memory maker or park hopper?

KTwiegs

Mouseketeer

Joined

May 25, 2013

• Jul 2, 2015

• #1

We are heading to disney in January for our first trip with our then 2 year old son!
My husband and I are seasoned disney people but this will be a completely different trip so I am trying to be as prepared as possible.
we will be going for 4 or 5 days.
We had originally planned to get the memory maker for the first time to capture all the fun instead of getting the park hopper.
But knowing I will have a toddler and no matter how well I plan I will be on his schedule is it better to have the park hopper?

thanks for any input!

 

Jiminy Libbett

Earning My Ears

Joined

Jul 2, 2015

• Jul 2, 2015

• #2

We just got back from Disney and had the park hopper which we have always gotten. In truth, we used it only once and now in retrospect I think I could have managed without it. We had memory maker and have loved the pics. There are some folks that share memory maker but we didn't do that.

 

My2Qtz0205

DIS Veteran

Joined

Mar 27, 2009

• Jul 2, 2015

• #3

If it's either/or, I would do Memory Maker. Pictures are priceless! Even if you take a break for naps, you can head back to the same park once he wakes up.

 

Jiminy Libbett

Earning My Ears

Joined

Jul 2, 2015

• Jul 2, 2015

• #4

My2Qtz0205 said:

If it's either/or, I would do Memory Maker. Pictures are priceless! Even if you take a break for naps, you can head back to the same park once he wakes up.

Click to expand...

I completely agree.

 

L

Lisa loves Pooh

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 18, 2004

• Jul 2, 2015

• #5

CMs will photograph you with your own camera.

I would choose park hoppers since I don't need a collection of family portraits.

Not sure how memory maker works if you don't buy it in advance, but you can still jabs pictures taken by photopass and saved using your MB. You have a limited time (few weeks or months?) to access the photos and decide if you want to buy them.

 

MataHari22

DIS Veteran

Joined

Aug 8, 2013

• Jul 2, 2015

• #6

Not sure when in January you are going, but especially if it's a lower crowd time, I would say get the memory maker instead of the park hoppers. With the baby, your focus on the trip is probably going to be doing things for him, and I would doubt your trip would be geared toward getting in as many rides and as many hours and stuff in as you can. I think without the hoppers you would be able to fit in the things you would like to do and still keep to a little ones schedule. The Memory Maker photos of your whole little family together are pretty priceless.

Last year, I didn't use my park hoppers, so this year I decided to forgo them and get MVMCP tickets instead. I am thinking it'll be fine.

 

Last edited: Jul 3, 2015

KTwiegs

Mouseketeer

Joined

May 25, 2013

• Jul 2, 2015

• #7

MataHari22 said:

Not sure when in January you are going, but especially if it's a lower crowd time, I would say get the memory maker instead of the park hoppers. With the baby your focus on the trip is probably going to be doing things for him, and I would doubt your trip would be geared toward getting in as many rides and as many hours and stuff in as you can. I think without the hoppers you would be able to fit in the things you would like to do and still keep to a little ones schedule. The Memory Maker photos of your whole little family together are pretty priceless.

Last year, I didn't use my park hoppers, so this year I decided to forgo them and get MVMCP tickets instead. I am thinking it'll be fine.

Click to expand...

great points. i definitely want to do and see a lot of things but i actually hope having my son there will make me slow down and enjoy the little things i may have skipped or over looked on previous trips. we are going january 25th to the 30th so low crowds!

 

aretha30

DIS Veteran

Joined

Jun 17, 2012

• Jul 3, 2015

• #8

KTwiegs said:

great points. i definitely want to do and see a lot of things but i actually hope having my son there will make me slow down and enjoy the little things i may have skipped or over looked on previous trips. we are going january 25th to the 30th so low crowds!

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Since you're going in January when the parks have shorter hours I'd skip the hoppers and do MM. When our youngest was 2 we did a trip without hoppers because we knew that we would let him nap in his stroller but we wouldn't be in the parks late to take advantage of the hopper. We took the trip at his pace and slowed down a bit just like you're hoping to do. The MM will give you the memories of this trip, well worth the money in my opinion.

 

amomma23

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 24, 2012

• Jul 3, 2015

• #9

I'd do MM. We find it much easier to plan 1 park/day with little ones in tow.

 

kcpinwdw

DIS Veteran

Joined

Sep 5, 2014

• Jul 3, 2015

• #10

I agree, park hoppers are not great with a 2 year old... but memory maker is fantastic!

 

L

lizard1

DIS Veteran

Joined

Apr 24, 2012

• Jul 3, 2015

• #11

MM for sure! We had an AP for the last year. We hopped ONCE. On the other hand, I'll have about 2500 original MM photos from the trips I took (not including the edits to those photos).

 

ghtx

DIS Veteran

Joined

May 29, 2012

• Jul 3, 2015

• #12

I just got MM for the first time on our last trip and I am not terribly impressed with it. You can just take pictures with your own camera (or ask the photogs to take them with your camera) and they look just as good. I think the ride photos always look terrible.

OTOH I like having the hopper, since I like to go to two different parks in one day.