Is it okay to skip a park? Believe it or not, this is a question that I hear fairly often. People know that there is a fair amount of construction taking place, especially at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. They want to know if they can skip those parks, at least until the construction is complete.
The thing about construction is that it will never be complete. Walt Disney envisioned his theme parks as places that would be constantly changing and (hopefully) improving. Even once Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge finally opens at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the park won’t be complete. There will be tweaks to little things, and larger changes as well. These changes keep Walt Disney World fresh for people. A trip this year and a trip in 2020 will be different experiences. That’s the way that Walt Disney wanted it.
Of course, this doesn’t answer the question of whether or not you should do all four theme parks. My own personal answer would be a resounding “yes!”, because I think that there is something to love around each corner. Other people will say that you really should only spend your time in the parks that most interest you. That way, you can truly explore and make sure that you hit everything.
My best advice if you aren’t sure about visiting all four theme parks is to add Park Hopper to your ticket. That way, if you are in one park and would rather be in another, you can go. If you bought tickets without Park Hopper and decide that you want it, it can easily be added.
There’s nothing wrong with not visiting all four theme parks, especially if time is an issue. For my first trip to Walt Disney World we only had two days, so we skipped Epcot and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Since we had precious little time I think we made the right decision. I wouldn’t have wanted to try to navigate the bus system and take an hour or so out of our day to change parks. I didn’t feel that skipping two parks lessened my “Disney experience” at all. If anything, it grew my appetite for more.