Is a Park Hopper worth it with young kids?

[summermac]

5 & 2.

Will we really even park hop with them at that age? I just picture my son NOT wanting to leave park 1 to go to park 2. KWIM?

Honestly I don't remember us even park hopping much w/out kids, except doing the waterpark early day to afternoon and then Epcot that evening.

Thoughts?

 

[jimandami]

When we took DS4 last year, we park hopped every day. We would usually go the park with EMH in the AM, then go back to our villa for lunch and a nap, then go to a different park in the afternoon. I found that park hopping really broke up the day and preventing exhaustion/sensory overload. Our son knew that we would be taking a break every day for nap/lunch and never once complained when it was time to leave a park. In fact, sometimes he would ask if it was naptime yet!!

 

[eaj1228]

I think some children need to take a break in the middle of the day to take a nap and swim. Many times you can use it as an opportunity to park hop. Start with the morning at MK and go to the hotel and take a break and then go to DHS or Epcot.

 

[bjeannep]

We found the hopper indispensable. Especially if you are staying at an Epcot resort. Also, it is nice the day you go AK where they close early, and you want to do something in the evening.

 

[mjkacmom]

We used it. We'd get to a park at rope drop, and by 2, we were ready to go back the the BC and swim or nap. A couple of times, my 2 oldest had some more energy, so we walked over to MGM (before the name change). We walked over to Epcot on most nights, regardless of where we were that morning.

 

[sokrzy4u]

We never use them. We even got them for free last year, as an upgrade, and didn't use them. We plan what park to be in for the day ahead of time. I always find it too much trouble and too time consuming to move to a different park. But we also don't go back to the hotel mid day. My little ones have always slept well in strollers, if they fall asleep we leave them be until they wake on their own. I think with my family size just the cost keeps me form adding that feature on.

My kids are 10, 7, 5 and soon to be 3.

 

[nessz79]

We go back to the hotel to nap or swim every day but we still don't park hop. We go for short trips, so we need as much time as we can in each park. We follow the touringplans for the best park for each day so we usually don't have the problem with the EMH park filling up as we often avoid that park.

 

[sisaaliyah]

I wouldn't go without the park hopper. I like to plan my days by emh's. In the am we go to the park opening early, take a mid-day nap back at the hotel and in the pm we go to the park open late.

 

[tam626]

We used park hoppers & our son is 3. We'd take him back to nap & then sometimes go to a different park. I think they're well worth it.

 

[daleswife]

WE NEVER use hoppers. I cant justify the money spent on them. I know its only like $50 more a ticket...but that would be an extra $150 in our pocket. And there is so much to do at each park that it will take you all day long to do it anyways. Save the money and just do base tix.

 

[summermac]

We are not staying on site so we won't be able to take advantage of EMH. I'd like to know how to avoid those actually. LOL.

Where is the park itinerary thing mentioned above?
"We follow the touringplans for the best park for each day so we usually don't have the problem with the EMH park filling up as we often avoid that park."

 

[Darcy03231]

I took my 4 y.o. niece in October and debated on getting them. I decided to wait and see if we needed them once we were there (you can add them to your tickets at any time). We were there for a week and never ended up hopping, so I saved $100 (which I'm sure we spent somewhere else LOL).

 

[nessz79]

We are not staying on site so we won't be able to take advantage of EMH. I'd like to know how to avoid those actually. LOL.

Where is the park itinerary thing mentioned above?
"We follow the touringplans for the best park for each day so we usually don't have the problem with the EMH park filling up as we often avoid that park."

touringplans.com - Has all the information you need. If you're going within the next 30 days you don't need to subscribe. However, if your travel dates are beyond that, you need to subscribe- it costs about $7 or $8 for a year's subscription and there is sooooo much information. We're going during a busy time (weekend before Easter) so we wanted to find the best park to go to each day for the crowds. This will tell you which park is best to go to for every day and will give you the predicted crowd level for each day (on a scale of 1-10, but less than 3 doesn't really exist). They also have sample touring plans so that if you haven't been to Disney before and you are going during a moderately to heavily crowded day, they give you a suggested itinerary for the day to avoid waiting in long lines.

 

[summermac]

Oh really (about addding it on)? Well then, we'll just see what happens then I think.

$150 saved is $150 more to spend. Woot!

We are going in June and have never been there that time of year. We've been twice, in May. What is mid-June like (besides hot, LOL)?

 

[RMulieri]

we used it each and everyday with our 4 yr old.But to be fair we were staying at the Bcv and we started our mornings out at various parks and ended them at Epcot where all our dining was planned for.

 

[ALittleDisneyFan]

We park hopped for DD's (2) first trip and we will not park hop next time. We would go to one in the morning, leave a little after noon for the hotel, break, back to another park. I'm bummed we missed afternoon parades because of this..

 

[disneybridetobe]

I wouldn't go without them! They're a must for us. We always do one park in the morning, then back to the resort, then another park in the evening.

 

[mom_to_2]

OMG it was totally worth it when we took our 3yo!!! It was so nice to take a break during the afternoon and then be able to go anywhere we wanted that evening. Out of 6 days at disney we used the hopper 5!

 

[crisi]

we used it each and everyday with our 4 yr old.But to be fair we were staying at the Bcv and we started our mornings out at various parks and ended them at Epcot where all our dining was planned for.

BWV, but the same thing - many of our evenings are Epcot evenings - we sometimes are in Epcot for a brief morning to get Soarin and Test Track in - but usually just work them in during Illuminations. Morning in MK/AK/DHS - afternoon nap or pool - evening fit in an attraction in Epcot, have dinner, see more Epcot.

 

[toystorymom]

With the old park hopper passes, we would use the hopping feature. Now that it is an add-on, we don't do it. We save the $250 and get the water park admissions instead (we usually go in summer). We do very well without hopping, and don't really miss it. We still get to parks early and leave for an afternoon break, we just go back to the same park that night. Or, we will spend the day at a water park, take a break and have a nice dinner, and then head to one of the parks in the evening. I think it's a nice option to have, but if the $$ could be better spent somewhere else, you could definitely manage without hopping.