To Park Hop or Not

[lovenmickey]

I need everyones help. Right now we currently do NOT have the park hopping option on our passes but are considering adding it. We have never gone with out it...anyone who has gone and never park hopped can you give me some pointers?? Did you feel constrained to being able to go to only one park per day? Can you go to the same park more than once a day?? We tend to take a break in the middle of the day -

Thanks so much!

[irish1967]

Yes, you can leave the park for a mid-day break and return to the same park later the same day.

I can't offer any additional advice - our yearly trips are short (3 nights/4 days) so we always get the park hopper in order to be able to most effectively utilize our limited time.

[Hayden's Dad]

We have always done the park hopper although not until this up coming trip have we hopped so much. This trip several of our dinner meals are at different parks so we will have to hop to them.

[caryrae]

We never get the hopping option. To us it's not worth the money, it adds $45 per ticket to get the hopping option, so with 2 of us that $90 extra could be spent else where. We have never wished we had a hopper ticket cause we can easily spent at least a day at each park. I guess I know if we miss a ride or show or something we will probably be back another time to do what we missed. This is our opinion and I know there are people who could never go without getting the hopping option and love going to more then one park a day.

[GoinGoofyPlanninThisTrip]

Park Hopping is the way to go! You can bolt over to another park if the one you are in seems overly crowded. But the real benefit is (if you plan on TS meals) you can go to any park and still have a meal at any other park - this frees up a lot of ADR planning time.

[merlinmagic4]

We have not hopped in the past but the idea is starting to grow on me as I grow more familiar with the parks. We've also always traveled with little kids so we have found it easier to stay put. I think we are in the minority, though :blush:

[Kidsmom]

We were there is summer and did not buy hopper tickets.

We went for 10 days and focused one day on one park. We planned early and picked which day we wanted to go to which park according to extended hours and then made ADR at that park. On a couple of pre-determined no park days we ate at non-park places (hotel and DD).

My husband and I aren't morning people. We went to the park each day with our 4 kids(4,6,7,9 ages) between 12-1pm and stayed until 9pm-12. We would swim late at night and they were so tired they slept until 9 or 10am.

We really liked focusing on one park and getting to do so much. We did each park twice except Epcot 3x and Animal King. - once (the kids choice)

We are going again in April and already have our dinners and parks mapped out for each day.

I would do the hopper if it was a short trip and you wanted to see it all. But if you are there for a while it is nice to just stay at one park and not spend so much time on buses or boats traveling around.

Good Luck!

[disneydave4479]

Sometimes my DW and I do, sometimes we don't. I think the majority of the time we just stay in one park, but having the option sometimes is nice. If it is just too crowded or we want the option of checking out some of the other attractions, I think it is definitely worth while.

In the end, it is really up to you. If you'll use it, then go for it! Otherwise it is just extra added expense.

Enjoy your trip!

Dave :mickey:

[tiaramom]

What We Like To Do Is;
Example:

Spend The Day At Mgm
And Hop Over To Epcot For Dining And Shopping Etc..

Or

Spend The Day At Animal Kingdom
And Park Hop To Mk For Diner At Liberty Tavern Restaurant And See Some Fireworks.

I Really Feel Its Worth The Extra Money-
So You Are Not Stuck In One Spot. Granted- You Can Easily Spend A Whole Day At Apark And Eat There. Its Just Opens Your Options. I Usually Stay At One Park Per Day- But Have Recentley Made My Way To Park Hop To Restaurants I Really Enjoy. I Have A Toddler So Ph Wasnt My Favorite Thing To Do. So I Include It Once Or Twice Per Trip.
Its Up To You-
And Its Also About How Many Times You Have Bben To Disney- And How Many Days. As A First Timer- One Park A Day Is Enough. Up To You!!!

[CleveRocks]

You can add the park hopper option at any time during your trip, so this means you don't even need to decide before your trip! If you feel the need to hop, then go hop and pay for it then.

With the base ticket, you are allowed unlimited "in and out" privileges for the one park you are in on any given day.

I hop, but I've never done so because I thought a park was too crowded. My nightmare would be that I'd be frustrated in a crowded park, take the time to leave and get to another park only to find out that that second park is as crowded or even more crowded!!!

[I believe]

We are hopping for the first time on our upcoming Feb. trip. It will be a short three night trip, so we wouldn't be able to hit all four parks, because we need to travel on our last day. Our plans to hop revolve around EMH and also my children(6&10). They like to begin and end at MK. We are also going to the Pirates/Princess party to create some special extra bonus time at MK.I am looking forward to hopping. The best part about it for us was the park hopper promotion that was announced last week. Even though our original plan was to hop...we get to do it for "free" now.:mickey:
With that all said, We love touring one park per day. Like others have said,we check out EMH and our make dinner plans accordingly.
We usually get to the parks shortly aftre the park opens, and leave when it closes. There is pleanty of time to rest midday if you choose. However for some magical reason,my family does not get sleepy at Disney World. It's a Good thing!

[sloslo]

I've been to WDW 20 times and park hopped once. It's not worth it. It takes a while to get to all the parks between parking, monorails, trams, etc.

[lovenmickey]

we have tickets to the christmas party at MK we could always go to MGM during the day and then to MK at night right? Isnt that a seperate admittance to MK for the party? So if we dont do PH that would be one day we could technically PH right???? Someone please confirm this for me....thanks

[caryrae]

we have tickets to the christmas party at MK we could always go to MGM during the day and then to MK at night right? Isnt that a seperate admittance to MK for the party? So if we dont do PH that would be one day we could technically PH right???? Someone please confirm this for me....thanks

Yes you use a seperate ticket for that, so I guess it's park hopping with out a park hopping option.

[brewcrew26]

We never get the hopping option. To us it's not worth the money, it adds $45 per ticket to get the hopping option, so with 2 of us that $90 extra could be spent else where. We have never wished we had a hopper ticket cause we can easily spent at least a day at each park.

I agree for two people I don't think it's the best buy especially if you want to take it slow. Plus, if you're going to stay for at least a week to ten days you have enough time to spend two days in each park.

I would say for families its a better deal who may have kids who get bored easily with some of the "educated" attractions at Epcot or may not be into the movies at the Studios. Or, it's good if you're going to be seeing a park one day and eating at a different park's restaurant that evening or want to catch a parade or fireworks.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We park hop, and love it!

On our first trip we didn't hop, and stuck to one park a day. It was fine, as you can most definately spend a full day in a single park.

However, for all of our other trips we have used the hopping option, for two reasons:

#1 - so we could choose ADR's without having to panic about which park we were planning to be in

#2 - so we could take advantage of extra magic hours/avoid EMH as desired.

We usually hop to and from the "close" parks, such as MK and Epcot and Epcot and MGM, so transportation is never a huge deal for us.

[disneycouple2004]

Hopper is the only way to go for us...We can see which park is overcrowded..and hop over to the others...we can make our adr's at any park and not have to be at that park all day...we also go back to the room for a midday break etc...its worth it..and its included in the AP...:thumbsup:

[tennantsrwe]

Although we've always added the PH option now that I think about it, we don't ever Park Hop. I usually plan for a park a day, sometimes we do a park two days (MK). I made all the ADR either at the park we're visiting or at a resort. I think the option is nice to have if you're willing to do multiple parks each day, we've just never done it. I actually think next time I won't even add it. I'd change it now but we're only 30 days out, change fee...Boo!

[Beast_fanatic]

Actually anyone can hop it's just a matter of, if you don't get the hopper option you have to use 1 day on your ticket for each park you hop to.

No, that does not work. You cannot enter more than one park on a given day with a base ticket. You MUST have the park hopper option to enter more than one park (other than the separate ticket event scenario posted earlier).

[Dyanna]

We have been to WDW several times & have never gotten the PH passes. We pick a park to go to on a specific day & stay there & see as much as we can. If we have an extra day we pick the park that we most want to go back to which usually winds up being MK every time. I dont see the need to spend time going from park to park. To me this is waisting time in transportation.

[MsMin]

If it were summer I wouldn't need it but we feel like a lot of time is wasted when we hop b/c it can take up to 1 1/2 hrs when we stop back at the room. HOWEVER! In winter, especially Dec. typically there is only one park open late so we end up switching to that park. MK has MVMCP on several night so the park is closing at 7pm and we are night ppl so we tend to switch to the park that is open later. Crowds aren't that big of a deal during value season but we hop b/c the park closes so early.
I'm sure that if we didn't hop we would have a lot of extra time to do other things and enjoy our resort. Last trip we used our hopper every day b/c w/ the F&W we went to EPCOT every day to eat. For us it's worth it despite the fact that if given the opportunity we don't hop.
As mentioned, if spending enough time on site hopping may not be necessary and there is so much to see w/ Christmas decorations at the resorts etc. But to get the most out of a shorter visit or if you love the parks at night then a hopper is helpful.
I bought the 10 day non expiring hopper and we only used 4 days on this past trip. I'll break even long before the 10th use as opposed to getting 2 -5 day hoppers. Now most of our next trip is paid for w/ DVC and 6 day tx!

[baby minnie's mommy]

We've gone both with and without hoppers, and it's been great both ways.

It looks like you're going the beginning of Dec., right? So perhaps you want to save the extra money for holiday shopping. Which also brings in the possibility that you'll be spending more time shopping this visit, therefore needing more time in each park.

On days that we don't park hop it's nice to see the parks change from their daytime appearance to nighttime, with the buildings lit up etc. (I'm referring to the regular stuff not holiday lights, which would be even more wonderful! :) )

Just a couple things to consider - you'll have a great time no matter the choice! :thumbsup: