Park Hopper ~ Worth it or not

[Pearle1]

Hello All ~ Planning a 6 day trip in May 2021, and am just wondering opinions on if the hopper is worth it or not ~ I am on the fence about it as you can not use it until 2pm, and it is based on availability. I am not sure what the crowds will be like in the first week of May, but looks like the parks close around 6-7pm, and will not know until the day of if hopping is available. Just wanted thoughts/opinions from people that have been there recently. Thanks so much

 

[Robo]

Don’t buy the hopper in advance. Wait until you arrive and see if you want it, then upgrade.

 

[JC Butterfly]

I think it depends on who is in your travel party, what your travel style is, and where you are staying.

Will you need/want to take a mid-day break? If you want a mid day break and are staying off property it probably won't be worth it.

I went a couple weeks ago with my 10 year old son and we stayed at the Swan. We made reservations at our chosen park in the morning and arrived 1 hour prior to posted park opening (often at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m.) by around 1 or 2 each day we wanted a break. Partly due to the humidity, partly due to lots of walking, but mostly we wanted a break from wearing a mask. So we would head back to the Swan to hang out by the pool for a couple hours. Then by 3 or 4 we would be ready to head to another park for another couple of hours. It allowed us to have a dinner in the park and enjoy the lights at the park. From our location, Disney Studios and EPCOT were easiest but we did do Magic Kingdom once. In this scenerio, I could have simply returned to the original park of my reservations but I especially wanted to spend more time at Epcot without having to make reservations there. So yes, for us it was worth the additional cost.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

They could always change the hours...
Spring break is just a few weeks away and they just now changed the hours.

 

[gharter]

I agree. I would wait until you at least know what the park hours are.
Currently, I'm not sure it would be worth the money for a park hopper due to such short hours. Currently, I don't think I would want to spend that much time traveling between parks .

 

[NJ Goofy]

We have a trip planned for May and we have hoppers. We are staying at BWV and like the option to walk over to EPCOT each night for dinner, a drink or a snack. We almost always take a mid-day break, so hoppers work for us. As others have noted it depends on where you are staying and your park traveling style. If you go at rope drop or park opening, then its great to take a break and venture back out later in the day. But if you don't get to the parks until 11 or 12 then it's probably not worth it.

 

[Pearle1]

Hello ~ Thankyou everyone for your input ~ very helpful ~ we are staying at the Swan ~ and plan for rope drop at the parks, but right now the hours posted for May say parks will close 6pm for MK, and 7pm HS and Epcot. My thinking was 2-6 or 2-7 is not a long time to use the Hoppers, BUT JC Butterfly made an interesting point ~ as far as relaxing and going to the other parks to eat. If I wanted to eat at Epcot , and did not have my park reservation there that day ~ then I would need the Hopper in order to go there and eat . So that is something to think about too. Thank you all!

 

[2minny]

We tried park hopping, didn't work for us, too stressful. We prefer enjoying one park each day, slower pace, but many love hopping.

 

[StuckInKS]

We usually never get PH and the only time we have hopped is when we have APs. We are getting it this time with the hope that we can hop to DHS a few days, since are days are mostly sold out already, PH is also nice to have if one park stays open later than the others, so that you don't have to go back to hotel extra early (we like nights at the parks).

 

[Mrtommorrow1987]

Hello All ~ Planning a 6 day trip in May 2021, and am just wondering opinions on if the hopper is worth it or not ~ I am on the fence about it as you can not use it until 2pm, and it is based on availability. I am not sure what the crowds will be like in the first week of May, but looks like the parks close around 6-7pm, and will not know until the day of if hopping is available. Just wanted thoughts/opinions from people that have been there recently. Thanks so much

I would say no with the limited amount of time the parks are open

 

[Mrtommorrow1987]

Hello ~ Thankyou everyone for your input ~ very helpful ~ we are staying at the Swan ~ and plan for rope drop at the parks, but right now the hours posted for May say parks will close 6pm for MK, and 7pm HS and Epcot. My thinking was 2-6 or 2-7 is not a long time to use the Hoppers, BUT JC Butterfly made an interesting point ~ as far as relaxing and going to the other parks to eat. If I wanted to eat at Epcot , and did not have my park reservation there that day ~ then I would need the Hopper in order to go there and eat . So that is something to think about too. Thank you all!

it is but paying $300 for family of 4 for those hours isn’t worth. I’d rather book a dinner reservation and have$300 meal

 

[Accidental Disney Fan]

I would also say that it isn't worth the dough right now. I'm all for the Disney bubble (to the point that I consider Disney Springs to be not quite in the bubble) but with those shortened hours that is a lot more money to go back to Epcot just to have an hour or so in the park and eat dinner. Save the money and go have a nice dinner in Disney Springs.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

I sprung for the park hopper just because half our stay will be at Dolphin and Yacht Club. Having option to walk over to Epcot (which lets face it is probably the most used second park on park hopper) is worth it to me. If staying in a monorail resort, then no probably not worth it, imho.

 

[iheartglaciers]

In general I don't think it's worth it now with the shortened hours and no nighttime shows. But since you're staying at the Swan, it might be nice to have since you're within walking distance to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios.