Tickets: One park a day vs park hopper

[northshoremama]

Looking a purchasing a 4-day ticket...but only 3 days will be full days in the park...the other day will be a travel day and we'd be leaving the park around 3pm to catch an 8pm flight (or maybe leave the park by 4pm? not sure yet).

Anyhow, we've always done park hopper tickets, but thinking of maybe purchasing one-park-a-day tickets to save $200 (thinking $200 in souvies...LOL).

Who's done one park a day tickets and how did you like it? I'm thinking of doing 2 full days in DL, and the other 2 days (which includes a travel day) in CA.

Thoughts?

OH...and the full days in the park would be Wed, Thurs, and Friday...we'd open up the park on Saturday, but leave by 3pm or 4pm to catch an 8pm flight out of SNA.

 

[MrDisneyFan]

Sounds like a great way to save money (or redirect funds to other expenses!) I think it comes down to personal preference. To hop or not to hop...

 

[barbaraann]

On my last trip to the Disneyland Resort, I did a one park a day ticket. I usually buy a park hopper ticket, but I decided to save the $40 dollars instead. I spent my first full day at DCA, and it was really great. i treated myself to Carthay Circle, and ended my first night with a fantastic WOC. I then spent the next three days at Disneyland. It was a great trip. I love to take my time. I always get to the park at opening. I take lots of pictures, and love meeting the characters, and definitely have my favorite rides in the park. . I travel solo, so this worked great for me. I can understand how this might not work as well, for a group of visitors. By the way, I definitely did everything that I really wanted to do. I am glad that I got to see Fantasmic, before it went dark. I really enjoyed the new Paint the Night Parade, and the new Forever fireworks.

 

[sharona]

Is DL like WDW where you can add hopping to your tickets at any time? We usually don't hop at WDW but thinking that with DCA and DL being so close that we might decide to at some point...

 

[mom2rtk]

Is DL like WDW where you can add hopping to your tickets at any time? We usually don't hop at WDW but thinking that with DCA and DL being so close that we might decide to at some point...

Yes, you can add it when you decide to.

We never buy hoppers at WDW but always do at DLR. We sort of look at it as one big park.

 

[Koreyleigh]

We are a family of 6 and decided to buy a 4 day ticket, one park a day. It saved us a lot of moula that we could use to buy more churros. We did one day at DCA and three at DL. I really enjoyed spending the entire day in one park. Since we spent the whole day there we did things we usually wouldn't have done if we had park hoppers.

 

[bakerudall]

I think the park hopper is not as important as it used to be, especially when you have four days. DCA can obviously hold its own as an independent park now (even without Aladdin ), and with the FP enforcement, there is no longer the benefit of collecting FP's at both parks all day for later use. I would do 2 days in DL and 1.5 in DCA, unless you're all about the classics and/or the new parade/fireworks, then do 2.5/1. Of course, you can always change your mind on which park any given morning if you feel the need.

The other benefit of not hopping? Your feet don't get as tired!

 

[cpster]

We have a younger kids and don't hop often. We are out of town APers. I would save the money and spend it on some nice meals or souvenirs. Have fun!

 

[sharona]

Yes, you can add it when you decide to.

We never buy hoppers at WDW but always do at DLR. We sort of look at it as one big park.

Thanks. We will probably plan not to hop but knowing that we can add it on later makes the ticket buying decision much easier.

I think the park hopper is not as important as it used to be, especially when you have four days. DCA can obviously hold its own as an independent park now (even without Aladdin ), and with the FP enforcement, there is no longer the benefit of collecting FP's at both parks all day for later use. I would do 2 days in DL and 1.5 in DCA, unless you're all about the classics and/or the new parade/fireworks, then do 2.5/1. Of course, you can always change your mind on which park any given morning if you feel the need.

The other benefit of not hopping? Your feet don't get as tired!

We will have 4 or 4.5 park days depending on what we decide to do on our arrival day - probably head to DL for the afternoon and evening but going to play it by ear and see how we feel after traveling from the east coast. Going to buy 4 day tix and will add day 5 and PH if needed.

We are a family of 6 and decided to buy a 4 day ticket, one park a day. It saved us a lot of moula that we could use to buy more churros. We did one day at DCA and three at DL. I really enjoyed spending the entire day in one park. Since we spent the whole day there we did things we usually wouldn't have done if we had park hoppers.

Yes this!

 

[Pakey]

I have an annual pass and am used to hopping but I recently went with a group of friends who didn't want to spend the money on the hoppers. Since I go so often, I told them that I was fine if we didn't hop (but inside, I was wondering how it would work out). Honestly, it worked out great. Knowing that we weren't going to be able to jump next door on a whim, the day just worked differently and I had just as much fun as any other time I've gone when I did hop. We were there 3 days and it worked out perfectly.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

We have had over 40 multi-day visits to Disneyland/DCA since 2005. Our last trip (Dec. 30-Jan. 2) was the first time we didn't hop once during our visit although we did take an afternoon break one day to wander downtown Disney and watch a movie. The crowds and lines just didn't make it worth it to us to hop this time. We still managed to do all of the things we wanted to do and our feet were less sore since we didn't put on quite as many miles of walking as usual.

 

[barbaraann]

The last time I visited, I did not purchase the park hopper. A few days before I left for my trip, I printed out the schedule of things that I found on the online calendar. Then I could plan my days ahead of time, especially my DCA day. I pretty much did/saw everything that I wanted to see/do.

 

[22Tink]

We always hop at DL. The parks are so close together that I can't imagine not hopping. We love to split up the day between the 2 parks!

 

[starshine514]

We just returned from a non-hopping trip. My sister and her husband bought one-park-per-day passes. We did our first half day at DCA, a full day at DL and then a full day at DCA. It actually worked out great.

However, it really depends. We've all been to the parks many times and knew what we wanted to do. Last November, my other BIL went with us. It was is first trip in 20 years. We bought hoppers for him and DH (the girls and I had APs) because we wanted to make sure we hit everything we wanted to in both parks. We actually only ended up hopping on one day, but even for the single day for a rare visit like that, it was worth it.

Since this isn't your first trip ever, I think you could safely get non-hoppers.

 

[Winnowill]

Our first DL trip, we did four days non-hopping. Last trip was four and a half hopping. SO much better hopping! More FPs, and our last half-day, we just bounced back and forth doing our faves again. YMMV, but hopping beats non-hopping for us.

 

[lindyv321]

Our first trip we didn't hop and our second we did. Now we are planning our third trip and I sprang for the hoppers again. We all enjoy DCA but not enough to want to spend all day there so hopping works best for us.