HELP!!! I'm in PANIC mode now...

[djrobinn]

Hi folks:

First time down to Mickey's house and I'm beginning to freak out a little. Arriving on Friday, Oct 7 (woohoo!)

After understanding the whole concept of making dinner reservations (especially for character dining, etc.) I set everything up and now I find out that you need park admission to get to the restaurants there...

This wouldn't be a problem since I have 7 day passes, only thing is I don't have the "Park hopper" option since at the time I made the initial trip booking, it sounded like "its handy if you want to see more than 1 park in one day", NOBODY mentioned that you will REQUIRE the park hopper option if you decide on eating in one of the restaurants at a park that you didn't spend the rest of the day at. Saying THAT would've made me think twice...

So it turns out that I can still buy the "Park hopper" option at around $212 (for my family of 4). I went through a lot of trouble booking all the character dinings, etc. 2 bills doesn't seem like a whole lot to maximize on the experience, however, I just wanted some advise if that is the right way to go about it... In my case, I have 3 meal reservations at Epcot alone, if I don't buy the park hopper option, it means that we will be going to Epcot 3 out of the 7 days we're there and from what I've read about Epcot, I don't think it needs 3 visits...

Help guys... what do you guys think?

TIA!

 

[twooley2]

I personally would change some of the dining and do a little re-arranging as transportation is going to eat up a lot of time and be a big disruption leaving one park going to another. Think of 45 min to an hour travel each way.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Get the park hopper, you wont regret it.

Well, I guess I should add that when we park hop, we start the day out at one park, then go to resort and get ready for dinner then we hop to that park and have dinner.

We also use the park hopper on our Animal Kingdom day. We can see all that we want to see by 2:00, so we hop to another park after that.

If you don't want the added expense, then I would change your dining plans.

Either way, I hope you have a wonderful time at Disney!!

 

[djrobinn]

Get the park hopper, you wont regret it.

Well, I guess I should add that when we park hop, we start the day out at one park, then go to resort and get ready for dinner then we hop to that park and have dinner.

We also use the park hopper on our Animal Kingdom day. We can see all that we want to see by 2:00, so we hop to another park after that.

If you don't want the added expense, then I would change your dining plans.

Either way, I hope you have a wonderful time at Disney!!

Thanks... I'm leaning towards the same... do you have a link on all the advantages of the "Park Hopper" option? thanks!

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Thanks... I'm leaning towards the same... do you have a link on all the advantages of the "Park Hopper" option? thanks!

Park Hopper Add-On Option
Adding the Park-Hopper Option lets you come and go as you please through all four Walt Disney World theme parks on the same day or every day for each day of your pass. Park Hopping is an additional $35 per ticket for a one-day ticket, $55 for two - ten day tickets

 

[Missyrose]

It seems like you have two options here:

Option 1) keep the tickets you have and rearrange your meals to fit your park days. Now seeing as though you're five days from your trip, this option will take a fair amount of work and flexibility. You may have to take some of the less popular restaurants or eat at off-peak times.

Option 2) add park hoppers and keep all your ADRs. Basically you'd be paying for the convenience of keeping the schedule you already have set up. Plus you'd get the bonus of being able to hop between parks whenever you feel like it.

If you can financially swing it, getting the hoppers seems like the easiest option for you, but if you can't, I'm sure you can find some new AdRs in the next few days.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

I think it also depends on the ages of everyone in your party....I find park hoppers and hopping in general to be a waisted time and expense with my 4 and 2 year old, but with teenagers and adult only groups they are terrific!

 

[ktmo]

What does your plan look like? Which parks are you planning on going to go to each day? I would think that with 7 day passes, you would probably hit Epcot twice during that time (I'm thinking 2 MK, 2 HS, 2EP and 1 AK). I think that there is enough to do for 2 days. So, really there would only be 1 Epcot meal that you would miss. I would see if you could change that to something else. I would try to change the least desired meal at Epcot to something else. If you can, then it shouldn't be that much of a problem and then you could stick with not getting hoppers. If you are only going once, then I might think about getting the hoppers just to save the meals.

We are getting hoppers for our 5 day stay, because we'll be staying right next to Epcot and want to be able to "hop" in just for dinner.

 

[Nohal]

We get park hoppers every time we go. To us it is worth the extra $$, however it is usually DH and me and sometimes the grown kids come also. Since you are so close to your trip you may have trouble finding places and times to your liking. As PP said AK is not a full day (at least for us) we are usually done by lunch time so you could hop to another park on those days with park hoppers. Also if one park is really crowded you can leave and go to another park. You do however lose time park hopping for dinner reservations. If you go this route make sure you allow yourself time to get from one place to another.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

I wouldn't get a park hopper or travel to another park just to eat. What does your schedule look like? My guess is that some of your meals are probably close to duplicates with characters. I'd pick the ones you really want and find some alternatives.

Traveling to and from parks can eat up ALOT of your day. Figure 1 hour to and from and then 90 minutes to eat. You are at 3.5 hrs worth of your day to get to a meal and eat. Not a good use of time!

The $200 price tag would be enough to convince me!

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

If I had 7 park days non hoppers...I'd do 3 days Epcot, 2 MK, 1 AK & 1 DHS.... & I don't like to hop.....But if I was in your shoes I might add hoppers.

Can you switch around any of the ADR's so to fit your schedule if you don't hop? If you hang onto the popular ADR's you might still be able to rearrange the others to fit your non hopping schedule even at this late date. Look online & see.

Good luck!

 

[laine&connorsmom]

I would get the park hoppers! We always hop around from park to park.

 

[dmgrife]

I would get the park hopper. If you wanted to go back and get something or ride a specific ride at another park you can't. We do morning and afternoons at 1 park. Then come back to MK for the fireworks and parades at night.

 

[lovin'fl]

I guess OP is at Disney now. I wonder what she ended up doing. I'd probably have just changed some ADRs and stuck with the non-hoppers. This thread has got me thinkin' about why I buy the hoppers and make ADRs all over the place. It is such a hassle getting from 1 park to another or to a resort for dinner...particularly if it's peak season. We've waisted so much time doing that. We actually have season passes right now that are park hopper and will probably do all that crazy hopping for dinner during our Dec trip. We just booked the ADRs we wanted to eat at without any care for where we'd be that day...dumb. In the future we may go with 1 park/day and we'd do 2-MK, 2-Epcot, 1-AK and 1-HS...if there was a 7th day, we'd probably do Epcot or maybe MK. I also recently decided that doing TS lunch and CS dinner may be better as well.

 

[MHSweb79]

NOBODY mentioned that you will REQUIRE the park hopper option if you decide on eating in one of the restaurants at a park that you didn't spend the rest of the day at. Saying THAT would've made me think twice...

To me, it's a no-brainer that you would need park admission to eat at a restaurant located INSIDE A PARK, but this post is a reminder that a trip to Disney requires a LOT of research & planning, if you want to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Good for the OP for making ADR's in the first place (so many newbies have no idea that they're even necessary). I hope they're having a great time!

To anyone else with a similar problem: Most of the resorts, as well as the Boardwalk area and Downtown Disney, offer restaurants on the dining plan which would not require park hoppers to get to. (Of course, you can also pay OOP if you want.) So you don't always need to eat at the park you spend the day at.