Park Hopper ?

[Robert Lee]

Looking for opinions to get the Park Hopper pass for our Disney tickets in June.

We are a family of 4 - 2 Parents 2 kids (9 and 11). We are staying off site about 20 minutes away so we will be using a car. We plan to purchase 5 day tickets.

I have heard mixed reviews about Park Hopper pass since we are not staying in the park. It would save us some money if we don’t purchase it. Thoughts? Thanks

 

[Pixieish]

We always get park hoppers so we can dine in a different park, switch parks if it's crowded at one, or whatever.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

The last few times I've gone, I've gotten park hopper tickets.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

It depends if you want to go to DHS. Even with TsL you won't be able to squeeze a full day there.

 

[Goofyernmost]

You don't have to decide that right now. When you get there you can add them on if you find it to your advantage. It is a flat rate, so you won't save any money by waiting, so, if you think you are going to need them for sure get them now. If you aren't sure, then just wait and add on later when it becomes necessary.

 

[Goofyernmost]

It depends if you want to go to DHS. Even with TsL you won't be able to squeeze a full day there.

Yes, they can. there is plenty to do there to stretch it out for a day. They would only know that if they have gone before, if they haven't it might be easy to stretch it out. Even if they can't and want to go elsewhere they can add it on at that time and be on their way.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Yes, they can. there is plenty to do there to stretch it out for a day. They would only know that if they have gone before, if they haven't it might be easy to stretch it out. Even if they can't and want to go elsewhere they can add it on at that time and be on their way.

I think DHS is not a rope drop to after closing park without repeating stuff right now. This is for me as I'm not interested in everything there (I.e. Frozen). It's a great little park and I'm not dissing it. Just saying that I think PH is worth it because it gives you options.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I think DHS is not a rope drop to after closing park without repeating stuff right now. This is for me as I'm not interested in everything there (I.e. Frozen). It's a great little park and I'm not dissing it. Just saying that I think PH is worth it because it gives you options.

I agree with that, but, what you or I do while in the parks, is not necessarily what everyone does, so I think it is just incorrect to make a blanket statement that it will NOT be a full day. Personally I have never bought a ticket that didn't have the Park Hopper attached to it. But, they might not need it.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

I agree with that, but, what you or I do while in the parks, is not necessarily what everyone does, so I think it is just incorrect to make a blanket statement that it will NOT be a full day. Personally I have never bought a ticket that didn't have the Park Hopper attached to it. But, they might not need it.

Just saying it's a good idea because what if they find out that they don't like everything at the park and want to go to MK. PH gives you options and options are valuable

 

[Herdman]

We've always gotten park hoppers on every trip we've made and we used it exactly 1 time. We are not getting it for our trip in May. We always find time to fill a day, and even if we go back to the resort midday we go back to the same park in the evening. I think it mostly depends on your family's habits - will you be more likely to want to head to another park if you feel you've done everything you want, or would you be more likely to just go back to the resort and hang out by the pool? Only you and your family can answer that.

 

[thomas998]

I think DHS is not a rope drop to after closing park without repeating stuff right now. This is for me as I'm not interested in everything there (I.e. Frozen). It's a great little park and I'm not dissing it. Just saying that I think PH is worth it because it gives you options.

Really depends on whether you've been before, the age of your kids and what you plan on doing. When we had younger kids we could have spent a whole day there in part because their are some things targeted strictly at younger kids and they can chew up a lot of time. You also have the shows to watch, and Fantasmic... You can probably waste a whole day there is you have never been before and want to try and do everything.... If you've been before though you probably wouldn't want to spend a whole day there though as the last time we did Studios I think we spend a few hours during the whole trip and that was mostly because we wanted to hit Star Tours and Midway Mania and nothing else... whether they want to spend a full day there is something they have to decide. Frankly AK is also a park that some people wont spend a full day at either, but again it just depends on the visitor and what they enjoy.

 

[Kristamouse]

We do not get the hoper any longer. Somenyears we had it and didn’t really make use of it. We have a few months left on our Annual Pass and can hop between parks and haven’t done so in 3 trips this year. We are a rope drop family and sometimes do a mid day break. Our scenarios: we open and close the same park, we open a park, take a mid day break and then close a park or open a park and then head back to the room/condo to swim and chill. We travel is off peak ansnthe parks usually close around 9:00. We no longer stay on property so EMH do not apply.
We choose to take our kids (6 ages 2 to 13) out of school to visit WDW. On DHS and AK days we plan an late afternoon/early night. Head back to condo for dinner and homework.
We would rather put the hopper money into park meals.

 

[jimbojones]

Looking for opinions to get the Park Hopper pass for our Disney tickets in June.

We are a family of 4 - 2 Parents 2 kids (9 and 11). We are staying off site about 20 minutes away so we will be using a car. We plan to purchase 5 day tickets.

I have heard mixed reviews about Park Hopper pass since we are not staying in the park. It would save us some money if we don’t purchase it. Thoughts? Thanks

I love park hoppers as others have said you can switch parks if the crowds get bad and you can return for favorite attractions or dining. They give you a whole lot more freedom and for 5 days are totally worth it. As an aside if you aren't doing water parks I think 5 days is the perfect WDW vacation length. One day for each park plus a day to revisit favorites and a park hopper makes it possible to revisit more than one park on day 5

 

[Courtney6682]

Before I got an AP we always went with hoppers. We may not have always used them, but if was nice to have the option to hop if we wanted to...

 

[OsbourneCox]

I love park hoppers as others have said you can switch parks if the crowds get bad and you can return for favorite attractions or dining.

I really question this.
As a rule, as a generality, as a norm, as far as crowd patterns go this is the mother of all misconceptions on these boards.

When one park is packed they all are --more or less. The overall crowd patterns in the parks(outside of special events or grand openings and the like) distribute among the parks relatively equally. High season and holiday crowds apply to all parks. Value season crowds apply to all parks. You ordinarily don't go from wall to wall guests at Animal Kingdom, hop on a transport and see walk on attractions in EPCOT.

 

[Monty]

Have a look at what you want to accomplish while you're there. As has been said, PH allows switching parks for any number of reasons, but if you don't need it, why pay for it? If your plans will clearly require it, then you might as well purchase it in advance. If you're not sure, it hurts nothing to wait and buy it if you do need it. PH can be purchased at Guest Relations in any of the parks or Disney Springs, which will probably be shorter lines than a ticket booth [depending what time of day], on your way to your first "Hop".

 

[Mander]

My family never got hoppers when I was a kid. It was an expensive trip with the five of us so we always drove (from Michigan), stayed offsite, and did one park per day. We always did four day tickets so one park per day. With five, I'd look at doing one per day plus a second day at Magic Kingdom. I know some say Hollywood Studios isn't a full day park but I think that really depends on how often you've been. Doing all of the shows would likely make it a full day (plus you can always go check out the resorts if you want something else to do).

I'd say you're likely fine with the one park per day tickets. My husband and I got park hoppers for our upcoming honeymoon but of our six days we're only planning to use it three days at most.

 

[Pixieish]

I really question this.
As a rule, as a generality, as a norm, as far as crowd patterns go this is the mother of all misconceptions on these boards.

When one park is packed they all are --more or less. The overall crowd patterns in the parks(outside of special events or grand openings and the like) distribute among the parks relatively equally. High season and holiday crowds apply to all parks. Value season crowds apply to all parks. You ordinarily don't go from wall to wall guests at Animal Kingdom, hop on a transport and see walk on attractions in EPCOT.

It really isn't though. I have friends that live in FL and go often, and there have been plenty of times when they've told me "X park is packed, so I headed over to X and it feels empty."

 

[Jedi Stitch]

We paid for the park hopper option, but only used it a couple of times. Worth it, but for the first four days, we spent all our time in the each park. After the first four days we used the hopper option to see what we wanted to see from each park.

 

[NormC]

We hop all the time. It is worth the small added cost on a 7 or 8 day package for the convenience of doing what we want, when we want.