To hop or not to hop...

[Bo'sMom]

that is the question. Who feels like giving the pros and cons for a trip in August for my inlaws. Thanks.

 

[tmt martins]

If your a Bunny or a Park goer I say Hop and Hop offend.

We hit the EMH 1st thing then when it starts to get crowded around 11:00 or Noon we head to a water park or the resort for lunch and some down time .

We then hop to the park the has EMH the next day ( Most people don't go as they are hitting it the next morning).

Then We hop over to the Late night EMH as the vast majority of the crowd is leaving.

Only Cons I can think of it lost travel time but we've done everything so now we can just see and do what we want.

 

[mking624]

We contemplated not doing a hopper this year, but the pros for us heavily outweighed the cons. Here are our reasons why....
1. We had two ADRs at Epcot on two different days, but we don't plan on spending two full days at Epcot...therefore we have the option of eating at Epcot, but spending the day at a different park.
2. We'll be doing evening EMH on different days, so we'll spend some of the earlier day at one park, and then hop on over to whatever park is doing EMH.
3. If we decide that we want to go check out a different park, we can eaily just leave and go there instead.

For us it wasn't a huge deal to upgrade to a hopper. FOr others, they might want to use the money on something else, therefore they opt not to do the hopper. Really, what it comes down to it are your preferences for how you want to spend the day and if you know for sure that you won't be interested in going to a different park after spending some time at one. Also, if you are doing ADRs, plan accordingly. Don't make an ADR at MGM for a certain day if you're spending that day at MK...you won't be able to get in without a hopper or paying new admission altogether. If you're interested in doing morning or evening EMH, plan to be at that park that day if you're not getting the hopper.

 

[ainmama2001]

I went with my mother in law and my husband's grandmother AND my parents. We got a one bedroom villa at OKW for 8 days. The inlaws only stayed five ! It was a good time. It's so magical, the inlaws are actually bearable!

 

[liamandcaili]

Hop. Some of the parks, particularly AK and MGM, feel even hotter and stickier when they are crowded. It is nice to be able to arrive at AK at opening and know you don't have to spend the whole day there once it starts getting crowded. We do this with any park. If we've planned to spend the day at MK, and the lines are too long and the FPs are gone, we leave and go to Epcot. We've found that a lot of the time if MK is crowded, Epcot isn't.

 

[ZoZo]

I always buy a hopper. Went last October and hopped every day (but it was Food and Wine festival time, so we went to Epcot nearly every evening). I like the flexibility it gives you - on the days you go to a park that closes early (like AK, which closed at 5:00 pm when we were there), you can still spend the evening at Epcot.

For me, the minimal extra cost (I think it ended up being an extra $5 or $6 per day, if I remember correctly) was well worth it.

However, I also included the "water parks and more option" and didn't use it at all due to the cold weather! That was nearly $50 down the drain - frustrating! Wish I had hedged my bets and planned to purchase a one-day water park pass, just in case the weather turned bad. Never occurred to me that might happen! Oh, well, lesson learned.

 

[justplaingoofy]

We always hop...

My thinking is that we pay all that $$ to go, and I would hate if the opportunity to go to another park was not there...

 

[anewvance]

We are hoppers but then again we are seasoned visitors. We usually end up spending the morning and early afternoon in one park, going back to the hotel to rest or swim and spending the evening at another park.

 

[U2_rocks]

We're not going to hop. We'll be there for a long time (2 weeks), so no rush. We will be taking midday breaks, and if we feel like going back to a park for evening, as we will at least 3 times (for evening shows), we'll either go back to the same park we were at that morning, or have an off morning and get to the park early afternoon. We know what rides should be done first thing in the morning - after that, anything goes! For a trip that length it doesn't make sense to buy 5 hoppers - it's much more cost effective to by 5 non-hoppers.

Remember, if you're not sure, don't buy them - you can add them on at anytime during your trip! If you want to save the money, try to do without the hopping, but if it becomes clear that hopping is the better way to go, then go and add it on.

 

[Disneyaunt4]

We are also Hoppers. We like the flexability.