Questions about Park Hopping

[JenniferK]

We are planning a September 2010 trip and I am trying to figure out a basic schedule. Last time we went we added the park hopper option and never used it, so I was going to skip it this year. When looking at what we want to do, there is one day where we might (possibly) want to visit 2 parks. Obviously paying $52 extra per ticket to park hop does not make sense for us. It is only $3 more to go from a 7 day to an 8 day base ticket. If we do this, could we go to 2 parks in one day and just use two of our "days" (using up an 8 day ticket in 7 days)? If that is possible, it will make much more sense financially!

 

[Robo]

If we do this, could we go to 2 parks in one day and just use two of our "days" (using up an 8 day ticket in 7 days)? If that is possible, it will make much more sense financially!

Sorry, but no.

This is actually one of the most-asked ticket questions on the boards, so you are not alone in figuring this angle.

The computers at the park gates will not allow you to use more than ONE "day" of a multi-day ticket at a second theme park without buying the Hopper upgrade.


The 4th "day" of a MYW ticket costs $6. The 5th thru 10th "days" only cost $3 each,
but the Hopper Option costs $52 (all plus tax.)

This is done to encourage guests to stay at WDW for EXTRA DAYS, not fewer days.
That's why Disney won't allow "hopping" using such a low-cost "day."

 

[mickeyluv'r]

The only way you could sort of do this is if you bought two tickets for each family member with probably the no expire option on one of them. I don't think it would be less money than simply buying hopping though.

Okay, so if you invested in a ten day, no expire, adult hopper ticket, it would be about $480 per adult now. If you used one day this trip it would cost you $48 for that day ($480/10). So you could use the extra set of tickets one day at a time over ten trips- then it would save money over the long run - so long as you only used one day per trip. Disney tickets probably will go up over time, but Disney could also change their pricing structure at some point. ( Kids' tickets are slightly less money.)

One other little tidbit to pass along - you don't have add hopping to your tickets now, before you go. You can wait to add it onthe day you want to use it. You can modify any tickets withint 14days of first use. It only tkae s aminute. You can do it at any park entrance, or at your Disney resort concierge. Theonly time I woudln't do it is right at park opening, when there are sometimes small lines. If you do it mid-day or evening, there is usually no line at guest services.

 

[JenniferK]

Thanks for the replies! That's a shame. Oh well. I know we are not going to upgrade to park hop for one day. We are going for 9 days/8 nights. We had no intention of going to a park our last day because with having to check out and leave for the airport just after lunch it didn't seem worth it, so we got 8 day tickets.

Originally we were going to go to Epcot arrival night for dinner, World Showcase and Illuminations. We did this last trip and it worked great. But we got a great deal on airfare yesterday, the downside being that we will arrive 3 hours later. So we thought it best to just have dinner and hang at the resort the first night. I thought it would be too stressful to try to squeeze too much in after a day of traveling.

So I figured rather than downgrade to a 7 day ticket, maybe we could use the 8th day to park hop one evening. I guess I will downgrade since we won't be able to do that. Twelve bucks is twelve bucks if I know it won't be able to be used.

Thanks again for your help and knowledge!

 

[Alesia]

I would be very surprised if your flight times don't change quite a few times in the next 8 months. I booked our flight 300 days in advance and there were 27 changes made during that 300 days.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I agree that downgrading to 7days is probablythe way to go then. You can alwasy add a day to your tickets when you are at WDW if you change your mind. WE've done that and it was very simple. Even if we just go to Epcot for one ride and the fireworks, it is worth $12 to our family. Cheaper than a movie,right? And those are often only 90 minutes long. But we've also done the first night at our resort thing, it depends how we feel.

 

[JenniferK]

True, we can always add it back in if needed, though I doubt we will.

As for flight changes, I booked about this far out last time we went. There were a few changes to flight time, but it was always within about 15 minutes. Maybe since we are flying out of O'Hare and there are so many flights per day? Not sure, there were many to choose from. I would have rather taken an 8am flight, but it was $65 per person less to take an 11am flight and we couldn't pass that up. With a bit of switching in our itinerary we will still get to do everything we want to do, so it was worth it. I guess I can add the $12 to our savings, lol. Every little bit counts