Park Hopper...Is it nescessary?

[jeepgirl30]

I wrestled with this too for our upcoming trip. We are only going 3 nights so 2 park days. I thought it was a bit crazy to spend so much but after talking with DD6 I knew I had to get the hoppers.

This will be her first trip. She has no idea what to expect. We've read books, talked a lot and watched the planning video numerous times. She keeps saying she wants to go to Epcot because she wants to go to the movie where you wear the glasses. I know once she gets to Magic Kingdom she is going to want to go back the next day. I don't want to force her to pick a park for a day that she may not completely enjoy.

I added hoppers to give us the flexibility to go where we want when we want.

When DH and I have gone alone we always get hoppers because we like little bits from each park. For us AK and MGM do not require near a full day and would be a waste of a full day park ticket. We love to hop.

I find the transportation fairly easy and more often than not fast enough for me. I enjoy taking the monorail and riding the boats.

I'd say go for the hoppers.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

We got it for our last trip in May 2005 and it was very useful. Our kids were about the same age as yours and we felt that we just had more freedom and didn't have to plan so much. However, this year when we go in December we are trying to keep costs down and decided not to add the "HOP" option on. We figured since the parks are closing earlier than they did in May ( 8p instead of 11p) we probably won't end up needing it. We figure if we have extra time we'll shop, either at DTD or one of the outlet malls.

 

[eeyoregon]

I never get the hoppers and have never missed not having them. There is just soooo much to do at each park and the transportation can be so time consuming that I just can't imagine changing parks during the same day. Also, we tend to visit the World in late April and the parks close relatively early (except for extra magic hours) so there is no need for hoppers.

 

[Camilo]

If you don't mind the extra money and think about going to different parks on the same day, I'd say do it.

We didn't get it because:
1) it's more expensive
2) we don't even think we will be able to see everything (4 parks) in 5 days. We don't want to spend even more time going from one park to another.

In 1992, when we went in a big group, I remember we did this for the second day (spent the morning at MK and the afternoon/night at EPCOT) and I recall I didn't like it.