Regretting park hoppers :(

[2Tiggies]

I don't agree for a second that FP is part of a plan to discourage park hopping and save money on transportation. I'm quite certain the park hopping fee covers that money and then some.

I agree. I also think that when the system is ready rotfl: ) Disney would like to have hopping as an option with FP+ because they will then be able to predict the hoppers' movements for the day based on pre-selected FP's

They have more to gain than to lose by encouraging it. The system is just not at the stage as their plans IMO

 

[kydisfan]

With fp+ we find park hoppers are even more useful for us. Hit a park at rope drop, ride what we want with little to no lines (in the fall at least), then have fp+ set up for another park in the afternoon. We almost always go to epcot at least every other night. You'll totally use them!

I agree with this. That would be our plans.

 

[mickyzzzzz05]

We love the freedom of having hoppers. It makes planning so much less complicated for us. We don't have to worry about making reservations at the "park of the day".
We also have started the day in a park and by 10 am see that it is getting packed and we "hop" to a less crowded park to get a couple more hours in before we head back to the room for our afternoon rest.
We have always liked having the hoppers.

 

[EastonCat]

For us, park hopping is about slowing down not speeding up. Granted, the "only one park" FP+ is a nuisance, but in reality most fastpasses for high-demand rides and meets were gone by midday in the paper system too.

Our primary parkhopping use is to be able to tour one park and eat dinner in another and catch the evening show. For example, DHS in the AM and Epcot in the evening, which is just the sort of thing that works well where you are staying.

Rest time in June is critical. It gets hot, and it gets crowded. You've got the best pool on property at your resort. You will enjoy it. We stayed there June 2010 and it turned out planning our days around the pool made more sense than around the parks.

It was a tremendous trip and one that stands out for us. We park hopped quite a bit and took our time everywhere we went. And ate lots of ice cream.

Don't let FP+ goad you into overplanning. Our recent experience (Mid Feb) was that it was most valuable for high-demand meetups (Rapunzel, Story Time with Belle) and the hits. Also, at AK it helps you plan better if the Finding Nemo show is important to you. You don't have to stand in a long line - you breeze in 10 mins before the show and sit down. With the "A" "B" menu, you are going to eat a long

We traditionally only used one fastpass a day before FP+, maybe two. This is still a rational and efficient way to tour if you understand the crowd flows and monitor wait times. Chasing other fastpasses because you could get them may not be better than standing in certain lines and not tromping inefficiently around the park.

For an example, consider a FP+ reservation for Whinnie the Pooh - a 20 minute wait in this line (which can be had with planning even on high crowd days in the summer) may be better than a fastpass. With the fastpass, you will wait a minimum of 5 minutes and as much as 10 to board. This ride is isolated in the park (unless teacups are a big deal for you, they make me regret being alive), so you've got a round trip of 5-10 minutes really from anywhere. Eat the line, don't burn the fastpass. Just fit it in to when you are going around that end of Fantasyland up to Storybook Circus or down to Tomorrowland.

The enemy of a good day in the heat isn't a line -- it's unnecessary walking and unnecessarily long lines. FP+ can help you with the second. The system has no logic in it to help with the first.

 

[EastonCat]

Ok so you had me curious... apparently it's only $83 more dollars for the Park Hopper so we'll keep it The biggest jump is from purchasing the water park option but those are my son's favorite parks. I still would LOVE if they change the fast pass option but time will only tell!

While it doesn't have the thrill level of the water parks, you are staying at a resort with a spectacular pool -- consider whether being more restful at the resort is a better option than scrambling to water parks that will be sardine-packed.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We used them once and never bought them again. We figure if we decide we want them, we will add them to our tickets when get arrive. Otherwise, it's a waste of money.

 

[JCornell]

In our experience we never really took advantage of the park hoppers to make them worth it. However, the one exception I'd make is if we were staying at one of the Boardwalk-area resorts like you are. The ability to walk to Epcot for an evening or boat over to DHS would be worth it, even if not enjoying the high-demand rides. There's plenty to do between restaurants and just enjoying the way they're lit up at night.

 

[rustyanchor]

You use FP+ for your second park of the day, not the first. It definitely doesn't render the FP+/park-hopping "useless," in fact in most cases (in our experience) it works out better than the old FP system, especially when your second park of the day is Epcot or Hollywood Studios, where the old fastpasses would have already been gone for Soarin', Test Track, and Toy Story.

But this may not be everyone's style of touring, so in that case you may want to stick to one park per day.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

I'm a park hopper. I love going to one park in the a.m., maybe taking a break mid-afternoon, then going to a different park in the p.m.

With that touring style, I absolutely love FP+! I show up at my a.m. park when it opens, experiencing the attractions that will have long lines later first thing when there are no lines, then hop to my afternoon park, where I've made my FP+ reservations, and breeze past the standby lines using my FP+.

 

[Stinky_Pete]

O.k. I've read a little more of this thread. I hope my additional contribution is helpful.

...It's vacation so we like to relax a bit in the morning and have never rushed around for a rope drop...

...Waiting in hours of lines is kind of like throwing our money away...

Generally, you can't have it both ways.

On my first night of my first "real" trip to WDW, in 1996, before even legacy fastpass, my partner (former Jungle Cruise skipper) says to me: "What time should I set the alarm for?" I said "It's vacation...I don't want to set an alarm at all!" He replied "Going to WDW isn't that kind of vacation. Sleeping in is for the beach or the mountains. Unless you want to spend hours standing in line, you need to get to the park when it opens."

So we set the alarm, got up early, had breakfast, and were at the MK for what was then just called "Early Entry" - now morning "Extra Magic Hours."

We went to Fantasyland and experienced five attractions in the first hour. No waiting - just the length of time it took to walk through the queue area. Then to Space Mountain for when it opened, and had maybe a five minute wait.

We passed through Fantasyland again around 10:30 a.m. Every attraction that we had literally walked on now had posted wait times of 45 minutes and more.

I know that was 1996, but my more recent experience (Dec. 2013) was the same.

If you don't want to spend hours waiting in line, simply get out of bed early and get to the parks for rope drop. Enjoy your sleeping in vacations at the beach.

And make your FP+ reservations at your afternoon/evening park. I totally loved my MSEP and Wishes FP+! I normally don't even do those because of the crowds and the shoving. Having those reserved areas was really wonderful!

 

[Ellwood970]

I don't agree for a second that FP is part of a plan to discourage park hopping and save money on transportation. I'm quite certain the park hopping fee covers that money and then some.

i will agree for two seconds with you.

 

[msdroz]

O.k. I've read a little more of this thread. I hope my additional contribution is helpful.



Generally, you can't have it both ways.

On my first night of my first "real" trip to WDW, in 1996, before even legacy fastpass, my partner (former Jungle Cruise skipper) says to me: "What time should I set the alarm for?" I said "It's vacation...I don't want to set an alarm at all!" He replied "Going to WDW isn't that kind of vacation. Sleeping in is for the beach or the mountains. Unless you want to spend hours standing in line, you need to get to the park when it opens."

So we set the alarm, got up early, had breakfast, and were at the MK for what was then just called "Early Entry" - now morning "Extra Magic Hours."

We went to Fantasyland and experienced five attractions in the first hour. No waiting - just the length of time it took to walk through the queue area. Then to Space Mountain for when it opened, and had maybe a five minute wait.

We passed through Fantasyland again around 10:30 a.m. Every attraction that we had literally walked on now had posted wait times of 45 minutes and more.

I know that was 1996, but my more recent experience (Dec. 2013) was the same.

If you don't want to spend hours waiting in line, simply get out of bed early and get to the parks for rope drop. Enjoy your sleeping in vacations at the beach.

And make your FP+ reservations at your afternoon/evening park. I totally loved my MSEP and Wishes FP+! I normally don't even do those because of the crowds and the shoving. Having those reserved areas was really wonderful!

I agree with you and appreciate the advice. I do admit that on our last visit, we went to the MK last trip fairly early and got so much done all before noon. I felt like we accomplished such a mission, but at the same time I wouldn't want to do this every day. I also want to take time to smell the roses and take all of Disney in. Hopefully with the plan you mentioned above will allow us to do a little of both!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

You won't regret your hoppers, we use them to catch Wishes, Fantasmic, Illuminations, get a late night snack, and fit in some rides/movies/characters we would otherwise have missed.

I think it's possible to have a great trip without them, but I never regret when we have them.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think the new system will actually benefit you. Fastpass the attractions for your second park of the day, go to your first park, and ride without them. When we stayed at the BCV, of course we had hoppers, being so close to Epcot and DHS. We would rope drop our first park, taking advantage of a couple of fastpasses. However, the ones we got later in the morning had late afternoon/evening windows, so we couldn't use them, since we usually went back to the resort mid afternoon, and hop to another park in the evening (we'd give them away).

I can't imagine staying at an Epcot resort without hoppers!

 

[Stinky_Pete]

I agree with you and appreciate the advice. I do admit that on our last visit, we went to the MK last trip fairly early and got so much done all before noon. I felt like we accomplished such a mission, but at the same time I wouldn't want to do this every day. I also want to take time to smell the roses and take all of Disney in. Hopefully with the plan you mentioned above will allow us to do a little of both!

Emphasis mine.

What I'm talking about allows time to "smell the roses".

I get to experience the attractions I want without waiting in line, in the morning. Then I spend late morning/early afternoon resting on benches people watching, or literally "smelling the roses" in the rose garden at the MK or the right hand path between Future World and World Showcase in Epcot.

I went in October 2013, for a long-ish trip. So I had some time. I did two early mornings at the MK. This time I decided I wouldn't criss-cross the park like I had done earlier. Too exhausting! So on one day I did the "right" side, the other the "left" side. I found I had enjoyed all the attractions on each side by like 11 a.m. or so, with pretty much no waiting in line. So I spent the next couple of hours just hanging out different places. I had all this extra time to just enjoy the Dapper Dans, visit the Rose Garden, etc. Then I went to my afternoon park.

I found I didn't need a break. I think it was because I had that time to relax.

 

[perkinsrose]

With fp+ we find park hoppers are even more useful for us. Hit a park at rope drop, ride what we want with little to no lines (in the fall at least), then have fp+ set up for another park in the afternoon. We almost always go to epcot at least every other night. You'll totally use them!

This is our plan too.

We debated, at first, leaving park hoppers off and adding to our tickets onsite if need be. But with a shorter trip (our perspective 4-5 nights), we couldn't plan ADRs, etc without wanting to hop.

And so, hopping it will be...

 

[GigiDisneyfreak]

There are two other threads on here one is about pictures of an online survey and the other is about a call from a CM. Both have encouraging information that park hopping with FP+ well be coming. Maybe you can take a look at them for some additional information that could help you.

 

[njmom76]

I agree with others and we consider PH passes essential when staying at sn EPCOT resort. I can spend a lot of time every night just walking around WS and enjoying the atmosphere.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Delirium]

I truly don't understand why people think FP+ devalues park hoppers. It's just the opposite. It makes them much more valuable. You use them for headliners in the afternoon at Park #2, which frees up the morning for a controlled, organized touring of Park #1. And, you can do that WITHOUT rushing to Toy Story at 9 in the morning just to get a fast pass for 3 in the afternoon, which forces you to stay at HS until the time slot opens.

HS & Epcot were extremely painful to tour effectively without FP+ because it required you to have a fast pass runner waste time running across the park just so that he/she and the rest of the party go back to the same area 4 hours later.