To Hop or Not?

[DisWishes720]

We are planning our trip in February and I'm still debating about getting park hoppers. We haven't fully mastered the new FP+ system and it's become more of a burden than a joy to plan all of these extra details out. Last time we went we complained that the hoppers don't make sense because you can't book FP times in a different park on the same day. Will we get more out of the FP+ system if we do the same park in the morning and at night (we are big afternoon break people)? It just seems like every time you try to use the FP+ system after you've used your original 3 there are no good rides left.

Suggestions needed!

 

[Klayfish]

First, if you're finding it more of a burden than a joy to plan the trip, then you need to take a step back and relax. At least in my opinion, you can get too wrapped up in the planning and lose sight of what it's all about...a great trip to WDW. I bet my wife and I do 1/4 of the planning that others do and we still have a wonderful time. We don't stay on property, so we don't have to plan meals, we bring our own. As for the FP+ system, there's no one "right" way to do it. Find what works best for you. We like to do our 3 as close together as possible and as early as possible, so that we can get more later. There are exceptions to that, but in general that's what we do. No, you won't be able to get a last minute FP+ for 7DMT, but you can still get halfway decent stuff typically.

The hop vs non-hop is purely dependent on how you like to have your days. If you plan to spend the entire day in one park, then it's useless to you. We're hoppers. We jump all over the place, so I couldn't imagine being without it. For example, we'll do MK in the morning. Use up our 3 FP+ there. Then for the afternoon/evening, maybe we'll head over to Epcot or AK. The lines start to die down as the evening goes on, so between last minute FP+ grabbing and the dwindling crowds, we can get on plenty of things.

Either way, there's no wrong answer. Don't let the planning sour your excitement for your trip.

 

[adisneyaunt]

we just don't hop as much anymore either. Used to do a park in morning then evening hop, Or just hop park to park all day lol, fun times but hectic. Now an AP holder and don't even hop, so who knows. I too find FP system burdensome, ur not alone. ( tho using app is easier than kiosks) still not enough FP and too many blocked out imho)
It's Luck... To ur question asking if staying at same park gives u a better chance of grabbing FP after the afternoon break you enjoy.
I think it also depends on length of trip .. If u have more limited time/quick trip ?do u feel the need to "have" to get on a ride and can get enough time ( full day/2) at each park, don't hop.
Tell u the truth I just enjoy being IN the park n find joy in that now a days, but that's likely because I can return when I want, less stress/pressure to see/do get our money's worth.
Whatever u decide, here's hoping your trip is Magical! Enjoy!

 

[CAS239]

As AP holders we hop every day we go to Disney.

Hit morning park with no FP's. You really don't need FP's until around 11/noon. We ride what and leave around 1pm.

Head to hotel to shower, eat, nap. Then go to the 2nd park around 5/6pm where we have FP's set up to start when it's busy.

 

[Mr & Mrs DD]

Everyone is different. For us, we really like the hopper option. We plan which park we are going to start our day and set up our fast passes accordingly. Once our passes are used up, we decide where we are going later in the day and we start selecting a new fast pass using The Disney app. If we can't find a fast pass we want, we just go ahead and move on to the next park. We enjoy the flexibility of being able to switch things up after we have taken a break.

 

[Aliceacc]

For us, parkhoppers are part of the price of the trip.

Here's what we do:

- We hit the parks at Rope Drop and get to the headliners.
- We have FPs starting at about 11 am. Depending on the park, that sometimes means a repeat of some rides we've already been on that day.
- At 1:30 or 2, we head back to the resort for naps/swimming.
- At 5:30 or so, we head to our evening park for a dinner ADR. Sometimes it's the same park we were already at, sometimes not. (Our last ADRs are always the harder ones to get, the dates that fewer people have had access to. So I don't sweat the crowd calendars or park hours when making ADRs.)
- We tend to get so much done in the morning that we don't sweat evening FPs; if we get them, we get them. Otherwise, it's the single rider line at TT and Spaceship Earth type of stuff. After dinner, we don't typically have tons of time before fireworks anyway, so FPs aren't a huge issue. We do most of our touring before lunch.

 

[aretha30]

First take a deep breath, vacation (and the planning of it) should be relaxing and exciting. Second here is what we do, we are big afternoon break people as well since we go in the summer when it is really hot. We always get hoppers and use them everyday. We start out at RD at one park, where we make our FP+ once we have used our last one for the morning I book the first one for the second park of the day. We take a break knowing when we have to be back at the second park for our first FP+. I was able to pick up Soarin' FP+ when hopping over from HS one day, I had the chance to pick up TT also but we went with Soarin' since we hadn't rode the new version yet. A few days we even hopped over to AK (as a third park for the day) to enjoy the new nighttime activities and were able to secure some FP+ there as well. Even if they save 10 minutes it's 10 more minutes to do something else.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I would get it as an option for the flexiblilty in the dining in the alone. Trying to get MDRs these days and plan is a job in itself then try and get them in the same park or limit them to outside parks. No thanks! It's nice to have that array of restaurants to play with! As PP says we often get MDRs or FP+ pop up at the last moment. Imagine a gift BOG dinner the day before you go pops up but wait I have FP+ booked for AK morning that day... With hopper no problem!

 

[hiroMYhero]

The new FP system allows FPs in 2 parks after 1 pre-booked FP is used in Park #1.

This thread explains how to pre-book 2 for Park #1 and then use FP#1 and then book for Park #2 or Park #3 if you were planning on hopping to a 3rd park that day.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fp-and-park-hopping.3514422/

 

[shyjade]

Everyone is different. For us, we really like the hopper option. We plan which park we are going to start our day and set up our fast passes accordingly. Once our passes are used up, we decide where we are going later in the day and we start selecting a new fast pass using The Disney app. If we can't find a fast pass we want, we just go ahead and move on to the next park. We enjoy the flexibility of being able to switch things up after we have taken a break.

This! We love the freedom of hopping and being able to adjust our plans at the drop of a hat if need be. Then again, it's just my adult daughter and I so it's easy for us to do. We tend to take shorter, more frequent trips so having the ability to ride/see what we want in all four parks in 2 or 3 days is easy to do with hoppers. We will be going in October and we will have no problem riding our "must-do's" in all 4 parks with our 2-day park hoppers.

 

[biondagirl]

Before the new FP system, we were HUGE hoppers (almost daily). On our trip last August, we didn't use them until our 6th park day. We needed them qualify for free dining last year, anyway but we still have purchased them. Towards the end our trips we like to go back to catch things we missed or do things a second time. I will purchase hoppers for our trip next year. I like having the option.

 

[loves to dive]

We have never been without hoppers since there were two parks to hop between (been going for over 30 years). FP+ hasn't changed that in the least bit but then we aren't planners. I might book a FP or 2 the night before in the park we know we are going to the next day for mid morning and then we play it by ear. If we've ridden the rides we want and the park is too crowded, we just hop on over to another park. I've been known to walk by a ride I know I have a FP for a little later and see the line is 10 or 15 min. wait, hop in that line go on MDE and change my FP. I've actually done this over and over so for us, it's great that you can now use those FPs in another park and book them on MDE.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Wr never purchased hoppers before our upcoming trip and never found them necessary.

To the OP, I would suggest looking to see if you can still get the 7 day park hopper deal on the Parksavers website. If not, hold off on paying for the hopping option until you get there. You can always add it and you find that you don't need it, you'll save a chunk of change.

 

[urkalynne]

We are returning for our second trip in a year. Here's what I can tell you for sure - regardless of if you plan to the very last detail or not, you will still have a great time!

Our first trip last summer was DH, DD, me, my mom and dad, sister, BIL, niece and nephew. All three kids were under 5 at the time. My dad planned the trip, detail for detail, and within 24 hours of arriving, most of our plans were out the window and we were flying by the seat of our pants. Especially with toddlers, weather, etc., you have to allow room for flexibility.

We leave in less than two weeks for trip number two, and with the exception of ADR, we've done minimal planning this time around. We have an itinerary that we're going to shoot for everyday and are taking a lot of advice from these boards in to consideration. However, again with a toddler in tow, we are going to allow it to be a more relaxed, fun trip without the restrictions of so many exclusive time frames and planned details.

In response to your initial post, we will not be park hopping this time around. We did last summer, but felt like we spent the majority of our day on transportation between parks or transportation back and forth from our hotel, etc. We're going to do one park per day this time around and take advantage of the extra FP+ being offered through the app (last summer, we still had to utilize the kiosk in order to book any additional FP+).

 

[Boopuff]

I love to hop. We almost always like to plan our evening at EPCOT so we hop back over there. My family also loves to do a swim break and many days we do arrive "unplanned" and just go with the flow!

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Park hopper = total freedom to change plans, add fireworks, go back after it rains...

 

[M & M]

Does anyone know, can the park hopper option be added 1/2 way through your stay?

 

[dreiwhit]

My family and I don't hop. We pick which park we want to go to for the day, arrive at Rope Drop and stay there all day. We usually will leave after the fireworks or when ever we have done what we wanted to do in the parks.

For us, we don't hop because of:

1) The additonal expense. $68 more per ticket.

2) The times it takes to leave the park, get on a tram, get to the car, drive where we want to go, get on a tram, get in to the park. All that eats up a lot of time that we could have spent inside a park.

3) We don't want to!

The nice thing about Disney is that you can choose to hop or not to hop.

 

[lpizzuro123]

We have AP's and love to hop. That being said, if you are going in February and are not crazy about hopping then I would probably not do it. We go a lot during the F&G and F&W Festivals so we hope over to Epcot to catch the concerts and to eat at all the different food booths.

 

[scrapquitler]

Does anyone know, can the park hopper option be added 1/2 way through your stay?

Yes. But it's going to cost you the same amount regardless of if you buy it the first day or the last day.