Park Hopper vs Base Tickets

[tiggerjenn]

Hi, I originally booked 6 day PH tickets for our family's upcoming trip but now that I've done our itinerary I'm finishing only 1 day that we will actually be hopping. Does anyone know if it's worth downgrading our tickets, will we actually save enough to make it worth changing? Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[disney world dreamer]

personally i usually don't park hop.
i enjoy staying in one park all day or if i'm done before the park closes then i head back to my hotel to relax.
with a 6 day ticket i see no reason to park hop.
this is how i would spend my days...
MK: 2 days
epcot: 2 days
HS: 1 day
AK: 1 day

by downgrading you would be saving $60 PER PERSON. that adds up quickly and then you can spend that money on other things like extra snacks or souvenirs or just bank it.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi, I originally booked 6 day PH tickets for our family's upcoming trip but now that I've done our itinerary I'm finishing only 1 day that we will actually be hopping. Does anyone know if it's worth downgrading our tickets, will we actually save enough to make it worth changing? Thank you in advance for your help!

I guess that it will depend on what you plan to do with your time on the day that you had planned to hop. Will you just remain in the first park instead? Or go back to your resort and enjoy it for the evening? Or will you end up buying tickets to La Nouba? Or spending extra to bowl at Splitsville? Or do a round of mini golf? Doing something else because you're not ready to kick back and relax could end up costing you more than the cost of hopping.

If I were on the fence about it, I would downgrade now. You can add park hopping to your tickets at any point during your visit, as long as it is done within 14 days of the first day of use. If you decide that you want to hop, then add it at that time. Otherwise, you will save yourself about $60 per person.

 

[usd2bmd]

According to the Disney website, park hopping is an additional $49/ticket. So I guess it depends on how many people you have in your party and if everyone will be together all of the time. We always park hop. We don't usually spend all day at Animal Kingdom and will park hop that day as well as the day we are at Hollywood Studios.

 

[marmalade]

According to the Disney website, park hopping is an additional $49/ticket. So I guess it depends on how many people you have in your party and if everyone will be together all of the time. We always park hop. We don't usually spend all day at Animal Kingdom and will park hop that day as well as the day we are at Hollywood Studios.

The park hopper is $49 for a 3day or less ticket, 4 days or more the park hopper options jumps up to $60 per person.

I would drop them for now, like PP stated they can always be added when you get there.

 

[pooh2001]

We are considering not to park hop on our next visit.
We only park hopped twice on a 10 day vacation at WDW.

If we plan our ADR's correctly, we will not need to park hop. Plus there are many nice places to eat not in the parks - but on the Boardwalk, DTD and in the resorts.

 

[DisneyFans112]

On our previous two visits, we got the park hopper upgrade and we used it. However, I think that choice ultimately led to us being exhausted at the end of our vacation. We opted to not get it this time. I'm still not sure we made the right decision, but hopefully it will force us to relax a little bit on our vacation. Then again, like others said, we can upgrade if we want. Here's hoping we can control our Disney frenzy.

 

[pigletto]

It saves us $240 not to park hop. We found even when we had annual passes and could park hop for free, we didn't very often. Honestly maybe once or twice in a 10 day trip, and only for dining reservations.
So for us, it simply isn't worth it. We like to go to a park and spend the day there. We take an afternoon break and go back to the same park in the evening. If it's a park with an early close (like Animal Kingdom) that is usually a night we go to DTD to wander around and have dinner, or stay back at the resort and swim. I've honestly never felt we were missing anything without them, but our touring style doesn't require them.
Because it's so easy to add park hoppers while you are there, I always recommend for people to wait until they get there and then add if they find they really want them. The only exception to this is if it's a really busy time of year, or you've laid out plans ahead of time that require being in two parks in a day.

 

[MichaelaF]

personally i usually don't park hop.
i enjoy staying in one park all day or if i'm done before the park closes then i head back to my hotel to relax.
with a 6 day ticket i see no reason to park hop.
this is how i would spend my days...
MK: 2 days
epcot: 2 days
HS: 1 day
AK: 1 day

by downgrading you would be saving $60 PER PERSON. that adds up quickly and then you can spend that money on other things like extra snacks or souvenirs or just bank it.

I totally agree with this poster. It's one thing if you are planning on PHing for several days I think, but if its just one day? Not worth it.

 

[tiggerjenn]

I'm so confused! The TA got back to me and said it'd actually be way more expensive to park hop just 1 day????

 

[Happyjen27]

I like the flexibility of the park hopper.

When I consider the cost of the entire vacation, flight, resort, park tickets and food, that $240 for the four of us is only 3% of our operating costs.

All of that flexibility for only 3% of our 7000.00 vacation is worth it to me.

I went without the park hopper this past vacation, because our plans sincerely didn't include it, and it felt a little limiting to me. I know I could have added it, but I couldn't justify one hop for an extra $240, whereas if we had it all along, we may have hopped more during the whole week.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm so confused! The TA got back to me and said it'd actually be way more expensive to park hop just 1 day????

Your TA is misinformed. It costs the same price to add hopping to a 6-day ticket regardless of the number of days that you actually choose to park-hop.

 

[msmama]

I'm so confused! The TA got back to me and said it'd actually be way more expensive to park hop just 1 day????

You can't add hopping to just one day (unless you have a one day PH ticket and then 5 day base tickets). Even if you added hopping on the last day it'd be the same price as if you added hopping on a day 2.

Personally I like hoppers for longer trips and 6 days would be on the verge of that. Short trips we do one park per day to minimize travel time. Longer trips we are more likely to hop and use travel time as relaxing time.

 

[Alesia]

I'm so confused! The TA got back to me and said it'd actually be way more expensive to park hop just 1 day????

Well, you can't just have hopping for one day on a multi-day ticket.

A 5 day base ticket and a 1 day hopper will be more expensive than a 6 day hopper.

You options are either keep your 6 day hoppers, or change your plans so you aren't hopping at all and get 6 day base tickets.

 

[supersnoop]

Our last trip is the only one where we've had park-hopper tickets. We did the Y.E.S. program and wanted the Water Park option, which is only available through Y.E.S. with park hopping. With an 8 day ticket, we only hopped one night, and even then, just to see IllumiNations.

Park hopping has never been worth it for us. It seems like it would take extra planning to make it work. I can't think of any scenario where I'd want to spend the morning in one park, but the evening in another.

 

[Marionnette]

Our last trip is the only one where we've had park-hopper tickets. We did the Y.E.S. program and wanted the Water Park option, which is only available through Y.E.S. with park hopping. With an 8 day ticket, we only hopped one night, and even then, just to see IllumiNations.

Park hopping has never been worth it for us. It seems like it would take extra planning to make it work. I can't think of any scenario where I'd want to spend the morning in one park, but the evening in another.

I can think of a few:

• Any night the MK closes early for a party (and you don't have a ticket).
• Times during the year when AK closes very early (like 5 PM in mid-January).
• Those circumstances when you find that the park you chose to visit is just outrageously crowded and you want to get out.
• For those nights when a park has EMH and you spent the day at a different park.

Of course, there are always ways to work around those scenarios so that you don't need a hopper. But I usually find myself hopping because of 2 or 3 of the above reasons each trip.

 

[supersnoop]

I can think of a few:

• Any night the MK closes early for a party (and you don't have a ticket).
• Times during the year when AK closes very early (like 5 PM in mid-January).
• Those circumstances when you find that the park you chose to visit is just outrageously crowded and you want to get out.
• For those nights when a park has EMH and you spent the day at a different park.

Of course, there are always ways to work around those scenarios so that you don't need a hopper. But I usually find myself hopping because of 2 or 3 of the above reasons each trip.

Those are all very good points. I've never been during a party. When a park closes yearly, I schedule an evening resort dinner. I usually plan park days based on a crowd calendar, and avoid EMH as much as possible. With FP+, it might be time for me to reconsider EMH. That's one scenario whey hopping might add value, but I worry that the transportation time will counter that added value.

 

[jeepwreck]

i have never used a park hopper option for WDW only DL because you can just walk to the other park.

I think it is a waste at WDW because you have to walk to the bus, wait. get on the bus and then wait to get dropped off at the next park that's a lot of time you could still be in the park enjoying it

 

[jsf1975]

I had Park Hopper on our last visit (4 days in the parks) and found that it was a waste of money. We should have just spent one day in each park and been okay with the fact that we wouldn't be able to do everything in those four days.

We're going Dec 12-20 and spending 7 days in the parks, no Park Hopper. We've just scheduled our days around MVMCP so that we get full days at MK. The day that we're at AK we'll head back to CBR once the parks close, let the kids have some pool time, and hit the sack early so that we're well rested for the next day.

Our plans are:

EPCOT 12/12 arrival day
HS 12/13
AK 12/14
MK 12/15
DTD 12/16
MK 12/17
EPCOT 12/18
HS 12/19
DTD 12/20 & fly home

 

[we3travellers]

How about getting a 7 day base ticket and using the extra day for the day you want to park hop? It would save a little.