Park Hopper?

[Lisa1982]

This will be our second time visiting with our now 4 year old twins. We didn't add PH before because they napped each day and it didn't seem worth it. Anyone have any advice or input on adding it at this age? I can't decide if it's worth it. Thanks!

 

[Robo]

This will be our second time visiting with our now 4 year old twins. We didn't add PH before because they napped each day and it didn't seem worth it. Anyone have any advice or input on adding it at this age? I can't decide if it's worth it. Thanks!

We nearly always park-hop... virtually every single day.



But YOU may not NEED to.

How do you know?

What should you do?



Simple:

You don't need to buy the "Hopper Option" UNLESS and UNTIL you need it.



If you are already at one park and decide that you'd like to "hop" to another... right then,

just walk up to a ticket window, add on the Hopper option (costs the same price if you buy it before or DURING your trip) and you're ready to hop (that day, and any others, for the rest of your trip.) You must make this and all other upgrade choices within the first 14 day of when the ticket was first used and no later than on the day that you use the ticket's last asset.



If you go and NEVER need to hop, don't buy the upgrade, and you can then spend all those "extra" bucks on more WDW souvenirs!



The Hopper is a one-time charge that will cover every day on your ticket from the time that you choose to add the option.

The cost of the Hopper option now varies... as of the last price increase (Feb, 2014.)

If you upgrade some tickets by adding "days" you might also have to increase what

you pay for the Hopper option on those tickets.


Adding the Hopper to a one-day ticket costs $40.


Adding the Hopper to a two-day or three-day ticket costs $50.


Adding the Hopper to a four-day thru ten-day ticket costs $60.


SPECIAL NOTE:

If you already have the Water Parks Fun and More option on your tickets,

adding the Hopper is a one-time, one-price fee of just $26 per ticket.



All prices, plus tax.


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[Lisa1982]

Thank you! I didn't realize I could add it on when we are there for close to the same cost. I may just wait until we get there and see how they are doing. I was thinking it may be nice to use it to spend half a day at HS and then go to a different park.

 

[hakepb]

It doesn't take any more time to hop if you take a daily nap and/or swim ... Just go to a different park in the evening.

I like having more dinners in EPCOT, but I don't want to spend multiple full days there..

You may want to go to another park with more rides on a DHS day.

It's fun to have a wildcard day at the end to hop and repeat favorite rides...

 

[babesboo99]

We went for the first time when my twins were 3 and we bought park hopper. They loved every minute of it we usually did 2 parks a day and they didn't mind a bit they looked around and loved the monorail. and by the time we got back to BCV they passed out ready for the next day of hopping. My twins are now 9 and we still get PH because we loved being able to go from one park to another in a day. Since we stay at BCV we would go to MK in the day and Epcot at night or AK or HS and then Epcot. I don't think it would be a waste I think it would be worth it and fun.

 

[JessicaW1234]

We have twins and when they were four, we just had base tickets because we did not have time to go into another park because they went to bed early!
Also, we had enough of a time getting to one park, let alone two!

 

[tomatecerise]

We don't had the park Hopper for this trip And We enjoy It! It is more planification before but works very well. We Will prefer to eat at this restaurant In A park or In that park? Sometimes yes (Sister wanted to eat at prime Time A second Time just for the chicken). Less transportation, more attractions.

 

[Shadowcat70]

We didn't get them our past two trips, but we are getting them for his August trip. It's our first August trip and we have no idea what the weather is going to be like (which days will be the hottest, or rainiest) or if hours are going to be extended, etc... We want to have the flexibility to change our plans midday if we need to, and be able to break some parks down into half days as well. I'm pretty sure if we were going during a different season, we probably would not have added them, but because it's August, it just made sense.

 

[yngsj]

We don't like to hop at WDW. I feel like it waste time. We save our hopping for DL which is much easier.

 

[gtpoohbear]

We've only used PH when went back for a mid-day break. Going to a different park in the evening made the additional travel time seem a little less frustrating. But it's never seemed worth it to just randomly leave one park and go straight to another. I know a lot of people do, I would just hate the time lost in transit, bag check etc.

 

[megster1123]

We have PH this trip. Have a 4 & 5 yo. We decided to PH because there are parks that we don't feel will hold their interest all day, but we didn't want them to totally miss out on them. For example, I've struggled with a touring plan for HS - just not enough IMO to spend a whole day there. So we'll do 1/2 day and PH somewhere else.

 

[tinkerbella16]

We get park hoppers no matter what. I actually don't ever remember a time we didn't have them. We really don't hop from park to park, but we take midday breaks at the resort each day and we go to a different park at night. That is mainly why we like having them.. for the option to go a park in the morning and a different park at night. It also makes it easier with dining, as we aren't held down to one park that specific day. We like to frequent MK and Epcot the most on our trips, and we're able to go to one of those even on our DHS or AK day (with the added night time stuff at AK, we can do MK or Epcot in the morning and AK later in the day).

 

[a742246]

If you are staying at WDW for more than 4 days then I would get the PH but I wouldn't get it until you get there, then play it by ear that first day. My GD couldn't handle multiple parks at 5 because she like the resort pools better and wanted to be there instead of going to a second park.

 

[2009CAN]

When we went w/our 4-year-old twins we got hoppers ... NEVER used them. It was just too much for them still at that age. On our last trip our twins were 7 years and we still did not get hoppers and never missed them. It's still just too much for them. We're going again this year and the twins will still be 7 years and we won't add them. HOpefully on our NEXT trip we can start hopping again.

 

[HopperFan]

When we had regular tickets we would get them about 50/50 as each trip was planned different. A huge plus for it is if you are on the DDP because it makes it easy to hop to Epcot for dinner where many of the better restaurants are, especially if you have no car and driving to resort restaurants is not an option.

 

[melana]

We had PH our trip in October. It was part of the package we got dur to free dining. We didn't use it at all. Not that we didn't plan on it but we we did the afternoon break think and just never went to another park.

I am debating on getting it for my solo trip in December. For some reason I think I would actually use it.

 

[rideswithchrist]

We have twins and when they were four, we just had base tickets because we did not have time to go into another park because they went to bed early!
Also, we had enough of a time getting to one park, let alone two!

THIS! You are not going to see everything in one park and then just as the kids get used to that park, hop to another? Save your money and sanity and skip the hoppers until they are older (like teenager older).
We planned 2 days for MK and 2 days for Epcot anyway and the kids did not want to go to a new park, they wanted to "Go back" after lunch/nap because they saw things we did not get to until after lunch.

 

[Lisa1982]

We have PH this trip. Have a 4 & 5 yo. We decided to PH because there are parks that we don't feel will hold their interest all day, but we didn't want them to totally miss out on them. For example, I've struggled with a touring plan for HS - just not enough IMO to spend a whole day there. So we'll do 1/2 day and PH somewhere else.

Yes! I totally agree about HS and honestly maybe the same for Epcot? We go for our kids, so plan according to what they enjoy. We wouldn't mind spending a day at Epcot but they want to go on rides. After Nemo, and Frozen stuff and possibly waiting for Soarin I think we would be finished there. Plus I haven't been able to get a rez at Akershus so I don't see us spending a lot of time there. They seem to enjoy AK b/c of the shows and they LOVE animals but may even use that as a halff day. They obviously prefer the MK so I think we may use PH this time to do half days at a few parks and then spend the other half in the MK.

 

[Lisa1982]

When we went w/our 4-year-old twins we got hoppers ... NEVER used them. It was just too much for them still at that age. On our last trip our twins were 7 years and we still did not get hoppers and never missed them. It's still just too much for them. We're going again this year and the twins will still be 7 years and we won't add them. HOpefully on our NEXT trip we can start hopping again.

I always thought it would be something we would use when they were older and could really "hang" all day or when we want to stay at parks late at night. Usually we are back at the resort by 8 or 9, so that's why I was struggling with the decision. It's nice to hear from another twin parent ;-)

 

[Lisa1982]

THIS! You are not going to see everything in one park and then just as the kids get used to that park, hop to another? Save your money and sanity and skip the hoppers until they are older (like teenager older).
We planned 2 days for MK and 2 days for Epcot anyway and the kids did not want to go to a new park, they wanted to "Go back" after lunch/nap because they saw things we did not get to until after lunch.

Thank you! I assumed it was something we would do when they were much older so that is why I wanted to see what others thought about it.