Help with planning my days and Park Hopper or NOT... :)

[SpykeYs]

Hi !

I am planning a daughter/daddy trip August 9th - August 17th. I need help with planning which park to do on which days and if I should purchase Park Hopper or not ? We are not planning to do water parks as we are going to favor the pools.

Monday August 9th (Arrival day - Landing MCO ~10AM) - MK in the afternoon with stacked Genie+.
Tuesday August 10th - HS (Park Hopper to Epcot in the evening ???)
Wednesday August 11th - Universal Studios with Unlimited express pass
Thursday August 12th - MK during the day (low crowd) and MK in the evening for MNSSHP ??
Friday August 13th - Epcot with a break back to hotel mid-way
Saturday August 14th - Animal Kingdom (with Park Hopper to MK or Epcot)
Sunday August 15th - HS (Park Hopper to MK or Epcot in the evening ??)
Monday August 16th - MK during the day (low crowd) and MK in the evening for MNSSHP ??

What do you guys think and should I buy park hopper ?

 

[We love Edna Mode]

I have always been a park hopper. Many times after your initial park you can go back to your resort and take a break, then head out to a different park. It gives you so much more flexability and sometimes you just want to change it up. Enjoy your trip!

 

[JIMINYCR]

PH's are great if you use them to get all the things done that you want in park #1 and then are looking to add a new park in the afternoon for something extra. I'd say do it if you and your daughter know that you will have your full fun of AK and DHS in the earlier hours and adding the other parks in later will add to your day. How much is in both parks that interest you? Weve always used PH's to add more variety into our trips, plan dining reservations at a different park than where we were in in the morning, and change up a crowded park for a lesser crowded one. Park Hoppers can really add value to your trip even with the added cost if you use them well.
The biggest downer to a PH is the added time involved with traveling to another park.

 

[Djsfantasi]

I got PH my last trip. Genie+ threw a wrench into my plans. YMMV

I found that Genie+ often offered me times beyond when I planned to hop to another park. So I had to wait to move. Similarly. I had to stay when I wanted to rest at our hotel because G+ gave me a late time for an attraction *.

I hate G+ but likely because I haven’t figured it out.

Plus, we’re in our late (late) 60s and not up to a second park.

* note that we often had G+ problems with ADR. G+ often only presented times that conflicted with our ADRs. Since you can’t pick a later time with G*, it became a problem. We ended up only being able to do 1 ride and 1 ADR EACH DAY. With hotel etc… I was paying $500 per day for y to Hr two of us and getting 1 ride & 1 ADR.

 

[IanDLBZF]

Park Hopper is worth it, even with G+, which I've found to work quite well for me. I like to grab the earliest time I can find for a good LL (e.g. Thunder or Splash) and then just grab another one with a time that works after tapping into the LL. This is a method I'd like to call Tap-Grab-Repeat.

1. Tap into the attraction which you have LL for (NOT ILL)
2. Grab your next LL selection in the MDE app (with a time that works the best)
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2.