How do you do your hopping??

[MrsSilvaStrat]

Most of our park hopping revolves around eating. We love having our meals at the World Showcase so the ability to hp over to Epcot is great.

Also, we love Wishes, and will hop back to MK to see it. Also, strolling on Main St. at night is a fav of ours (espeically if it includes a treat from the bakery )

 

[mrodgers]

I'm the same as the OP. I had park hopper when I booked (for June), but canceled. Animal Kingdom closes early. We would like to take an evening and check out downtown or the boardwalk, so we plan on doing that on Animal Kingdom day.

The kids wouldn't be up to staying up to midnight or later. The earliest another park closes is 9 pm for HS. That is plenty for the kids, we can get back to the room and crash out early for an earlier start the next day.

There's no way my kids will stay at the parks until 11-12-1 am and be able to get up early enough to make it worthwhile to go to any park. I'd rather do early then take a break at the resort pool before dinner than stay up till midnight in a park and have the kids (and Mom) not wanting to get out of bed until 10 am the next day.

I planned all dining around the park I want to be at for the day irregardless of EMH or not.

 

[KellyNY]

We used to get hoppers but we used it once per trip to split day between AK and DHS. Not really worth for us. Hoppers definitely give you more freedom but $200 is a lot of money IMO. Please remember, you can add hopper option later in your trip, you do not have to do it now. Go without hoppers and see what happens, you may be fine without them. As for parks in afternoon, depends on how busy park. For example, they run out of FP for some popular rides like Soarin pretty early in a day during summer, and even if you can get FP, they may be for pretty late times.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Also, if you go at a busy time of the year, you will definitely need a hopper. There's always a chance a park might close while you are getting ready to go there, and it's good to have options!

 

[Coach81]

Up early, at the parks for rope drop, head back for a break during lunch.. hit another park (if wanted) for the afternoon/evening.

 

[bobbie68]

Hi,

We always so park hopping. My husband wouldn't go without it. We usually go to one park in the morning then go back to our resort then head to one at dinner then maybe see one of the night shows.

We hop sometimes 2 or 3 times a day and find no problem. We don't feel like we are wasting time at all. We like M.K. at night and don't want to spend the whole day there we end up there a couple of nights a week and are able to go to other parks during the day.

I have found having the flexibility of hopping helps with dining reservations. I usually can get everything I want.

Good luck.

 

[badiggio]

Here's a question.Do your tickets expire by usage or the day?IE.say a person has tickets for 5 days and doesn't visit a park the first day,can he visit 2 parks on another day or does he lose his day?Basically does 5 days mean 5 DAYS or 5 admissions?

 

[Bev J]

We won't even consider not getting hopper tickets. Sometimes all day/night at one park is just to much,, even with a mid day break. We like to go to one park in the morning getting there at opening, stay till early afternoon then return to the hotel/resort for a break (swim, nap, relax) then about 5 or so go to a different park for the evening.
We have found for us that AK is not a park we can do all day, it just gets too hot and then is usually closing earlier than other parks so we need to be able to head for a different park when it gets too hot and crowded. Sometimes we have headed to a park and for what ever reason it's just packed so we hop on a bus and head somewhere else.
We really like the flexability of being able to visit as many parks as we want on any given day or just head over to a park for the evening fireworks/parade.

Have a great trip!

Bev

 

[Britgirlus]

We hopped last year, and will hop again in a couple of weeks. It's mainly because I don't like to be told I can't do something We arrive at the parks early, and take an afternoon break at out resort, then head back out. We don't stay out late, but just knowing that we can go wherever we want whenever we want is worth it for me. I would hate to want to go somewhere one afternoon, but couldn't because I didn't have hoppers Far too complicated - I'm on vacation, so don't want too many rules

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We are big Hoppers, couldn't go without it. We hop to:
1. avoid crowds, if we pick the wrong park and its packed out we leave.
2. dining choices, DHS has no counter services that I will dare eat again so we need options. We love alot of the WS places in Epcot so we end up there for dinner alot.
3. personal prefernence. If I decide I wake up we head to Epcot and rider Soarin and I decide I really really want to ride Big Thunder, we head to MK.
4. night time shows. as others have sd AK closes early and now DHS has limited F! showings so if we want a night time show its MK or Epcot. Also with F! limited showings now we hop to DHS just in time for F! and avoid the insane crowds that are there most of the F! days.

We often hop in conjunction with a break. If we start out the day in MK we take a break around 1-2 for an hour or two and when we leave the resort that afternoon we head somewhere else. Or we will hop at lunch/dinner time to eat somewhere else and then just stay there the rest of the day/night.

We do not like to hop to/from AK, it seems to take longer and we have been staying at All Stars alot lately so that is just down the street, it has often been better to go back to our room and then head to AK from there. Our favorite are MK to Epcot (and vice versa via monorail) and DHS to Epcot (and vice versa thru the International Gateway via boat).

 

[danceintherain]

I usually go to one park in the morning, break, then hop to a different park. My evening park time is mostly spent in Epcot or the Magic Kingdom. The Animal Kingdom closes too early most nights.
Hollywood Studios doesn't have much appeal as an evening park unless I plan on going to Fantasmic, since the 3 major attractions usually run out of Fast Passes early on, in addition to their lines being at least an hour long, and most of the shows have their last showing fairly early.
This week for example the last showings are as follows:
B&B - 5:45 Indiana Jones - 5:30 LMA! - 4:30 Playhouse - 5:50
Basically, we tend to stay at our morning park until noon or later. By the time we get back to our hotel it can be as late as 2pm, by the time we're rested enough we're mosying into a park as late as 5, so we might be able to hit the last showing of a single show or ride a single ride before the park closes.
If I do choose to return to Hollywood Studios in the evening, its the same day I was there in the morning, so I can maybe get a couple Fastpasses before I leave.

Anyways...the Magic Kingdom and Epcot are better candidates.
I've found that most nights after Wishes (sometimes earlier), the Magic Kingdom clears out, even if there are still a few hours before closing. I attribute this to all the people with small children and/or all dayers (the people that arrive between 10:30 & 11:30 with the intent of stay ALL DAY, but get exhausted fairly early) leaving so they can get to bed early. I've found that the park is a little less crowded, so it's fairly easy to get in several attractions. It's not quite as empty as it is in the mornings, but the number of attractions makes it easy for the addition crowds to be spread out.

I go to Epcot in the evenings for the ambiance of the World Showcase. The headliner attractions are usually still bogged down, but I can wander aimlessly through the shops, and may catch some of the entertainment. Innoventions doesn't close until 7, so a 5pm arrival may still allow me to do some of those activities as well.

 

[tinkgurl]

During the afternoon, we usually head back to our Resort. We swim..relax..get our 2nd wind for the rest of the night. Then, we'll head to another park or whenever our dinner ADR is for the night.

If our dinner ADR is at a Resort, we might go there for our afternoon break. It is fun to explore, get a drink, relax there too.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We have AP's, so we have the advantage of built in hoppers and we take full advantage of it.

We are going over Memorial Day weekend, we will arrive very early on Saturday morning and be at DHS for AMEMH, then probably hop over to AK to hit our few favorites, then back to the resort for a rest and cool off, then back to DHS for Fantasmic.

The other days, we will usually choose the next park day before bed, but then we will hit MK on May 30 for EEMH until 3am.

We have gone to all 4 parks in 1 day (on a 1 week trip to see if we could do it), but we like to hit our favorites and leave. We probably won't do that this time.

We have gone in the pasat without hoppers and may again sometime in the future, just depends on the trip. If you are going to be there for a week and don't have small children, I would definitely recommend them, I think with small children, it could be a hassle.

Suzanne

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

I usually go to WDW in early December - Solo. The days may be very warm and sunny, but the evenings can get cool. As it turns into evening, I absolutely hate to carry around my sunglasses, and sunvisor, and I need to get my sweatshirt. So, MANY times, right at dusk, I leave one park and go to my room that is located in the Epcot area. I get rid of my sunglasses and sun visor. I wash my face and freshen up. I now grab my sweatshirt and go to a different park for the evening. Most of the time - it is Epcot.
I usually park hop in this way. I also like the option of going to a different park if the one I am in seems too crowded for me.

 

[labdogs42]

Here's a question.Do your tickets expire by usage or the day?IE.say a person has tickets for 5 days and doesn't visit a park the first day,can he visit 2 parks on another day or does he lose his day?Basically does 5 days mean 5 DAYS or 5 admissions?

You can't do that. The Hopper is the only way to do 2 parks in one day. 5 day base tickets mean ONE park per day for 5 days.

 

[Robo]

We hop every day.

 

[alisonh]

I have so little experience to draw on, but will throw in my 2 cents. We went for 6 days with a then 3 year old. We did NOT have hoppers, and we were there during spring break, just two weeks before Easter so very busy with crowd ratings of 9's every day basically. I can see where hoppers would be nice. If I had older kids, then I think I might do it, if we end up with more kids and they are split far in ages (5+ years at this point) then it may pay too for at least one of us and ds to have hoppers to get the most of a park w/out another l/o. We really did enjoy each day though, we went home every afternoon and then back to the same park in the evening. We had 3 days at MK, one at AK, one at EP, one at DHS. I would have loved more time at all of them. If I had not left DHS for the 4 hour afternoon break plus the hour long wait for fantasmic I think I would have been fine, but I missed some things that I would like to do. Epcot was a crazy day, ds crashed so I stayed all day and was EXHAUSTED and dh and ds went back to the condo for swim/nap. They did not really see any of EP, just the world showcase for dinner and illuminations. AK we did not take a break, I thought we would leave at 3ish and go back to the hotel as we had ADR for that evening but it POURED all day, and FINALLY at about 2 it cleared so we stayed until about 5. We also stayed off property so we drove in and out of the parks and it all worked out.

Now... with all that said, I LOVED LOVED LOVED the ability to hop between DCA and DL this summer when we were in california. I could get FP at one park and run over and get them at the other then we would spend our day in one but get the rides we wanted at the other... it was GREAT. The thing is, they are literally across a courtyard from each other. I am not sure how far the parks are from each other in WDW but they are NOT close, so it could use up a lot of time hopping.

Either way, have fun!!! It will be wonderful and magical with or without hoppers!

 

[mjp12831]

All reasons to do it have been posted, so no need to repeat. I guess if you were really on a budget and needed to do WDW as cheaply as possible I'd consider going without them, BUT if you can at all afford it I'd recommend them very highly - they give you so much flexibility and ability to max out park time.