Park hoppers?

[kitkat4622]

so our first disney trip I bought park hoppers and did not utilize them.
2nd trip did not buy park hoppers.
this trip coming up next spring I bought park hoppers.
Please tell me how you use your hoppers so that I get my moneys worth out of them without feeling like I am constantly go go go...thanks

 

[hakepb]

Since we usually take afternoon breaks at our resort, we go to one park in the morning, back to the resort, then go to a different park in the evening (which takes no more transportation time than going back to the morning resort)

Otherwise, it's easier to hop between MK and EPCOT (monorails) or EPCOt and DHS (boat or walk)
We typically eat more dinners in EPCOt than we want to spend entire days there.

 

[disneymom0104]

We have done both as well. Last time we went we didn't use them. This time we plan to use them on the days we take an afternoon break. It is just as easy to get to any park at that point as it would be to go back to the same park. The new FP+ allows you to make a FP at a different park (if available) after you have used them at the 1st park and we are hoping to utilize that as well. There will be some days we stay in one park and take an early evening as well.

 

[hakepb]

Yes, choosing a FP+ at the next park before leaving the 1st park has been quite nice. (Minimal to non-existent "tier 1" rides, but it's nice having something.

 

[sharonabe]

We are morning people, so we always go the park with morning EMH and stay til about lunch time. Sometimes we eat lunch there, sometimes at the next park. Sometimes we go back to our resort for a rest, sometimes we just go to another park. If there is no EMH, we might stay at one park all day.

 

[minnie mum]

Just wondering why you bought hoppers if you don't know that you'll be needing them. Unless you KNOW you'll be hopping, based on your planning, you can get regular tickets and then add the hopper option after you're there, when you know you'll actually need them. Hopping to another park just to justify the added cost seems, well, silly.

We've visited WDW well over 20 times, and I think we've only bothered with hoppers 2-3 times. Other people have a reason for park hopping, like preferring frequent dinners in Epcot, or utilizing EMHs every day. But they plan this in advance.

Buy the ticket that suits your plans. Don't make your plans to suit the ticket.

 

[Huff]

We always buy hoppers. We generally pick one park for morning into early evening then have dinner which is usually at Epcot or at one of the resorts. After dinner we'll finish the night at Epcot for illuminations or to whichever park is near where we had dinner. Hoppers allow us much more flexibility for dinners and ability to see nighttime shows at a park we don't want to spend the entire day at. Another plus is for our AK days as in the past its always closed at 5pm. Late nights at AK seem to be limited to summer and other select dates. Hoppers come in handy when visiting a park which closes early then hopping to another thats open late.

 

[CAS239]

We're AP's that hop every day at Disney.

Rope drop a park and stay until around noon, head back to hotel to shower/nap/eat, then head to second park around 4-5ish with FP's set up for the second park

I also agree that there's no reason to buy park hoppers ahead of time if you don't know for certain that you'll be hopping. You can add it to your tickets when you're there if you want to hop

 

[IrishNYC]

Just wondering why you bought hoppers if you don't know that you'll be needing them. Unless you KNOW you'll be hopping, based on your planning, you can get regular tickets and then add the hopper option after you're there, when you know you'll actually need them. Hopping to another park just to justify the added cost seems, well, silly.

We've visited WDW well over 20 times, and I think we've only bothered with hoppers 2-3 times. Other people have a reason for park hopping, like preferring frequent dinners in Epcot, or utilizing EMHs every day. But they plan this in advance.

Buy the ticket that suits your plans. Don't make your plans to suit the ticket

OP likely bought hoppers in the past for the same reason I did: you think hopping sounds like a great idea, you think you'll do it, then you don't. Like me as well, OP preferred to have that hopper option ready to go, but didn't know you didn't have to buy it upfront. It's not obvious to someone that isn't a Disney know-it-all that you can add the hopper after you arrive and find yourself wanting that option.

 

[Meandnevaeh]

My advise is always to never buy the hoppers in advance, always wait until you are there and actually decide hopping is what you want to do at that time, it's literally the exact same add in cost to do it in advance as it is to add it in to your tickets once there. If you buy ahead and don't need then u can't get your money back, if you wait and decide to get the hopper add in when you get there, you lose nothing, you don't pay more than you would have in advance. Plan to have that cash available, or plan to put it in your credit card, so that you aren't spending more than expected, just wait.

 

[ArmyVet80]

We go to a park in the morning (especially AK and HS days) and then spend the evening at a different park (MK or Epcot).
For our HS day we tend to walk to Epcot for our dinner and Illuminations.
Our AK day we go to MK for dinner and wishes.

With the new water show at AK and Star Wars fireworks at HS we may spend more time at these parks but they may become afternoon/evening parks instead of morning parks. Still haven't worked that out in our planning yet.

Either way we'll be hopping from park to park throughout our 8D/7N stay.

 

[leebee]

We usually only buy hoppers if hopping is part of a ticket deal that fits our vacation plan and is more affordable than the non-hopping version of the same ticket. This happens sometimes with special tickets available through work or groups to which we belong. Usually our only use for hopping is to have dinner in Epcot, but over the years we've discovered that our favorite Disney restaurants are actually at the resort hotels, so we really don't have much need for hoppers. However, on our last trip to WDW, DD and I had hoppers because they were a better deal than the other 3 day tickets we could find. We were happy to have them as it allowed us to leave DHS at 6pm, hop over to dinner at the Biergarten, and then go back to DHS for Osborne Lights, but this was not a plan we made in advance; we didn't make the ADR until about 4pm, day-of.

Honestly, I'd not purchase hoppers in advance; I'd add the hopping option on to the ticket if we got to Disney and felt like we were being held down by having to stay in one park all day/night.

 

[aretha30]

We always go in August and so we RD at one park and go back to our resort for a break around 1. After our break, around 5 or so we head back to a different park. In the time before we had kids we just hopped park transportation and went from one park to the next. For us it's about having the flexibility to go where we want when we want.

 

[Nohal]

We always buy hoppers don't think after all of this time I could go without. For us we could never spend all day at AK or HS just not enough for us to do. As others have said we rope drop and usually have a dinner in Epcot as we go during free dining. I make FP for the second park we plan on hopping to. It is a lot of planning but that is part of the fun of a Disney trip for me.

 

[tinkerbella16]

We never hop from park to park. We like to hit up rope drop at one park, take an afternoon break at the resort and go to a different park at night. We always get park hoppers and we just love having that freedom to go any park on any day, without being tied down to just one.

 

[Hopefully]

We always have Hoppers. Like many others, we are in the first park at opening, stay until just after lunch and go back to the resort to relax/cool off/ swim and freshen up. We usually have dinner at one of the Epcot WS restaurants in the evening. We too, value the flexibility to do whatever we feel like, when we feel like it on vacation.

 

[maxiesmom]

We to typically go to one park in the morning, take a break, and visit a different park at night. Or if we plan on spending all day at a park we will then hop to Epcot at night to see Illuminations. Love that show!!!!

 

[Klayfish]

There's no one right answer here. That's the beauty of having the option to park hop or not. Personally, I think the Hop is really better suited to those who do like to go, go, go. If you're more leisurely...and there is NOTHING wrong with that...the Hop may be a waste. We always get it, never gone without it. While by no stretch do we run around the parks like crazy, we call it "efficient" park touring. We move quicker than a lot of others. We also tend to be morning people, so we're at a park early, though this last trip was the first time ever we didn't rope drop a park and frankly we didn't miss it. We'll do a park in the morning, then either hop to another for a few hours, or go back to our rental house to chill for a while before going back around dinner.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We use hoppers every trip. It makes dining in the parks freedom and coming and going freedom. It was required as part of Free Dining. We don't even consider not getting them. The convenience and worry free planning is more than worth the cost. If you are tight on cash I'd say wait to get it.

 

[Parker Clan]

We use hoppers every trip.
We, like other PP's mentioned, go at RD, stay til around lunch, then take a mid day break at the hotel, then back to a different park at night.
We drive and love the flexibility of being able to hit a different park each night