is it me, but I don't see the need for a hopper ticket?

[MichelleVW]

We love hopping.....even if it's just "let's go to AK to ride Everest and leave".

 

[MrInfinity]

In what-- 12 trips to WDW / DL, I have not once felt like I needed hoppers. i.e. be at one park and feel like I need to be going somewhere else, or like I can't fit in the World Showcase at Epcot, or even worst case, being rained out at the AK, we still tend to be perfectly happy just chilling till the rain passes. The scheduling always just works out for us. But, Disney sells them, and the ppl that like them swear by them, so obviously they work for some people.

If I was to ~ever~ do hoppers, I'd be staying at an Epcot resort only, and I'd not have young kids in tow... and even then I don't think I'd need them. Be at DHS and want to jump to Epcot? Nah, I'd just stay at DHS and ride Rockin more. Be further away, want to come home, and then just go to Epcot for dinner? Again no, we'd probly stay at the MK for the day till we're tired, but once we're done w a far-away most-of-the-day park, I don't see us going elsewhere later. It would be pool time after.

Even splitting parks half and half... if it's not a local park to my resort, I wouldn't do a split day, I'd do like a 2/3 day then go back to the hotel. For a park that is local (EC / HS) you have to ask why you'd rather walk a mile to go to another park instead of just enjoying where you're at.

Go without.

Then, if you identify a situation wherein you'd want them, go for it. But if you don't know you need them, then you probly don't. We don't.

 

[Ava]

I've used hoppers in the past when I was traveling without kids. We'd often do a 1/2 day each at DHS and AK, or hop to an evening EMH park. Now with two young kids, I don't think the extra expense is worth it. Between rides, shows, and character greetings, there is more than enough to do in each park to occupy a full day when you're moving at a young kid's pace. (And those days are shorter most of the time, since we try to keep their normal bedtime as many days as possible.) When they're both old enough to stay up for evening EMH we'll try hoppers again, although by then I'LL probably be ready for bed at 8pm!

 

[Deanie1]

We are a family of 5 and we rarely hopped. We come from Western Canada so we tend to stay 10-12 days, We would go to parks for three days, then sleep in and head to be water park as a "break" day. If we took a mid day break, we would go to the same park in the evening. I think we had hoppers once and only used them twice. Hopping also takes a lot of time, as we use the WDW buses. If we had a car, it might have been easier to hop. We always found somewhere to eat in the park we were at.

Now that the kids are grown, only my DD and I go. This last trip it we were getting the water parks anyhow so it was something like $22 to add hopping, so we did. We did hop several times, especially since the F and W festival was on.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

going 10 days 8/9 with DD 15, first time onsite at POR. We didn't do any ADRs, trying to save on our food budget. We've never done hopping. Trying to save some money. If you don't have ADRs, why do you need it besides just being able to change parks on a whim?

I only purchase 10 day Park Hoppers with no expiration, our trips are usually 5-6 nights. during that time maybe three days of parks will be utilized I plan around early morning openings and late evening openings. My current passes are from 2010 and this will be the third and last trip on them!!

 

[disnut8]

For my husband and I, we will always do park hoppers because we like strolling along World Showcase, having a nightcap and then going back to the resort.

For my son and his family (ages 36, 32, 16 and 7), I would advise park hoppers because of the various ages of the kids and what they would want to do in a day.

Also factors to consider with getting a park hopper verses not getting one is if you get to a park and it's more crowded than you wanted. We've been quite surprised with an overflow of people at the Studios but we did what we could and then, with a half day left, went to Epcot.

But, in the end, it's your choice. It is an extra expense so if you don't want to do it, don't.

 

[hpfan100]

I had always done hoppers until my last trip. I thought I needed a hopper and was worried about going without it. However, after this trip without hoppers I feel that I could go without on every trip from now on.


The only down sides I experienced were... Feeling like there wasn't enough to do at DHS to fill the day and less flexibility in park plans.

 

[Winnowill]

We did 8-day hoppers in April so that we could take advantage of morning EMH and then move to a "recommended" park when the first one started getting crowded.

 

[skywaywaver]

We used to buy hoppers. But this trip, we stopped. I could think of maybe one day where I would use one. For a savings of what I understand to be $240, it's worth not hopping. Maybe we'll go back to it next time, but for now, and until FP+ is perfected, we'll pass.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

We typically stay 8-10 days and ALWAYS get Park Hoppers - It gives us so much freedom and flexibility. We can be where we want, for as long as we want. Some days we have all the energy in the World and will spend an entire day at one Park. But more often than not we like to split things up. One place in the morning, swim break mid-day then a different place at night.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

We used to always buy park hoppers and never used them, or would force ourselves to use it once just because we had it. We found it to be a pain and a wate of money for us. We like to plan on one park and focus on doing everything we want to do in that one park for the day. We plan our ADRs around what parks we plan to visit per day and rarely feel the need to change on a whim. For us it is a waste of money to get the hoppers. We also take longer trips (7 days min).

 

[ClarabelleCow]

What is the break even point on annual passes vs days? I thought it used to be 7 days and if you were going to be 7 or more AP's were the way to go?? Even if one trip? I haven't looked in years as we usually went every 18 months or so when we owned. Maybe twice in the 12 years of owning DVC did we go twice within a year.

 

[Lewisc]

Hopper passes are "essential" if you have a short stay, have been to WDW before and want to just hit the new attractions (or your favorite ones). Hopper passes are "essential" if you're staying at an EPCOT resort and you want to go back to your room in the afternoon, take a pool break, change and then have dinner at one of the restaurants in EPCOT.

OP has a long enough stay. Probably no need for hopper passes.

 

[Toadlover]

going 10 days 8/9 with DD 15, first time onsite at POR. We didn't do any ADRs, trying to save on our food budget. We've never done hopping. Trying to save some money. If you don't have ADRs, why do you need it besides just being able to change parks on a whim?

We are not hopping either. Its just too much extra money.

 

[Pemba78]

Regarding the cost- I'm ashamed to say I don't know as I have tickets w PH booked for sept... Buuut... Anyone know for sure the cost? That really quantifies and breaks down the discussion/decision I think- $60 per ticket? $250? I've seen these costs quoted....

 

[asmit4]

I think everyone tours differently. I can't imagine doing the same park during the day as I do at night. It's just not the way we tour.

In addition- no adrs? I can't imagine eating CS for 10 nights----I can't imagine eating CS for 3 nights. I get tired of eating TS after awhile. Sometimes we just want to eat our 'own' food and we cook in at the condo.

 

[ZehnJahren]

We have a long-standing habit of being in line for one ride at one park and deciding we want to ride another at another park next. "Hey, 5 minutes until we're on HM, want to go hit ToT after this?"

I would do without if it was the difference between going and not going, but otherwise it's hoppers for us.

 

[georgina]

Everyone is different. At this stage in my life, I would rather do 4/5 days with park hoppers than 10 days without! We stayed 10 days when we drove our camper to Florida, and bought AP's so we could go back 11.5 months later.

 

[Narawen]

We haven't used park hoppers in forever. Even back when hoppers were standard on every multi-day ticket, we rarely used the hopping feature. This year we're getting hoppers because we found discounted tickets were a 5 day hopper is the same price as a 5 day base ticket through Disney. We're going in October so we'll probably use it to hop over to EPCOT when MK closes at 7 for parties. Otherwise we just don't hop much.

The one thing that's convenient is you don't have to buy hoppers right off the bat if you're unsure about using them. You can upgrade the tickets any time within the first 14 days of use.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I go for so few of a number of days that the hopper ticket allows me to see all 4 parks. I usually split my AK/DHS days if I want to go to DHS.

And I usually hop to the park with the evening EMH to get more time in the parks. I always tell my husband that I can sleep when I'm at home.

With the amount of time you will be there, I don't think you would need park hopper tickets.