Matt_Black
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I like the freedom it allows. If you manage to zip through everything you want to do in one park relatively quickly, you have the ability to go to another park and do some stuff there.
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Park Hopper
- Thread starter wolfeman
- Start date
JiminyandTink
Well-Known Member
I think it all depends on your situation (kids, age, who your travelling with, length of staty, etc), but I personally love staying in one park all day (even DHS and AK).
MickeyMomV
Well-Known Member
We always get the hopper. We do this for 2 reasons. First is that we take the afternoon break and will hit a different park later in the day. Second is that we are dining plan people and with making dining reservations 180 days out we don't want that to dictate where we spend the entire day.
righttrack
Well-Known Member
I have never stayed in the same park all day since there was only one park. By splitting the days, you can make getting on popular attractions easier. Run at rope drop to something popular, and make your fastpasses for the afternoon at a different park. You kind of get the best of both worlds that way.
stevehousse
Well-Known Member
You can easily see and do everything without a hopper.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I don't really see the difference. Before if you hopped it was usually in the afternoon. Maybe go to DAK in the morning and MK at night. Buy then, with the old FP, they were all pretty much gone by the time you hopped anyway. No real difference, in my mind. I don't remember ever getting a FP in the second park. So now, at least, you have a chance, before almost none.
Well having just been there and experienced the difference the past two years, I can say you are wrong... During spring break never waited for any ride. Tons of people there too... Now going in the slowest time of year, we could not get a fast pass at the second park which we have always done 100% of the time for well over a decade. Ive heard this from many people who have been going to Disney for 30 years( I know fast pass as not been around 30 years)...So yes, it doesn't work as well...
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
You could be right but what we experience is done in real time and not necessarily how it works all the time. You've heard the expression, timing is everything, I'm sure. Well, that applies to all personal experiences, yours, mine and everyone elses. My experience has been different then yours. (I, btw, am one of those 30 year people, 31 to be exact)
What is really needed is to totally kick Fastpass to the curb. It worked will before without it and it would work well again. Lines were long, but, no longer then what they are today. The difference was that it was always moving. Now it just stands there. What length of line today is a 70 minute wait in standby would have been about 20 minutes before Fastpass allowed people ahead of you. Fastpass sucked when it first was introduced and it sucks now. It was the worst idea ever introduced as far as Guest Services are concerned. It only sounds good, but, the problems (flaws) far outweigh the benefits to the majority.
Disnee4Me
Well-Known Member
We do the park hoppers for a couple of reasons. We always go to whatever park has morning EMH, then mid-afternoon around 3-4, we'll hop to another park and use that time waiting for the bus/riding the bus as our rest time. We'll usually hop to whatever park has evening EMH and even if we don't stay to the VERY end, we are there later than the time the first park closed, so we've made up the "loss of time" by being an a different park later at night ... make sense??
BrianV
Well-Known Member
Go to park 1 in the am and enjoy minimal lines until the crowds get bad. Have lunch. Hop to park 2 in the pm where you have FP+ booked for the afternoon. As close as you'll get the old fast pass system. And you will be able to get on the headliners at park 2, something that wasn't as easy before.
As an aside, isn't the new system more equitable than the old one? Power users could effectively never wait on any lines during spring break as you describe above while the ignorant waited on long lines.
(Been going to disney for more like 40 years...)
willtravel
Well-Known Member
I think it would depend on how many days you are there and time of year? For us, we spend 2 days in Mk and Epcot, 1 day in AK, 2 days in HS (now to change to 1 day. And 1 day less at WDW) and then spend 1 off day doing what ever and never needed park hopper. We eat at the park we are at, hotel, or Downtown Disney. But if you like to park hop then yes.
Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
We've often purchased parkhopper tickets, but they are by no means necessary (unless you have a shorter, 5-day-or-fewer trip and want to hit all 4 parks, OR if you have a larger group that wants to do a lot of splitting up). We like to take an afternoon break from after lunch to 4pm, so leaving and returning to the same park doesn't make us feel like we're "stuck" there for "the whole day," since we're only touring in manageable, non-exhausting 4-5 hour increments. If it's a HS or AK day, we're done and out of the park after lunch, so we often use the remainder of those days to swim, visit DTD, and/or have a special dinner experience at a resort (e.g., Hoop-de-Doo). As a result, even when we have parkhopper, we honestly only use it 1-2 days out of a 6-7 day trip, and for the sole purpose of going to dinner in World Showcase more than once.
We have always gotten park hoppers... but to be honest I think they are generally a waste of money. When we do DL we actually use it some going between DL and CA... but at WDW we have used it maybe 2 times in the past 10 years... Once because we started in AK and it closed early and we still wanted to do something and once because the only time we could get our dinner reservations at a MK restaurant was on the day we had plans for EPCOT.
I'm not saying we wouldn't get the park hopper on the next trip to WDW because we probably will, mostly because I look at it as cheap insurance that allows me to do something different if things change.
MinnieM123
Premium Member
The Hopper is important to me, because I like spontaneity. I don't pre-plan or have ADRs; hence, no schedule. Sometimes, I'll take the first bus or boat that arrives in the morning, and go to that park. Then, I'll switch off to another park later on.
Another benefit of the Hopper Pass is for those times when your favorite ride or attractions break down for hours, or maybe you've hit a day with unusually large crowds in line for other attractions. In those scenarios, with the Hopper, I've had the option of going to another park, and returning to the original park later in the day or evening.
Another benefit of the Hopper Pass is for those times when your favorite ride or attractions break down for hours, or maybe you've hit a day with unusually large crowds in line for other attractions. In those scenarios, with the Hopper, I've had the option of going to another park, and returning to the original park later in the day or evening.
Matt_Black
Well-Known Member
I'm very much a middle ground sort; while I love planning and ADRs, it's more of a framework than a schedule or an itinerary, so I can be flexible if need be, making the park hopper an invaluable tool.