Park Hopper or No?

[Kimmumum]

We always get the hopper. We love the flexibility

 

[kkrisland]

Yes! Yes! And yes! We love the park hopper option. We've been 4 times in the past 2 years and we stay 7 days at the parks each time. It is an absolute necessity in our opinion. It allows us to have ADR's in other parks while still fitting in EMH's and such. We have 2 children (4 and 2) and we usually fit in naps and swim time as well. It just makes our schedule a lot easier!! A LOT!

 

[decomouse]

We love the park hopper option and always get it. The flexibility is great. We normally go to at least two parks a day and sometimes three. During Christmas week when MK is open REALLY LATE (or early, depending on how you look at it), it's easy to do 3 parks/day.


2:00AM on Main Street last year at Christmas

 

[Echo queen]

We alway get the hopper option but this was the first time we used it earlier this month. We were hopping all over the place and loved it.

 

[Just(donald)Ducky]

Everytime I've went, it's been with a park hopper. There are those who say that it's not worth it, but the last day of everytrip is a "highlights" trip, and we have to park hop if I wanted to ride one ride, my sisters another, etc. etc. etc.

Not to mention, if you go to epcot and the kids aren't into it, you then move on to another park... it's not a whole wasted day. I'm into the whole "breaks at the hotel thing", but I'm at disney, so I definitly don't want to spend a WHOLE day at the pool!

 

[JenSop]

We always get the park hopper option. I don't think we've ever spent a whole day at just one park. Plus, with the hopper option, you have total flexibility when it comes to your ADR's.

 

[rccruiser]

Just so you know, I was given a FREE Castaway Cay Lanyard that holds park hopper tickets and passes when we were on the Disney Wonder portion of our trip.

On the First day of using our 4 day hopper ticket (after finishing a Wonderful Disney Cruise btw) while riding Epcot's Test Track the CHEAP PLASTIC LANYARD that disney gave us flew up and all our tickets (and the rest of our vacation) dumped out into the air to who knows where?! And yes I did have the lanyard tucked into my shirt.

Do your self a favor and don't trust your whole vacation to the complimentary CHEAP PLASTIC LANYARDs to hold your park tickets and fast passes or credit cards or you just might end up ruining a whole vacation like we almost did.

Luckly we knew someone who was a relative of the Disney Family and managment graciously gave us complimentary tickets to finish the remaining 3 days. THANK YOU DISNEY MGM STUDIOS GUEST RELATIONS FOR SAVING OUR TRIP!

The Martins

 

[A_NY_Outlaw]

I couldn't imagine going without the hopper. I guess I never really did the math to know how much extra it costs, but we enjoy being at more than one park today. You know, I never gave it much thought, but does one need a hopper option to get into a park with extra magic hours?

 

[Mickiethepooh]

I couldn't imagine going without the hopper. I guess I never really did the math to know how much extra it costs, but we enjoy being at more than one park today. You know, I never gave it much thought, but does one need a hopper option to get into a park with extra magic hours?

You don't need a hopper to get into park with extra magic hours IF that is the park you are using that days ticket for in the first place and don't intend to go to any other park that day. and of course you are an on site guest.

 

[LJD2143]

I finally convinced DH that we should NOT HOP this year. Up until this year, we had always added the Park Hopper option to our tickets.

But last year I realized something - something my father taught me years ago during our family trips to Disney: The more time you spend "traveling", whether it's from park-to-park or resort-to-park, the less time you are actually ENJOYING the Disney experience! When you are "in route", you are not on a ride, not in a restaurant, not at the pool, not in your room, or not at a show. You are in a bus, boat, car, monorail, or walking - for sometimes almost an hour or more! Don't get me wrong - I love all the Disney transportation - we purposely go out of our way to make sure we ride every single type at least once. But in order to spend the optimal amount of time actually in the Parks or relaxing by the pool, we will always stay in a resort on (or near) the monorail and not park-hop.

I think during our 7-night stay at the Polynesian this September, we saved almost $200 (2 adults & 3 children) by not adding the park-hopper option. And as for the days when we didn't require a whole day in the park (like MGM or AK), then we head to Downtown Disney, the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, or visiting the other resorts.

 

[SGMCO]

This will be our 1st year to add the park hopper on.
Since we have been several times to WDW and know
what attractions and Rides we want to do we can do a park
in 1/2 the time and hop to a different park to eat or see a show.

But if you are New to going to WDW and haven't experianced
the different parks, it does take plenty of time to cover 1 park
so I don't think the Hopper pass is worth adding.

 

[kimsuenew]

We did not last trip, nor will we for the upcoming trip. We just plan our days according to where we want to be/anything special going on. What we will not do next trip (that I did our very first trip) was base our days at each park based on which one had extended night hours. I thought I was being so clever doing this however it seemed a "zillion" other visitors had the same idea, therefore there were a lot of people in that particular park! For us, not hopping works. We have friends that are WDW regulars and they will not go without adding the park hoppers. I guess it depends on how well you know the parks, what you want to see/do, and so on!