Who "hops" and who doesn't and why??

[Therapeutic Smile]

I almost couldn't imagine not hopping... last time i was there (Dec '04) I spent one day entirely at MK (morning EMH and MVMCP on my birthday) with a nap at my hotel in the middle... but all the other days I hop. AK is a morning-only park for me, Kilimanjaro, Dinosaur, Kali, a little wandering, etc... so I always go somewhere else in the evening. Plus, there's nothing like eating at Epcot, and sometimes I get a hankerin' for the Rock'n'RollerCoaster and just HAVE to head back to the Studios!

Yeah, totally could not imagine a WDW trip sans hopping.

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

Always a hopper - mostly due to park hours, and to create some variety in the day.

 

[HaleyB]

I am a hopper

Of course I have ADD so I think it comes naturally to me. On my first trip to WDW as an adult I did not know about te DIS but I did have the Unofficial Guide, it must have said hopping was good because it was my bible for that trip, and we hopped every day.

We tend to hop over to EPCOT every night unless we are in MK for the Fireworks/Parade. We just love EPCOT at night.

This next trip looks like it is going to be all about the food so I know we will hop over to Epcot and the Boardwalk are a lot because that is where we like to eat.

We try to target the low crowds and take advantage of early morning entry (whatever they are calling it this year) which always means hopping and it has always worked for us.

 

[kirbsam]

definately hop. on emh mornings, or evenings you can do ak easily in a few hours, then you have about ten hours to go to different parks. one poster said he thought to hop was to waste time. i think to not hop is to waste time. i love getting to the hotel about 530 and say, gee, i would like to see fantasmic again, and hop to mgm for a little rnr, tot and fantasmic. what a great way to end any day.

 

[YCFAN]

Another reason to hop - what if the park you choose that day is so crowded it's unbearable. It has certainly happened to me before. I'd hate to think I would not have an option to go to another park if I wanted to get out of the crowd.

 

[Leota]

I am a dyed in the wool hopper also. I cannot imagine NOT hopping for all the reasons already listed. I can count on one hand the times where we've stayed at one Park all day...

 

[Mermaid02]

My name is Lorelei and I'm a Park Hopper.

We like the option. One day we went to MGM first for the purpose of letting my dh and son ride ToT.... then we left and went to MK.....

 

[JoannaOhio]

I was thinking about "to hop" or "not to hop" this weekend.
I'd really hate to NOT buy park hoppers and wish I had once I get there or worse yet, buy park hoppers then don't hop.

We've chosen the non-hopper passes for our trip in December - knowing that if we decide once we get there that we want to hop, we can pay the difference (about $37/person, I think) to add the hopper option. We had park hoppers when we went in 2000, because there wasn't a cheaper option - and I don't think we hopped even once. With the choice this year, the consideration was a savings of almost $150 on 4 passes. Although we might get there and think it would be "nice" to hop to another park, I'm sure we'll look at whether it's worth shelling out the $150 for that option. I'm guessing we'll be content to do just one park a day.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

On our previous trips to WDW we almost never hopped. So this year we opted not to. Hope I won't regret it.

We usually visit a park from early morning to evening. We almost never go back for a swim or nap. Happened maybe twice last summer.

We find that hopping takes time....and we need all the time we can get.

The one new thing that really does bother me is the new evening EMH. Those wern't in effect last year. I would have liked to visit one, but I'm scared if I choose to do so without a hopper, I'll be stuck in a packed park.

Oh, well, I can go ahead and get the option added if I really feel like I'm missing out on things.

 

[mello]

I'm answering based on our trips to Disneyland, since we haven't been to WDW yet. I know - how much hopping can you do in DL? But what we've done is spend a full day in the original DL, then a full day at CA, then the next day or two hopping around to hit the highlights - things we want to do again, or anything we missed the first time around. We're planning on doing the same thing in WDW when we go. It works really well for us!
melinda

 

[foxtrotter]

Hopping is a must for us, to get everything we want to get done and to spice things up a bit. We're going again in September for 7 days and we'll hop every day but one probably.

When we went the first week of December last year, we also hopped every day. The first day we did AK then hopped to Epcot for the tree lighting and the CP. Next day we went to Epcot in the am and hopped to the MK for MVMCP. Next day it was MGM and hopped back to Epcot for Illuminations. Next day it was MK then hopping to MGM for the Osborne Lights. Hopping like that breaks up our day and keeps it fresh for us.

 

[lindsey]

We have always "hopped" in the past, since it was usually me, DH and DS who has always been easy to please and easy to entertain. We went last June with BIL, SIL and their 4 1/2 daughter. With her, it was much easier to not hop. We would take our time getting ready in mornings, do a park most of day, then return to FW to crash. Niece would usually be so tired, she fell asleep in her dad's arms on the way. I bet alot depends on the family, type children, and family's habits.

 

[Troy08]

I have never Hopped before-always did the one day-one park thing but will hop this July. Have three days for parks, have never in two previous trips to AK been able to get on the Safari rdie(this was before fast pass)we will AK in the morning with FP for Safari, stay till noonish, head back to WL for a break then head off to MGM for AR at 50'ime time and then Fantasmic. I have never seen Fantasmic and an bound and determined to do so. I am afraid of rainouts so i firgure the weather has to hold at night for at least one night.

 

[CJK]

We always parkhop. I don't think we'd ever go to Animal Kingdom unless we could parkhop to another park for the evening. I'd be upset if I couldn't enjoy a park in the evening since when we go to WDW, AK usually closes around 5pm.

 

[kimnscott]

another park hopper here. We have always hopped we will do a park int the am and the take a break mid day to go cool off at a water park.then we go back to the park we left or maybe to a different one.

 

[Mickey and Me]

We always hop
I don't think I ever considered not hopping. It breaks the day up, especially when a park is really crowded, you always have another option.

 

[ktink]

We've never hopped before and didn't think I would want to but w/ all the PS's that I have I decided to go ahead and hop. So I am excited about doing this. It's funny last year we had the ultimate park hopper and never hopped, it came w/ the dreammaker package and then this year I'm paying to hop.

 

[Laurajean1014]

We hop, but not as frequently as we think we will!

Out of 10 day trip in April, we went to the parks 8 days and hopped three times.

 

[MOMOFMNM]

I did not buy hop option for our early oct trip for three important reasons:
dd 5 dd 7 dd 8
I am the only family member who has ever been to WDW and being our first trip with only 5 days, I decided against that...if we go to AK we will just do a dinner show or character meal and swimming or watch fireworks from the California Grill that night...I can't imagine two or three parks in one day. Mabye for future trips, we are keeping this simple for now

 

[maxaroni]

We park hop and wouldn't want to be 'tied' to one park for the day. We may spend a good pc of the day in one park and leave about 4:00. We'll go back to the room and freshen up and then go for dinner. After dinner, we are either at the park where we ate dinner or if we went to DTD, we pick a park and go. One year, we went to the WS every nite after supper. We liked the smaller crowds and a tad cooler weather. We did a few countries per nite and found it very relaxing. I guess we like a bit of flexibility.