Can a parkhopper be added after you've already been in the parks?

[I459WDW]

If I have been in the parks 2 days, can I add parkhopper to my tickets? I know it won't be prorated. Just wondering if they will take my money. LOL

(long explanation - 1st visit. 4 park days. (unless someone tells me I should do different!) I'm a purist. I've never done parkhopper at World. If I'm in MK I'm in MK or if I'm in Epcot I'm in Epcot. So I'd like to spend my 1st day and 2nd days entirely at one park. But from my reading it sounds like hopper is worth getting for sure at DL. I am thinking of using it for the 2nd 2 days. Once I've gotten the awe of each park in. Then I'll know my way around a little bit and be able to grab fastpasses at both parks)

 

[Disney Lvr of Old]

yes you can add the hopper. DL is a different world- the entrances are 200 feet apart which makes hopping much easier than what WDW is from my understanding. Part of the convenience is hopping to the less crowded park. DCA usually closes earlier than DL so if you are still raring to go you can pop over to DL too.

I would definitely start at DL since it is your first time; walking through the archway is the most amazing thing in the world. (I got goosebumps typing it)

I know a lot of people say DL can be done in less than 4 days but in my opinion it can't. Not properly anyways. With the extra time you can really absorb it all, plan your attack, get to know the park. Then hit up your favorites AGAIN on the last day.

 

[I459WDW]

Disney Lvr of Old I am totally going to cry when I go through those gates.

I had been thinking 4 days was almost going to be too much. I was thinking of changing my trip from 7 nights to 6. But maybe I ought to bump up that pass to 5 days and stay the 7 nights.

 

[Disney_Alli]

This is my forth trip and I've never done fewer than 3.5 days in the park. We're doing 5 days this trip (again) and I'm glad we'll have the time to really explore.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Disney Lvr of Old I am totally going to cry when I go through those gates.

I had been thinking 4 days was almost going to be too much. I was thinking of changing my trip from 7 nights to 6. But maybe I ought to bump up that pass to 5 days and stay the 7 nights.

I've been 3 times as an adult, once for 3 and a 1/2 days (not enough) once for 6 days (when they used to let you get a 6th day once you were there - still not enough for me) and once for 5 days (not enough) I say always go for longer it lets you slow down and really experience the parks vs just seeing the popular attractions

 

[sherilaine]

We are others who always do longer trips. Our first we had a 6 day PH as they still sold them then, our second/third trip we had annual passes and stayed for 10 and 11 nights, and our last trip we stayed 8 nights and did 5 park days with two break days in between which was wonderful.

 

[mgd]

If you haven't used the parkhoppers yet, why not just upgrade them before you even use them at the booths? I think it is $50 total no matter what right? Unless you are not sure you will want to upgrade at all until the end of your 2nd day, might as well get it from the start.

Personally I think you can easily spend full days entirely at disneyland, but you might get a little bored in california adventure for a full day unless you plan to eat a few sitdown meals there and see all the shows. Plus, disneyland is usually open an hour or 2 longer than CA, so with the hopper you can end your day at DL after a day at CA.

 

[I459WDW]

You are right. Seems like it will likely happen. I guess I was just thinking I might decide I don't need it? Seems like it only makes sense though.

Personally I think you can easily spend full days entirely at disneyland, but you might get a little bored in california adventure for a full day unless you plan to eat a few sitdown meals there and see all the shows. Plus, disneyland is usually open an hour or 2 longer than CA, so with the hopper you can end your day at DL after a day at CA.

Thanks! I'm just starting to learn everything and this is very helpful to know!!!

 

[mgd]

To kind of contradict my other advice, if you do get tired of CA (not everyone does, it is a good park depending on your likes) you can almost do it all in an entire day there and spend the rest of the days fully at DL to save $50 per ticket. But it is nice to have the hopping option. Wouldn't want to get stuck in one park if you want to be in the other for something. Sorry to add more confusion...

 

[I459WDW]

D'oh! LOL! $$ of course is a factor. $50 bucks per ticket - could get me the WOC dinner pkg I'm contemplating or the Paint the Night one I just heard of.

 

[gottalovepluto]

To us PH are SO worth it, more so than a dining package to me because I get guaranteed use out of it. If inclement weather occurs you are out of luck with a dining package (the show portion, not the food). We also go during the busy summer season & stuff is always breaking. It took us 4 days to ride Indy one trip as it kept breaking (that was extreme), it took us 2 days to get RSR last trip. PH give us the ability to put a ride off to another day & just keep going. Also love that I can dine in both parks. A cocktail in Carthay Lounge followed by some Plaza Inn chicken for dinner? Yes please!

 

[Happyjenz]

I kind of think of DL and CA as one big park. They are so close together, which is totally different than WDW. I think if you don't have hoppers its almost like only being able to go to half of Epcot.

 

[We7Johnsons]

How much is it to upgrade for just one day?

 

[Disney_Alli]

How much is it to upgrade for just one day?

Do you mean one a one day ticket or to add hopping to one day of a multi-day ticket?

To add park hopping to a one-day ticket it's $50.
To add hopping to a multi-day ticket it's $40 - this is a flat fee whether you hop once on one day or hop 6 times every day of a 5 day ticket. HTH

 

[We7Johnsons]

We each have a 3 day non-hopping ticket. DH was thinking about upgrading just for our 3rd day, but if that's going to be $280 for our family of 7, I guess that answer is "nope".

 

[Arnir]

One of the things I love about PH is that at DLR I can show up and look at the lines and decide which park to go to first. Assuming I don't have any reservations, of course. Like others have said, unlike WDW the two entry gates are side by side.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

We each have a 3 day non-hopping ticket. DH was thinking about upgrading just for our 3rd day, but if that's going to be $280 for our family of 7, I guess that answer is "nope".

It would be $280 to add hoppers to your tickets whether you choose to hop one day or all 3

 

[kathy884]

We're going to Disneyland at a slow time next January (adults only -- DS 21 is on his long college break and the long break means I can hit a January weekday time after the Marathon and before the MLK holiday). We are hitting some LA/Hollywood things too before our Anaheim stay also FYI. Anyway, we are starting off with just two base tickets and planning on a day in each park. If we find we want to hop, I'll just buy the hopper once there. I don't want to spend that money up front, though, and despite so much advice to the contrary I just don't see us hopping. Crowd level predictions are a 3 out of 10 for our Disneyland day and a 6 our to 10 for our California Adventure day.

Do note, we've been to WDW lots of times (for me -- it's maybe 40 times or so / for DS it's maybe more like 15 times). Call us theme park weenies or theme park poops (but that's not really fair -- we just are more selective about what we do and don't repeat more than one or two attractions), but I just see 11 attractions that we want to hit in Disneyland plus the evening show (if it's showing) and 12 attractions at California adventure (looks like one of these may be a closure too) plus the evening show (if it's showing). DS and I too, have read Unofficial Guide descriptions and ratings by age group and author's ratings of every ride in the parks and other descriptions of difference in rides at WDW and Disneyland, and we've been to theme parks enough to kind of know what we like to do and what we would just assume skip.// My touring plans show that it looks like we'll be able to fit this all in between 10 and 4. We'll be there at rope drop, but parks don't open till 10. After that we can go back (staying offsite at a place that's less than 10 minutes away), have dinner, relax in a hot tub, and head back in the evening to do an attraction or two if we want and see the evening show if they are going weekday slow season. Sounds absolutely perfect to me! Maybe we just don't get it or do theme parks in a different way than others, but I just can't see why I would want to hop when we'll already get to do everything that we want to do in each park with two base tickets. And there is plenty to do in each park, so that we won't be bored and want to hop. And a leisurely dinner and some hot tub time down time sounds heavenly after 7 1/2 hours or so in a theme park. // Anyway that's my case for our going the base ticket route to start.

Oh and we already have put together our custom touring plan including lunch break for rope drop to that 2:30 to 3 p.m. timeframe. And we love following these plans - always follow them at WDW. I just am figuring it could be up to 4 p.m. (put a little slack time in there).