Not hopping on longer trips

[rentayenta]

My fellas did their own version of fuzzy Disney math and decided that we spend about 75-90 minutes park hopping from deciding to hop, getting into the other park, and being on/in line for an attraction. Their times may be a little exaggerated but heck, I am happy their using fuzzy Disney math. Way better than Common Core.

So my question is, are they others out there who choose not to hop with longer trips? By longer I mean 4-5 days. Our last few trips have been 1-2 days so hopping made little sense to me.

By not hopping I am looking forward to doing some things we have missed the last few trips like:

• Redwood Creek Challlenge
• Jingle Jangle Jamboree
• World of Color
• Aladdin the Musical
• Nemo Subs
• Toontown
  

 

[corinne76]

I go back and forth on this and even asked before how others use their hoppers.

We didn't hop last visit and we did 5 days. It was fine. we made as much use out of the park we were in and it was fine. My kids are younger, they were 2 and 5 last visit and I think going back and forth would've been too much for them.

with that said, I do wonder if there's a benefit that I'm missing and should buy hoppers next visit. it will again be a 5 day visit. Maybe 6

 

[Geemo]

Due to air fare our trips are min of 4days in the park.

Our first full day is usually Disneyland and our second day DCA. After we've accomplished everyone's "must do's" for the trip then I'll do what ever the grandkids want.

The last couple of days we'll do rides in DL and then hop to DCA for Aladdin and more rides. Maybe even back to DL for who knows what... We've hopped several times in one day. The kids are old enough to know what going on. They have been to the parks and know where things are and how far apart they are. If they want to hike back and forth it's fine with me. I have noticed they are becoming more aware of distances with each trip.


I don't mind hopping, it's pretty easy most of the time.

 

[rentayenta]

I go back and forth on this and even asked before how others use their hoppers.

We didn't hop last visit and we did 5 days. It was fine. we made as much use out of the park we were in and it was fine. My kids are younger, they were 2 and 5 last visit and I think going back and forth would've been too much for them.

with that said, I do wonder if there's a benefit that I'm missing and should buy hoppers next visit. it will again be a 5 day visit. Maybe 6

We always hopped before our last few short trips. It really didn't occur to me not to hop but that was before Carsland, before DCA was a full day park for my family. With the addition of Carsland and WoC, it's now a full day and then some.

Anyway, not hopping did lend itself to a more relaxed mindset if that makes sense. It made us enjoy some things we would maybe skip over. We drew at the Animation Academy for the first time in ages and it was a total blast.

I'm sure lots can chime in on the benefits of hopping. Maybe as I age, the benefit of relaxing and not hopping outweighs doing our favorite rides over and over. When we hopped thats what we seemed to do. We'd ride Indy 10 x a trip and miss all of Bug'sLand. We like Bug'sLand but love Indy so it seemed the natural thing to do. Exploring Bug'sLand though, especially during the holidays, is a real treat. It was nice to be reminded of that.

 

[rentayenta]

Due to air fare our trips are min of 4days in the park.

Our first full day is usually Disneyland and our second day DCA. After we've accomplished everyone's "must do's" for the trip then I'll do what ever the grandkids want.

The last couple of days we'll do rides in DL and then hop to DCA for Aladdin and more rides. Maybe even back to DL for who knows what... We've hopped several times in one day. The kids are old enough to know what going on. They have been to the parks and know where things are and how far apart they are. If they want to hike back and forth it's fine with me. I have noticed they are becoming more aware of distances with each trip.


I don't mind hopping, it's pretty easy most of the time.

Bold is mine. That's some good insight. I think mine are more aware of distance and time too. Mine can hop back and forth alone but it's their idea to not hop! I think they really appreciate each trip more as they get older.


I like the idea of a full day at each park and then hopping.

 

[corinne76]

We always hopped before our last few short trips. It really didn't occur to me not to hop but that was before Carsland, before DCA was a full day park for my family. With the addition of Carsland and WoC, it's now a full day and then some.

Anyway, not hopping did lend itself to a more relaxed mindset if that makes sense. It made us enjoy some things we would maybe skip over. We drew at the Animation Academy for the first time in ages and it was a total blast.

I'm sure lots can chime in on the benefits of hopping. Maybe as I age, the benefit of relaxing and not hopping outweighs doing our favorite rides over and over. When we hopped thats what we seemed to do. We'd ride Indy 10 x a trip and miss all of Bug'sLand. We like Bug'sLand but love Indy so it seemed the natural thing to do. Exploring Bug'sLand though, especially during the holidays, is a real treat. It was nice to be reminded of that.

absolutely. For us, it was our first trip for the kids so there were no "favorites" yet. We did try to get as much done on the first day of each park, and then do and must repeat rides on our second full day. The 5th day we did at night and did DL.

I see the benefits of hopping, but I think it would confuse me There's already enough for me to think about, rides, hitting all the rides, new food to try out. adding in hopping would throw my day off. But that's me. I confuse easily

 

[figment_jii]

I'm of mixed emotions about hopping versus not hopping on longer trip (well, trip of any length really). I just got back from a 6 day trip and we did end up hopping almost every day. It does take some time to get from wherever you are in one park over to the other park. For my group, it didn't take 75-90 minutes to get from hopping, more like 15-30 depending on where we were coming from and where we were going to.

In the end, I think hopping was useful because it meant we could do things in both parks depending on how the day was shaping out. We usually started in one park, then hopped to other for the evening. Plus for our group, RSR was a must (it was the kid's favorite), so we pretty much did it every day. We had to hop to do this.

 

[rentayenta]

absolutely. For us, it was our first trip for the kids so there were no "favorites" yet. We did try to get as much done on the first day of each park, and then do and must repeat rides on our second full day. The 5th day we did at night and did DL.

I see the benefits of hopping, but I think it would confuse me There's already enough for me to think about, rides, hitting all the rides, new food to try out. adding in hopping would throw my day off. But that's me. I confuse easily

You'd pick it up easy! As you know everything is so close. It's the time my crew doesn't like, not the distance. I do like the idea of not hopping the first two days and then having the option if needed. They claim it'll put them in a different mindset knowing its an option. LOL!

I'm of mixed emotions about hopping versus not hopping on longer trip (well, trip of any length really). I just got back from a 6 day trip and we did end up hopping almost every day. It does take some time to get from wherever you are in one park over to the other park. For my group, it didn't take 75-90 minutes to get from hopping, more like 15-30 depending on where we were coming from and where we were going to.

In the end, I think hopping was useful because it meant we could do things in both parks depending on how the day was shaping out. We usually started in one park, then hopped to other for the evening. Plus for our group, RSR was a must (it was the kid's favorite), so we pretty much did it every day. We had to hop to do this.

Like I said, they used Fuzzy Disney Math but if I call them on it, they can call me on mine. I'd say its closer to 30-45 for us including the decision to hop.

There are those few rides we'd love to do daily like Indy and Soarin'. RSR is one of my favorites but the rest of my group doesn't find it as amazing as I do. And at dusk? Pure magic!

 

[corinne76]

hmmm, getting to ride RSR more often does sound like a good selling point.

non hoppers can always be upgraded at the box office area right?
The last visit, DS was 2 and not big enough to ride many rides. We will have to see what he enjoys and maybe upgrade

 

[Halloweenqueen]

We decided not to park hop during our upcoming trip in January. The money saved can get us into a sit down dinner. We will have 5 day tix, one day to be our shortened last day. We are going to do each park with its early entry.

 

[Eddygirl]

Oh my.... I am soooo looking forward to hopping back and forth this coming trip!! We had our first DW trip this past May and as much fun that it was I really missed the easy going aspect of our DL trips... And a big part of that was being able to hop over to the other park on a whim!

 

[Godzilla55]

I think the value of hopping definitely depends on park hours. When we went in July, every night in 4 days we ended up in DL until midnight, with an afternoon nap each day, due to the earlier closing of CA.
My kids thought I was crazy requiring a nap, but once the settle down it was hard to wake them from the nap. The kids finally got the point of taking naps because they lasted way longer than their typical bed time (DD 8 and DS 9)

So, with younger kids with early bed times, I feel the hoppers are less valuable.

 

[YukonMommy]

Since we are lucky enough to always go for an extended amount of time we rarely park hop. With 4 kids, a Grandma and us parents we find it to exhausting.
The only time we do is the last day when everyone gets to pick their favorite ride to go on one last time!

Have a magical time!