Park Hopper

[ashleyr409]

This will be our family first visit to WDW. The trip includes, Me, DH, DD12, DS14, DS6. We will be staying offsite.

Would you get Park Hopper for your first trip? I am find with the extra cost, just want to know if its worth it, because we have never been to WDW and have no idea about parks, map etc. But I was reading that Park Hopper is great, because we could possibly get more done/see more.

Any thoughts?
TIA!

 

[pitpat]

depends how many days you are there. if it is 5 or more days, you can be fine focusing on one park per day.

 

[ashleyr409]

depends how many days you are there. if it is 5 or more days, you can be fine focusing on one park per day.

We will be there for 6 days.

 

[vicb]

I have always added hoppers to our trips over the years. Best thing about hoppers: rope drop one park, evening in another. This is especially helpful if the night time shows (Rivers of Light, F!) and the fireworks shows are important to you. Many trips we stay in the Epcot area so we want to be able to go into Epcot for dinner multiple times per trip. One trip (before Pandora opened) the only ride the kids really wanted to do in AK was EE so we hopped from Epcot to AK just to ride EE. I really like the flexibility when weather can wreak havoc on your plans as well. For parks that have tiered FP's you can get both tier 1 FP's if you do two half days in a park (ex. FoP and Navi, or Soarin and TT).

Example: for our upcoming trip we are rope dropping Epcot in the morning then hopping to MK after dinner for eve emh.

 

[Valstew]

We personally always do the park hopper But we stay onsite and tend to go to one park in the morning and a different park at night. I’m not sure with staying off site how easy it would be for you to hop parks.

 

[FCDub]

You don't have to add it until you need it, but keep in mind it's the same cost whether you just want to hop for one day or all six.

Wait and see how your days are shaking out, then make a decision and upgrade at a ticket window.

 

[sponica]

I've never not had them....but you could always budget it in to add on while you're there...if there's an attack of the gremlins in the first park you go to.

 

[ashleyr409]

We plan on doing RD because we wont be able to EMH and we will get Fastpass+ 30 days out. Not sure how park hopper will work with RD.

 

[ashleyr409]

It also seems like it harder to plan with Park Hopper.

 

[Klayfish]

Depends how much of a "planner" you are. We're very much wing-it type people, so we love park hopper. We also only get to do FP+ at 30 days, as we stay offsite. That's never an issue, because FP+ availability is great. However, we love having the flexibility to go where we want, when we want.

If you're really into planning then you may not need hopper. No wrong answer here, whatever you prefer.

 

[vicb]

It also seems like it harder to plan with Park Hopper.

I think Disney planning can feel over whelming with or with out hoppers. People usually make it work either way (with or with out hoppers). I never liked the idea of feeling trapped into one park. It is fun to take the monorail between MK and Epcot. And now with Lyft/Uber it is pretty easy to hop if you don't want to wait for the Disney busses. What ever you decide I hope your family enjoys your first trip!

 

[ashleyr409]

I think Disney planning can feel over whelming with or with out hoppers. People usually make it work either way (with or with out hoppers). I never liked the idea of feeling trapped into one park. It is fun to take the monorail between MK and Epcot. And now with Lyft/Uber it is pretty easy to hop if you don't want to wait for the Disney busses. What ever you decide I hope your family enjoys your first trip!

Thank you.

 

[supersnoop]

It also seems like it harder to plan with Park Hopper.

What do you expect your days to look like? I think hopping makes more sense when you rope drop and then go back to your room for a mid-day nap. You can then head out to any of the parks. But that plan works best when staying on site. Do you plan to take breaks, or spend the whole day in the parks?

 

[ashleyr409]

We plan to take breaks.

Without park hopper we plan to rope drop maybe 7am-12pm. -Mid day break - 4pm until kids are ready.
I think with park hopper I wouldn't know which park to hop to after the mid day break or how to plan for it.
This is our first trip and we plan to do a table service for dinner every night.
I feel like 1 park a day is safe, but I also want to maximize our time because this will be our first trip and not sure when we will be able to go again.

 

[Klayfish]

We plan to take breaks.

Without park hopper we plan to rope drop maybe 7am-12pm. -Mid day break - 4pm until kids are ready.
I think with park hopper I wouldn't know which park to hop to after the mid day break or how to plan for it.
This is our first trip and we plan to do a table service for dinner every night.
I feel like 1 park a day is safe, but I also want to maximize our time because this will be our first trip and not sure when we will be able to go again.

For us, that's the beauty of park hopper. You don't have to know or plan what park you'll go to in the evening. Spend your day in your pre-planned park, stay past noon if you want. Get as much done in there as you want/can. Then when you're ready to head back out for the evening, you can really play it by ear instead of having to go back to a schedule. If you were having a fabulous time in the park you were in during the morning, go back. If you say "I want to catch the fireworks in Epcot tonight", go for it. If you're really energetic, you can do several things in the evening....go to MK, take the monorail to Epcot for fireworks, then monorail back to MK and hit a few more rides before closing.

 

[vicb]

For us, that's the beauty of park hopper. You don't have to know or plan what park you'll go to in the evening. Spend your day in your pre-planned park, stay past noon if you want. Get as much done in there as you want/can. Then when you're ready to head back out for the evening, you can really play it by ear instead of having to go back to a schedule. If you were having a fabulous time in the park you were in during the morning, go back. If you say "I want to catch the fireworks in Epcot tonight", go for it. If you're really energetic, you can do several things in the evening....go to MK, take the monorail to Epcot for fireworks, then monorail back to MK and hit a few more rides before closing.

Yes! And just to add to this... you can book your 4th FP in any park so if you have hoppers you can be in one park in a.m. use all 3 FP then book your 4th in what ever park you want to be in that evening. My kids always did better when we went into a diff park at night, maybe the freshness of a diff park made it easier for them when they were tired.

 

[MonorailNate]

We have always had park hoppers. Even our very first trip way back in 1999. It just gives you so much flexibility. If a park gets too crowded for your liking, just hop to a different park later. If you have accomplished everything you wanted in a park and want to see a night show or eat dinner in another, no problem. We don’t always park hop everyday, but at least 4 out of 6. Sometimes 3 parks in a day.

 

[JerseyJanice]

You don’t need them on a first trip UNLESS your trip is during party season so between September and December before Christmas.

As mentioned, planning is easier without hopping. Figure at least one day per park and depending on how many more days you have, go back to your favorites and/or to cover what you missed on your one day.

You always have the ability to upgrade your passes and add days (which is pretty cheap after 4 days) and/or add park hopping (which is $75 per adult).

As a newbie, that $75 per head would be far better spent on a nice meal or two.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

With 6 park days I personally don't think you need hoppers. You can easily focus on one park per day.
Side note, I know you didn't ask about mid-day breaks but I just wanted to mention that it will take quite a bit of travel time when you're offsite. You may want to plan a few days where you stay in the park most of the day, do an early TS, then leave the parks early for the night. Just a thought!

 

[Barnabas T Bullion]

Probably don't need hoppers but to me it may depend more on how long you would typically spend out at night generally speaking. If you think everyone can go to midnight then hoppers will be good for you as you can RD one park and then hop to an EMH night park or a park with normal late closing times and get good use of those hours. If you take a midday break and then tour for just a few hours after dinner and retire at say 9pm then you don't really need the hoppers as much. Of course, the park with EMH in the evening will be a bit more crowded as well.