Want a day away from the parks? Don’t have a ticket for every day of your visit? Disney World Resort Hopping is an increasingly popular way to spend a day away from the parks at Walt Disney World. Read about our experiences of Resort Hopping and our attempt at The Ultimate Resort Hop Challenge.
What is Resort Hopping?
Visit some of the other fantastic resorts at Walt Disney World. There are currently 25 resorts you can experience and a few more getting built.
Why do it?
Allows you to keep away from the theme parks crowds but still experience a unique Disney Day.
What is the number 1 rule of Resort Hopping?
Don’t attempt to do them all in 1 day!
We will come back to this rule later.
What can you do?
Every Disney Resort is unique. Activities you could do in other resorts include have a meal, have a drink in a bar, explore shops, pin trade, plan a future vacation & explore the grounds.
What can’t you do?
Disney don’t like you using other Resort’s pools but apart from that there does not seem to be anything you can’t do.
The only exception is guests staying at All Stars can use all the resorts’ pools and both Port Orleans resorts can use each others pools.
How do you get there?
The easy way is to drive or catch a taxi.
However; using the Disney Transport system is the real Disney Resort Hopping experience. Unfortunately this does take a little planning as you will usually need to take a bus to a park or Disney Springs first. Visit this useful guide to help plan your journey.
What do most people do?
The most common resort hop guests undertake is the Disney Monorail resorts. Catching the monorail you can visit Grand Floridian, Polynesian Village & Contemporary Resort. These upmarket resorts have plenty of attractions and restaurants you can visit. Resort shopping in all these resorts is excellent.
If you are feeling adventurous transportation to Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness is easy from the Magic Kingdom. Fort Wilderness is a massive resort and would take a day to fully explore.
Any other popular resort hops?
The Disney Boardwalk area is another area many guests resort hop. The Boardwalk itself is a great place many guests overlook on their vacation. There are a number of resorts that encircle Crescent Lake.
Resorts you can visit are the Boardwalk Inn, Beach Club & Yacht Club. Although not Disney Resorts you can also visit Swan and Dolphin from here.
How do we Resort Hop?
We break the number 1 rule!
Really?
Yes.
We think you can visit every Disney Resort in 1 day and have a great time.
Watch the videos below to see how we got on in our Ultimate Resort Hop Challenge.
Any other tips?
If you are planning to attempt to visit all the resorts in 1 day
- Get up early.
- Plan your route.
- You will probably need to get the occasional taxi.
- Have plenty of rest breaks.
- Enjoy the resorts.
Stay in more than 1 resort?
Another way some guests Resort Hop is split their stay between Disney Resorts. This allows you the opportunity to stay in 1 of the deluxe resorts for just a couple of nights.
Read more about how to do this here.
Read More
Visit our guide to all the Walt Disney World Resorts.
Any chance you can post your itinerary in the comments??
Hi Katie
We did it again this summer. I wrote about it here https://www.modernlifeisgood.com/2019/07/16/the-ultimate-resort-hopping-challenge-disney-world-live-summer-2019/ and I go through each step.
I actually think we could have completed it this time if we had got up 1 hour earlier, hadn’t missed the odd bus and had been a bit quicker in the odd shop.
David