hopper ticket or not?

[kimdan]

Hello, I just wanted to get some opinions- Our family of 5(including 3 teens) are going to do 3 days at Universal Orlando, a Disney water park(have a tickets left over from prior visits) and then 3-4 days at Disney. Im not sure if we should get a(at Disney) 3 day hopper or a 4 day regular ticket - one at each park. Im leaning toward the hopper because I like having the option to leave a park(and we usually dont spend a whole day at Animal Kingdom), then we could have a resort day. appreciate any insights- I know a 4 day hopper is an option- just trying to cut costs where we can.
thanks

 

[softball chick]

My family always does a hopper when we are there for the same reason you mentioned - we like to have the flexibility to jump around once the park we start our day at gets busy. Also, Hollywood Studios in its current state has been seen by some as a half day park because of how few attractions there are thanks to construction. Having the hopper has allowed us to open Hollywood (for Toy Story Mania and Frozen show) and then jump to any of the other parks to use the Fastpasses we had set up. This way, we never need to worry about FPs at Hollywood where there aren't many options right now and still get to do our favorites in the park.

 

[loves to dive]

We now have APs which allow you to hop but before we got them we always got hoppers. With teenagers there might be the possibility that you let them take off on their own and the hoppers would come in handy for that. We like the freedom to hop over to another park if the one we are at is too busy or if we go back to the room for awhile, we tend to go to a different park at night. It also gives us the freedom to book ADRs anywhere we want.

 

[sharonabe]

Hello, I just wanted to get some opinions- Our family of 5(including 3 teens) are going to do 3 days at Universal Orlando, a Disney water park(have a tickets left over from prior visits) and then 3-4 days at Disney. Im not sure if we should get a(at Disney) 3 day hopper or a 4 day regular ticket - one at each park. Im leaning toward the hopper because I like having the option to leave a park(and we usually dont spend a whole day at Animal Kingdom), then we could have a resort day. appreciate any insights- I know a 4 day hopper is an option- just trying to cut costs where we can.
thanks

When is your trip? That has some bearing on what I would advise. Too many variables throughout the year.

 

[Donalyn]

We always like the flexibility of hoppers. Actually, not sure the last time we went without them.

 

[srwarden1928]

I consider four days the absolute minimum for a Disney trip, even though I have an AP. I ALWAYS spend my first four days with one full day in each park, doing everything I want to do in that park. I absolutely LOVE hopping and do lots of it on a longer trip. In fact, on my last trip I actually had two different days that I visited all four parks, but that is after I KNOW I am doing repeats. In the OPs situation, I would go with the four day single park tickets.

 

[PamNC]

I usually do the park hopper, in fact, I think I always have... but ... I'm thinking for a 4-day visit I would possibly opt not to. I think 5 days or more, definitely...

 

[Delirium]

We always hop. That said, what resort you are staying at and what time of year you are going are important factors when making this decision. So. without that information, I can't give any more advice other than to say we always hop.

 

[shellyj]

If you are going at a time of year that will have long park hours, and you are all-day park people, I would get 3 day hoppers. It would be niIce to have a rest day between your Universal and Disney days. Since you've been before, you'll know what you are ok skipping and what you want to hop over to do again.

If you are going in a value season with shorter park hours, or if you aren't going to be touring all day long, then I say go for 4 base days and use your shorter park days to chill at the resort.