Tell me WHY you park hop!

[mickeyluv'r]

Instead of just reasons why, I'm going to talk some pros and cons...

Why: Take advantage of longer park hours when offered (not much of a factor now). In years past, MK was often open past midnight.
Maybe to hop into Epcot to eat in the WS


WHY NOT: Park hopping takes time, and time=money Generally, the only park hop that makes sense time wise is between HS and Epcot. It is about a 20minute walk at a reasonably steady pace, Hopping between the parks via bus is a big time loss. Even the MK/Epcot monorail takes quite a bit of time (when running).

The exception to the above is if you normally take an afternoon break, but I'm not sure that makes sense with the shorter park hours.

Maybe in the age of COVID it would make sense to hop to avoid crowds, or go to another park if you have covered everything.

Long ago, when park hopping was included with every ticket, and tickets were priced a little lower, I hopped more. Back then Illuminations was new, so hopping to Epcot for dinner was a better prospect. In recent years, even with an AP, I didn't hop very much. There was a short period when you could only get 3 FP, so I hopped between Epcot and HS to max my opportunities. (Epcot only had 2 real FP attractions at the time, before FEA opened.)

 

[quagmire0]

1. Crowds. If you go to a park and it is horrendously crowded, it allows you not to waste so much time and be uncomfortable.
2. Variety. Due to closures, refurbs, and just general disinterest, you may do everything you wanted to do in half the day. Without a park hopper, your option is to either stick around the park or go elsewhere. With a park hopper, you can go check out another park in the afternoon.
3. Adventure. Ok, so maybe I can only think of one time this applied for us, but we ended up doing the walk from World Showcase to Hollywood Studios and back, then IIRC, we took a ferry on the way back as well. So, we were able to hit Epcot during the day, hope over to Hollywood for the afternoon, and then head back to Epcot for the show to cap off the night.

Caveats:

1. Transportation. We have only ever stayed offsite, so we have our own car. Especially now that our kids are out of strollers, I don't consider getting into and out of the parks to be that difficult. (With younger kids and strollers, this may not be the case.) Also, Disney Transport can be good or it can be bad. So, getting between parks may not be worth the hassle if you are on site.

2. Time. If you are doing a 7+ day pass, then the park hopper may be a little less useful. Generally, the PH is more useful when you have less time and you want to make the most of it.

 

[Elephantay]

Our family never typically did PHs but I did them for a couples trip in 2019. It came in handy especially with Epcot being so limited.

On our HS day, we got there at rope drop (at the time so we could get ROTR). We hit up a few rides and as lines got longer, we just took the skyline over to Epcot and got there right as it opened! Being said that, our next trip we will be staying at Boardwalk and I'm more inclined to get PH because we will be so close to parks, for dinner or fireworks. With the 2 pm restrictions, it means you'll basically just spend the evenings somewhere else.

What are the 2pm restrictions? ( I'm cringing as I ask....)

 

[cjlong88]

What are the 2pm restrictions? ( I'm cringing as I ask....)

Currently guests aren’t allowed to park hop until 2pm.

 

[Elephantay]

Currently guests aren’t allowed to park hop until 2pm.

Thanks!

 

[Elephantay]

We've liked to have the option to hop on most of our trips. We enjoy heading to a different park for an evening, after or dinnertime breaks. We always have week-long trips, and hopping allows us to revisit a park to ride another favorite or two without committing to the whole day. Also, we've often traveled in August and the weather has been a factor in where we go, when we leave a park, whats open later etc...That being said, on our last trip we planned out our days and thought it may be a good option to save some money and not get them. We knew they could be added, but as each day passed we were tempted to "save" that money....Never got them, and for the most part didnt miss them!
I think if you are staying at a resort close to a park, you'll want them! Its very tempting to be able to quickly enter that nearby park- even just for a meal or ride or two.

 

[AdamsMum]

Started hopping back when it was included in the ticket, the kids were small and up to late afternoon/early evening at MK or HS was all they could take. We would always head over to WS to have a relaxing dinner, then watch illuminations (or what ever show it was back then). Now I have DVC at Boardwalk so I usually head back to WS and walk back to my resort from there, saves my old knees and hips from standing around waiting in line for buses after parks closing. I also find that evenings are enough time to experience any attractions I want to at EPCOT. The add on is getting expensive though.

 

[goofyernmost]

I just love spitting up my day. I get bored easily and after all the years I have been going their I quickly get tired of one park and want to see other things. So I usually decide on my main park for the morning to mid-afternoon and then hop over to a different one for the evening. That way I can get multiple times at all four parks in just four days. I pretty much know what I want to see now so I concentrate on those few. I always leave feeling that I got to go to everything that was important to me and spend less on extra days.

 

[EmilyGahr]

We park hop mainly to go to Epcot - there are so many restaurants there that we love to go to, so we'll typically spend the day in a different park and then hop over to Epcot for dinner!

 

[ScottOKW2K]

For me it's because I always enjoyed ending the day with Illuminations. There's something about that show that always struck a chord in me. That being said I've never actually purchased park hoppers as all my WDW trips have been with annual passes - including the very first ones.