Park Hopper with a 3yr old. Is it even worth it?

[D.Duck]

If you are looking to save money, I don't think park hoppers are needed. We have never purchased them. One park is enough for one day at that age.

 

[Baptist]

I would save the money! With 8 days, you will be able to see everything anyway. With a 3 year old, pace your family. Mid-day naps are so important at that age. If you want to go back to the parks for the evening spectaculars, then just go back to the park you started at.

I think park hoppers work best for shorter stays with older kids.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

No wrong answer here, and PPs have done a good job on how to use PHs or go without them. I would only add that if you're doing the DDP, you might want them because of where you're planning to eat. For example, in my plan, Epcot is overrepresented, meaning I want more meals there than I want days touring there. So I like having the hopper in case, for example, we go to AK and eat lunch there, go to our room for a break, and then want to eat dinner at Epcot.
If you're going during party season (H'ween or Holiday), hoppers allow you to go to MK in the morning, but spend the evening elsewhere when the party starts.
But there are enough resorts with good restaurants and Disney Springs and other ways to keep it to one park per day just fine.

 

[BabiesDaddy]

I have small children, no park hoppers for me. We like one park a day and to take it easy. Two parks in one day would be really over doing it for me.

 

[gmboy95]

DS is going to be 3 during our trip to WDW. I read somewhere that some parents prefer to just go without the park hopper since their children or child can only hand so much in a day. Is it worth it to have Park Hopper tickets or should we just save money and do one park a day? Our trip is 8 days long.

A park hopper is really a luxury....maximize the EMH days. there is always something to do that lasts all day in a particular park....you just have to make sure you use good planning to hit all the things you want in a particular park...when we dont go with annuals we dont do hoppers, and we still have a magical time

 

[tlmadden73]

Why do you want to hop is a better question? Variety?

8 days is a long trip for a 3 year old. How many of those are park days?

Hopping takes time and energy. Time is precious when you have a kid that may need a nap every day and may be simply "done" after dinner.
Sitting on a bus or monorail to hop .. the child may fall asleep ... and then you have to deal with waking a sleeping child.

In general, I don't see the need for hoppers unless you've been many MANY times to WDW and just want to hop around to the "highlights".

With my son's first trip (2yo) the only time we hopped was when our day at AK was done at 5:30 PM because it was closing. The rest of my group just went back to their rooms, while my wife son and I hopped over to DHS so he could see the Frozen show and so we could hop on Star Tours. If AK was open later .. we would have just stayed there.
NOTE: I didn't really pay much for my hoppers as they were a slight upgrade on my 10-day no expiration tickets.

On our second trip (when he was 3). We did a full day at MK and full day at DHS. Even though we had hopper tickets, since we either had in-park nap or go back to hotel for a break we didn't hop. We also made sure we left the parks before 8:00 PM so he didn't have a too late bedtime. (so, yes, we just caught the night shows as we were leaving).

 

[IrishNYC]

DH and I were just discussing our next trip, and what things we would do differently. DD will be 8 the next time we go, she was 5.5 the last time we went. We spent the money on hoppers, but only hopped two days, and honestly, we could have skipped hopping. it was nice to have the option, but in the end it wasn't worth the money. We're going to skip it for our next trip because we will only be there for 4 park days plus one more for MNSSHP, and will just plan our days without hopping.

 

[hoosll]

I took my grandchildren and although we had park hoppers for the whole trip we only hopped one day so they really weren't worth it as we usually hop to enjoy a second park in the evening/night ... but the kids never made it past their regular bedtime (even with naps) of 8 so we were usually in the room by 7, bath and story time, then bed.... we were sitting in the room until they went to sleep in the DARK.

I would wait until the kids can stay up to see the night shows before springing for hoppers.

 

[leebee]

We rarely buy park hoppers- it's just too expensive and we'd prefer to spend the money elsewhere. When the kids were little, we'd just go from morning to park close, but we were lucky as they'd sleep in the stroller (and we were using umbrella strollers). Never went back to the hotel for nap time. Now that DD is an adult, we only get park hoppers if we are on VERY short trips and if I can get a good deal on them. Also, we've found most of our favorite restaurants are at the resort hotels or Disney Springs, so there's usually no need to hop for dinner. I only buy hoppers if there is a specific need. For example, last Nov. we had 3 day park hoppers and tickets to MVMCP. We used the hopper so we could go to Food and Wine for dinner on our Epcot and HS days, and then to Illuminations after AK and dinner at Boma. We used the party ticket as our MK day. You really can have a great time without PH tickets!

 

[coozieman]

I tell everybody to buy them if you need them. Cost is the same regardless if you add them on the first or last day

 

[mommycrawford]

When my dd was small, if we hopped to a second park, she would be asleep in the stroller by the time we reached the second park. It was August heat, and an active morning: we didn't really successfully park hop til she was 8ish, and knew where she wanted to go next....better to do plus option and a water park\lazy river before a theme park, than 2 theme parks at that age, I think.

 

[henry72]

We have been taking DS since he was 17 months (he turns 11 this month). We always went back to the room to nap and then back to a different park for dinner and afternoon hours. DH likes the flexibility of leaving a crowded park if necessary. I was thinking of skipping them for our upcoming November trip but DH disagreed. (Of course I agree with the others - they aren't necessary.)

 

[StirlingSilver83]

When my older son was younger and we stayed off site, he was 3 and 5 at the time of those stays, we always got hoppers...we felt like we could do more with them...we would do 1 park in the morning and go back to the resort and swim for a bit and then do another park in the evening after dinner. We also did shorter trips back then so I wanted to get the most out of my trips that I could. Now we have stayed on site the past 2 trips with the deluxe dining plan as well and I don't feel that hoppers are really worth it anymore. We eat in the parks now since we are on the dining plan and we stay for longer trips as well. It just takes too much time to park hop...there would really be only 1 reason for us to park hop now and that would be bc HS is under construction mode...but even if its under construction I could still plan sort of a leisurely day where we don't need to be there at the crack on dawn and I could still find things to do to keep us busy for the day. I think hoppers a great for shorter vacations, that way you could stay from park open til park close and go between different parks, whether or not thats a good plan for a 3 yr old though is up to you.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

No wrong answer here, and PPs have done a good job on how to use PHs or go without them. I would only add that if you're doing the DDP, you might want them because of where you're planning to eat.

Good point.

Generally speaking, the best TS dining is in the WS and the resorts, and some at Disney Springs.

BUT...just as direct hopping ALWAYS costs TIME, getting to ADR's also COSTS quite a bit of time. No matter where you start/plan to eat- getting to an ADR location means setting aside other activities.

Disney buses sometimes run 30min apart! Sadly, WDW transportation also has VERY frequent additional hiccups and delays.

Last summer, Monorail was down, but we weren't told. Took almost an hour to get from MK lot to MK! The threat of lightning stops all boats, but you may not suspect it (or be informed) on sunny days! Another day, the dock CM's didn't know boats had stopped! It took us over 90min of wait/travel just to go MK to WL and back!

The choices are completely up to you, but we find it VERY helpful to base ADR's on proximity. MK resort area = long trek to WS. Also, no matter where you come from, in pouring rain there's no way to get to any WS or BOG ADR without getting drenched!

If you are staying at a value resort, you will have to travel to ALL your ADR's, rain or shine. Afternoon summer showers are common. Chilly nights are common in winter.

So....we prefer ADR's at our home resort, near our hotel, or the park we visit each day. We only hopp-into-Epcot for dinner when we staying in the Epcot area or the values. (maybe mods)

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I tell everybody to buy them if you need them. Cost is the same regardless if you add them on the first or last day

just to clarify, the poster probably should have said, "I tell everybody to only buy them WHEN you feel you actually need to use them."

You are free to add hopping to your tickets DURING your trip.

The cost should be the same unless perhaps you bought your park tickets from UT or another broker. Even if you did, if the transaction is handled properly- the difference would only be a few dollars per ticket AT MOST. (Just make sure you don't get over charged by a careless CM.)

Modifying existing tickets during your vacation also costs (vacation) TIME. If you get lucky, it will only cost you a few minutes. It is also possible to get stuck in a very slow line or get stuck with an inexperienced agent. Morning lines at the park entrances are often LONG!

 

[Smbmoyers]

I'm heading to the park with my three year old as well. Hoppers are a necessity for us because of the mid afternoon break and mvmcp being there 4 out of 9 trip days. Magic kingdom in the am and hop s9me where else in the pm

 

[smiths02]

We have been as a couple only twice, with a 3 year old, with a 5 year old, and with twin 2 year olds, and soon twin 3 year olds.

We do not hop. We have that the under 5 set in our family do better with just 1/2 to 3/4 of a park day and that's it. So we generally either have morning to afternoon plans or afternoon to evening plans and not both.

 

[smiths02]

In our opinion def. not worth it. We used to always get hoppers, but almost never used them, so we stopped and we've never felt a want for them. We do most parks open-close (when the kids get tired they just nap in the stroller, do some downtime etc.), but def. wouldn't waste the money on park hoppers. Honestly, we would very rarely use them even if they were free.

We upgraded to APs last June on vacation and we have been again in Feb...did not hop. So even though the hopping is "free" (included), we didn't use it. We don't have specific plans to hop next month on our vacation either

 

[cheshirealliekat]

I don't think they are necessary unless you plan on frequently eating at the World Showcase and need to be able to get in there in the evenings. It also really depends on your son. Is he the type who takes a solid nap and wakes up full of energy? My daughter was an unpredictable napper at 3 and never really woke up as pleasant as she was in the morning. Also with the added excitement it may effect whatever schedule your son is currently on at home. With 8 days you will have lots of time in the parks and could return to the same park after nap or do some more laid back Disney Springs evenings after rest time.

 

[MolonLabe]

If you are trying to save money, hoppers are not necessary.

Yeah.

Hoppers are something I was never really into. We've had AP's for alittle while now and while we do hop some, it's important to remember that we even though we live in Indiana we go to WDW a lot. For the first couple of trips, hoppers aren't worth it IMO.

There is simply too much to see and do in each park. Couple that with having a young child that makes doing open to close basically impossible. It's best to save the money IMO. This also depends on how many days you have. Personally adding the extra 2-3 days on vs 4-5 day hoppers is the way to go. 2 days at MK, 2 days EP, 1 day AK, 1 day DHS and 1 day a wild card to go back to where you want to see one more time is the perfect trip IMO. No need to feel rushed, you can break in the middle of the day if needed ect, Even if you have to call it n early night or sleep in one day, you are still on track...