Park Hoppers - Yes or No

[srwarden1928]

Before I start, I want to say that I like park hoppers.

When we were new to Disney, hoppers were totally unnecessary. We were doing everything we could in each park. It was more than enough to keep us satisfied for a whole day. I still like to start a Disney trip with a full day in each park. The more I have been to Disney, the more I enjoy hopping. After the first four days, I like to split days hitting the highlights of two parks, hitting the thrill rides of all the parks, etc. I also, at least in the past, enjoyed the food at Epcot and HS much more than the other parks. Also, if I miss an attraction or want to repeat something I can.

The larger your group/family, the more difficult/time-consuming hoppers become. So large families and groups may be just as well off without them if they are touring together. Certainly there are more good restaurants in Epcot than anywhere else, so going back to Epcot just to eat can be a good reason to get hoppers. There is more than enough in each park to keep you busy all day, even the way Studios is right now, but if you are only riding rides and not doing shows, you might need to move on somewhere else. If MK closes early, such as for parties several nights, you may need hoppers to spend more time there, and to spend time in another park after MK closes. There are many good reasons FOR hoppers, and just as many good reasons AGAINST hoppers. It depends on how many times you have been "recently", how long you are staying, how many people you are touring with, and exactly what your goals are for your trip as to whether they are a good deal for you or not.

I now have an AP for the first time. I am going with other family members in October for a short trip. They are NOT getting hoppers, and I probably won't need to hop either. I am going alone in November for a long trip. While I will not do so every day, I do plan to make good use of the hopper feature on that trip. Fortunately for me, it is a feature of the AP.

 

[alex9179]

I love hoppers because we like to bang out rides during AM EMH and then go to a less busy park for the afternoon/evening. They allow me to see the various evening shows without committing to the one park.
It totally depends on one's touring style.

 

[PirateKing]

We didn't use hoppers on our last trip in July and we were able to get in everything we wanted to. Didn't feel like we missed anything.

 

[Jenderelly]

Our last trip, we had Hoppers and although we used them a few times, I felt like we could have lived without them. We chose not to get them for our upcoming trip.

Like has been said, it's an easy add option if you get there and feel like you want to Hop around.

 

[AppleSister1]

We love them. We go a lot though. It allows us to AM EMH and then hop out when the park gets too busy. We like to eat dinner and watch the shows in a different park in the evening. We often take an afternoon break. The hoppers just give you so many more options, especially now with the Express Transportation.

 

[ZoZo]

We go to WDW for Food&Wine during which we end up at WS every afternoon/evening except for Sat. As such we need hoppers so we can hit other parks at morning rope drop and then hop to F&W. Even without F&W we hop during other trips, we used to go the first week in March, and we'd enjoy ourselves less with single park passes.

Bill From Pa

This is why we get hoppers. We start out the day at MK, AK, or DHS, then hop over to F&W most evenings.

 

[Monorail_Man_NJ]

Never used park hoppers. Personally I dont need to jump around however it would be useful for DHS/AK as I feel those are both kinda half day parks.

 

[SA mom]

The one trip we didn't have them, we really wished we did. Our AK day turned out to be very rainy and lots of things were closed or cancelled. We would have hopped to Epcot.

 

[Tinkbum]

DH and I will be at the parks 10/17-10/22/17. We are trying to decide if we should get park hoppers or not. What's your thoughts.

And if you got park hoppers what are your suggestions for each day. TIA

We *always* do PH's. If the park we're in gets crowded we go to another one. We *very* loosely plan our parks for the day, it's usually just whatever we feel like doing that day. If I had to be restricted to ONLY one park per day I'd go nuts.

 

[BobbyDukes]

Park hopping is worth it if you know exactly what you want to do at the second.
Say for instance you go to Animal Kingdom in the morning and you made a reservation in EPCOT at night and see the fireworks

 

[beccasmom]

We love them, but we're WDW veterans and have pretty much "done it all". I have friends traveling down in February who will have 4 children under 10 in their group. Since the parks will be closing earlier, they've pretty much decided not to opt for hoppers. They just don't know if the kids would be up to it and they'd like to avoid meltdowns. They're also visiting for 10 days, so time is on their side.

 

[twoplustwins]

Four days or less - hoppers
Five days or more - no hoppers

 

[hosler427]

Four days or less - hoppers
Five days or more - no hoppers

This is pretty much my feeling. I haven't went without park hoppers in decades but I have only done it because I go with 6 other adults and 5 of them want them. We have taken mid day breaks at the resort and went to a different park at night. In January it is just my wife and I and we have decided to forego the hoppers. I think for an experienced Disney visitor, there is less pressure to see and do everything. The longer the vacation, the less important it is IMO. However, on the flip side....without park hoppers, the more important planning is.

 

[bootlord9000]

Personally, I like the ability to PH. We even did it on our first trip since we loved HS and MK much more than AK and Epcot.
Even if you loved all of the parks equally, I think some big factors on your trip would be MNSSHP and F&W.
Here's an example of 2 PH days we're doing in September:
Weekday: Starting the day at Epcot and finishing at MK to catch HEA on one of the few nights without a party.
Weekend: Starting the day at MK to avoid F&W crowds but it's a party night, so we're heading to Epcot to catch Illuminations (which I realize will be crowded, but we're just going to grab some food and watch the show).

 

[disneyseniors]

DH and I are going in November and have hoppers. It's only, what, $150 for two people? We've only been to WDW twice and had hoppers both time. The flexibility is really nice. This trip I am not going to plan nearly as much. Second half of the week for sure will be more deciding on what we still want to hit or want to hit again. We only have ADRs for one breakfast and one lunch so we can easily hop most days. I'm looking forward to being able to check wait times at the other parks and just hop to the one that looks best.

This is exactly what we do, my husband and I. We plan a park for the AM, get fp's for must do attractions, then back to the resort for a rest, then we decide where we want to go or what we want to eat. We like to be flexible with our vacation. It's bad enough to have to have fp's and some adr's without being locked into a specific park daily. We usually go for 9 to 10 days and we find we change our plans frequently. Without a park hopper, the fun of that would be lost.
So, for us, it is well worth it. Fits our touring style to a T.

Want to ad: There is now a direct bus transportation add on for $29 for 7 days, I think? This would help tremendously with PH's as you would not have to go through security or the front of the park with bag check, etc. We have never used it, but we will sign up for itnext trip! Definitely a good idea!

 

[SaintsManiac]

We would not go without them.

 

[mousefan73]

We stay at beach club so yes and especially this year with AK being more interesting. Just so much more to do.

 

[monorailsilver]

We get them because I dislike AK and we only like 2-3 rides in there and we usually only spend 1/2 day at the studios.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We would not go without them.

Us too. It's just too convenient to have the freedom.