Going without park hopper.....thoughts?

[Disneyfan1977]

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?

 

[abandcsmom]

We have only bought park hoppers on one trip. Like you said, we hardly used them, and it just hasn't been worth it to us to spend that much extra for something we didn't really use.

 

[Tosie]

We used be hoppers - now we're not. Our decision was based on several things - but mainly a health issue that was exacerbated by the hectic pace of hopping. We now spend the hopper money on the water park & more option.

We've never looked back.

 

[Robo]

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?

We always park-hop... every single day.

But YOU may not NEED to.
How do you know?
What should you do?

Simple:
You don't need to buy the "Hopper Option" UNLESS and UNTIL you need it.

If you are already at one park and decide that you'd like to "hop" to another... right then,
just walk up to a ticket window and pay the $50 (plus tax) per tix (its the same price whenever you choose to do it) and you're ready to hop (that day, and any others, for the rest of your trip.) You must make this and all other upgrade choices within the first 14 day of when the ticket was first used.

If you go and NEVER need to hop, don't buy the upgrade, and you can then spend all those "extra" bucks on more WDW souvenirs!

One advantage of HOPPER is FLEXIBILITY-

So, on your Animal Kingdom day (AK closes pretty early), you could "close" AK and then HOP over to, say, Epcot for dinner and IllumiNations that evening.

If, say, Fantasmic! got "rained out" on your DHS day, you could HOP to there on the day that you were at another park, and catch the amazing show.

If the "entire population" of Hukalockistan poured into MK on one of the days you were there, and filled all the queues and took all the FP's, you could hop to Epcot and escape the crowd.

If you were at DHS and wanted to eat at, say, Canada in Epcot (like WE love to do) you could ride over on the boat, use your Hopper to get into the International Gateway, dine on CHEESE SOUP, then retrace your path back to DHS for more fun!

Hopping can be a valuable asset, and, again, you don't need to buy it unless or until you NEED it!

If you are already at one park and decide that you'd like to "hop" to another... right then,
just walk up to a ticket window and pay $50 (plus tax) per tix (its the same price whenever you choose to do it) and you're ready to hop (that day, and any others, for the rest of your trip.)

 

[Disneyfan1977]

ok...well that makes me feel a lot better........

My kids love the pool and we found last year that they never wanted to go back into the parks.

 

[Samantha/NC]

We had the hopper passes for one of our trips-it was nice but we did not use it like we thought we would!! Our last couple of trips we have not done it and have not missed it!
We are going down over Thanksgiving (FREE DINING) and we decided not to do hoppers!
Samantha

 

[lurkernj]

We bought the hoppers last year and used them twice on our ten day trip. Didnt seem worth the $200 for the 4 of us. This year is a budget trip (Just me and DS11) and we're going without them. It was either hoppers, waterparks, or MNSSHP. I gave DS the choice which he would prefer and he picked waterparks/DQ.

I did my trip plan with and without hoppers, just to see if I felt I could justify it and honestly only see one time I would really plan to do this (spectromagic night).

 

[KGH]

I second Robo's excellent advice...

For our last trip, we didnt buy the hopping option till we got there. We ended up using it quite a bit, but the point is to aim low on the tickets you purchase, because they can always be upgraded, but not downgraded. You can add days, options, etc. but you really can't take them away.

Also, I think the "do we need hoppers?" question depends alot on your length of stay. Staying a short amount of time makes park-hoppers less worthwhile, since it is a flat rate regardless of how many days you have tickets for. It costs about $50 flat to hop for 1 day or 10 days. Even if I do not hop EVERYDAY of my upcoming 10 day trip, about $5 a day seems reasonable. Now, if you plan on staying only, say 4 days, not using the park hopping option one day is like throwing about $12 out the window.

So, I guess, it is only really worth it if you plan to use it. You can have just as much fun in one park. And, if the pool is such a big hit, you can hit up a park, spend the afternoon poolside, and return to the sme park later.

 

[kreed]

Your use of the Park Hopper Option really depends on many variables. We did not purchase Park Hopper this year. We purchase 5 adult tickets so this means spending an additional 250.00 on tickets. We have 3 teens (17,16,13) and purchased the basic plus waterpark because our kids would rather hang at waterpark and another park or disney quest and another park instead of two or three parks in one day. When our kids were younger and liked to hang out with us 24/7 we would purchase park hopper and start one place and end up at dinner in another place. There are so many other things to do besides the parks that I know you will be more than happy with your no hopper ticket.
Have a great trip.

 

[avoiding work]

I like the suggestion above where you buy the hopper option if/when you need it.

If you end up in a hotel near a park, Epcot for example, a hopper may be more important because many of your evenings will be spent at the park, e.g., Epcot World Showcase. If you are not in such a hotel, then the hopper seems less important.

 

[ReneeA]

We don't hop. I use one of the "best days" calendars to decide what parks to go to on what days. In 4 separate 8+ day trips, we've only left a park once due to overwhelming crowds (MK on a Sunday - went back for pool, naps, and dinner - then returned for fireworks).

I always go with the thoughts that the kids are normally super happy with being in the pool all day, we normally go every August so it'll be there next year, and sometimes it's nice to have some down time.

I like the fact that you can add on the option at any time after you're there...we may try it during our next trip.

 

[tebookie]

10 Day trip this year and we are doing it WITHOUT hoppers. There are 7 of us going, so it is a huge savings (about $350 total.)

Planned the trip long enough that we will hit each park at least twice.
Also we will have time for Downtown Disney and check out a few of the Resort Restaurants.

On another trip, just a quick 5 days, we spent a day at each park and doubled up on Magic Kingdom. It can be done.

We have found hopping can take a good chunk of time as well. 2 hours spent hopping we could spend touring other attractions.

It is all up to personal choice.

 

[Golf4food]

We never hopped before this year and only then because we bought FL Res seasonal passes and you can hop with those. It is nice to have but not necessary. (I take that back, we hopped one time - a one day hopping extravaganza for DWs birthday a few years ago where we hit MK, EPCOT, and DHS all in one day to see all of her favorite rides/shows/restaurants and then drove home very tired, lol.)

 

[dyna]

We only bought hoppers 1 time when we was there New Years Day till like Jan 6th. didn't really use them then either.

Which brings to mind that the disney my way tickets just are never my way loved the lenght of stay passes that included park hoppers that was more my way lol

 

[kshattuck]

We have purchased park hoppers for our upcoming 8-day trip. With our two small girls, we will take a break midday, everyday. I like the flexibility of being able to choose a different park for that afternoon/evening.

Also, if we have to cut one of our days short because of any variable involved with having little kids, it's nice to know we can go back to one or more parks, experience different dining options and attractions.

 

[Mirax]

We had hoppers in the winter when it was 60 degrees and the kids were not going to swim. We are going this summer for the first time in the warm months. The money I saved from the hopper we spent upgrading to a moderate with a great pool. The draw back is if we get rained out for an event. Also we won't be able to take advantage of EMH. We had to plan around APR's and Fantasmic. We missed fantasmic the last time we were there because it didn't run everynight and DS1 was dissapointed.


Andrea

 

[Don Disney]

We get Hoppers;Sometimes we use them,sometimes we don't I always say"next time",we are NOT getting Hoppers!!!-And then we get them anyway? The thing is -flexibility,not necessity

 

[winterman]

Staying a short amount of time makes park-hoppers less worthwhile,

I disagree with this. Our trips usually give us 7 or 8 days to do the parks. That number of days gives us the chance to go back to MK and EPCOT or any park, as often as we want to. We do not hop, but I would certainly consider it if we only had 4 or 5 days to do the parks. In that case we would do partial days at AK and HS and go to the other two later on those days.

 

[buckirj1]

Like a previous poster said, I found I don't use them very much and will do without 'em for the upcoming trip. Besides, I'm only planning to go to MK and Epcot this trip, so it'd really be a waste of money!

 

[Nikisha421]

I encouraged my sister to go without it this trip as a way to save money and I think it will work out fine as long as you balance your time accordingly!