Park hoppers with 2 and 3 yr old?

[Picabo]

I am thinking that we probably won't do the hopper option. We're going in December so the parks close relatively early most days (except EMH nights, etc). And in general, my 'plan' is to get the kids back to the hotel so they can be in bed by 8pm - close to their normal time. I dont' want to wear them out and then have crabby monsters on my hands. We have a few late nights planned for fireworks and Spectromagic. But most nights, we plan on early nights.

So am I wise to not do hoppers? I just figure we probably won't get a ton of use out of them and if we get them then I'd feel compelled to USE the hopping option every day to get our money's worth - and then I'm afraid we'll get all tired out.

What do you all do, those who have little kids. Are hoppers worth it? We'll be there 7nts if that matters and I plan for at least one down day with no parks (but going to DTD and maybe going to see WL decorations)

THANKS!

 

[laceemouse]

Everyone will disagree with me, but we never hop. We plan which park/which day and plan our meals there. Our kids never want to leave a park once we get there, and you are right, if you are not going to stay our late at night anyway it would not be worth the money.
The only advantage may be if you plan to do an early EMH and then want to hop over to another park if the EMH one gets crowded. Without hoppers we just avoid EMH at busy times of the year.
You can leave a park and return to the same park without hoppers if you want to do naps and then go back.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

We were always must-hop people until we started going with small children. Now it's just not worth it. Maybe one day during a trip we will actually want to hop, but wanting to do it on just one day isn't enough to justify the cost.

 

[Kims09]

Actually, I'm on board with the both of you.
If you plan your days out right, then I think you'll feel the need to spend the extra money on park hoppers.I don't think the extra cost is worthwhile.
The week after Thanksgiving of 2007, my husband and I took our then 3 year old daughter to WDW for her first visit. The hours, for the most part, were shorter and we did not use hoppers.
During the trip planning phase, when the WDW calendar came out, we planned out which day we were going to what park, planned our Dining Reservations accordingly and, honestly, did not miss the park hoppers one bit.

Our theory is to not go to a park on EMH times- we feel the crowd level is much higher throughout the entire day. My hubby hates crowds (yes, he's a bit of a fuddy duddy for being 30) so we avoid the particular park on a EMH day.

Also, we tried the whole taking the kid back to the hotel in the middle of the day for a quick nap and failed miserably. First off, the housekeeping personnel was cleaning in our room at the time we came back. And she was a chatty Cathy!-even when I openly put my daughter in bed and put the covers on her. It was very apparent I was putting her down for a nap.
But she continued to talk and was mostly complaining about her job at Disney- it wasn't appreciated by us at all!
Second, once the housekeeping person did leave, my daughter just wasn't willing to fall asleep at the time that we wanted her to. I think she was just too excited.
It was a useless effort.

We found that she would catch quick catnaps while pushing her around in the stroller around the parks. Those catnaps worked well for the rest of the vacation. But she was the type of baby who falls asleep better with activity and noise surrounding her. With two kids, though, that may not be quite as successful.

Plus, in the middle of the week, we took an "off" day from the parks. We slept in, went swimming, went to Downtown Disney for a bit and went to eat at one of the other hotels. That may have also kept our own crabby monster away.

My vote is to spend the money you would have spent on the park hoppers instead on a special momento for your kids.

Good luck!

 

[2sets]

I didn't do park hopping the first trip and I'm not doing it for our next trip. I think it's too much for preschoolers. I liked doing a day at a park (meaning 9-4), then getting to go twice on the rides they really enjoyed. I think my kids handled the park days so well (even though they were regular afternoon nappers at home at the time) b/c we did a chill at the pool day in b/t each park day. This next trip (with the 3 & 4yr olds), we are doing 2 park days back to back, but those 2 park days are at AK & HS, which I think will be more mellow, shorter days than MK. Anyway, I just think it's too much effort to pull them out of a park if they are having a ton of fun there and it really takes up some time that I'd rather spend going on a ride for a second time.

 

[daleswife]

Everyone will disagree with me, but we never hop. We plan which park/which day and plan our meals there. Our kids never want to leave a park once we get there, and you are right, if you are not going to stay our late at night anyway it would not be worth the money.
The only advantage may be if you plan to do an early EMH and then want to hop over to another park if the EMH one gets crowded. Without hoppers we just avoid EMH at busy times of the year.
You can leave a park and return to the same park without hoppers if you want to do naps and then go back.

I completely agree with you. We NEVER hop. I just can't see justifying that much more money when it takes practically all day long to go through one park in a day anyways. My DD6 and DS2 are perfectly happy going through one park a day....We do go to MK twice and Epcot twice though. We take our time and go through the parks one at a time instead of hopping around each park. Just plan your meals and activities around that one park per day. Thats what we do and it works for us.

 

[*Seanaci*]

Park hours in december depend on when you're going...beginning of the month, they do close early, later in the month (especially the week of christmas) they stay open later.

Personally, I'd get park hopper. Not all parks are appropriate for 2 and 3 year olds (meaning not much for them to do/enjoy there). If you got the park hopper, and the kids started to get cranky, you could always hop to another park (especially if you and DH aren't ready to go back to the hotel yet), often the change in scenery will calm them and make for an enjoyable time.

Plus, I personally feel when going to Disney with such young children, it's harder to plan a full day at one park to see and do everything. Where as park hopping allows you a chance to do a few things at one park, then hop to another and do a few things. And you can always return to parks later in your trip to finish what you didn't get to do earlier.

We took our 15 month old back in December and had park hoppers. Worked wonderfully for us as when he'd start to get cranky, we'd hop on the bus to another park, rather than back to the resort (as we weren't ready to go back) and change the scenery around him in that respect. Worked like a charm every time to calm him down.

Good luck!

 

[emsip]

In which resort will you be staying?

When we stayed at BWV we would hop over to Epcot just to see the fireworks or to go to dinner.

 

[sau418]

We did do hoppers, but it was June with the longer hours. For the shorter hours we probably would not. The one perk we found with the hoppers was that we would go to a park in the morning and the girls would get in and out of their stroller alot and use alot of energy, then we would nap. After nap we usually went to a park where we would basically just walk and the girls would be tired enough to want to stay in the stroller and DH and I were able to do some shopping and looking at the details of the park.

 

[Picabo]

In which resort will you be staying?

When we stayed at BWV we would hop over to Epcot just to see the fireworks or to go to dinner.

We're staying at the Polynesian...

We did do hoppers, but it was June with the longer hours. For the shorter hours we probably would not. The one perk we found with the hoppers was that we would go to a park in the morning and the girls would get in and out of their stroller alot and use alot of energy, then we would nap. After nap we usually went to a park where we would basically just walk and the girls would be tired enough to want to stay in the stroller and DH and I were able to do some shopping and looking at the details of the park.

Ahh that's my dream! To be able to have the kids chill out in the stroller so I can do some shopping and enjoying the scenery!

 

[tigerali]

I think you are wise to skip the hopper option. It sounds like you have it well planned, so I would skip it. We will be taking dd next year in Dec (she'll be just under 3) and don't plan to get the hoppers. Have fun!

 

[carmie3377]

We haven't had hoppers our last 2 visits and didn't miss them at all. We just took advantage of the early closings to go to DTD or to just relax at the hotel. When we go in Dec, we will not get hoppers again.

 

[HGD24]

We usually hop - but on our first trip with our DD, we ended up hopping only 1 out of 4 days. I didn't mind too much because we bought our 10-day hopper non-expire tickets a couple of years ago at a really good price, but I felt bad because my in-laws bought hoppers and didn't get to use them except for that one night.

I'm looking at buying non-hoppers for our next few trips and keeping the remaining hopper tickets for sometime down the road. I don't see us hopping much with a little one.

 

[ktlm]

I'm the dissenter. We went in December when DD was 2 yrs 10 months and again in May when she was 3. We actually hopped More with her at thoses ages than we did pre-kids. I don't agree that "not all parks are appropriate for 2 and 3 year olds" as another poster said. We found all of the parks to have plenty of things to do for those ages. MK and Epcot were DD's clear favorites on both trips. She also liked DHS because she loves shows, and they have Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid. Toy Story Mania ride was a big hit too. At 2, DD absolutely hated AK and begged to go to MK instead after a couple of hours- so when it became apparent she was not changing her mind, we hopped. (At 3 she really liked AK, so you just never know). Also at 2, as we found out, you never know when doing the Peter Pan or Small World ride one more time might suddenly become what she believes is the most important thing in her young life. Because of MVMCP the options to see Spectromagic during our trip were very limited so we hopped specifically for that. We also hopped for dinner at Epcot one night when MK closed at 6 because of MVMCP. At 3, all the park recommendations kept changing long after the dining ADRs were set (and even though I tried daily for a better option I could only get 1 day and 1 time for CRT for our entire trip which was a must), so we wound up hopping on a couple of days to make ADRs, but find less crowded parks. We do stroller naps (learned the 1st day that if we left the park all we got was a mad child who would not sleep), but if we had taken breaks at the resort, I could see us using the hopper even more by spending mornings in one park and afternoons in the other. I would feel really restrained without hoppers and like the freedom they give us. If I were you, I would wait until you have made your ADRS and park schedules come out to make any kind of decision. I think you can even add hoppers once you get there.

 

[shoppymommy]

We went in 2008 when DD was 16 months and we hopped. She took two naps a day back then and the morning nap consisted of cat naps in the stroller. After a late lunch, we headed back to the hotel until about 5 p.m. or so. After that afternoon nap, she was awake and ready to play so we'd just head back to the park until bedtime - back then around 8 p.m.

She still takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon now at 2 1/2 and we're hoping we'll be able to do the same thing in August. We're staying at the Contemporary so it will be much more convenient. We're going to be flexible about it. If we're bored and need to do something we'll head to MK (since it's so close), but if we're cranky or tired, we'll stay at the hotel. I'd rather get the hopper because DD is the type to get cabin fever and I don't want to be stuck in the room if she wants to be out and about!

When DD was 16 months old - we found plenty to do! It's all in how you look at it, I believe. We knew going in that we were there to introduce DD to Disney World. We tried to keep to her schedule (eating, napping, etc.) as much as possible and we had a blast!

 

[laughinplace199]

We always get park hoppers. We've used them more on some trips than others, but I like having the flexibility of being able to hop if we want to. We've had a trip where DS got sick and missed a park day. Once he felt better, we were able to do our scheduled park and then hop to the park that he missed so he could do a few of the things he really wanted to do.

Also, you never know how kids are going to react to things. You may think they'll love MK, but in reality maybe they want to spend every day at Epcot or one of the other parks. I just like knowing that I can change our plans at the last minute if necessary. Plus, if you get to one park and it's more crowded than you expected, you can hop to another.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I guess I'm in the minority, we always go with park hoppers. i guess it depends on where you are staying. when we are at the epcot resorts, we would do the smaller parks like AK in the morning (when its less crowded) and then head to the pool in afternoon and Epcot for dinner and maybe fireworks.

what would worry me is being forced to stick with a park for the day if it was unbearably crowded. or be stuck hanging out at your hotel for the afternoon/evening because you didn't want to get back on the bus to go back to the park you were at that day.

park hoppers allow for a lot of flexiblity which i've always found very key with babies.

 

[elan]

We always had hoppers or an AP. Our last trip in April we just had basic tickets. What surprised me was we didn't miss the hoppers at all.

Don't forget if you find you need the hoppers you can just add them on once you're there.

 

[Madzac]

We have always had park hoppers. However, I realized that on the last two trips we have taken with kids, we only hopped on the very last day when we hit our favorites. And then we only hit Epcot and MK. We love having the favorites day so this most recent trip I decided to get them.

By the next trip all three kids will need tickets and 250 dollars to hop one day just isnt worth it to us... so we will add one more day and not get a hopper, and still come out ahead! I think it depends a little on how long you are there and what your touring style is. We like to finish one park before moving on. We do take breaks many days but return to the same park. I think if we would be there less than 7-8 park days though, we would spring for the hopper.

My kids enjoy things in all the parks, and no park is just a "few hour" thing for us. We do one full day AK, 2 days DHS and Epcot each, with one break and one late start, and 3days MK, two with breaks and one late start. We are able to see everything we want and have some down time and hit our favorites more than once. If I could add ONE more day, we would hit AK a second time for a few hours and then have a pool day.

 

[cuppycake]

We are hoppers (and have been even when our kids were toddlers). Our kids (us, too) LOVE Epcot, and we find that we end up there many evenings on our trips. Also, we like eating at the restaurants in the WS, so having the hopper makes that possible.

I think the answer depends on your personal touring style, really.