Is park hopper worth it?

[Atrain13]

So we are going at the end of January, the 23rd to the 29th. It's going to be me, my wife, my mother, and my daughter. My daughter is 2 and has never been to Disney before and my mom hasn't been in probably 20 years or so.
I was planning on just doing 1 park a day. 2 full days at MK, 1.5 at epcot, and then 1 full day at HS and AK. During the days we have planned, we miss all of the extra magic hours, which is a little disappointing but it's the slow time of year so I'm not too worried. But I just have it in my mind that HS and AK will be short days, esp AK. I would rather do AK stuff in the morning and then spend the rest of the day at MK.

I'm just wondering if it's worth it to spend a few extra hundred dollars for more time at MK or just use spare time to rest?

 

[scard192]

in January you might not need hoppers and especially with your daughter being so young. you can always add hoppers once you are there if you decide you want/need them.

we always get them but we travel in the Fall when MK closes early 4 days a week and our kids are older.

 

[Geoff_M]

We always used to get them in the past, but last trip we did the math and it would have tacked on an extra $430+ for the six of us. That, plus the fact that FP+ tends to make daily planning single-park-centric, we opted to bag it and use the savings towards table service meals. We didn't miss it one bit.

 

[rwdavis2]

We always used to get them in the past, but last trip we did the math and it would have tacked on an extra $430+ for the six of us. That, plus the fact that FP+ tends to make daily planning single-park-centric, we opted to bag it and use the savings towards table service meals. We didn't miss it one bit.

One thing to consider if you have park hoppers. You can make rope drop at one park, do the popular attractions early while your FP+ reservations are at a second park later in the day.

 

[ktlm]

Where are you staying? For us, if we are staying in an EPCOT area resort, we almost always hop between DHS and EPCOT at least one day. My DD has always been a night owl, so we often will avoid the park with evening EMH during the day to avoid the bigger crowds, but then hop to take advantage of the evening EMH time itself. DD has never been a huge fan of AK, so we usually do hop to another park that day. When DD was younger DHS was a shorter day too- now that she is older and is Star Wars obsessed it is a longer day. When she was younger, we did the Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid and Disney Jr. show, saw the Disney Jr. characters, Buzz and Woody and rode TSM and GMR and then she was pretty much done and ready to go back to MK or EPCOT. There is the Frozen sing along now too. Some littles don't like to sit through the shows, but when DD was 2 she loved them and would sit still and watch them (she is 10 now and it turns out she is a theatre kid- so that explains it ). You can definitely do it without hoppers, but we do like the flexibility they give us. Whether you want to rest or go to a different park is probably going to depend on your DD's energy level. My DD was a high energy kid- so at age 2 we quickly found out she was a stroller napper that could stay in the parks from pretty much open to close. In January, you might not have any swimming weather and if you do, then it will probably be more during the middle of the day- otherwise I would say pool evenings can be nice.

 

[BLLB]

I agree with the previous poster. I think it depends where you stay. When we stay at BWV, we always go back to Epcot or DHS. When we stayed at Contemporary, we always went back to MK. I think where your are staying makes a difference.

 

[BlueFairy]

You can add hopping at Guest Services at any point in your trip to those tickets that will be needing it. After I found this out, we have never purchased hopping in advance. Use the ticket on the first day to lock in the base value. Then you can decide at any time the ticket is still valid to pay for the upgrade. It will cost the same whether you add it on day 1 or day 8, but at least you aren't spending the $$ unnecessarily.

We were never able to hop with small kids. We still find it difficult. All that time juggling strollers on buses is just too complicated. Add in little ones who are too tired to stay out for nighttime shows, and we don't see a value in it. If I were at a monorail resort or YC/BC/BW, I might think differently. Also, there is a good chance that Epcot will be the only park open after 7 or 8pm during your slow time of year. Will you want to hop there? Will it be worth the effort to hop to parks that are closing at 6pm or 7pm?

Add it when you get there.

ETA: MK closes at 6pm on 1/23, 8pm through 1/27, 9pm on 1/28 and 10pm on 1/29.

 

[Hopefully]

We wouldn't enjoy our trip without it.

 

[hopeful4fl]

I think it is all about perspective and ensuring your daughter has a magical time. My nephew was 5 and was completely hooked on MK. He loved other parks too, but mid-day, wanted to go back to MK. Just too many good things there. With the amount of $$$$ we all spend on the trip, adding an additional $60pp was not that big a deal, but I get that if you are on a budget, every penny counts.
It would not have been a perfect trip for us (my nephews first) without the hoppers. I would certainly advise it, but as multiple posters have said, adding that option on site is very viable and gives you the flexibility (as opposed to the mega planning we have to do for everything else).
Crap. now that we said it, DIS is going to find a way for us to plan that too.

 

[Minniemoo15]

We have used hoppers in the past and enjoyed them.

But then I went as a parent (took our DD who was 2.5 at the time). And I'm so glad we didn't spend the extra money. We either spent the whole day in one park and she took an epic stroller nap, or we toured in the morning, went back to our resort for a mid day nap and returned in the evenings for a table service dinner and a couple of rides. Shuttling between parks would add an extra layer of exhaustion, IMO.

We are taking DD this march again and will not be getting hoppers.

 

[lindsmom]

We get hoppers - we split each day to create two half days; we take a significant midday break and sometimes we return to the same park, other days we go to a different park in the evening. Makes the children feel like they have double the vacation. LOL.

 

[Keli]

I always think we need it but in reality it's not worth the money for most trips. We've had it on our tickets on a couple trips and never used it! A complete waste of money those times. And on our last trip I made us switch parks twice strictly so as not to waste that feature but if we hadn't had park hopping on there we would have been happy too. Next tickets we buy won't have it on there, I finally realized on our last trip that it really is a waste for us.

 

[Atrain13]

We are staying at AoA lion King Suite. I'm not really sure what aoa is close to as we just changed it to there the other day.

Can you get park hopper for just 1 or 2 days? The days at MK and Epcot are full days but AK I can see us being done by noon. HS is a toss up, I just don't see there being a ton to do there too keep my daughter interested. With that said, I'm sure there is. But AK be there at open, done by noon, go back and rest and hitting up MK sounds good to me.

 

[BlueFairy]

We are staying at AoA lion King Suite. I'm not really sure what aoa is close to as we just changed it to there the other day.

Can you get park hopper for just 1 or 2 days? The days at MK and Epcot are full days but AK I can see us being done by noon. HS is a toss up, I just don't see there being a ton to do there too keep my daughter interested. With that said, I'm sure there is. But AK be there at open, done by noon, go back and rest and hitting up MK sounds good to me.

AoA is not close to anything. None of the value resorts are. You will use buses or your own car to reach each park.

The PH fee is a flat fee for the length of your ticket. You cannot add it for only a portion.

Your 2 yo is going to be enthralled no matter where you are. There are characters to meet, play areas, shows to watch, etc in all of the parks. If you look for it, you will find plenty of "B" rated attractions and diversions to distract DD. If you happen to have a day where you a truly "done" with a park, you can always hop to Disney Springs, the Boardwalk, a monorail resort, or Fort Wilderness to explore areas of Disney outside a park. Or just have downtime at a pool. Your feet and your child will be wishing for unstructured time. And worst case, you can decide to go to MK and pay the upgrade and have a ball. Just remember to plan your dining and FPs for the first park you expect to go to that day in case your plan falls apart after break time.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We always get them even though we only hop 2 or 3 days. I like the freedom. I buy tickets way in advance, so the cost doesn't bother me in the long run. I compare it to the DDP. Your mileage may vary

 

[kydisneyfans]

It depends on where you stay and it depends on park hours. If every park is 9-6, I wouldn't worry about it as changing parks would be more hassle than it's worth. If the MK is open until 10 and you want to spend a 1/2 day at one and more time there, it makes a bit more sense. With that being said, AK is very kid friendly and will likely take up a full day.

 

[bryanb]

You can add hopping at Guest Services at any point in your trip to those tickets that will be needing it. After I found this out, we have never purchased hopping in advance. Use the ticket on the first day to lock in the base value. Then you can decide at any time the ticket is still valid to pay for the upgrade. It will cost the same whether you add it on day 1 or day 8, but at least you aren't spending the $$ unnecessarily.

We were never able to hop with small kids. We still find it difficult. All that time juggling strollers on buses is just too complicated. Add in little ones who are too tired to stay out for nighttime shows, and we don't see a value in it. If I were at a monorail resort or YC/BC/BW, I might think differently. Also, there is a good chance that Epcot will be the only park open after 7 or 8pm during your slow time of year. Will you want to hop there? Will it be worth the effort to hop to parks that are closing at 6pm or 7pm?

Add it when you get there.

ETA: MK closes at 6pm on 1/23, 8pm through 1/27, 9pm on 1/28 and 10pm on 1/29.

Does this upgrade have to be done at Guest Services or can it be done at any ticket booth? I once waited 45 minutes in the Guest Relations queue, so I've tended to buy everything in advance and not be caught in a last minute change of plans.

 

[BlueFairy]

Does this upgrade have to be done at Guest Services or can it be done at any ticket booth? I once waited 45 minutes in the Guest Relations queue, so I've tended to buy everything in advance and not be caught in a last minute change of plans.

@ravenclawtrekkie or @Robo can probably tell us. I'm not certain.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Ticket booths can do the vast majority of things to tickets, including adding park hopper. Feel free to go to Guest Relations if you want to, but for that, you certainly don't have to.

Things we can't do include selling Premier Passports, selling TIW, issuing DAS, correcting ticket usage, selling DVC annual pass certificates (we can sell DVC APs, just not certificates AKA inactive passes), doing pretty much anything to convention tickets or youth/sports tickets aside from issuing them as will call, and refunds for anything more complicated than parking (if you're an AP holder who paid for parking because you lost your pass/MagicBand).

 

[bmalonef45]

They are a must for us. Not even in consideration, we simply like the freedom of being able to go hit MK late at night after the other parks close. One time I went with a friend that didn't want to fork over the extra for the park hopper and I felt like I was in prison. Its all what you are used to but we like it a lot.