Park Hopper or Water Parks and More

[mook3y]

Just curious what you guys would do. Assume you are going for over 10 night. Which would you rather have, park hopper or water parks and more?

[snowflakegirl]

Historically I've always done both. After my last trip where we had one day at the water park, and it really only amounted to a couple of hours, I realized that I'd rather just get the PH and use my "off" day to hang out at the resort and the resort pool and DTD.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I've done Park Hopper, so we have the flexability to go to another park, or to have dinner somewhere other than the park for the day.

We haven't done the waterparks & more, since it is more than a single day at the waterpark, and we've only done a single day at a waterpark during any trip.

[Silver_Surfer]

I'm not as lucky as some of you who live so close to DW so I did get Water Parks & More:party:

[forever a child]

We have never visited the water parks. There are water parks all across America. If I am trying to save $ on my vacation, I will do a local water park. When I am going to WDW...I don't have any interest in water parks. When my DD starts hanging out with her friends at WDW...I'll let her do water parks with them if she wants to. That's when I'll head to the spa by myself :)

I would rather spend time at our resort and save the $ for something else like shopping or nicer meals. Or now perhaps making it a regular thing to visit Universal's WWoHP :secret: That may be our new....must do thing, just have to wait and see after this September!

[yjgirl32]

I voted for the park hopper- but if I went during a hotter month I would choice the waterpark option- I have been to the both of them and my ds loved them but for the last couple of trips we had a pass to aquatica so there was no need to go. I love being able to go from a crowded park to a less crowded park. Good luck.

[JabberJaws]

I really do love the water parks at WDW, but I'd go w/ park hopper every time. After having worked at WDW off an on for 2 years in the past, and gone soo many times to the parks, I get antsy staying in one park the whole day. Park hopping is absolutely the way to go.

[MarkC]

Personally, if I needed to buy a 10 day pass I would buy an annual pass instead and find a way to work in a 2nd trip later in that time frame. But that's just me.

[tad_tad]

If there was no way I could do both, the one I couldn't live without would be the park hopper. I feel trapped if I can't leave an extraordinarily busy park and go to another!

[Stu29573]

In seven trips, I have never been to the water parks. I guess since we have such good ones around here, I never wanted to cut into "park time."

[PopPhan]

We always do both, but if it came down to an absolute one-or-the-other choice, it would be Park Hopper all the way! I can live without BB,TL & DQ, but MUST have freedom to change parks at will!!

[kaylamag]

I voted for both, but I would at least have to have a park hopper.
We are going in December for 2 weeks. I figured we only have a 10 day pass for the parks, but with the water parks and more option we could spend at least one day at a Blizzard Beach (we really enjoyed TL when we were there in 2008). Spend a day at Downtown Disney ( with Disney Quest, which we also enjoyed on our last trip).
We are thinking about staying at the Beach Club, which has Stormalong bay. If we stay here i would consider droping the Water parks and more option.
I wish Disney would offer more than a 10 day ticket, though.

[wdwfamilyof4]

When we get to a park in the morning there's so much to do that it always seems like a waste of time to travel to another park, so we never park hop. But we've only been 3 times. I'm sure that if you get to go every year it'd make a difference. The water parks are amazing at Disney! Typhoon Lagoon's pool is the best. You get the fun of the ocean w/o salt water or anything that can eat you:D. I was just wishing that we could go during free dining, stay at a value resort, get a 10 day ticket and add the water parks and more then we could stay 17 days for a very decent price. Obviously this is just me wishing while looking out my window at 6 ins. of snow.

[tad_tad]

Obviously this is just me wishing while looking out my window at 6 ins. of snow.

Just 6 inches? Sounds nice! We're at about two feet and we're looking at another foot tomorrow. :(

[flipadeeflop]

I've been to Disney 5 times and I've only tried the park hopper once. I feel like it would only be worth getting it if you were there less than a week. I have always had time to visit every park twice each time I have went except for one (we usually skip going to Epcot the second time).

[johnO]

We've put park hopping behind us. We feel that you lose out on so much when you rush around from park to park and spend so much time in transit. We've really learned to take our time and experience so much hidden magic, that can only be found when youre taking your time. If we choose to leave a park early, or arrive late, its usually because we're heading out to tour a resort, try a restaurant we've never been to, etc..

I chose the water parks because I think so many people miss out on a very immersive and fantastic experience at the water parks. Typhoon Lagoon & Blizzard Beach are so much fun and far better than "local water parks".

[mook3y]

I chose the water parks because I think so many people miss out on a very immersive and fantastic experience at the water parks. Typhoon Lagoon & Blizzard Beach are so much fun and far better than "local water parks".

I have to agree. I did marketing many moons ago for the largest water park in southern california. While it was a great water park, I was blown away at how cool TL and BB were.

Plus, you can do Disneyquest too.

[Fastpasssteve]

I might add-on the water park option if it were a summer trip, but the Park Hopper option is imperative.

[spinnerf]

We always get the park hopper. We go to EPOCT nearly every day we stay. While I dont get the water parks ticket, I do go on occasion. You may be able to go to a water park anywhere in the country, but like many other things Disney does it best. Definately worth checking out!

[tad_tad]

We find ourselves back at EPCOT pretty consistantly as well. It doesn't matter where we start the day, we seem to be there in the evening!

[joonyer]

I think the answer to your question would depend on the length of your trip and with a ten-day trip I'd choose the water parks and more (assuming you like the water parks). If we were only going to be there for 3-5 days, I get a park hopper, and just buy a single water park admission if we really wanted to vist a water park (probably wouldn't have time to visit a water park more than once, or go to Disney Quest) and use the park hopper to maximize our park opportunities. We like to use the park hopper option to go to the park that's open late at night after visiting another park in the daylight hours. We love the parks after dark.

But since your question was about a ten-day visit, I'd probably get the Water Parks & More option if I could only afford one or the other. On a week long stay, we'd have time to go to the water parks and DQ more than once. The longer stay also gives you more time to experience everything in the parks without having to hop to do it.

[princessjojo]

Funny you should post this. We were just discussing this very topic last night and had no idea what we were going to do. It's interesting how everyone feels. And we still don't know what we're going to do. We do know we'll go to the water parks one day, but what type of ticket we may purchase is still undecided...

[mook3y]

Funny you should post this. We were just discussing this very topic last night and had no idea what we were going to do. It's interesting how everyone feels. And we still don't know what we're going to do. We do know we'll go to the water parks one day, but what type of ticket we may purchase is still undecided...

We were having the same discussion which led me to post this to get other opinions on what people do.

We are leaning towards not doing DDP, no PH and getting water parks and more.

We are staying 14 nights and not sure we would actually use the PH more than once or twice and that it may not be worth it for us.

In the past, when we park hopped it was mainly for dinner reservations.

Our kids will be 9,7 & 2 and from last year, we know that we love watching wishes from the pool. So even if we are back to the park early, we have no desire to go deal with the crowds at MK just to see fireworks and head back to our resort.

[Mousemates]

I would do the waterparks option if I was going in warm weather months and had kids of an age (teens) that I could let do a little roaming in the water parks. This option also gets you into DisneyQuest which my teenage son greatly enjoys.

however, it were just me and my wife...the hopper option would be more useful...especially if we were staying in an Epcot area resort where the ability to walk over to the world showcase for lunch or dinner (any day we wanted) would increase the likelihood of being able to get ADRs at good times at our preferred restaurants.