Planning our visit...do I need the hopper?

[ekendall2]

Kids love AK!!! I think your girls would love it.

We are avid hoppers but it sounds like you dont need it. I would add on the day and not worry about park hopping.

Hope you have a magical time!

 

[nkereina]

Our families first trip is 9/3-9/8. We have three daughters ages 5, 7 & 9 and will be staying at the Polynesian. Not huge ride people - I think we will be more about the shows and low key rides. I would anticipate that we will leave the park every day to swim and lay low in the afternoons.

Would appreciate anyone's comments:

3rd - arrive around noon and spend the afternoon at MK
4th - Epcot
5th - MK
6th -HS
7th - was going to leave this day open because my original thinking was that we would skip AK since my impression was it was a glorified zoo, but upon further inspection I think there is some fun stuff.
8th - ? and leave for airport around noon

So my questions are:
1 - right now we have 5 day passes, the airline backed up our departing flight to 3:30 so should I add the 6th day so we could go back to MK one more time?

2 - Do you think I need a hopper? Just not sure there is going to be enough reason to go back to AK on the evening of the 7th? Is it worth the $300? I know you can add it at the park but there is no way I am going to be able to justify to myself or my husband to spend $300 to be able to go to another park once maybe twice but if the money has already been spent, that is another story. That being said, man am I going to kick myself if I pay for it and don't use it.

Thanks so much. Very excited!

AK usually closes early. When we went in September, it closed at 5pm so we didn't have enough time to go back after our afternoon break. I think you can get away without the hopper, but it's nice to have if you can swing the cost. You can go from one park to another if you find the crowds are higher than expected, if one park goes over better than you expected (for us, that was DHS), and if you feel like hitting a different park for the evening you have that option.