Wwyd?

[shenaniganzz]

I am wondering if Park Hopper is a waste of time for us. If you were in my shoes, WWYD?

Money isn't really the issue, but I don't want to throw it away either!

We are going in late Sept / early Oct. We are on DxDP which we've done before and really enjoyed. We have arranged all of our meals in the park we are at that day, or at a nearby resort... never in another park.

We are alternating park days with pool/resort days. We find one park is plenty enough to get through in one day and it is very unlikely we'd bother even attempting more than one a day. Add to that that if we feel we missed anything at a park, we have several "relax" days that we could go back to a park.

Would you bother with PH? Have you ever regretted not having it?

I am going to guess you can't add it halfway through without paying for the entire stay?

 

[DebbieB]

I am wondering if Park Hopper is a waste of time for us. If you were in my shoes, WWYD?

Money isn't really the issue, but I don't want to throw it away either!

We are going in late Sept / early Oct. We are on DxDP which we've done before and really enjoyed. We have arranged all of our meals in the park we are at that day, or at a nearby resort... never in another park.

We are alternating park days with pool/resort days. We find one park is plenty enough to get through in one day and it is very unlikely we'd bother even attempting more than one a day. Add to that that if we feel we missed anything at a park, we have several "relax" days that we could go back to a park.

Would you bother with PH? Have you ever regretted not having it?

I am going to guess you can't add it halfway through without paying for the entire stay?

The parkhopper is a flat $55 so it doesn't matter if you add it on day 1 or day 10. The only exception is for a 1 day ticket, it's $35.

I've always parkhopped. We typically go to one park in the morning, take an afternoon break, head to another park. I can't imagine being restricted to one park.

 

[Crystal824]

We do the same as the prior poster. We generally go to one park in the morning, take an afternoon break, and fo to another in the evening. With that being said, we don't have non park days. That is just our style of touring. If you stick to your current plan, I don't think you will need hoppers.

 

[Chelley00]

We've never park hopped, and we usually go in October. We pick a park, make our dinner reservations based on that park, and stay put. I can't imagine doing one park for awhile, then going somewhere else, especially some place we're going later in the trip. I'd rather spend the PH money on MNSSHP or something else.

 

[ZoZo]

We are alternating park days with pool/resort days. We find one park is plenty enough to get through in one day and it is very unlikely we'd bother even attempting more than one a day. Add to that that if we feel we missed anything at a park, we have several "relax" days that we could go back to a park.

I am going to guess you can't add it halfway through without paying for the entire stay?

OP, I think you answered your own question in your post, right? You said that it's unlikely that you'd want to do more than one park per day. So you don't need a hopper, correct? I certainly wouldn't pay for the upgrade in this case. Don't add it unless you're sure.

Regarding your question about adding it halfway through your trip: yes, you can add the hopper option at any time during your trip. As the PP said, it costs a flat $55 to add a hopper option to your ticket, regardless of the number of days you use it. To me, it makes sense to add the hopper option if you're planning to hop most days. But it doesn't make sense to add a hopper if you're only going to use it once or twice! If you use it every day for a week, the average "cost per hop" is about $8. But if you only use it once or twice, your "cost per hop" goes up to $55 or $27 per hop. Totally not worth it to me!

 

[disney-akj]

I would not get park hoppers then. If you change your mind one day while at WDW, add park hopper on because it is really easy to upgrade tickets at guest services. Or just add another park day on at guest services if you haven't already been to a major theme park on that day, like if it was one of your pool days and you decide to watch fireworks that evening at MK (no park hopper necessary in that situation, just a park admission). In my opinion, I would upgrade to waterparks before park hopper if you are pool people looking for a relaxing day (like it sounds from your post). We used to park hop, but not anymore. We always do water parks instead because park hopper was a waste of money for our family/touring style. Enjoy your trip regardless.

ETA: Just saw you are cruising too! You will love it!!!

 

[shenaniganzz]

Actually, that's a good idea! Maybe I will trade off PH for a day at Blizzard Beach.

We did use PH last year but found it a bit too much, especially after we discovered DD's fondness for afternoon pool breaks. This time we are staying longer, but find we do better as a family not trying to rush around.

 

[peabody58]

IMHO, PH option is an overpriced indulgence vs. a need. With proper pre-planning, you can easily avoid the need to PH.

However, if you want to play it by ear, then consider a PH after you arrive.

DW and I never used the PH when we got MYW ticket and never had an issue. Now that we get AP's, we still don't PH that much. If PH was not an optin with AP's, we would still be fine with it.

 

[CJJenkins]

We have done both, and I kinda like NOT hopping... We used to do the standard morning in one park, break, evening in another routine. It seemed nice because we could just do what we wanted when we wanted. If we felt one park was getting overcrowded, we would hop to another. Then after one trip, we looked back and were like, what did we do? We missed so much. We had spent so much time traveling from one park to another that we had missed a lot of the little things that are special to do.

For our last 2 trips, we have done standard tickets and planned where we would be and what we would do. We do similar to you, planning our meals around our park days, and we pick our park days according to EMH. It seems like it would take the fun out of the trip, but being well planned really does help you have the most fun IMO. There's no stress about making sure you get to do something or miss something. Just go with the flow, follow the plan and enjoy! Plus, you get to get all excited for months out planning what to do and where, and making, cancelling and rescheduling dining ressies as your trip changes!

On a side note, if you wanna go to the waterparks, dont buy the ticket. Add the Water Park & More option. Its the exact same price as park hoppers, and only like $5 more than buying a one day ticket for the water park. This will get you into your waterpark, plus give lots more options for those days at the hotel should you guys wanna get out a little!

 

[philmagic]

One advantage I can think of for using the park hopper is when you choose a park and it turns out to be very crowded. Then you can opt to leave and go to a different and possibly less crowded park. Sometimes one park is busy while another is not.

 

[TinkerbellinLouisian]

I would only recommend Park Hoppers for
1. Folks who have 14 days or more of vacation
2. Folks who have visited WDW Ad Nauseum
3. Folks who are young, have no kids and are only stopping by E Ticket attractions (ie Roller coasters)


I have been to WDW 20 times and dont get Park Hoppers. Our Trips are usually very Quick ( 5 days) the only reason I will be getting Park Hoppers on our next vaca is because we have an Imagineer Lunch at HBD/DHS on the day we should tour MK...


Have a magical visit !
Mary

 

[kaligal]

Having the option to hop can make planning easier.

But a trip with no hopping is totally do-able.

 

[xipetotec]

I am wondering if Park Hopper is a waste of time for us. If you were in my shoes, WWYD?

Money isn't really the issue, but I don't want to throw it away either!

We are going in late Sept / early Oct. We are on DxDP which we've done before and really enjoyed. We have arranged all of our meals in the park we are at that day, or at a nearby resort... never in another park.

We are alternating park days with pool/resort days. We find one park is plenty enough to get through in one day and it is very unlikely we'd bother even attempting more than one a day. Add to that that if we feel we missed anything at a park, we have several "relax" days that we could go back to a park.

Would you bother with PH? Have you ever regretted not having it?

I am going to guess you can't add it halfway through without paying for the entire stay?

In your shoes, I can honestly say it sounds like you don't need it.

FOR US, we always get it because we DO park hop. Very often, we'll eat at Epcot no matter what park we're in that day. My parents, who come with us, don't really park hop WITH us, but like to join us for dinner, so they don't get extra options on their passes, but they get Park Hopping so they can just come and go to whatever park as they please.

So for US, it's pretty much a must...

for you? It sounds like you don't need it...

 

[lurkernj]

I'd say it sounds like you don't need it.

We got them one trip and used it twice in 10 days, and even then it was more because we felt like we should use it since we bought it ($220 for 4 of us). I like doing one park per day. Each park has such a "feel" to it and I like to be immersed in that all day long, even if we take an afternoon break. Also, I like the leisure of knowing I have all day in a park and can take time to "smell the roses" and not be rushing off to get to another park. I won't say I will never do hoppers, but normally I don't feel the need for it.

This next trip we are adding on the "and more" option for the kids to go to Quest, and MNSSHP for DH and I, and I feel like I'm at least getting something for the money.

 

[keith-atl]

I am wondering if Park Hopper is a waste of time for us. If you were in my shoes, WWYD?

Money isn't really the issue, but I don't want to throw it away either!

We are going in late Sept / early Oct. We are on DxDP which we've done before and really enjoyed. We have arranged all of our meals in the park we are at that day, or at a nearby resort... never in another park.

We are alternating park days with pool/resort days. We find one park is plenty enough to get through in one day and it is very unlikely we'd bother even attempting more than one a day. Add to that that if we feel we missed anything at a park, we have several "relax" days that we could go back to a park.

Would you bother with PH? Have you ever regretted not having it?

I am going to guess you can't add it halfway through without paying for the entire stay?

We used to park hop all the time, but on our last trip even though we had park hoppers we only did it once. I guess its really what you like to do. We used to go to Epcot every night so we felt we needed the park hoppers.

Now on our next trip we are going to skip the park hoppers altogether and see how that works out. Personally I prefer the freedom but on the other hand it add's up quick for a family to just pay for a luxury you don't really need or use all that often.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

I can't live without PH anymore!

 

[ktlm]

I am wondering if Park Hopper is a waste of time for us. If you were in my shoes, WWYD?

Money isn't really the issue, but I don't want to throw it away either!

We are going in late Sept / early Oct. We are on DxDP which we've done before and really enjoyed. We have arranged all of our meals in the park we are at that day, or at a nearby resort... never in another park.

We are alternating park days with pool/resort days. We find one park is plenty enough to get through in one day and it is very unlikely we'd bother even attempting more than one a day. Add to that that if we feel we missed anything at a park, we have several "relax" days that we could go back to a park.

Would you bother with PH? Have you ever regretted not having it?

I am going to guess you can't add it halfway through without paying for the entire stay?

It sounds like you are not hoppers; therefore I don't see why you would need it.

We, on the other hand, are hoppers who would go crazy without it. We hop every trip, usually multiple times.

We are crowd avoiders. We try to avoid MK on days that it has an evening parade because the park is generally more crowded that day. However, we do like to see the evening parade, so we will hop over specifically for the evening parade and depending on the time, stay a while after that. We don't go to parks that have EMH for the day because they are generally more crowded that day. We do however love evening EMH. So, we hop to DHS and hang out at the Disney Jr. dance party at their evening EMH. We hop to MK for their evening EMH. DD always gets tired of AK by early afternoon and is begging to go back to MK or Epcot, so we do. DD sometimes gets tired of DHS by mid to late afternoon and is begging to go back to MK or Epcot, so sometimes we do. We've been rained out of our Osborne lights at DHS, and had to hop another night to go see them, so we also like the flexibility. It also helps if for some reason you can only get an ADR that you really wanted in one park on a day that you are going to be in a different park- we try not to hop for ADRs, but every now and then it will happen. If we misjudged a park and it is horribly crowded, we hop to a different park. We also don't do rest days at all because DD loves the parks and wouldn't stand for spending a whole day at WDW without setting foot in the parks. We are generally open to close park people. It sounds like your style is very different than ours. So while we would go nuts without hoppers, it doesn't sound like you would even use them.

 

[Ktharee]

You've already planned your trip around not having them, so why bother? Save the money or spend it elsewhere. I always get Park Hoppers, but I like the flexibility and when spending THAT much money on vacation, I can't imagine feeling the least bit limited...so I pony up the extra money.

 

[jformica]

We've debated this for years. We've gone 13 times in 10 years and every time we debate whether to get hoppers. The truth is, we never have. This coming trip we're thinking about it again (lol).

The bottom line for us is, we truly love spending an entire day in one park. That way we can "drink" in everything the park has to offer and immerse ourselves in the atmosphere all day. One of the many things we enjoy about Disney are all the wonderful details and that's hard to see if you spend time running around.

 

[shenaniganzz]

You've already planned your trip around not having them, so why bother? Save the money or spend it elsewhere. I always get Park Hoppers, but I like the flexibility and when spending THAT much money on vacation, I can't imagine feeling the least bit limited...so I pony up the extra money.

Actually, we booked the trip with PH. We had it last time and I automatically put it on. The I planned according to what makes sense for our family. Since we are doing DxDP, we planned our meals strategically (so as not to waste time at a TS and with travel) and when I was reviewing everything I realized I didn't need PH like I did last time because we have no hopping going on.

Since it's only our second trip, I just wanted to see if I was missing anything - ie. some major reason not to get rid of it. While I have no problem spending the money (it really is a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme), I don't feel right just throwing it away either.

I'm satisfied that I can add it on when we get there if we realize we do want it once we get there.

Thanks everyone!