Didn't Get the Park Hopper Tickets

[Professor_Jason]

I decided since this our first trip I opted not to get the Park Hoppers, we're going to dedicate two full at Magic Kingdom and Epcot each and be there from opening to closing and spend a day at Studios and save Animal Kingdom for our next trip so there's a whole new Park to explore when we go back. Has anybody else done an agenda like this for their first trip?

 

[MickeyMomV]

We have gotten the Park Hopper on all of our past trips. The freedom to come and go as we please from any park we want is really nice. We might do EMH at one park in the morning and EMH at another park at night. We always take a mid day break and will seldom go back to the same park. This also gives freedom to make dining reservations anywhere we want with no issues.

One thing I will say is that all of our trips are usually from 6 to 10 days long. In October we have 2 day tickets and we opted not to do it. We are coming in for the MNSSHP, followed by a full day at MK, and finishing with a partial day at HS. With only having 1 full day at the parks I did not see the value.

 

[TXDisney]

Park hopper is a no brainier for us. When HS and AK make there additions I can see less people doing park hopper since they'll become full day parks.

 

[UofMGuy423]

We haven't gotten a park hopper since probably 2000. It's a great feature if you need it, but we never do. We prefer picking a park for the day and spending the day there and taking breaks to return to the hotel. Each park has so much to to that we've never needed to hop over to another park.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

I always wrestle with getting the park hopper because I don't park hop in the traditional sense of the word. I am usually a one-park-a-day person (well my wife definitely is) and sometimes on our trips if we are done for the day and I want to head to another park to squeeze a little more out of the day I will escort her back to the resort and then I am off. It happens once or twice a trip, and I suppose I could live without it but I like knowing I could do it if I wanted to.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We have gotten the Park Hopper on all of our past trips. The freedom to come and go as we please from any park we want is really nice. We might do EMH at one park in the morning and EMH at another park at night. We always take a mid day break and will seldom go back to the same park. This also gives freedom to make dining reservations anywhere we want with no issues.

That makes a big difference on whether it's worth it or not. If you go in the summer when hours are long, it makes sense to do parks in the morning and evening with a break in between. If you go during the slow season (as I usually try to do), the parks aren't open that late to begin with. You don't really need an afternoon break because you can usually get to bed at a decent hour anyways. So I usually do a single park each day, rope drop to dinner time or so.

 

[DisneyJeff]

It may depend on where you are staying as well. If you are staying around Crescent Lake (Boardwalk, Yacht, Beach, etc), it may be useful to have the hopper since you can walk to Epcot and the Studios.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

I don't think I would want to go without the park hopper. I like the flexibility of going where I want when I want and we have never spent an entire day at Hollywood Studios, but I like to have the freedom to come back later in the day or on another day to do Fantasmic and the Osborne lights. The Animal Kingdom is my favorite park, honestly if I were going to skip any of the parks and save it for next year I would save Hollywood Studios, maybe there will be less things closed then.

 

[LdyApxr]

We have opted out of the hopper for our trip in May but have opted for it for the trip in October. Since May will be our first trip ever to WDW we want to focus on one park per day(7 days) and October will be covering F&W and MNSSHP I guess we will see how it shakes out without one on the first trip and change if necessary. Plus add to the fact that we are all 17 and older, we may not all want to be in the same park on the same day.

 

[DaisyDoesDisney]

For us, no day at Disney is complete without a lap around World Showcase, so the park hopper is a must.

 

[disneyfirstLJ]

Our first trip we did 3 Magic Kingdom days, 3 Epcot days (my daughter's favorite park) and 1 Hollywood Studio day. We skipped Animal Kingdom because my daughter really wanted to go to Epcot again. We did not have the park hopper.
Our second trip we got the park hopper. We really like the flexibility the park hopper added to our trip. We were only able to do a brief morning in Animal Kingdom because of the rain and other circumstances which was a disappointment.
Our third trip is coming up in February and we are going to have the park hopper again. It really works for us and we like going to one park in the morning and another park in the afternoon. We also plan on spending more time in Animal Kingdom this trip as we missed so much there our first two trips.

 

[networkpro]

I'd say that's a reasonable strategy for a first trip to the world. There is plenty of detail and things to discover in each park to take up a whole day easily. Its much preferable to a Disney Death March where you sacrifice quality of experience to quantity. Its those details that set Disney apart from other amusement parks.

 

[lunchbox1175]

We always park hop, and don't view it as running a marathon. You can hop and just be enjoying things....Epcot is frequently a park that we will hop to in the evening to enjoy a meal or take a nice stroll on the WS. And sometimes, I just want to go ride ToT and RnR.....so I will go there just for that. Having said that, we go 2-3 times a year, so we have seen most everything and know what we like and don't like. As a first timer, you probably won't need the hopper, but it is nice to have just in case.