#AskIt – Is the Park Hopper Worth It?
Today’s question looks into Disney ticket options. If you haven’t looked at Disney ticket prices and options lately, you may want to check out our Tickets page for the low-down.
Basically, adding the ability to go from park to park on the same day’s admission will add $75 plus tax to an adult ticket of 4 or more days ($65 to 2- and 3-day tickets).
So today we’re asking:
Is adding the Park Hopper option worth the price?
- Yes (65%, 464 Votes)
- No (35%, 246 Votes)
Total Voters: 710
Loading ...
Voting is open here and on Twitter. What say you, is park hopping worth the additional price to your Disney World ticket? Talk about it in the comments.
You May Also Like...
-
When I first saw the Disney Park Pals, I was so confused. What do they do? I thought to myself. I asked…
-
Disney has launched a new collection of merchandise that features icons of the Walt Disney World theme parks, and for any…
-
In addition to Walt Disney World park maps from 1989, my recent attic purge also unearthed some photos from that same…
-
This is news that is incredibly exciting! The Park Hopping option is returning for the Walt Disney World Resort beginning on…
Obviously depends on the situation. Our first trip to WDW was for 5 days and we were able to get a full day in at HS, AK and Epcot, giving us 2 days at MK.
Next trip will be 4 days and in order to make sure we get our MK fix in, we’re only going to be able to spend 1/2 day at Epcot. Sorry World Showcase, I love you and all of your alcohol, but the kids don’t.
I voted yes.
But more so for the Park Hopper Plus.
My family and I are using the Plus option to visit a water park and play golf a few times at Oak Trails. Plus probably the miniature golf as well.
If you’re going back and forth on the Park Hopper, I think getting the Plus could be a good way to go.
If you’re trip is long enough to spend a day at a water park, or if you play golf, the Park Hopper Plus becomes pretty cost-effective.
I voted No, even though prior to having kids we always used Hoppers. When it is just two people, the extra cost isn’t quite as bad. When you have 4+ tickets you have to buy, and add the extra for the Hoppers, there is almost no way to get your money’s worth. The only way you can kind of justify it, as someone mentioned above, is if you are there during a time when there are hard ticket events at MK and you have to leave by late afternoon. So, for less money than you’d pay to stay for the party, you can get Hoppers for the entire length of your park tickets. That said, WDW has sooooo much to do that is outside of the parks like unique dining, Disney Springs, pools, or resort hopping that don’t require you spending an extra $75 per person. We tried Hoppers on our last trip with our kids and all it did was wear everyone out.
In the past it made more sense to park hop, especially on a short trip. Now, it just doesn’t make sense to waste all that time and money going between parks when there is enough to do at one park a day. Especially for first timers with little kids. One park at a time will cut down on a lot of unnecessary stress!
I agree with Universal Studios, however, that park to park is a MUST. That is totally different.
One other thing to add which also influenced my yes vote, if you are stuck going to one park all day and are not able to visit again the rest of your trip, what if a must-do ride goes down or is out of service? Not having the option of coming back if I missed riding Space Mountain would be devastating. That is where a 5 day trip is perfect (2 visits to HS & AK and 3 each to EP & MK)- the cost of park hoppers totally offsets a trip a couple days longer and just gives you more options and this site becomes even more useful when planning it.
Interesting variety in the comments. For us, park hopping at WDW wouldn’t be worth it even if it were free, and we don’t even do it at DLR. There’s enough to do at any of those parks to fill full days (sit-down meals, shows, just taking in the atmosphere), and we’re the type who will be there open to close to soak it all in. We DID, however, go park-to-park at Universal Orlando. Three full days for both of those parks is a nice fit if you hop, and the commute between them is an attraction in itself.
I think for a first time visitor, a Park Hopper gives you an escape hatch that allows you to adjust your plans to fit your desires, as opposed to what others tell you you should be doing. We hopped out of Animal Kingdom and Epcot on our first trip because we found that we weren’t really enjoying ourselves. There are too many things to do at Disney World that there’s no need to muddle through with a plan that isn’t meeting your expectations.
Repeat visitors can make their own choices up front as to what to do, but hopping gives you the flexibility to do something else when you find that you’re having “buyers remorse” on the plan you started with.
Disney would sell more Park Hopper tickets if they allowed for FastPasses in multiple parks on the same day. A hopper ticket linked to MDE would be required.
We used to hop every trip, but without the kids we take a slower pace and stick to one park per day.
If you go during holidays, yes. The reason for this is 3-4 of your MK nights could be party nights, so you’ll have a different park to go to at night if you start in MK. Secondly, HS is still only a half day park to me, so you’ll need a different park if you start there in the morning. Third, if you like to eat Epcot is hands down the place you want to eat dinner.
Agree – MNSSHP pretty much requires us to get PH; Because usually on party days MK has lowest crowds of the week.
We need it for Epcot. NOT our favorite park but we like to hit a few rides and then move on to DHS or MK. The other parks all definitely take up a full day. If I could, I’d get park hopper for just one day. I hate having it for the entire trip.
Agreed with Ava. Worth it in CA, not so much in FL (especially once DHS is back up to full strength.)
Also would add that with the Hogwarts Express, a parkhopper is *required* at Universal Florida.
I answered no, but I was thinking WDW. Now that Disney Springs has so many restaurants, I feel less like I need to go to Epcot every night. This past trip, if we had it, I would have used it 2 days in 8 to maximize our schedule. That didn’t seem worth the cost.
But for DL it’s almost always (unless I have 2 days, then I’ll do 1 and 1). For Universal, it’s a requirement.
It depends. At Disneyland in Anaheim, the parks are so close to each other that park hopping is practical, you could be in a different park in a minute or less. At Universal Orlando, the same is true because the parks are very close to each other (and there’s also the Hogwarts Express experience). At Disney World, the distance between parks takes up time and is impractical and inefficient most of the time. Especially if you drive or park your own car, or if you bus transportation which is often slow.
I agree 100% with this. We always hop at DL and Universal, but not at WDW. It just takes too long to travel from one park to another and we normally don’t take mid-day breaks. We are RD to park closing people. With the buses that were in the the parks where you could go directly and bypass security, it might have been worth it, but not with just the bus transportation. I would rather have an extra day.
I say yes because it makes our trips more flexible. We tend to eat at Epcot for dinner a lot when we go, so to just go to 1 park per day doesn’t work for us. Plus, once we went while Hurricane Irene was around and those thunderstorms would last for hours. We once went to Animal Kingdom, hung out for about 2 hours and then the rain came and didn’t stop. If we didn’t have pass hoppers, when the rain finally stopped, 3 hours later, we wouldn’t have been able to go into any of the other parks and had been stuck at our hotel for the rest of the day & night, something that would not appeal to our then 9 yo who wanted to ride the rides.
For the first few trips I can see where the park hopper can come in handy. On the last day of our trips we would usually hit both parks to do our favorites one more time. But once you have gone a few times and have established a routine the park hoppers are just a waste of money in my opinion. For our family of four that’s an extra 200 dollars we can spend on other stuff. Of course touring plans is a big part of that. We don’t adhere strictly to a touring plan but we do use a lot of the techniques they recommend to maximize our park time.
I say no because the lines are so long you barely have time to get to everything in one park per day. We always go from opening to closing at each park. We get a 5 day ticket & then go back to our favorite park on the 5th day.
I voted yes, but this one really falls under the “it depends” category. When I’ve been on adults-only trips, we knock out a park a day and don’t bother with hopping.
When I’ve been on trips with kids, however, attention spans are shorter, the pace is slower, and the midday breaks are common. All of this makes the flexibility of hopping a must-have.
The more the days of your trip the more convinient it becomes
No. We tried it one time a few years ago and it’s not for us. Like someone else said, it takes too much time to get from one park to the other. Plus it’s just too expensive. We preferred the other option that included water parks, etc. We will not buy the water park option now, with the current choice. We will just stay at our hotel pool.
Morning in whatever park has EMH, afternoon at the hotel, evening in a different park. Yes!
Park hopping is a must! Especially for Magic Kingdom, which gets crowded so early in the day. It’s great to be able to have the option to leave for other reasons as well, like dining or shopping or seeing other fireworks. I know when a festival is happening at Epcot we like to visit it everyday and still be able to go to other parks as well. It stinks that they charge extra for it, but it’s not optional for us.
We haven’t gotten the park hopper in years, probably since they started charging extra for it. It just takes so much time out of your day to travel from one park to another that it’s not worth the extra money to also waste time. I think that when our son gets older we might consider getting it again, but for now it doesn’t make much sense for us.
Our goal is typically to avoid taking a bus at the end of the night. Parkhopper lets us do any of the parks in the morning and then, for a significant portion of the week, end up a park in the evening that allows for a walk/monorail/boat ride home. As the kids get older they need less of a break in the middle, but it’s still nice to come back to the room for a couple hours and relax before heading to a different spot.
I voted yes, but that is based on all of our trips being from 5-7 days (if you are staying longer than that, I can understand it isn’t needed because you simply have more time) But it is perfect for our family to hit rope drop and ride everything in one park in the AM and be done by 11:00 – relax at the resort for an hour or two and use our fast passes in the late afternoon/early evening centered around a nice dinner and then show/fireworks.
I voted yes but the answer is yes AND no, depending on the circumstances. When I go with my family (2 adults, 5 kids ages 8-18) we like to park hop because we go from early morning until very late at night. It’s refreshing to visit a park, take a break at a waterpark, and then go to a different park for the night. The park hopper also gives us flexibility to split up and with such an age range of kids, splitting up is sometimes a good option because the bigger kids want to do and see different things than the younger kids.
However, I will be going in July with just my youngest as well as my niece and nephews and since they are all close in age, we will NOT be park hopping. We were trying to make this a budget trip and could either get park hopper OR add an extra day to our trip so we opted for the extra day. I don’t foresee the need to park hop as much with a group of kids who will mostly be happy doing the same things at the same times.
Yes, this. I voted yes as well but it really depends on your situation. If the park hopper makes sense for your family, it’s totally worth the money. When I was a teenager my family would always get hoppers. We knew our favorites and would go back and forth, trying to maximize our time. My husband and I would do the same. Now with two littles, it doesn’t make sense for us to park hop. It’s a hassle to drag two strollers plus bags on a bus twice in one day. In our current situation, it’s not worth it.
Totally agree. I’ll also add that IMO park hopper doesn’t make sense for first time visitors. They should stick with a single park per day and just soak it all up.
I agree with you rachel! When we go with extended family (grandparents, adults, teens and elementary age kids) we get PH. Splitting up and allowing all ages to do different things makes a happy trip for our family. When we go with just DD6 or with friends that have kids around her age, no PH.
We ended up identifying a primary park each day, staying there until mid-afternoon, taking a nap, and then spending the evening in another park. Most often, we finished the day in the Magic Kingdom. The flexibility was worth it.
We used to always get the Park Hopper, but the last two trips we didn’t, and we didn’t miss it at all. We are always struggling to get in everything we want to see and do as it is, and I feel like park hopping just wastes time. I prefer to open and close a single park per day.