Are Park Hoppers worth it in WDW?

[goldengirlz]

Why or why not?

Other relevant info:

We usually do one park per day in Disneyland and it works well. We’re not really “Disney people” — don’t care about Magic hours (prefer to sleep in), come back to the hotel long before the fireworks, etc. When DD is done, we’re done.

BUT. Someone tried to convince me yesterday that Park Hoppers are worth it in WDW. We’re staying at the Dolphin which is walking distance to Epcot and if we had a Park Hopper we could use the monorail to get around. (Plus we could drink around the world at night.) We’ll have three full park days. Is that enough of a reason to spend the extra money?

[Covergirl82]

We have done park hoppers on our last few trips because we want the ability to go to different parks in one day. For example, we may spend the day at Epcot, but want to go to the fireworks at MK, so it's nice to have a park hopper for that. Or if you have a park that is a "half-day" park (for us it's AK), you can spend the rest of the day at another park.

[edwardo123]

We like the park hoppers and go to at least 2 parks each day. Besides planned park hopping, we like the option to leave and switch parks if the one we are in feels too crowded.

[Zoly]

Honestly, I think it's easier to park hop in DL than DW, just because the parks are so close to each other.

This is something we've mulled over about our next Disney trip (whenever that is). We like staying in the Boardwalk/Beach Club area, so the ability to just hop into the World Showcase for dinner and/or drinks sounds appealing. However, that entrance is on the back side of Epcot and the monorail is at the very front - so I wouldn't call it easy to just hop on the monorail and go to MK. It's probably much easier to just take the bus.

If you're fine with just doing 1 park a day, then I would say skip it.

[goldengirlz]

Jan 21, 2020 12:57:27 GMT -5 Zoly said:

Honestly, I think it's easier to park hop in DL than DW, just because the parks are so close to each other.

This is something we've mulled over about our next Disney trip (whenever that is). We like staying in the Boardwalk/Beach Club area, so the ability to just hop into the World Showcase for dinner and/or drinks sounds appealing. However, that entrance is on the back side of Epcot and the monorail is at the very front - so I wouldn't call it easy to just hop on the monorail and go to MK. It's probably much easier to just take the bus.

If you're fine with just doing 1 park a day, then I would say skip it.

Ah, this is good to know!

[mccallister84]

We stayed at the Grand Floridian (so right on the monorail) and got hoppers because we thought we might hop to MK at night bc we were so close. We only hopped on night and that was bc H’s bff from growing up was there for one night before getting on a Disney Cruise. Honestly there was so much to do at the hotel that the girls were content to hang out there.

[sagelily]

I think your resort is walking distance to both Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We stayed in the same general area at Yacht Club last summer. We had a package that required us to get the park hoppers. They were nice to be able to walk into the Epcot entrance (near France) for dinner after spending the day at a different park then stopping back by the resort. We did that twice. Once we also walked back to HS for the light show at night. It was nice to have that flexibility but we weren’t truly splitting the day between 2 parks so I don’t know if that bit of convenience/extra food choices would be worth the difference in ticket price. We are not rope drop to park close people either, so we tried to make use of the park hoppers since we had them, but honestly my kids would have probably been just as happy with more time at the pool and quick grab and go type food in our resort.

[CrazyLucky]

We went when the kids were 5 and 7. We got park hopper. It was a waste of money. The only day we used it was the day we went to Animal Kingdom, because it closes early. I would skip it.

[mmmomof2]

It depends on how much flexibility you want. Last trip we didn't have PH and didn't miss it. My kids were 9 and 6 and we did mid-day breaks. It's just as easy to go back to the same park after your break as it is to park hop. We considered the PH because we had 6 park days and I wasn't sure which parks to visit twice, but I had no regrets about not having them. We ended up going to MK and EP for two days and HS and AK for one day each.

If you're only going to the parks three days then you'll have to pick which park to skip. The parkhopper allows you to see all 4 parks, but more fast paced.

[Wines Not Whines]

I would get PH for a 3-day trip if you want to go to all 4 parks. You would need a park hopper to make that happen.

I like to stay at the Epcot/Boardwalk resorts and get PH so we can go to dinner in Epcot multiple times. We’re more likely to do this if we go there during an Epcot festival (like the food and wine festival). It’s an easy walk from the resort area to the Epcot World Showcase.

[irishbride2]

It depends on how you do Disney.

We park hop a lot. BUT we go a lot so we don't really need a full day to hit the rides we want in one park. We also often go to another park just for dinner.

[goldengirlz]

Yeah, if we DON’T get it, which park to skip becomes the salient question.

Maybe we can get it for one day? I’m not even sure that would even save money ...

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2020 18:25:01 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Yeah, if we DON’T get it, which park to skip becomes the salient question.

Maybe we can get it for one day? I’m not even sure that would even save money ...

I may be wrong but I thought when we went several years ago it was every day or none of the days. 

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2020 19:24:43 GMT -5 @princessbubbleyum said:

Jan 21, 2020 18:25:01 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Yeah, if we DON’T get it, which park to skip becomes the salient question.

Maybe we can get it for one day? I’m not even sure that would even save money ...

I may be wrong but I thought when we went several years ago it was every day or none of the days. 

Google tells me I'm right. It's the same price for one day or all of the days. 


www.dadsguidetowdw.com/adding-park-hopper-for-one-day-of-a-multi-day-ticket.html

[minniemouse]

We like the hoppers because it gives us more flexibility with dining.

[redheadk]

I like the park hoppers but we don’t go all day. We hopped half the days on our last trip. Three times to just get dinner and fireworks one night, and a split day one day. We were at beach club during food & wine festival.

Swan/Dolphin is a further walk and with 3 days, popping into epcot just for dinner probably won’t happen. I would definitely not get it just to use the monorail. That is a really long, inconvenient walk, IMO! I don’t think it would even save you time.

[redheadk]

I’m pretty sure you can add park hoppers there if you decide you really need them. Is that still possible?

[curbsideprophet]

Jan 21, 2020 22:08:03 GMT -5 redheadk said:

I’m pretty sure you can add park hoppers there if you decide you really need them. Is that still possible?

Yes, you can always upgrade/add days during your trip as long as you still have valid time on the ticket. You can do it on the last day but the cost is the same either way.

OP do you want to ride ROTR? If so I would definitely consider hoppers (at least as the ride is currently operating).

Given your resort location it would pretty easy to get to both EP and HS.

[goldengirlz]

Jan 21, 2020 19:26:50 GMT -5 @princessbubbleyum said:

Jan 21, 2020 19:24:43 GMT -5 @princessbubbleyum said:

I may be wrong but I thought when we went several years ago it was every day or none of the days. 

Google tells me I'm right. It's the same price for one day or all of the days. 


www.dadsguidetowdw.com/adding-park-hopper-for-one-day-of-a-multi-day-ticket.html

Ohh, so I completely misunderstood. I thought that was the extra price per day and calculating that it would be $540 just for the Park Hopper!!

I do think the rules changed though because the 2020 Disney ticket prices (I just looked this up) say it a $60 add-on for one day, $70 for two or three days, and $80 for four to 10.

OK, well this math makes a lot more sense lol. I think we could probably swing an extra $200, although you guys make some good arguments about not. This will be a once-in-a-blue-moon trip though because Orlando is so far and Anaheim is so close to us.

[goldengirlz]

Jan 21, 2020 22:28:21 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

Jan 21, 2020 22:08:03 GMT -5 redheadk said:

I’m pretty sure you can add park hoppers there if you decide you really need them. Is that still possible?

Yes, you can always upgrade/add days during your trip as long as you still have valid time on the ticket. You can do it on the last day but the cost is the same either way.

OP do you want to ride ROTR? If so I would definitely consider hoppers (at least as the ride is currently operating).

Given your resort location it would pretty easy to get to both EP and HS.

I don’t THINK that ride’s a must-do but I really need to research this. I think my FastPass window opens in like 2.5 weeks.

[pisces]

We do park hoppers. We pick 1 park in the morning and use our 3 fast passes early. Then we decide in the late afternoon to go to the park that's the least busiest/one we can get more fast passes.

[Deleted]

I think they’re worth it for shorter trips, like say 3 days so you can see all the parks. We don’t get them when we have 5+ park days with our kids though. We did find them worthwhile when we went without kids so we could eat at Epcot more.

[Mushe]

I’m glad the math is sorted out. 😄 We are not really disney people, but I’d definitely do it, especially for a trip of three days that you plan to possibly be the only WDW trip. It’s nowhere near as easy to hop as at DL, but it’s really nice if you’re staying in walking distance of a park to end your day there.

We did our one WDW trip (until we went and had a second kid, lolsob) a few years ago, staying at Bay Lake Towers, right by MK. It was so fun to walk back at the end of the day and quickly hop on some rides or see fireworks.

[nicolewi]

We've only been once, but we did not do the hoppers and I did not feel at all like we needed or wanted them. I can see the hoppers with adults-only or with older kids. My kids were just turned 4, 6, 8 and 10. We did one park/day, and we did that park BIG. I.e. we had dining plans & we usually stayed most of the day. We never did mid-day breaks. We used dining as a break. Some days we went a little late or came back a little early, but we did a lot of late nights. With kids, it's so much hassle/wasted time to move from park to park.

I could see it making more sense if...
--you had a short trip and wanted to get all the parks in
--adults only or older kids/teens
--Maybe also if you stayed at a Monorail resort it would make more sense as it would be easier to get around--easier to take a break and go back to a different park.

[krystee]

We barely used them on our last trip, but we are getting them this trip. We have a 2-year-old who can’t hang much past 7:30, so our thought is to alternate nights taking our 5-year-old or going alone to Epcot or HS, which we can walk to from Beach Club. That way, H can go to the Star Wars land uninterrupted, I can sip a margarita and people watch in Mexico, and we can take DS1 on countless rides of Tower of Terror when it’s less busy.

[revolution]

We get the hopper and have started using it the last few trips. DD and DH like to use it to go to HS when we are done with whatever park we are at and get on ToT (her favorite) a time or two in a row in the evening. With the new skyliner, it feels a lot easier to park hop between HS and EP.

[sent]

I’m here now and we barely got our moneys worth from hoppers. We used it for 2/7 days. I’ve told my family that next time I’m not buying hoppers. We will just need to plan our park days and meals more carefully. It’s just too exhausting for us with a 6 year old and 1 year old. The stroller is probably the rate limiting factor because we don’t like undoing the whole thing to take a bus. We even did a split stay at the Swan and the Contemporary so we could walk to 3/4 parks and still couldn’t muster up the energy for a quick jaunt into the park here and there.

ETA - I could have taken DD back into the parks alone, but DS is in a phase where he wants to be with everyone or else he will just call for the missing family member.

[jeaniebueller]

Not for us. We stick to one park a day and are too tired/lazy to try to go to multiple.

[phdmomma]

We didn't do them last month when we went. We typically spend the whole day at a single park. I think if you were planning to go early and then back to the hotel to nap and swim mid day they would be worth it because you could go to a different park after. On the day that we did a park that closed early, we just went to Disney Springs and the Lego store, which we didn't need tickets for.