Park Hoppers: Yay or Nay?

[Bullseye]

We've never been hoppers but I definitely get how people go both ways based on their touring style.

 

[SplashMo]

to get park hoppers or not really depends on the number of days you are there and the amount of time each day you want to be in a park as well as ADRs.

For me 3-5 days requires a park hopper. That is just for me... I do like to be in the parks 100% of the time and I like to go to each park multiple times. So for me I like two half days in AK better than one full day... Hence Park Hoppers. I like hopping to F+ or fireworks as needed as well...

Longer stays where you can hit each park 2 or more times (or the number of times you want to then PH are not as needed in my book.)

 

[North of Mouse]

I think we'll keep them for now. It would be nice to be able to catch Wishes on a day we visited another park or if we choose to attend MNSSHP, we can. I like the flexibility.

As you can see OP, there seems to be an equally divided 'camp' - a very individual, personal decision - we're the hoppers!!! Always!

Already too many other things to think about - sure don't won't to worry about which park I want to remain in for a full day - just us though!

 

[Asellus]

I couldn't imagine being stuck at HS all day (I actually skipped it entirely my last trip)....or even AK....and I like AK. If AK is closing at 5 pm that night too, I would really feel like I haven't gotten my money's worth.

I always buy hoppers.

 

[Laketravis]

For us, the cost of Park Hoppers amounts to less than 3% of what we spend per visit so we think the increased flexibility they provide is worth at least that much. For instance, being able to switch parks because the park we are in has become unpredictably crowded, or because we'd like to spend the morning and afternoon at AK but have dinner and watch fireworks at Epcot.

 

[Meriweather]

I usually have an annual pass, so always have the ability to hop, but very, very seldom do.
So this spring when I am going just for a week (my AP will be expired) I opted to not get a hopper.
I will use the money for something else. DD will be able to hop, so she can do that if she wants. I think I will do just fine staying at one park a day.

But, I think it depends on what you are planning and your style of park visiting.

 

[pigletgirl]

As you can see OP, there seems to be an equally divided 'camp' - a very individual, personal decision - we're the hoppers!!! Always!

Already too many other things to think about - sure don't won't to worry about which park I want to remain in for a full day - just us though!

Definitely!

 

[Retro Magic]

If I am able to, I will always choose the Park Hopper option. With so much already having to be pre-planned as it is, it's nice to have that flexibility. Great for dining too!

 

[whitney250]

We liked them because it gave us more freedom, and we park hopped every day. We would do one park in the morning and a different one in the evening. It also made us more flexible for dining reservations and such.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We've had five trips now. Bought them on our first trip because reading here and other boards, it really felt like we needed to or we'd be missing out on everything! Never used them. Never bought them again. And never felt like I missed anything.

We plan a park a day. Multiple days for some parks. If one closes early or we finish what we wanted to do early, we do something outside the park--mini golf, DTD, pool, resort activities, etc., etc.

We, too, don't care for the TS restaurants so much at MK, so we always plan resort dinners on those nights. Between the Contemporary, Poly, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Campground--all an easy monorail or boat ride from MK--there's plenty of options!

And I did think about being able to hit a couple Epcot places for dinners on other days, but then thought about it this way. We'd basically be going there just for dinner, maybe 1 or 2 rides, but we'd have done the park on other days anyway. Let's say I wanted to plan two extra dinners there. If I went up to the restaurant and they told me, "Okay, you can eat here. But it's an extra $30 per person just to get a table," I'd say no way in you-know-where. That's basically what it would come down if I just used the hopper twice to hit a restaurant there. When you look at it that way, it seems ridiculous to me.

Yes, it's a drop in the bucket when it compares to the full cost of vacation. But there's so many other things I can do with an extra $250 and I'd rather choose one of those!

 

[Davey Jones II]

Hoppers were essential on our October trip, because we wanted to do some nighttime events without necessarily spending all day in that particular park. Also, we got the water parks option, and ran off to those a few times. And sometimes we had FP+ reservations in the afternoon or evening, but we were visiting other parks earlier in the day.
In fact, we've never done so much park hopping. It may be time consuming, but we also enjoyed the variety of visiting two, sometimes three parks (including water parks) in one day.

 

[drea21]

This upcoming January trip is the first time we have added hoppers before going. Last year we wound up buying a hopper halfway through the day because after Akershus and a half day in Epcot our little kids were done and we wanted to go to another park.

This trip coming up is 7 nights and we are staying at BLT. Our 4.5 year old doesn't nap, but the almost 2 year old loves his naps. Last year we just let him fall asleep in the stroller and just pushed him around in that while he napped so we didn't have to take a break, this year I think he's going to actually need to go back to the hotel. We figured being in BLT, we could come back from a morning park, someone put him down for a nap and stay with him, and the rest head to the MK. Because of DD's age/preferences it's by far where she wants to be the most.

Basically, if I'm at a monorail hotel I find it worth it because of ease getting to two of the parks, especially the ability to walk to MK. If we had to wait for buses with two little ones I don't think I would get it.

 

[greentea]

Used our hoppers all the time this past September when it was just 2 of us, but it was low crowds, so we could do a lot in a short amount of time. And AK would close at 5, but Epcot might be open until 11, so we really liked the ability to go where we wanted.

In August when I take a budget trip with relatives, we aren't going to get hoppers (unless we change our mind once there, but I'm guessing they won't want to spend the money). I'm trying to keep costs lower, so we'll just schedule full days, and it will work out just fine. (But it's not my preference, so since I'm heading back to try F&W for the first time in October, I'm upgrading to an AP in August.)

 

[ckb_nc]

We never do hoppers now - we found that we just plan a park a day and that's enough.

However the last wife and I alone trip we did get hoppers - 1 day park hopper for 4 parks one day. Bucket list item for me.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Little background: Myself, DD and my mom will be headed to WDW in September of 2015. Our family was down there this past September and we opted to have park hoppers. Looking back, we park hopped twice.

Now, if I go ahead and opt not to use park hoppers and we choose later on that we do want them (while we are there), can we go to guest services to add them?

I hope we don't feel trapped by not using park hoppers.

We always have park hoppers. We frequently park hop especially due to dining reservations. We may go to one park in the morning, and another at night. If you spend all day in one park though, it would not be worth it.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

For us it really depends on our vacation style. Longer trips in the summer we get a park hopper. Shorter trip no hopper. Offsite usually no hopper.

In 2008 when we stayed off site we didn't get park hoppers. We did 4 days in the parks. Would get there at rope drop, use a lunch TS as our midday break and left in the evening.

In 2009 and 2011 we stayed onsite for 6-7 nights and did park hoppers. It was great! We liked doing a park in the morning, midday pool break at the resort and to a different park in the evening.

Our upcoming trip we will be staying at BC so definitely getting a park hopper since we are so close to Epcot.

I've been thinking of doing a mother/son trip and a mother/daughter trips in November/December (not sure what year). 4-5 day trip onsite. For those I doubt I will get park hoppers unless I'm there during F&W since they are short trips and in the colder months so swimming won't be a big deal to us. I will devote a full day to each park.

 

[mlnbabies]

We are going the first week of Dec. We will be in the parks 4 days Tues-Fri. I'm thinking of getting hoppers due to the early closure of AK and MK for the party nights.

We have never had hoppers for the whole family. On one trip it was just my dh and I for only one day. It was cool to start at Epcot and end up at MK that day.

We just came back from DL and we added hoppers after the first day. It was so easy to hop there.

 

[mom-2greatkids]

We hop every day (sometimes more than once). We each have our favorite rides in each park and like to ride them at least every other day.

Hopping actually works even better now with FP+. We rope drop whatever park we want for a few hours in the morning and hop to our planned park to take advantage of our FP reservations. Prior to FP+ we waited in long lines for headliner attractions at the second park.

We also can manage crowds much more effectively. If a park feels really crowded we just look at the wait times at the other parks and choose a less busy park.

 

[Delirium]

We use them all the time each year in October.

Hop multiple nights to Epcot for Eat to the Beat Concerts.

Hop to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic after spending the day at MK on a party day (MK closes at 7:00)

Hop to MK at night on AK days. We primarily go to MK on party days to take advantage of the lower crowds. Non-party days are very busy at MK and a waste of time to spend the entire day there, but we hop over after spending the day AK to see Wishes, the Parade, and to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours.

 

[JenB1104]

We always get them for the flexibility and especially for dining somewhere different than our park day - especially if staying on Disney property. I will have to see how many times we hop to see if it was worth it