Park hoppers?

[kandb]

If you think spending an extra $73 a person is worth it for your group, then get them but we never get them because it will cost our family over $350 and I rather spend that $ on something else. IMO, unless you are going to be at the parks all the times including the late EMH, I don't think they are worth it.

 

[merrick]

our first trip, we did not get them and didn't feel we missed out on anything by not having them. we had never been to disney before and figured if a park can't keep us amused for an entire day, well this probably isn't the holiday for us!!

booking our second trip, we did get them. we stayed at the contemporary last time and our biggest (well really only) complaint was lack of food options. this time we are staying at yacht club so wanted to be able to access epcot for meals or a quick couple of rides of an evening.

i was not aware you could add it when you arrive of the same cost....

 

[Shanti]

so our first disney trip I bought park hoppers and did not utilize them.
2nd trip did not buy park hoppers.
this trip coming up next spring I bought park hoppers.
Please tell me how you use your hoppers so that I get my moneys worth out of them without feeling like I am constantly go go go...thanks

We sometimes use them to alternate parks mid-day, and to make use of Extra Magic Hours.

Don't feel pressured to hop every day- that would just make it annoying. You're not "getting your money's worth" if you're touring the parks in a way you don't really want to tour. Hop only when it makes sense for you to hop, when you want to hop. Then you'll see how liberating hoppers can be.

After this upcoming trip and hopping only when you really feel like it, if you noticed you barely or never used them, or didn't enjoy the hopping, then don't buy them again.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

Please tell me how you use your hoppers so that I get my moneys worth out of them without feeling like I am constantly go go go...thanks

I just plan my hopping parks when I plan out my days - we do 1.5 days each at AK and DHS so we always hop at least a couple of times. When we stay on the monorail we also use them to hop over to MK at the end of the night if we've been at a different park, once that park closes.

 

[nene0182]

We only use hoppers if we are staying at a monorail resort or when we stayed at Boardwalk. In February we stayed at BLT and found it so convenient to hop over to MK every night even if it was only for an hour or two.

 

[gatorlisa]

We pretty much always park hop. We usually start a day wherever the morning EMH is and stay until early to mid afternoon. Then we hop to either the park with evening EMH or to which ever park is open the latest. Sometimes we go back to the resort for an early dinner in between, sometimes not. Since we tend to go in winter, the bus or boat ride between the parks is usually enough of a break for us. We have also been known to do three parks in a day with the morning EMH park, something in between, then the evening EMH park. We don't do the week long or longer Disney trips. We tend to do long weekends with 3 days in parks, so hoppers allow us to maximize our park time and revisit parks for specific attractions without having to commit to entire days there.

 

[loves to dive]

We have never been without hoppers in over 30 years of going. We are seat of the pants, no planning, go do eat what when we want sort of people. We may start out in one park and decide we are bored or it's too crowded and just hop on a bus and go to another one. I rarely book more than 3 FPs, we haven't been since the new being able to just book one and then when that's done book another one in another park option so I'm pretty sure that will be how we do it next trip. We don't make advance ADRs, they are either done the morning of or later in the day while walking around. Having a hopper (an AP in my case) opens the options to anywhere and since we like trying new things we can just book what is available. We never run around, our style is very relaxed and the hopper suits that well. I've been known to do 4 parks and not mean to. I started at AK one morning on an EMH day, didn't plan it, I was up and had already worked out and showered and thought what the heck it's opening and I'm up so I did it. Rode Safari, grabbed a muffin and coffee after I finished that I rode EE and hopped on a bus to HS. It was just opening, so I rode ToT, GMR and grabbed a cup of tea from Writer's Stop and walked around the back streets. Didn't feel like doing anything else there so walked over to Epcot, rode TT, visited the Living Seas (not the ride) and listened/lived with the Land. Then I wandered over to World Showcase and enjoyed food and wine for awhile until dark, hopped on the monorail to MK rode BTM and watched Tink fly, hopped on a bus back to BW and called it a night. None of it planned, all just strolling with nothing really in mind and not a single FP in hand.

 

[addiln]

I am not sure I could go back to not hopping parks. We go to one park in the morning and always end up somewhere else for dinner. I can not spend an entire day AK or HS so we always hop those days. Also we like the flexibility if a park is to crowded just to hop over to somewhere else.

 

[MHSweb79]

We always get park hoppers. Here's a few ways we "get our money's worth:"

1. Do rope drop at AK or HS, finish everything by 2pm or so. Back to the resort for a nap/swim, then out to Epcot for dinner.

2. Do a park until 3 or 4, then back to the resort to cool off. Bring sandwiches to Studios, eat while waiting for Fantasmic. Somehow the wait is much easier if we go there just for the show.

3. Ditto for Main St. Electric parade or any other headline show (Wishes, Illuminations). We can't do rope drop through nighttime entertainment so we like to cherry-pick our evening activities without being bound to one park. If, say, MSEP is only scheduled once or twice a week, that can draw bigger crowds during the day (same with EMH). With hoppers you can spend the bulk of your day at a recommended park, then go to the crowded park just for that one thing.

4. If we arrive at a park and find crowds larger than we like, we can just bail to another park.

5. If we're staying at an Epcot resort, it's a no-brainer- Epcot for food!

6. I like AK more than my DH, so we'll do a park in the morning, then he heads back to the resort to swim while I go over to AK to do the things I love without him. (He can't stand the Festival of the Lion King show-can you imagine?)

 

[kitkat4622]

wow so many responses, thank you all for your feedback. I think I will cancel the hopper option at this time and if I decide to hop while there I will just ad it on with guest services. thanks again for all the feedback. Now if you can make April get here faster I would LOVE that...LOL

 

[Delirium]

Most of the time we go during Party season. As a result, they are virtually a must unless you want to end a lot of days at 7 o'clock. That said, we would get them anyway. We almost always hit 2 parks a day, even if we don't always make it back to the resort. Even if the mid-day break is simply a monorail ride, boat ride, or car trip, it's good to be off your feet and away from the hustle and bustle.

 

[nuhertz]

As most have said, getting away from the Extra Magic Hour parks, being able to have dining reservations at a different park, or getting away from the limited hours because of the parties are the best way to use Park Hoppers. We enjoy having the perk, but with our two little ones, we find we hardly use it.

 

[Jobie]

I get hoppers for longer stays. I enjoy being able to switch which park I want to be at on the fly and able to have more dining options for the day.

Every time we go, we have 6-7 days in the parks. If I have less than 6 days, I may not do a park hopper (although I did do a two day at parks solo trip with hoppers, but I was able to move quickly due to being by myself).

Our first 4 days are spent dedicated to each park. The last 2-3 days are spent hoping, making sure we get to do our favorites again or able to do what we missed. Sometimes we will hop during the first 4 days to take advantage of extra magic hours. We will avoid the extra magic hours park during the day, but then at night go in for the extra hours. We have only done this a couple of times, and it really depends how things are scheduled.

Park hoppers really depend on how you tour and the length of stay. The longer the stay, the more sense they make to me.

Also, I think the larger your group, the less need for hoppers. It always seems like the more people you have in your group, the slower you able to move through the parks. You have more interruptions (bathroom breaks, needed drinks/snacks, arguing; oops I mean discussing; which attraction to do next) so you get less done in a single day. My sister has 5 kids. I recommend them not to get hoppers because all 7 of them would be touring together, even if they are doing a longer trip. But then again, I know the pace at which they all move together and how little use the hoppers would get.

 

[DaisyLou2]

With all of the planning ahead involved with Disney vacations it's nice to have the option for a little spontaneity. If we are staying in the Boardwalk we hop over to Epcot in the evenings. If we are in a monorail resort we hop over to MK or maybe Epcot. I don't book ADR's for every single night so we can just pick up something wherever we decide to hop to that day. If MK is open until midnight then it's also an option after a dinner ADR if we are feeling up to it.

 

[Mikie]

Like the OP, I've bought hoppers and not used them before, disappointed in the waste; then traveled quite a few visits without them (especially with little kids who can't do a super-long day). Next trip, I think we will consider them for the following uses:
- we like to use crowd calendars and feel like we've had good luck with crowd avoidance that way. However, we've never taken advantage of EMH because of that (those are usually higher crowd numbers) - hoppers would let us spend most of the day in the lower-crowd park and still use the EMH at a different park
- we go in the fall with Halloween party and Food & Wine going on. Those greatly affect the crowd levels in MK and Epcot - hoppers would let us spend partial days in those parks as needed, but get out when crowds are high
- Still regarding fall party season - evening shows/fireworks schedules vary and we may want to spend a day in one park, but still want to catch a night show at MK that we couldn't see on our full MK day. We could hop there just for fireworks
- we are not afternoon break at the resort people. We might "break" by choosing a restaurant in a resort for lunch, then able to hop wherever we'd like for the evening.
- We're interested in trying an Epcot resort - hoppers would definitely allow us to spend lots of partial days there, rather than one loooong, hot day wandering World Showcase
- We may be staying a shorter trip than our usual next time. On an 8 day trip, we have 2 travel days, 2 MK, 2 Epcot, 1 each DHS and AK. On a shorter trip, I'd cut something to 1.5 or .5 and want to mix and match.
- If we were ever able to stay a lot longer than our usual, I'd want hoppers because we may not need another whole day in a particular park, yet still want a few hours there.
- We may be interested in fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants dining ideas. . . we've always set 1 ADR per day, which attaches us to a given park. We might like to try just looking for ADRs much closer to our travel dates instead of 180 days out and this would leave us flexible to pick dining anywhere we like/can find with a good time instead of limited to certain parks certain days.

 

[Accident]

so our first disney trip I bought park hoppers and did not utilize them.
2nd trip did not buy park hoppers.
this trip coming up next spring I bought park hoppers.
Please tell me how you use your hoppers so that I get my moneys worth out of them without feeling like I am constantly go go go...thanks

I only buy park hoppers in advance if a discount or tour requires them. It costs exactly the same price to add them to your tickets and only a few minutes at a ticket booth or guest relations if you do need them. Then I make the choice while I'm standing there if it's worth the cost for why I want to use them.. 99% of the time, you'll just skip it but sometimes there is a worthwhile reason and it will cost you the same if you get them at the park. It will save you lots if you end up not needing them. I do the same with ticket days and hold a few back if it's a really long trip but can be interesting with fastpass+ but can be a huge money saver.

As far as using them.. The follow have been the different reasons why:
- The park I was at closed but another park had a few more hours opened and I wasn't ready to call it a night.
- bad weather trip and started to hop in order to catch the night entertainment that had been canceled on other nights.
- discount or tour required them.
- 1 park was unusually mega crowded and decided we should cut our losses and try a different park that day.
- sometimes my daughters anxiety just requires us to leave the park and more often than not, after a break she wants to head back to a park but rarely the same park.

A common mistake, park hoping is not needed to visit a park and a waterpark the same day. it's only theme park hoping that you need it. you have separate waterpark days that equal the same as your theme park days when you add it on. You also don't need extra days for waterparks if your not planning on a theme park the same day.

 

[mmbrad02]

We are overall a non hopping family. DH and I bought them on our first trip to Disney together and only hopped the last night, more or less just to say we used it at least once. Since then we have always just done one park a day although this trip, with the shorter fall hours, I do wish we could take advantage of EEH at other parks.

For those that add them when you arrive, do you have to add them before you start using your tickets? Or can you add it mid week to only what days you have left?

 

[tinkerbell1112]

my opinion is that if you have hoppers and you've been there before, you probably have an idea of what you want to do. When we're done at one park we hit another one. There are very few repeat things we want at AK this time so we plan a short day there, then hopping to MK to start there. Then, the day we hit MK we hope that we've gotten enough in the late night we're there so we can finish by dinner and hop to EPCOT to get a start there. If you are able to hop at night to a new location, you can hopefully take advantage of less heat and maybe shorter lines in order to get some favorites in

 

[Disfan5]

We usually only use our hoppers on the last day because we like to go back and do all of our favorite rides one last time! Even if that's the only time we ever use them it is totally worth it to us!! I do love early morning magic hours too and like to have the option of switching parks if it gets too crowded later.

 

[joannamet]

PHs allow us to slow down and enjoy our vacation. We spend the morning in one park and when the park gets busy and we get hot and tired we hop to a different one. Most often we go to Epcot in the afternoon because we like to stroll and relax. We like knowing that we don't have to stay in one park and try to do everything. We can always come back if there's something we missed so we can be more flexible and make changes to our schedule as we go along.

One night we hopped from MK to DHS to see Fantasmic only to find that it was standing room only so we went to Epcot and watched Illuminations.
Totally worth the extra

.