Going without park hopper.....thoughts?

[scard192]

No park hoppers for us either, same reason-the cost. With my 3 year old grand daughter with us I don't think we'd be doing too much hopping anyway. ADR's are all set for the days we plan to be at each park so hopefully it will go smoothly.

 

[dalt01]

For the first time, we are going without the park hopper passes this year at disney. It is a budget decision. Last year, we hardly park hopped at all. If we could afford it, we would surely do it.

Anyone else go without it?

nope, to much like a corset, restricting.

 

[eroilersgal]

In two previous trips we paid for the option but never used it. This time, I skipped it completely and with two boys, 9 and 11, the water park and DQ option was money better spent for our family.

 

[uirishtoo]

We have always got the hoppers for our trips. This year is a budget year and I did not get them originally. BUT I am going to add them. My DD16 and I love to go to 2 parks in one day. She and I do not enjoy the waterparks so that is our plus. We decided to stay at POP (first time in a value) so we could do what we are used to.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I have never gone without park hoppers nor will I ever.

But, we also have a 10 day ticket usually so it's only $5/day and in going to HS more than once, we easily make HS a park that we end up leaving by 3 and usually end up in Epcot afterward.

Same with AK... we usually plan AK on a Sunday so that when we leave AK at about 5, we can go to MK for PM EMH.

A lot of our ADRs are also around MK or EP so we need to park hop also.

I just couldn't go to WDW without them... I'd rather give up something at home like $50 worth of soda than not being able to park hop.

 

[MagiKitty]

This will be our fourth year, fourth trip in a row going hopper-less. We re-route the $50 towards a special event, either MNSSHP/MVMCP/Wishes cruise.

 

[randbmom]

Usually we get 10 day non-hopper, non-expiring tickets and get two five day visits out of them in a week's vacation. It's worked for us with two boys (14 and 9) who have the stamina to do a full park day in the summer. We hit each park once and do it all, and have the last day to choose where to go back. Of course, that was back when Fantasmic was every night.
This year we are here for two weeks (had a time share week to burn), so got AP's and are hopping for the first time in years. We've hit Epcot later in the day three times, and it's been great, but not necessary. I'll definitely not be spending the $200 for the four of us to hop---rather spend that on dining!!!

 

[bittersk]

For as long as they have had park hoppers we have been getting them. I love the flexablilty. This year is the first year we have been very set ADR's. So that has never been a problem for us but we could very easily goto 2 or 3 parks in a day. I have been there 9 times and have ridden mostly everything so for us it is not a problem if i don't ride it's a small world for the 5000000th time. We just love the idea that we can start the day at one park and then go to the hotel and go back to a different park later in the day. For us the Water Parks and More Option is a wadte of money. We have so many "extras" left on 10 year old ticekts that we can just use those and not have to worry about spending money to get into the waterparsk for 1 day.

 

[semo233]

We used the park hopper only once last year. We are going for a quick trip at the end of August and only have 4 full days.

Make sure you read the thread on tickets. I just found out that buying a 2 day park ticket with Water Parks and More is good for 2 major park visits and 2 waterpark/Quest visits! That means we can pick a different thing to do each of our 4 days. If we decide to take one day and just hang and the CBR, we can use 2 of these visits in one day.

I think this is the best way for us to get the most for our money and what we want to do.

 

[Tomh]

We went last year without park hoppers, and are doing so again this year. I really don't see a problem with it. It seems to me that there is certainly enough to do in each park to spend the full day there, and if you manage to see everything you want in the park before closing time, then you have some extra time to hang out at the resort, visit DTD, or do some shopping.

The only caution I would have is that you really need to plan your days out ahead of time, and get your ADR's in place so that you'll have reservations to eat in the park you'll be at on each day, or to eat at a resort. We plan our meals out well ahead of time, and get our ADR's bright and early on the 90 day mark so we are sure to have the meals we want in the park we intend to be in each day.

 

[Returning DisFan]

Hi, we have seven total in our group. My DM and I will have AP's, but the other five will have non parkhopping tickets. This was based on a financial decision because my poor DM has to pay for everyone else's tickets(as well as the entirety of the trip). My SIL decided at the last minute that she wanted to go since we are taking my nephew(9)(her son) Also, we have younger children with us as well. My DS3, DS5. And finally, my DD12. So, this will be the first time for us touring with the base tickets as well. We are hoping for the best

 

[Believing is Seeing.]

It's perfectly fine to go to Disney without having Park Hoppers. I know you'll have a great time. Take your time in the parks.. If you're staying on property take advantage of EMH.

Have a magical time!

 

[sjkwheeler]

Tonight is our last night here (8 days) and we never used the park hopper feature of our tickets. We thought for sure we would utilize this. We found that we would go to a park in the morning, then either leave and go back to that same park, or we would spend the evening at the hotel pool or at Downtown Disney.

My husband (who was not a Disney fan before we came on this vacation) just told me to forgo the Park Hopper option "next year" and instead book our stay at a deluxe resort

 

[Kayka]

One park per day is good for the first three or four days, but after that we like the ability to hop.

I do like that you can purchase the base ticket and upgrade as needed so you aren't 'forced' to spend the extra money if you don't think you will need it.

 

[KGH]

to whomever disagreed with my statement about parkhopper priveledges being more of a value with a long stay than short, i am speaking strictly mathmatically. adding parkhopping to a ten day pass breaks down to about five bucks a day, while adding it to a one day pass costs 50 or so... so in terms of cash flow, it is a more cost effective option.

this doesnt mean the expierience of park hopping is any more or less valuable depending on length of stay. i guess that is more aptly determined by the dynamic of your travel group.


i apologize for the typos, ipods are not conducive to a dis addiction!

 

[Planogirl]

We don't buy the hopper add-on and don't miss it. We usually spend about half a day in a park and we do other things the rest of the day.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

We ALWAYS park hop. But if you like to stay in one park for the whole day, you probably can skip it. We like to do different parks in the evening, we don't like having one park for the day and then being "finished" with that park for the remainder of our trip (been to WDW so many times we usually do 5 days). We don't feel hopping is hectic b/c regardless of hoppers, we would still be taking a midday break. With our hoppers, now after our midday break we head over to a different park. We need the flexibility the hoppers give.
If you didn't really use them last time, try going without. You can always add them if you change your mind. Have fun!

 

[bennythepug]

we did not get the park hopper option for this trip do to budget reasons. I have a feeling we are really going to miss it. But, I'm just happy to still be able to go !!!! I've been planning the trip with out it, and hope it does'nt effect it to much. We leave in 2 days

 

[ShannonMB]

We've been on 2 trips so far. The first one, the 7 of us had hoppers and used them exactly once to get an extra ride on Soarin' one evening ($350 for one ride on Soarin' ). On our 2nd trip, we knew we wouldn't use them, so didn't buy them. My mom's luggage was lost and they gave us all an upgrade to hoppers, and we didn't use them once (at least we didn't pay that time!). For our Nov trip, we will go without them again.

With so few trips under our belts, we still have more than enough to do in one park per day. I also feel less pressure ("should we be hopping? Let's hurry up and do...so we can hop", should we skip...so we can hop?") Also, the travel would seem to take up too much time. One other thing, we haven't yet exhausted all the dining possibilities at each of the parks or nearby resorts (although HS is becoming slim pickings ).

When we are pros and know what we are okay with skipping at each park and want to get a little more adventurous will be plenty of time to hop. For us relative newbies, we don't need or want it.

 

[aubriee]

I have an Annual Pass, but seldom hop even once during a 9 day trip.

Although this past May I decided I wanted to just see if I could do all four parks in a day. So my last day I made EMH at Disney Studios just to do TSM, then hopped the boat to the back door of Epcot and barely made rope drop for Soarin', ran out the front of the park and caught the monorail over to the MK to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, grabbed a dole whip float to eat on the way while I walked over to the CR and caught a bus to AK, where I road Dinosaur. I wanted to ride EE, but was running out of time, so I caught the first resort bus I saw, and made a run to DTD where I ran into Goofy's to finish up using the rest of my snack credits and ran over to WGP Express to use up my last 2 CS for two to go meals to take to the airport. I then caught a bus to POFQ to catch my bus back to the airport. It was a fun, but exhausting day, but I got to ride my all my favorite rides (except EE) in one day.