No hoppers? - anything I'm not considering?

[riostoker]

We are going to be at DLR on a Wed/Thurs/Fri in September. Even though we never get hoppers at WDW, I fully intended to get hoppers at DLR. Figured we would spend one day at each park and then the third day we could do a half day at each, or hit whichever attractions we missed or liked most at each or whatever. It would give us the flexibility.

Now I'm rethinking that plan. The Halloween party will be on that Friday, and I plan on getting tickets to that. I didn't think we would hop those first two days anyway. It will be our first time ever at either park, so I figured we would likely spend the full day at each anyway. So that just leaves Friday for the day I was thinking we would use the hoppers. With the Halloween Party being a separate ticket though, we could use a single park ticket to go to CA in the morning and then the Halloween Party ticket to go to DL in the afternoon. We would still get to any missed or favorite attractions at both parks without the hopper.

I know with the 3 day hopper we would get early entry to DL on Thursday, but I had already decided we would probably go to CA that day since I'd rather go to CA on a day we can be at rope drop be the "first ones there" rather than an hour behind DLR hotel guests.

So, if I'm not using the early entry, and we can "park hop" by way of the Halloween Party on Friday, is there any reason to buy hoppers that I'm not considering or haven't thought of? With a family of 5, it saves us $200 that we can put toward other things!

Thoughts? Am I neglecting some other benefit of hoppers that I hadn't considered?

Thanks,
ann

 

[iKristin]

If you hit up DCA at rope drop in the AM, you could honestly get that park down easily in a day and even park hop over to DL afterwards. There's not a lot of rides at DCA.

 

[Tasscrapper]

I love to park hop but in your situation I would probably get single day tickets. If you are interested in more than just going on the rides once I think DCA can easily take a whole day. Take the time to see Aladin, the parade and World of Color if you want. Visit the Animation Academy and with the Beasts Library, Turtle Talk with Crush and the drawing class. As you said the halloween tickets will pretty much let you hop that last day if you decided you wanted to visit DCA again and if you don't you can just go to Disneyland the whole day. Save the money and use it to enhance the trip while you are actually in the parks.

 

[John93]

I've gone twice without park hoppers - and both times I upgraded within an hour of being there. It is just way too convenient to park hop there. Since everything, including rides, is so close together, you can get a lot done in both parks in one full day.

 

[riostoker]

I've gone twice without park hoppers - and both times I upgraded within an hour of being there. It is just way too convenient to park hop there. Since everything, including rides, is so close together, you can get a lot done in both parks in one full day.

That's too funny!! So I could buy 3 day tickets and then upgrade to hoppers later if I want? I plan on buying the tickets through TicketsAtWork that lets me get a discount through work. If I upgraded later, would I just pay the $40 per ticket to upgrade? Or will they let you upgrade discounted tickets?

 

[riostoker]

I love to park hop but in your situation I would probably get single day tickets. If you are interested in more than just going on the rides once I think DCA can easily take a whole day. Take the time to see Aladin, the parade and World of Color if you want. Visit the Animation Academy and with the Beasts Library, Turtle Talk with Crush and the drawing class. As you said the halloween tickets will pretty much let you hop that last day if you decided you wanted to visit DCA again and if you don't you can just go to Disneyland the whole day. Save the money and use it to enhance the trip while you are actually in the parks.

I was definitely planning on seeing Aladdin and World of Color. Tower of Terror is one of my kids' favorite rides at DHS, and Toy Story Mania is mine. I'm sure we'll want to do those more than once. I'm definitely hoping to do RSR more than once, so I fully expect we'll want the entire day at DCA... or maybe a break in the middle of the day for a nap.

 

[sillybaer]

One thing to consider is any nighttime shows. We didn't hop for rides except the very last day when we went on an hour and a half odyssey to get my daughter one last ride on Dumbo. But we liked the freedom of planning our nighttime shows separate from which park we wanted to be in that day.

 

[riostoker]

One thing to consider is any nighttime shows. We didn't hop for rides except the very last day when we went on an hour and a half odyssey to get my daughter one last ride on Dumbo. But we liked the freedom of planning our nighttime shows separate from which park we wanted to be in that day.

Thanks! Nighttime shows is one thing I wondered about. I may just wait to buy tickets until I see the schedule of shows. That may help me make a final decision. Originally, I was thinking they would only have fireworks on Friday since this is the off-season, but based on the Halloween thread, it sounds like there may be more than one opportunity to see fireworks.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

In your situation i wouldn't hop. I think that there is enough to do at each park for 1.5 days that you can save the $200 and really enjoy each park.

 

[calilou]

I agree that getting to see the nighttime shows may be the main reason to hop. That being said I think if you have a plan you'll be fine. DCA can definitely be accomplished in a day with an early start. DLP is where you'll probably want more time. I would start with non hoppers and upgrade if necessary. Pretty positive you can upgrade discount tickets purchased outside of Disney; hopefully someone can confirm.

 

[Micahisgood54]

I would do the park hopper its a lot more beneficial and will you can do both parks if one is more crowded than the other!

 

[kylie71]

Better safe to have it, than not to have it..... what if you decide you would like to have lunch or dinner at Disneyland... that way your not locked out!
I have never even considered not getting Hoppers!

--Lori

 

[tarheelalum]

Get the hoppers.

 

[tzeitel]

I would not do hoppers (I never do at WDW but always get them at DLR), especially since it is your first time. You have 1.5 days at each park which is what you would have done getting the PH. Our first trip we spent a whole day exploring each park and then hopped the rest of the trip (which with having the party day would be like hopping).

 

[riostoker]

Better safe to have it, than not to have it..... what if you decide you would like to have lunch or dinner at Disneyland... that way your not locked out!
I have never even considered not getting Hoppers!

--Lori

I'm just such a planner. I can't really imagine thinking that way. I've already picked out the 2-3 places I want to eat at DCA and the 2-3 places I want to try at DL. I'm the type to have the day fairly well mapped out using ridemax or touringplans or just planning the day based on reading 1000 posts here. It is hard for me to justify the added $200 for the "what if we decide to eat at the other park?" when we've never tried any of the restaurants yet in the park we're in! Since it is all new to us, it isn't like we have favorite restaurants yet.

I can imagine wanting to run into the other park to get a souvenir we saw the day before that we didn't buy right then, but I don't see us doing it for meals or rides really.

I don't know... it is so hard to know without having been there before. Like the idea that DCA can be done in less than a full day.... I know a lot of people say that about Animal Kingdom too, but we've always done a full day there and never thought about leaving earlier.

Like I said, I wasn't even considering not getting hoppers originally. It was just when I realized that my plan in my head only called for us hopping on one day anyway, and we can visit both parks that day with the Halloween Party, it seems silly to pay the $200 and potentially never even hop!

I'll have to wait for the night time entertainment schedule to be published, but so far, I can't really see a reason to spend that much money for a feature we may not even use.

 

[gottalovepluto]

My vote is with the "I love to hop but in your situation I wouldn't" group. And we always get park hoppers, but we go for 5 days. In general we don't hop very much the first couple days anyway.

 

[Sweetpea2011]

Your plan sounds reasonable and you can find loads to do in each park for a day. The last day, with the Halloween tickets, you pretty much have a "hopper" in hand anyway. And $200 is not a small amount. That could go a long way towards some extra magic in the form of dole whips, ice cream bars, etc while you are there. If I were you I'd skip the hoppers and just enjoy the day at the park I'm at.

 

[kylie71]

Each person has their different touring style. I have never been to the World, and have no plans to....
I have been going to DLR since 1976, and will continue to do so at least once a year... I am not a local I live 500 miles away in Nevada, Northern Nevada.
I remember when DCA was a parking lot....
Do whatever you think is right, and do not second guess your choice.

--Lori

 

[RemainSeatedPlease]

Stick with what you have. Typically I go there for 3 days and spend the first day entirely in DL, the second day I spend the morning in DCA and the rest of the day in DL, and the third day I hop back and forth all day long. There isn't really enough for me to make a full day out of DCA. I say that you keep your non-hoppers, then if you get there and decide you want to add it on, you can always do it then.

 

[Geemo]

I appreciate Disney for having the flexibility of upgrading tickets.
Start with Non-Hoppers and see how it goes. With the MHP on the last day, giving you entry to both parks that day sounds PERFECT!

I find on our first couple of days we don't park hop. I try to avoid a lot of park hopping because it wears me out by the end of the trip. It also wears out the grandkids. Here's a favorite pic of mine. It's a trip where I took two of my grandkids. By the 4th day they were beat. I love the way the horse is looking at them on the bench. Poor kids.....