Park hopper needed?

[irishsharon]

Thinking of going in November, not thanksgiving The main reason I would get park hopper is in case the park we chose was over crowded that day, we would be able to go to another. I was wondering if there will be a real issue with crowds in November. First family trip Dh, myself and our boys 13 & 9. Also any thoughts on the memory maker ( is it worth it?)

 

[mesaboy2]

You can add park hopper and use it immediately if you decide you want to hop. No real need to add it now if you are unsure. Just be aware that the price is the same for all multiday tickets, so if you do it late in your trip you will have missed the opportunity to do it on earlier days for no additional cost.

 

[jamnmom]

Can you be more specific about when, exactly, you will be going. Crowds can vary a LOT during November - even over the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

[JimmyV]

Other than the time around Thanksgiving, the parks will be at their slowest levels in November. It is rare that crowding will cause you to head to a different park. However, check park hours. While crowds might not cause you to want to move from park to park, closing times might. Less crowded weeks bring shorter operating hours. You might want to hop from a park that closes early to one that stays open late. That said, we never spend the extra money for hoppers. We find enough to do in each park to keep us occupied for the day. And even when we go to a park that can be completed by mid to late afternoon, we find other things to do rather than hop to a second park. Such as going back to the resort, cleaning up, dressing up, and heading out to a Signature restaurant for dinner.

 

[BrittyRo]

We use our park hopper for when a park closes earlier in the day. Like AK closes at 6 or 7 we hop to MK until park close.
We hop all the time...
Did 3 out of 4 parks on my birthday (AM MK, afternoon to meet Baymax HS and Epcot at night to DATW)
It all depends on how you feel about it Some people feels it "wastes time"
We love doing multiple parks in a day (once we get a few full days in at each before hand)

 

[bsbrady]

The hopper gives you a greater freedom in what you want to do. We frequently hit a park in the morning go back to the resort and then go to another for dinner or fireworks. It feels nice not to be locked in

 

[richmo]

You can add park hopper and use it immediately if you decide you want to hop. No real need to add it now if you are unsure. Just be aware that the price is the same for all multiday tickets, so if you do it late in your trip you will have missed the opportunity to do it on earlier days for no additional cost.

Agree with this. If you're not sure you'll need it, don't get it now, but upgrade on site. But read mesaboy's last sentence carefully...if you're going to upgrade, you'll get a lot more bang for the buck doing it early in your stay.

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

You haven't said where you are staying. If you are staying at any of the Monorail resorts or the Epcot resorts, park hopper could come in handy. When we stayed at Poly, we used the park hopper to drop by MK at the end of the day touring another park to catch the fireworks or ride BTMRR or get a dole whip float. When we stayed at BWI, we used the park hopper a lot with Epcot- dining in WS numerous times and also at times we'd walk through Epcot and monorail to MK. Yes, that takes more time to get to MK than the busses, but we avoid the busses if at all possible. Plus, that way I got many many stops for some Inca Kola at Clubcool.

When we went in July which obviously is busier than November, we did use the park hopper to get out of MK on Thursday. Touringplans had recommended MK that day, and we respectfully disagreed once arriving and seeing that everyone else had followed TPs advice. We went to another park (I think Epcot, but that was 4 years ago).

On our last trip, we used park hopper to do a "4 parks 1 world" day. That was a lot of fun! We started at DHS AM-EMH, followed by AK, then a rest at the hotel, then afternoon at Epcot, and winding down the day with Wishes and MSEP at MK. Your boys are probably old enough to do all of that, if you have a day to spare.

Like Mesaboy2 said, you can add park hopper at any point in your trip if you decide you want to do it, but it's the same cost whether you add it now, your first day of your trip, or your last day of your trip.

Have a great trip!

 

[KathyM2]

I think that the park hopper is a lot of money and not really necessary - UNLESS you want to see all the parks and don't have enough days. Otherwise, I think one park per day is plenty...but maybe I'd be in the minority in this group lol.

 

[CarolynFH]

i have nothing to add re hopping (we've always bought them - we're accustomed to having the flexibility they bring), but re Memory Maker, I do think it would be worth it since this is your first family trip. Not only will you get all the ride photos and videos (photos $15 each, videos can't be purchased separately), but you'll be able to get lots of photos in each park by looking for the PhotoPass photographers. Be sure to ask if they can do magic shots - we've got photo of our son in law holding Simba like a baby; a butterfly on my hand; Chip (from BatB) in granddaughter's hand; Stitch bursting from the ground at our feet; and others. When it's just DH and I, we won't buy it, but whenever family or friends are with us, we will. Looking forward to getting the photo of granddaughter's first ride on RnR (she was about an inch too short this year - can't wait til next year!).

 

[irishsharon]

Thanks everyone! I am hoping for free dining so I have not set our exact dates. We are planning on staying at a moderate. I am just trying to figure out which extras are worth it and which are not. All of a sudden with park hopper, memory maker and tickets to MVMCP that's about $700! We are planning to stay 8 nights.

 

[disnut8]

The thread title is "Park Hopper Needed?"

The park hopper is not needed but the choice to add it comes down to the individual wants/needs. No one can predict the crowds in November for the OP and what this particular family wants/needs to do.

If the family goes to a park one day and finds it not to their liking (they are first timers) and they don't have a park hopper, they either have to spend all day in that park or leave the park for a break and then go back to the same park for the evening activities or just leave the park and spend the rest of the day doing non park activities (which there are a lot). So, a park hopper would not be necessary at all if the family could do that. Same thing if half the family didn't like a park and wanted to go elsewhere. That's something the family will have to decide.

The other posters are correct, though. If the family decides for a five day trip that the non hoppers are fine for the first four days because they have done one park per day and then on the fifth day, they decide to finish up at two of the parks because they want to do attractions they missed, they will need to pay for the difference between a five day non hopper pass and a five day hopper pass. There's no break on doing just a one day hopper.

 

[itchin2go]

We used to always buy park hoppers. One day (probably way too late), I realized we hardly used them.

After that, I took the sage advice on these boards to NOT buy them initially, and add them if/when see the need or want. We have never upgraded since.

You can absolutely plan/have a great vacation with or without them. I just don't like paying for things I don't use, so I like the wait and see strategy.

 

[kaetra]

For shorter trips park hoppers are not a great value. Longer trips I think they're worth the extra $$. If I were staying for 8 days I would get a hopper, but we are commandos - go-go-go we're-burning-daylight kind of people. Do Rope drop at Park A, then hit another park with FP+ in the afternoon and then pick the least busy park for the evening and try to get some additional FP or go to a fireworks park.

The Memory Maker is not a good value for our family. A decent point and shoot camera and some occasional assistance from the Photopass photographers gets us plenty of wonderful photos. The quality of Photopass photographers varies greatly. But, if you have your heart set on Magic Shots (photos with animated character embellishments added later) and ride photos it may be a better value for your family.