Park Hopper worth it??

[cgqzdavis]

We are taking our kids (DS 7 & 5, DD 20mo.) to WDW next week for their first trip. We are planning to get a 6 day ticket, but can't decide whether the park hopper is worth the extra $$. Would love any input you all have!! If we skip the park hopper this time around, which parks would you recommend going to two days?

Thanks!

[loles]

Having just taken a trip 4 weeks ago with my DD 4 & 18 mo. I will offer this - KNOW your kids! I did purchase park hoppers for 6 days, and we unfortunately did no park hopping whatsoever! The weather was a factor - it was VERY hot that week, and grandma, who was with us during our touring, was knocked out after 4-5 hours. I think the girls would have gone longer, but DH did not want to deal with potential meltdowns on long lines -the toddler who is stroller bound while walking does not like to stand in line for 30 mins! We found we did not see or do as much as we would have liked, but we still had fun. Use Fastpass as much as possible, and split up if need be - toddlers nap while older kids might like another show or ride.

Also, I suggest MK and MGM for kids - they have the most shows/rides that are kid friendly. AK has a few great sights too -don't miss Festival of the Lion King! If you start your days early and tour 5 hours or so, then spend the rest of the day swimming, you will find you enjoy it more than trying to rush to another park. It is tiring in that Florida sun!

Whatever you do, have a great trip! :banana:

[cuppycake]

It so really depends on your family, but with little ones, I'm starting to think that it's not really worth the cash. The only reason we really end up doing it is because we LOVE EPCOT! We almost always end up eating a meal there, so we "pretend" that it's worth it :)

I think that our next trip most likely won't be with Park Hoppers. Our kids will be almost 4 and 20 months. Seems like it just takes a lot of bother to go between the parks. We really enjoy a slower pace with the kids.

I would say, if there is a good reason why you would want to be at 2 parks in one day (like maybe your kids don't really enjoy AK and you want to spend a half day at another park, too, that day...or something like that), it's a nice chunk of change to save and spend on something else, like a character dinner or something fun.

As for which parks for 2 days...another depends on what you like, but I would say that MK would be absolutely 2 days. They have such amazing things for the youngest crowd!! My girls LOVE it there and always want to go back the next day (yes, even the little one had a ball on the things that she rode there the last time).

I'm mostly rambling, so I'll go now. Can you tell that I'm way too sleepy to be on the computer right now?? :lmao:

[JuneDisney]

I asked this same question about a month ago. And after careful consideration I decided not to purchase it. After I completed my itinerary I found there was no time to park hop. The only day I have planned with a 1/2 day in a park, we plan to go to DTD. And we plan on doing the MK twice. So, I saved $152 which equals more money to spend in the parks :rotfl2: :banana:
Our trip is in 10 days. :goofy: :goofy: Have a great time!!!

[J and R's mom]

I also think it depends on where you're staying. When we stay at EPCOT resorts we definitely like park hoppers (we have 2 dds--3 and 1.5). DD3 LOVES Illuminations so we we walk over there most every night to let her see it. Sometimes in the evenings, after visiting a different park during the day, and after naps, we'll head to MGM or EPCOT. If you stay at any of the MK resorts, you could just as easily go to MK in the evening to catch the parade or fireworks or catch a few extra rides. But if you're not staying at a resort where you have easy access to the parks, I'm not sure that park hoppers is the best way to go with little ones.

If you forgo park hoppers, I'd pick MK to hit twice with the kiddos. Of course, you could always let them pick which park they would prefer after they've had a chance to visit them all. Their choice might surprise you.

Good luck and have a great trip!

[Purrrrfecta]

We are going for 12 nights so we definately do not need hopper passes. The only thing I am worried about is that my son my become obsessed with Expedition Everest :goodvibes I made my schedule for this year's trip, and I made sure that we would go to certain parks on the days we has priority reservations there.

[mom2bellaandlivi]

We did get the park hopper for when we go. HAving 2 small children I could just see the writing on the wall....Mom I want to go see __________ again. Also the last time that we went before our children were born...it rained all day every day so we wanted to be able to see all of the parades and what not and not be stuch because the ONE day that we went to MGM we did not get to see Fantasmic, which by the way was the ONLY night program that we got to see the first time.

[Reese]

We had hopper passes when we went and never once hopped. We found that there was enough to keep us going all day.
The kids did love Magic Kingdom and we went there twice. With your kids ages I think they would definately enjoy Magic Kingdom twice.

[beattyfamily]

I have two little ones and yet we LOVE to park hop and I would never go without it.

I like the flexibility.

I like that if I enter a park and for some reason it is packed, I can walk right back out and head to another park. (this has absolutely happened)

I like that I can do an EE morning at one park and leave as it gets crowded and head to another park in the afternoon/evening.

I like that I can do AK in the am (a half day park) and do Fantasmic at MGM in the evening.

I like that I can do EE in let's say MGM but head to MK in the evening for Spectro/Wishes.

I like that I can do MGM in the am and then head to Epcot for Illuminations.

I like that if we eat breakfast in one park (if it was the only day/time we could get) on our last day and then my girls beg me to ride a certain ride again in another park, I can!

I just budget it in and would never even consider not having it. That's how we like it and we use it a lot!

[bartleby1]

We have kids roughly the same age, and we don't get hoppers. Once I am in a park and have the stroller situation settled, I hate having to pack it all up, fold the toddler's stroller, return the rental for the older two, etc. Then, the time wasted to actually switch parks...

We don't take afternoon breaks either. Maybe if you do, you might want to visit a different park in the late afternoon or evening? Personally, I don't think it is worth the added expense unless you will be hopping almost every day.

With a 6 day ticket, I would do 2 days MK (definitely), one day AK, one day MGM, and one day epcot. With the extra day, our family would probably go to epcot again since it is a large park, although, I know many kids don't enjoy epcot (mine do though). You probably want to save the last day to see where your family wants to go back to. You may even want a third day in MK.

Whatever you pick, there is plenty to do!

[juligrl]

We did get the park hopper and we "hopped".

I liked being able to chose which park to visit in am, take DDthen2 for a break mid afternoon, then go to the park with evening magic hours for show and rides.

That said, we probably could have gone without the park hopper option and just spent the day in the park with evening EMHs (we really love the evening magic hours), but since we had it we used it. I don't think we really gave it a thought since we'd had the hopper option on previous trips. Our next trip will probably be in another 3 yrs. so, if they still have similar options then, we'll revisit the issue. The extra cost might be worth putting somewhere else and we could probably get away without doing the hopper if we actually do some trip planning.

[cgqzdavis]

Thank you all so much for your advice!! It helps!!!

[DisneyArk]

This question always gets such varied responses. My family always park hops and we feel like it's worth it. But if you don't have it, you can still have a great time and the kids will not know what they're missing. :sunny: For us that's the key, it's hard to not have it when we've used it in the past.

I would wait and decide what park to go to a 2nd day after you've tried them all. On each trip my sons have requested a different park to go back to (over and over). When they were 3 y.o. and 18 months they wanted to go back to MK. When they were 3 and 5 the wanted to go back to AK. And 2 weeks ago we went and they are 6 and 8 and my DS8 loved EPCOT and DS6 loved MK. On this trip we went to MK early and let them ride the 3 mountains and then took the monorail to EPCOT and let DS8 spend more time at Innoventions. :)

Make note of all of the playgrounds in each park so that you can take your 20 month old to unwind. IMHO, she will be happiest at MK.

The nice thing about hopping is that if you miss something "big" in a park then you can go back another day just to do that. Having it makes me feel less stressed about having to get everything done quickly in just 1 day. My kids do not like to tour with a strict itinerary. If they see something fun then they want to try it, they don't want me to keep saying, no we need to run across the park to see a show that is about to start.

We usually go back to every park to hit a major attraction/show that we missed. It's so hard to manage time at WDW. For instance if the last show of something is starting in 45 minutes and you are in front of a major ride that has a 20 minute wait - do you let the kids ride it and risk not getting into the last show or do you drag them and wait 45 minutes for the next show (but get a good seat)??

[bartleby1]

I just looked at ticket prices at ticketmania and adding the hopping on to your 6 day tickets is roughly $136. You could instead add on one additional day and get a 7 day NON hopping for an extra $2 (adult tickets are $1 more each and childs are the same) and spend the additional $134 for another night hotel, lol! Just another option if you're considering what to do. I'd personally rather have a whole extra day. :)

[JayS]

Another factor in the decision is how long the trip is. If you are going for say 3 days, then you probably want to hop so you can catch the highlights of the 4 parks. If on the other hand you have 6 park days planned, you don't need to hop just to see everything...

[cjnix29]

Interesting comparison bartlby1...and I agree! One more day is much better. My husband and I have been debating on whethe or not to get a park hopper. With a 3 year old it is not really worth it to us to have it.

[JayS]

For cjnix29 and bartleby1;

Does anyone know if you can use 2 days of a ticket on the same day for 2 different parks or will you be told you do not have park hopper and denied entry at the second park of the day?

[beattyfamily]

For cjnix29 and bartleby1;

Does anyone know if you can use 2 days of a ticket on the same day for 2 different parks or will you be told you do not have park hopper and denied entry at the second park of the day?

No, you cannot do that. They will know you already used one day and the computer will not let you use another day. Thus you must buy the park hopper if you want to visit two parks in one day.

[J and R's mom]

Isn't it possible to add the hopper option onto your tickets once you get there? In other words, let's say a family is two days into their vacation and decide that they really need the hopper option. Can't they add it at that point?

[bartleby1]

J and R's mom - I *think* you can do that. That also might be a good option for those who aren't sure.

[all4fun]

Isn't it possible to add the hopper option onto your tickets once you get there? In other words, let's say a family is two days into their vacation and decide that they really need the hopper option. Can't they add it at that point?


Yes, they will let you upgrade your non-hopper passes to hopper passes after you get there. The catch is, that say you have six-day passes and it's day three and you want to upgrade to hoppers. The fee charged will be based on the amount of days originally on your passes, not just the remaining days. In other words, they don't pro-rate it for the days you've already used. Pay now, or pay later, it will be the same price. hth.

[stavidt]

I purchased the hopper and we did not park hop even one day in seven days!!! :confused3

My kids are 2.5 yrs old and 14 mths. They were too young by the time we got up showered...grabbed something to eat (in the room...we even brought snacks to save money and time)....put on sun screen...packed the bag for the trip.... it was usually around 10am..by the time we were at the park it was 10:30am....a couple of attractions...then time for lunch....then a few more attractions....it was almost 3pm and I had a goal of making it to the room by 4pm everyday to avoid total meltdown.

Plus we stayed at the Wilderness Villas which were very close to the Magic Kingdom which we spent a lot of time at. We did see every park at least once but once was enough. I guess if we didn't have little ones and we could go out to eat around 8pm every night it might be worth it to check out some eateries at Epcot but the kids would be fried by then....come to think of it so would I.

Good luck...p.s. I read the same advice before going and choose to get the hopper anyway...I simply didn't want to miss anything.

[DISUNC]

We are HOPPERS!!!!!!!
We always do one park (emh) am & another at night!!!!!!!
Sometimes plans change and the PH allows you to do this.

For instance we went to MK one evening last July....The Crowds were HORRENDUS Really the worst I ever saw!!!! And it was 103 degrees out.....we just turned around & went to MGM!!!!!! If we didnt have PH we would be 'stuck' in MK!

We gotta be flexible!!!!

[DKH01701]

With the little ones, I would say you could do without the park hopper and save yourself some money. Plan your days to hit the major attractions as noted in the other posts. I'm assuming with the young ones you don't get around the parks as quick as we do and that you turn in a little earlier also.

Personally, I could not do without park hopping. I plan our agenda to make the most of Extra Magic Hours. We are up at 6:30 am and in line at the gates to the park that opens early. We stay until early afternoon, go for lunch and then off to the park that closes late that day. Back to the room around midnight or 1:00 am, sleep and start over again. We also like to throw in a few water park visits, midday, on the hot days.

It really all depends on who you are travelling with and your length of stay.

[cjnix29]

bartleby1...thanks for the advice about the difference between purchasing the park hopper and staying an extra day. Just added another day to our stay...only cost me 111.00! Cheaper than the park hopper!

[bartleby1]

bartleby1...thanks for the advice about the difference between purchasing the park hopper and staying an extra day. Just added another day to our stay...only cost me 111.00! Cheaper than the park hopper!

Glad it worked for you! With very little difference in the ticket prices on longer day tickets, disney is making it very tempting to stay the extra days, lol! 10 day tickets aren't much more than 5 day tickets if you just want the base tickets. Of course, they are counting on the extra spending on food, hotel, etc.

[7lords]

We love the hopper option. Worked great when they were 11 months and 3 and will work great in a couple of weeks when they are 2 ad 4. Park in the morning, back to the resort to swim and naps in the afternoon and then back to a park in the evening (almost always a different park from the morning).

[yogibigdog]

I just looked at ticket prices at ticketmania and adding the hopping on to your 6 day tickets is roughly $136. You could instead add on one additional day and get a 7 day NON hopping for an extra $2 (adult tickets are $1 more each and childs are the same) and spend the additional $134 for another night hotel, lol! Just another option if you're considering what to do. I'd personally rather have a whole extra day. :)

Does this work? Will they let you use two tickets in one day?

[beattyfamily]

Does this work? Will they let you use two tickets in one day?

No, that doesn't work.

[rt2dz]

I can't answer for you, but for us, we can't live without park hopping. We let the kinds kind of call the shots. If we start out at MK & they're wanting to go to AK instead, off to AK we go. And that has happended. Also, ADRs don't dictate what we do all day if we simply aren't in the mood. And my kids aren't big Epcot fans, so we only spend 1/2 a day there at a time. There are days we stay at one park only, but there are more days we switch. The more flexible we can be, the more fun we have.

You can always upgrade during any part of your vacation (at full prices) if you try to go without & then realize you need hoppers.

[mom2my3kids]

My children are 13,9, and 3. We decided not to get the park hoopers money was the main reason but..

we are going to be plenty busy without the worry of park hopping.
we are doing MNSSHP on one night of our stay so its like park hopping for a day.
we are staying 6 days so we will have plenty of time to see everything and go back to a park that we had the most fun at.

Good luck deciding, if I had plenty of money we would of gotten the park hoppers. But no matter what you will have a wonderful time. :cool1:

[Clotho]

We are big time hoppers!

As Beattyfamily pointed out, sometimes you get to a park and discover it is more crowded than you might like. Or what you planned to do, you aren't actually in the mood for, and would prefer to hit something else. You want to do something in the morning, and something else in the evening. You want to ride rides at one park, but hit the restaurants and fireworks at another.

We love the flexibility. Vacations are all about doing what you like on a whim! Following your bliss! And the possibility of park hopping is big for us.

I agree with whoever suggested you could buy it once you get there. In the first few days, suss out whether you have any desire to hop. If you do, then go ahead and buy it. Sure it will cost the same as if you had bought it beforehand, but you may discover you *don't* want to hop, and you will save that money! :)

[eliza61]

We also are hoppers.
We tend to go to WDW late August/early september and the parks are always open to 9:00 - 10:00 pm. This allows us to go back to the resort if it's outrageously hot, take a great pool break and then hit another park in the pm. Especially since AK is not a whole day park for us, you can't beat the flexibility.