Why do you park hop? Park hop or DisneyQuest?

[KJHawley]

DW and I are trying to decide between adding Disney Quest or Park Hopping to our ticket (we probably can't do both). I'm wondering WHY people get park hopping. So far, I've come up with this list:

1) TAKE A BREAK. Go to the parks early in the morning, then back to your hotel when it gets hot in the afternoon. Then, back to the park of your choice when it gets cool in the evening.

2) SEE YOUR FAVORITES. Start at MK and ride the "mountain range", then to Epcot for Soarin & Mission Space, then to AK for Everest, etc.




I'm trying to come up with a list because neither of these reasons above apply to us & how we tend to see the parks. So, I've added a few:

3) FOOD! We're staying at the BCV, so it would be nice to head back to our hotel & be able to walk to the restaurants in World Showcase- whether we're planning on doing anything in Epcot or not.

4) ANIMAL KINGDOM. It sounds like the animals are most active in the early morning, right after it rains, or at dusk. So, if you're there to see animals like we are, it doesn't make sense to spend most of a hot afternoon trying to see animals. We might as well park hop before or after the "good" times to see animals.


So, I'm looking for more reasons- why do you park hop? Have you ever bought Park Hoppers and not used them? For those of you who are fans of DisneyQuest- as I think we will be- which would you choose between Park Hopping and Disney Quest?

 

[mickeymom55]

We've been to three parks in one day. Went to Epcot for one day (started out a little late due to 1 AM arrival) and didn't finish the World Showcase, so we started out there the next morning and then it was off to Animal Kingdom (raining like you wouldn't believe) for a few rides and the Lion King show then it was Magic Kingdom(rain had stopped) for EMH and to finish the day with Wishes and Spectromagic parade. Our kids are older and the ability to move between the parks is easy, so no one gets bored and everyone can do whatever they want all in one day. With younger children, park hopping may not be as practical. If you have a plan for each park and want to spend some down time at the hotel, go without the hopping option. Just keep in mind the parades and shows and as long as you have enough days on your ticket, do one park a day! Whatever suits your style is what you should go with. Have a wonderful time!!!

 

[jann1033]

we park hopped usually be cause we go in winter and some parks closed earlier ( mk around 7) so we'd go to epcot for the evening.

ak has lots to do other than view the animals( ie shows, rides) so don't think that would really apply. i think on a first trip you would spend at least a day there.( we spent 1 1/2 and would have stayed longer)

we also hop on our last few park days. we do each park at least once then do things we really like ( like rnr, tot) the last day or 2 which means for instance we only spend maybe an hr at mgm and then go to epcot

some go to emh then change parks when it gets busy( we go off season so that isn't really necessary imo)

we do hop sometimes to eat at epcot but since we usually spend at least 2 days there, not very often.

a lot depends on how long you are going to be there and your personal likes..last trip we had aps and i think only hopped on the mgm/epcot last day. it seems to me since wishes and spectro seem to be shown more often and with fantasmic,now there are 3 parks with evening shows so by the time they were over, we were ready to go get dinner or go back to bed rather than tackle another park

however we have disney quest tickets we have yet to use so.....

 

[paladin]

We always stay at one of the Epcot resorts and spend a lot of our evenings at Epcot and MGM, so we start the day at another park, come back in the afternoon for a rest and then head out later.

 

[kldmom2000]

We always stay at the Yacht or Beach Club, so to be able to walk into Epcot any old time we want is nice.... sometimes we'll cut through Epcot to take the monorail into the Magic Kingdom or vice versa if the line is too long at MK to take the bus back to the hotel.... I like to take advantage of the EMH in the morning and then scoot out of that park around lunchtime when it's sooooo packed. We don't usually return to the same park on the same day-I like variety! I could never, ever, ever buy the same park/same day tix!!!!

 

[pamluvsdiz]

DH and I can usually only get away for a few days at a time(3-5). We like to visit as many parks as we can. Yes, it's a little crazy and we try to plan on things each time we really want to see. This year we are taking our neices(14&17) hope they can keep up with auntie's & unc's wild schedule!

 

[KJHawley]

We didn't park hop at all on our last trip- 10 years ago. Of course, AK and Disney Quest weren't there, so there's more reason to park hop than ever.

However, we don't tend to visit the park like other hoppers do. We don't go in the mornings- we tend to sleep in, and get to the park after lunch. We don't have any "favorites" we tend to hit either- we tend to see just about everything in the parks, except the rides for very small children. If we go to a park, we're not planning on seeing just a few things- we're going for many hours.

However, some of you have brought up a good point:

5) WEATHER- Some parks (especially MK and DS) have less to do when a big storm comes through (we're going in June). If we don't park hop, we're stuck with little to do.

So here's another twist, for those of you who LIKED DisneyQuest. If you had to choose between them, would you choose Park Hopping or a day at Disney Quest?

 

[lizanne]

I can't imagine not having the park hopper option.

Here are my reasons:
1. If the park we're in is too crowded, we can leave and go to another.

2. We always take a break in the afternoon and can return to any park in
the evening. On our last trip Nov/Dec '05 there were some days that
we actually were able to cover more ground than we expected in the
morning so we wanted to go elsewhere at night.

3. Restaurants - don't have to pick one in the park of the day. I know we
can go to resort restaurants but if you have AR's at the Brown Derby and
you don't want to be at MGM that day...no worries.

4. I love the parades and fireworks and fantasmic and I can go any night.

5. Can always go to the park that's open early or late.

6. While my DH can plan every detail, he also can be very spur of the
moment and having the option to switch parks makes things much
easier.

But we don't spend any time at Disney Quest (tried it once and it just wasn't for us). If my family wanted to do Disney Quest and I had to pick one option
I'd have to consider the pluses and minuses and then decide. There are many, many people who do not park hop and they enjoy WDW.

 

[Ghost]

I will always have Park Hopper Passes. I could not bare the tought that I was at AK untill it closes and because no hopper option I could not go anywhere else... Last visit I ended up in EPCOP on many evening... I love Illuminations and with the hopper option I could close my day with Illuminations even if I was at another park first...

 

[torinsmom]

I had to choose between hopping and Disney Quest/water parks and I chose to skip hopping. We bought hopping when we went last time, and did not use it AT ALL. I am planning to go to MGM on arrival day, so no need to hop then, and on our AK day, we are driving over to Universal to use our Meal and Movie tickets in the evening, so we should be fine with just AK for that day. For MK and Epcot, I know we will need the whole day, and with an 11yo, rest is not a big deal.

DQ looks like a lot of fun for the 9yo-teen age group and I figure I can go shopping in DTD if I get really bored in there. ANd my son really wants to go to Typhoon Lagoon. We will be using at least 2 pluses on our trip.

Marsha

 

[Andrea]

i'm glad you posted this, we are thinking the same thing about the park hopping part of the passes

 

[pepe of ohio]

Before we purchased AP's, we always hopped. We like a different park in the am then the one we go to in the pm. Plus, is a park we go to is packed, we just head to another. We can spend the day at 3 parks, one in the am, another in the pm, and catch Illuminations at EPCOT. It just makes the day more versital with more options to avoid crowds.

As for DW, been there, done that, won't do back. For the money, not worth it. Way too many kids lined up for each game or attraction. After a few hours, I've had it and am ready to go, seems like alot for a ticket for a couple of hours. We just rather head to the Contemporary Resort game room and play in there for a few hours or go to other resort game rooms. Really can't say much, we're in our 50's and kids are grown but still meet us at WDW and they agree mostly on how we visit the World.

 

[ttfn3]

I like park hopping. If I go to a park and it gets VERY crowded, it's nice to have an option to jump to another, less hectic park.

Hands down, I would choose park hopping over Disney Quest. I really didn't like Disney Quest. Way too, too loud and crowded for me. People are very impatient when your playing a game. I felt rushed. Also, A lot of the games didn't work. My family likes Dave and Busters around here much better.

 

[Amy&Dan]

One thing to consider is to add extra days to your ticket. This only works if you are going for less than 10 days since you can't purchase park tickets for more than 10 days unless you buy AP's. If you were going for 5 days for example, you could add as many as 5 extra days either before or during your visit. Then if there are days you want to hop, you can do that by using those extra days. The cost of adding on those extra 5 days is about $25 less per ticket than adding the park hopping to a 5 day base ticket. As for Disney Quest, you have to do it to know if you like it. My husband and kids loved it, I thought it was okay. We have 8 park days this next time and we are adding the plus option as opposed to the park hopping option because my kids want to do both water parks and Disney Quest. We are doing 10 day tickets so that we have those two extra days to use for hopping if need be. This is the first time we have not had the hopper option but this is our 6th visit to WDW and the last two times we seldom hopped even though we had AP's. I think hopping also depends on the age of your kids (or if you have kids at all), the length of your stay, how many times you have been to WDW and probably a bunch of other factors I can't think of right now! You can always buy a base ticket and add on days/options if you need them as the visit progresses. But once you buy those options and days, you can't get your money back even if you don't use everything your ticket offers.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I've always used my park hoppers well. Maybe not everyday of every trip, but I know I wouldn't get a ticket without hopping.

1. I love having an option, even if I don't use it, it's nice to know I have it.
Makes me feel less like I HAVE to do something at a park, because I might not make it back there.

2. I like having the option to go see whatever night time show strikes my fancy. Wishes, Illuminations, Fantasmic. It's great to be able to go to a park just for the night time show or one or two specific rides you want to hit again.

3. If the park I'm at is or gets very crowded, I can hop to another one that is hopefully less crowded.

4. If I dont wind up spending a whole day at AK (sometimes I do, sometimes I don't) I like being able to go to another park in the evening.

5. It's great to be able to go to a park just for a meal. Especially at Epcot.

6. One day of my upcoming trip, I'm planning on going to Epcot in the morning to do just TT and Soarin, then over to BC for breakfast at Cape May, then head over to MGM after breakfast.

7. I always worry something will "happen" on one of my park days...at any of the parks...say I don't feel well or bad thunderstorms or something and I will "used" up my time/ticket for that park and I'll want to go back, but not for the whole day and I won't be able to. (sort of silly I know, but I worry about the kind of stuff.. )

 

[buckylarue]

One thing to consider is to add extra days to your ticket. This only works if you are going for less than 10 days since you can't purchase park tickets for more than 10 days unless you buy AP's. If you were going for 5 days for example, you could add as many as 5 extra days either before or during your visit. Then if there are days you want to hop, you can do that by using those extra days.

It doesn't work that way. You CANNOT use more than one day of a ticket on a single day (otherwise everyone would do that and save $$ over buying the hopper option).

 

[KJHawley]

One thing to consider is to add extra days to your ticket. This only works if you are going for less than 10 days since you can't purchase park tickets for more than 10 days unless you buy AP's. If you were going for 5 days for example, you could add as many as 5 extra days either before or during your visit. Then if there are days you want to hop, you can do that by using those extra days. The cost of adding on those extra 5 days is about $25 less per ticket than adding the park hopping to a 5 day base ticket.

buckylarue is right, you can't do that- I already looked into it.


For those of you who mentioned park hopping when a park is really crowded- does this help? Have you found that the new "hopped" park is really less crowded than the one you left? We're already making a vague plan- using info from the guidebooks to avoid certain parks on certain days. It seems like once you've picked a park that is supposed to be less crowded, the other ones will probably be worse.

 

[Amy&Dan]

It doesn't work that way. You CANNOT use more than one day of a ticket on a single day (otherwise everyone would do that and save $$ over buying the hopper option).

Wow, that is one tip on the disboards that isn't going to work for me! I wish I could remember where I read that to let that person know since they were planning on doing this to save money too! I should have known that was too good to be true. Now I am going to have to rethink things, thank goodness I found out before next month!

 

[pamluvsdiz]

DH and I are going for the 10 day w/ park hopper- no expiration. We'll only use 4 days this summer. It's way more $$$ than we would like to lay out, but we know we'll be back and the cost of tix just keeps going up and up. If you plan to visit again, make sure you get the never expire option. You never know when the opportunity will come up to visit again (happened to me when my BF's brother went with his kids- had a 4 bdrm house W/pool!). Good times!

Pammy