Does anyone not opt for the Park Hopper option?

[1st_trip4us]

I was reading another post about the Mickey Halloween Party and saw mentioned that by taking park hopper off it'd pay for that party. I wasn't going to do MNSSHP but then got to thinking if we even needed park hopper. I've now changed all our ADRs so we will not be going from 1 park to another. With 3 little kids park hopping would probably be such a hassle. I have our first day at AK, 2nd & 3rd at MK, 4th at MGM and our last 1/2 day at Epcot. We weren't going to do Epcot at all but then I made ADRs for the Storybook Princess lunch so may as well enjoy a little Epcot afterall. I've made all ADR's according to this so we aren't running around trying to get to restaurants in time. I just called my travel agent and told him to take the park hopper option off our package. For the 5 of us that's $175 which would pay for MNSSHP.

Does this sound like a good plan? Or did I royally screw up telling the travel agent to take off park hopper?

 

[pperfectmom]

We are going with 2 small kids in Sept. and did not get the park hopper option. We are staying on site and will take nap breaks, but will just return to the same park that day. I don't think you really need it with young kids, but might be fun when they are older. You don't want to spend your whole day travelling between parks either, IMO. My sister and BIL got park hopper last year and did not hop one single time. That was a lot of $$ that could have been spent on something else. So, yes, I think you did the right thing!

 

[HayGan]

We don't park hop! There are so many things in each park that we visit that we love to do that we have no problem in spending an entire day in each park! We are actually doing AK the morning that we are doing MVMCP in the evening! That is the only day that we will be in 2 different parks. I have never been to MNSSHP but we love MVMCP. I think you have made a wise choice

 

[rigs32]

We have in the past, but this next trip we're not hopping. If you plan well, there is no need and think of the time and money saved!

 

[ReggieB]

We park hop a lot. We always end up going back to MK or Epcot after being at a different park. However if you plan NOT to do it, I am sure it'll work out just fine. We often hop to go to a restaurant at Epcot, but if you have planned your ADR's around where you are going to be that day I don't see any problem at all. For us it's the best way to see fireworks, and get ADR's at all the restaurants we want. However if you are looking to save money, I think you have made a good choice. The kids will be too pooped to want to do all that hopping.

 

[phisigprincess]

I've always park hopped except for a brief trip when we were only there for a few days. I like the park hopping option, but with the kids being so young it might be more worthwhile to skip hopping at this point and do MNSSHP instead.

 

[disnut1149]

Hi!
We're not park hopping in August. I checked with the Unofficial Guide to see what park is best for each day and plan my day and ADR's around that. Mainly because we are going with my DGD who is 3 1/2. We'll just go back to the same park that night. I'm also going on a girls only trip in December and I did get a park hopper. It's easier for us to hop without little children. I also got a park hopper last Sept. and only used it once. So I think you'll be fine without it, plus it saves you money that you can spend on other things. Have a great time!!!

 

[1st_trip4us]

The ONLY thing that me canceling the park hopper option will mess up is our La Cellier ADR's. I was really looking forward to dh getting to eat there. But the day I had ADR's there is now a MK only day and the one day we have open that we could do Epcot there is no availability there. But for that $175 I could take him out to a steak dinner closer to home.

 

[laceemouse]

We don't park hop! There are so many things in each park that we visit that we love to do that we have no problem in spending an entire day in each park! We are actually doing AK the morning that we are doing MVMCP in the evening! That is the only day that we will be in 2 different parks. I have never been to MNSSHP but we love MVMCP. I think you have made a wise choice

I agree 100%!!! By the time we get everyone up, dressed, fed, and out for the day, then transported to a park, we have NO desire to leave until we are DONE with that park! My kids do not do well with walking past something they really want to do to criss-cross the park OR stand in line and ride YET ANOTHER bus or whatever and go through security and ticket checking again to go to another park! Ours are getting older now, but I still think hopping is a big chunk of time that could be better spent. We have done MNSSHP and MVMCP and enjoyed them both. Both times we just did something else (DTD once and rented a pontoon boat the other time) during the day, had a fun dinner, and then went to the party. We didn't do the parties when they were real young because we like to stay until it ends and get our $$$$ worth! I can't see us paying extra for hopping anytime soon. MYW will save us money!

 

[disneymom727]

We never park hop either. I know if we had the ph option we would feel obligated to use it. I like that when a park closes (even if it is earlier than others) we are forced to go back to our hotel and rest. Otherwise we'd be exhausted the next day. Especially with a little one it tow.

 

[Tinkerbell10403]

I like the hopping option, as if give myself and my party the option to be flexible. If we feel like going to MK for EMH morning, then we do. And then if after lunch we want to do EPCOT, we go. I find hopping essential for myself, but with your kids being so young, I agree that non hopping is best for you.

 

[JulyGirl]

I park hop for the convienience of it, but I'm sure I could plan a WDW trip without it if I had to. My friend calls the EMH a scam to sell more park hopper options. I think she may be right. Many folks like to go to the early hours, take a break and return to the park that has EMH at night. Can't do that without park hoppers.

 

[IwannaseeMickey]

We are not hopping this trip, we did last fall and the only thing we really did was leave in the evening and go to Epcot a couple of days to eat dinner. I decided we could just save the money this time and stay at one park the whole day. That way, too, we can enjoy the evening fireworks at taht park instead of missing them by leaving.

We dont' want to spend a whole day at Epcot, but do want to do a few things there (Princess Bfast being one of them), so we will do Epcot the day we arrrive, have dinner and walk around and then our leave day we'll do bfast and a few things then head out. I, too, justified it by using that money for MVVCP tickets.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

We do not Park Hop either, this was the 3rd trip for the kids, DD5 and DS4 and we just take a mid afternoon break go back and swim - we make our dinner ADR for the park we were at in the first place and just do it that way. Like someone else said, if I had the option, I would feel obligated to use it and that is just too much for the little ones. Also not only do we NOT park hop, but for 6 days, we only get park tickets for 2 of them!!!! Again, it works out fine for the little one, all they want to do is swim any - for Dinners we travel to different resorts, take the monorail watch fire works from the entrance to the MK, the concourse at the Contemporary, the beach at the Poly, the Boardwalk there are ton and tons of things to do and excellent places to eat that don't involve the parks. We just got back Saturday and I am still exhausted - I couldn't imagine doing more than we did - and we did ALOT!

 

[ch1103]

We're not park hopping for our August trip. I have 3 children and it just seems like too much of a hassle to me. I've planned our ADRs for parks (or resorts near) TGM's best park for each day. We have either lunch plans in the park, and then will leave for the day, or will go back to the resort to swim/rest, then return to the same park for dinner. I agree that this time, it was money better spent elsewhere (in our case, the Bippiti Boppiti Boutique).

 

[missmun52]

I think it sounds great for you. You have schedualed your days so that you do not need to hop and with the money your saving you can do MNSSHP .

I am opting for hopper tickets only because I plan to take afternoon naps (My son will be 20 months). My son does not nap in his stroller too often and he loves the water so going back to the pool will be nice in the August heat. Also I have many reservations for dinner at Epcot so most imes i will be going back to that park in the evening for dinner. For me the add on was worth it. If I wanted to save some money though I would have done exactly what your doing (as i did before free dining, then the extra money from that was used for hopper tickets), i dont think you will miss it.

 

[taragl]

Last year we didn't opt for park hopper. We never found it to be a problem, it just meant maximizing our days in each individual park. It was also our first trip and there was a lot to take in.

This year, we know what attractions we want to hit and which we'll skip, so I added park hopper to make the days more flexible, but we had more than enough to do without changing parks!

 

[Pooh Crew]

We hopped last year, but only because we had the option...it was not really necessary. We won't be hopping this year.

 

[disneymomto5]

We never park hop when we take our kids. They get too tired and worn out, so we purposely plan our day around each park we're going to visit. When my husband and I go alone, sometimes we do go from one park to another, but even then I get whiney!

 

[ms.ojo]

We always use to have the park hopper option. And I liked the freedom of knowing we COULD change parks if we wanted to.

When they introduced this new pricing...I took a closer look at our habits. Funny thing, most days we stayed in 1 park all day! Only our last day was a hopper to finish off w/ the best of the best at 2 parks.

This coming trip will be our 1st w/ no hopper. It is also paying for our admission to MNSSHP. There will be lots of firsts on this trip including not being able to end at MK. But that's ok. We're finishing w/ AK and dinner at 1900 PF w/ Cinderella. If we want, we'll pin trade around the monorail resorts and catch wishes from a beach.

Paying that much of a premium to maybe hop on 1 day just doesn't make sense for our family. BTW - our children are 3 and 6. We usually tour 2 days and have a day of rest before touring again. Sometimes the little one naps in the parks and sometimes we have come back to the resort...though last Dec that wasn't a good option as the parks closed so early.