anyone else considering dropping the park-hopping feature?

[crusoe2]

We have always gotten hoppers but are debating just saving the money this time. We're staying offsite so it's really up in the air as to if/how we will be able to utilize FP+. If we can't schedule our fastpasses until we are physically in the park, I'm not sure there's much point in hopping. We would probably do better to just commit to one park for the day and do "rope drop till we drop" touring.

But if they start letting offsite guests book their FP+ attractions in advance, I'll reconsider the park hopper option. Doing rope drop at one park and then hopping to another to use our fastpasses might help us maximize our park time. Fortunately we're not going until end of May so hopefully Disney will have finally rolled out the whole system by then and we can figure out what works and what doesn't. (Thanks to all the awesome Dis folks who come back and share their experiences.)

 

[kiwi2013]

We used park hopper our first trip and enjoyed it....this past trip we opted to go without and really missed it....needless to say park hopper has once again been included for this years trip

 

[scard192]

Bought PH when we booked our trip for last October with FD PIN. Then the price increase and if I wanted to cancel the PH would have been hit with the price increase. 3 days into our trip, had not hopped and was thinking it was a waste of money. last 3 days we changed our park days around due to weather and hopped those 3 days for our ADRs.

Next trip if we book after the annual price increase I think I will wait and buy PH while we are at WDW if we decide we want to hop. The kids will be older so probably more worth it then.

 

[Missyrose]

The other thing to keep in mind OP is the shorter hours that are typical in February. You just won't have quite as much time to hop as you do other times of the year.

 

[KrazeeK120]

DH and I are (currently) childless, and we have quit using the Park Hopper after purchasing it for our first 3 trips.

I think it takes too much time to transfer from one park to another. I feel like I can get more done in a day if I stay put. Also, on our last trip and this upcoming trip, we're going in January when the park hours are generally shorter anyway, which makes Park Hopper less attractive.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I would never buy them again, unless I was staying at an Epcot resort.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Only thing to keep in mind (and I know this is totally my opinion) but on your Epcot day you basically get 1 real FP and 2 throw always b/c of the tiering. So I would hop only b/c I would want to make sure my FPs really counted. I like many others rode standby at RD and then hopped to a park in the afternoon and used FP+. But I didn't have kids and can totally see how it would be difficult to plan when naps would happen and when you'd be able to get back into the park.

 

[KaLyn]

We are keeping them. We plan to RD in the mornings at one park and then FP+ in the evening at another park.

 

[cjbcam]

We are going Jan 22-feb 1. We are going to try to not park hop because its just too expensive (6 of us). I'm nervous about it because we park hopped everyday last time. I may end up getting them anyway while we are there.

 

[DLBDS]

The only times we ever park hopped where when we had APs. Haven't had them in a few years now. I never buy the park hopper option. The way I see it, if you plan your visit right, you don't need them. It's just not worth the extra coin. It's one park per day for me and during a week long stay there's at least 1 off day when we don't even go to a park. That's usually our DD day.

 

[LittleMissDisney]

We are not getting them this year. We had them at our last trip and only used them once (which was the plan)-we split HS/AK. This year we just added a day to our trip . My kids are pretty go with the flow (11 and 8) I've decided not to stress over FP+ and any tiering, for us, the magic is in the moments we are making.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Can you add Park Hoppers during your stay if you decide say one day in that you need them. How much of a pain is it to do it. Can someone at the hotel help or can you simply call someone and they add it.

Generally speaking it's very easy. If you try to do it at guest services at a very busy time, it can be time consuming to standing the line. I once spent almost a full hour inline as the DTD GS to buy an annual pass.

Another time when modifying tickets can be a bit of hassle is if you buy them via a discount vendor like UT or AAA. The solution is to take a picture of your receipt with your digital camera or phone. If your park tickets are not part of a package, that's always good practice. Make sure you have a photo of the ID number on each ticket to replace if lost.

I've modified many tickets...DO make sure you know how many days are supposed to be left on your tickets and what price you should pay. Rarely CM's try to make the wrong modification.

As long as you know what you are doing, it generally only takes about 10 minutes.

do read the ticket sticky, it has great info. There are a few tiny modifications that can be done at the resorts, but in other cases you have to visit guest services (at any park, including water parks, and DTD) In my experience, the very best place is MK GS.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

to answer the original question...

Several years ago, under old FP, we actually figured out that under the OLD system- hopping was a disadvantage. Time is money. Time spent out of the parks is a double whammy- not only are not NOT ona ride- you are also NOT collecting FP's. Under old FP - time amount of time lost was a triple whammy. Let's say your plan was MK to AK. So you start at MK, and start gathering/using FP...and hour before you hop- you can't collect FP, then you hop. There's non-ride time on Main St +monorail+ re-entry, THEN there's another gap when you get to AK...Maybe You walk to EE and EE FP is done for the day. At best, you can't use a fp for at least another hour.

I'm thinking NEW FP is a reversal. Under new FP, each person an only gets three preselected FP+ in one park. Therefore, it is less of a disadvantage to hop.

 

[TLSnell1981]

At the moment, we are considering not buying park hoppers for our September trip. CONSIDERING. Hopefully the Magic 8 Ball will have a better grasp on what I should do as the year progresses. We won't have to make a final call until close to 60 days out when we buy and link our tickets to our DVC stay.

Let me know, how the Magic ball works.

We are going in October (party of 7) and I'm actually dreading our vacation. It's really sad, but Disney just isn't the same.

 

[maybeecatlady]

We have always gotten hoppers but are debating just saving the money this time. We're staying offsite so it's really up in the air as to if/how we will be able to utilize FP+. If we can't schedule our fastpasses until we are physically in the park, I'm not sure there's much point in hopping. We would probably do better to just commit to one park for the day and do "rope drop till we drop" touring.

But if they start letting offsite guests book their FP+ attractions in advance, I'll reconsider the park hopper option. Doing rope drop at one park and then hopping to another to use our fastpasses might help us maximize our park time. Fortunately we're not going until end of May so hopefully Disney will have finally rolled out the whole system by then and we can figure out what works and what doesn't. (Thanks to all the awesome Dis folks who come back and share their experiences.)

This is our plan, too. Waiting to see what happens with offsite with regards to FP+ before purchasing our tickets. If we can schedule ahead of time, we'll park hop. If not, we won't.

 

[CdnCarrie]

My kids are 7 and 10. We have been to the World 5 times and have never bought hoppers. For us they are a total waste of money. We go to one park for the day. We were never "take a break" kind of people either.

 

[crostorfer]

We will still be buying hoppers, purely for food purposes. I always hop to Epcot to eat lunch or dinner. They have the best, and more diverse, options of anywhere in WDW. Give me the shwarma platter at Tangierine Cafe over MK or Resort CS burgers, every day of the week!

 

[daisy_77]

We skipped the PH option in October. We didn't really miss it that much. There was one day we wish we could have had the opportunity to leave Epcot (soooo crowded due to F&W) and go somewhere else.

We will probably skip it again on our next trip.

 

[HiHoWeGo]

I would never buy them again, unless I was staying at an Epcot resort.

I'm strongly considering hoppers for our next trip. I am determined to find a way to stay at an Epcot resort. Eating dinner most nights, and maybe catching Illuminations, at Epcot will be a priority. There's something about being in Epcot when the big torches are lit that makes it magical for me!

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

We have always gotten the hopper but for our next trip we are going to try to go without it. We always go in September and on our last trip we only went to two parks on the same day one time.