To Hop? Or Not?

[jim o'reilly]

we got park hoppers but being that this was our first time and with a 4 year old, we didn't use them. Why? Because we got so enthralled (and tired!) with each park, that we looked up and it was 3pm. Too late to jump on a bus or get into a car and go to another park. Too much wasted time. If you plan and have been there before, then go for it or if you don't have small kids that get cranky and tired easily. Just wasted a lot of money on a 5 day hopper, when i could have gotten a 5 day regular. Disney just made some serious cash on our family!

 

[bsj1701]

We used to Hop until the extra cost got out of line. Even after multiple visits I find plenty to do and enjoy at MK without hopping. I avoid HS right now anyway. I can understand those who want to Hop over and do Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, and Rock and Roller Coaster, but they aren't priorities for me. I can spend a full day at AK since they close early and then I go to Disney Springs. The extra cost X 4 people X 4-7 days is not worth it to me.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

We park hop a lot, for a number of reasons. Two good reasons are FP+ and Extra Magic Hours: When a park has EMH in the morning, it will often have higher crowds that day. We take advantage of the morning EMH and then park hop to avoid the crowds. We will do the reverse for evening EMH and show up in the evening for the EMH. Works great. With FP+, we will make afternoon evening FPs for our favorite rides at one park and then will start the day at another park. Rope drop allows us to ride everything we want, then we take a break and head to the second park knowing we have our favorites already wrapped up. This is especially good if the second park is higher attendance that day. We also just love having options.

 

[VillainFavs]

If you're unsure, DON'T buy it ahead of time! Total waste of money to buy it "just in case". It can be added on at any time and costs no more. You may find out you make do just fine without them and end up saving a few hundred dollars by the time you're done. If you do want them, add them on and go. But people who get them ahead of time in case they want them and don't use them are throwing away money.

 

[loves to dive]

We have always had them from the time there started to be more than one park (we've been going that long). I can only recall one trip, our last one where we actually spent a day in only one park. We don't like being tied down, rarely make FPs more than the day before and usually if we are going to make ADRs it is the day of. We just like the freedom if we are bored or it's too crowded or crap we forgot such and such over there or one of us is tired at night and the other isn't so we head over somewhere. We tend to stay in the Epcot resorts so it is just too easy to walk over to Epcot or HS early in the morning or late at night to grab something to eat. The one time we spent the entire day in one park, we actually had planned (which we never do so just goes to show you how good our plans are) to start out in Epcot for part of the day enjoying F&G and watching Herman Hermits at the 5:30 show then heading over to MK for the FWs because it was our last day. My son and DIL decided to just stop at one of the DVC booths and before you knew it, we were scheduled to go over to BWV (which just so happened to be where we were staying so no thrill there) and look at the presentation. We had hoped to get a tour of one of the other DVCs, anyway they promised us the 3:30 presentation would get us back in time to see Herman Hermits. They ended up buying DVC (they have since gotten divorced and DIL got it) and it was 6:30 before we got back to Epcot. We hadn't eaten, were hungry and a little cranky so we went to Mexico to LaCava and drank and snacked and then just went back to the room. Best laid plans on that one went out the window, which is why we don't plan.

 

[Delirium]

We usually go during the fall. With all of the party days at MK, we find it a necessity to have hoppers. In order to see the nighttime entertainment, you have to go on a non-party day and those are usually so crowded, we find it most beneficial to spend the day somewhere else and hop over to MK at night. Our primary MK touring is done on a party day when crowds are lower.

Also, we enjoy hopping over to Epcot several nights a week to take advantage of the F&W festival, especially the concerts.

Plus, hopping just breaks up the day. And, it adds a little bit of extra anticipation knowing that a change in what you are doing is upcoming.

 

[LovePug]

You can always add Hoppers while you are there, if you find that you need them, but you can't take it off your ticket if you put it on now....

 

[dsdeleon]

We used to always hop but since being spoiled by the luxurious hopping at Universal with the Hogwart's Express, I have concluded that I just don't like Disney hopping. We also spend a lot of resort time at AKL and don't go commando anymore.

 

[disney4metoo]

We always hop at Disneyland since the parks are within walking distance to each other and it's so convenient. However, at WDW it is so easy not to hop and save the extra money. I plan a park a day and we eat, get FP+ go back to the room for the afternoon and go back into the park for dinner and evening. We also rent a car, but still prefer to not hop at WDW.

 

[Mikie]

We're not hoppers
- we plan our days (and therefore our one ADR per day) according to crowd calendars, so we kind of "lock in" to a park
- have always traveled with at least one preschooler, which slows our pace
- we like everything in the parks - shows, rides, fireworks, food, and have never run out of things to do in any park
- despite always having intentions to do so, we never plan an entire rest day. Any park we might finish early-ish provides us with evening swim time
- we always go for about 8 days (6 park days plus 2 travel days) this gives us just the right allotment of time for each park. If we went either shorter (needing to squeeze more into each day) or longer (having extra time left but not wanting to spend a full additional day at any one park) we'd probably hop

We've bought hoppers twice and regretted it for our group. One trip, we did it just to hit a particular restaurant. We enjoyed that 2nd park, but hadn't really finished our first park, so we'd have been just as happy there. Second time we made a point to hop just because we had them. . . . Basically an awfully expensive up charge just to go see Illuminations.

 

[Baptist]

We love park hoppers too! It allows you the flexibility to eat at Epcot more often. I know it's not all about the food, but Epcot is where it's at. It's even better if you are staying at a MK or Epcot resort.

With a two year old, don't stress about it. That won't do you any good. You will have a great time. Hopefully, they will nap in the stroller.

Using the Monorail while park hopping with a stroller is great. Just roll your stroller on and off. I always hate having to take your tired child out of the stroller to fold it up to get it on the bus.

 

[disneybounddd]

I've gone with and without hopper. Planning dining definitely takes a little more time when you go without the hopper, so you either have to commit to a park for a day or use the option of trying one of the dining options at a resort. Personally I love having the park hopper option so I can always have the option of going to another park later in the night if the hours extend beyond the first park I visited. You can really maximize your park time with the hopper, but without you can really focus on doing a whole park each day.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We haven't done hoppers due to cost mostly. We went once long ago BC for 3 days and just did a park a day and now with young kids it just feels stressful and unnecessary. But we are going for 7 days. If we went for less I might consider it to get more MK time. And we're pretty new to Disney so there's a lot we still haven't done in each park. The kids don't stay up late so we're having a hard time figuring out how to do RD, Wishes at both MK and Poly, and Fantasmic without totally running the kids into the ground. I feel like if we were unhappy with the restaurant options at a park, it would easy enough to jump over to a nearby resort for meals. But that's us and where we are right now. If we had teenagers, the math might be different.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I personally think it depends on where you stay onsite, but we usually stay the BWV, so it is nice to be able to go to a park in the morning and take a break. We will usually end the evening at Epcot because of the food selection of the WS. Also, I like to stroll around the WS in the afternoon when everyone is resting with a beer in my hand and watch the performances around the WS. I just like the ability to know I can take a break and go to a different park if needed. I also think it helps with planning meals.

 

[mummabear]

We always had until our last trip, we decided not to up front as 5 people at $60 a pop is pretty expensive and looking back to the trip before while we had hopped it wasnt very often so when you thought about the amount each hop had cost us it didnt seem worthwhile.
We often used hopping for closing out the latest park (so heading to MK after AK shut for example), this last trip we made ADRs at the resorts, we headed to Poly beach for the fireworks etc, we swam in the pool (although the earlier closings may effect doing this now) and it was the most fun and relaxing trip we had. Didnt miss hopping at all, wont get it agsain (well at WDW at DLR we still will)

 

[Accident]

I generally purchase park hoppers in advance when I need them for something like like a multi-park tour. Most of the time I just budget the cost of park hoppers but don't pre-purchase them. Some trips, we end up hopping and I purchase them while there for the same cost. Other trips, we save some money and didn't need them.

It's a lot easier to not hop when you don't have them on your tickets in advance. Just a different mind set and try it one trip.

 

[Dbktmc]

We have always purchased the park hopper option as it suits our family. We hit the parks at opening everyday and then return to the hotel for a nap/swim in the heat of the day. (We visit during the summer months because I'm a teacher.) Now that Fastpass+ has been implemented, I feel that our day is so scheduled that the flexibility of the park hopper is invaluable. We love the idea of not having a plan in the evening and just going to whatever park suits our mood at the moment. Just like the "good old days". (My humble opinion, of course.)

 

[aprincessatlast]

I am with the other posters who say they used to until price got too much. For our family of 5 it really adds on an expense that could be used for snacks, nicer dinners etc. I just don't fell like I am getting much for the expense. The last time we got them I think we used them 1x so that really influenced our decision.

I do think the amount of time you are there makes a difference too. If you are there for 10 days then yeah I could see getting some use out of them but if it is more like 4 days that really eats up valuable time.

 

[aprincessatlast]

We have always purchased the park hopper option as it suits our family. We hit the parks at opening everyday and then return to the hotel for a nap/swim in the heat of the day. (We visit during the summer months because I'm a teacher.) Now that Fastpass+ has been implemented, I feel that our day is so scheduled that the flexibility of the park hopper is invaluable. We love the idea of not having a plan in the evening and just going to whatever park suits our mood at the moment. Just like the "good old days". (My humble opinion, of course.)

So do you always plan your fast passes for the morning/afternoon? Do you not find the evening wait times to be long?

 

[ChloesDaddy]

We love park hoppers too! It allows you the flexibility to eat at Epcot more often. I know it's not all about the food, but Epcot is where it's at. It's even better if you are staying at a MK or Epcot resort.

We got hoppers for the first time for our upcoming trip primarily for this reason. We're staying at YC, and F&G was extended through our stay. We plan to hop to Epcot for dinner on our HS and AK days at least.