Park hopping worth it?

[MinnieS11]

Do y’all think that park hopping would be worth anything, with the restrictions? Like I was saying in my last post, I guess it could be if you were unable to get a Rise pass on your only HS day. I just don’t want to pay extra cost for no reason.

 

[yulilin3]

Did you think it was worth it before?

 

[chris benton]

I'm very pro hopping, pre-covid.
With the current restrictions - definitely anti hopping.
If things return to how they used to be - with fastpasses and unlimited hopping - then I'll be back to being pro hopping. I usually stay at an Epcot resort because we love Hollyweird and Epcot, so there is no issue with travel times to those 2 parks

 

[JenBush]

Personally, I wouldn’t pay the extra for a hopper now. The limited hours and only hopping after 2pm just doesn’t seem worth the extra money. I’ll probably reevaluate my stance in a few weeks once we see how this new hopping actually works.

 

[MinnieS11]

I definitely thought park hopping was worth it before. I only have 4 days in the parks and I just don’t want to be stuck without a boarding pass. That’s why I’m contemplating.

 

[cjlong88]

Yes there are shorter hours, but there is also less to do at each of the parks. I'm reading people rope drop AK and getting everything they want done by 1pm. Sounds like a great day to park hop! Same with HS. If you are only planning to ride RotR and check out SWGE, then I think a PH ticket is an excellent option so you can go do other things, especially if you don't get that boarding group.

Then again, I always get a PH ticket and missed having the option when I visited back in August.

 

[goofyernmost]

I've have been going there for 36 years and except for one year I have always had park hoppers and won't ever go again without one. For what little it costs the freedom of movement is well worth it, at least to me. There was a time when every ticket was a park hopper, but like everything else, the good fades away.

 

[wdw&sonny]

I definitely thought park hopping was worth it before. I only have 4 days in the parks and I just don’t want to be stuck without a boarding pass. That’s why I’m contemplating.

Contemplating going to HS and hopping to another park if you don't get a BG?
Or starting at another park and hopping to HS for afternoon distribution? Doesn't hopping start at 2:00 and afternoon BG distribution is now 1:00 ?
Either way, I wouldn't get a hopper now, solely based on opportunities to get a boarding group.

 

[Heather07438]

In the end the decision came down to our resort location. I think even if reduced hours, MK & EP area resorts really lend themselves to hopping. It's nice to bop into the easy access park(s) for the evening after taking an afternoon resort break.

I've found that hopping definitely makes our trips feel longer, like arriving at the 4th park for ropedrop on Day 3 is great. Feels like we did so much already. Still, if we were staying at AKL or OKW, etc... we probably would've used that $ on something other than hopping tho.

 

[Heather07438]

I definitely thought park hopping was worth it before. I only have 4 days in the parks and I just don’t want to be stuck without a boarding pass. That’s why I’m contemplating.

If you don't want to get hoppers, another strategy is booking more HS days out of those 4 days with the intention of changing to a different park once you accomplish getting a BG. Probably best to pick HS on Day 1 & 2, with EP being the back up if you don't get BG on Day 1.

 

[MinnieS11]

Contemplating going to HS and hopping to another park if you don't get a BG?
Or starting at another park and hopping to HS for afternoon distribution? Doesn't hopping start at 2:00 and afternoon BG distribution is now 1:00 ?
Either way, I wouldn't get a hopper now, solely based on opportunities to get a boarding group.

I would just like the option to change my park reservation. I plan to have one day per park, but I’m reserving HS for two days just in case....now that I’m typing this out and thinking about it, maybe I don’t need a park hopper. I suspect Epcot wouldn’t be busy to change my reservation to, if the new rides over there don’t open yet.

 

[MinnieS11]

If you don't want to get hoppers, another strategy is booking more HS days out of those 4 days with the intention of changing to a different park once you accomplish getting a BG. Probably best to pick HS on Day 1 & 2, with EP being the back up if you don't get BG on Day 1.

Yes. Makes perfect sense. Wrote it out before seeing this explanation!

 

[MinnieS11]

Yes there are shorter hours, but there is also less to do at each of the parks. I'm reading people rope drop AK and getting everything they want done by 1pm. Sounds like a great day to park hop! Same with HS. If you are only planning to ride RotR and check out SWGE, then I think a PH ticket is an excellent option so you can go do other things, especially if you don't get that boarding group.

Then again, I always get a PH ticket and missed having the option when I visited back in August.

I wonder how people are getting AK done so early. I’ve been keeping up with the Pandora ride wait times and they are busy from the start.

 

[OB1]

Contemplating going to HS and hopping to another park if you don't get a BG?
Or starting at another park and hopping to HS for afternoon distribution? Doesn't hopping start at 2:00 and afternoon BG distribution is now 1:00 ?

currently, only people that have HS as their park selection are able to get ROR boarding groups. If you hop to that park, then you are not able to get a boarding pass.

We have often hopped to end up at EPCOT since it has the best eating of any park, and with all the festivals, even more eating. It has a pretty cool vibe after dusk.

 

[cjlong88]

I wonder how people are getting AK done so early. I’ve been keeping up with the Pandora ride wait times and they are busy from the start.

My guess is that those individuals reporting an early finish might be at the very front of rope drop for Pandora and getting in line with minimal waits. Or perhaps they are choosing to skip one of Pandora attractions.

 

[Brian Noble]

I like the hoppers, and always buy them. Are they "worth it" in dollars and cents terms? Maybe not. To be honest, I don't even know, because I've never really thought about them that way. Instead, I think of them like this:

the freedom of movement is well worth it

To explain: No matter how carefully I plan ahead, the trip never unfolds exactly the way I had planned it for one reason or another. Committing to hopping in advance means that when something unexpected happens, I can make the best possible decision for the overall trip without asking myself if it is "worth it."

As an example, our last trip, just under the COVID-wire, ended a couple of days after MMRR opened. In "the plan" I had planned to avoid Studios on MMRR opening day because I was afraid it would draw extra people to the park. But, when we were on our afternoon break that day, we realized that we had gotten so much done earlier in the trip that we didn't really have any must-do's left. So, we decided to pop into Studios and wait in a line that was longer than we normally would have bothered with so that we could have an opening day credit.

If I had to ask myself in the moment whether that was worth $80-90pp (or whatever hopping cost then) I probably would have skipped it. But, because I bought them in advance, I only asked how we'd like to spend our time. And that day was a great memory for us! Looking back on it, I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I spent the money---we hopped a few other times that trip, but even if we hadn't, I wouldn't have begrudged the expense.

I get a rental car each trip for very similar reasons.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I definitely thought park hopping was worth it before. I only have 4 days in the parks and I just don’t want to be stuck without a boarding pass. That’s why I’m contemplating.

We went in October we had two reservations for HS. We dropped the res at 7am and took AK because we did not need the second day.
I think I would do this again if we went back (and it was not a holiday week) I would save my money for Dinner.
Depending on park hours you may only have a few hours in a park you hopped to anyways.

 

[gharter]

I think its going to depend on how crowded the parks are and how late they are open.
If the parks close at 6 or 7, I'm not sure park hopping would be worth the time and money.

 

[subtchr]

If I was paying extra for hopping, I'd probably forego it, at least until park hours are longer.

But we visit with either an AP (me) or military tickets (other family members), which are only available as hoppers. So it's nice not to even have to think about whether it's worth it.

Hubby and I have a trip booked in 3 weeks. I don't have any specific plans to hop, but I will be very surprised if we don't do it at least a day or two.

Can't wait to hear the reports of how the system is working out!