No Park Hopper!!??

[hicksnichols]

Planning a trip for October 2016 for myself, DH, DD15, DS8, and DS 1.5 (at time of travel). We usually go for 4 days and visit each park with park hopper. We always end up at MK each afternoon as we don't find Epcot, AK, or HS to be a full day park. Sometimes we may go back to HS one evening, especially if MK has MNSSHP. Next year we are considering forgoing the park hopper. My DH doesn't want to because our first trip we got stuck in heavy rain storms at the AK. We hopped to MK where the rain wasn't as big as a deal with inside rides. I want to save the money and choose one night to go to MNSSHP and/or even go an extra day which is cheaper than the hopper. I figured if we go one night to MNSSHP that we can go to AK that morning and then use our hard ticket to get in the party. But can we really spend a full day at HS or Epcot? Especially with HS closing everything?! Also, if we were to go with 4 day tickets and then decide we want to go the the park one more day, can we add that for the reduced cost while we are there? Or would we have to purchase a one day ticket? TIA!

 

[minnie mum]

I think there is enough to do at Epcot for TWO days. That's the minimum that we spend there on any trip. DHS is now more problematic. But if you are going with a toddler, you're either taking an afternoon break at your resort or ending your park day early, I would assume. That might be one day where you spend a couple of hours at your resort pool in the afternoon before heading back to the park for the evening.

You can always add an extra day to an existing ticket providing it is less than a 10 day ticket to start with, and you have to do it before you leave the park on your last ticket day.

 

[MinnieMe129]

4 day tickets and 5 day tickets are the same price at undercovertourist.com !

 

[Ashley Saunders]

I think there is definitely a full day for each of the parks. I am partial to the park hopper option but I completely understand wanting to save some money. There is just something nice about enjoying a day at one park and then visiting another for fireworks or extra magic hours!

 

[Rosebud123]

I'm in the minority, but I've never really understood why people hop. I guess if I were going on an adults-only trip and staying at an Epcot resort I might be tempted. Or maybe if I only had 4 park days and wanted to do just 1/2 at AK or DHS. I guess I answered my own question. LOL!

Our trips are 10-11 days in length and we do a combo of RD - break - back to same park, 3/4 days then back to hotel, or WP/DTD or theme park days.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We've never had park hoppers (I'm too cheap!). All of the parks have enough in them to fill a day. There's always the option of spending some time in Downtown Disney or at your resort pool.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We have never had Park Hoppers, but we usually go for 7-8 day trips. We also usually stick to MK and Epcot and we alternate years between HS and AK. We were originally not planning a trip for 2016 and just going to go in 2017 but I had mentioned something to my mom about going to Disney during Christmas to see the lights and everything and now she wants to go next year during Christmas only for a few days since we are planning a longer trip in April 2017. Anyways since we are only going for a short time next year I am considering getting park hoppers. We are avid Disney eaters as well, lol, we always get the deluxe plan and since my mom hasn't been to Disney in over 20 years I'm excited to show her all the cool places we usually love to eat...But in order to fit some places in we would need park hoppers. I think park hoppers all depends on how you want your vacation to go.

 

[JimmyV]

We find enough to do for multiple full days in MK and Epcot. DHS and AK are days where we find that we have spare time in the evenings. I prefer to spend the money I save by not buying hoppers on nice dinners at the better restaurants at WDW which are all outside the parks. So hopping isn't something I feel compelled to do. I would rather "hop" over to bluezoo or Citricos or California Grill or Victoria and Albert's on my AK and DHS days as opposed to hopping to a second park.

 

[GillianP1301]

Parkhoppers are something I never used until my last trip and now that I've done it, I can't imagine not having them. I really found they enhanced the overall vacation. That being said, I still had great vacations without it and if you're going at a time where you can take advantage of a MNSSHP ticket as a hopper then you likely wouldn't miss a hopper much at all.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We hop every trip. We dine at our leisure in all parks at all hours. We buy it for the convenience of being able to miss wishes on a rainy night and return after HS on a good night. It's always in the budget.

 

[Harlon]

We are definitely a park hopper family. And we do use them. For example, last trip we found MK to be way more crowded than we anticipated on one specific day. Using the MDE app we noticed really short lines at Epcot. So we hopped on the monorail and had a great time at Epcot with very small waits. Just one example. But to me park hoppers plus MDE is a lethal combo that work perfectly together.

 

[hicksnichols]

We hop every trip. We dine at our leisure in all parks at all hours. We buy it for the convenience of being able to miss wishes on a rainy night and return after HS on a good night. It's always in the budget.

This reminds me of my DH! Almost his words exactly!

 

[hicksnichols]

Thanks everyone. I think that I'm about to cave (as I always do) and get the hoppers. I think I will feel less stressed if I know there is flexibility in my trip. I was considering getting the Water Park and More option though. I am guessing that with it I could get 4 day tickets with the WPM option. We've never visited the water parks. If I buy this option am I correct in thinking that I could visit parks in the morning and go to water park on those days or following days as long as they are used within 14 days? I could possible just do this and use one full day at MK, one day at AK and a waterpark, one day at HS and a waterpark, and one day at Epcot and then do MNSSHP (either that night or another night of our stay). We would probably only stay 5 nights as we need a day to travel there and a day to travel home (then back to work we go). If I just were to buy one waterpark ticket I read that you can "hop" between the waterparks and you get 2 visits. Does that mean you have to visit on the same day and "hop" or can you visit on 2 days?

 

[tinkerbella16]

We have never NOT had park hoppers, so I can't imagine not having them. I love the freedom of going wherever I feel like on any day... Do MK in the morning, then Epcot at night for dinner or EMH or vice versa. On our DHS and AK days, we like do those in the morning and then hop to another park in the evening since AK closes early. It works great for dining also- we aren't restricted to 1 park a day, so we can be flexible. I know to each his own but this is just my opinion. Park Hoppers are great for us and the way we tour the parks. We have never felt that we haven't gotten our moneys worth so we will continue to use the park hopper option, always. MK and Epcot are the two parks we frequent the most during our trips.. last year I was able to visit Epcot 4 times (not full days) during our week long stay.. I love spending evenings there I would go more if I could. This upcoming trip I will have more days, so I will be hopping to MK/Epcot quite a lot during my 10 day stay.

 

[Rosebud123]

The waterparks are amazing!!!! That is one option I never go without! If you have 5 day tickets, you have 5 WP & More (DQ, mini golf) options. It's tied to visits, not to days, although you could go to BB - break - back to BB, for example, and only use one entitlement.

 

[Rosebud123]

If you buy a one day pass, you can hop but only that day.
If you have the WP & More option added to your ticket, if you hop to a second WP you'd use a 2nd entitlement.

Disney WP's are really amazing, IMO. We have WP's here in New England but they don't even come close. The theming in incredible and they're super clean.

 

[Dano13]

I have never gone without a park hopper and can't imagine ever doing so. Not having a park hopper limits dining options significantly, and for us, removes any visit to AK. There is no way I would ever spend more than 3 hours there. But again this biggest thing is the dining options, and even some fireworks or night time shows. Many a day we would spend at MK and then go to DHS simply to see Fantasmic.

 

[DebbieB]

You always have the option to add the hopper once you get there if you decide you want it.

I've had annual passes for most of my trips so it's not an issue to decide. We typically do one park in the morning, take a break and go to another park. When you could use fastpasses any time after the return time, we did sometimes pickup fastpasses and then go back to the same park to use them in the evening.

 

[hicksnichols]

We have never NOT had park hoppers, so I can't imagine not having them. I love the freedom of going wherever I feel like on any day... Do MK in the morning, then Epcot at night for dinner or EMH or vice versa. On our DHS and AK days, we like do those in the morning and then hop to another park in the evening since AK closes early. It works great for dining also- we aren't restricted to 1 park a day, so we can be flexible. I know to each his own but this is just my opinion. Park Hoppers are great for us and the way we tour the parks. We have never felt that we haven't gotten our moneys worth so we will continue to use the park hopper option, always. MK and Epcot are the two parks we frequent the most during our trips.. last year I was able to visit Epcot 4 times (not full days) during our week long stay.. I love spending evenings there I would go more if I could. This upcoming trip I will have more days, so I will be hopping to MK/Epcot quite a lot during my 10 day stay.

Yep. This describes us to a T. I will just budget for the park hoppers. Guess we will go with 4 day park hopper tix and then get one night for the MNSSHP for a 5th day. Or just go with 3 days (and skip AK all together if my little one isn't a big animal lover) and one night for MNSSHP. The 3 day will save a little money since we can get in at 4pm for the party and may be better for my little one who may tire easily. We usually like to rope drop a different park each morning and then hop to MK where we schedule FP. We usually get to ride our must do's at each park this way. Hope we can get free dining with a bounce back or stag it up early when (hopefully) released next year. If not, will probably have to skip the party.