Is Park Hopper Worth the Extra Cost?

[JusticeDisney]

Personally, I love knowing that we can come and go to any or all of the parks on any given day. Some days we hit just one, some days we hit multiple. Plus, in the grand scheme of what WDW costs these days, it’s not THAT much extra money for the hopper option.

Anyway, just my $.02.

 

[eliza61nyc]

We never go without them. First we go during the hot months and so we leave the parks anyway in the heat of the day and chill at our resort. After that we always go to a second park.
Next some times we want to see a night show in a park that is totally different than the one we started out at. Animal kingdoms night time show is weak so we will always skip it and head to Epcot for illuminations. park hoppers allow us to do that.

Lastly, we have gone to a park that was supposed to be slow only to find it packed for various reasons, again park hoppers allow us the flexibility to go else where.
We drive so it's never taken us an hour to get from one park to another.

 

[Hockey89]

I always go to a few parks a day. Having gone so many times, I can't spend a whole day at one park...

 

[Raineman]

Even though we don't use them every day, we always get them-it gives you alot more freedom on how you spend your time at the parks. Our MK days are always full days, and we will get 1 full day at the other parks for the most part, but we tend to park hop more from DAK and DHS than MK and Epcot. During our last trip, my DW saw something at one of the gift shops in DHS, contemplated buying it, didn't-and then a few days later, we popped in to DHS in the evening, she bought it, and we left. That was a weird feeling, being in the park for half an hour (and just barely in-it was a gift shop on Hollywood Boulevard), not hitting any of the attractions and leaving-must be what locals with APs feel like when all they want is the new popcorn bucket or something.

 

[Touchdown]

It allows you to effectively use EMH. EMH drives attendance at the park that has it, it is very useful to me at certain parks (AK and MK in am, MK and Epcot in pm, but I’m sure come Star Wars Land time DHS will be helpful) but the crowds during normal operations can zero out that benefit over the course of the day. I always hop to take advantage of lower crowds elsewhere for the half day I’m not using EMH (or to use EMH twice.)

 

[righttrack]

We always use them and are a two-park per day family for the most part. Even if we weren't it's a nice release valve when the park you are in is just getting too crowded for your liking. Our normal schedule is like this:

1. Get into the first park for rope drop. Usually not the EMH park for weekdays, and go to the EMH park for weekends.
2. Go fast and get on rides (no fast passes), hitting the most popular ones first.
3. Eat an early lunch in the parks, quick service
4. Go to progressively less popular rides/attractions as the crowd builds
5. Head back to resort for a brief break
6. Head back to the second park or dinner (some days early dinner, some days late dinner)
7. Use fastpasses for the afternoon/early evening
8. Enjoy late EMH if you've got the energy to

 

[bpadair32]

It takes about an hour to get from one park to another. I rarely park hop. Then again, I'm the type of person who enjoys the shows at studios and wandering/exploring the trails in animal kingdom. So, those don't feel like half day parks to me

This is another one of those things where YMMV, if you are going between EPCOT and HS it would take 30mins or less. Or if you are staying at an EPCOT area resort, you could go to MK or AK for part of the day, head back to the resort and then pop over to EPCOT for dinner later.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

For us, it really depends.

On one hand, I enjoy the flexibility of the hopper and tend to miss that when we get single park tickets. i.e. maybe AK or HS closes early and I can't head to MK because I don't have a hopper...or can't change my dinner plans and pop into Epcot that evening for a last minute meal I picked up.

On the flip side, when we do have hoppers, I never feel like we hop enough to justify the cost and get annoyed with the time burned getting from one park to another. If anything, one feeds the other...like we hop more the first couple of days, get bothered by lengthy hop times, so are more inclined to stick to one part as the trip progresses.

 

[aliceismad]

I think for a park commando who wants to maximize time in the park, maybe hopping isn't great because it does take a long time to get from one park to another (even Epcot to HS, and they seem so close to one another). That said, if you do get to AK and feel like you're done with that park, park hopper allows you to go to another. Plus the EMH strategy, of course.

For our upcoming trip we got hoppers. We plan to take a mid-afternoon break some days (because DD will be 5 and nap/swim breaks are good) so there will be travel time regardless. Plus DH would like to eat at Epcot as much as possible.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

I always get it but rarely use it since it's just been the wife and I. We do one park a day, rope drop to close, until we've done all 4 and then circle back. We usually only hop on those double back days. I think we just like the assurance that we have the flexibility if we want it.

But everyone tours differently. I expect things will change for us the next time we go as we will have added a third member to our party

 

[J_Carioca]

There's no answer to the question "is Park Hopper worth it" other than "it's worth it if it's worth it to you". It depends completely on your preferences.

In my case, we ALWAYS got PH until our most recent trip (more on that later). We are not big planners and like the freedom that PH allows. (However, with the advent of MDE and electronic FPs, that freedom is getting lesser, but that's another story.) Also, we are not early birds and often hit the parks between 11 and noon. If the park we're at closes at 8pm, we like the freedom of being able to leave and go to the park that has later hours.

I will say that as we have gotten older, we've tended to hop less. In our 30s we would go go go...staying out every night at the park that was open latest. Now, in our 40s, we might only hop for a few days of the trip.

On our last trip we decided not to get PH, for two reasons. One: to save money. It does add a significant cost to your tickets. Two: we wanted to try to have a more relaxing time and thought not being able to hop would be like enforced relaxation. To be frank, I hated not having PH. We ended up not going to HS at all because we couldn't justify using up one whole day's ticket on a park where there's nothing to do (we don't do TOT or RNRC for health reasons, so there is literally nothing for us to do at HS). There were a few days where we definitely would have moved to another park if we had been able to.

To me, the benefits of PH are as follows:

- PH lets you spend a shorter amount of time at any given park
- you can go to "half day parks" without feeling like you've wasted a day of tickets
- you can move on to another park for meals
- you can pop into a park for one specific thing
- you can maximize time by starting at the earliest-opening park and moving to the latest-closing park on any given day
- you can leave a park if you're not into it, and move to another one.

So, for me, definitely worth it. But it completely depends whether those things are important to you. If you're a big planner, you could easily get away with one-park-per-day without feeling like you've missed out on anything.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

There's no answer to the question "is Park Hopper worth it" other than "it's worth it if it's worth it to you". It depends completely on your preferences.

In my case, we ALWAYS got PH until our most recent trip (more on that later). We are not big planners and like the freedom that PH allows. (However, with the advent of MDE and electronic FPs, that freedom is getting lesser, but that's another story.) Also, we are not early birds and often hit the parks between 11 and noon. If the park we're at closes at 8pm, we like the freedom of being able to leave and go to the park that has later hours.

I will say that as we have gotten older, we've tended to hop less. In our 30s we would go go go...staying out every night at the park that was open latest. Now, in our 40s, we might only hop for a few days of the trip.

On our last trip we decided not to get PH, for two reasons. One: to save money. It does add a significant cost to your tickets. Two: we wanted to try to have a more relaxing time and thought not being able to hop would be like enforced relaxation. To be frank, I hated not having PH. We ended up not going to HS at all because we couldn't justify using up one whole day's ticket on a park where there's nothing to do (we don't do TOT or RNRC for health reasons, so there is literally nothing for us to do at HS). There were a few days where we definitely would have moved to another park if we had been able to.

To me, the benefits of PH are as follows:

- PH lets you spend a shorter amount of time at any given park
- you can go to "half day parks" without feeling like you've wasted a day of tickets
- you can move on to another park for meals
- you can pop into a park for one specific thing
- you can maximize time by starting at the earliest-opening park and moving to the latest-closing park on any given day
- you can leave a park if you're not into it, and move to another one.

So, for me, definitely worth it. But it completely depends whether those things are important to you. If you're a big planner, you could easily get away with one-park-per-day without feeling like you've missed out on anything.

Good points re: mobility for meals and shopping. That's a big plus if, like myself, those things are important to you.

 

[rob0519]

We always get park hoppers. Yes, they cost more, but we find value in them. Mornings in AK, Epcot or HS and evenings in MK or apretty much any combination of parks. My issue is feeling some wasted money in the length of stay passes when the family wants to go to Universal, Discovery Cove or Sea World. Now I have to spend $500-$700 elsewhere and get no value from the length of stay passes on the day(s) we don't use them.

 

[aliceismad]

We always get park hoppers. Yes, they cost more, but we find value in them. Mornings in AK, Epcot or HS and evenings in MK or apretty much any combination of parks. My issue is feeling some wasted money in the length of stay passes when the family wants to go to Universal, Discovery Cove or Sea World. Now I have to spend $500-$700 elsewhere and get no value from the length of stay passes on the day(s) we don't use them.

Yes. We debated a day at Universal. But to see HP (which is the primary draw for us), we'd need a 2-park ticket so $550 for two adults and one child. Since our kiddo is small, it made more sense to us to just add another day at Disney.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

One thing to note, if it hasn't been mentioned yet.

Park tickets can be upgraded to park hoppers during a visit.

Unsure? Don't pay for the option. Add them to your tickets if and when you decide you want to.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I always get it but rarely use it since it's just been the wife and I. We do one park a day, rope drop to close, until we've done all 4 and then circle back. We usually only hop on those double back days. I think we just like the assurance that we have the flexibility if we want it.

But everyone tours differently. I expect things will change for us the next time we go as we will have added a third member to our party

I wish. we usually go the last week in August, it's "hell-hot" then, no way could I go from opening to close.

 

[Trackmaster]

It probably depends on the premium that they're assessing. Its been years since I bought the tickets a la carte, and have been using my annual pass now that has a hopper built in. Do they even sell four day passes without a hopper? If its a big premium, I'd just dedicate a day to each park. You can only use FP+ at one park in a day, so that's a big knife in the heart of hopping. If its a small premium, it might be worth it. It'll give you a second crack at a park if it was mobbed your first try.

 

[aliceismad]

It probably depends on the premium that they're assessing. Its been years since I bought the tickets a la carte, and have been using my annual pass now that has a hopper built in. Do they even sell four day passes without a hopper? If its a big premium, I'd just dedicate a day to each park. You can only use FP+ at one park in a day, so that's a big knife in the heart of hopping. If its a small premium, it might be worth it. It'll give you a second crack at a park if it was mobbed your first try.

Yes they sell passes without a park hopper regardless of the number of days you want to go. Actually they have a deal running right now for a discount for 4-Park Magic Tickets (one ticket per park, so 4 days, no hopping) (starts at $340).

True you can't make fastpasses in advance for mulitple parks. But you can make fast passes at a different park after you use for first three. So say I do TOT, RRC, and TSM at HS. Then I can check the app and make my 4th FP for MK or wherever.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I take a midday break anyways, so it's not any extra work to get to a second park in the afternoon versus returning to the same park I came from that morning.

To me, the most important part of the park hopper is what it does for your FastPass strategy. We usually spend the equivalent of two full days at the Magic Kingdom, but there are loads of rides there where FastPass is helpful. What we usually do is split up Magic Kingdom into four half days, allowing us to pre-book 12 MK FastPasses.

 

[JustAFan]

+1 for the 'it depends' answer. If you're going for 4 days and visiting each park once, then maybe it doesn't make sense. If you're going for 6 days, have your days mostly planned, have a favorite restaurant at Epcot that you want to visit on day 3 but are spending that day at MK, then on another day spend the evening at HS after most of the day at AK, then yes, it absolutely makes sense. My family and I will often start at one park, rest in the early afternoon, then spend the rest of the day/evening at another park. We love park hopper.