Hop is a must for me because I enjoy dining at Epcot World Showcase most nights. Also, as Capt_redshirt says, AK and HS dont reward a full day and end heading to Epcot or MK.
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Hop is a must for me because I enjoy dining at Epcot World Showcase most nights. Also, as Capt_redshirt says, AK and HS dont reward a full day and end heading to Epcot or MK.
We have hopped on each of our previous 5 trips, but like you, we are considering NOT hopping on our upcoming trip, because of money and also because on our last trip, we didn't hop on a few different days and kind of enjoyed staying at one park the entire time. We liked the idea of having Fast Passes available for the evening.
I think we'll try not hopping on this trip and see how it goes. The hardest part would be not hopping on our final day. On our last trip, we had to take Magic Express by 2 PM and so we hit all four parks on our final day riding our favorite rides at each park. Of course, we had to start with HS first due to Toy Story having the worst wait time. It was crazy, but fun and would like to make it a tradition.
JRocker - I have found a kindred Disney fan! Exactly what we do.
We've hopped every time. It allows us to dine at Epcot more (or any other park) and gives us more wiggle room for planning around bad weather days.
I've always gotten the hoppers but did not often use them more than once or twice. On my last trip I think we hopped on all but one or two days. Although I think we're in the minority and can happily make a full day out of AK, it closes fairly early compared to other parks, so we left around dinner time and went to Epcot and then went back to AK another day. DHS is a half day park for me at this point, and we liked that when we decided that halfway through our day we could just leave and go somewhere else (Epcot). Basically we found ourselves at Epcot a lot this last trip, and we loved the flexibility of being able to wrap up our days with a nighttime stroll around the showcase. That said, with planning, I think I'd be perfectly able to plan a trip without hoppers as well. I'd miss the flexibility, but I'd be in Disney, I'm sure I'd still have fun!
I always hop! I find it very convenient and hopping offers a lot of flexibility. Most of the time I make dining reservations at Epcot and I wouldn't want to spend every single day there (although I love Epcot). I like to go to a park in the morning/afternoon, take a rest break at the hotel in the late afternoon, and then go to another park in the evening.
We always buy the hopper even if we have no intention during planning to actually hop. It is nice to have the option if you want to. There were a few times on our last trip that we hopped back to a park especially to MK because it was supposed to be crowded during the day but at night they were doing the Electrical Parade and we didn't want to miss it.
We park hop every day of our trip. I think this is the main reason why we have never had to wait more than 20 minutes in a line. We usually arrive pretty early, especially at MK and DHS. At MK we are always able to get a huge chunk accomplished w/o FP and get FP for what we like. When crowds get too big, we leave knowing we can return another day/time and experience what we missed. There is NO pressure.
Too bad Fastpass+ will likely ruin all this but hopefully not till our summer trip is over. (When choosing WDW as our vac, it has always been in the summer)
I think you really have to assess what is best for you, but no matter how tight money is I think we will always choose to hop. On our most recent trips, we have hopped almost every single day. But then again, there's only two of us. If I was planning for a big family trip and really needed to pinch a few pennies, I could maybe forgo hopping...maybe :secret:
We have purchased park hopper tickets in the past but mainly if we may want to go back somewhere on the last day to pick up a last minute shopping item or something. I hate to go from park to park, it messes with my OCD...lol.
always, yes!
it's a great way to take advantage of the daily EMHs. hit one part for EMHs in the morning, then another for EMHs at night.
:mickey:
Travelling with little kids, we always head back to the hotel for nap / swimming shortly after lunch, then back to a park in the late afternoon. I guess we could go to the same park morning and evening. In principle I guess there's no reason we couldn't go back to the same park in the evening that we had visited that morning, but in practice we always mix it up and see two parks per day.
not since 95...
i prefer to spend each day fully immersed in a park. i havent had any issues. i just tend to go hardcore lol
In 25 trips, I can't remember even one day where we didn't park hop. And as much as we love the restaurants at World Showcase, it doesn't matter where we start the day. We tend to end up at Epcot at night for the food, music and atmosphere at least 3-4 nights each trip. Devoted park hopper here.
I have annual passes so I don't have to make that decision but when we stay onsite we always hop. My children are still younger and we do usually take a break in the afternoon. Sometimes we go back to the same park.
If you like to stay at the same park most of the day, I think you can be successful without hopping. When I we do a day trip to WDW and I have my family with me, we tend to stay in the same park for the whole day. It's just easier. By myself it varies.
....we couldn't survive without the "hopper" option. Our days are broken into a "morning session" at one park or another ....break time (at the resort mid-late afternoon) ...and then an 'evening session' which includes dinner ...and that's usually at EPCOT. So, we'd be lost without the ability to move from one park to another.
I like to hop when I'm there for a short trip, like 3 to 4 days, so I can maximize my time, but on longer trips I don't use it. I like dedicating full days to one park, it helps me plan, and I don't have to worry about racing through traffic and transportation delays to get to another park for an ADR time. There's so much to do and see in the MK and EPCOT I can go from rope drop to Kiss Goodnight and still leave attractions and rides on the table.
I always hop. 3 reasons: 1) AK closes early in the Fall months (my normal visiting time is Sept/Oct); 2) I spend a lot of evenings in World Showcase for the atmosphere and Illuminations; 3) Crowds - if the park I want to begin my day at gets too busy, I just bug out and head for another.
Used to have a 4th - dining. Recent trips have changed that somewhat in that I really enjoy the restaurants in the Resorts themselves and rarely book any meals that are actually inside a park.
Have to do Wishes and Fantasmic at least once per trip.
We love to hop!! We go to one park during the day and take a mid day swim break. Then, we end up at EPCOT to eat dinner. We mostly eat in EPCOT because of all the choices.
We are hoppers! Can't even imagine not hopping but if something has to give I could see why you chose that. I would definitely do somemresearch on what park to go to each day. But I'm planner by nature and thats what works for my family. Have fun on your trip. Make sure you let all us hoppers know how it went.