To hopper or not hopper pass??

[PolynesianMedic]

In my opinion, you SHOULD get the hopper. Just in case you want to go to dinner in a different park, the one you are at is busy, or you finish what you wanted to do in the park you are at. For the little extra that it costs, to me it is worth it.

 

[FamilyGuy]

You already have plenty of input, but I just wanted to add that even though we have annual passes (passholders can hop as often as they like), and often intend to visit to parks in a day, we RARELY end up actually hopping...

In the future, if we are not passholders and purchase MYW tickets, it's unlikely we would pay extra for the ability to park hop...

The idea of not adding the hopper now and adding it later if need be makes the most sense to me.

 

[ZoZo]

Just staying at AKL doens't get you admission to Animal Kingdom. So, if you don't have a park hopper, and you go to AK in the morning and get done with everything by 3, you couldn't go to another park, unless you wanted to use your pass to gain admission to another park. Not a good idea, because you'd be wasing a full day's pass.

This is actually incorrect. Without the hopper option, you can't go to more than one park per day, period. Multi-day passes are based on the number of days you're going to the parks, not the number of admissions. So you can't get a 10-day pass and expect to go to 2 parks a day for five days. Once the computer system records which park you've gone to first, if you don't have a park-hopper option, you won't be able to go to any other parks that day, regardless of the number of days you have left on your pass. The computer system simply won't allow you entrance into another park the same day, unless you have the hopper option. Make sense?

My advice is, if it's your first trip, you probably won't need the hopper option. Lots of folks never hop, even those who are WDW veterans. We always get the hopper option, but we like the flexibility because we go during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. Regardless of which park we start out at on any given day, we always end up at Epcot, so it totally makes sense to have a hopper.

And it's important to know that if you decide to get non-hopping tickets, you can always add the hopper option to your ticket after you arrive, if you decide you want to park-hop. It's a flat fee of around $50, regardless of the number of days on your ticket. So don't add the hopper feature if you only plan to hop one day - that costs you $50 per ticket! But if you hop every day on a 7-day pass, it's only about $7 per day.

 

[NewRocDad]

The hopper is nice because it gives you more options. It's your first trip (amazing, by the way! ), and you may want to see more than just one park on that fourth day.

Either way, enjoy your first time!

 

[ntsammy5]

Everyone has different goals, objectives, opinions and things to consider.

Well said.

 

[BigGreen73]

We have gotten the hopper option our last 4 visits, but we questioned it for our next trip in Dec. We really only used the park hopper a couple of days on our trip as we like to spend at least one full day at each park and spend some time at DTD and at the resort. And you realize at times that you waste alot of time going from park to park. So we decided against the park hopper for our Dec trip as we will be spending 1-2 full days at each park and that gives us a little extra freedom to spend time at DTD and our resort.

 

[wezee]

We always get the hopper if we are staying the entire week. We usually visit a park in the morning and take an early afternoon break by the resort pool then get ready for an evening out. Also we always make ADR's all over WDW property and the hopper gives us the freedom to do so.
One exception, planning a long weekend trip in a couple of months and wil not do the hopper, since we plan on spending a day at Epcot and hanging around the Boardwalk and DTD.

 

[prekteacher]

We are going in May and we have prebought our hopper passes. we thought that with two children and one adult we has never been it would be a good idea. if we want to do two parks in one day ( one in am and one in pm) we could and tthen if we want to spilt up we can .

 

[GrumpyFamilyof5]

We have done both, in Oct. we didn't hop, just visited the parks we wanted each day, enjoyed the pools and such.
This year we decided on hoppers and glad we did. We went to one park, then rested and enjoyed the pools for awhile then went to another park at night, specially whichever ones had the magic hrs. Worked good for us, but everyone is different.
Good Luck with your choice and your trip!

 

[Raenstoirm]

We always use the park hopper. We start at one of the parks that does NOT have extra magic hours that day (since the crowds tend to be at the parks that do especially AK). Then, when our park closes we hop to the magic hours park for the rest of the evening.

If you have little kids and you don't mind wandering the hotels and pools then it probably isn't worth it.

For us it always is.

 

[CleveRocks]

In my opinion, you SHOULD get the hopper. Just in case you want to go to dinner in a different park, the one you are at is busy, or you finish what you wanted to do in the park you are at. For the little extra that it costs, to me it is worth it.

In my opinion, you SHOULD NOT buy the hopper option ... well, not yet.

You can add it at any time if you decide you want it. It won't cost any more to add it then that it would to purchase it now or with your package.

For a family of 4, the hopper option will be roughly $195. You might not know whether or not it's worth it 'til your there and decide you want to do something else.

 

[DCLWDW]

we like to hop so we always buy it.

 

[Kaler131]

We used to use the hopper when it didn't cost so much extra...but now it's just not worth the price for us. It is cheaper for us to add extra days on our pass than get the hopper option.

 

[The6ofUs]

This has probably already been mentioned -- if you're buying the dining plan, the hopper option is a great thing to have so you can plan restaurants in any park - not just the park you're visiting that day.

 

[Jenniww]

We went in Jan 07 and bought it $200 for our family of four. Didn't use it but once. Turned out there is a public code that tends to come out in Jan for a free hopper with a package. Could have saved two hundred

I am going back in Jan 08 I did not buy the hopper again. BUT if the code for it for free starts floating around I will get it.

 

[MomPOM]

We didn't purchase the Park Hopper on our trip in February last year. We just made sure we scheduled things so we didn't need it. We also went to PPP so we did one park during the day and then MK around 4:30 when we could get in. I really can't imagine paying the extra money. If you do AKL one day and they are closing early, make that evening when you go to Downtown Disney or get dinner at a resort and explore there some more.