Should we do park hopper?

[Stltaxgirl]

we are traveling in Sep with our 4 kids (9,7,4, and 20 mo). We are staying at blt. It will be 6 full days excluding our travel days. How many days should we intend to spend at each park? I don’t think we want to mess with the water parks or anything extra than the 4 main parks? It’s $330 extra to do park hopper. Should we do that? Thanks!!

 

[a1tinkfans]

No...Not in my opinion. You have a young family, hopping adds More time ( shuffling about ) and that’s less time relaxing and enjoying. I think ur going a perfect time of year too!
I’d Plan on park time with some rest/pool time , in the middle) back at ur resort IF ur staying on property.. which I’d suggest. ( if ur not staying on property, plan on down time ( like a monorail ride) or a time to re group by grabbing a snack and All sit n relax a bit)
Maybe....You can plan on one day at each park..and ur two xtra days... one to unwind and enjoy a full pool/relaxing resort time ( arcade/ice cream/playground) and the other to re visit fav park and perhaps see/do something you missed?
I think that I’d pick what you think will be a fav ride/attraction experience for each family member .. be sure to get that in at whatever park and just Enjoy the Amazing Family time you re about to experience making those memories to last a Lifetime. If the expectation is realistic ( you won’t see/do it all and you simply can’t in any one visit... you won’t be disappointed!)
I’d rather see you spend that money towards an Xtra Fun experience ( like Hoop Dee soo) which you ll All enjoy.. food, music, fun time.. take the boat from MK area over.. to see the show)
Whatever you decide, pixie dust ur way.. they grow up sooo fast!

 

[Stltaxgirl]

I am staying on property - in fact, at BLT so we can easily go to MK and get back to the hotel for a mid-day rest. Sounds like the biggest reasons to do the park hopper would be for restaurants which I think we can plan properly so we don't need to get into one of the parks just for food, and then I was also thinking some parks like Animal Kingdom wouldn't take a whole day and we'd like to go back to one of the other parks at night, but maybe I'm overthinking things and that should be more rest time. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Nancyg56]

You do not need hoppers if you plan well, however my family generally has them added. If your budget can absorb the cost, and if you woudl be inclined to leave a park early anyway you are not losing travel time. We tend to leave early afternoon, go to the resort for swimming or relaxation, shower and then head back out for dinner, usually in a different park.

I woudl look carefully at your plans to see if you really will be using the hopper.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

We have never done hoppers. At that point, it’s cheaper to add extra days (ie 6 days’ tickets) than a 4 or 5 day park hopper and then you can still have a “rest day” and go into a park just for that night (or just for morning). I’d figure a day in each park, possibly 1.5 or 2 for MK with those ages.

 

[EllNat11]

I think it really depends on your vacation style. I always budget in park hoppers for the full length of our stay - we like to go with how we're feeling, sometimes that includes hopping, sometimes it doesn't (usually ALWAYS includes a few pool/rest hours midday). Sometimes we go to a park just for 1 ride or to eat. But we don't like being restricted at all on vacation, so for us, including that in our budget makes it more enjoyable. For folks who have a set plan they like to stick to, it's probably a waste of money. I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter what you choose!

 

[crazylady]

Normally I would say no when you have young kids. But because you are at BLT, I think the answer is yes. It is so easy to get to MK from BLT. I would plan mornings wherever and head to MK after an afternoon break.

 

[bluezy]

We always get park hoppers. We usually go to a park at rope drop or shortly after and stay until early afternoon. Then we head back to the resort for pool time or just relaxing in the a/c (and napping...for the adults! ) We often go to a different park in the evening. We usually choose an evening park based on what nighttime show we want to see or if there are rides we want to hit that we didn't manage to fit in on a different day. If we were staying at BLT, I could see us going to MK several times during our stay even if it was just to hit a few quick rides. Some trips we only park hop once and other trips it happens 3 or 4 times. We just like the flexibility the park hoppers provide and feel they're worth the money (though I understand how families still manage to have great trips without park hopping). You can add the park hopper option at any time, so even if you don't purchase it now, you can add it while you're there if you decide you want to hop. We also get tickets for every day we're there (usually 7 days) because after the 5th day, the cost per day is really insignificant in the scheme of things. Even on our "down/sleep-in" day, we still go to a park for a few hours in the afternoon or evening -- often just to use our 3 FPs and have dinner. And on our arrival day (usually arriving by noon) we head to a park for a few low-key hours in the late afternoon -- again to use our 3 FPs and have dinner.

 

[siren0119]

Your kids are young - so I wouldn't plan on them being park commandos (open to close) - you might actually benefit from the parkhoppers, it would give you lots of flexibility to start the day in one park, go back to the resort for breaks/naps, and then go to a different park later in the day. I would DEFINITELY plan one "down" day where you sleep in late, stay at the resort and only venture out if you want to. We did that with my kids on their last trip (They were 10 and 8) and it really helped keep them from being monsters by the end of the trip

 

[a742246]

I would say no hoppers, your kids will probably enjoy the resort pools as much as the theme parks, being at BLT you can see the fireworks from your resort at night. Save the money....

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

My thought is that if I judge from your other thread how at least one of your children is potentially going to be a stresser on the vacation due to running/having no fear then I'd probably just stick to one park per day as you may get worn down and end up not park hopping.
If you decide park hopping will be useful after you get there then add it.
I'd recommend at least 2 days at MK, 1 day at Epcot, 1 day at Hollywood studios, and 1 day at AK.
With the 6th day I'd say go back to whichever park you want.

 

[mjkacmom]

Normally I would say no when you have young kids. But because you are at BLT, I think the answer is yes. It is so easy to get to MK from BLT. I would plan mornings wherever and head to MK after an afternoon break.

I agree, we stayed at the BC and we hopped every day, being able to walk to two parks. Edited to add, my kids were 4, 4, 6, 9 and 11, we’d split the bigs and the littles in the afternoon, one of us would nap while the other walked to either Epcot our DHS with the older kids.

 

[tndisney5]

We have been taking our kids to Disney since my oldest was 4. All my children are now ages 8-11 and we are just considering park hopping this year. I felt like there was enough to do at all the parks to sustain us all day - or all morning, resort break, back for night attractions and shows. I would have rather spent the extra to $ on other things other than park hopping. Just my opinion

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

I'm glad we had hoppers on our last trip because my 4yo was not very interested in HS and AK because there was not enough rides for her, so we ended up back at MK at night both of those days.

 

[jenPSU]

We always get them and usually don’t take full advantage, but we also usually stay offsite so it’s harder to bounce around. We are most likely to use them on days that we start early in one park, spend the afternoon at the hotel, and head to a different park for fireworks. We only did that once out of 5 days in our last trip (kids were 6 and 3). Next trip they will be 5 and 8 and we’re planning to stay at Beach or Yacht club and in that case I think we’ll use them since we can walk to Epcot for dinner no matter where we started, or we can walk through Epcot to take the monorail to MK.

 

[North of Mouse]

We would not go without hoppers or AP's, but then we've never gone with 4 littles. That would certainly need to be your call.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Normally I would say no when you have young kids. But because you are at BLT, I think the answer is yes. It is so easy to get to MK from BLT. I would plan mornings wherever and head to MK after an afternoon break.

Exactly. You may go to a park like AK or HS and have to come back early for a variety of reasons caused by small children. After that it’s so nice to be able to pop into MK for a quick ride, dinner, shopping, or just walking around. We would never go without PH though so I’m not the best to comment. My kids are 5 and 2.

 

[twoolle]

My rule of thumb is if you stay at an MK resort or Epcot then you should get parkhopper because or the reason you mentioned. My other rule is to get them during party season so it is not so difficult to plan your days. You meet both requirements so I would definitely say yes!

We have a trip booked oct31-nov7 and we do not have parkhoppers because it fits neither rule!

We also have 4 kids 9 and under so I get it! In fact our first trip we stayed at GF and did not want parkhoppers but my mom paid for them anyways. I was so thankful because we only did half days at epcot and AK and when we went back to the resort to rest we asked the kids and they prefrred to just go to MK in the evening!

 

[siestakeys04]

I say no park hopping, but I don't even like park hopping for my family my young adults are 23/19. I think I never saw a point unless you are table service meal heavy. Enjoy your trip.

 

[sponica]

I've never not had hoppers, this last trip was the ONLY one where we've actually planned what we're doing when...I just built the hops into the plan. Day 1, start in MK end in Epcot, Day 2 start at DHS end in Epcot, day 3 start in Epcot end in MK. Day 4 AK only. Our daughter was still young enough to be a hostage to our plans...