Help for not hopping

[figment41]

We always do hoppers.

Sometimes we get tired of a park and want to try another one for the rest of the day. Or the crowds are bad at one park and we want to try another. Or we want to eat at another park or do a night time show somewhere else.

For the first time We are going to try and not hop this trip. We think it may save some time during the day avoiding transportation issues etc.

For those who do not hop and have in the past what do you think??

What is last moment we can upgrade to hoppers?? Can we upgrade to hoppers in the middle of our trip if not hopping stops working for us??

Just looking for thoughts, strategies and facts

Thanks

 

[Reddog1134]

You can upgrade at any time. Just be aware, the cost is based on how many days your ticket started with, not how many you have left.

 

[minnie mum]

You can upgrade at any time. Just be aware, the cost is based on how many days your ticket started with, not how many you have left.

The first part is correct. The second part is not. Park hoppers are a flat add on fee( $64), irrespective of the number of ticket days; assuming you are buying a multiday ticket.

We rarely buy hoppers and rarely miss them. But it does require a little more planning. We rely on our favourite crowd calendar to plan our park days and our ADRs. Avoiding EMH parks is a no brainer for us. We also put a lot more thought into what to do with our evenings if our park closes early that day ( like AK or MK on a party night). Those are the nights we reserve for dinner shows, late signature dinners, or trips to DTD. Given the cost of PHs, we've only added them if we find we need to hop more than 3 times. But that's just personal preference.

 

[Quellman]

Not hopping is a good way to force yourself to do things you would not normally do on your Disney vacation (seeing how you are a repeat visitor). Animal Kingdom closes early? Well why not try taking in Spirit of Aloha or Hoop Dee Doo? Or maybe checking out Cirque at Disney Springs? Or scheduling in meals at non-park locations, like at one of the hotels. Depending on the time of year you may want to tour the resorts for decorations. Or maybe take in a fireworks cruise or behind the scenes tour. We seldom find ourselves in position to miss using park hoppers. (this coming from a guy who has done 4 parks in a day!)

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

We have not hopped in years. We check and plan roughly based on easywdw's plans. We rope drop, FP+, then rest and go back for nighttime activities, very low key.

 

[Reddog1134]

The first part is correct. The second part is not. Park hoppers are a flat add on fee( $64), irrespective of the number of ticket days; assuming you are buying a multiday ticket.

Anything less than a 4 day ticket is only $50 for park hoppers.

 

[whitney37354]

We park hopped twice. We didn't park hop the last trip because we had grandmothers with us so we thought it would be easier, cheaper, & we were trying to cram in everything we could at the parks since MIL had never been & my mom hadn't been in 29 years. It worked out fine, but we did leave the parks early a couple of days just to come back to the resort to rest. The all day go, go, go was exhausting. We like park hopping better, but would still do it without if we have people with us who need to do as much as possible. Next trip SIL & her family want to go with us, so we'll be doing it as inexpensively as possible & no park hoppers will probably be the way we go.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We always hopped years and trips ago....it was just how we rolled....1/2 day one park and 1/2 day in another....now that was some years ago....but along the way, we started buying Annual Passes and hopping is included so we hop wherever we want and may just pop in a park for a sandwich or shopping spree at a whim...plus having AP's makes us take 2 trips a year....it's like the second trip is free since we don't have to purchase tickets....

But anymore, if we ever quit buying AP's....I believe we won't purchase hoppers because we thoroughly enjoy the MK more than the other parks...we don't go to AK ( detest that park ) and really don't spend the time we used to in EPCOT or HS as we used to.....so the extra money would be a waste....

 

[redkel]

Hopping can be added anytime at your hotel or the gate, I believe. Just remember that the clock starts ticking (flat fee vs per day) as soon as you use your ticket the first time. The longer your trip - the better value hopping is for those that take advantage of it. $64 over 5-7 days vs $50 for 1-3.

We've hopped all of our trips and will continue to do so. Especially with the planning involved in going to WDW these days, we like the added flexibility that hopping gives to our vacation. MK crowded when Josh said it wouldn't be (surely not!)? Well let's head to Epcot. We also use the transportation time to take a rest -- be off our feet for 15-30 minutes and do a mini re-charge.

On a 1-4 day trip I'd probably stick with a park a day.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

 

[Geoff_M]

We always do hoppers.

Sometimes we get tired of a park and want to try another one for the rest of the day. Or the crowds are bad at one park and we want to try another. Or we want to eat at another park or do a night time show somewhere else.

For the first time We are going to try and not hop this trip. We think it may save some time during the day avoiding transportation issues etc.

For those who do not hop and have in the past what do you think??

Prior to this year, we've ALWAYS hopped. But this year, in part due to the "single-park" nature of FP+ and the fact that we didn't think the 8 of us would get an extra $512 worth of fun out of hopping, we bagged the option this time around... The final verdict: We didn't miss hopping one bit!!!

The biggest difference was that we didn't try and burn the candles at both ends, as we had done in the past, by hopping to another park once the one we were in closed. In the past, we'd do AK and then hop to Epcot, or leave for MK after Illuminations to ride stuff until midnight.

 

[disnut8]

Sometimes we get tired of a park and want to try another one for the rest of the day. Or the crowds are bad at one park and we want to try another. Or we want to eat at another park or do a night time show somewhere else.

And that's why we always do hoppers. But, if you are not, the only thing you can start doing right now is to get it into your mind that those reasons for doing hoppers will not happen for you on this trip. So, you will need to plan your days at only one park. If you are an Illuminations fan, you will need to spend your entire day at Epcot. If you like Fantasmic, it will be the Studios. Wishes doesn't mean Magic Kingdom all day but you would need to be outside Magic Kingdom for that show - you could go to Animal Kingdom that day.

Not hopping means a bit more planning but the only person who can do that planning is you.

 

[librarymom2007]

We haven't hopped in years. We just plan our entire day at one park. Not much to it really.

 

[AzzySpazbourne]

For those who do not hop and have in the past what do you think??

My family prefers NOT to hop, but will be this upcoming trip (simply because it's required for Free Dining). The last time we had hoppers was in 2011 for our honeymoon, but NEVER really had to use them. I think we only used them once because we felt compelled to because we bought them.

Ultimately, we discovered if you go during a not-so-busy time of year, hoppers simply aren't needed for us. We just look at TouringPlans to plan our days (going on the not crowded days.. the most we've done is a 3 or 4) and take each day at a leisurely pace. We end up doing everything we want to do, plus more (even the things we never knew or things we normally didn't think we'd enjoy, but are now favorites). This is simply because when we're in a park for the day (and can't go to another), it simply shifts our focus from "commando" to something much more leisurely and allows us to stop and smell the roses.

One reason why we've not really considered hoppers anymore is because of the "flexibility argument." For my family (myself, wife, and DD-2), we don't need to be running all over the world taking up time with transportation. Especially trying to meet FP+ times and ADRs. We just plan our FP+ and ADRs based on where in the world we will be that day.

 

[amylevan]

If you are going at a time of year when evening entertainment is not offered every night, it does require a bit more planning. For instance, MSEP is not offered every night, so you'll need to visit MK on a day when it is. Unfortunately, other non-park hopping people will be doing the same thing, making a MSEP day more busy at the MK than a not MSEP day.

Just something to be aware of.

 

[Lucius Best]

For those who do not hop and have in the past what do you think??

We always used to hop. Some trips we ended up at Epcot almost every night for dinner. On other trips during busy periods, we would utilize morning EMH at one park and then park hop to escape to a less crowded one.

However, given the single-park nature of FP+, on our first FP+ trip we opted to skip the hoppers, and add them if we felt like it. This was late-April, crowd levels typically 4-5. Our strategy was to rope drop, have FP+ booked for 10am/11am/12pm, start getting additional FPs at the kiosks as early as possible. There were a couple of days where we could have hopped to a park open late, but we decided it wasn't worth the ~$65 apiece for a couple of extra hours when we were already tired.

That FP+ strategy without park hoppers worked well for us, but it is entirely dependent on crowd levels/time of year. During our week, on low crowd days, we could get additional FP+ for whatever we wanted. On the busiest days, there was very little to choose from at kiosks.

Whether we hop or not in the future will depend on time of year of next trip. Low crowd, likely no park hoppers. High crowd, probably yes to park hoppers. Party season, most likely get park hoppers, in order spend mornings at MK on party nights then hop away. On MK non-party nights, start day elsewhere, then hop to MK in evening with FP+ reserved.

 

[AzzySpazbourne]

We always used to hop. Some trips we ended up at Epcot almost every night for dinner. On other trips during busy periods, we would utilize morning EMH at one park and then park hop to escape to a less crowded one.

However, given the single-park nature of FP+, on our first FP+ trip we opted to skip the hoppers, and add them if we felt like it. This was late-April, crowd levels typically 4-5. Our strategy was to rope drop, have FP+ booked for 10am/11am/12pm, start getting additional FPs at the kiosks as early as possible. There were a couple of days where we could have hopped to a park open late, but we decided it wasn't worth the ~$65 apiece for a couple of extra hours when we were already tired.

That FP+ strategy without park hoppers worked well for us, but it is entirely dependent on crowd levels/time of year. During our week, on low crowd days, we could get additional FP+ for whatever we wanted. On the busiest days, there was very little to choose from at kiosks.

Whether we hop or not in the future will depend on time of year of next trip. Low crowd, likely no park hoppers. High crowd, probably yes to park hoppers. Party season, most likely get park hoppers, in order spend mornings at MK on party nights then hop away. On MK non-party nights, start day elsewhere, then hop to MK in evening with FP+ reserved.

This sums it up perfectly for me... wish I was as well articulate as this post.

 

[Geoff_M]

That FP+ strategy without park hoppers worked well for us, but it is entirely dependent on crowd levels/time of year. During our week, on low crowd days, we could get additional FP+ for whatever we wanted. On the busiest days, there was very little to choose from at kiosks.

Whether we hop or not in the future will depend on time of year of next trip. Low crowd, likely no park hoppers. High crowd, probably yes to park hoppers. Party season, most likely get park hoppers, in order spend mornings at MK on party nights then hop away. On MK non-party nights, start day elsewhere, then hop to MK in evening with FP+ reserved.

The crowd calendar was at a 7 when we arrived in August and was a 6 when we left. We spent seven days in the parks. Three in MK (including partial days on the first and last days of our trip), two days in Epcot, and one each in AK and DHS. None of us walked away from the trip feeling like we'd "missed" anything. We got to do every significant attraction, often more than once. We were at park opening all but one day. I think we only leveraged a 4th FP twice during the trip.

I think that our "hopping" days are likely over... particularly if they keep jacking up the price of the option.

 

[Lucius Best]

None of us walked away from the trip feeling like we'd "missed" anything. We got to do every significant attraction, often more than once. We were at park opening all but one day. I think we only leveraged a 4th FP twice during the trip.

I certainly did not intend to suggest anything to the contrary, everyone's goals/expectations/experiences are going to be different. Our particular FP+ strategy was: get as many additional FPs at kiosks as possible. We opted to eschew park hoppers, primarily because any midday travel time would delay when we could start getting additional FP. On quiet days, that worked great, tons of same day FP+ availability. On busy days (for example a predicted crowd level 5 day that felt like an 8) the options were very limited.

Since our decision to not park hop was based on getting additional FP, if we went during a high crowd time when there was less same day FP availability, we'd probably be more like to purchase park hoppers, both for flexibility and taking advantage of longer hours at MK.

 

[Geoff_M]

I certainly did not intend to suggest anything to the contrary, everyone's goals/expectations/experiences are going to be different.

No slight taken... I just wanted to buttress the notion that Hoppers aren't the necessity that many people (including myself, until this trip) think they are that are needed to really accomplish more in the parks. I was really second guessing myself after I purchased the last set of tickets, but I never once felt "handcuffed" during the trip. But to each their own!