To Hop or Not?????

[Jack&Ryan'smom]

This will be our first time in Disney with the kids...DS(6) and DS(2). When we've gone just us we always had hopper passes. Do I really need the hoppers with 2 little ones or should I save the $ and just do base tickets??? I'm thinking more than one park a day won't happen...what does everyone else think??

 

[jagafen]

...To "borrow" a phrase from another poster!

We are planning our first trip with our son (5) next summer, and we have decided NOT to hop. Here's my logic in coming to this decision:

1. It's the first trip for my hubby and I in about 20 years, so it's basically our first trip too!

2. Our son will need breaks, which will cut into our touring time

3. We're doing the Dining Plan. I'm having enough stress trying to pick meals in ONE park each day. The thought of trying to figure out where to hop to, let alone which park we will be in at what time, what restaurant should we make reservations for, what if the buses are running a little behind...makes my eyes start twitching, and then my brain stops working when I think of trying to figure out a plan around all of these factors.

4. Most importantly, this is our son's first trip. It's his vacation, and we want to experience it WITH him, not drag him from point A to point B kicking and screaming. I've planned 1 day each for AK and MGM, 2 days each for Epcot and MK, with a "resort" day, and 2 days for the waterparks. We're going "low and slow" on this trip.....if we don't get to it, we don't get to it.

If your kids are nappers, that will need to be taken into consideration also. IT depends on how they feel about leaving park A and going to a different park. My son responds to concrete logic. "we're going back for a nap. when we wake up, we will come back HERE to this park and ride more rides." He has a point of reference, he knows what to expect. It depends on your kids' temperments. Good luck, and have fun!

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

We had Park Hoppers when we went in January with our girls (at the time, newly 5 and 17 months.) We didn't hop once, and I honestly don't know how we would have been able to!!

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

We choose not to add the hopper option as a way to save money. I think with little ones especially, it can really wear them out spending the time and energy to travel from one park to another.

 

[beattyfamily]

I love hopping!

We always hop. I have two girls and we've been hopping since they were 1 and 4. They're now 7 and 11.

What we do is go to the EMH morning park. As it gets more crowded, we leave and head back to our room and take break either swimming or napping or just enjoying the resort. Then in the late afternoon or early evening we head to a different park for rides or fireworks or Fantasmic.

I love the flexibility of it.

One time, on our first trip, we entered MK and it was a ZOO! We were able to walk right back out and head to Epcot instead.

I like that if we didn't get to everything at one park we can head back there before we head home and see some more. Or if there was a favorite ride/attraction the kids loved and want to do again and again, we can go do it.

I like doing the MK EMH morning and then heading to Fantasmic in the evening.

Or doing MGM EMH morning and then in the evening doing Spectro and Wishes.

We also can do AK in half a day and I remember once toward the end of our trip, when we were done with AK, we ran over to MGM because we never got to to see the parade that trip. We made it with half an hour to spare. My girls were so happy.

We're not the kind of folks to stay in one park all day long. We have done it but it's pretty tiring. We like taking breaks and then doing something else in the evening.

To each their own though.

 

[kmjmom]

I can definitely see why you would rather save the extra money with little ones. My children are older, so the Hoppers are a necessity since we often go to one park and if we find it too busy hop on over to another. Then if we have dinner reservations at a park it could bring us to three parks in one day. We try to make less hops, but we like the flexibility of one park in the a.m. and another in the p.m.

 

[tanyaandallie]

If you are unsure I would buy the base tickets. You can upgrade all tickets at any point if you decide you need to hop.

We got the hopper when we went in the fall. It allowed us to go to the park in the morning, back to our hotel for naps and then to whatever park we wanted to go to for dinner. I planned out each day and evening and decided it would be worth it for us. I'd plan your trip out day by day and then decide. We went back from 2 days in May and didn't hop. Too little time for hopping!

 

[mom2aredhead]

The only way I cound see buying hoppers with little ones is if you planned on going somewhere early, back to the resort in the afternoon, then heading somewhere else for dinner, parade, etc at night. My son is a night owl who generally does not have a problem staying awake for fireworks. That being said, we don't make rope drop very often, but it works for us.

In Oct we did not hop (with a toddler) and found it to be fine because:
We went to MNSSHP twice (more expensive than if we had the hoppers but so worth it!)
We went to Mickey's Backyard BBQ one night
We planned our park days to be in the park that was having pm EMH
So all of our nights were pretty much covered without needing to hop.

Last month, we bought hoppers and it worked for us because:
We were able to go to the BBQ again, then go to MK for Spectro that night (without hoppers we would have missed it)
We spent 2 half days at MGM so that we could see all of the shows we wanted to (the show times are set up so that it is very difficult to see Lights Motors Action, meet the Cars, see Indiana Jones, Playhouse Disney, Little Mermaid and the parade in 1 day), then went elsewhere afterwords

My suggestion would be to check the park hours, and determine whether your little ones would really stay up late enough to go to, say, AK in the morning, have a nap, then go to MK after dinner for a few hours. If they normally crash at 7 or 8 pm , then it probably would'nt be worth it.

 

[tripletots]

We don't hop because of the cost. There are just too many of us, besides we use the extra money for souvenirs.

 

[Tallent]

We're getting base tix for our 5 day trip in Dec (with me, dh, dd5 and ds2). We're going to do the first 3 days as strictly base and then possibly change the remaining 2 days to hoppers in case we want to split AK and MGM.

 

[beattyfamily]

We're getting base tix for our 5 day trip in Dec (with me, dh, dd5 and ds2). We're going to do the first 3 days as strictly base and then possibly change the remaining 2 days to hoppers in case we want to split AK and MGM.

But there is no price difference when you add the hopper. If you add it to the 5 day, it will cost you the same amount as adding it to the final 2 days. I believe it's $45.

So if you think you will add it to your ticket, you might as well add it at the beginning of your trip to enjoy it longer.

 

[lonegirl]

We're not hopping with DS4 and DS2. This will be our slow trip...stay in one park per day, eat in that park or back at resort. We can always hop on later trips when they're rearin' to go! Another excuse to go back!

 

[isla bonita]

If it is your first trip I think you should save the money for other items. There is to much to see and you are not familiar with the parks to make it worth your while in my opinion.

 

[Tallent]

But there is no price difference when you add the hopper. If you add it to the 5 day, it will cost you the same amount as adding it to the final 2 days. I believe it's $45.

So if you think you will add it to your ticket, you might as well add it at the beginning of your trip to enjoy it longer.

Hmm, I didn't know that. I just assumed (dur!!) that it would be a fraction of the cost. Oh well. Good point. When the time comes to add it on we'll just do all the days. Thanks!

 

[brymolmom]

I think with careful planning you do not need to hop. There is SO MUCH to see at every park that you could spend days there....so even if you leave for a meal or to swim - why not just go back to the same park. You can even plan your park around the EMH if you wanted. Of course, I guess some people would go to the early morning EMH and then hop to the evening one later. If you were really going to do this - and more than once, then I'd see it as worth the money.

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

We bought hoppers - just thought it would add more flexibility to our days at Disney. Epcot is not high on our list to do but we thought we could tour what we wanted to see at Epcot at night. So the hopper would allow us to do that. Plus our philosopy is we're spending thousands of dollars to go to Disney so whats $180 more to add the flexibility of hopping.

 

[tink_about_it]

We HOP....they HOP...Wouldn't you like to be a HOPPER too?

Be a HOPPER!

Woo!

 

[DisneyArk]

We love to HOP. Even when my sons were 1 and 3 we used the park hopper.

We love the flexibility of leaving a park when it gets crowded or the lines are too long. Our family seems to unwind and cool off on the bus rides and they're like a substitute for the hotel break that other families take.

We're going back in Nov and we discussed not getting the hopper. The question for us on a week long trip is where will we want to spend the last few days after we've already gone to all 4 parks. Each trip my sons have preferred a different park (because of their age and interests). We enjoy letting my younger son ride rides at MK and then spending the afternoon/evening at EPCOT.

Good luck! As other posters have said, if you decide you need it you can upgrade your tickets after you get there. Your kids will never know it's an option and will have a great time even if you don't hop!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

We always hop, but I think we have theme park ADD or something where we just cannot stay in one park for very long. If you think that you won't need the hopper option, then I would nix it. The worst that can happen is that you get there and decide after a day that you do want to hop and then you can have guest services add the option to your tickets.