Park Hopper - Tell me what to do with it...

[KimBean]

Looks like if I score free dining this fall I will have to pay for Park Hopper. I'm willing to do it, but I'm working on a rough itinerary and want ideas on how to actually take advantage of it. We will be there 9 days 8 nights. We will go to the park 9 days, we are rope drop to close people. I know we are insane but we like to maximize our time. Last trip we did leave the park a few days to go out to dinner on property DS or a resort. We had breakfast one morning so didn't get to park at RD, but that is about it. Since we already RD to Close I'm trying to figure out how to park hop without just losing a bunch of time.

 

[Jfsag123]

Visit one park in the morning and use RD time for top attractions. In the afternoon, hop to another park and use FP+ there. It's also good for taking advantage of EMH. You can start (or end) in the EMH park and then hop to a different one once crowds start building.

 

[helenb]

We like to stay at the Epcot resorts, so for us a park hopper is essential because we will spend the day out at the parks, then hop into Epcot for dinner.

 

[patty57]

We like to stay at the Epcot resorts, so for us a park hopper is essential because we will spend the day out at the parks, then hop into Epcot for dinner.

Same with us. If I didn't stay around Epcot, I would be less likely to hop.

 

[lustergirl]

I like to go to one park for the morning, take a break, and then head to a different for the night.

 

[DarthHannah]

I like the freedom to visit other parks if we finish with one! Also, You can take advantage of EMH and the hop to another park (or hop from another park to enjoy EMH).

 

[vicb]

Park hop to your advantage... make use of emh hours both am and pm but hopper allows you to skip out of the super busy times on those emh days, go to a less crowded park for part of the day. If you miss something in one park on a day you can hop in to get it done on another.

I always buy hoppers, we hop nearly every day atleast for dinner or evening entertainment. That said I have never gone for as long as you are.

I agree with above posts which state hopping into Epcot for dinner (we do that more than once each trip) and doing rope drop or emh am hours at one park but book your FP+ for another park later in the day. If the weather is nice take pool breaks.

 

[tobikaye]

I am not a RD to Close person, but I do hop frequently. If you want to hop without feeling like you are losing park time, I would make the hop part of the adventure or with a meal along the way or doing something you have not done before.

Example 1:
AK to DHS: Plan a meal at an Epcot resort and make that a stop along the way. So, from AK bus to that resort and then after walk or boat to DHS.

Example 2 (If you have never taken the boat from TTC to MK):
Epcot to MK: Monorail to TTC, boat from TTC to MK.

 

[Ryansdad0727]

I try to pair HS and EPCOT together on the same day. I will hit RD for EPCOT and go ride TT, Mission Space, Spaceship Earth then Nemo. I don't want to use FP+'s at EPCOT so I will book those for HS later in the day. We will walk or take the boat to HS and do the FP+'s and Galactic fireworks or Fantasmic.

Or, Go to EPCOT as above and take the monorail to MK where FP+'s are scheduled. We have a stroller with a 2 year old so the walk or monorail ride mid afternoon makes a great naptime for him.

 

[tlmadden73]

No one way to use it, but don't feel like you NEED to use it. It simply gives you flexibility.

Just gives you flexibility to jump:
1) To the park that has evening EMH
2) To the park with the night show you want to see (or see again).
3) Hit restaurants in different locations (Lunch at Be Our Guest .. dinner at World Showcase).
4) A park is getting too crowded or rain washes out a lot of the big rides? Hop over to another park.

I always like to use it for my AK days since the park closed (or use to) at 5:00 PM. Go to AK . .then hop over to another park.
I also like to use it for Epcot and DHS since there is a fun boat ride to hop between them. If you aren't interested in a lot of the shows, DHS is easily a half day park.

 

[theyoungs07]

I can't imagine a trip without PH. When I'm at AK and it closes at 7, I hop to Mk which is probably open at least a few more hours. On my last trip, we hopped to MK at 10pm since it was open until 12 with EMH until 2. Once at MK, we used FP 4,5,6...

 

[amylevan]

Looks like if I score free dining this fall I will have to pay for Park Hopper. I'm willing to do it, but I'm working on a rough itinerary and want ideas on how to actually take advantage of it. We will be there 9 days 8 nights. We will go to the park 9 days, we are rope drop to close people. I know we are insane but we like to maximize our time. Last trip we did leave the park a few days to go out to dinner on property DS or a resort. We had breakfast one morning so didn't get to park at RD, but that is about it. Since we already RD to Close I'm trying to figure out how to park hop without just losing a bunch of time.

You really need to run the numbers on this one. If park hoppers is not something you'd normally buy, are you really saving as much money as you think by getting free dining. Would you save more by getting a different discount and not getting the hoppers? I know free dining is very popular around here, but for my family we can do much better with room discounts and OOP. And we eat 1 TS a day.

Having said that, we love park hoppers, but we are afternoon breakers. So we go to a park, stay until a little after lunch, head to our resort for RNR and swimming and then head back out for dinner and evening entertainment. Sometimes we end up at the same park as the morning, sometimes not. On days we don't break, we usually stay at the same park all day.

 

[Ladyfish77]

We used it to hop to Epcot for Food & Wine and also for dinner reservations. We also hopped to DHS to check out Osborne Lights (which are gone after this year). We also hopped to EMH evening hours at MK. Lots of opportunity to hop if you have the option.

 

[scrapquitler]

Looks like if I score free dining this fall I will have to pay for Park Hopper. I'm willing to do it, but I'm working on a rough itinerary and want ideas on how to actually take advantage of it. We will be there 9 days 8 nights. We will go to the park 9 days, we are rope drop to close people. I know we are insane but we like to maximize our time. Last trip we did leave the park a few days to go out to dinner on property DS or a resort. We had breakfast one morning so didn't get to park at RD, but that is about it. Since we already RD to Close I'm trying to figure out how to park hop without just losing a bunch of time.

Our strategy with PH is to always end the day in whatever park closes last. So if we spend the day at AK or HS, and MK is open till midnight, we'll just leave AK or HS at closing, then go to MK. It's usually MK that is open the latest, but sometimes it's EP, depending if they have EMH (which don't deter us). If we are taking a break mid-day, we usually always go to a different park in the evening than we went to earlier in the day.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We tend to hop from AK and DHS because they are really 1/2 day parks for us. We like to go twice but leave after lunch to head to another park.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We also like to hop to take advantage of evening magic hours.

 

[sharonabe]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember that you could choose the park hopper option OR the water park and more option. If my memory is correct, would the water park option be a better choice for you?