To Hop or Not to Hop....

[neonderlyn]

I am going to buy our tickets this week for our trip the last week of april, I am debating on hoppers or regular tickets.

We be spending a total of 4 full day in the park and our party consist of 4 adults and 2 toddlers.

Is there any real reason to get the hopper tickets, will we wish we had if i decide not to?

 

[DaveNinja]

Hopper tickets are almost always worth it. the parks are so close that its easy to jump back and forth. If DL is starting to get crowded, hop over to CA. it also gives you more choices of restaurants

 

[superlarz]

You can always upgrade your single park tickets to a hopper at any point during your trip. If you decide single day and on day 3 or 4 wish you could go to the other park, just go to a ticketbooth and upgrade.

 

[Astylla]

The upgrade cost is so little for the ability to hop back and forth if it's too crowded or want to do more in either park I would honestly highly recommend it to ANYONE. I can't imagine being "tied" to one park a day when they are so close. It's nice to start one place and end in another.

I also can never get enough of CarsLand

 

[sc426]

My vote is to hop. The hoppers are definitely worth it.

 

[neonderlyn]

You can always upgrade your single park tickets to a hopper at any point during your trip. If you decide single day and on day 3 or 4 wish you could go to the other park, just go to a ticketbooth and upgrade.

Thats nice to know that we can upgrade at anymore because my parent already purchased single park tickets for 4 days.

They ordered their tickets of way.com. When they go to upgrade will they have to pay the difference in the price they paid (cheaper then disney price) to the prices disney charges for a 4 day hopper or is there a set fee to go from non hopper to hopper.

 

[IDigDug]

I agree that hoppers are worth it. Park hopping is easy and gives you much more flexibility to change plans. I've never spent a full day at DLR without hopping. Even when I had an AP and was just popping in the park for a few hours I'd usually end up going to both DL and DCA.

 

[Keels]

The park-hoppers are worth every penny, IMO.

On my trip (I was solo), I would rent a locker in the plaza area between both parks (I believe it was $7/day) and would just leave my backpack in there and would drop by to grab a bottled water, change shoes, etc., as I made my way back and forth between parks.

The proximity of the parks to each other is just SO awesome. I've told others - after park-hopping at DLR, I'll never waste money on hoppers at WDW again. DLR spoils you that way!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

While I've done WDW without park hopping, I have always hopped at DLR! It's so amazingly fast and easy, we often switch between the two parks throughout the day. Once we even dashed into DL from CA because our group suddenly had a craving for Mickey Beignets! Once we got there, we decided to hop on the train and take it back around to the front of the park, and then we went back into CA. It's so much more compact, and I love it!

 

[rentayenta]

Minority non-hopper here. We just did the same thing and had two days in each park. It was wonderful to just *be* in the park we chose for the day. We've also hooped but I find the trip much more relaxing, and my kids agree, when we don't hop. In fact it was there idea not to hop. I also find that we explore more of the parks by not hopping. Just another view.

 

[Fireflyblue]

I agree that hopping is a very nice convenience and especially nice at Disneyland where the parks are so close to each other. However, since you are going to have 4 days and not just 1 or 2, then I would say do not purchase the park hopper yet. You can always upgrade at a ticket booth or guest relations later if you want to. What I would do is spend first day at Disneyland, 2nd day at CA, 3rd back at Disneyland and then 4th would be back at CA. That way after the 2nd of third day you could see if you wanted to upgrade. If you bought a park hopper now then you would be paying extra for all 4 days. If you wait till you are already there, you could just pay to upgrade your last day if you wished that way you could go back and ride all your favorite rides or see your favorite shows.

 

[SplashMo]

Hoppers. The two parks are very close to each other and you can easily move between the two. You can have FP in each park which makes WOC a bit easier to manage. We hop most every day.

 

[Vougar]

I'm probably in the minority, but I didn't think our 5-day park hoppers were worth it for our first trip in early Feb 2012. I think it depends on the time of year of your visit, the make-up of your group, and agenda. Our first trip composed of myself, wife, and 4 and 2 yr old daughters. Since it was our first time to DLR I wanted to soak everything in and do all the rides not just the main attractions. As a result, we would start in FantasyLand (Peter Pan first) ride most of the rides in this land and then move onto the next land. As the kids rode some rides multiple times in FL, I would grab some FP for the popular adult rides in DL (even though I really didn't need them with short wait times). We would then move onto the next land in DL and do those rides. I found it was a waste of time to Park Hop instead of focusing on one land at a time. Even though wait times were incredibly short we still didn't complete all the lands in one day and we were there from open to close.

My perception of park hopping would probably be different if I: (1) visited DLR frequently, (2) had teenage kids who weren't interested in the "kiddie" rides, (3)only had a couple days at DLR, or (4) visited during a busy time.

 

[tarheelalum]

Hop. Without question. Flexibility is the key when dealing with DLR crowds and the hopper gives it to you. One park can be crowded while the other one is dead. With a hopper you get to take advantage of everything DLR offers. Without it you are missing out. You can upgrade it while you are there but the lines can take for ever.

 

[Canuck16]

We always get hoppers because the parks are so close.......walk out the gate at DL and walk straight across to CA. We are going back this March and got hoppers again as we love being able to go back and forth between the parks as our kids like all the big rides.

Have a great trip and enjoy the magic at DLR

 

[goooof1]

FLEXIBILITY is the key word! You can look at DLR as one big park....(100 yards apart)...it is that easy to hop. and as previously mentioned, if it gets too crowded in DL it is nice to seek refuge in CA. Also, for meals, more options if you look at both parks.
From what I can see, upgrading to hoppers cost $39 per ticket no matter how many days, so I say, go with the hoppers!

 

[TheDoleWhipper]

Most people hop at DLR, since you get more flexibility and the parks are super close. Hoppers are a nice luxury to have, and if you feel you need them during your visit, you can always upgrade at the gates.

However, don't stress if you don't have them! I would like to share wih you some advantages of not hopping.

1. More time to relax: as someone already stated, staying in one park allows you to stop and smell the roses, and enjoy the hidden details in each park, instead of running around between the parks

2. Less walking and more time saved: Even though the parks are only about 100 metres away, it can be much further if you are heading from paradise pier all the way to toontown, say. And if there are long lines at the gates, then it could take you even longer, espeically if you collect FPs for both parks.

3. Different parks, different atmospheres: I know many hopper fans will disagree with me, but to some people, keeping the magic of DL and the adventure of DCA separate is a bonus. Some people take the transition from each park as too drastic, and prefer to think of them as two parks, instead of one big park. For those people, hoppers wouldn't be the right fit for them. This isn't the case for everyone, just different perspective on hopping.

Anyway, that is just my 2 cents. If you can, get the hopper, especially since DL oftentimes requires more time than DCA. I just wanted to shine some light on the advantages of not hopping.

 

[whitneyebz]

I debated over this, wanting to save money by not getting hoppers, but it just makes so much more sense to get them. We will be there for 3 days, so if we did not get hoppers we couldn't spend our time at the parks evenly. And I know we will love carsland, so I don't want to just do one day at DCA. I can't wait!

 

[LizzyS]

Since you can upgrade if you change your mind, I wouldn't worry about it.

The last time we did a multi-day trip, we didn't hop, and honestly, we were fine with that.

 

[lawdvd]

Another vote for hoppers. We love rides and hate wasting our time in lines. You can't get a new FP until 1st one expires or for 2 hours, whichever comes first. But that "block" doesn't apply to the other park.

So, given different wait and FP times, it's easy for me to plan on the fly to get the most done. I'll bop over to the other park and pick up a FP for later in the day. When we later go to that park, we can pick up an immediate FP for another ride. I may be back and forth between the parks four or more times during the day, but my family ends up going back and forth once or twice and we get a ton of rides in, while still having time to sit, eat, relax, etc.