Who hops? or not?

[Luckymommyx2]

We always hop, or at least leave the option open. It's nice to have in case the crowds get too much and you want to try another park. Also, you can make those ADR's wherever you want and not have to be tied down to that particular park. Great option for us...we never plan!

 

[leighe]

We hop - usually to eat dinner in WS. We love riding the monorail between MK and Epcot.

 

[Ava]

The only time I've hopped (as an adult; I don't remember what we did when I was a kid) was on a short trip where I only had 3 days to do the parks. I got a hopper so I could do AK & MGM in one day. My last trip was longer so I was able to dedicate a full day to each park and not have to hop.

I've got hoppers for my upcoming trip. We've got 5 days and I'm looking forward to the flexibility. We're planning 1 full day at Epcot (and maybe hop to MK for EMH if we aren't too tired), 1 full day at MK, and a day split between AK & MGM. (MIL is joining us for 2 days and she wants to do MK, AK, and see Fantasmic.) The other 2 park days we're going to play it by ear and go back to do things we missed the first time or hit our favorites again.

 

[A M&Asmom]

We use to with the old parkhopper passes, but now it is just too expensive to pay just incase we want to. We have 5 in our family now so I think I'll save that money and use it on something else while we are there and just plan a day at each park. Besides, there are 18 in our group going this time , so it would be a pain & take too much time for us all to switch parks like that.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

Always hop.....always will.
Great example I can give is from several years ago. We were at WDW in May and we went to Epcot in the morning. The place was mobbed with school children. Way too crowded to enjoy. So we just exited and took the bus to the Disney Studios and had a great time over there. Note that when we exited Epcot we found loads of school buses in the parking lot. Looks like a lot of local schools decided a trip to Epcot would be a good idea.
Without the park hopper we would have been doomed that day.
Also, the cost (IMHO) is not that much more.......worth it at any price.

 

[MidgeD79]

Due to major car repairs our June WDW trip is in jepardy. If we cut hopping and waterparks it will save us $400. We've been 7 other times and we only hopped a few times in the evening. What I have to decide is if I reinstate one of those options which one would it be

 

[eliza61]

We always hop. We go to WDW during August when the parks are usually open late (10 pm) this gives us more than enough time to do a park or water park during the hottest part of the day and then chill out, eat a meal and go to another park in the evening. Definitely worth the extra $$$

 

[eliza61]

Due to major car repairs our June WDW trip is in jepardy. If we cut hopping and waterparks it will save us $400. We've been 7 other times and we only hopped a few times in the evening. What I have to decide is if I reinstate one of those options which one would it be

I'd go for the hopping option and cut out the waterparks. Every place in Florida on-site or off has a pool that you can head back to in order to swim.

Good Luck

 

[grumpymakesmehappy]

I've never been when we haven't hopped. Actually, I don't know how I would feel if someone told me I couldn't hop. We have been to the parks countless times and know them fairly well. We don't consider hopping as losing valuable time. We love the freedom that hopping allows. If we didn't have hoppers we would feel restricted.

 

[Terk-1]

I do. I will usually do the park that has EMH in the morning, then head back to my resort for a break, then to a different park that night. That way it breaks up the day. I don't do the water parks, since there is always a pool (or 2) at the Disney resort I'm staying at.

 

[Ava]

Due to major car repairs our June WDW trip is in jepardy. If we cut hopping and waterparks it will save us $400. We've been 7 other times and we only hopped a few times in the evening. What I have to decide is if I reinstate one of those options which one would it be

I'd cut out the waterparks option. A single-day ticket to either of the waterparks is $35 for adults & $29 for kids. I know it's more than that to add the Waterparks & More option to a MYW base ticket, so if you do decide you want 1 day at a waterpark it's cheaper to just buy the waterpark ticket seperately.

 

[carone0318]

We always park hop. I always have a designated park that we will go to from day-to-day. On some days we have more than 1 park scheduled, especially when we go to AK. As for Epcot with the exception of when we are going to ride the rides (TT, Soarin' and stuff) we only spend the evenings at WS. It works out better for us.

Another reason for park hopping for us is we are DVC members and we stay at BWV and our main mode of transportation to MK is we enter WS through Int'l Gateway walk to the front of the park and take the monorail over to MK. We do this on several occasions (we're gluttens for exercise punishment) on our trips. I guess you can say that we don't like folding up the stroller (hopefully this will be our last trip with a troller and then this won't be an issue anymore.)

 

[DisFlan]

We ALWAYS hop. I'd cut a day off the vacation before I'd give up hopping.

I agree about dropping the waterparks. You can easily hop everyday. You might only do a waterpark once or twice. And every resort has a pool.


DisFlan

 

[emh1129]

Those of you who hop (and that seems like the vast majority!).. do you have small children? I'm wondering if hopping would be more trouble than it's worth..

We will be there for ten days in January and will also have 10 day passes.. just can't decide whether or not to get the PH option

 

[Golliwobbler]

We have DDs 6&8 yrs old, and always hop. For times when we are in the scorching heat, the hopping allows us to break up and mix up the days nicely. We would tend to stick to a park relentlessly, to the detriment of the family and the vacation without this much meeded option.

In the cooler seasons, we find that we can get so much done, that hopping becomes valuable in covering ground. Unlike the heat of August, where you need to slow down to be able to "survive" across all the days of the trip, in cooler seasons you can go-go-go. Hopping increases the value of the time in the parks so you are not stuck with dead time onc you have "done it all."

Having never been to a waterpark (we just love the pools so much, and our young ones just don't care that much yet, or see the difference)...cannot really tell you which to choose, but if I was in your shoes, I'd stick to our tried and true hopping.

 

[NJDad18]

Those of you who hop (and that seems like the vast majority!).. do you have small children? I'm wondering if hopping would be more trouble than it's worth..

We will be there for ten days in January and will also have 10 day passes.. just can't decide whether or not to get the PH option

Our children are dd (9) and ds (5) and we have been going every year since before ds was born. I couldn't image going for 10 days and not having the park hopper option. With little ones I find that WS in Epcot is best to do in the evenings over several different nights and you could never do that without hoppers. The little ones are interested in WS but I find it is best in small doses.