Disney Ticket Tips Please!

[portocall]

How important is the Park Hopping option. After thinking about it, I am not so sure we will use it and it is a lot of money if we don't. DH and I really are calm, don't rock the boat, if it ain't broke type of people, and we also like to be well rested so I don't think that we will do late nights often. We are adding the Water Parks and more option since DS's really want to do the water parks, and I am sure we will do those on some AM's and a park in the PM, which won't leave a whole lot of time for hopping. Please tell me how you worked park hopping in, or if you didn't use it, or would have been fine without it. Thanks for you the help.

 

[noahdove]

We had the park hopper- and it did come in handy. We finished a park in one morning and after our rest, we went to another park. i left one day opened to go back and do things over if we wanted to or needed to, so for us, it was money well spent

 

[cruisindisney]

We bought the park hopper in May and NEVER used it. I was really upset with myself for wasting the money. With two kids, we found ourselves in one park all day (taking a break in the afternoon and returning after a nap). Maybe without kids it would be easier switch parks.

 

[tinkerbell34]

It really depends on your plans. We have done both in the past. If you know you are going to be going to one park and one park only on any given day then don't bother with the extra money. However, if you think the freedom of being able to go where ever you want when you want would suit you better then go with the park hopper. It is kind of like choosing a resturant or a buffet. The park hopper came in handy for us this way........We only like a few attractions at Hollywood studios and don't want to spend a whole day there. So we are able to enjoy the attractions we like and then hop over to another park and enjoy the rest of the day doing things there. To be more specific, we would go ride Rock n Roller coaster at Hollywood stuidos (our personal favorite ride out of any park), then hop over to Epcot and be there in time for the rope to drop to the world showcase. The park hopper can come in handy if maybe you want to dine at a specific resturant in a park but maybe you don't want to spend the whole day there, maybe you would like to go back and buy something you decided you would really like to have, and like us, maybe there is one attraction you really fell in love with that you would like to enjoy a few more times before leaving WDW. Now, like I said, we also do the non hopper option. Epcot and Magic Kingdom are both parks we know we will be content in for a whole day. We also are content in Animal Kingdom, but at the same time, that park closes early so it is another perfect option for a park hopper to finish out the evening somewhere else. I hope this rambling paragraph helps you in some way.

 

[WillCAD]

Having the hopper from the beginning allows you to structure your entire trip differently. If you have trouble getting an ADR for your favorite MK restaurant on your MK day, you can easily change your itinerary and make that day a split between MK and another park, rather than skipping your favorite restaurant or taking a time of day that's way too late, or having to juggle whole days around. With the hopper, you can juggle half-days.

You can also use the hopper to maximize your days. AK and MK don't hold my attention for whole days, so I like to go to Epcot or DHS after 3/4 of a day at MK or AK, and finish out my day there. With others, it's AK and DHS that don't fill a day.

I also like hopping over to MK, DHS, or Epcot towards the end of my AK days to view Wishes, Illuminations, or Fantasmic a second time.

I often hop to avoid crowds. If I arrive at a park in the morning only to find it mobbed beyond all reason and sanity, I will simply hop to another park in search of lighter crowds.

And I sometimes use the hopper on my last day to visit other parks for that one souvenir item that I saw earlier in the trip but couldn't find anywhere else on WDW property.

On the other hand, if you've gone through half of your trip without the hopper, then find that you want it, you will probably not spend the extra because "half my trip is over and I don't want to waste the money to only hop for half my trip." This removes all of the options I just mentioned above, limiting you to one park per day.

 

[portocall]

tinkerbell34, you made me laugh when I read what you said about DHS!!! That is so true for me! That is exactly why my first gut feeling was to go for a park hopper, but if we don't get it, we can stay another day... I am so conflicted.

The ADR's make sense as well...

I am leaning towards it again.
Thanks for the info all

 

[PrincessBetsy]

I definately believe that the park hopper is worth the extra money. My family used it almost everyday of our vacation. It is very nice to be able to go to one park early in the morning, such as Animal Kingdom, then return to our room in the afternoon, then go to another park, such as the Magic Kingdom later that night to watch the fireworks or Epcot to watch illuminations. Once we went to three parks in one day, it was a lot of fun, but very tiring!

 

[disneyag]

We always get a park hopper. It is so much easier to just move to another park if the crowds get annoying. As a previous poster mentioned, it's helpful when you can't get a specific ADR on a specific day. Also, we like to have the ability to go back to a park to do our favorite rides/attractions again.

If you decide not to do the hopper option, then you might want to avoid the parks having EMH. Sometimes the crowds get unbearable.

 

[lindsey]

our son and family just returned and did not get the park hopper. They made several ADR's not in the parks, examples - Trail's End at FW, Kona at Poly, Boma at AKL, so they could decide during trip which park to go to.

 

[yxe dad]

I would add it to my tickets before I became an AP holder. I would use it to go just for the fireworks, a dinner in a different park, or to get away from the crowds, well worth it IMHO.

 

[My 2 princesses]

this was our first trip, and granted it would have been hard to hop with a 7 month old, but the day we went to Epcot was really hot and DD was not into much at Epcot (except Soarin, lol), it was then that we were regretting not having the hopper. Like a previous poster said, it would be great to have the hopper at least to another park for fireworks from AK since they close at 5 anyway.

 

[julezdisney]

just a note- I priced the diff. when adding the water parks option and noted that it was more than a 1 day admission to a water park, which, if we didn't go more than once, wouldn't be worth it, as it's priced more because it includes the almost-closed Pleasure Island, and Disney Quest, which we wouldn't use. So unless you're going to use two days of water park, or at least one visit each of water park and disney quest, I think it's not worth it to add to the base ticket, rather than just to buy one day less, and than pay for that admission seperately on whatever day you chose to go.

kwim? phew.

 

[swald91]

We always get park hoppers-no water parks that saves a bit. I almost think the last trip we could have just had reg. entrance tix & would have been fine. We really didn't park hop. But like another post-you may have dinner res. 1 place & want to get to another park earlier/later. Good luck-I probably really didn't help you-sorry!

 

[ZoZo]

I'm a devoted park-hopper, but not everyone thinks a hopper is necessary.

We go during Food and Wine Festival time, and usually end each day at Epcot (no matter which park we start out at). So hoppers work great for us.

If you're not sure if you're going to use the hopper option, get your tickets without it. You can always add it after you arrive - it's a flat fee (around $50 per ticket). The cost-per-day goes down the longer you're there, so if you're there 7 days, it's $7 per day ($50 divided by 7 days). But if you only use it once, it's $50 for that one day ($50 divided by one day)! Does that make sense? It totally makes sense to add the hopper option if you're planning to use it every day, but not worth the money if you're only going to use it once.

 

[addicted2dizney]

I'm a devoted park-hopper, but not everyone thinks a hopper is necessary.

We go during Food and Wine Festival time, and usually end each day at Epcot (no matter which park we start out at). So hoppers work great for us.

If you're not sure if you're going to use the hopper option, get your tickets without it. You can always add it after you arrive - it's a flat fee (around $50 per ticket). The cost-per-day goes down the longer you're there, so if you're there 7 days, it's $7 per day ($50 divided by 7 days). But if you only use it once, it's $50 for that one day ($50 divided by one day)! Does that make sense? It totally makes sense to add the hopper option if you're planning to use it every day, but not worth the money if you're only going to use it once.

Exactly what I was going to say... if you are unsure, don't get it and if find yourself in a position where it would really come in handy once you are in the midst of your trip, then by all means upgrade your ticket then. you can change/upgrade your ticket anytime within 14 days of it's first use.

 

[Dizisfun]

We always add the park hopper to our tickets, but it's a personal choice. We are a married couple who's children are all adults now. So we hop from park to park with no problem. We like to be able to move on to another park if the crowds get to large at one park. Or come back to say MK just to watch the fireworks or whatever. My DD and SIL went with us last year along with our two granddaughters, ages 6 and 4, and they did use the park hopper toward the end of the week. But as this was the granddaughters first time to WDW they wouldn't have minded spending an entire day where ever they were. They just loved it and are looking forward to their next trip in December 2009.
We haven't purchased our tickets yet for this October, less then 1 month, we will probably add the park hopper.

 

[nursears]

I think we're going with the base ticket, but I have this hidden fear that we'll wish we did park hopping....I can't make up my mind yet. Geez, only 6 weeks to do that!

 

[thepwa]

I always get a Park Hopper, and always use it. Would not go to Disney for an extended stay without it. In fact, now that I think about it, even if I were only doing a day, I would still hop. I cannot imagine doing Disney without it.

 

[mjh8955]

We tend to do only 1 or 2 days at WDW when we are at our timeshare off-site. We've been so many times we don't feel like we have to see every single thing each time anymore. Because of that, we want the park hopper option so we can get to all our favorites at all the parks. However, if you are going to be there more than 4 days, I think you could do just fine without the park hopping option.