Base ticket or park hopper ticket

[Legacy_19]

My family - me, DH, DS8, and DS1 - will be visiting Disney World for the first time in Oct. Right now I'm torn between purchasing the base ticket or the park hopper ticket. Do people typically do a lot of park hopping in Oct? Is it difficult to park hop with a young child? Is it worth the extra money? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[kadesha]

My family - me, DH, DS8, and DS1 - will be visiting Disney World for the first time in Oct. Right now I'm torn between purchasing the base ticket or the park hopper ticket. Do people typically do a lot of park hopping in Oct? Is it difficult to park hop with a young child? Is it worth the extra money? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

For us, it's not worth it. Too much trouble with little ones. We are fine in one park for the whole day. You can go to your resort mid-day and then go back to that same park. A good reason to park hop would be if you wanted to go see fireworks at another park, you had dining reservations at another park, the park you chose for said day is too crowded, etc. With careful planning park hopper isn't necessary. We will never get it again. We had it on our last trip but I had everything so planned that we only ended up using it once. Not worth the money for us.

 

[Legacy_19]

For us, it's not worth it. Too much trouble with little ones. We are fine in one park for the whole day. You can go to your resort mid-day and then go back to that same park. A good reason to park hop would be if you wanted to go see fireworks at another park, you had dining reservations at another park, the park you chose for said day is too crowded, etc. With careful planning park hopper isn't necessary. We will never get it again. We had it on our last trip but I had everything so planned that we only ended up using it once. Not worth the money for us.

Did you use UG/touring plans or TGM to help you with your planning?

 

[cindar91]

the expense is only $45 dollars per pass extra..for me it's worth having the option of riding that favorite ride one more time..I know with a little one it might be a challenge but in Oct you won't have the heat..I agree with "if the park you pick is too crowded" you can change your plans..it helps to be flexable..have a great trip..you can always upgrade once you get there..

 

[ZoZo]

We always go in October, and always buy a hopper. That's because it's Food and Wine Festival time at Epcot. There are tons of food booths, so you can snack your way around the World Showcase. For the adults, there are lots of types of beer and wine to sample, as well.

Each day, we nearly always start out at a different park, then hop to Epcot later in the day. I just love the flexibility that a hopper gives to you. If you're at a park and it's crowded, you can switch to a different park.

 

[jellybeans0607]

we always get the hopper. we like the option of doing what we want.
plus, we do the magic kingdom almost everyday we go. the kids love it there,we love it there, so why not go everyday. depending on where we want to be at night we will go to a park in the morning, lets say AK. for us there isnt a whole days worth ot things to do there so we stay through lunch, then hop in the car and the kids get a cat nap. we get back to the hotel for a swim and then its back in the car and another cat nap for the kids. then we hit MK. no matter how tired anyone is at that moment, MK wakes them up, lol.
i feel like if we stay in the same park all day we all get a little cranky.

 

[Kim1964]

We like the flexibility of the hopper, too, but this year our kids will be 12 and 6 when we go. When they were 8 and 2 1/2, we had hoppers but never used the hopping feature because we had to be back at the hotel for our little one to go to bed pretty early. If I'd thought it through back then, I would have gone with base tickets (and we were there in early November, so the parks weren't packed).

Last year the kids didn't require as much sleep and it was nice to spend the day at a park, go back to the hotel to swim and shower in the afternoon, then hit another park for dinner.

 

[justplaingoofy]

You can add the hopper once you get there if you find that you need it. I'd probably do that.

It is a flat rate of $45 reguardless if you have a 1 day ticket or a 10 day ticket.
In the past we have done the hoppers, but now we do the base ticket. I think it depends on how much planning you do.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We're hoppers, love doing different park in the afternoon but for the age of your youngster I don't believe hopping an advantage. They tire quickly and returning to the resort for a nap and rest is easy and once in the pool hard to leave but to return to the same park for an hour or two very doable. No sense going to popular attractions in different parks because your child really won't know or remember alot. I'd save the money until your children and stamina are older and better then consider a hopper pass.

 

[kmjmom]

We always go with the hoppers! I don't like to be tied down to staying at a crowded park or limiting our dining options. This way we can have the flexibility to go where we please. Our kids are older and that definitely allows us to get around more. I love being able to do Epcot in the morning, dinner at WCC and then a boat over to Wishes at MK and one more ride on Splas h Mountain!

 

[ROEDISNEY]

My family - me, DH, DS8, and DS1 - will be visiting Disney World for the first time in Oct. Right now I'm torn between purchasing the base ticket or the park hopper ticket. Do people typically do a lot of park hopping in Oct? Is it difficult to park hop with a young child? Is it worth the extra money? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

Park hop all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did it with five lil ones.

 

[annacali]

We were there earlier this month with my two DD's ages 5 and 3. I was very glad we had the hopper. There were things they wanted to do at DHS (meet Mater and Lightening McQueen!) and Epcot (ride Soarin and see Nemo/Crush) but we could never have spent a whole day at those parks. They were done after about 3 hours there. So we did those parks in the morning, went back to our timeshare for a nap and a swim, ate dinner and then went to MK in the evenings. They loved it there best of all and got to ride their favorite rides multiple times and see Spectro twice.

 

[GrumpyMom25]

We always get park hoppers. There's is nothing like getting all set to watch one of the parades or firework shows and have a storm roll in and have it canceled. We've switched parks mid-day just to go watch a parade we've missed because of weather. We're also not huge fans of EPCOT ... there are a few things we like to do but usually don't spend an entire day there, the kids would much rather be in MK or HMS.

 

[xmas16]

No reason to use the park hopper if you have planned properly. I'm going with two young children and there is no reason to park hop. We'll be tired enough in one park. Just a waste of $ IMHO. Of course if you're all adults or teens then maybe, but this is an area where you can save some cash by simply planning ahead.

Steve

 

[justplaingoofy]

No reason to use the park hopper if you have planned properly. I'm going with two young children and there is no reason to park hop. We'll be tired enough in one park. Just a waste of $ IMHO. Of course if you're all adults or teens then maybe, but this is an area where you can save some cash by simply planning ahead.

Because we do plan what park we are going to in the morning, and do the dining plan so we have to book adrs we already know what parks we will be in on which day. It does require a little more planning, but lets admit it folks... we love to plan
we prefer to save the $45 per person to put to other things.

 

[GrumpyMom25]

Oh believe me, I plan ... I've had where we'll be on what day figured out since I booked our room. The one thing you can't plan for is the weather tho. If you don't mind missing things like Fantasmic, SpectroMagic and IllumiNations because of a rainout then I say no, you probably don't need a park hopper.