For goodness sake, pay for Hopping!

[seashoreCM]

Ask how much it will cost before doing it (adding hopping, etc.)

There are reports circulating that guests had to upgrade even unused tickets bought last year to 2006 standards before upgrading to add features. (The ticket looks and works the same, only costs more.)

A 2006 10 day non-expiring basic costs $32. more than a 2005 10 day non-expiring basic mainly because non-expiration costs more. So you pay not only the $43. (2006 price) for hopping but also the other $32. for upgrading the non-expiration (which works the same as before) as well for a total of $75. (I think).

(Both the upgrading to 2006 standards and the adding of features happen at almost the same time so you don't have to stand in line at Guest RElations twice and an extra piece of cardboard is not thrown away.)

So some folks will say that hopping is not worth adding.

 

[trstno1]

I'm a hopper. My kids are young, and we always need the afternoon break, anyway, and I like the freedom to go wherever I want to, whenever I want to.

There are specifically two reasons I have to hop. They are:

1. Spectromagic. I find it a little over-rated, but my daughters love it. And even during value season, the Magic Kingdom on a Spectromagic day is pretty unpleasant. I have to go somewhere else for the day, then over to the Magic Kingdom for Spectro.

2. The short hours at the Animal Kingdom. My kids can't usually make it past 2pm without a break; and after the break, the Animal Kingdom is closed. Well, Future World at Epcot tends to empty out after 4pm, so an Animal Kingdom morning with Future World evening just seems to work so well.

That said, I think if you are undecided, the best advice is to go without the hopper option, then add it on if you find you need it.

 

[pparm]

We always park hop. We visit one park in the morning, head back to the resort for nap/lunch/swim and head to another park in the evening. We wouldn't like to be without the hopping option, as we've had to change plans at the last minute due to weather. But I do understand that others tour without hopping! To each his own!

Paula

 

[momto2girls]

With 2 small children, park hopping requires way too much energy. So, park hopping is a waste for us.

 

[KayakDaddy]

Park hopping is one of those things that I used to never see the value of - but then once you have it, you can't live without it.

We usually return to the resort for a break too, and it is nice to be able to have a choice of which one you go back to.

We are pretty efficient at touring - we usually go at non-peak times, get there before opening, use fastpasses wisely, we are in good shape & walk fast, etc. The bottom line is that it usually doesn't take us a whole day to see everything we want to in any of the parks. Having the park hopping option is sweet because you can experiance all of your favorite attractions in the same day. Heck, back in October we caught the 8 PM Fantasmic and 9 PM Illuminations on the same day. Fantasmic was over at 8:30ish and it is only about a 20 minute walk from MGM to Epcot via the boardwalk - we were there with 10 minutes to spare. That wouldn't have been possible without park hopping.

That being said - I'm spoiled by the old 7-day park hopper passes and resent that Disney makes you pay extra for the "privledge" now.

 

[crazyj4488]

I, regularly, hit three parks in one day when touring on my own even with early closing hours (8 PM MK closing). You have to have your own transport to effectively pull this off though. Couldn't live without the Park Hopping feature.

My .02 cents...

 

[LoveMyBoys]

We went to WDW for the first time last December, and had the hopping option, but we only used it once out of 7 days in the parks, and that was because we had an ADR at an Epcot restaurant for dinner. We are going back this December and will not get the hopping option. For us it's not really about saving money, it's just that we are not commando, we have 2 kids under 5, and we like to relax when on vacation. So we see as much as we can without exhorting ourselves. But I think that what might work for one family, might not work for another, so I am glad we have options. And if we need to hop we can always upgrade at that time.

 

[mjgruber]

None of the Parks can be seen in one day.....Park Hopping is a strategy WDW designed to have people with tickets riding their buses for hours ( lessens the crowds ). Of course to each his own.....But you can't criticize them for adding the option...the other choice would be everyone HAS to pay extra to Hop..

P.S. No Hop multi days have been around for a long time...I still have a 4 day Value ticket from 1995 ( one MK, one Epcot, one MGM, one choice, and no Hop)

 

[disneyfan61]

Park Hoppers here!!! This April will be our 3rd trip all with hoppers. I myself
cannot imagine not having them but I can understand the ones with little kids not wanting to. We have 2 teenagers that love to choose where they will go
in the a.m. & where to go in the p.m. And they are old enough now that if DH & I want to go one way & they want to go another way thay can. Even if DH & I go alone we will always have the PH option.

 

[Leota]

This coming trip is a cheapo week with a friend. I am using up old tickets - 2 days of which are One Day MYW Base tix, no hopping. In the last 13 trips, I have never not had the option of hopping. I think I can recall 2 days from all those trips combined that I stayed in one park all day. The thought of being stuck in one Park all day, without the ability to hop if it gets overcrowded or I get bored of that Park is so bizarre. I feel extra pressured to choose the "right" Park on those 2 days....

I don't think I'll ever use a non-hopper again unless I have no choice whatsoever. For me, Hopping is a neccessity, not an option.

 

[trstno1]

With 2 small children, park hopping requires way too much energy. So, park hopping is a waste for us.

I feel just the opposite. If I take young kids, I have to park hop. We don't use Disney transportation, and we always take an after-lunch break.

(I have three daughters, and the last time we all went to gether, they were 4, 2, and 2).

 

[KayakDaddy]

I've already posted on this thread, but I did want to respond to one of the common statements I've read. Several people have said that they don't want to hop because they have young children. In my experiance, I would say would want to take advantage of park hopping especially if you have young children.

Why is this? It is because when you have young children you do not spend time in the lines of the headliner rides that usually have really long lines because your kids are too small to ride them. When we just had our son and he was too small for Space, Splash, and Big Thunder Mountains, we did not bother switching off. My wife and I had both been on them multiple times and would focus more on making sure DS was having fun.

We could line up at MK before opening, ride everything in Fantasy land like four times, do all the other attractions suitable for small kids (Buzz, Jungle Cruise, Country Bears, etc) and be done with that park a little after lunch time. Then after the afternoon nap, DS could enjoy age appropriate attactions at another park, such as Tough to be a Bug, Festival of the Lion King, etc.

Now that DS is tall enough to ride everything, and we have a young DD, touring takes us longer, because we do the "baby swap" on the headliner rides.

In summary: We've found park hopping very beneficial for a family with young children.

 

[disneymom3]

We used to always hop when our kids were littler. This trip at 4, 5 and 9 they had the stamina to go all day so we generally didn't do a midday break--offseason so shorter hours--we just would sit in the shade and have an icecream or something. Ironically, we did pay for hopping for the reasons all mentioned here--what if it is crowded, what if we want to just pop into MGM and do Fantasmic, etc. We didn't hop at all, but I do regret adding the option. We took a gamble on it and didnt' use it in the end, but if we had gone to a crowded park, the option to leave and go to another one is huge!

I would say that for the first time or not experienced visitor, I certainly would recommend it. We pretty much know what we want to do where and aren't heart broken if we miss something here or there because we know we will be back.

 

[lauran cameron]

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Don't skimp on the hopping feature on your tickets!

BWAHAHHAA this seriously just made me LOL!!! I picture you flailing yourself out in front of an unknowing WDW ticket purchasers perhaps just approaching the ticket both declaring that they do not want park hopping and you DIVING in from the side in slow motion saying "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" as you tackle them. "DONT SKIMP ON THE HOPPING FEATURE ON YOUR TICKET!!!" with crazy eyes and then quickly disapearring into the crowd.

okay...wow...my imagination has a tendancy to run a bit wild

 

[HayGan]

We took the hopping option off our passes in December. We did not miss not having it. With that said, we are going to add it to our passes this December since we will be going to AK (maybe MGM as well) and I don't see us spending all day there

 

[AlmostApril]

We used to park hop all the time when we lived 40 minutes away, had a FL annual pass, and went at least once a month. That ended in 1994 and now I'm taking my new family in April (they've never been). Knowing that hopping from one park to another takes about an hour, and following TGM's advice re: best days, I really don't see the need to park hop. Rather than lose that hour, I'd prefer going back to our resort, swim, nap and then head back to the same park later that afternoon.

I read through this whole thread. I don't think I ever used a hopper option even though I've had it. I am an outsider since I don't always get to stay on-sidt. Therefore I avoid the EMH park and plan my park days so that we avoid the heaviest days. We've also travelled off-season and did not have to wait in long lines. I feel like it wastes time and energy to travel park to park. The crowds seem to come in the afternoon no matter which park you go to, so why move parks? It just didn't occur to me or appeal to me to jump parks in the same day.

The only exception was when we had MVMCP tix and went to AK during the day--but we didn't need hopper for that.

I vote no. I think you get your money's worth out of each park going for the whole day (or however long your family can do it...depending on the age of your kids.)

I absolutely agree. My family and I had the Park Hopper last year, and when we got home, we realized that we didn't park-hop once! What a waste. And we went to all the EMH parks! And sure, some were a little crowded, but not to the point where it would've been worth losing an hour for transportation to a different park. The thought of switching parks didn't even occur to us. Besides, we had restaurant reservations in the parks we were in for that day. So, not only would we've had to waste an hour hopping to another park, but yet another hour hopping back for dinner!

This year, however, we opted to skip the park hopper and have scheduled all our parks on non-EMH days. So, our week should be a breeze!

Besides, even if the parks were insanely crowded, and we were that desperate to leave, it's not like there wouldn't be other options: Downtown Disney, Disney's Boardwalk, resort-exploring, swimming at your resort pool, boating, mini-golf, I could go on and on.

And, like others have said, if you really want to take the time to go back to your resort to rest, what's the difference if you go to another park or back to the same park? Most parks need more than a half day to do anyway.

It probably cost the same to add the water parks/DisneyQuest option than it does for the park hopper. I plan on leaving Animal Kingdom after lunch since it is our least favorite park, and pretty much a half-day park anyway, and going to DisneyQuest and shopping and eating at Downtown Disney for the rest of the day. Also, we have a whole day planned for Typhoon Lagoon, and we probably won't need it and we can still hop to any park we want after we're sick of it.

Works perfect for us!

 

[AlmostApril]

BWAHAHHAA this seriously just made me LOL!!! I picture you flailing yourself out in front of an unknowing WDW ticket purchasers perhaps just approaching the ticket both declaring that they do not want park hopping and you DIVING in from the side in slow motion saying "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" as you tackle them. "DONT SKIMP ON THE HOPPING FEATURE ON YOUR TICKET!!!" with crazy eyes and then quickly disapearring into the crowd.

okay...wow...my imagination has a tendancy to run a bit wild

 

[MEK]

Some people are hard core hoppers, some like one park a day. I personally think it depends on the trip. We did not use park hoppers on our first trip (even though we had them), but used them to the max on our second trip. Our last trip was during a slow period and we had single day tickets and never felt the need to upgrade. We planned our dining around which park we would be in. We did not do EMH. We rode all of the FP rides without FP (except Soarin and Splash) many, many times.

My next trip will be over Thanksgiving and we will definately park hop then. I want an escape option if one park is too crowded. I also want more flexibility with ADR's.

So for me, every trip is different.

________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

 

[YourMajesty]

I debated on the hopper option on our last trip. We decided against hopping and didn't miss it at all. I did buy an extra day (very cheap to go from 6 to 7 day pass...$3 compared to $35 to hop) just in case we missed something we wanted to go see on our day off. We did try to choose ours psrks carefully, avoiding extra magic hours. We've now done trips both ways and it wasn't that hard to not hop for us. I understand why you might not want to skimp on the hopping option(if you aren't a big planner and might get stuck in a crowded park) but if you know what you are doing it's not a hardship...it's nice because if forces you to have a couple of early evenings (ie...Animal Kingdom day) to do DTD, Cirque or just hang out swimming etc. We found that we really didn't have the energy to do a lot of park hopping with kids....but it was fine for me and my DH. I think you can be completly happy either way with some planning.

 

[lauran cameron]

HAHHAA that picture is awesome