Diehard DLR Parkhopper Thinking About Not Hopping This Summer

[limace]

The Dobies must hop. DL doesn't have beer.

Holy crap! I forgot about that. Yep, we are hopping .

 

[taaren]

We will still hop. There is definitely a full days worth of things to do in each park, but I can't imagine a day at DLR without both Space Mountain and Soarin' in it.

We never really used the hopping to maximize rides but rather as a traffic route. To us DCA has always been the way back "home" to VGC since going through the bag checks at the Esplanade is so much longer and more work than just using the private entrance. The reason we hop is because our favorites and our mood when we're in DLR just encompass both parks, both experiences.

For our trip this weekend, I'm planning on starting the morning in Carsland, then heading for any lower-density parts of either of the parks I can find. Just hoping I can find some!

 

[HydroGuy]

I find this funny you are saying this, hydroguy.

The reason being there was a thread a month or so ago where I said because I am a newbie to DLR, that I was planning on doing DL day 1, DCA day 2, and then hopping our third day. You (and others) insisted that I was crazy NOT to hop back and forth. While I value the advice of fellow DISers greatly, I was still having a hard time finding a plan that included hopping as better than a plan that didn't and leaning toward not hopping until the third day.

Seeing hydroguy say this, it makes me feel better that it's not so stupid of me to want to do it that way.

What is influencing my possible change of opinion is the new EMH for Disney hotels guests and to some degree the longer park hours. Since we are at GCH and can enter early each day, that is giving me pause. If we were staying offsite I think I would still be of the park hopping mindset. Not sure your plans for hotel or what we knew of EMH or park hours when you posted that a month ago.

The EMH will naturally drive us to one park or the other each day. Without EMH that influence is not there and then park hopping and starting the day at whichever park suited us that day would be stronger.

 

[lochcarron]

My friends, family, and I have always approached the Parks in a different way than HydroGuy's hopping approach.

We either spend an entire day in DL or spend a good part of the day in DCA and then head over to DL. We believe that a LOT of time is actually wasted hopping back and forth between Parks AND there is soooooo much more to the Parks than just collecting FPs and riding "rides."

We place the focus on the overall experience: enjoying the ambience, taking in shows, riding rides, watching various entertainment offerings, and so forth.

To us, it is not about "collect 2 FPs, hop over, collect FPs, hop back, use FPs, etc...." In fact, that has never sounded like a fun day and is not how we approach DLR at all. We have a list of things we want to make sure we do and we enjoy whatever we encounter along the way. We don't worry about hopping. IF we decide we are done in one Park for the day, we switch Parks, otherwise we carry-on with whatever fun we encounter.

With the opening of CarsLand, this will just mean that we will most likely spend more time at DCA before/if we decide we are done with DCA for the day.

Dreams' Disney Reminder: There is sooooo much more to enjoy than just the rides. Don't miss out because you are rushing from ride to ride or FP to FP.

- Dreams

Totally agree!

 

[Carolynleanne]

I'm in the same pickle. Not park hopping would save us $180.


ETA: Not park hopping actually puts me back to the pre-price increase price.....

Exactly! Which makes it a fairly big deal in my books.

We also always go for a week, so we dont need to rush from park to park. We've got lots of time!

 

[cyclenut]

I agree that for now, incentives that drove visitors to park hop are diminished. What I think will happen is that Disney will go back to reducing the hours DCA is open within a year.

I think DCA is now probably a full day park. However, once the newness of Cartland wears off, the net gain is one attraction, RSR, that is worthy of many repeat visits. To me, that says long term traffic to the park just won't increase that much. That means Disney will be forced to cut back hours again to keep costs under control.

Park hopping strategies may changes temporarily, but not long term.

 

[rtfelt]

DCA is definitely a full day park now. I was there Saturday with a CarsLand preview from 8-12 and stayed until park close (I haven't done a rope drop to close at DLR for nearly 20 years I usually just go for 4-8 hours). My DD20 and I didn't even do everything. We love the Mad T-party and stayed there for much of the early evening before WOC. I automatically have PH with my AP, but I think if I was doing a multi-day ticket, for the first time, I would actually consider not hopping. We didn't PH at WDW last summer, and it worked out great--but of course it's soooo much more difficult there. Generally when I go, I go for such a short time, that I often don't hop, but for a whole day--that's a hard one. I think it might depend on the number of days. I think if you're doing 3 days a hopper is beneficial in case you miss something at each park, you can pick those things up the 3rd day, but for a 5 day, it may not be that necessary. You could spend 2 days in DCA, 2 days at DL and then decide which park to spend your 5th day in.

 

[dedwards]

I agree during this first several months the park will be much more crowed and the same opening hours will take away a lot of the time benefits of parkhopping. For us though there is to many rides and things we like in both parks that not park hopping does not make sense to us. We went to the sunday 1 to 5pm preview we went on luigi's first as we got in the wait was 3 minutes it got much lonnger after and then MJJ a walk on and then waited in line for RSR for 40 minutes checked out each store and took a millions pictures all over the place and ate lunch at Flo's I mean I could have stayed longer but I think we were out of the land by 3 or 3:30. So the crowds will slow up touring the land i just don't know how this one land turns a park I spent 4 hours in each day of my trip max into a park I now spend 12 hours in or more. So for me to enjoy a full day at the resort we parkhop. This is ofcourse just my opinion, we park hop each day as we desire, we never make schedules of when to be at this ride or that ride we have never walked away and felt like we missed something. In a single day we have always felt we did what we wanted to do in both parks, and I still feel that even with the new land we will still be able to enjoy athe bulk of both places each day.

If I was going to only go into DCA one day then I could spend a full day there so i will not say it is not a full day park. I just don't see why I wouldn't enjoy it each day of my trip if on a mutiple day trip.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I find this funny you are saying this, hydroguy.
The reason being there was a thread a month or so ago where I said because I am a newbie to DLR, that I was planning on doing DL day 1, DCA day 2, and then hopping our third day. You (and others) insisted that I was crazy NOT to hop back and forth. While I value the advice of fellow DISers greatly, I was still having a hard time finding a plan that included hopping as better than a plan that didn't and leaning toward not hopping until the third day.
Seeing hydroguy say this, it makes me feel better that it's not so stupid of me to want to do it that way.

I don't post here as much as Hydroguy but I certainly know how to get around the place. Back when DCA opened late, it didn't cost $30 more for hoppers, and DCA didn't have the attractions it does now, I certainly would agree that one should start out in Disneyland, get some quality stuff in while it was less crowded, and then hop on over to a less crowded DCA. Later in the day when one simply ran out of things to do in DCA, one would hop back. It was a huge plus to hop back then. But now after all the additions and $120 to hop for a family of four, it's not nearly a slam dunk. I can still get around DCA in less than a day. However, there is enough to do there now that I'd be just as satisfied staying as hopping back. And if that is the case, then it certainly isn't a slam dunk for hopping. It all depends on what you wish to do and what your habits are. There are multiple ways to zig when others are zagging. The hop strategy was just one of them. There are others.