To park hop or not to park hop that is the question!!

[Hownow9]

I question whether it is wise to purchase the parkhopper option for our (wife & 2 kids) upcoming 4 day visit. My initial plan is to take in all 4 parks (MK, Epcot, MGM & AK), one park each day and I thought that would be fine. But after reading other posts I am wondering if we start early in the morning will we finish a park early and want to leave or want to go to another park???

Do many of you "hop"???

I would very much appreciate the experts' opinions!!

Thank you.

 

[Daydreamer]

Primarily we do "hop" from park to park during our trips. We typically start in one park, take a break during the early afternoon, then finish at another park. Come to think of it, I couldn't tell you the last time we stayed in a single park for the entire day.

 

[beattyfamily]

Absolutely, I couldn't live without being able to hop and we do hop frequently.

We'll do AK am and Epcot PM. Or early entry at MK and then Fantasmic at MGM.

If a park is too crowded when we get there, we just leave and go elsewhere.

I LOVE the convenience and could never and would never live without it.

 

[justcantwait]

I always get the hopper option. Some parks will take you more than 1 day, some will take you less. That will allow you to hop over to another park if you finish one earlier than expected. It really provides for more flexibility when plans don't go exactly as you imagined (for better or worse). Just my 2 cents. HTH

 

[LilMamiBella]

I would park hop if I was going only for 4-5 days or less. If I was going longer than 4-5 days then I wouldn't see the need to park hop.

 

[mickeymom629]

I think you can plan well and not have the added expense of hopping. When we visited WDW during Easter last spring, we went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday after checking in. On Monday we went to MGM at opening and stayed all day--we had a dinner reservation at Hollywood and Vine for Fantasmic! dinner package. On Tuesday, we opened Magic Kingdom (it opened at 7 a.m. for resort guests all week! We left our resort by 6:15 a.m.! and drove our van). We had a reservation for lunch about 10:30 at Crystal Palace. Went back to the resort and then returned later that evening. On Wednesday, we did EPCOT (I had to meet my family a little later because I couldn't bring myself out of bed so early by that morning!). We did not go back to the resort during the day. My kids are 11, 13, 15 and 17. We did avoid the EMH parks and I think it all worked out great.

However, if $ isn't an issue, some would say that the option to park hop is nice. In case you want to go back to another park.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

I would purchase the park hop option. The problem with only 1 park per day is (at least for my family) we like MGM and Magic Kingdom more then AK and Epcot, so we usually spend more time there. We usually visit MK or MGM in the morning, head to Epcot or AK, go back to the room in the afternoon, eat an early dinner and go back to MK or MGM....

 

[SusanDK]

We wouldn't go without park hopping. I cannot remember the last time we spent a day at WDW without being in at least two parks on the same day.

Especially when it is not high season and some of the parks close fairly early. We often will see Fantasmic at MGM and then hop to Epcot for Illuminations.

Susan

 

[mickeymom629]

I just want to add, that one thing my family does is to get FP's before leaving the park for a rest so, when we return to the same park, you know you will be able to go on a favorite or two. By the way, we did have park hoppers that spring trip. We just didn't hop. We did the same itinerary with two other families the week before July 4th and we only hopped on the fifth day (AK/MK). Luckily the weather was fine in the evenings so that we didn't miss any of the fireworks! Also, the Fantasmic dinner was around 3:30 or 4, so that helped to break up our afternoon.

 

[Hownow9]

Wow

I did not expect so many replies so quickly!! Thank you.

Just for information purposes. This will be my daughter's (9 yo) first time to WDW and my son (14 yo) has not been in about 5 or 6 years.

Many of you have been to WDW many times and I can understand going to different parks on the same day but since both of my kids (and me too!!) have not been to AK, MGM or Epcot and only been to MK 2 times would park hopping still be a good option???

Thank you.

 

[ZoZo]

I would definitely hop. Just back from 7 days at WDW and we hopped every single day! For a 7-day pass, it only cost an extra $5 per day to add the hopper option. Totally worth it, in my opinion. It's a great option especially when you go to parks that close early (like Animal Kingdom). Then you can go to other parks like Epcot in the evening. We were there for the food and wine festival, and liked the flexibility of hopping. One day, I think we went to three different parks!!

 

[beattyfamily]

Wow

I did not expect so many replies so quickly!! Thank you.

Just for information purposes. This will be my daughter's (9 yo) first time to WDW and my son (14 yo) has not been in about 5 or 6 years.

Many of you have been to WDW many times and I can understand going to different parks on the same day but since both of my kids (and me too!!) have not been to AK, MGM or Epcot and only been to MK 2 times would park hopping still be a good option???

Thank you.

Well, we hopped on our first trip ever. We entered MK and Pooh had a 5 hour come back time for Fastpass It was wall to wall people. So we left and went to MGM instead.

Hopping is great whether it's your first trip or your 50th trip! IMHO.

 

[Brian Noble]

We bought it in advance last year, and only needed it for two of the four us (each kid had a (different) day or two of fever while we were there), so that was $70 we didn't need to spend. On the other hand, my son and I used it to hop to the MK in the evening of our last day, and I don't think I would have spent $70 at that moment just to do that, but having paid for it already, I was glad I did.

You can add options to your tickets. Since there is no advance-purchase discount on a four-day ticket, why not just buy base tickets, and add hopping there if you decide you want it?

 

[disney1990]

I can't imagine not hopping. What happens when you go to a park and it is overwhelming crowded. Also, depending on what we want to do, we sometimes go to 2 or even 3 parks in a single day -- sometimes to the 3rd park just to catch the evening fireworks or parade.

 

[Allison]

You could purchase the no hopping tickets and if you find you want to hop when you get there, you can upgrade the tickets at that time.

 

[bobbiwoz]

You could purchase the no hopping tickets and if you find you want to hop when you get there, you can upgrade the tickets at that time.

I agree. We are bringing friends who have never been to WDW for this December trip, and we have things planned so no park hopping is needed. We are AP holders, but they are on a budget. We are both leaving during the day on a Wednesay, and I do have AK as that day's park. It's the short day.

Bobbi

 

[DisneyAunt]

I question whether it is wise to purchase the parkhopper option for our (wife & 2 kids) upcoming 4 day visit. My initial plan is to take in all 4 parks (MK, Epcot, MGM & AK), one park each day and I thought that would be fine. But after reading other posts I am wondering if we start early in the morning will we finish a park early and want to leave or want to go to another park???

Do many of you "hop"???

I would very much appreciate the experts' opinions!!

Thank you.

Park Hopping is a necessity in my family. We typically go to one park for most of the day and then in the afternoon leave and go to another for dinner and whatever parade or fireworks they have that night. Even better sometimes we will split up with the kids for a few hours. My little nephew (4) wanted to watch Indian Jones about 4 times....it drove me nuts but he loved it. His brother on the other hand wanted to go to ride SPlash Mountain in hopes of getting soaked. We don't split up often only as a special reward for the kids being good.

 

[Minnie]

We have APs now but when we purchased tickets we always got the hoppers. One main question I have on this is - are you staying on site???

If so then what we would do is take advantage of the EMH (morning only) and then after lunch and a rest at the resort we would hop to another non EMH park. The crowd levels were immensely different as the EMH parks fill up quickly. However you can get a ton done during the morning EMHs.

If you are not staying onsite then the nonhoppers may be just fine. I would suggest avoiding the EMH parks though as you would only be able to enter during regular times at it is something else during that time

 

[maroney495]

I like the hopper as an option if there are unexpected changes/cancellations. EX> You spent your day at MGM and just before Fantasmic it starts to rain and it is cancelled. You really want to see it but you have not left another full day for MGM. You do however have the following day scheduled for AK and as it closes early you can hop to MGM to see the Fantasmic you missed if you have the hopping option.

 

[DisneyArk]

We love park hopping! The shows are on schedules and sometimes we can't see them all and ride all the rides in a certain park. If you get stuck in a long line for a ride, you might keep missing a show's beginning time. So on some days we'll hop back to a park just to see a show or ride a favorite ride again.

On our last day we always let the kids choose their favorite thing and we hop around and try to do them all again!

Our very first trip was for 4 days and even then we park hopped. I guess it depends on how you like to tour. If you are really laid back you might enjoy just spending an entire day in one park and not get "upset" if you miss a few things. Good luck deciding and like others have said, you can always upgrade after you're there.