Park Hopper

[Marsheliz]

Do you do them or not? We normally do but I was checking and it is actually 200.00 cheaper if you dont do them. We want to go Wed-Sun like last time and maybe if I dont do the park hopper I can just get a 5 day pass ( so we can use them on the day of arrival and day of departure for a few hours anyway) and actually enjoy the parks and actually enjoy the pool at the hotel and have some downtime.. What do you guys think?

 

[twinboysmom]

We always get them. Nothing worse than bring at a busy park and feeling stuck. We also usually go toma different park in the morning, break, and then go somewhere else in the evening. You don't have to buy it upfront. You can always add it on if you need it.

 

[dizneechic]

As the pp mentioned, you can always add it later if you need it. Plan on not needing it and then if at some point during your vacation you feel its needed then just add it in. Set the funding aside and plan as if you'll need it, and if you don't end up using it, consider it $200 saved. Just keep in mind that if you add it on day 1 or day 4 it will still cost the same amount, there are no savings by just adding it to your last day.

 

[GoofyFairie]

We always hop. Always. One park in the morning, afternoon at the resort, evening in a different park. We don't like to plan too much of our vacation so we wing it and hop to where we feel like going.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We don't get it with our kids being young. We go and dedicate to a park.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We have always had the park hopper, but this next time we won't be on the dining plan so we won't need to hop as much. I'm thinking can avoid it all together actually. Like others have said, you can add it later.

 

[Tricia's mom]

I NEVER hop... Its to much and not worth the money for me.. < maybe if you had free dining...
We just plan really well...and maybe add an extra day rather than hop.

 

[WicketsMom]

I had a 10-day non-expiring ticket with Park Hopper and I have not hopped once (and only one day left). We just plan to go to one park and stay, too much trouble to change with a small child. I may actually have to use it on our next trip just to take my son on Expedition Everest if he makes the height, then spend the day in MK before our cruise.

I'd get it without and then add it on if you need it.

 

[happymommy]

We have always gotten the park hopper on our tickets.

We find MK is fun but only early in the morning, or late in the evening (on occasion). It just gets a bit congested for our taste during the lunchtime.

We prefer one park, say MK, early, then go relax maybe somewhere (even having lunch at a MK or Epcot resort in the counter service area, or back at the hotel) then usually enjoy Epcot or DHS in the evenings.

Going from one park to another is usually quite easy, and we like to mix it up. We don't tend to stay all day anyway (DS has asthma so during hot times this isn't good for him, and he has ADHD as well so changing it up helps as he doesn't take meds on vacations plus we get a GAC to help him wait in a cooler spot during hot times or else he gets attacks).

To us it is a no brainer, but to some it's more fun to stay at one park all day. Also MK doesn't sell alcohol, and we (well, I) like a glass of wine or a cold beer in the evening when it's hot out - although we've gone to the Poly once with a friend so she and I could have some wine and the kids could relax on the beach area and have a late lunch and get away from the crowds.

Like the others said, you can add it later if you want it!

 

[CatesRDisneyFans]

We always get the park hopper option. We like the idea of being able to change parks without any hassle. We normally hit one park in the morning and after lunch we head back to the resort. We usually will go back to a different park in the evening. With that said, friends of ours never get the park hopper. They choose one park for a day and make their ADRs accordingly. It's all about your personal preference.

 

[Marsheliz]

Ok, thanks guys.. We normally get it too but we always seem so rushed and I thought if we didnt do it- We could go to one park in the morning, spend half the day and just come back to our room and swim or go to Downtown Disney and actually get in the bed early. I guess with young children- I was just wondering. I guess I will keep pondering.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

You could always put the park hopper cost towards MNSSHP tickets.

I like to hop with adults and older kids, but the amount of time you'll spend in transit between the parks will tire them out even more.

 

[.:allisonr:.]

We got them. I don't know if we'll use them, but we wanted to have the option, incase we wanted to.

 

[Just*the*ten*of*us]

We usually go for the park hopper, I guess for the flexibilty, but our last trip we opted to go without for the same reason as you (we saw how much extra with 8 people we were actually paying for it) and found it wasnt that big of a deal to not have it. I, too, was nervous at first that I wouldnt like it, I hit some snags in my dining reservations along the way, but all in all it was nothing I couldnt get worked out before the trip and when it came down to it, we didnt really miss it. We will be going the same route for our next trip, too

 

[Marsheliz]

Thanks guys. I dont think I am going to get it.. It would be an extra 275.00 just for them and like PP said, it will probably tire the kids out more.. I figure we can start out somewhere- once we get tired, go back to the room and to the pool and then go back the same place at night and maybe catch something we didnt do during the day. Now I am just not sure where to stay. I just looked at value and for the four of us its only 1250!! and with free dining if we go ahead and go in September. But with moderate its close to 1700.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

You can also looking into renting DVC points. Boardwalk Villas are the cheapest to rent. Granted you'd have to pay for dining, but the location with young kids would be worth the sacrifice and most likely cheaper or comparable to what you'll pay in a value.

Check out dvcrequest.com

 

[Marsheliz]

Thank you very much, I am going to check that out now

 

[luvmy2babies]

You’ll be fine. I had it for our first trip and we only hopped once. Due to the schedule we had we only had one day we could go over to see the Osborne lights at DHS, but we had spent the morning/early afternoon at MK. I found it easy to do, but even though we planned on hopping on an additional day we ended up back at the hotel due to tummy issues.

We’ll have it this time because we are getting those military salute tickets and it comes with it. We may or may not hop. So far I don’t have it in the schedule, but I do have several half days in our schedule where we spend the afternoon/evening at our resort, so if we decide to say take the boat over to MK that evening, we will be able to no matter where we have been earlier that day. I highly doubt this will occur. Our half days are our pool days.

Unless we get the military salute tickets again though I don’t think I’ll have hoppers going forward. We never had a problem spending an entire day in one park, even the day Epcot was a 9.5, we hung out all day in World Showcase.

If you choose a value, make sure you and your dh can tolerate the beds. They are not queen size unless there's been an upgrade I'm not aware of and since you said $1200, I figure you are not staying at AofA.

We stayed at ASMo our first trip and I loved the theming and the (for lack of a better term) value, but I hardly slept sharing that bed with my son for fear he would fall off. He would have no part of the pack-n-play I requested until the 3rd night and unfortunately that was the night dd came down with a stomach bug. I won’t say anymore. Let’s just say he was done with the pack-n-play again after that night.

 

[brockash]

We used to always get them, but we hardly ever used them. We stopped getting them a cpl. years ago, and we've never missed them. To us, it's just really not worth the money at all. Honestly, I don't think we'd really even use them if they were free. We're happy to be/stay at the same park for an entire day, and if we were to park hop; it just seems like a waste of time. I guess if you were doing a break anyways it wouldn't really waste anymore time, but still def. not worth the money to us.

 

[earthfaries]

Although our Annual Passes include the park hopper feature we rarely use it. We also opted out for the park hopper options when coming to Disney World on vacation also.

We usually just spent 1 day in each park. Arriving early and staying until closing.

I'd say hold off on that option and once you get here if you change your mind just add it on

Have fun!