SO for YOUNG FAMILIES!!!!!!! (young kids =Younger than 8 years old). If we all try to save some money and to be honest with you more importantly TIME!!! Why not skip the purchasing of the Park hopper. Through my experience in going with young kids, once we get to the park WE ARE THERE!!! We have never said " Hey lets walk out of this park we are currently enjoying, and walk to the bus loop, stand and wait for the bus, stand on the bus traveling to another park, walk to security, GO THROUGH security and finally arrive into another park". The park hopper to me and my family only adds travelling time on the Disney buses and not experience time in the parks. WE would rather stay in park we started at finish there. The Park hopper is just not a well worth value for us to purchase at this time with a young family.
This is pretty much an 'each to his own' scenario. We've always had park hoppers or annual passes, except on one visit where we bought a special ticket that was 1 park each day for 4 days for a reduced price. It didn't work for us.
I think it may (for us) depend on where we are staying. Years ago we stayed in some moderates, All Stars and Pop Century. If I were using a bus to get around from these resorts, I would probably be an advocate for 1 park all day until we were ready to leave for the day and would prepare ourselves to be in the one park all day.
But, in our case we always had a car, whether it was our own or a rental, and going back to our room and relaxing was part of how we toured. Later on we might do an evening at the same park or a different park. This was particularly true for Animal Kingdom as it used to always close early - like 5pm early.
And, for the last 20 years, we've owned DVC at Boardwalk. It's very easy to park hop while staying there. Tour any park during the day and do some strolling in Epcot for dinner and whatever in the evenings, then either walk back or take the boat. Now that the Skyliner is in place it's pretty easy for the resorts that are connected to park hop as well.
Using these resorts you can walk through Epcot to use the monorail to get to Magic Kingdom. Sometimes that works well. Or you can use a combo of bus and monorail and boat. Even while staying at the Grand, Poly or Contemp, it's easy to park hop.
My first and early years at Disney were with young kids and now our last 4 years have been with our young grandchildren. We use park hoppers. But, I can see that if we were staying at a 'bus only' resort, we would probably be going to the one park and back to the room afterwards and not need them. Enjoy Disney the way it works for you!