Ask It Results: WDW Park Hopper – Worth It?

Last week, we asked you about adding the Park Hopper option to your ticket. The question was “is it worth it?” Here are the results and more information about hopping:

Is adding the Park Hopper option to your Walt Disney World ticket worth it?

Yes – 1551✅
No – 734

So the yes votes won by a more than 2 to 1 margin. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of park hopping.

Why you should add a park hopper to your Disney World ticket?

Think of the park hopper option as an insurance policy. If the park you’re at on a particular day isn’t doing it for you, you can just go to another. Or perhaps you only want to spend a partial day at a park. You could hit the headliners at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the morning, take an afternoon break at your hotel, and have dinner and watch Illuminations at Epcot that night.

What are the best parks to hop between?

You can easily go between Magic Kingdom and Epcot (with only one trip through bag check) by taking the monorail from the Transportation and Ticket Center and the front entrance of Epcot. If you’re at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Friendship boats run between it and Epcot’s International Gateway entrance and take about 30 minutes. When the Skyliner is complete, you’ll have another option between these two parks, which will be especially convenient if you’re staying at Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, or Art of Animation. Animal Kingdom park, alas, remains inconvenient to everywhere else on property.

What can’t you do with a park hopper?

You can’t use a park hopper for admission to Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach – that’s a separate admission or can be added with the Park Hopper Plus ticket option (hopper plus $25).

You also can’t add an extra day to a base ticket and use it to enter a second park in one day. For example you can’t buy a ten-day base ticket for a nine-day stay and use the extra day for an additional park admission.

I want to return to the same park during the day. Do I need a park hopper for that?

No, your base park admission lets you into the same park with in and out privileges without needing the park hopper. For example, you could go to Magic Kingdom in the morning with your base ticket, return to the Polynesian to swim in the afternoon, and then use your same base ticket that evening to return to watch the fireworks from Main Street. In this case, there’s no need for a hopper.

Anything else I should know?

Did you realize that you’re not limited to hopping between just two parks when you add the park hopper? Yes, you could actually go to two, three, or even all four Disney theme parks in one day using the park hopper.

You don’t need to commit right away to adding the park hopper. Remember, you can always upgrade your tickets at park Guest Relations during your trip if you decide you’d like to add options or days to your park admission as long as your ticket is still has days left on it. Park tickets do expire 14 days after first use (if you use a ticket on January 1 for the first time, the last day it can be used is January 14) regardless of whether they have days left on them.

Why adding a park hopper could be a waste of money

If you’re on a shorter trip, the $65-75 dollar upcharge to your park tickets is a substantial increase in price. And three- or four-day trips can be pretty hectic without the added complication of going from park to park. Many readers said they would rather simply plan to do one park per day and just enjoy things without worrying about juggling multiple parks.

We had lots of great comments here and on Twitter. Do you have any questions about Disney park tickets? Ask them here and we’ll either answer them or use them for a future article.

Thanks for voting. Don’t forget to check out this week’s poll!