Do you use park hopper is it really worth it?

[Mainahman]

The last 2 trips we have had park hoppers. Is it really worth it now? Or is it better to just make each day a different park and stick to that? Also without park hoppers can you leave one park, go back to the resort to swim and return to that same park that night if you want? Trying to think of ways to change things up for next trip.

 

[StarboardSide]

Every year we have this debate, too. My husband, especially, thinks it’s a waste of money because he only ever wants to hang out at the resort pool all day, then go to Epcot for dinner. But I always prevail on getting the hoppers just so we’re guaranteed the flexibility to go wherever we want. We made the mistake of adding water parks this year, though, and then found out Typhoon Lagoon was closed for refurbishment.... Never made it over to Blizzard Beach, so those ticket adders were a complete waste of money.

 

[Mainahman]

Every year we have this debate, too. My husband, especially, thinks it’s a waste of money because he only ever wants to hang out at the resort pool all day, then go to Epcot for dinner. But I always prevail on getting the hoppers just so we’re guaranteed the flexibility to go wherever we want. We made the mistake of adding water parks this year, though, and then found out Typhoon Lagoon was closed for refurbishment.... Never made it over to Blizzard Beach, so those ticket adders were a complete waste of money.

Even in the summer months we don't get the water parks. Usually the resort pool is fine for us. We have a pool at home, so simple and less crowded works for us.

 

[disneygurl]

We tend to always hop. As a general rule we tend to go during very hot months so that always means going back to our resort and relaxing during the heat of the day.
Afterwards we'll go to our second park. we have never returned to the same park. also Park hopping allows us to make adr's at Epcot which tends to have more of our favorite restaurants.

I always purchase a park hopper. It works best for me. I would consider the park hours for your trip dates, taking this information into account there are days when the park hopper will certainly provide the best value and maximize your park experience.

Don't forget that numerous times of the year the Magic Kingdom will close early for special hard ticket events like Very Merry Christmas Party or Halloween party. Rumor has it that MK will close at 6pm this year on party days. If you have a park hopper it will allow you to go to another park for the remainder of your day. In that case, wouldn't it be a perfect time to head over to Epcot to enjoy live entertainment, a meal, and Illuminations? Animal Kingdom is open later now too, the Rivers of Light and Tree of Life shows are quite nice.

Since the parks seem so overcrowded these days I like having the option to park hop. I will certainly move on to another park if wait times & crowds are obnoxious.

Depending on park hours, with a park hopper, I have actually been able to watch MK fireworks & Illuminations on the same night. I like having the opportunity to watch those show as many times as I possibly can during my Disney visit.

 

[JillC LI]

On our first many trips we always had PHs and swore by it. Then on our last trip we decided to forego it and do one park per day. It actually worked out fine for us. We are going back during Xmas week and are not getting PHs again because we know it will be supercrowded everywhere so we are going to arrive early and stay put.

 

[DarthVader]

Then on our last trip we decided to forego it and do one park per day. It actually worked out fine for us.

I think sticking with one park a day is very do-able, though this time around we have to do the park hopper, due to how my intinary came into being. I'd say I think I missed the boat in some respects and so a park hopper is a must for this trip of mine.

 

[clarabellej]

We tend to always hop. As a general rule we tend to go during very hot months so that always means going back to our resort and relaxing during the heat of the day.
Afterwards we'll go to our second park. we have never returned to the same park. also Park hopping allows us to make adr's at Epcot which tends to have more of our favorite restaurants.

I generally am not a fan of hopper. I had only used it previously on a four day comp trip many years ago. I think you can relax and see and do much more by staying put all day in one park. On our most recent visit however, we purchased hopper. We were able to obtain 4 Pandora ride FPs. I did not want to spend 4 full days of our 6 day visit in AK. So for this trip hopper made sense. The plan was do AK & Na’vi River on day one then hop. Day two we were at Epcot, FW and part of WS , although it was so crowded & I am not a huge fan of WS at night, so we boated over to HS. There truly was not much to do over there, but we were happy to get out of Epcot for the time being. Third day was all day MK. Day 4 was back to AK in the morning for our FOP FP. Now here is where things got tricky. I didn’t do so well on FOP. That put a wrench in our plans. We hopped back to Epcot and my daughter enjoyed more WS. We were unsure of what to do day 5, but decided I would ride FOP with my eyes closed! Ended up doing all day at AK & really enjoyed it! Then we forfeited FOP on day six and spent our last full day at MK. We did bounce back around to the other 3 parks to collect the Starbucks mini mug ornaments that I regretted not getting in the morning before setting in at MK. We did all this via Disney transportation! Could not have happened w/o hopper. We have been visiting for years now. I think hopping is also better if you have already been multiple times. So hopping this year added a little spice to our trip!