Park Hopper or Extra Day?

Just Love Disney · Feb 8, 2016

We will be taking our first trip to Disneyland the first week of March on Thursday, Friday, and possibly Saturday. Our kids are 17 and 14 years old.

Will a 2-day Park Pass be enough time to visit both parks? Should we get Park Hoppers or just plan to visit 1 park each day?

If a 2-day pass is NOT enough time, then would we be better off purchasing a 3-day pass without the Park Hopper option? Or a 3-day pass with the PH?

Thanks soooo much for your advice/input!!

sherilaine · Feb 8, 2016

This question is asked a lot here - and it's a hard one for people to answer as many people have differing opinions on 'how much is enough time at DLR". I can't imagine going for the 1st time and only staying 3 days even with hoppers. To me that will be a very short period of time - to others it would be plenty. I see you have gone to WDW - how long would you tell someone is long enough to see everything you'd want to see there? That might give people some context around how long you might take to explore DLR sufficiently.

Just Love Disney · Feb 8, 2016

sherilaine said:
This question is asked a lot here - and it's a hard one for people to answer as many people have differing opinions on 'how much is enough time at DLR". I can't imagine going for the 1st time and only staying 3 days even with hoppers. To me that will be a very short period of time - to others it would be plenty. I see you have gone to WDW - how long would you tell someone is long enough to see everything you'd want to see there? That might give people some context around how long you might take to explore DLR sufficiently.

Due to the age of our kids, 17 and 14, we hit the parks at RD and stay until close, therefore, 5 days is generally enough time for us at WDW. We park hop a lot but typically focus on spending a majority of our time at one park per day and then on the 5th day we go back to each park to see anything we missed or want to do again. Hopefully that helps...

sherilaine · Feb 8, 2016

Then considering that the two parks at DLR are literally beside each other - I mean they are incredibly close - then maybe 3 days is all you'd need. Of course I say that as I can't imagine less than 3 but that's just me!!

thewelts · Feb 8, 2016

I can't imagine visiting Disneyland without a hopper as the parks are so close. If your hotel is near, you can easily start your day in one park and then return to the other in the evening - or you can walk back and forth. In addition, you can leverage fast passes between parks which can be quite helpful (Unless this has recently changed).

We normally visit for 4 days/3nights with a 4 day hopper.

texasgingerbread · Feb 8, 2016

Hands down extra day.

Just Love Disney · Feb 8, 2016

Can you add on an extra day at the park instead of purchasing it in advance?

Can we add PH at the park instead of in advance?

Thanks again for all your help

ETA: I guess I should have mentioned in my first post that we will only be in CA for 3 full days. We arrive after midnight on a Wednesday (so technically Thursday) and then leave on the first flight out on Sunday which leaves us Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for vacation days. We also wanted to try to see the ocean for a 1/2 day or so but it doesn't sound like there is enough time to do all that we want if we need all 3 days for Disney, however, if we can add the above mentioned tickets once we are there then that takes the pressure off having to make these decisions in advance. Once we begin our vacation then I think we'll have a better feel for how many days in the parks we think we'll need.

Huff · Feb 8, 2016

Depends on your touring style. We spend most of the day at just one of the parks. However, we usually spend late afternoon or evening at the other park. Spend a day at CA, watch WOC then head to DL for fireworks, parade etc. The next day we'll reverse things and spend more time at DL. Much depends on park hours and show schedules.

If budget is an issue then I'd opt for 3 days without hopper. 2 days just isn't enough for the 2 parks.

goooof1 · Feb 8, 2016

Hoppers.....the parks are so close it is like one big park....easy to hop and nice to have that flexibility. 3 days BARE minimum.

SMD · Feb 8, 2016

If you're comfortable letting your kids hop without you, I'd get the hopper. Then you can go at different paces. I think 1 day in each park in also fine. It is somewhat dependent on crowd levels, but generally you can see a lot. You'll have to decide if the difference between a 2 day and 3 day ticket is worth going back to the park after a half day beach trip. The first week of March will be pretty cold at the beach, so you might want to think about how many hours you consider a half day to be.

smartlabelprint · Feb 8, 2016

You can upgrade to PH or 3 days at the park. However, IMO that will take away valuable time from a short trip. We go annually and 4 day ph are our MINIMUM!!

OnTheRoadAgain · Feb 9, 2016

Extra third day (one park per day) is better than one less day with a park hopper IMO and it's a little bit cheaper! That's what we did on our last trip and it was perfect. 1st and 3rd day at DL and 2nd day at CA. Any three day ticket will get you Magic Morning (You'd have to look at the calendar to see if that would work for you). You can always upgrade your tickets to a more expensive ticket and add a day or PH option (Remember, you can't switch a 2 day PH to a 3 day one park per day - because it costs less and I honestly don't know if you can go from a PH to a one park per day ticket even if you haven't hopped yet - like going from a 2 day PH to a 4 day one park per day ticket - but I digress).

Tinkdisneygirl07* · Feb 9, 2016

It can be enough but I would suggest to take your time and not park hop on your first trip but to spend the first day at California adventure and then the other day at Disneyland

Minniekins · Feb 9, 2016

We will be going on our first trip in May. Five day hoppers, and adding one more day of tickets for myself and my DD25. We are super excited!!! We are WDW vet. I'd say 3 days hoppers, give you more options for seeing everything and all the shows and such! Any chance you can leave on Monday, instead? Then you could still hit the beach. You can definitely upgrade to another day and add park hoppers when at the park. Have a great trip!

mfleeting · Feb 9, 2016

Our first trip to DL (and any disney park) we had 3 day hoppers. We never used the hopper abilities though. The first day we spent at DL, second day at CA, and final day (which we thought we would use the hoppers for) was at DL. We had time for breaks each day and did practically everything we wanted to do. The first day we did not even use fast passes. So I would personally say do a 3 day non hopper ticket if it works better for yalls budget. We went to the beach in November and it was pretty cold so I'm sure March would be cold too but maybe on the last day y'all could take a few hours and head to the beach for an hour especially if you have never been.

kathy884 · Feb 9, 2016

I'm going with my 20 year old at a less busy time (week day, next January). We are opting for two one day base tickets (one day each park). I'm using the adult/teen highlights touring plan on www.touringplans.com for my Disneyland day less three attractions we prefer to skip. And I'm using the one day touring plan for adults/teens at California Adventure too. A subscription is $8. This will give me the highlights and help us make the most of our two days. When done we can take a break at our hotel, repeat a few favorites and/or spend that extra $40 (upgrade to a hopper if we want).

Note, though, I only want to do two theme park days. Also on my last two day trip to Orlando, we did SeaWorld day one, our favorite 10 things at the MK day two (rope drop to 2 p.m.), followed by the Titanic attraction on I-drive, and then with our park hopper back to Epcot where we had dinner, did Soarin, and then Test Track two times. And I thought that was a great trip. We've been down to WDW/Orlando a lot, though, and aren't people who need to see everything/do everything and are happy to pick and choose.

Rather than adding a day at Disneyland we are starting with one night in Hollywood Hills: arrival day Chinese Theatre, walk of Fame, Madame Tussauds / Pre Disney full day -- Warner Brother's studio tour, Griffith Observatory, Santa Monica pier, drive to Anaheim where we will spend three nights/two days.

StormyCA · Feb 9, 2016

Just Love Disney said:
Can you add on an extra day at the park instead of purchasing it in advance?

Can we add PH at the park instead of in advance?

Thanks again for all your help

ETA: I guess I should have mentioned in my first post that we will only be in CA for 3 full days. We arrive after midnight on a Wednesday (so technically Thursday) and then leave on the first flight out on Sunday which leaves us Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for vacation days. We also wanted to try to see the ocean for a 1/2 day or so but it doesn't sound like there is enough time to do all that we want if we need all 3 days for Disney, however, if we can add the above mentioned tickets once we are there then that takes the pressure off having to make these decisions in advance. Once we begin our vacation then I think we'll have a better feel for how many days in the parks we think we'll need.

Adding extra day; Yes you can do this at the ticket booths or at WDTC in DTD. I think you can do it at the onsite hotels IF you are a guest. You have to do it while the ticket is still valid, that is you can't have a two day ticket and try to upgrade it on the third morning.

Adding a hopper; I believe it works the same way, but I've never upgraded to a hopper as we always start with one. Unless someone verifies this, I'd call the park just to be sure.

My first choice would be a 3 day hopper for the most flexibility. Second choice 3 day 1 park. Third choice 2 day hopper. Fourth choice 2 day 1 park. When you say 'see the ocean' do you mean 'see' it or 'hang around'. Because you can drive to Huntington in about 30 mins (avoiding rush hour). Theoretically, you could do a 'beach trip' in 2 hours total. When we were in FLA I told DH I wanted to 'stick my toes' in the Atlantic Ocean just so I could say I did. We were there maybe 20 minutes.

I also agree with letting your kids go off on their own, maybe after you've done some of the 'must dos' as a family, or pull FPs for specific rides to meet up. Maybe have each member pick a certain 'must do' ride and agree to meet and ride them together?

lalasmama · Feb 9, 2016

Minniekins said:
We will be going on our first trip in May. Five day hoppers, and adding one more day of tickets for myself and my DD25. We are super excited!!! We are WDW vet. I'd say 3 days hoppers, give you more options for seeing everything and all the shows and such! Any chance you can leave on Monday, instead? Then you could still hit the beach. You can definitely upgrade to another day and add park hoppers when at the park. Have a great trip!

Just wanted to make sure you are aware that you can't add another day to a 5-day pass for Disneyland/DCA. It's a whole new ticket, at the higher, 1-day rate. They haven't allowed adding a 6th day in several years.

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