I thought we might feel that way with our recently completed non-hopping stay, but we didn't feel that way in the least. Maybe it's because we're all getting older, but hopping around parks from 8 AM to Midnight each and every day in order to maximize the use of the tickets wasn't an appealing thought last month. Even the day we went to AK, after we had an early supper at Boma we were fine in calling it a night!
For us, it seemed to be the FPs that pinned us down. We used to "bug out" of busy parks right after lunch (or even eat lunch in the Villa) and then "hop" to a 2nd park too. But with FP+ it seemed that most days the 3rd FP fell in the area of 2-3 PM. It really bothered me when we made the decision to NOT buy the hoppers this time around (primarily due to cost), but once we set the FPs I realized that hopping would have been hard to pull off given the FP+ schedule we had. Others' results may vary, but that was our experience.
Yup, this is us exactly! We don't feel pressured to use it because we have it, but we love knowing we can just hop wherever whenever, though I totally get that that isn't for everyone.
I played around a lot with our times for FP and generally got them to line up pretty well in the mornings. If we had a FP that we didn't particularly worry about missing, especially earlier in the trip, we just missed it if we wanted to hop elsewhere. This trip we also planned to go back in the afternoon to swim, but the rain gods turned the dial up to 11 and it poured for hours every afternoon! We expected some rain but it was pretty intense, so we were only able to swim at night. Luckily our Blizzard Beach day ended up getting really sunny after a cloudy start! Cost is definitely a factor though. We usually plan 1+ year out so for us it gives us a bit more wiggle room to save up, and we usually stay value which helps lessen the blow of the overall package. We're barely in our rooms! Too much park hopping
I didn't say that anyone would feel sorry for them, but, with the complexities that define WDW these days, I just felt it useful to warn them of a danger that some wouldn't even think about until it happens. The main cause for it happening is the fact that most people think that logically if you are going to a place to have dinner you wouldn't have to pay for a days admittance to a theme park after you have already paid admittance to a theme park in the same resort. It isn't the first thing anyone would think about especially if they had never been there before and had no idea where that restaurant was located or how they would get there.
