper to stay off site and than rent a car. THis way you are flexible with your coming and going. If you do use a wheelchair, there is no wait on the lines! They let you go first. You also MUST go to Tom Sawyer's Island in Magic Kingdom. You take a raft ride to the island and than explore the island. There are rope and barrel bridges, forts, secret tunnels. Your boys will love it! I love it! I always go there! It is a perfect place for the kids to run wild. They also have an ice cream parlor with nice chairs to sit on. I could go on and on about Disney! To some it up, I would stay off site, rent a car, eat meals away from disney, UNLESS you have reservations. DO NOT stay at the parks for 12 hours at a time. You need a break!

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I would suggest you call the park ahead of time and find out what can be done from their end. My first thought is that maybe you can get a note from your doctor and get some kind of handicapped pass that will allow you to skip ahead to the front of the lines. I don't know if they do that, but it certainly can't hurt to call and ask!

Have fun!

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M., don't worry. At each entrance you will find a place to rent strollers and wheelchairs. Rent a wheelchair for places like Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom (you do a lot of walking in those parks). A few years back we travelled with my grandmother in a wheelchair and we were able to cut the lines and head straight for the door (only a few rides allow it) and for the rides that don't allow it, you are allowed to stay in your wheelchair while waiting on line.
Hopper tickets are great and they allow you a bit more flexibility to (i.e., MK gets pretty busy throughout the day, you may want to hang out in MK in the morning but have lunch in Epcot and then head back in the evening to MK, with you hopper you can do that. The fun part is they're a monorail ride away from each other).
(Read a few more of my tips from yesterday regarding Disney World)

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Most of the main attraction rides have something called front of the line passes where you put your park hopper passes into them and they produce a ticket telling you when to come back and you don't have to wait on the line.

Park Hopper passes just allow you to go from park to park in the same day and leave and return the park.

What I would do is plan your day out. Get to the rides you want to go on right away and then front of the line pass the ones you can. This way you can enjoy the park.

Also look at each park..if you are staying in Disney each of them open an hour earlier to those staying in the park on different days so the lines are shorter first thing.

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Hi,

The Park Hopper tickets will allow you to go to more than one park during the same day - I think. However, with your condition you might consider sticking to one park per day. Also, they do have wheelchairs or other vehicles that you should be able to borrow (perhaps for a fee) while you are in the park - if you need the extra help. Also - try to Fast Pass on as many rides as possible. This will allow you to spend much less time in line for a ride. You should be able to get information from their web-site, from some "unofficial" web-sites about Disney and by calling their direct phone number. They are very helpful in getting answers to your questions. Good luck and have a blast!

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There is a lot of walking, however there are benches etc everywhere. As for the lines use the fastpass option. This allows you to get a ticket for the ride and come back at a later time with a minimum wait. For example, if they really want to go on space mountain, go there first, get your fast pass which will tell you to return between ex. 2:10 - 3:10pm, and then go do other things.We went with our boys 4 and 7 and it was really helpful, just plan out the things they want to do before you get there.We had a great time, hae fun!

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Most of the rides have a place where you can preregister to get on the ride at scheduled time. Also you might want to get a wheelchair also. They cater to people who need assistance, and I am sure your kids would be happy to take advantage of the benefit. Call ahead, the people at Disney are very accommodating. I myself am taking my 6 year old there this June for the 2nd time. Have Fun!

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Hi M.,
You already answered your own question. Go to your Dr. & get a note of your condition. You then go to guest relations with your note at Disney & they will give you a special pass. We did this a few years back, and they were very accomodating. I by all means use a wheelchair to take the added pressure off of yourself for the times you do have to wait.
Enjoy and have a Great time
PS if going by plane, remember to stretch & move your legs to prevent any clots.
D.

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call disney in advance before you go. You can get a medical pass that gets you to the front of the line at every ride. Not sure what kind of documentation you will need, so best to find out ahead of time.

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get there early, as soon as the park opens & then head for the most popular rides & attractions and get them over with before you do other things.

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The park hopper tickets at disney are totally worth it. We used them in California in February 2007 when I took my daughter, then 7, to spend 2 days there with my parents, my sister, and her husband. You can only reserve one ride at a time, but it gives you a specific time to come back and do your ride, usually within the hour. You come back at the appointed time, wait 2-3 minutes, and off you go. I was surprised at how many people do NOT do Park Hopper, because for us the extra $15 was so totally worth it.

We all wore good tennis shoes, sat down when we needed to, and went at our own pace. My mom has problems with her legs so she rested somewhere near where we were doing some activity.

I hear Disney WORLD is much larger than Disney LAND and have never been there, so hopefully someone who has been to FL will also respond.

A little about me: Mom of 8 year old daughter, preschool music and art teacher and avid figure skater

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Hi M.,

My mother and I went to Disney last year. She has a problem with clotting and narrowing of blood vessels in her legs, so had difficulty walking the parks and had to stop frequently to rest. I imagine two little boys might find this frustrating when there is so much to get to. As much as you might hate it, I'd recommend considering a wheelchair or some kind of mechanized vehicle to get around, at least for part of the day. The walk from the point where the buses drop you off to the entrance gates can be very long in and of itself, let alone walking the whole park. And at the end of the night, when you're trying to hustle along to make your bus (or else have to wait for the next one), that's a veeery long walk.

As for avoiding long lines for rides, you can get tickets that
reserve a spot for you in the line at a particular time (ask about these at the admission gate - I forget the name). You go, reserve that time, then go do something else until your time comes up. Then you get to "cut" in line and your wait is much shorter (though you still may wait, depending on how many other people reserved the same slot).

I hope you have a lot of fun and that the trip goes smoothly!

1 mom found this helpful

I believe they have a fast pass that you swipe and it tells you what time to come back to the ride. Most times you only wait a bit when you get back.

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Hi M.!

My family went to Disney twice last year, once when my daughter was 9 months and again when she had just turned 1 year. She loved it! We went with the park hopper passes because it was so much easier. We could leave the park so she could go back and take her nap and then we could either go to the same park or a different one if we wanted.

You can definitely do the fast pass on the rides you'll go on with the smaller kids but for the bigger rides that they can't go on they have something called a parent swap. One of you waits in line and goes on the ride but they have to tell the attendant at the beginning that they're doing the parent swap. The attendant will give them a ticket and then when that person gets off the ride they give it to the other. The other person can then go up the fast pass lane so that they don't have to wait in line again. This was good for us when we wanted to ride the rides like Space Mountain and the Test Track.

We plan on going back to Disney with my daughter when she's 2 1/2 and my son when he's 10 months in November/December. I can't wait!

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M.,

I'm not sure which parks you will be visiting, but I know that at Universal Studios they have what is called a 'Fast Pass" (or something similar to those words) where you reserve a time to get on the particular 'ride' or 'attraction' and then you get to 'cut' in line and get to the head of the rest of everyone else waiting.

I'm not sure if the parks associated with Disney have these 'fast passes'. I would look into it. If they don't offer such a pass - then I would consider either taking LOTS of resting periods.. or renting a wheelchair/scooter for the day.

In any case... ENJOY YOURSELVES AND HAVE A BLAST!!!!!

OH.. one more thing... you can check on ebay for Disney meal vouchers - they help save you money on all the food you'll be eating in the parks!

Also- within Disney - for about $100 +/- ... you could have breakfast with the characters - that's a good time!

1 mom found this helpful

Dear M.
I would suggest NOT getting a hopper ticket unless your planing on going to more then one park in the same day, which could be alot on the family. You can just get a 3,4 0r 5 day pass (depending on how many days your going to the parks)
a day pass is alot cheaper to do then the hopper. Although if you are planning on going to more then 1 park in the same day then it is worth it. (I didn't realize the difference between the Hopper and a "regular" 3,4, or 5 day pass at first)
Here are a few tips I learned: go to the back of the park esp Magic Kingdom and then go left, try not to go to M.K. on a Monday that's there busiest day, if you do Animal Kingdom get there first thing in the morning and do the Safari ride first, and do the fast pass when offered especially if it's crowed. The best time to go to Disney is "off peak" times then there are no lines. Have Fun it will be a great time!

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Try using touringplans.com and the Unofficial Guide to WDW. They offer specific routes which help you avoid lines. It helped us, even though we didn't follow it to a T. Once we got rolling, we just followed the kids interests. But, I liked knowing how to kick things off in the am.

Getting there early and being 'first in line' makes a difference too.

Good luck!!!

1 mom found this helpful

Park hopper tickets are a great purchase. They allow you to leave one park and go to another park the same day. You didn't mention when you are headed there. If it is during spring break you can expect long lines. If you are staying on disney property my advice is to stay away from the parks that have the extra magic hours in the morning or night. This is extra time for people staying on disney and they do take advantage of it. Head to another park and it will be less crowded that day. Also my advice-if you are staying on property take a break and head back to the hotel for lunch, pool, and rest time. We take our 3 kids (5, 2.5, and 15 months) and make sure we get a break and then head back in the evening. You can always rent an electric scooter so you won't have to walk on the days that your legs are really bothering you. They are available at the stroller rentals and once you pay for that day you can save the ticket for another park if you choose to park hop. A lot of people do use them in the park. Have a great time- it is one of our favorite places to take the kids. I hope I helped you out a little.

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M., get a doctor's note about your condition and give it at the counters at Disney. They will give you a pass to either limit your wait at rides or go to the front of the line. I have a son with Autism and thats what we did. It made our Disney experience wonderful.

Have a great trip.

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M., there will always be lines at Disney. Long ones for good rides. My suggestions are get there as soon as they open and hit the best rides then. Then start fastpassing the other rides you want to go on so you'll have less of a wait time for them. Also, hit rides during parade times when a lot of people are watching the parade.

The park hopper passes are great, my family would sometimes hit 3 different parks in a day. Use the monorail system rather than buses when you can.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

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What you are looking for is not the park hopper. Go to Guest Services and explain your medical condition. If you have a doctors note then all the better. They will give you a pass that will allow you to go thru the lines with minimal wait, either via the wheelchair access or fast pass lane. We have gone to Disney the last 3 years and get this every time for my son, who is autistic and cannot wait more than 5 minutes. The pass will allow up to 6 people to go with you and can be used at any Disney park. A trick we learned: when you get to any park, head towards the back. Everyone coming in will start at the front and work their way back. Do the opposite and you will avoid a lot of lines. Good luck.

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I admit that this was a few years ago, but when I went to Disney with friends one of our party had a walking cast. His cast allowed our whole group to skip to the front of the line on the rides which was a blast. I have heard that the FastPass is great though I have not used it, and the hour early for staying at a Disney Resort was convenient as well. Good luck. Even if you see a fraction of the park your sons will have great time.

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Fast Pass works well. Usually do not have to wait more
than ten minutes. Have fun.

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Use the FastPass system to avoid the long lines. You get a time bracket to enter a certain attraction and when the time arrives there is an expedited line for FastPass holders.
Also, to make your vcation more enjoyable, get "The Unofficial Guide to Disney World". It is packed with useful tips and info.

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I just responded to another disney question yesterday. Go to the disney store or book store and get the disney book. I got the book on a suggestion when my family went to disny and it was a lifesaver. It gives you everything you need to know about your disney trip. It has all sorts of tips. Without that book, we never would have seen everything we saw while there. We had a great time. Have fun and take lots of pictures.

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When you get to Disney World talk to the customer service people there and tell them you have a medical problem with walking. If you are in a wheelchair or would just be more comfortable in one, they give preferential treatment to people and their families with ANY kind of disability. Also make dinner and breakfast reservations well before you go to Disney by calling Disney reservations. Also think about the meal plan. In the Ocean beach hotel there is a terrific buffet at "The Cape May Buffet" and another in MGM called "Hollywood and Vine". Have a great time.

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Hi M., you should definately choose a off peak time that is what we do, we go to the park the week after thanksgiving and it is slow then 5 minute waits and sometimes you walk right on no wait, that is the way to go for sure especially with impatient little ones.

L.

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im also interested about using these tickets. were going in may.

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We just went to Disney in Oct. with our littl girl who had just turned 4. We had the park hopper option, and it is great! It basiclly lets you go to all the included parks as many times as you like. So if you get board at one park, or it turns out to be too crowded you can go to another and come back another time to the first one. we used this a lot. The parks weren't too crowded in Oct., but it was nice to be able to go when ever we wanted. You never know with little ones when they will get tired or crankey. You can leave and come back as you please. I would suggest you use the fast pass when ever possible. You will find them located at different attraction/rides through out the parks. what it basiclly is is a machine that will print you a ticket for the ride. It will tell you on the ticket when to come back so you have the shortest wait time possible. You also get into a different line, which is let in first. It makes the process a little easier, but you do have to do some scheduling. Also, when you get to your hotel they will give you information on which parks are open at what times.each day a park opens early, and one closes late. You can then plan when you want to go. We found animal kingdom was not a good one to go to on a hot day. It seemed smaller than the others (space wise) and it was very crowded. Also, like any zoo, there is only so much space in front of each animal and they were not out/active when it was so hot! They also did not have as many rides, esp. for littler kids. The other advice I would give you is if you haven't already, call and make all of your dinner reservations now. You won't be able to get in to alot of places if you wait until you get there. esp. the good ones.(Don't know you budget, but we really liked the sci-fi dine in theater at MGM, The garden grille at Epcot. (The rest were really girlie!) There is a number on the disney web site to call, and you can also research all the different dinning experiences there, so you can get an idea of which ones you would be intrested in. I did this and it was really helpful. Try to keep in mind which resturants are near which parks, it will cut down on travel time leaving you more time to play! The web site has so much info. it was really helpful to me. When My husbandand I went the first time (before kids) we just went with the flow, but this last time I really wanted it to be the trip of a lifetime for our daughter, so all the planning was well worth it. I will do it all agin in 2 1/2 years when our littlest is old enough to go! Hope you have a wonderful time! (Hope I could help!)

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1. go early when they open up in the morning

2. hit all of the rides that you want to do badly and are really POPULAR FIRST

3. and get the "advance" tickets for each of those rides where you come back an hour or two later to ride them w/o waiting in line at all - shoot, I'm spacing on the name of it but you'll see these machines at every ride location - go right up to that , put your park tickets in and save the receipt / ticket it gives you to ride the attraction later on in the day w/o waiting at all in line.

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M.,
We just got back from Disney on Sunday. Park Hopper is definetly the way to go!! It gives you the freedom to leave one park for another.
Get yourself a Dr's note about the walking, you can get a wheelchair or scooter (splurge for the skooter or the hills are a killer) and you will get to go to the front of the lines b/c of your condition.
Also...Animal Kingdom is BEST in the AM the animals are more ative.
I liked MGM at night The Fifties Prime Time Diner is a great place for dinner.
Epcot we went to in the evenings and at night alot b/c we love the resturants there.
We have been to Disney more times then I can count and it is always great. If for some reason you do not get the Dr's note make sure to use the fastpass system, it cuts down on wait time and use the Magic morning hours that you get from the park hopper tickets.
Check out the web-site it offers a lot of great tips. Also, search tips for disney on goggle. There are a lot of independent web-sites that offer some interesting suggestions for managing the park best.
HAVE FUN!!!!!
S.

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M.,

Regarding your legs: Detoxify with NCD which will cleanse your blood and remove anything that shouldn't be there. Feel free to email me if you like for more info: ____@____.com.

Another option is wearing magnetic insoles (Nikken brand)which increase energy and circulation in the legs.

I haven't been to any amusement parks for years but I met a lady on the plane a few weeks ago and she said that you should buy raincoats at Walmart since you get wet on some rides and they are way cheaper than at the park (Disney in California). She also said that you need to be there early, have it planned out and register for the busiest rides first so that you don't have to wait in line.

I swore I'd never go to another amusement park after EuroDisney. That was more than enough to last a lifetime. I have a water bottle with a filter that can be filled up at any sink that has cold water. Huge savings!

S. Hoehner
www.ncdro.com/detoxqueen

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I agree with Christine O. The Unofficial Guide To Disney World with Kids appears to be a great resource for anyone traveling to Disney with kids (of any age). It has sample itineraries that you can follow or adapt for your own family's needs - including the use of park hopper passes. The itineraries help you avoid the more congested rides & attractions at their peak times. There are also reviews on the rides/attractions/restaurants/hotels & resorts...you name it! My guys are still too little to go yet, but I grabbed the book when I saw it at Borders. It looked like a "must-have".

Good luck, and have fun!

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if you are staying at any of the Disney resorts they offer an early start at their parks. a lot of the rides offer express check.

don't mean to be offensive, get a wheel chair (courtesy desk)

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Hi M.
We just got back from Disney in February. It was a great time to go - no lines at all! Even though it was during a holiday weekend. Also definitately us the fast pass. scan your ticket and go sit for a few minutes while the others in your group look around or go on another ride. There are plenty of places to sit and enjoy the suroundings. Your boys will have a great time no matter what. You can also utilize the wheelchair option. It's not just for older people and invalids I saw lots of younger people in them for lot's of reasons. Just relax and enjoy yourself and rest when you need to. It would help if you are staying onsite, everything is more accessible. Check out the All Star Resorts they are really more afforadable than you might think. Have fun! G. L.

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