Parkhopper for 1st trip??

[bamamom]

This will be our first trip as a family and DH and I have not been since our HM in 1992! With our package we have Parkhopper tickets 6 days, should we change these to 6 days basetickets? How does the base ticket work for 6 days when there at only 4 parks? Do you just pick one of the parks to go to on the 5th and 6th day? We are going in Oct and we are going to MNSSHP.

These boards have been a lifesaver for me, I am a planner and its hard to plan when you don't know all there is and everyone here has been so helpful...THANKS!!!

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[Moridyn]

I personally prefer the parkhopper option. It allows you to spend part of a day at one park and have lunch or dinner at another park. It works out great for taking swim breaks. I personally (and alot of others I've found) don't spend a full day at Animal Kingdom. The parkhopper option allows you to then go to another park for nighttime entertainment.
The baseline tickets would allow you access to one park a day. You get to choose which parks to go to. You could spend all 6 days at the Magic Kingdom if you wanted to.

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

For a first time, or first time in a long time, you won't want to park hop as much as, say, an experienced WDW veteran, but I find the PH tickets to be a value for anyone. When taking 1st timers I don't force parkhopping to the level I'm used to (most days I visit at least 2 if not 3 or 4 parks, hopping around) because you don't want to have a disjointed experience, but it still can be valuable.

For instance, let's say you spend the morning/afternoon at MK. Then you could hop over to Epcot on the monorail for Illuminations or to MGM for Fantasmic. AK closes at 5-6PM most nights, so on an AK day you may want to go to see Wishes at the MK the end of the night.

Some people do just fine without park hopping, but you can really maximize your park time with them. Another example - morning EMH. Many people schedule their MK day for the morning EMH day, for instance, but don't get up and get there for the actual benefit but go anyway because they already planned on that day. The worst lines for resort busses are ALWAYS around 10-11AM for whatever park had EMH that morning - even though the benefit itself is long over.

In cases such as that, it is SO effective to do the following : get your brood up and at the bus stop by 7:20/7:30, get to the EMH morning park right before 8AM, and between 8AM and say 11/noon you can get an INCREDIBLE amount of attractions in before the crowds start to build. Then, around lunchtime, when the park is getting super-busy, hop over to another park that is less crowded and enjoy the day having visited more attractions by lunch than most people will the rest of the day!

Now, PH isn't for everyone...but if you are willing to do a tiny bit of planning you can really take advantage of it!

Hope you have a magical time no matter what you choose!

N.E.D.

 

[mhingher]

I definately recommend the park hopping option for a few reasons... First, if you enter a park and find it to be very crowded, park hopping allows you to leave and enter another park on the same day. Also, for me, Animal Kingdom doesn't do much for me-- so we usually like to go for a morning and then hop to another park. And what we do is usually go to a non EMH park during the day, and then hop to the evening EMH park late afternoon to take advantage. That always works for us!

Good luck, you'll have a great time! I'm jealous, I'm not going back until May!

Melissa

 

[we3disneygo]

I would go with the hoppers, it is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the first couple trips were with 1 park 1day tickets, last trip we got the hoppers....it was great.The only way to go............ have fun.

 

[Merriwind]

We really like hopping too. We usually start the day in one park, take a break after lunch to swim, nap, etc. Then we go to a different park (usually Epcot) for dinner and evening activities. Adds to the magic for us!

 

[bdcp]

I think Park Hoppers are the way to go. We have park hopped from day one because we split Epcot and MK into 1 1/2 days each the first trip. Our second trip, AK was open and it definitely doesn't take all day. It just makes it so much easier to jump around especially if you find one park crowded and want to go to another for the rest of the day or want to go eat elsewhere. It's worth the extra $$.