Is park hopper worth it?

[AngieInOH]

In January I'd say it's not worth the extra cost. We've always just done one park each day and never had any problems with that. We purchased it the fist year we went and only park hopped on time, pretty steep price for just hopping once! I'd figure out a touring plan and see if you can do it without hopping (which I expect you can). Save the money and spend it elsewhere!

 

[BlueFairy]

Here is also something to consider. When we went down with our 3 year old, we all had a 5 day 1 park/day passes. With him at that age, hopping would be too touch for all of us. But, my DH planned to hit RnR at the Studios an extra night. Rather than pay to upgrade to a hopper, we just added another day to his pass when we got there. Only cost us an extra $15 dollars (if I remember correct).

Just to clarify - this does not work if you have been to another park that same day. You cannot use an extra day on a pass to visit a second park in the same day. The only way to hit 2 parks in 1 day is with a park hopper option. It will work if you have a down day and some of the grown ups want to spring for some extra park time that day and add the day onto your passes.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

In January I'd say it's not worth the extra cost. We've always just done one park each day and never had any problems with that. We purchased it the fist year we went and only park hopped on time, pretty steep price for just hopping once! I'd figure out a touring plan and see if you can do it without hopping (which I expect you can). Save the money and spend it elsewhere!

I agree with this and was going to say it in my last post. If we went in January, when it's cold and pool time is limited, and park hours are shorter we wouldn't park hop. We also wouldn't do midday breaks. I had a friend who went this January and she didn't hop since most parks closed at 7. They just did lunch ADR's in the park as their "rest."

 

[bryanb]

I'm a big fan of park hoppers, but I'd agree that they're not worth the significant added cost for everyone.

In defense of off-season park hopping, though, Epcot almost always closes at 9pm or later. I did like the idea of going to Epcot at the end of the night for Illuminations. And especially during events like the Food & Wine Festival, even if it's just for the last hour of the day for one final snack and beverage. It probably helped that I was staying at an Epcot area resort and had no kids in tow. We ended up watching Illuminations three times that visit.

 

[Vestmama4]

I have 4 kids 13 and under and we never park hop. We use that extra money saved in tickets and put it towards a character meal at either a park or a resort.

 

[kj2mom]

I have done both, trips with hoppers and trips without. Both have been great! Last year I decided not to get them because the amount of money I saved was almost enough to pay for our SeaWorld tickets and we were headed there one day. We made full days, rope drop to closing almost every day (although AK was not open late then) and didn't have very much down time. I actually looked forward to our AK day because the park closed early and we headed back to our resort to relax, have dinner and try to make it a bit of an early night (we ended up having local friends over and it was not early but that's okay, it was great fun). I am soo glad I did not spend the money on the hoppers.

This summer, I went alone sort of. I was the only member of my family joining in on a friend's Dance The World trip. The tickets were hoppers. Since I was only there to use 3 days and I was alone, I decided I was going to go to the parks with morning EMH then hop to a different park one day in order to catch the night time entertainment. Now that there are park to park buses it was super simple to hop from AK to DHS and it wasn't a big deal. I am glad I hopped because I got to do my favorites in both places on a very short trip.

Just to repeat a bit, the great thing about hopping is you don't have to prepay for it. Get the base tickets then if you decide on site that you want to upgrade then no problem, hit up a ticket booth/customer service and make the adds. Much better than purchasing and wasting if you decide you have no interest in hopping.

 

[Happysahd]

I have 4 kids 13 and under and we never park hop. We use that extra money saved in tickets and put it towards a character meal at either a park or a resort.

I think this is a significant point, the opportunity cost is different for every situation. If money is the limiting factor in how much Disney you can do, I'd much rather stay another night or two and extend tickets for what hoppers cost. If you're limited by time away from work and spending the money isn't an issue then that's a completely different scenario.

What's "worth it" depends a lot on you income level I guess.

We're hopping this year only because it's required for free dining now.

 

[Bullseye]

We tried them one year and found them to be a waste of time. We always do mid-day breaks. In doing so we always have things left that we want to do at the same park when we return in the evening.

 

[kohlby]

We really like having hoppers and used them quite a bit - even when we had young kids. (Or especially when we had kids - as we didn't know what would be a flop until we were in the park). Then the FP system changed and we like having them even more due to that. However - some families don't use them much. Since you don't know if you need them, don't add them on initially. You can always add them on later if you change your mind.

 

[Accident]

You're going to see two very distinctive camps on this one. Both with very compelling reasons why they like to park hop or not.

There is actually a third camp which is get them if you actually need them and just upgrade at the park. It's a very different choice when they aren't prepaid and you are standing there and the price of a nice signature is what it's going to cost you to switch parks. There is so many other things you could do with that money including having more in your pocket when you get home.

The big reason why I find it worthwhile is if there is something medical or weather just impacts most of your trip.. then you'll be happy to pay the extra for the chance to try to get to things you wanted to do that were closed when it's nice out or your able too.

 

[Geoff_M]

We wouldn't enjoy our trip without it.

When we opted to not get the PH option as usual, I thought for sure I'd feel "handcuffed" during the trip. In reality we never missed it, so you might be surprised. Now that our son works at WDW, we're going to opt for DVC APs, so it'll be a moot point in the future for us.

 

[kwdw]

I've traveled WDW with and without PH - both have there benefits depending on the composition of the traveling party, time of year, and length of visit. And yep - I have bought a PH on the last day of a trip JUST to get into AK for 3 hours because I just ultimately didn't have it in me to skip the park that trip as originally planned. As Accident previously posts - it's really, really easy to change your mind during the trip. It's quick and easy to add them at a park window - especially in the afternoon.

In YOUR case - I strongly recommend against them. I don't think for a trip your length and the fact you have a toddler - they are necessary at all. It takes time to hop between parks. Back to the front of the park, wait for the bus, ride bus, get back into the next park. Best case scenario - I think you lose an hour of park time. With a toddler who only has so many waking hours in a day - that's a waste, IMO. You'll have a better trip if you have a reasonably-rested kiddo so you aren't dealing with the "I'm tired" tantrums.

I don't think AK is necessarily a half day park for you. There are three great shows, the safari ride, character meet and greats, the animal trails, the play area in DinoLand and the train ride out to the area with the petting zoo. To do those at a leisurely pace with diaper changes, snack breaks, freedom to be distracted with a toddler - and that's a RD to dinner time day.

Go with base tickets for now - plan out your days - and then - realize you can change things up when you are there based on how the trip is going.

While I think everyone can function without PH, for families with active older kids/teenagers or just a group of nightowls - I totally understand why those groups value PH and I'm more likely to suggest the option to traveling parties like that.

 

[Atrain13]

Thank you everyone for all of the advice and help! there's great pros and cons for both.

I actually decided to add an extra day for our trip. we are leaving the 29th, but our flight doesn't leave until 6pm. so we are just going to spend a few hours at a park on our last day before we go. it saves us money and probably get more time at a park of our choice (very likely MK).

 

[OasterP]

I absolutely love them and I have young kids. That said we have always gone during food and wine or flower and garden so I want to hit those up in the evenings. I like to just have flexibility. If I get to HS and it's super crowded....I'm out and going somewhere else (example). You really can always add them if you find you want them though!

 

[DavidNYC]

Need? No. A lot depends on how you're going to tour. If you're going to all stick together all the time, I think your schedule is fine. The two big advantages of hoppers to me are that if frees you up to be more flexible with dining reservations and also makes it much easier to catch evening shows. It also allows for things such as hitting MK for a few hours in the morning when lines are light and heading over to another park in the afternoon to do some things where lines aren't an issue. Also - if you're ever sending Mom back to the hotel with your child to get a few adult hours in the parks, it frees you up to have more flexibility there.

This is really one where there's no right answer but you have to look at what you want to try to do and how you can schedule it. But at that time of year, you're going to a relatively easy time seeing most everything you want with the schedule you set out. (By the way - I always think AK is a half day park but then find myself there until 4-5 pm easily if you do the shows and walking trails which I really recommend if you haven't been there recently.

 

[Huff]

We hop mostly for dining. Go to one park for the day, then head to dinner somewhere else. For instance, we may go to dinner at Ohana's, Kona or Wave after a day at AK. Then after dinner MK is often open late so we'll head there to finish the night. We also end many nights at Epcot because of so many great restaurants.

 

[RhodyChief]

We hop mostly for dining. Go to one park for the day, then head to dinner somewhere else. For instance, we may go to dinner at Ohana's, Kona or Wave after a day at AK. Then after dinner MK is often open late so we'll head there to finish the night. We also end many nights at Epcot because of so many great restaurants.

Agreed. We make very few ADRs so we love having the ability to go pretty much anywhere depending on what we're in the mood for, especially with Epcot. One day on our last trip we had gone to DHS during the day, went back to the hotel for a bit, then went to Epcot because we were craving Tangierine Cafe and then took the monorail over to MK for EMH!

 

[Pesky]

I think it depends on your family's touring style and as pointed out, is always a feature you can add. We did get PH and turns out, for us at least at this point in our lives, kind of a waste. We really only used the PH feature one day out of 6 so not really economical and would've been fine with just going to a single park a day. The kids preferred to take the mid-day break and go for pool time and honestly, we rarely ventured too far after that point.

 

[bmalonef45]

I would also add that we like to hop because as DVC members we go at a different pace than we would if we were only there once in a lifetime or very few times. We don't try to absorb every ride at each park we are at. We like to do our favorites and then head on to the next park's favorites. I'm sure people would shake their heads at how much waste we have in our trips but it fits us. As our kids get older we have adjusted to more late nights and that makes me appreciate hopping even more.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I considered getting them for this trip, but when I factor in the exchange rate to Canadian $$, it's hard to swallow. We have a couple of down days during our trip and if we feel we need to go back to a park to catch a night show or something we will add the approx $10 pp for an extra day and go a few hours. As of right now, parks close fairly early during our trip so I don't think we'd get our money's worth.