My third solo trip is coming up next month (yay!) and this will be my first time doing any park hopping. Even though I had an AP for my last trip, I have always stuck with one park per day in the past. This time, I plan to park hop on a few days, mostly for the purpose of being able to eat more of my meals in WS.
I am also trying to organize my plans so that I minimize walking in the heat of the day. My other trips have been during the winter months. This is my first time braving the middle of May and I’m currently stuck in that “what was I thinking??” stage. I have a chronic health condition that requires me to be careful about sun exposure, plus I generally don’t tolerate high temps very well. My strategy is to plan leisurely TS meals and indoor shows/long attractions in the hottest part of the day and just take things really slow and easy overall.
These two plans don’t seem to be meshing well, however. Hopping over to WS for meals in the middle of the day means I will be walking across the largest and least shaded park…in the middle of the day. 
One solution would be to hop to WS for dinners when it’s not as hot, but I really enjoy the nighttime shows in all four parks so I don’t want to end every day in Epcot.
I have never used the IG…is there a good way for me to get to WS through IG if I’m not staying at an Epcot-area resort? I’m not too concerned about how long it takes (remember, leisurely is good!) and I will have a car for the whole trip. Can I park at a nearby resort and use IG so I don’t have to trek all the way through FW and around the lagoon to get to my favorite countries?
Here’s a specific scenario I am puzzling over: I am considering having a late-start day mid-trip where I go directly to WS for lunch and spend the afternoon there, then hop over to HS for a few evening shows and the SW fireworks. Where should I park my car in order to ensure the easiest, coolest, least tiring, and least sunshine-y travelling back and forth between WS and HS?
Cassandra
Would you consider an Uber? You could Uber to BC, enter WS through IG, then go back to BC & Uber to wherever you are spending the evening.
Hmm…that’s an idea! I’m not too sure how I feel about Uber, though. It’s kind of painful to think about paying to be driven around WDW when I’m already paying for a rental car.
Also (hoping this doesn’t put me on the receiving end of some backlash) I still haven’t been able to reconcile the whole “never get in a car with a stranger” thing with the concept of Uber/Lyft. Taxis are pretty much nonexistent in my part of the country, so it all feels very foreign to me. First time I ever took a cab was last summer in the UK with my sisters. The cabbies in London turned out to be absolutely fabulous - sooo kind and helpful - but I think we watched the first episode of “Sherlock” one too many times before our trip and had totally psyched ourselves out about taxi drivers! 
I realize now how silly we were to be so nervous over that first taxi ride, but an Uber by myself as a single gal traveling solo still feels really weird to me.
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What about parking at HS at midday and taking the boat to and from WS via the IG? I’ve never taken the Friendship boat before and don’t really know how far away the boat launches are from where I want to be… Would that still involve a lot of walking, or would that be a good solution (at least for my WS/HS day)?
The boat launch is right by the IG. And you enter between the UK and France.
I would definitely do that. Park at DHS and take the boat. The longest walk you’d have would be from the car park at DHS to the boat dock.
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I’ll echo parking at DHS and using the boat to get from there to EP and back. It’s a reasonable walk from the front gate of DHS to the boat dock, and a very short walk from the boat to the IG at WS.
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This isn’t popular, but is great for what you want to do. Make an ADR at a restaurant at the Boardwalk or Beach Club for an hour before your real ADR, then noshow the first reservation. When you arrive at the BW or BC, they will let you park as you have an ADR. Then just don’t show up and walk to the IG. Easy peasy. We did this several times last week at the BW and the CR twice with no problems. I will probably get flamed for this, but oh well. I am all about maximizing my vacation and don’t feed in to the “but you kept another person from eating at the one place they planned to go to for years and now they can’t go” argument I see a lot. You may get a $10 no show fee, but honestly I have been doing this for awhile now, and haven’t gotten a single charge. Enjoy your time at Epcot, the restaurants are fabulous!
I will gladly be a third vote for parking at HS and take the FriendShip (Boat) from the front of HS to EPCOT’s IG.
It will be a nice leisurely ride, and the interior is fully shaded, yet has nice windows to look out of.
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