Park Hopping Philosophy -- Anyone else agree??

[Luvmyfam3]

I was reading an article here about a week ago asking about park hopping. Most people felt it wasn't necessary. That got me to thinking. "We park-hop every single day. Is it necessary??" We go to one park in the morning, go back to the resort to swim/relax and then go to another park. My thinking on this is that it keeps my kids excited about each day. Spice it up a bit.... My kids least favorite park is EPCOT, but if I team it with MGM or MK then they're much better with it. I also like it. Some parks are geared more towards education and shows, while others have more rides. By switching it up, it gives us a variety each day. Does anyone else do this or are we strange?? Just curious....

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We're hoppers. We just enjoying going to more than one park each day.

 

[danny1649]

Best for your family is the way to tour Disney World.Sometimes we hop and sometimes we do not.Each day at WDW is new and magical experience to us. Danny

 

[crystalcml]

We're hoppers too! I like the change in scenery and the different things to do at each park. For us, our least fav park is DHS so if we go to EPCOT in the morning and DHS at night and catch Fantasmic it's great!

 

[shafke]

We get the park hopper option when we go.

One of the reasons we get it is for the flexibilty and it has saved a couple of days for us...

We were at AK last summer and at about 1-2pm the skies opened up... heave rain, thunder, lightning. Most attractions closed during this time. WE had lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe and it was still raining with thunder in the area. We were able to ditch AK and hop over to Epcot. Our other choices would have been to go back to the room. The rain did not stop until after 8pm so we also managed to see the illuminations show.

On another trip we had breakfast at the castle. By noon the crowds in the MK were very heavy. The line for the carrousel went around the ride and streatched in the direction of Snow White. Main Street looked like a mass of people. Again we were able to hop on over to Epcot for a much better day.

 

[zickig]

I'm taking my frist trip in Aug and we got the hopper.

One of the main reasons I got it was because we have ADR's at Epcot more than one night and without the hopper I would have to spend the whole day there in order to get back in at night for dinner. With the age's of my kids there is no way I can spend a whole day in Epcot (they are 5y/o, 2y/o, 1y/o) The other reason is because I hate to make plans, I hate hate hate to plan anything but am forced to focus and plan the ADR's and the hopper lets us be more spontanious and flexable even with the ADR's.

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

We are hoppers. Because couple of the parks, we just will not spend full days at. We like to take breaks and then go somewhere else in the evening. While some may not this its necessary, we wouldnt do it any other way. Its worth the money for us.

 

[XxDisneyFan00xX]

I do like to park hop, don't get me wrong about that. The only thing is that I like to have a tiny break in between each park to give me time to cool down and relax.

 

[SnowWitch]

As another poster mentioned we just like the flexibility to switch it up if its needed. If we go to early entry at the MK which is one of the few parks we utilize ee, we tend to leave by noon because it will generally draw bigger crowds that day. We also enjoy the Epcot dining options more so than the other parks. We have never been and not had the hopper option if we don't have the hopper we have AP's.

 

[funhouse8]

last summer we didn't add on the park hopper but plusses instead. This worked out well also. We could do a water park early then a theme park afternoon or leave a park and head over to DTD later in the day for DQ one day PI the next. I think that it's whatever works for you and it's always nice to switch it up a bit.

 

[Melora]

We park hop almost every day. Occasionally we have not but that is rare.

We love to be able to grab the monorail and head to another park or go back to the room, rest and then strike out someplace different.

We would never get tickets without that option.

 

[DisFlan]

We always get hoppers - ever since a second park came into existance. It makes planning around our meals and nightly activities not only easier but possible. If there's an evening EMH at the MK, we may want to spend that morning at AK (less crowded) and then go to Epcot for a lunch ADR and a couple of FP rides. And then hop back to the room for a nap before EMH. We get more out of all the parks with hopping.

DisFlan

 

[cabanafrau]

We hop very nearly every day & don't want to give up the flexibility of the hoppers. Could planning save us from spending to have that option, probably. So far none of us feels particularly motivated to find out.

 

[kaybird]

I agree, we nearly always hop. Makes breaks much easier-the transport betwwen parks is relaxing, and as mentioned, makes ditching an overcrowded park much easier after EMH. As the kids got older, it also made splitting up much easier, with our ADR's being the meet up (or Meat up!) time.

 

[cymbaldiva]

I've always park-hopped....can't eve imagine doing it any other way!

 

[Tink-n-Peter]

We go to one park in the morning, go back to the resort to swim/relax and then go to another park.

We do this almost every day. It breaks up the day, and IMO gives a more magical experience.

 

[disneymom71]

As a teen and going with adults will be a blast doing it!!! But this year will be the first time we are not doing it at all. Just because having a toddler and eight year old. But we keept our teenager with the parkhooper. Two years ago it was a waste of money because we can barely hop for that time..For me it's depend the priorities and favorite theme parks from each family.

 

[mousebit]

Wow! Looks like I'm in the minority on this one. Don't care too much for park hopping anymore. We paid the extra $$ on the first trip and found we didn't really need it - although it did come in handy on the days we wanted to go to EMH in the morning then head to another park to beat the crowds. I just don't like to spend all that time going back and forth. If we decide we want to leave our park of the day for awhile, there's always something fun to do without going to another park (water parks, shows, shopping, mini-golf, DQ, swimming/relaxing at the resort, etc.) Sorry, just too hectic and expensive for me!

 

[haley123]

I hate park hopping. It just takes far to much time out of the day to get to one place to another.

 

[they!]

our family is really big on park hopping.
it just make sense to us otherwise.