Single Park Ticket vs Park Hopper

[Bullseye]

We have never been park hoppers and it works fine for us. But, we have always bought the "Water Park Fun and More Ticket" which you cannot purchase anymore without buying hoppers also. So, I guess starting next year we will become a hopper family because we need the Waterparks as part of our ticket.

 

[Star Tourist]

My BFF and I are going Sept 6-13, staying at Pop and have 6 day hoppers plus a party ticket. We will be using the Express Transportation to cut WAY down on hopping time. Biggest plus about that is that you don't have to exit/reenter the parks, you are taken from one park's backstage area to the next, so no gates, no bag checks, etc. Should make hopping MUCH less time consuming. Our plans are to rope drop one park, have lunch then hop to the evening park where we have our FPs.

I second the use for Express Transport for hopping. Wife and I used it back in Feb and it was amazing. We had multiple days where we hit 3 parks in 1 day with plenty of rides in each. If it's still available when we go back in Jan we are getting it again.

 

[Hootch]

We have always gotten park hoppers. We were there last month. One day during our midday break I got bored. I found a FP for Rockin' Roller Coaster and booked it. We were scheduled to be at Epcot that night. We decided to head to the MK later that evening. We hit the four major parks without planning to do so. We like the flexibility.

 

[acwsmom]

We didn't like Park Hoppers when our kids were little because it was so difficult to change parks when totting around the stroller and bags, etc. But now that the kids are older, we prefer the Park Hoppers. We usually plan one park per day for the sake of FPs but having the Park Hoppers gives us the flexibility to change parks if we find that park is too crowded. If we spend time in one park and decide the crowds are just too crazy, I'll use the wait times on different apps to help us decide which park looks less crowded and we'll head that direction. It really helps us avoid the crowds!

 

[kelliejason]

EDITED..........

For me, it's all about cost. We rarely hop, but if we do plan on it we actually just buy a few extra days instead of the hopper option. I find it better to buy a 10 day pass instead of a 7 day with hopper. You can use more than 1 "Day" of the ticket per day. So if you go for 7 days and swap parks mid-day on 3 of those days, its less expensive than the Hopper option.

7 Day (1 park per "Day") = $410
7 Day Hopper = $485 ($75 more per ticket)
10 day (1 park per "Day") = $440 ($30 more than a standard 7 Day but $45 less than the hopper)

In addition, I think that additional days over the 10 are only $10 per day, so you could get a 14 day ticket for less than a 7 day hopper but at that point, you may as well get the hopper for the additional $5. (may not be available to US Residents)

Just my 2 cents on my most recent experience in Fall 2015 (some have said that Disney closed this loophole a while back, so what do I know).......

 

[amberpi]

I touch Epcot every day I'm at WDW. Mostly like @Pacolovestacos described or to have some cocktails and Illuminations. I also do my fps back to back in the morning and then look at the app and see which park is the least crowded, make a fp, and then head over, or go through Epcot from MK to my Epcot hotel. Park hoppers forever!

 

[bryanb]

I love having park hoppers, although I agree that it takes a lot of time to use the transportation system (or even to drive and repark). Park hoppers work for my touring style because I enjoy taking a mid-day break, so it doesn't add much time to switch parks anyway. Also, I love the flexibility for spontaneous changes. And like @amberpi, I also like to end up on multiple days at Epcot for some beverages (especially during the festivals they have), or Animal Kingdom which has great food.

 

[bryanb]

For me, it's all about cost. We rarely hop, but if we do plan on it we actually just buy a few extra days instead of the hopper option. I find it better to buy a 10 day pass instead of a 7 day with hopper. You can use more than 1 "Day" of the ticket per day. So if you go for 7 days and swap parks mid-day on 3 of those days, its less expensive than the Hopper option.

7 Day (1 park per "Day") = $410
7 Day Hopper = $485 ($75 more per ticket)
10 day (1 park per "Day") = $440 ($30 more than a standard 7 Day but $45 less than the hopper)

In addition, I think that additional days over the 10 are only $10 per day, so you could get a 14 day ticket for less than a 7 day hopper but at that point, you may as well get the hopper for the additional $5.

Just my 2 cents.......

Is this a policy change? I've never tried this, but I assumed that the policy was similar to Disneyland where you can only use one "day" per day. The lower price per day on the longer tickets was under the assumption that they'd make up for it in added food, beverage, merchandise, and hotel (if applicable) revenue.

But that said, it was just an assumption on my part. This is really good to know!

 

[mesaboy2]

For me, it's all about cost. We rarely hop, but if we do plan on it we actually just buy a few extra days instead of the hopper option. I find it better to buy a 10 day pass instead of a 7 day with hopper. You can use more than 1 "Day" of the ticket per day. So if you go for 7 days and swap parks mid-day on 3 of those days, its less expensive than the Hopper option.

7 Day (1 park per "Day") = $410
7 Day Hopper = $485 ($75 more per ticket)
10 day (1 park per "Day") = $440 ($30 more than a standard 7 Day but $45 less than the hopper)

In addition, I think that additional days over the 10 are only $10 per day, so you could get a 14 day ticket for less than a 7 day hopper but at that point, you may as well get the hopper for the additional $5.

Just my 2 cents.......

No, you cannot.

Is this a policy change? I've never tried this, but I assumed that the policy was similar to Disneyland where you can only use one "day" per day. The lower price per day on the longer tickets was under the assumption that they'd make up for it in added food, beverage, merchandise, and hotel (if applicable) revenue.

But that said, it was just an assumption on my part. This is really good to know!

It's also incorrect.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

We stopped getting PArk hoppers way back when they started charging extra for them (years ago all multiday tickets were automatically park hoppers). Haven't missed them. And as others have said, you can add it once you get there if you miss it.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I find it better to buy a 10 day pass instead of a 7 day with hopper. You can use more than 1 "Day" of the ticket per day. So if you go for 7 days and swap parks mid-day on 3 of those days, its less expensive than the Hopper option.

..

When's the last time you did this? It's my understanding that that little loophole was closed yeeeeeeears ago.

 

[wilkeliza]

For me, it's all about cost. We rarely hop, but if we do plan on it we actually just buy a few extra days instead of the hopper option. I find it better to buy a 10 day pass instead of a 7 day with hopper. You can use more than 1 "Day" of the ticket per day. So if you go for 7 days and swap parks mid-day on 3 of those days, its less expensive than the Hopper option.

7 Day (1 park per "Day") = $410
7 Day Hopper = $485 ($75 more per ticket)
10 day (1 park per "Day") = $440 ($30 more than a standard 7 Day but $45 less than the hopper)

In addition, I think that additional days over the 10 are only $10 per day, so you could get a 14 day ticket for less than a 7 day hopper but at that point, you may as well get the hopper for the additional $5.

Just my 2 cents.......

You can't use more than 1 ticket per a day unless you buy seperate individual day tickets and you can no longer buy more than 10 days as a US visitor or once in Orlando if international.

 

[wilkeliza]

Is this a policy change? I've never tried this, but I assumed that the policy was similar to Disneyland where you can only use one "day" per day. The lower price per day on the longer tickets was under the assumption that they'd make up for it in added food, beverage, merchandise, and hotel (if applicable) revenue.

But that said, it was just an assumption on my part. This is really good to know!

It is not a policy change and the poster gave out information that you haven't been able to do for years. One part was a loop hole Disney closed pretty quickly and 14 day tickets went away at minimum 5 years ago if not more.

 

[bryanb]

It is not a policy change and the poster gave out information that you haven't been able to do for years. One part was a loop hole Disney closed pretty quickly and 14 day tickets went away at minimum 5 years ago if not more.

Okay thanks! I thought it sounded too good to be true. I'm surprised that it was ever allowed but maybe they hadn't thought of the implications at the time.

 

[malarky]

Okay thanks! I thought it sounded too good to be true. I'm surprised that it was ever allowed but maybe they hadn't thought of the implications at the time.

They should let u use the dates whenever u want, because u paid for them. It doesn't cost them anything extra to let us

 

[mesaboy2]

They should let u use the dates whenever u want, because u paid for them. It doesn't cost them anything extra to let us

Since Disney charges more for the park hopper option, it literally does.

 

[sharonabe]

They should let u use the dates whenever u want, because u paid for them. It doesn't cost them anything extra to let us

You're not buying "dates." You are buying "days." You buy "x" number of days entry into the park. If you want to go to more than one park in one day, you have to buy the hopper. If you buy a one-day ticket to Six Flags, go to the one in San Antonio for the morning, somehow get to Dallas on the same day, would you expect the Six Flags in Dallas to let you in because you bought a ticket to the other one? WDW's parks are SEPARATE parks. If you want to go to two in one day, you buy two separate tickets or you buy the hopper that they provide.

 

[tinkerbella16]

We get PH's every trip and we don't really go from park to park. We like to do a park in the morning, go back to the resort to rest and then hit up another park at night. We like having the option of changing things up on a whim and being able to do any park on any day. It is also nice for dining - if we are at the MK in the morning, leave and we are in the mood to have dinner at Epcot then we can. That is why we love PH's, but we don't really hop from park to park anymore because we love having afternoon breaks at the resort.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We do RD, midday breaks by the pool and then go to a different PM park with FP+. So travel time isn't a factor for us since we're leaving anyway. We always get hoppers.

 

[ghtx]

We always do park hoppers, but that is because we usually take shorter (3-4 days) trips and want to hit the highlights of each park. With 7 days, I probably wouldn't buy the PHs.