Park hopper option- is this a good idea?

[mrspopeye]

We will be going in October, with older kids, who seem to be ready for the bigger rides, and of course Harry Potter. I am assuming HP will be very crowded and we may easily spend a half a day or more just getting to see everything there, as they will want to go in every single store and do every single attraction. I am trying to decided between a 3-4 day single park tickets or 3-4 day tickets with park hopping option.

I usually do not get the park hopper option for Disney tickets, but since Universal and IOA are so close, does it make sense to get it? Is it fairly easy to go between the two parks, or is it more trouble than its worth? Is 4 days too much, even with Harry Potter?

Thanks.

 

[Magpie]

We will be going in October, with older kids, who seem to be ready for the bigger rides, and of course Harry Potter. I am assuming HP will be very crowded and we may easily spend a half a day or more just getting to see everything there, as they will want to go in every single store and do every single attraction. I am trying to decided between a 3-4 day single park tickets or 3-4 day tickets with park hopping option.

I usually do not get the park hopper option for Disney tickets, but since Universal and IOA are so close, does it make sense to get it? Is it fairly easy to go between the two parks, or is it more trouble than its worth? Is 4 days too much, even with Harry Potter?

Thanks.

I don't think 4 days is too much, unless all you like to do is run from one thrill ride to the next. We're staying for 6 in December, so we can putter around, look at the themeing, and see all the shows and eat in some nice restaurants. I guess a good question would be - do you consider Animal Kingdom a half day park, or a two full days park? For us, we can easily spend two days (or longer) in Animal Kingdom.

It's very easy to get from one park to the other - it's a very short walk. So park hoppers give you a lot more flexibility. We've opted for park hoppers even though with six days we probably don't need them. I just didn't want to have to decide which park we were going to spend all day at, when they're right next to each other. This way we could visit US for most of one day and then stop back to ride a favorite ride, one more time, in IOA. Or vice versa.

 

[mrspopeye]

We are the kind that wants to see everything it has to offer, see every show and ride every ride at least once. Since the parks will likely close at 6pm the time of year we are there, I was thinking we may need to opt for more days. We did Animal Kingdom for one day last year, and did not get to see everything because it closed at 5pm. Had the park been open to 8 or 9 pm, I think we would have.