To hop or not to hop :(

[pixeemom]

ugh, to hop or not to hop? that is the question now....i just downgraded a day, so now i have 5 base tickets as opposed to 6, I know its only a matter of 11.00 per ticket per person for that 1 day but any little money savings is better than nothing, but we always got hopper passes on past trips, but times are rough, money is sooooo tight esp. with my husband being out of work for now do to medical...and part of me thinks, how often did we hop on our last trips? for the life of me I can't remember.
opinions welcomed

 

[pixeemom]

I actually see our family using our parkhoppers just as much as before because we'll do rope drop at one park and hit some headliners while lines are (hopefully) shorter and then have FP+ scheduled at a different park for later in the evening. I especially see us scheduling FP+ at MK on at least 2 different evenings in order to get more rides in.

OP, we always get parkhoppers because we like the flexibility they offer. We're pretty relaxed about touring and like to go with the flow. We often find ourselves ready to leave a park in the afternoon to get away from the crowds and heat and head back to the resort for a swim and/or nap. Then we'll either eat at the resort or head to a park for dinner and more rides or a fireworks show. We like not having to go back to the same park we started the day in. We usually go to Disney for 6 or 7 days and typically spend a day focusing on each park. The last 2 days of our trip are usually spent heading to 2 or 3 parks a day to hit a ride or two that we either missed on the first visit or that we want to hit again before leaving. For us, it's worth the extra money for that flexibility and freedom.

That being said, if I had to trim my Disney vacation budget, as long as we were going for 6 or more days I could survive without parkhoppers for one trip. I would just go in to it with the understanding that whatever park we start the day in is the only park we can even think about going to that day. I would definitely be very diligent about making sure we were going to the least crowded/recommended park each day to try and optimize our time in the parks and accomplish all of our "must do's" each day.

great points!!! thank you

 

[pixeemom]

Our first trip....we had to purchase Hoppers for all of the days on our trip, to use it ONE night to see Wishes. It wasn't a planned thing...MIL decided to stay at the hotel, husband and I wanted to get out. SUCKED to have to buy Hoppers for the WHOLE trip to use for ONE night.

Second trip, we bought the Hopper tickets....used them once. Total waste of money for us. LOL

We wont buy them again. I think it's perfectly do-able to spend the entire day in the park you've chosen for that day and then go to another park one of the other 5 days. If it's DHS....then plan to spend some time at your resorts pool

thank you!!!!

 

[R W B]

We are going in June, and bought the park hopper feature mostly out of habit. I'm wishing now that we hadn't, or that we got the water park feature instead. Oh well, I guess I will just have to live with park hopping this time.

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to change your ticket this far out. I know I've changed my tickets at check in before. I bet if you call them they will change it for you.

 

[epcotisbest]

Thank you, the other down side imho is that my kids are young going from park to park seems to make them tired and cranky

Well, I'm 53 and stay tired and cranky...it is not a mood reserved just for youth.

 

[Monty]

I have an AP, so it doesn't matter to me, but:

I would suggest not buying the hopper option until you potentially need it. I have been in a park where a main ride [or two] has gone down and I find it worthwhile to switch parks for the rest of the day. Sometimes in summer, AK becomes just too hot and muggy to stay in the park, switching can be helpful. If you have base tickets and don't need it you save the money. If you find it needed, adding it costs as much whether you pre-pay or add it at the time.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to change your ticket this far out. I know I've changed my tickets at check in before. I bet if you call them they will change it for you.

I thought about that but we already have our plans set and dining reservations made with some days that involve hopping. Next time I will plan differently if this policy remains the same.

 

[officialtom]

Unless our travel agent can somehow get us free park hoppers, I doubt we'll ever do it. We like to really take our time at the parks and one per day is always enough. We can even do a full day at DHS no problem. It's just an extra expense that we don't see the need to justify.

 

[gooftroop5]

We are hoppers! Here is why.......when we go to WDW we are there at least 7 days. We take things slow and let the kids lead the way. We usually go in the summer and also like to take advantage of EMH. So if a park is offering morning EMH we will go there early and get a ton accomplished even by taking is slow. However for some reason those parks with morning EMH seem to get super busy right before lunch even though the EMH has passed. So we take advantage of the EMH with fewer people around and then hop to another park that isn't as crowded. Hopping also gives us a chance to take a break mid-day/early evening to nap, swim, or just enjoy our resort. We also do the same for evening EMH because those hours are a lot less crowded as well.....even though during the day the park was super crowded. (I find it interesting that the parks with EMH are super busy but not during the EMH. Ha ha!)

Hoppers also give us a chance to "go with the flow". If the kids are getting cranky because the park is getting hot or crowded we can hop over to another park. I can specifically think of times when we were at MK and it just got to be too much. We all needed a little slower pace so we hopped on over to Epcot and walked around the world snacking and taking in the shows/performances.

Another reason......if we happen to snag a ressie at a hard to get restaurant, but its not during an ideal time we don't have to commit to that park for the entire day. MK is always busiest on Saturday and Monday for the most part. We try to avoid it, but if that's the only time we can get a ressie then we take it.

Hoppers give us more freedom and that works for us.

Anyway, that's why we are hoppers and will most likely always be hoppers.

 

[pixeemom]

I have an AP, so it doesn't matter to me, but:

I would suggest not buying the hopper option until you potentially need it. I have been in a park where a main ride [or two] has gone down and I find it worthwhile to switch parks for the rest of the day. Sometimes in summer, AK becomes just too hot and muggy to stay in the park, switching can be helpful. If you have base tickets and don't need it you save the money. If you find it needed, adding it costs as much whether you pre-pay or add it at the time.

Awesome thank you for your input as well, i am 99% sure i will not be adding the on at this time

 

[Mouse_Trap]

Park hopper is a waste of money unless you have 3 days or less. The waterparks and more is a far better option as it essentially doubles your days. If you don't want that, the money is far better spent on adding back the extra day.

 

[allgiggles]

Hoppers also give us a chance to "go with the flow". If the kids are getting cranky because the park is getting hot or crowded we can hop over to another park. I can specifically think of times when we were at MK and it just got to be too much. We all needed a little slower pace so we hopped on over to Epcot and walked around the world snacking and taking in the shows/performances.

Another reason......if we happen to snag a ressie at a hard to get restaurant, but its not during an ideal time we don't have to commit to that park for the entire day. MK is always busiest on Saturday and Monday for the most part. We try to avoid it, but if that's the only time we can get a ressie then we take it.

Hoppers give us more freedom and that works for us.

Anyway, that's why we are hoppers and will most likely always be hoppers.

Same for us. We've had the same experience -- MK just got too hot and crowded even on a "slow" day so we hopped over to Epcot for awhile. We've also hopped over to Epcot to grab some dinner after spending the day at DHS. But there are also days that we go from morning to night at the same park. It just depends... We certainly don't feel like we *have* to hop every day or even a minimum number of days during our stay. And most of the time we spend the morning at one park, head back to the hotel for a few hours, and then head to a different park in the evening so we're not eating up any extra time by park hopping -- it's no different (time wise) than returning to the same park we were at earlier in the day. If we park hop even once during our stay, it's worth the price for us because it means we got what *we* wanted out of our vacation (which I realize is not the same as what others may want/expect out of their vacations). Maybe if we were able to travel to Disney during a slower time of year we wouldn't use them, but since we always go in late June, they really make our stay more enjoyable.

 

[Mouse_Trap]

I think some people are missing the point of the question from the OP. Their point was that they are trying to save money as they are finding things really tight right now.

Ultimately you can save $59 (+tax) per person by dropping the hopper option.
For exactly the same price you could either have the 10 day ticket or the water parks option giving you 5 extra attractions - potentially 5 water park days.

In some ways it depends upon how many days you have in Orlando which is more important to you, or how badly you need to keep the price down.

For me in that situation, dropping the hopper is a no-brainer. However, if I had the extra days in resort i.e. just pool days, the extra days a $11/day is very tempting - so too are the waterparks in the hotter months.

 

[SAV]

We bought hoppers the first trip and didn't end up hopping. Every trip since we don't even bother buying them and have plenty to do in each park to fill up a full day. If money is the main driver for this decision, I'm sure you could fill your days without hopping very easily. Not to mention the time lost while hopping. That's a ride or 2 you could be going on instead of going between parks.

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

Okay, just my opinion but I have NO interest in resort hopping. Why? Because when we go we "move in" to our room. We unpack all our clothes into the dressers and set up all our toiletries and stuff. What a royal pain it would be to have to pack that all up for a few days. If there's a resort I really want to try it simply goes on my list of to-do/go. Like next on my list - the Wilderness Lodge.

 

[71dsp]

Another vote for park hopping. We do it nearly every day of our vacations.