are hoppers really needed?

[tiffjoy]

This is exactly why we get hoppers. We always go back to the hotel to rest for an hour or two and most times we will go back to the park that we did not go to in the morning.

Hoppers are not essential to DL/DCA but I don't think we would do a trip without them.

We do this, too. We love hoppers and always get them (although we don't get them at WDW) because it's so easy to move between the two parks. We often go back and forth depending on crowds and if we want to go on a certain ride. I've found them to be very helpful in getting everything done that we want to do. But no, they aren't necessary.

 

[jina]

Our park schedule is similar to yours. We arrive for rope drop (and you will have early access for one of the parks every day since you are staying onsite), then we leave the park in the late morning. Most days we grab lunch on our way out of the park (or at the hotel if staying on site) and rest and play in the pool until late afternoon when we head back to the parks for dinner and a few more rides, perhaps a parade. We always park hop (even before we got AP's) and typically if we do park 1 in the morning, we do park 2 in the afternoon. Sometimes when we are leaving park 1 at lunch time DH or I will run over to park 2 to get a FP for something like RSR which we can use when we come back later in the afternoon/evening. Plus we may choose to hop if the park we are in gets crazy busy - and sometimes you really have no way of knowing if that is going to happen until you're shoulder to shoulder in Adventureland- sorry touringplans/isitpacked.

So there is really no "travel time" for us as we are typically not traveling between parks - just hitting one in the AM and another in the PM. We love having this flexibility because we've been to the parks a lot and often don't know until the night before what sorts of rides or shows we want to experience the following day. The only thing that throws a wrinkle into hopping for us is that we like to have 1 ADR per day so if the ADR ends up being in a park that will determine which park we are at at that time. But we get plenty of ADR's at the on site hotels and DTD so it never binds us to a park.

If you stay at the GC, having a hopper is great because one person can play in the pool with the family while the other runs over to DCA and grabs a FP for Grizzly or Soarin and then you can head into DCA inter-swim-time for a quick ride - it's 1 min to Grizzly and 3-4 min to Soarin from the pool. We also liked to head into DCA to play at the Redwood Creek Challenge trail - I consider it the GCH's playground!).

As like many of the others, we would never not hop and when our AP expires this year and we move back to our 1 trip/year and buy tickets, there is no way we would not get hoppers.

Having said that I totally agree with the other posters who suggest get the 1 park per day tickets and if you decide you want to hop, upgrade- but don't feel guilty or stress about it - if you do choose to hop it's because you decided it would improve your magical experience!

have a great time!

 

[az4boys]

We have always gotten hoppers because I like having the flexibility, but we hardly ever hop. If we do hop, it is for big things like WOC or fireworks. I think if you plan ahead for things like early entry and shows you want to see, you can do it without hopping.

 

[buttercup14]

I normally go the hopper option but didn't this last trip due to budget, and I didn't feel it made any difference, I got to do everything I wanted to on each day, normally going back to my hotel or downtown for a break. With that said, I wasn't to fussed about DCA this time round, I pretty much did everything I wanted to there in one day with time to spare (though there was a quiet a few things closed for refurbishment).

 

[the who #3]

we usually do wdw. it is really big and we are very familiar with all 4 parks and dtd. we always hop. 2 or 3 parks a day. sometimes it is only to dine at a restaurant in a park, sometimes just to catch a ride at the time when the line is down. we love to have that option and find it worth the extra money. after all it is usually 6 months to a year before we go back again. someone always wants to run back to a park to get that last ride or candy in germany or dole whip float and you must have a hopper to get there.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Now wait a second. I get that there are three pages of comments already, but there are already how many legacy threads about hoppers vs single-park tickets? OP has obviously already read some of them and mentions knowing about the general consensus (not unanimous, of course!) about the worth spending the extra money on hoppers. So what's the point of generating a whole new thread? This has got to be the biggest time waster topic we've got. Quick, someone just finish us off by asking if WDW is better than DLR

 

[Blue32]

Then why did you even click on the thread? You must of had some time to waste....

 

[ktlm]

Looks like you are a WDW vet. Before you make your decision, you need to understand that hopping at DLR is nothing like hopping at WDW. We are WDW vets too. For us, DL/CA are like one park. We go back and forth all day. You can get from the back of one park to the back of the other in 10 minutes. The parks are only separated by a plaza. You do not have to go through bag check to hop as back check is at the outside edges of the plaza and is for both parks. It is literally less distance than walking from most bus stops to a gate at a WDW, to walk between the parks at DLR. There is no time investment in hopping and it is simple to go between the parks repeatedly during the day. I don't know what the hours are when you are there, but there have been times we have been there that CA opens later or closes earlier than DL. Rope drop at DLR is less crowded than WDW because a lot of the crowd is local- the first couple of hours are terrific most days. We would go to DL for the hour or two they were open before CA and then hop to CA at opening to hit some things there before the lines built. At night, when CA closed, we would hop over to DL. Also, we will look at the wait times app-- if we are in DL and the lines seem long, we will look to see how the lines are at CA-- if they seem to be much shorter we will go over there for awhile and take advantage of the shorter lines. If DD suddenly decides she really wants to ride something in the other park that day, we simply go over and do it. If you google map the parks, you can get a view of the plaza and see how close the gates really area. Hoppers aren't necessary, but they are very useful at DLR.