For goodness sake, pay for Hopping!

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

I have hopped with an under 3, and I am doing it with the new one this summer. Hopping is the best! We did MK early to get in the busy rides, then rest then stroll around Epcot in the evening. We did AK early, rested, swam, had dinner then did MK for parade and Fireworks. We did MGM early, got really hot, left to nap and swim and then went to Epcot for dinner. The kids saw the same amount as if we had stayed in one place all day (with a nap of course) but they had the changes in pace that hopping allows. Commando MK then calm stroll in Epcot is much better than Commando MK all day, then a "boring" (my kids) all day at Epcot.

That being said - Live and Let Live. If it works for you do it, if not then don't.

No matter what it's still a day at DISNEY!!!

 

[wdwfan1]

We are also hopper fans. When staying in the Boardwalk area, it is especially to hop from MGM to Epcot.

 

[cdpa4d]

Hi kids,

So many of the best strategies for seeing "everything" would include hitting one park at opening and then switching at lunch-time.

Disney took something that used to be a feature of every multi-day pass and jacked up the price by making it cost extra. I like to save a buck, believe me, but this is one thing I just wouldn't ever suggest anyone skimp on.

I guess I just feel SO bad for the people who try and go to the EMH parks and can't hop anywhere else, they are actually having like the worst most crowded possible park experience they could have. I know how that feels, because I got "stuck" in the Magic Kingdom once with my non-hopping-one-day-ticketed parents, on a day when they almost had to close the park due to capacity crowds. That day was like NO fun, and I know from other people traveling that weekend that the other three parks were fine that day.

So, anyways, that's my rant. Skip some of the mediocre restaurants if you are looking for somewhere to cut (and there's lots of them!).

This is why I don't like to go to the park that has Evening EMH during the day. It is going to be the most crowded of all the parks because the people who don't have the hopper option will be at that park. That is the only way they will get into Evening EMH.

I still go to EMH, but not to that park during the day. I go to a different park to avoid the non-park hopper crowds and then hop to the EMH park during the evening.

 

[jmatias]

Our past 3 trips to WDW we didn't have the hopping feature and it worked fine for us. I think it depends on your family and what they can handle. Two of our trips were with young children who were just too tired at night to go back to the parks and one trip included grand parents that had mobility issues so they also had no desire to park hop or go back to the parks at night.

Now things are different for our July trip. Our boys are older and are now looking forward to closing MK at 3:00 am If our 3 year old is cranky and tired I'll stay with her at the resort and let DH take the boys. Also, we will not have grandparents with us. So now we planning to buy the AP to take advantage of park hopping.

 

[JennyMominRI]

For those of you that park hop to multiple parks in one day, are you doing that with young children, say... under 3 yrs old? I understand the desire to see alot in one day, but with two children 3 yrs old I can't imagine the disruption of lines, and buses, and trying to get naps in, etc. Maybe those that don't park hop aren't trying to save money, but rather trying to keep their sanity!

I think it's great with small kids. You hit a park when it opens..then at about midday when the little one gets tired you go back to the room and rest,sleep,swim..Especially if it's really hot weather.. In the late afternoon,you can head for another park with a rested child..

 

[TreesyB]

I recently advised a friend going to Disney for the first time with her DD not to buy the park hopper option. I remember on my first trip we did no park hopping, and we were onsite. I think if you're offsite, first time travel to WDW, you don't need a park hopper. Especially if you plan well!

 

[lovevacations]

We have 11 days at WDW w/ a 10 day hopper. When I looked at our schedule I noticed we were not hopping at all. I'd rather spend the money for the water park option which is only $45 more. I think with a short trip I would get the hopper, but we have plenty of time to see it all w/o hopping.

 

[Sleeping Jedi Beauty]

We felt like the hopper was a no brainer for us. If someone finds that they like a certain park less(AK may do it for some of our party), they can always go check out another one. And since EPCOT is dominating our ADRs, the hopper will be a necessity for us.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We didn't hop on our trip. Worked out just fine. We simply avoided emh parks. We like to imerse ourselves in each park. And within a park, we found that 80% of the timesaving strategy was get there early and hit the right place first. Once that was accomplished, judicious use of fastpass carried us through the rest of the way.

I'd say wanting hoppers depends upon several factors.
1. The more you've been there, the more likely you are to want to skip a few things and thus need them.
2. The shorter your length of stay, the more likely you are to need them.
3. The closer you are to a holiday and also the busier the season, the more likely you are to need them. Disney tends to change schedules on the fly a bit more during these periods especially adding in MK emh's. And with holiday events at MK, it makes it tighter to schedule around these things.
4. Special circumstances may dictate you needing them to see something you wanted but you don't want to spend another day in that park to do it. The biggest example would be if Fantasmic got rained out on your MGM day and you wanted to see it but didn't want to use another full day at MGM to do so. But you can always add hopping to your ticket at any time. You will be charged full price for it though even if it's your last day down there.

 

[GarrettJD]

I consider the Park Hopper a must, but I do understand it's not for everyone. We usually go to two different parks each day- one at opening and a different park in the afternoon after our break. The change of scenery (of sorts) helps us stay fresh and energized.

Also, at the Animal Kingdom, the lack of a big night show bothers me, so when I go there, we usually hop to Epcot for the evening an Illuminations. As much as I love the rides and shows, the nighttime spectaculars are our absolute favorite things at WDW, and we try to see Wishes, Spectromagic, Illuminations, and Fantasmic multiple times on each trip. My favorite night was the night we saw both Illuminations and Fantasmic the same night... we were near France for Illuminations at 9:00, left via the International Gateway after to the show, took the boat launch to MGM, and made it there about 9:45 for the second (10:30) showing of Fantasmic. What a great night. Of course, all this is easy for us to do because we are both young and don't have kids in tow.

I'd love to see the AK come up with some big "nighttime spectacular" show. Even if fireworks aren't possible, the Imagineers can get creative and come up with something.

 

[Ghost]

I for sure need it...

Do one park during the day and end that day hopping over to Epcot for Illuminations. On my last (14 day) trip I hoped many times...An absolute must have in my opinion

 

[Kevs mom]

We have been to the Disney Parks 3 times over the last 9 years and have never park hopped, I know the first two times we could have with our 4 day passes but we just stuck to one park each day and enjoyed that park to the fullest. That being said we are getting ready to head back to Disney and my friend insisted that we need to purchase the hopper option on our passes, she says that she has park hopped before and loves to do it so we will be "park hopping" for the first time on this trip - I guess we'll see how much we feel we needed/used it before I purchase it again. Who knows, I might wonder how I ever did without it

 

[jann1033]

haven't decided for this trip yet. last was with aps and we only hopped once ( to do mgm on emh am then to epcot for the rest of the day) that would be the only place i would want to hop since i like tot and rnr but nothing else there enough to do 2 whole days worth

i think it depends on when you go also. we go in winter and since every where but ak has a night time show we usually stay where we are...emh am doesn't make a lot of difference for crowds then either. we used to hop all the time pre fantasmic and wishes( seems like the mk fireworks were not so much of a draw or shown much when we were there before) , going to epcot most evenings but last trip it wasn't necessary . i liked the freedom but don't know if i'll pay for it or not

 

[DisneyJen0504]

I agree park hopping is a necessity for us and I believe it will be even when we have kids and bring them to WDW. It gives you so much more flexibility and to us, is way more fun!!

 

[MEM]

Another hopping fan here! The flexibility is worth the extra money. Personally, hopping gets us out of commando mode rather than the other way around.

 

[aterriq]

We like park hopping. It allows us to eat at the restaurants we want. Most of the places we like to eat are at Epcot or MK. Normally when we do AK, we eat that night at Epcot. For this reason, the PH works for us.

 

[shasess]

On our last trip to Disney we did not have the park hopper option and everything worked out great. We spent all day at each park and had plenty of things to do....For this trip we did purchase the park hopper option just because I'd like to have the option of going to a different park in the evening...I guess I'll have to wait and see if we actually use it!

 

[NotUrsula]

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.

Huh? If you are leaving the park anyway for a break, how are you losing any time? It wouldn't take any longer to go to Park B after your break than it would to go to to Park A.

We always go in low season and stay onsite, so for us it is a must if we want to get maximum park hours in and still take a mid-day break. We hit the am EMH park at opening for about 3-4 hours, break, then hit the evening EMH park by about 5 pm. That way we usually manage about 9-10 hrs of park time per day, even with the break.

BTW, this is all done with little kids in tow. I know mine would never leave the park for a break if the plan was to return to the same park; they would just want to stay. Hopping is the motivation we use to get them out of there for their rest break.

 

[DisFlan]

We wouldn't go without hoppers. As others have noted, it's a big help with dining. You don't HAVE to spend all day in just one park because that's where you have an ADR. You don't HAVE to limit yourself to the MK because you want to watch parades and Wishes that night. If a park is unusually busy, hop to another one.

Maybe the most important thing about being able to hop is that you don't HAVE to plan everything down to the second to get it all in. With hoppers, if anything unexpected happens, you can change direction as needed without upsetting your whole vacation plan - or missing out on something important to you. I don't know about other folks, but we've never had a trip where something unexpected didn't crop up.


DisFlan

 

[mill4023]

It really isn't about the money for some people.
Like I said, we paid for the hoppers last time and never had a need or desire to use them. But we also don't like taking afternoon breaks. To me, the most tiring part of the day is getting 4 kids and 2 strollers from one place to another. So instead of taking breaks or hopping, we like to spend the day at one park and take some time in the afternoon to see a show or do something else that gives us a chance to sit and rest. Then I like to have some rest days built in or at least half days.