Is PARK HOPPER worth an additional $162 for 6-days? $30/day.

Are you a park hopper or a park plopper? Do you hop from park to park or plop yourself in a park for the day? Do you go to one park and eat dinner in another? Do you go back to your hotel during the day?

If you tend to eat where you go for the day, and you tend not to go back to the hotel during the day, then I don't think you need a park hopper.

Do you go back to the hotel or like to make ADRs but don't want to necessarily have to go to that park for the day or generally you don't like to plan things and like things "open", then a park hopper is for you.

The last time we bought a no-expire option, and "plus" (waterparks and dq) option, but no park hopping. We used 4 of the days on one vacation, and 3 on another.
 
I think it's worth it, but that's because I park hop with my family. I like to be able to go to a park and if it's too crowded, leave and go to another one that's less crowded. I also like to be able to go to the nighttime activities, parades and fireworks, at whatever park has my favorites. It's not hard for me to hop either because I always go back to my resort in the early afternoon for a break (either the pool or a nap). ::MinnieMo
 
We will spend the $ on the hoping when we're staying at an Epcot resort. It's really nice to be able to plan dinners at Epcot w/o "wasting" a day's admission - so if we want to do AK in the am, head back to the resort to relax or swim, we can still have a nice dinner at Epcot in the evening.

This time around, with little kids, we're also going to plan to hop - so that if they get worn out at one resort, we can head to the resort, nap, and then go whereever we want later in the day (I don't expect we'll have may nice dinners at Epcot w/ 3 kids under the age of 2).

In other trips, when we were going w/ older kids and not planning on the Epcot dinners, we didn't hop. We went during off-peak times, so the parks were never too crowded, and we'd stay all day at each park.

So, I guess it depends what kind of trip you're planning to see if it's worth the extra $$.
 
If you are unsure whether you will want to hop, just get base tickets. You can always add hopping at the parks if you decide you want to. Why pre-pay for something you don't know if you want to do?

We have always gotten hoppers and used them, but DD and I went on a budget trip in January with base tickets. I was worried about it, but with careful planning, we didn't feel like we were missing out by not being able to hop.

I think this is good advice. We always hop (but go during F&W Festival and end up at Epcot each day, no matter what other parks we go to). Some people never hop, but we always do, and it's worth the $7 a day for us to have the flexibility.

Last trip, I added the "water parks and more" option to my ticket, and wish I hadn't. We went to Pleasure Island once, and it was too cold to go to the water parks, so didn't end up doing that (so I ended up spending a lot more money than I had to, since I only used one of my "water parks and more" options). This next trip, I'm going to hold off on adding that "water parks and more" option to my ticket, and just add it if our plans seem to warrant it, once on site. You can always add these things (hopper option, WP&M option)after you get to WDW.
 


We hardly ever hop. The parks are so large that you can fill your days in one park. You can leave a park, eat at a resort and return back to the same park without having hoppers. We do this at Magic Kingdom all the time. I do agree that if you are staying at a Epcot resort, it may be worth it to buy hoppers.
 
We went to Disney for the first time in March and decided to just get base tickets. Honestly, it was not a big deal. Our kids are young so we didn't have the energy to hop anyway. We went early in the mornings and left around lunch time. Then we'd relax at the resort and sometimes head to DD. There was one night where we went to Epcot in the morning and then returned for Illuminations.

If your kids are young, I really don't think you need the hopper option. If your kids are older, then it might be worth it. It depends also on what kind of "touring" you plan to do. We didn't try to see as much as we could each day. We had a short list of must-do's and then once we did those, we took it easy and went with the flow.

Even with a laid back approach, I still needed to rest when I got home because I was so exhausted ;)
 
We have done both, and have found that we don't like to hop. It seems we wasted too much time on the buses hopping than having quality time in the parks. Saving time AND money is a good thing IMHO.:thumbsup2
 


my problem with not hopping is Disney has even figured this out to their advantage!

I'm trying to not hop this trip and still do everything we want to. I either have to miss out on Spectro only certain days at MK or miss out on little ones extra morning hour (again only cetain days) or miss whole evening in parks if it's AK day or never be able to hop over for EMH to a differnt park . . .

it's an extra $200 plus for our family for hopper option and DH isn't wanting to put that out there for a 6 full day, 2 half day trip. He says just 2 days each park. ugh.

so Disney knows what they are marketing and they do it so well!
 
we always hop to. that way when dd , and or with friends , they can switch to another park to ride certain rides. plus we usually go over to the park with the fireworks at night. it depends on how old the kids are to and if its super hot you might just want to stay in one park.
 
Thanks everyone I guess it is the Park Hopper for me too. You saved me a grave dangerous expense. I do like to hop.

You can always add the hopper to your original ticket. We did this with my DMIL last year. She wasn't sure whether she'd hop or not, so we just got her a 7 day MYW ticket. The 2nd day, she wanted to hop. We had to pay the original difference for the whole trip, but it wasn't any more money than buying a hopper up front.
 
Spend $20 dollars, buy TGM and follow his green days. Enjoy slow mornings in the park, collect fast passes, return to your room for a swim/rent boats and go back to the park in the evening. We always bought hoppers but found after several trips that we only hopped a couple times, and if we would have planned better we could have avoided hopping altogether. Have a great time. Janice
 
I absolutely think the park hopper is worth the extra cost. Especially if you are going to be there more than 4 days. If you are visiting during a slower time I would consider it even more. We found that we could do all of the attractions that we wanted in some of the parks by 2pm and want to go elsewhere.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top