anyone else considering dropping the park-hopping feature?

[bonjovi]

We are headed to WDW at the end of Feb. we have been 3 times in the last 4 years. Each time, we have park hopped. In april of 2013, our older kids were 7 and almost 6 years old and did great being out of the room all day.

This trip is our first with our 2 year old twins. we will need to go back to naps and rest each day for this trip. With the new FP+ system limiting our options on FP.....I'm thinking of just not park hopping at all. We used to be able to FP a few rides at each park and we would often travel based on our dining or evening events. With the little ones goings, we are expecting to split up most day. One parent will do the nap/rest back at the resort and the other parent stays out with the older kids. Since we may not be able to fit in all three FP+ options in the evening, before the twins get tired, I'm thinking there is no reason to park hop.

I sort of feel like if Disney is going to severely limit my FP options, I'm going to do my best to limit our spending. for our MK days, I'm thinking of doing all the "baby" rides with the twins at RD. then, one parent takes them to nap, while the other parent stays and can use the FP+ on the more popular rides during the absence of the babies. then, in the evening of MK days, we meet up in tomorrowland /fantasyland as a whole family and do what has the least amount of waiting.

now, i will say that we are going during a low crowd week, so I am hopeful that standby lines will be manageable . that is playing into my decision.

is my thinking flawed? I'd be saving $275 or so on the park hop option!!!

 

[Laketravis]

My comments are based on a recent 17 day visit over Thanksgiving and the first week of December.......

We've always gotten hoppers, and this time we planned on using FP+ for the afternoons and evening. We NEVER scheduled FP+ in the mornings. Instead, we would go to RD at one park and take our chances on Standby.

Although it didn't yield the same results that RD provided in the past, depending on the park we still had an hour or more of short SB lines.

For example:

Epcot RD: We would get over to Soarin as soon as possible, then over to TT (which could be up to a 30 minute or more wait by then), then MS which would still be less then 15 minutes or so. Then we would mill around the park, get an early lunch, could have headed back to the resort if we wanted to take a break but would normally head to the second park of the day for our FP+ reservations, then typically to a resort for our dinner ADR, then maybe even head to a third park for evening shows like Wishes or Illuminations or Fantasmic.

While that worked great for us just a few weeks ago, it was before tiering. I'm sort of on-the-fence now about hoppers, want to see what happens with RD and SB wait times once everyone is using FP+ and there is no more legacy FP. That has the potential to dramatically change the circumstances.

 

[Jennasis]

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.

 

[Brian Noble]

We're still getting them, but we are also staying at BLT, where it's super easy to just pop in for a bit.

 

[bonjovi]

this makes complete and total sense if we were just travelling with the older two again. but, our twin 2 Year olds won't go on all the rides that really "need" the FP+ . and, we would rather not travel around as much since we will now be sorely outnumbered by our offspring. our first trip, my older son was just under 3. he napped, needed diapers, etc. I'm in a panic imagining 2 kids at that age. I can't just count on one baby to "fall asleep" in the stroller, etc. there will be two of them, both unpredictable. For sanity's sake, and FP sake, I think that forcing ourselves to be in one park each day may just be easier this time. crowd levels will be at 3 or 4 our week, so I pray that helps my plan. I'm just not feeling the "value" I once did to pay so much to park hop when I can't FP at each park!

My comments are based on a recent 17 day visit over Thanksgiving and the first week of December.......

We've always gotten hoppers, and this time we planned on using FP+ for the afternoons and evening. We NEVER scheduled FP+ in the mornings. Instead, we would go to RD at one park and take our chances on Standby.

Although it didn't yield the same results that RD provided in the past, depending on the park we still had an hour or more of short SB lines.

For example:

Epcot RD: We would get over to Soarin as soon as possible, then over to TT (which could be up to a 30 minute or more wait by then), then MS which would still be less then 15 minutes or so. Then we would mill around the park, get an early lunch, could have headed back to the resort if we wanted to take a break but would normally head to the second park of the day for our FP+ reservations, then typically to a resort for our dinner ADR, then maybe even head to a third park for evening shows like Wishes or Illuminations or Fantasmic.

While that worked great for us just a few weeks ago, it was before tiering. I'm sort of on-the-fence now about hoppers, want to see what happens with RD and SB wait times once everyone is using FP+ and there is no more legacy FP. That has the potential to dramatically change the circumstances.

 

[Farps]

We have been thinking the same way, we have enjoyed park hopping in the past but the new FP+ system (w/tiering and one park only FP) is not park hopper friendly. We park hopped in November without the tiered system in place and if you make it to RD it was ok. But now having your FP+ tiered I'm starting to think about not park hopping for our next trip. I will be watching closely over the next few months to see how it all plays out.

 

[jepperson1]

We've never used them enough to justify them, so we don't get them anymore. Now we really enjoy the idea that we are immersed in the theming of one park for a day. It also gets us out into the resorts more for dining (especially on MK days).

 

[wisblue]

The OP comments are to me a perfect example of how touring strategy and use of FP+ are going to be totally different for different people given the makeup of their group.

The use of hoppers, RD, and FP+ at a different park later works great for us, but may not work so well for a family with small kids.

To the OP- in late February you may find that you can do a lot of things in the late afternoons and evenings without FPs.

Personally, if I had 2 year old twins I probably wouldn't have the courage to go to WDW, so I salute you for that.

 

[wordwitt]

Hmmmm. I'm currently planning our May itinerary and there's no way we could do what we're doing without the hopper. As in September, we will be utilizing rope drop at one park and FP+ at another. YMMV, but it worked really well for us.

 

[kittyab]

We didnt on our last visit, but on our next visit we plan on it.

We want to visit one park in the morning & afternoon and have dinner at Epcot

 

[Laketravis]

this makes complete and total sense if we were just travelling with the older two again. but, our twin 2 Year olds won't go on all the rides that really "need" the FP+ . and, we would rather not travel around as much since we will now be sorely outnumbered by our offspring. our first trip, my older son was just under 3. he napped, needed diapers, etc. I'm in a panic imagining 2 kids at that age. I can't just count on one baby to "fall asleep" in the stroller, etc. there will be two of them, both unpredictable. For sanity's sake, and FP sake, I think that forcing ourselves to be in one park each day may just be easier this time. crowd levels will be at 3 or 4 our week, so I pray that helps my plan. I'm just not feeling the "value" I once did to pay so much to park hop when I can't FP at each park!

We have an 8 year old but now I'm thinking about how that might of worked (or wouldn't work) with younger ones.

Aside from the strategy required WITHIN a park, then there is the strategy involved in moving FROM park to park, both even more complicated by dealing with strollers and diapers and sleeping/not sleeping......

While being able to reserve FP's in the afternoon or evening was a HUGE advantage for us, it was the ONLY advantage. Yours is truly a situation where the old FP system worked better than the new FP system when it comes to park hopping.

So yeah, I would think that PH is probably not worth it for you, logistically it makes more sense to stick to one park, schedule your FP reservations for your absolute must-do's in that park, and then schedule the rest of your day around those (and the twins).

 

[miblue]

We're staying at BWI this time so we're getting them. it's just too close to walk that we'd end up getting them at the gate I'm sure if we hadn't before. Last trip we never used it though we were at ASMu so not close enough to walk. If we were staying there again we would not get it.

 

[mslhb]

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.

 

[Fueledbycoffee]

I'm actually thinking park hopper will be helpful to us this trip as much as last... We will go the recommended park during the day where we will use FP+ & then hop to evening EMH to jump on rides at closing. With the little ones, that might not be practical but my kids have been the stay up late & sleep in kind since they were little.

 

[Fueledbycoffee]

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.

CM told me I could add "& more" option at the hotel, I would guess you could ask hopper but haven't tried.

 

[mesaboy2]

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.

Yes you can, and it's easy. Should be doable at any ticket window, Guest Relations, or hotel concierge.

 

[nkereina]

We are two adults with no kids so we may do things differently but for us, park hoppers are now the only way to go with FP+. We spent 10 days there in late November. We made most of our FP+ reservations before tiering but I did change some on the fly which caused us to revert to the tiering. But we would go to one park at rope drop and do the headliners stand by, take a mid-day break, and then go to another park in late afternoon to utilize FP+. If we had stayed at the same park instead of hopping, we would be doing some of the headliners a second time which is fine, but I think we'd rather do different rides throughout the course of the day.

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.

Yes, you can add them at any time, however the price is the same if you add them on day three or day six. You get a better value if you add them and utilize them from the start of your trip. But you can add the feature if/when you need it through your concierge or I believe any of the ticket windows.

 

[Fjobe]

We are getting PH this summer for our trip. We got them when we went in 2011, but we didn't use them, and we didn't get them in 2012, or either trip in 2013.

The reason I decided to get them this year is because our touring changed a little bit last year. We had a few days we went back to our hotel in the afternoon and then headed back out to the park in the evening. We probably would have park hopped if we'd had hoppers. I also got the Water Park and more, and when you have that it's not much more to add the hopper, so that also factored into the decision.

 

[momof2n2]

We stopped buying hoppers last trip. We never leave the parks midday. I have an illness when it comes to evaluating ROI and I want as many hours of park time as possible for my tickets. I used to like to "hop" somewhere after AK closed but buying hopper tix just for use on that day didn't work out well for me on paper ($) anymore.
We are RD to kick-us-our tourers and losing time in transferring parks feels like (to me) I'm paying more per hour of fun.

 

[North of Mouse]

Have always gotten hoppers and never plan to go without them - we thoroughly use them each trip - love our spur of the moment park changes.