To Park hop or not -- that is the question

[durangojim]

25 years ago when I started going to WDW as a child we would never park hop. We'd either stay in Orlando or later in the Disney Village as it was called back then and go from open to close at one park. Once we started staying on property we began to park hop, and now having kids of my own, I would have a hard time imagining not park hopping as we usually go to one park in the AM, come back to the resort and take a swim and or rest and then go to a different park in the evening. So I'm wondering, how many of you park hop and how many don't, and what's your reason for either choice?

 

[TurboCaroline]

We have found it fine not to park hop and use the money elsewhere. We usually go for 4 days which is one park per day and it works out fine. For me it takes too much time to park hop plus all that extra walking. My feet kill me enough already..:lol: The only time we found it necessary was when we went for a short 2 day trip and we wanted to go to every park.

 

[dsnyfreak]

with kids; one park a day
elderly or handicapped; one park a day
single and free ; HOP BABY HOP!!

 

[toystorymaniacs]

We don't hop nearly as much as we did pre-kids or even with just one but I could never give up my ability to hop. It's kind of like a safety net if your day isn't going how you want it to.

 

[disneygirl76]

Oh Park Hopping is the way to go! I love splitting the day up! We always Hop!:sohappy:

 

[durangojim]

Not all people who have kids don't park hop (how's that for a double negative?). We have a 3 y/o son who's been to WDW 10 times and a 1 y/o daughter who's been twice. We couldn't imagine staying in the park all day without going back to the hotel for a break to let the kids rest, and knowing we can go someplace else in the evening is usually even more exciting for the kids.

 

[DisneyJoe]

elderly or handicapped; one park a day

Depends on the person, I would think.

I'm on crutches and prefer park hopping.

 

[polynesiangirl]

Oh, we always Park Hop. I like to feel like I don't have to stay in one park if it gets crowded, etc.

In a couple years when we have young children, we'll probably skip the Park Hopper option since it's harder to be so flexible schedule-wise with little kids. But I guess we'll see how it goes.

 

[RobnRachal]

I thought the question was "To Dining Plan, or not to Dining Plan"??
For us park hopping just takes WAY TOO LONG. Traveling with a mother who is in an ECV for the whole trip makes getting from one park to another, a two hour ordeal.
Don't get me wrong, we love having Nanny come along (cause we don't know how much longer she'll be able to). But, things like park hopping are just not an option. We'd rather spend those two hours having fun, not waiting for a bus she can get on.
If it was just the four of us I'm sure it would be in the itinerary.

 

[Susan Savia]

Park Hopping - absolutely!!! We will visit AK first thing, hit our favorites and head out to HS for the remainder of the day, and this is usually by 11:00 am. We have never spent an entire day in either. We like to park at Epcot and monorail to MK and spend from rope drop until the 3:00 parade and then hop back to Epcot for the rest of the day. The only park we spend entire days in would be Epcot, our favorite. We once spent from 7:45am (Crystal Palace breakfast) until 11:00pm (Wishes) at the MK. It was a long day but we loved it. As we have annual passes, we love being able to change parks whenever we choose.

 

[WishIwasThere]

On our last vacation there in 2007, we were there for nine days and I think we only used the park hopping option twice. We would usually spend the whole day at the park we started at. We would plan our dining options for that park and stay for the evening entertainment at that park, if it had one.

Since our Disney vacation this year is only for a long weekend, we will probably skip the hopper option this time around. It will add $200 to the cost of our tickets, which for a four day ticket, is an option we will probably not use. That $200 can go for our MNSSHP tickets, which are well worth the price.

 

[retlaw_yensid]

The first couple of times we went to WDW (back in the mid 90's), we did use the hopper option, but of course, that was a time when the hopper option really didn't cost all that much more.

When we went last time (2004), we didn't bother getting the hopper option (I believe the tickets were called "value" tickets at the time) and I honestly didn't feel any worse because of it. That is, I didn't feel that we missed out on anything because of it. In fact, I almost felt that we saw and did more because we weren't wasting our time transferring from 1 park to another. Having the option, you almost feel inclined to use it without regard for the time you're wasting.

And on those days when we visited HS or AK, since they usually closed earlier, we just spent those evenings hitting DD, minigolf, or whatever. There's always plenty to do outside the 4 parks to fill your time.

I would say, save the money, and spend it on something better...

 

[MM15Disney]

It depends on some things for me at least. On our first family trip last year we did not get park hoppers, we just did a 4-day base ticket and did each park 1 day and it worked out just fine for us and it saves money. Next trip we are going on will just be me and DH and we are doing a 3-day base ticket (only staying 4 nights) and just not going to Epcot. But I would like to go back for a few nights in December because I LOVE Christmas time and really want to see the park all decorated and the events during this time, but would probably just stay 3 nights and do a 2 or 3-day PH because I don't really need to ride everything, but want to see each park and how they are decorated.