Park hopper worth it?

[JanaDee]

We don't leave home without them. We like to stay out until the last park closes, and would feel ripped off if we were stuck in an early closing park without hoppers.

We don't now either, because we spend every evening in the MK. But when my kids were little, we didn't park hop. Once we left the park for the day, we were typically done at the parks and spent the rest of the night in the pool or just hanging out at the resort.

 

[biondagirl]

We cannot imagine NOT having them. Even when my kids were one, we would get them. A lot of times, they'd sleep on the bus or boat or monorail to our next destination. We just don't spend enough time at DHS or AK to not park hop.

So, for us it's worth it. It isn't for everyone.

 

[Delirium]

Would not ever go to Disney without park hoppers. But, they do take some planning to maximize their benefit. One thing that plays heavily into our use is taking advantage of nighttime extra magic hours. We love being in the park late at night with the lighter crowds. It can be 'magical' Parks with EMH are not ever the recommended park for the day, crowds will just naturally be heavier because people without hoppers go there to start the day with the intention of taking advantage of the EMH hours as well. We will start at another park and take advantage of lower crowds, take a break in the middle of the day, and then hop to the second park. If you don't want to go all the way back tothe resort, hopping between MK and Epcot is easy because of the monorail, and hopping between HS and Epcot is easy with the boat.

 

[tabistar]

We don't get them. My kids are already impatient waiting for buses, so there's no sense in making it worse by adding more bus trips. If we get done at a park early, we head back to the resort for swimming or playgrounds. We tend to keep our late nights at a minimum (may even 2 or 3 out of 7), so an early-closing park doesn't bother us.

 

[vicb]

We love PH. We are able to do what we want in one park go back and take a break (swim and nap) and go to a different park that night. It gives us the freedom and flexibility to change our plans (if a park is more crowded or the kids want to do something else) and we can still go back for our ADR's. For us we just feel to confined without them.

We always do park hoppers. We have 3 ADRs in Epcot, but I know I do not want to spend 3 full days in EPCOT. We normally wake up super early, go to the park, come back to the resort to swim and relax, and go back to a park in the evening. I can't imagine doing Disney without them as I don't want to feel tied to one park for the day. The only way I may consider not getting them is if we were going on a super short trip, and we were trying to save as much money as possible.

I agree with both of these fellow Dis-ers. I love hoppers, loved them when my kids were little, loved them with teens, love them with no kids! They give you so much more freedom and flexibility.

 

[notrub98]

With little kids, no way. It is just too long of a day for them to begin with, and to add in hopping? No way.

 

[Delirium]

With little kids, no way. It is just too long of a day for them to begin with, and to add in hopping? No way.

We hopped all the time with little kids. Had no problem with it. They found opportunities to take quick power naps while hopping, during shows, while shopping, etc.

 

[notrub98]

We hopped all the time with little kids. Had no problem with it. They found opportunities to take quick power naps while hopping, during shows, while shopping, etc.

Different strokes for different folks. I respectfully disagree.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

PH is a must for sure. It gives you the ultimate Disney freedom to come and go as you like. We missed a couple of attractions last year because they were down during our FP. We ended up hitting just those in our catch up day where we hit multiple parks in one day. If Rockin Rollercoast or Test Track is down the day you are there then you can go back later and hit 'em. Not to mention you have wide open dining choices with PH. If you do a backstage tour that means you can go do it on another day and not blow your whole MK day on a five our tour.

Last good reason is the Waterparks. Add WaterPark and more to your PH then you can hit the Waterparks too at will.

 

[abner1776]

We always got hoppers and my DD did MK, AK, EP and back to MK in one day earlier this year. I on the other hand opted for the DVC 4 park/1 park pass that they offered which did not allow hopping and I was very happy without the hopper.
The benefit of the hopper has been diminished with the new FP+ system and until Disney allows FP+ on different parks on the same day, I for one will not go back to the hopper passes.
Traveling with young kids presents it's own set of challenges and the FP+ may not be your biggest issue, but rather the length of time your kids can spend at a park.

 

[BrittneyMarie]

We'll never go without hoppers. Last year our kids were 4.5 and 15 months and we hopped almost every day (and spent 14+ hours a day in the parks. my kiddos are troopers )

 

[Disneylvr]

We like the flexibility so we always get them.

 

[Lorelai]

We didn't hop when our kids were little, primarily b/c they were good from about 6am to 7pm, then it was shower and bedtime. None of my 3 were big nappers past their toddler years, so we found that if we arrived at opening, they were happy and energized until late afternoon, early evening. After that, we'd leave for the day, have a little dinner, maybe a little swim before dinner...then shower & bed. For us it was too much to go back and forth because the travel wore them out faster than staying put and taking our time.

 

[mybestieismickey]

For us, the deciding factor is that we go back to the resort for a break every day. DD needs the down time (and DH and I like it too). But after that, she is raring to go again. So, since we are going back out anyway, we like the flexibility.

If DD could take a decent nap in her stroller, the question of whether or not we need parkhoppers would be a little more difficult to answer for our family. most likely, we would just wait until she was a little bit older and use the money for something else fun at Disney.

 

[GeneralTso]

We found that we do not use park hopper feature at WDW. We just commit to one park per day/night and make the most of it. Everything is so spread out and huge there. Makes the day more complicated and tiresome that it needs to be. There's plenty to do at each park. But that's just us, everyone has their own pace and style. I think with little kids, it's a bit more than I'd want to deal with.

 

[minniemomRN]

For us, the deciding factor is that we go back to the resort for a break every day. DD needs the down time (and DH and I like it too). But after that, she is raring to go again. So, since we are going back out anyway, we like the flexibility.

This is what we find. We go in August, so it's just too hot to stay in the park in the afternoon. We usually do rope-drop, stay until just after lunch and then go back to the resort. When my daughter was really young, it was time for her to nap in the cool air-conditioned hotel room. Now she's older, its pool-time. We typically head back to a different resort for dinner and stay for parade/fireworks or whatever.

 

[kelmcg]

We always use the park hopper. When our boys were that young we could actually hit up to 3 parks in one day. On our last 2 visits we actually rented a car and park hopping was so much easier. We were staying on property both times but we were also going to Universal for a few days so we opted for the car. Since most people do NOT use rental cars it keeps the price pretty low. We also found ourselves back at the hotel mid afternoon a couple of times just because we knew we could quickly get there and leave when we wanted. Also, if you know you are going to park hop you can leave items in the car for later in the day.....less to carry around.

 

[nat8199]

We get them because we love to have dinner in Epcot. We are also staying at the YC this trip, so that makes heading to Epcot for dinner even easier.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

If you're trying to save money you can easily go without them. 1 park per day will give you lots to do, especially if you're spending time at the resort as well.

We got them on our first trip and did not use them. We had a 4 night stay on property and everything was new to us so park hopping would have only complicated things. I'm not getting them this trip either but I am starting to see the value in them more than I have in the past. It certainly adds flexibility.

I think the key here is Kaetra's 4 night stay. I would agree that a stay that short you probably don't want PH.

There are two main considerations:

1. What are your families/children's habits? Can they stay out all day? How do they do with the transportation? Will they want to change or stay in one place? Resort and pool in the afternoon?

2. Length of stay. 4 days or under it probably isn't worth it unless you really don't want to stay in one place. 6 days or more and we would never do it without PH. We spend one full day at each park, sometimes a second full day at a park, but mostly on the additional days we do half days and park hopping. We have even been to 3 parks in one day, but usually do two. There are different times of day that are best for different parks. If we are doing a second day at AK, we will go first thing in the morning, but will park hop to close down MK or Epcot. Same thing with HS, morning there and then MK or Epcot in the evening. It also depends upon Extra Magic Hours.

If you can afford it and are staying long enough, it is certainly valuable.

 

[tinkerbesh]

We love PH. We are able to do what we want in one park go back and take a break (swim and nap) and go to a different park that night. It gives us the freedom and flexibility to change our plans (if a park is more crowded or the kids want to do something else) and we can still go back for our ADR's. For us we just feel to confined without them.

We always do park hoppers. We have 3 ADRs in Epcot, but I know I do not want to spend 3 full days in EPCOT. We normally wake up super early, go to the park, come back to the resort to swim and relax, and go back to a park in the evening. I can't imagine doing Disney without them as I don't want to feel tied to one park for the day. The only way I may consider not getting them is if we were going on a super short trip, and we were trying to save as much money as possible.

I agree with both of these fellow Dis-ers. I love hoppers, loved them when my kids were little, loved them with teens, love them with no kids! They give you so much more freedom and flexibility.

Yes- these things!

Also, you don't have to decide ahead of time. It's a fixed price, so if 1 day mid-trip you decide you want to start hopping, you can just purchase the hopper.

We PH every time. Especially like the reassurance of being able to change parks if we feel like the park we're in is getting too crowded or if the weather doesn't cooperate with our original plan.

I'm anticipating for our next trip that we will hop every other day.