Park Hopper with a 3yr old. Is it even worth it?

[agame2323]

DS is going to be 3 during our trip to WDW. I read somewhere that some parents prefer to just go without the park hopper since their children or child can only hand so much in a day. Is it worth it to have Park Hopper tickets or should we just save money and do one park a day? Our trip is 8 days long.

 

[EagleG17]

When we took our child when she was 3 we limited ourselves to one park/day. ABSOLUTELY take naps.

 

[hakepb]

If you go back to the resort to take a nap every day, hopping is easy (and takes no more time than returning to the same park after the nap)
From there it depends on how many park days, and would you like to return to MK after a day in another park, or start in MK then go to another park for dinner and night show..

 

[EagleG17]

I'm sure park hopping would be fine...but I can't suggest enough the power of daily nap(s).

 

[Jacie]

My son is now five, but we've been going every year since he was 6 months old. We always get hoppers and start at one park in the morning, go back for a nap, and then usually head to a different park. It worked well for us

 

[TXWAC]

Depends so much on the kid. Took my son at three and he didn't seem to care between the park and the campground. (Stayed at the Fort). Slept through POC twice. Have fun. Don't let em get bored. They will feed off of your attitude. If the lines get long just rent a stroller and roll them around. At three everything is aE ticket ride.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

We had hoppers when my DD was 3 and loved the flexibility.

Definitely take time for the pools!

Her favorite memories are:
1. The pool
2. Animal Kingdom
3. Meeting Ariel

(No mention of Elsa and that FP I moved mountains to get Lol!)

Have fun! Our trip at that age was spectacular.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We've done many trips both ways. In the old days, hopping was included. At another point we had AP's- which include hopping. We've also done many trips without it.

The age of the kids in our party didn't make much difference, especially as we used strollers. Any out of shape adults usually tire before a kid in a stroller. Ditto for anyone who skimps on their footwear! the kids sit in the stroller much of the day. If they really get tired, they fall asleep in it. At least most kids.

Hopping is mostly only an advantage if you are staying at one of the Epcot resorts and plan to eat dinner in the WS- OR- you are staying on the monorail line and plan to go to MK after the other 3 parks close.

Flat out hopping between parks takes time, especially hopping to/from MK. HS to Epcot is fairly short, but that's about it.

I should add, we are kind of commando-types. At the very least, we try to use all the peripheral hours. If you are more the 9am-5pm type, then I wouldn't pay to add hopping.

I agree with posters who say kids of all ages tend to LOVE pool time. The shuttle boats and monorail are also big hits. Some trips, family members have taken afternoon breaks (but mostly to swim), but not always.

 

[Lynzer4]

Where are you staying... if at a deluxe at Epcot or MK I would say hoppers would be great. With the way AK and HS are I would say that you might want to hop to a park after naps on those days. Also with her age MK is going to be the place she can ride most rides. I would start planning out your days and see if you thinking hopping is needed.

Remember you can always add it there and its the same price so you can wait and decided while there if you need to hop.

 

[JimmyV]

When hopping was an included feature in every multi-day ticket, it was easy to justify moving around. But with the added cost being what it is, there is no good reason to hop with a young child. That is a time to enjoy what is in front of you instead of constantly being concerned about "getting to the next thing."

 

[GillianP1301]

It really depends on how you plan to tour. We first took my son when he was 4 and did not do hoppers and our approach was early morning until whenever he was tired, which was usually mid to late afternoon. He did not nap at all at that age. Back to the resort, freshen up, go for our supper and then back to the resort to swim. That approach has no use for hoppers. By the time he was 6 and could start putting in longer days, I added the hopper and it works great for us.

 

[ArielSRL]

I have a 4.5 yr old and a 2 yr old and we chose to get hoppers. Right now we are only planning to hop one day but I wanted the flexibility. We also got our tickets from Parksavers and it was a much better deal than through Disney. We do plan to take a midday break every day.

 

[mickeymom629]

If you are trying to save money, hoppers are not necessary.

 

[glk2009]

We've done multiple trips (usually 8 days long) without hoppers and for us, it's easier. We never went back to the resort for naps (except for the first and only disasterous try) and after that we did stroller naps. I'd rather use my time at the parks versus traveling between parks, especially with kidlets. But, every child/family is different so mid-day breaks may work for you which will make park hopping easier.

I believe you can add park hoppers to your tickets after you arrive, so if you don't need to hop the first day, maybe see how it goes and then add them the 2nd or 3rd day.

 

[brockash]

DS is going to be 3 during our trip to WDW. I read somewhere that some parents prefer to just go without the park hopper since their children or child can only hand so much in a day. Is it worth it to have Park Hopper tickets or should we just save money and do one park a day? Our trip is 8 days long.

In our opinion def. not worth it. We used to always get hoppers, but almost never used them, so we stopped and we've never felt a want for them. We do most parks open-close (when the kids get tired they just nap in the stroller, do some downtime etc.), but def. wouldn't waste the money on park hoppers. Honestly, we would very rarely use them even if they were free.

 

[Accident]

Is it worth it to have Park Hopper tickets or should we just save money and do one park a day? Our trip is 8 days long.

The great thing about park hoppers is they cost exactly the same price if you get them while at WDW. If your on the fence, don't get them. When your at WDW you can decide if it's worth the cost and get them as you park hop. If you don't hop, you saved some money. It's easier to make an informed choice in the moment. Also if it's a larger group, everyone may not want or need them. Some can go rest while part of your party might want to get them. Again saving money because tickets don't have to match once your there.

It's really a personal preference. I usually had a park hopper, especially for longer trips because it gave the flexibility on the later days to change your mind after getting to a park if something else interested me more.. I also like doing longer trips in half day touring style where I divide each park for day and night with a break in the middle. I dont' usually return to the same park, especially if it was really crowded in the morning. a longer trip you have the flexibility to say "this is too crowded, let me try a different park" and return back another day. The app is really handy to see what lines are in other parks before you start randomly wandering around.

 

[JimmyV]

The great thing about park hoppers is they cost exactly the same price if you get them while at WDW. If your on the fence, don't get them. When your at WDW you can decide if it's worth the cost and get them as you park hop. If you don't hop, you saved some money. It's easier to make an informed choice in the moment.

Absolutely, 100% correct. (But keep in mind that the price you pay to add the Hopper feature extends to the entire length of your ticket. You can't add it on day 6 and only pay for 3 days of hopping. You pay for the whole 8 days.)

The way we approach it, the MK is always a full day for us. Once we enter, we never leave...bwah ha ha!!! Same is true for Epcot. And while the other parks can lend themselves to some free time throughout the day, we use that time to recharge our batteries. If we wanted to go commando from 8:00 a.m. to midnight every day for 8 days, we would probably want to hop. But on, for example, and AK day where we wrap things up by 5:00 p.m., we use the rest of that day to enjoy a nice meal, or our resort, or get to bed early instead of heading to a second park.

 

[Accident]

Absolutely, 100% correct. (But keep in mind that the price you pay to add the Hopper feature extends to the entire length of your ticket. You can't add it on day 6 and only pay for 3 days of hopping. You pay for the whole 8 days.)

Which is exactly the same price as buying them in advance. The only difference is you can't get your money back if you don't use them when purchased in advance.

 

[JimmyV]

Which is exactly the same price as buying them in advance. The only difference is you can't get your money back if you don't use them when purchased in advance.

I wasn't disagreeing. But history here shows that there are many people who mistakenly believe that changes you make to your ticket are prospective only. Just as there are people who think that you can use a non-Hopper pass to enter two parks in one day and use two of your "days". So I was pointing out that fact to the OP just in case they didn't understand.

 

[Mikie]

For an 8 day trip, if you are looking at whether to bother spending the money, I'd say base tickets work great. For a very short trip of 4 days or less, I'd want to hop to see the highlights of everything. For a longer trip, I might want them because we want a little more time in one park but not the whole day. For 6-8 days, I think base tickets are perfect. Ex: 3 daysMK, 2 Epcot, 1 AK, 1 DHS, (some of these may be 1/2 or 3/4 days) and one full pool/rest/Disney Springs day.