ADRs tomorrow - last minute park hopper ticket question

[NashvilleMama]

About as last minute of a question as possible but I've been procrastinating and ADR window opens tomorrow for September:

I've never done park hoppers before but am debating it for this trip - an annual "girls weekend" with my two daughters who will be 9 and 11 this fall (while my DH is off at a college guys football weekend. It's a win-win for us all.)

We fly down Thursday night, then have all day Friday and Saturday in the parks. Fly home Sunday.

Here's my question:
It's the MNSSHP which I've also never done. Considering just doing all day MK on Friday instead of park hopping like I'd originally been thinking. EMH in the morning plus the party at night = super long day, but we like going all out that first day. My girls are troopers.

2nd day: I think we should park hop. I think they'd love it (the monorail is their favorite "ride" which is semi annoying.) We want to try and get FOP FPs and hit AK for awhile, but their favorite park is DHS - but I think Star Wars will be open then so I'm on the fence. I also love Epcot's fireworks so would love to bounce over for that, worst case. Again, never park hopped but I really think this is what we should do our 2nd park day no matter what.

Am I doing the math wrong in that it's no cost savings either way if if I buy us all 1-day non-hopping tickets for Friday, and then do a separate ticket transaction for the park hopper passes for the 2nd day? I feel like I'm messing something up somehow.

Thank you!! (I hope that all made sense. It's late!)

 

[Gehrig1B]

By my calculations (which I have not double checked) a 2 day ticket w/hopper is $313.13. A single day ticket plus a single day hopper is $313.51... It's a wash, except you get the hopper both days with option 1. This is for a Saturday and a Sunday in September.

 

[sharonabe]

2nd day: I think we should park hop. I think they'd love it (the monorail is their favorite "ride" which is semi annoying.) We want to try and get FOP FPs and hit AK for awhile, but their favorite park is DHS - but I think Star Wars will be open then so I'm on the fence. I also love Epcot's fireworks so would love to bounce over for that, worst case. Again, never park hopped but I really think this is what we should do our 2nd park day no matter what.

Just a couple observations.

Illuminations will likely be gone by the time you visit. EP will still have a fireworks show, but it won't be the one you're remembering and love.

The monorail doesn't go to/from the parks you're thinking of hopping, so not sure how that fits into your plans. Depending on what time you arrive Thur or leave Sun, you could just go for a ride on the monorail without entering a park on one of those days. Otherwise, I'd use the monorail as a break from MK on that Friday. The park will become VERY crowded from 4:00-6:00 when party and non-party guests are all there together. Maybe take the monorail to one of the MK resorts for dinner during that time.