Park-hopping upgrade?

[Michaelasmommy]

It seems like the general consensus on these boards is that it isn't "worth" the additional cost to park hop. DH and I will be traveling to Disney in two weeks with dd5 and dd20. We have 4 days to spend in the parks. I keep wondering if I should add the park hopper for at least a couple of us. That way DD20 will be able to go off with my husband and maybe go on some of the attractions not geared for little kids. DD20 has not been to Disney in 12 years.

 

[wfjny]

It seems like the general consensus on these boards is that it isn't "worth" the additional cost to park hop. DH and I will be traveling to Disney in two weeks with dd5 and dd20. We have 4 days to spend in the parks. I keep wondering if I should add the park hopper for at least a couple of us. That way DD20 will be able to go off with my husband and maybe go on some of the attractions not geared for little kids. DD20 has not been to Disney in 12 years.

We always get the parkhopper. We tend to do one park in the AM, take a break, and another park in the PM. We tend to spend more time in EPCOT at night in part as we prefer the variety of restaurants.

Likewise, we tend to only do a 1/2 day AM at AK. I think your approach is right, wait and see. I could easily see a situation where you and DD5 are in MK while DH and DD20 are on EE and Dinosaur in AK. The question is, in that case, who did the park hop?

Good luck

 

[catra121]

I always park hop. I think it's generally more of an issue for first timers or for those looking to squeeze the budget as small as they can (or who would rather spend that money on something else). I personally LOVE the park hopping option and definitely think it is worth it.

 

[Cafeen]

I ALWAYS hop. Of course, my trips are for 10 days and I have a tendency to spend evenings and nights at Epcot...

As for the OP, there is no difference in price between adding hopping now, and adding hopping when you want at the park. I'd say see how it plays out, if they want to hop while down there, they can just add it on to their tickets. Keep the option open, but don't outlay any funds for it unless needed

 

[WsPrincess]

We love to park hop and I cannot image traveling without it (at least now). As others have said, we tend to do one park in the AM, another after dinner and then depending on how late MK is open (we usually travel in the summer) we go back to MK to finish out the night. I think it just depends on your style!

 

[smitch425]

Add it if and when you need it. No reason to pay for something now if you don't 100% know if you'll even use it.

 

[Missyrose]

The nice thing about hoppers is you can pay for it when you find you need it. If your DH and DS decide they want to hop, you can upgrade their tickets at any guest relations in the parks or any ticket window.

 

[BrownHP800]

We have not been down since the Park Hopper was an extra cost. But when we had it I did like the fact we could do that. I liked spending part of the day in MK and then taking the Monorail over to Epcot and spending the evening there. That being said when we go for our upcoming trip in January we are not going to spend the extra money to park hop. We are trying to do it on as much of a tight budget as possible for WDW and park hopping just is not in the budget this time.

 

[sab53085]

I usually get the Park Hopper option. This time we stayed at the Dolphin so it was walking distance between EPCOT and DHS so it was easy to go back and forth. You can always add it later on if you're not sure!

 

[divawife]

The nice thing about hoppers is you can pay for it when you find you need it. If your DH and DS decide they want to hop, you can upgrade their tickets at any guest relations in the parks or any ticket window.

If we get a package with resort/tix/DDP and we don't choose hoppers for all the days is it possible to get them for one day? Or maybe only get package tix for one less day and buy a one day park ticket with a hopper attached? Can that be done?

 

[smitch425]

If we get a package with resort/tix/DDP and we don't choose hoppers for all the days is it possible to get them for one day? Or maybe only get package tix for one less day and buy a one day park ticket with a hopper attached? Can that be done?

It will cost you more to buy separate tix. You can get regular nonhopping tickets with your package and if you find that one or more of your party wants to hop afterall then those people can upgrade their ticket at the park. If you upgrade your tickets prior to check-in, ALL of the tickets will have to add the hopper option. When booking a package, everyone on the reservation has to have the same type of tickets, but once you have the tickets in hand, you can upgrade whichever ones you want to upgrade and leave the rest as is..

 

[wfjny]

If we get a package with resort/tix/DDP and we don't choose hoppers for all the days is it possible to get them for one day? Or maybe only get package tix for one less day and buy a one day park ticket with a hopper attached? Can that be done?

Unless it is some sort of very special ticket, you can normally add the parkhopping option to any ticket. The trick is, the option was about $55, no matter how many days were on your ticket. Expensive to do once, but $11 a day on a five day ticket and only $5.50 a day for a ten day ticket.

In your case, it would be about $220 to upgrade all four tickets to park hopper, so it is worth considering if you really want it. As many have already said, they use that option almost every day.

 

[AshleeH]

It's great for some and not for others. We had it our first trip and didn't use it a single day (such a waste of money). Last year we didn't add the option, but we will this year (more ADRs and the kids are a little older). If you're not sure, I agree with PPs, wait and add it on when you need it.

 

[jeannielynn24]

We park hop because AK & Epcot aren't full days for us and we want the option to go to another park that evening.

However, if you don't think you'll use it there's no use in wasting the money.

 

[DavidNYC]

Remember now the whole math on Hopper and Water Parks add on has changed.

Forgive me if I'm a few dollars off since I don't have the prices in front of me but with the new pricing, if you're thinking of getting the Water Park add on as well, it's only about $20 more to add the hopper.

Not sure if you were planning on using the WP option but if you are, the hopper might be worth $20 to you even if it isn't worth $55.

 

[Julylady]

We are another family who ALWAYS park hops. One park in the morning, a little down time at the pool in the afternoon, a different park in the evening. For some reason, this way of touring makes the vacation seem longer.

 

[Bev J]

We have been to WDW at least 15 times and we would never consider NOT adding hopping. We like to do one park in the morning/afternoon then go to a different park for the evening. Especially important since we like to have dinner alot in Epcot. AK is a 3/4 day park for us.
We have sometimes stayed a whole day in the same park, but rarley and there have been times when the park we chose is too crowded so we go to a different park.
There are times when we visit 2-3 parks in one day, just doing favorites or for a meal.

Bev

 

[ttintagel]

We didn't get the Parkhopper last time and really regretted it. You can do all the research in the world, and an unmanageable crowd can still descend unexpectedly and make you wish you could head to ranother park for a while.

Also, it's pretty cool to do morning EMH at ome park, and then hop over to one that's less crowded because everyone with single-park tickets is in the one having EMH.

 

[Raenstoirm]

We ALWAYS hop. We start the day in whatever park peaks our fancy for the day and then hop to the park with late emh (that emh park is also where we have booked our dinner ADR for the evening). We dont like having things planned to the minute, so being able to do whatever we want during the daytime hours is a necessity.

 

[wahoostampingirl]

We always get the Park Hoppers. We don't always use them all that much, but I do like the option of being able to leave one park and go to another for whatever reason. For our upcoming trip, I told my dh, we could really do without them and stick to one park, but he said "no way". The man loves his hoppers.