To buy Park Hopper Option or Not?

[#1mom3kids]

How many of you buy the park hopper option when you have 8 days in the park and young children. Mine are 3, 8, 12 and If we are spending most of the day in one park before dinner reservations, either in the same park or at at resort, do you feel you need the hopper option? Im not sure the kids would be up to going back. I think they might want to go back to the rental house to swim. We do have plans to stay in some parks late for shows and stuff but the plan seem to be for the same park that we are already at. How often do you really park hop?

 

[4lilpoohs]

I think it is a good idea to have the hopper option. If the park you are in becomes really busy you can hop to another. You can take advantage of morning EMH and then hop to another park. During my last trip we hopped everyday.

 

[sara74]

I'd get the hoppers too. We only hopped 3 days out of 7 aqnd even then only for fireworks or Spectro, but it was well worth it. Our little ones weren't so much into the World Showcase, so we would hop there at night and got a great counter service meal in France after a day in the MK riding Dumbo. Consider too that the kids may not be up to staying in the park all day for a late show and you may want the flexibility of doing the show on another night if the kids aren't up to it that night and you decide to stay at the house or something.

 

[madalex]

We always buy the park hopper option. It is great to have the flexibility if you want it (and we usually do). Going to one park earlier in day, back to resort to rest in afternoon, and then another park after dinner is our typical day and we really enjoy that.

 

[jeriber]

We just came back from WDW and loved the park hopper passes. One day we did Animal Kingdom then back to our rental to swim then Epcot that evening. We hit at least two parks every day.

 

[sameyeyam]

We never buy park hopper option. We find there is more than enough to do at one park per day and don't want to feel we are spending all day driving or taking the bus to parks.

We go to parks early in morning when they open, have lunch and then come back to hotel around 2:00 in afternoon to swim and rest (when park starts getting crowded). Then we have our dinner reservations either back at same park around 8-9pm or if we don't want to go back to park then we have dinner at Downtown Disney or another resort.

Also, we try to squeeze in a water park or day at the hotel between the theme parks. This really helps to keep the kids from getting overly tired and grumpy.

I understand that a lot of people buy the hopper tickets. But to me if you are going to spend a day at each park, why bother to pay extra to split your days in half. I have never gotten bored spending an entire day at any of the parks.

 

[LisaNJ25]

We are spending 8 days in the parks our next trip and I am not park hopping. I do not want to spend the extra money

 

[tjmw2727]

While we always "hop" in think in the OP's case you should at least hold off and see if you need/want the option.

If you find you missed something due to rain or just circumstances, a park gets crowded and you want to hop or you want to spend the evening at _________ you can always add the hopper option at that point. Once you have the hopper option if you don't use it you can't get the $$ back.

While its the same price to add the hopper feature the first or last day of the ticket I recommend in this case waiting to see if you need/want it.

Chances are with the length of your stay and ages of your children you won't need it this trip. You may also find that one or two members of your party may choose to add it at some point. For example, on our April trip my sil's family didn't have the hopper. That was fine until my sil wanted to join us at MGM to see Fantasmic with my nephew as they hadn't seen it and were at MK that day. My bil took my neice back to the room for a rest, swim, early dinner and bedtime while my sil and dn joined us. My neice was beat and needed the downtime, daddy time and the rest of us has a blast at MGM. This way they only spent the extra $ to park hop on the tickets they needed it for.

Sorry so long, HTH
TJ

 

[hezreck]

We ALWAYS hop, but we go after Thanksginving when the parks close earlier and MK closes early for MVMCP. We like to spend the whole day at the parks, so if one closes at 5:00 or 6:00 we can go to Epcot and stay there until closing. And since AK closes at 5:00 what would we do the rest of the day if we didn't hop. We are not pool people, so it only makes sense to go to another park.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

We are doing 8 nights next trip and have the hopper option. I always get it and we always use it.

 

[brymolmom]

We usually don't do hoppers. We have two little ones and by the time you get them into the park and situated with strollers, it's just easier to stay in the same park. And if we do go back to the room or pool and want to go back- we just go to the same one.

I only consider it if I have a short trip and would like to do MK twice but don't have enough days unless we do a short day at MGM and then MK again at night. But since we're going for 7 days - I have two days at MK and two at MGM planned already.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Adding options after you arrive is very easy. I'd skip the hopper option initially, and then after the first day when you have figured out how much stamina your kids have, and how much time the transportation system takes you can make a decision to add it.

 

[jmurphy625]

Good to know you can add it if you need it. We've always used it...most days anyway. This time we are not going to spend the money on it. Instead we are resort "hopping". Three days at the poly (and will stick to mono rail parks)...two days at beach club (walks or boat to Epcot & MGM)...and the last few nights at AKL where we'll have to bus to AK. We expect to relax by the pools alot as well. I think you will have just as much fun, either way.

I did try to be careful about making ADR's -this time all are outside the parks. Last time we were on the DP and had trouble getting ADR's when we wanted them...ended up having each meal in a different park, therefore had to have the parkhopper.

I think you can go back into the same park/on the same day?

 

[Zoemakes5]

We always hop too.
I want the flexibility to go where we want. If we don't see everything we want at MK in one day, I want to be able to go back, but if we don't want a whole day to finish up, we've wasted a whole day pass.
I like being able to take advantage of early entry or late night hours, but don't like to stay in those parks after the ee because it tends to get so busy.
If the weather is nasty, I like some places over others.
The parks close at different times, and when one closes, I like to go to one of the other parks.
I only really like a half day at MGM, and I'd want to be there at night for Fantasmic, so would be out a half day of parks if I didn't want to do MGM.
I personally found the hopper option to be better when we had smaller children, as I found that EPCOT in particular was handled better in smaller batches, so we'd do half day at EPCOT and then to MK or half day at AK and then over to EPCOT.

 

[Ghost]

I will always get the hopper pas. You're more flexible and (in my case) I want to enjoy the parks as much as possible.

With little once it is nice to hop too. Imagine you're in EPCOT and the little once want to see the castle again... hop on the monorail (try to sit with the driver) and off you go...

Also, visit a park early in the morning, go for a swim at the hotel in the afternoon, visit another park late afternoon evening... (my son asked for this option a couple of times)

My hopper is used a lot because I love Illuminations. On my last visit I hopped over a couple of times after visiting another park to end my day with my favorite show....

whatever you choose... enjoy your stay

 

[ajksmom]

Thought this trip I'd do a 5day PH pass. Realized that to go to a 6day non-PH would only cost a few dollars more instead of almost $100 for us. Never really have found the need to PH and figured the 6 days will be more relaxing, no rushing anywhere.

 

[hawkeyesparks]

I'd get the park hoppers too. I don't know if you have ever been to WDW or not, but one thing to keep in mind, is "be flexible". Plans can change at any time. Some of the parks don't have as much to offer young children as others do, and you may find yourself in the middle of the day at AK wishing you could go see Wishes again at the MK, but you can't because you don't have the park hopper. It is a lot easier to utilize the park hopper if you stay on property, but even if you don't you might find in the middle of your stay that you have limited yourself by what you can to do and what you can see, and also at that many days, the cost of park hopping added to your base tickets should not be an astronomical amount.

 

[mommy*RN]

I have decided not to get the park hopper this next trip. I am purchasing a 10-day pass with the water parks and more option. We will be at Disney for 11 days/10 nights, but have other activities planned. So for a few dollars more than the 7-day park hopper pass I originally planned to purchase we will still be able to "hop" to a different park 3 out of 7 days.

We had the park hopper for our 2004 trip and only "hopped" 2 out of 7 days...so I thought this was a great option for us.

It is a tough decision! I really had to do some thinking to figure it out, but thanks to the pp I now know I can always add the hopper on when I get there...WHEW!

Good luck and have a wonderful magical vacation!

 

[brymolmom]

mommyRN - I'm not sure if this is what you mean - but you do know that you cannot hop between the 4 major parks without the park-hopping option, right? For example, if you go to MK in the morning and decide to go to EPCOT for the evening, you CANNOT use 2 days of your 10 day ticket to do them both in a single day. If it is Monday - You can only go to ONE PARK the ENTIRE Monday. That's the way it is setup. Or else no one would buy hoppers and everyone would just buy a 10 day pass for a few dollars more.

Maybe you meant hopping to the water parks with that 'and more' option....I'm not sure how it works with the water parks but I know that for the 4 major parks - you cannot hop without the hopper option.

Just didn't want you planning on it and finding out too late that it isn't allowed.

 

[Zoemakes5]

I have decided not to get the park hopper this next trip. I am purchasing a 10-day pass with the water parks and more option. We will be at Disney for 11 days/10 nights, but have other activities planned. So for a few dollars more than the 7-day park hopper pass I originally planned to purchase we will still be able to "hop" to a different park 3 out of 7 days.

Just so you're aware, if you don't have park hopper ability on the tickets, you won't be able to just use an extra day and park hop. Once you've entered one of the 4 parks (epcot, ak, mk, or mgm), you've used up your day. You can't then go to another park that day and use one of the "extra" days. If you were planning to do that, it won't work. (Not sure if you meant that with the water parks and more you'd get three extra days "at Disney" or whether you thought with the 10 days you could get extra visits to the major parks.) You might as well get the 7 or less day with water parks and more if you were planning to try to "park hop" without the hoppers. You can upgrade, like you said, but if you have 10 days and don't have the expiration option, you'd be losing those extra 3 or so days.