To Hop or not on our trip?

[rlu929s]

We trying to figure out if the $200 for Hoppers is worth it for our trip May 19th through the 24th? We've been studying the crowd calendar and here our 2 options.

The other option is we could skip the EMH all together, but we felt we got a lot done in that hour and were always there at RD.

We don't want to spend the extra money, but don't want to be stuck in a miserable park. We did no Park Hopper last time and just hit the EMH park each day and it was fine, but that was the last week in Februrary. We're going at a much busier time.

No Hopper
--------------------
Day 1: AK for EMH (RED Day Red Park)
Day 2: MK (Red Day Neutral Park)
Day 3: HS EMH (Neutral Day Neutral Park)
Day 4: MK (Red Day Neutral Park)
Day 5: Legoland


Park Hopper
--------------------
Day 1: AK for EMH then Hop to Green HS
Day 2: MK then Hop to Green AK
Day 3: HS EMH then hop to green MK
Day 4: MK (Same as above)
Day 5: Legoland

 

[Stitch407]

I think your plan looks fine without the park hopper. You can always add on a park hopper option to your tickets up to a certain point (someone can look up add-on options and rules) once you get there. You can call wdw too to ask about add-on rules and options.

I noticed your skipping Epcot. Not Epcot fans?

I have done well without park hopper option, but I do love having it. Since I have an AP and it comes with PH, I use it a lot because I live close by, and it is useful to get away when you need to.

Usually when I use it personally, it is because:

1. The vibe of the people at the park I am at is horrible. There are just some days when everybody seems crabby and it ruins my mood, so I go to another park. This typically happens to me at MK when it's very hot and very crowded. So, I go to another park.

2. If I want to jump to another park for a show or food, ie: fantasmic show or reservations at Epcot when I am in MK.

But if you've done your reading, you know it's much more important to get to the parks early and have a good touring plan than anything. Doing that might save you the need for PH.

 

[rlu929s]

We were there this past Februrary and I'd say Epcot was probably the kid's least favorite, so we trading Epcot for Legoland this time.

We bought the dining plan, so we're going to try and do a character dinner every day. That complicates as we need to make reservations now, so we have to decide fairly quick is we're going to hop or not.

With no hopping will miss out on alot of the low crowd red days. Although a low crowd red day is probably not much difference right.

We use undercover tourist for the crowd calendar.

 

[Catrin]

We are not hopping for the first time ever.. on our four day trip in February.

Making it simple...
MK, AK, HS, EP in that order. We know that we will not spend a full day in AK.. that is the Downtown Disney night. Everything else.. early mornings until we are done. The only thing I am sad about, is I always love that extra time in the Magic Kingdom.
It just isnt worth the extra money for this budget birthday trip.
Catrin

 

[rlu929s]

Let's say we decide to forego the park hoppers. Would it be better to hit the less busy park or do the EMH park knowing that you're stuck there all day if gets nuts.

2 of the 5 days it won't matter anyways as we're not going to the EMH parks.

 

[tmoret]

We stopped getting hoppers years ago to be honest. For us its just not worth the money and then the time to move parks can take a nice chunk out of your day also.

 

[Stitch407]

We were there this past Februrary and I'd say Epcot was probably the kid's least favorite, so we trading Epcot for Legoland this time.

We bought the dining plan, so we're going to try and do a character dinner every day. That complicates as we need to make reservations now, so we have to decide fairly quick is we're going to hop or not.

With no hopping will miss out on alot of the low crowd red days. Although a low crowd red day is probably not much difference right.

We use undercover tourist for the crowd calendar.

If you want to take advantage of character dining, maybe you could also take advantage of some resort restaurants that have character dining. I am not sure which resort restaurants take the DDP or how they utilize them, but the resorts offer better dining experiences with characters. It can sometimes better than what's offered in the park.

And, you don't need tickets for the resorts!

I would suggest the AK Tusker character breakfast. I have heard good things about it. Crystal Palace has Winne the Pooh breakfast, and Cinderella's Castle has the princesses.

Floridian has a Alice in Wonderland breakfast, with a Cinderella and family lunch and dinner.

Also, Contemporary and Polynesian have character dining options. If you need transportation, from MK or Epcot or the TTC, you can take the resort monorail to any of the resorts I mentioned.

Realize character dining is expensive and takes a huge chunk of time. Expect to spend and hour or more there if you want to see all the characters.

 

[crazy4tig]

We used to get hoppers and then one year decided to save the $$ and will not spend the money on them again. We didn't realize how much time we were wasting going to 2 parks each day... Getting out of the park, waiting for the bus, bus ride and then getting into new park..,that's a lot of time that can be spent doing fun stuff Now we go to the park not offering EMH, get there for rope drop and spend the day

 

[katt789]

I personally love the ability to park hop wherever I want, sometimes EMH, sometimes just because the park is too crowded, I like to hop elsewhere.

In terms of adding it on later, it's going to be $57 whether you add it on for the whole trip, or just the last day of the trip, so you may as well have them for the whole trip

 

[MAYNARDS99]

We don't use park hoppers, just not useful for our park visits.

We never go to a park with EMH. In fact, we usually do rope drop at the park that had evening EMH the night before. The secret is to go when and where no one else is going!

Don't forget to take your afternoon break back at your resort.

 

[LovinPooh]

I cant imagine life without the hoppers. We have gone with and without. We like to have th

 

[LovinPooh]

I cant imagine life without the hoppers. We have gone with and without. We like to have the freedom to switch if we get bored. Usually one park in the am and mk in the pm.

 

[Herbie]

Another vote for hoppers...cant live at disney w/o them!

 

[rlu929s]

Thanks for all the info everyone. We've decided to save the $230 and visit the EMH parks. With our schedule there were 2 days we weren't going to hit the EMH anyways and probably would not hop.

Our only major concern was being at Animal Kingdom with it being a 7 overall and not suggested. I think with EMH we can get the wants in and then leave by lunch if it's too bad.

Thanks!

 

[wisblue]

How many times can this be discussed before people realize it is, pure and simple, a matter of personal taste and preference?

We have always liked hopping because of the ability to start the day at one park at rope drop, take a break at the hotel in the middle of the day, and then spend the late afternoon and evening at a different park. It gives us some variety each day we go to parks and lets us be flexible about what we want to do. If you plan to go back to the resort in the middle of the day there is obviously no extra time travelling to a different park than returning to the one where you started the day.

it's just like the dining plan and making lots of ADR's. The amount of time and money we save by having cereal and juice in the room for breakfast and picking up things to eat as we go (including things that aren't on the dining plan), instead of having a couple of reserved sit down meals every day, more than makes up for the time and money spent on hoppers.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

If you decide that you want to hop, you can do to any ticket window and add it. It won't cost you anymore or less to add it once you're already at WDW. That way, if you don't hop, you've saved the money. If you do hop, it costs the same anyway.

We trying to figure out if the $200 for Hoppers is worth it for our trip May 19th through the 24th? We've been studying the crowd calendar and here our 2 options.

The other option is we could skip the EMH all together, but we felt we got a lot done in that hour and were always there at RD.

We don't want to spend the extra money, but don't want to be stuck in a miserable park. We did no Park Hopper last time and just hit the EMH park each day and it was fine, but that was the last week in Februrary. We're going at a much busier time.

No Hopper
--------------------
Day 1: AK for EMH (RED Day Red Park)
Day 2: MK (Red Day Neutral Park)
Day 3: HS EMH (Neutral Day Neutral Park)
Day 4: MK (Red Day Neutral Park)
Day 5: Legoland


Park Hopper
--------------------
Day 1: AK for EMH then Hop to Green HS
Day 2: MK then Hop to Green AK
Day 3: HS EMH then hop to green MK
Day 4: MK (Same as above)
Day 5: Legoland

 

[starsweeper]

My personal opinion is that Park Hopping is the only way to go. Anything that gives your trip flexibility is a good thing. Crowds and weather can affect what parks you want to hit on what days.

I agree. We go at lower crowds periods, but I still like having the flexibility to change parks for various reasons. Historically, we only need 1/2-3/4 days for DHS, Epcot and AK but want more time at MK to enjoy ride repeats and see all the parades/fireworks at least once.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We loved our hoppers last year. We drive, so getting from park to park doesn't take long, plus the YES tickets we had were only available as hoppers if you want WPFM which we did. But we could probably live without 'em.

 

[Reddy]

we always get the hoppers
but we do go back to the room to give DS17 his afternoon med (seizure med so very important)
then head to whatever park we feel like (one time it was to whatever park bus pulled up)

 

[stargazertechie]

For just a 4 day trip, I don't think the hoppers are worth it, and I'm the type to hop every chance I get.