Why do you park hop?

[photobob]

We always stay onsite. Normally we go to one park at rope drop and then go back to the resort for a while and then a different park in the evening. This past year we went for Food and wine festival and would go to AK, MK or DHS in the morning and go to Epcot for F&W around lunch. Rare for us to go to only one park in a day.

 

[gericoronado]

I don't know if there's really a set reason for it. Sometimes we plan to do 2 different parks in one day. Sometimes we finish one park earlier than expected and want to go to another one. Sometimes we spend a little bit of time in one park, but realize that we'd rather be somewhere else

This.

 

[Mikie]

We've bought hoppers twice and skipped them twice. We have always had kids under age 3 in our party and travel in October when all the park hours are a bit shorter. The trips where we had hoppers, we used them to go to a park that had fireworks or to go to an ADR in a different park from where we toured that day - definitely ended up feeling like we paid an awful lot for that fireworks show, since that was the only hop we ended up doing! If we were to go 5 days or less, I'd hop to get in some half day parks, but otherwise we'll wait til the kids can do later nights (but by then, will I be too old to do it? )

 

[MaestroTK]

There are lots of situations where the hopping works to your advantage. Our last two stays were at BCV & VWL. Both are in close proximity to parks. At the Beach Club we could pop into Epcot any time we wanted. At the Wilderness Lodge we could hop over to MK any time. We also like the hopping option as an insurance policy against weather. We know we can always get back somewhere if rain/poor weather prevents us from doing or seeing something we don't want to miss.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

I hop because Epcot is a 2-3 hour park for me if I do RD, but I do love some of its restaurants. Epcot at 9, FP+ for HS or MK from 12-3. Back to Epcot at 7 for dinner and evening show.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

We always like the park hopper. Like others have said, we LOVE the ease and flexibility. We go during Christmas, so it's kind of imperative to have it due to the chance of park closures, but our reasoning is pretty general.

Let's say there's a day where you want to do Magic Kingdom, but EPCOT has EMH - with the park hopper, you can head to MK during the day, and still get to experience EPCOT for EMH.


It's always very useful on longer trips. Let's say you do an 8-day trip. By day 5, you've been to all the parks. There's only a few things you missed at MK, DHS, EPCOT and AK. Well, you're not gonna go to MK for a full day then! You can go to MK, get the last three rides or attractions done, and then head to AK to finish those three attractions... and so on..

 

[Auntie Sherry]

I only park when I stay at a monorail or epcot resort. I find it waste time traveling. An example would be staying at poly and I went to AK IT CLOSES AT 5:00 so then I can hop on monorail for a few hours in the evening if MK open later.

 

[disneybliss2]

We always get the park hopper and use it a lot. We like to make use of many of the EMH mornings, but we like to hop out after lunch when the crowd is building and go to a different park. Sometimes we like to hop to a different park for firework show. We also like to go to MK for riding the rides at night, but may have wanted to spend the day elsewhere. We also hop over to Epcot a lot for the dining options there. On this past trip, we went to DHS for the bulk of the day, hopped to Epcot for dinner, and then hopped over to MK to ride rides and see the evening parade. We loved it! We love the flexibility that the park hopper gives you. Also, if the weather messes up your plans, such as a parade or firework show is rained out, you can go to the park you had planned later in the week and use your hopper to hop to the park with the parade/firework show to see it still.

 

[RockAndRollBallerina]

I've been going for 2 decades now since I was 5 1/2. Even though we may skip a few years of not going, it's not like we haven't been to Disneyworld before. Our trips now tend to be 4 days in length so hopping allows us to get to all of the parks more than once in a trip; in addition to being able to get into more than 1 park a day.

 

[francie57]

For us park hoppers were a must - annual pass holders now so its included. We stay at the Epcot resorts, so for us we start at one park in the morning, go back to use the pool, and then go to Epcot for a nice TS meal. From there we decide what to do and can go where ever we want. If we were still buying regular park tickets we would still definitely be getting the hopper option.

 

[foreverdis]

We have always hopped!

AK & HS are not full-day parks for us, so we hop to another park. We've gone into a park, HS a couple of times, when it was so packed you couldn't move, so we hopped. When kids were younger, we usually ended up at MK in the evening, until closing. Now, DS prefers EPCOT, so we hop there, then to MK to finish up the night.

I took a trip with mom and sister a few years back and we had no hoppers; I felt trapped and pressured to see everything in one day, lol! We are just hoppers!

 

[wendybeth75]

Before we had AP we always went for Hoppers. We often do one park in the morning and a different park in the Evening. There have been plenty of times we left a park because it was so crowded and headed to another. I just like the flexibility it gives.

 

[Woodmnky]

I didn't think we would use hoppers, but they were free the first time we went. We are a family of 3 with a 3 yo and we stay off site at Windsor Hills. We always go back to our room for a mid-day break/nap. If we go back to a resort in the evening it is almost always different than the one we went to that morning. Hoppers can be especially important if you go during the party season at MK (Halloween & Christmas). The days that MK closes early for parties tend to be the least crowded days to be there because there is no nighttime entertainment unless you have a party ticket. We would go to MK during the day and another resort at night. This also allows us to go to MK one evening when there is nighttime entertainment just to see the nighttime stuff, but to avoid the park during the day when it is busier.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

We always stay at YC/BC/BW so hopping into Epcot at night for dinner/touring is an everyday thing. That's what we hop.

This is EXACTLY why I get the hopper option. I usually tour solo and in early December. My resort of choice is the BC or BW. Often when I am at another park other than Epcot, I like to get back to my room, get rid of my sun visor and sun glasses, pick up my sweatshirt, and then I am out to Epcot for a couple more hours of park time.

 

[Bilierka]

Basically because of the weather, if fantastic is rained out one night, we can park hop to it another night, same goes for fireworks or illuminations.

It just gives you another weapon in your touring plans . Plus if you do only half day at certain parks, it gives you great flexibility.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Because I am bad at making decisions in only one park for a whole day. Sometimes I just get the urge to go on the Kilimanjaro safari asap when I happen to be in Epcot. That kind of thing.

Now that I am a PAP holder, I park hop because I can. It's fun! You can transport to a whole new world with a short bus ride.

 

[amym2]

We typically plan to hit more than one park at least a couple of days during our trip. For our Oct trip, we're doing AK in the morning, back to the resort to rest/swim, then to MK in the evening. Another day we're doing a few hours at HS and then switching to EP for Food & Wine. On our last day, we're keeping our park options open, but we have a BOG dinner ADR.

PH are great if you hit bad weather. During our last trip (late Sept) we had one very rainy afternoon in EP. We had ponchos but were soaking wet (think constant pouring rain, not just a brief shower). We went back to the resort instead and then the next day hit HS in the morning as planned but then switched to EP to do the things we'd missed the day before.

Since we are seasoned WDW visitors and know what we like and don't like (and thus skip what we don't like or have done recently), we find the PH useful. I would think that for visitors new to WDW or those that don't plan mid-day breaks, they might not be as useful.

 

[rajak73]

We get hoppers because of the flexibility. When we are there in Dec this year, AK closes at 5 but MK is open to 10. We may decide to hop to MK for a couple of hours. Also, we get 6 day passes, one day at each park and 2 extra days to do as we please, we may go shopping at 2 or 3 different parks.

 

[cleophus12]

I agree with PPs that we hop mostly for the ability to go into Epcot for dinner especially when staying at an Epcot resort. However, I think that some of the PPs made a good point about not choosing to return to the parks once you've gotten to your hotel for your afternoon break. The couple of times we stayed offsite we didn't go back to the hotel because the return to the parks was just too much of a hassle. You know your family best so you might consider their stamina before you make the purchase of a PH.

 

[Spunky946]

We love the flexibility. On our last trio we had an ADR at bog for dinner, but the kids wanted to ride soarin again. So we went to Epcot in the am and then over to mk.