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Epcot to Magic Kingdom: How to Park Hop

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One of the questions I get asked a lot is how to get to Epcot from Magic Kingdom.

And should we Park Hop on our Walt Disney World Resort vacation?

And it is a question almost exclusively asked by people who have never visited Walt Disney World and who don’t quite realize what an enormous area all the theme parks and hotels cover!

Disney World is huge and it can take quite a bit of time to travel from one park to another.

epcot to magic kingdom
Epcot Spaceship Earth

The distance from Epcot to Magic Kingdom is approximately 4 miles.

To drive from the Epcot parking lot to the Magic Kingdom Parking lot in around 15 minutes depending on traffic.

However, there are many more interesting ways to get from Epcot to Magic Kingdom.

You can take the Disney monorail and the bus if you want the quickest way.

disney magic kingdom main street vehicles

If you want to explore Disney transportation even more you could be very creative and even take a boat or the Skyliner.

These certainly aren’t the easiest ways to travel between Magic Kingdom and Epcot, but they will introduce you to all the aspects of the Disney World transportation system.

Why Should You Travel from Epcot to Magic Kingdom?

This is another common question.

Should you get a Disney Park Hopper ticket? What even is a Park Hopper?

Disney Park Hopper Ticket

The standard multi-day Disney World ticket allows you to visit one theme park in one day.

If you want to move from park to park, or Park Hop as it is known, you have to buy a Park Hopper Ticket.

A Park Hopper Ticket is available at an extra cost which varies according to which time of year you are visiting the Disney theme parks.

  • $67.10 – $78.81  per ticket for 1-day tickets
  • $79.88-$90.53 per ticket for 2 to 3-day tickets
  • $90.53 – $101.18 per ticket for 4 days or longer ticket

As you can see, the cost of a Park Hopper really does make a difference. Particularly if you are only visiting the parks for a day.

As with all Disney tickets, the additional cost of a Park Hopper becomes much less per day the more days you visit the park.

Walt Disney World is one of those vacation spots where you can either go blind with no expectations or plan every second of the entire trip.

I have been visiting Disney World now for almost three decades. I have done minimal planning, gone on planning overdrive, and every variation in between.

Disney Skyliner at Epcot World Showcase Entrance

I know I have the advantage that this isn’t just one visit for me. For plenty of others, it is their one chance at the Most Magical Place on Earth.

This means that you really do have to plan your trip to Disney World.

And think carefully about whether or not you want a Park Hopper ticket.

Disney Park Hopping can mean that you see a lot more of the parks. It can also mean that you are exhausted.

However, it can mean that you get more hours in the parks and so better bang for your buck.

Why would you want to Park Hop from Epcot to Magic Kingdom?

A lot of this will have to do with park hours. Epcot closes at 9 pm every day right now.

Magic Kingdom may be open for another three hours on top of that until midnight.

Also, you may visit Epcot and decide that you do not want to spend the whole day there. In that case, it may be a good decision to finish the day off in Magic Kingdom.

When you have decided that you really do want to park hop from Epcot to Magic Kingdom park you need to decide which route you are going to take.

There are several different options for how to get from Epcot to Magic Kingdom! We will discuss all the different options so that you can find the best way to do this.

Park Hopping From Epcot to Magic Kingdom

Disney Magic Kingdom It's A Small World
Disney Magic Kingdom It’s A Small World

One of the great pleasures of an extended stay at Walt Disney World is the opportunity to bounce around from resort to resort or from park to park.

The Walt Disney World transportation makes every park or resort-hopping experience unique.

From EPCOT to Hollywood Studios and back you have a variety of options that include Disney Skyliner and water travel.

It is very easy to hop on the Skyliner at Epcot park and travel in comfort to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

However, the Skyliner does not go directly from Epcot to Magic Kingdom. Indeed, the Skyliner does not connect to Magic Kingdom.

Even without the convenience of the Skyliner, park-hopping between EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom is one of the best park hopper combinations you can take advantage of.

This is because of the convenience and speed provided by the Walt Disney World monorail system.

Though Disney is often admonished for the age of their monorail fleet and the occasional malfunctions in recent years, the mode of transportation remains reliable and even favorable compared to other options.

If you want to easily get to Magic Kingdom from Epcot all you have to do is exit the park at the Future World entrance – the one nearest to Spaceship Earth.

Then get on the monorail which takes you to the Transport and Ticket Center.

disney world resort monorail closure

From the TTC you will have to either take another monorail, or the ferry boat which gets you to the entrance to Magic Kingdom.

The monorail runs along two lines from the WDW Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC).

The Magic Kingdom monorail loops around the Seven Seas Lagoon and stops at the Contemporary Resort, Polynesian Village, and Disney’s Grand Floridian resorts before taking guests to the landing in front of Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

Besides the Magic Kingdom Ferry, it’s the only way for guests to get to the Magic Kingdom from the TTC.

The Epcot monorail line also originates at the TTC, so park hoppers from Magic Kingdom and guests at Magic Kingdom area resorts can travel to Epcot by connecting to this line at the TTC.

Related: How to Get to Disney Springs from Disney Magic Kingdom

Disney Bus Transportation

Another way to get from one park to the other is to use Disney bus transportation.

There are lots of variations of how you could use bus transportation. The simplest way is to just get a bus from Magic Kingdom to Epcot.

You could also walk to one of the Disney World resort hotels and take a bus from there.

This is one way that you can travel from the Epcot International Gateway entrance to Magic Kingdom. If you are in the World Showcase area of Epcot and you want to travel to the Magic Kingdom, this is probably the quickest way to do it.

Exit out of the International Gateway Entrance located between the United Kingdom and France pavilions. From there walk to the Beach Club where you can get a bus to Magic Kingdom.

Ride Share

There are three options for using ride-share services to get from Epcot to Magic Kingdom and back.

  • Uber
  • Lyft
  • Minnie Vans

The downside of all of these ride-sharing options is that they will cost you money whereas the Disney bus, boat and monorail transportation system are free.

If you use Lyft or Uber you will still need to make your way, either by monorail or boat transportation to the Transport and Ticket Center as these services cannot pick up outside the Magic Kingdom entrance.

Minnie Vans, which is Disney’s own ride-sharing service, can pick you up outside the Magic Kingdom entrance, so even though this will cost you money, it is the fastest way to get from there to Epcot. You order a Minnie Van via the Lyft app.

Driving Yourself

Another way to transfer from Magic Kingdom to Epcot is to drive your own vehicle. If you are parked in one parking lot for the day you can transfer to another Disney parking lot without paying an additional fee.

If you take this option it is definitely not the quickest. Although the distance between the two parks is approximately 4 miles, you will have to walk from the Magic Kingdom parking lot to the Transport and Ticket Center and then use the boat or monorail.

You will the have to park in the Epcot parking lot and walk to the entrance – this could potentially be a much longer walk than it is from the Epcot monorail, particularly if you arrive later in the day and are further back in the lot.

Should I Park Hop from Epcot to Magic Kingdom?

disney cinderella castle
Disney Cinderella Castle

Given that the Monorail takes you more easily from EPCOT to Magic Kingdom and back, the question is not how to get from Epcot to Magic Kingdom, but when.

Or even if you should go from one park to the other.

There are definite advantages to planning which park to start at and when to hop from one to the other.

Epcot now seems to have settled into its new opening hours of 9 am until 9 pm.

The opening times of Magic Kingdom vary though. Always check, but more often than not, Magic Kingdom closes earlier than Epcot.

Magic Kingdom usually also opens earlier.

Disney Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion

Based on getting more park time out of your park hopper pass you should start your day in Magic Kingdom and end in EPCOT rather than EPCOT to Magic Kingdom.

Other Considerations…

While we all like getting more bang for our buck, there is actually more to the theme park experience and park hopping than lengthening your park day.

In fact, much of the time you gain is actually spent in transit anyway.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t leverage park hours to your benefit, but there are other aspects of the theme park experience to consider.

For example, the new nighttime show at Epcot may not be the ideal way for you to cap off your night while the new Magic Kingdom spectacular Enchantment could offer more entertainment value.

In that event, you should start your day at Epcot and then head to Magic Kingdom. It’s worth noting that there are extended evening hours currently offered at both parks for guests at select resorts including Deluxe Disney resorts.

Another important fact to keep in mind is that these two parks are both too large and intricate to complete in half a day.

That means that in order to get the full impact of Epcot and Magic Kingdom, you’ll need to book an additional day for each one.

If you plan to take two days to hop between these parks, split them both in half.

Divide Magic Kingdom up East and West and Epcot into North and South. Then you can experience more from each section of the two parks without tedious repetition.

Other Walt Disney World Transportation at Epcot

Epcot Spaceship Earth

EPCOT offers a smorgasbord of transportation options compared with other Walt Disney World theme parks.

The Skyliner transports guests from several Disney resorts to EPCOT and Disney Hollywood Studios (DHS).

Boats travel the waterway from Crescent Lake on EPCOT’s west gate to the Disney Hollywood Studios landing.

For these reasons and the much smaller size of Hollywood Studios, the two neighboring parks make a good park-hopping pair themselves.

what nottomissat epcot

As a matter of fact, DHS originated as a concept for an EPCOT pavilion.

To get from Epcot to Magic Kingdom though the only free alternative to the monorail is the Disney bus transportation.

If you don’t do this and use a rideshare app or a taxi instead, make sure you have them take you to the Contemporary and not Magic Kingdom.

Otherwise, you will be dropped off at the TTC and not the main gate!

The only way to get to the main gate of Magic Kingdom is to walk from one of the Disney monorail resorts or to arrive by boat or monorail.

Do you Park Hop from Epcot to Magic Kingdom?

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Disney Animal Kingdom Tree of Life

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the only free alternative to the monorail is the bus. If you don’t do this and use a rideshare app or a taxi instead, make sure you have them take you to the Contemporary and not Magic Kingdom. Otherwise, you will be riding to the TTC and not the main gate!