to hop, or not to hop...

[alicat8]

This august will be our first trip with FP+. I planned our days somewhat based on tp crowd calendar based on lower crowds and not so much emh (except for 1 day at mk). I wasn't planning on hopping, but now I'm thinking I should. I was just trying to avoid a lot of transportation time and stress since it will be my first trip with a toddler in tow.

We'll be going later august (ranging from 7-9s on the calendars). I'm getting a little freaked out about not accomplishing all the rides we like to do. Usually if we did rope drop, we had no issues getting all of the big rides done, even during super busy seasons.

So my question is.... do you think we'll get more done if we do morning emh and then hop to a less crowded park, or will it not really be worth the travel time? Thoughts? (Keeping my 2 year old and stroller dragging on busses in mind )

 

[disney-akj]

You can easily add park hopper at any guest services. So I would go without park hopper and then add it on if you want when you are there. If it doesn't look like you are going to need it when you are down there, don't waste the money. We went two days over Christmas break (crazy crowds) to two parks (no hopping) with fp+ and had no problems. We hit the small attractions we liked first thing in the morning while the lines were short and then scheduled our fast passes for later. It worked well for us, so I'll think you will be fine. I will say we avoided parks with emh though and followed wdweasy.com park recommendations.

 

[jmkrat]

I added Park Hopper because we are the type of family that likes to go to one park during the day and another one at night. We love hitting night time EMH. I've never been one that likes to stay in the same park all day long. I made my fast passes for the non EMH park so I'm hoping that will work out.

 

[Darcy03231]

I'd wait until you're there and see if you want/need to hop and then just add it on if you need it. FWIW I've done WDW with toddlers and we never hopped. There was more than enough to keep us busy in one park at a time.

 

[agavegirl1]

I have done it both ways and much prefer hopping. There were days when my "recommended park" choice got more crowded than anticipated and I wished I had hoppers to just check out the shows at DHS or catch Illuminations with an adult beverage and some Baklava.

You can go to your first planned day and then decide to upgrade if you choose. For a first visit, there is no harm in planning not to hop. If you find you wish you could, then upgrade!

 

[alicat8]

Thanks for the input. I'll probably think about adding them when we get there. My dad had me second guessing myself. "What do you mean you're not planning on extra magic hours?!?" That's usually how we roll and I guess it's a big reason we pay to stay on site, so I should seriously consider it.

 

[newmannsmomtoo]

Loved ready all of the good advice. I was having the same questions about hopping also.