Tell me WHY you park hop!

[wdwjeffc37]

A few reasons ...
-Dinner at EPCOT
-Fireworks at Magic Kingdom
-Pandora at night
-Fleeing extraordinary crowds
-Evening Extra Magic hours
-Main Street Electrical Parade
These are just a few, however, I know that the situation has changed drastically over the last several months and some of the things I mentioned are not even possible now. But that is what we used our Park Hoppers for. We always got Park Hoppers for the flexibility they offer. Cheers!!!!!!!!

 

[NickC]

We used to stay in the Epcot resort area. We did 3 trips at BC, 1 at YC and 1 at Boardwalk. PH was great because we could walk over to WS in the evenings for dinner. We did that most nights.
We've also done the Contemporary and walked over to MK in the evenings.
We realized that we don't need to do two full days at DHS and Epcot. So, we do a split day. We can RD DHS a second day to hit different rides, and then we can do WS in the evening. This covers a lot of our must dos.
We also love HDDR. Depending on the schedule, we can do AK during the day, head to HDDR for the early show, then take a boat over to MK for the evening.
Typically, on our MK days, we just stay there all day. But, for the other parks, PH can have it's advantages.

 

[princess jasmine 76]

We go for longer than average, 9 nights and I think with longer trips, park hopping is a must.

We love to start at one park in the morning, go back to hotel for pool/wine time, go to another park at night.

Or go to a park during day and have dinner at Epcot. (happens a lot)

Sometimes I wanted a food item I could only get at a certain park, would go there, then hop somewhere else!

It's freedom.

Yesssss. This. Our family does longer trips (7days +) and this probably sounds awful of me, but I actually get done with one park after 5 - 6 hrs. and am ready to switch it up! We do one in the morning until afternoon or when it starts to get crowded, hotel it for awhile, then head off to another one for a different feel. Love love love to hop. Love the flexibility and freedom. We stay at the Boardwalk quite a bit too and that makes hopping between Epcot and HS all too easy. Or even just running to England for Fish and Chips or whatever any night of the week. But we've hopped while at value resorts too. Hopping is my jam!

 

[mickeymom22]

Pre-Covid and our kids were little we loved to park hop. We usually ended the day at Epcot with a good meal and a slower pace. The nights we would end at Magic Kingdom or even HS the kiddos were hyped up and harder to settle down to go to bed. Epcot was always a nice finisher for the day. The kids were able to get out of their strollers and walk around a bit and just wind down. My kids loved to do the the Kid Stop locations and the atmosphere of Epcot. (Don't get me wrong they loved and still love all the parks!) Epcot is just a nice finisher for the day.

 

[MomOTwins]

You know, it occurs to me after reading a lot of these posts that we do a form of “hopping”—we just “hop” to non-park venues so we don’t have to pay for hopper tickets. We often stay at park until early afternoon and then take off, go for a swim or do some activities at the resort, do disney springs, have dinner at a different resort (eg Sanaa and spend some time there checking out the animals; Boardwalk and go for a walk around the lake). I note this because a common theme in these threads is “I park hop because I don’t want to spend all day in one park.” We don’t either, but park hopper is really expensive for a family of 5 and not worth it to us when there is lots to enjoy at WDW outside of the parks.

 

[nkereina]

For us, having park hoppers is important just for the added flexibility. I try to keep some nights open on our schedule so we can go where the wind takes us. When we do that, we'll either eat QS or choose a TS from the list of available options on the app - sometimes its fun to pick a new place to try on the fly. It also gives us some additional built-in flexibility in case lines happen to be long on our first DHS day and we didn't get to everything. Or in case it rains on our MK day and we're miserable and rides are closed. Or in case someone is sick or tired or wants to head back to the resort early one day. We have the option to park hop at any point during our trip to make up for these instances.

 

[skittles67]

As a PH, we go into a park, do what we want, then head over to another park.
So we will head over to Animal Kingdom, ride FOP and grab a drink (or two) at Nomad's. Go to HS or MK ride a couple of our favorite rides and then head over to Epcot to end the night with dinner and drinks.

 

[wilbret]

Hi all. We’re planning our 4th family trip (my 8th) for December 2021. I’ve only ever had the park hopper once when I went in 2019 with work colleagues for a conference. We went park open to park close for 2 days and hit all 4 parks, it was a blast!

When we’ve gone in the past we’ve never gotten the park hopper. We mainly didn’t knowing our kids were small and we were good staying at one park, going back to rest, then returning to the same park. This time our kids are going to be 12, 7 and a few weeks shy of 6. We’re also staying off site at Bonnet Creek.

Additionally, my husband hit a huge sales goal at work where they’re normally rewarded with a trip. Because of COVID they’ve done a list of prize packages, one including a $3,000 Disney voucher (which he picked, my dream guy). So I’m considering park hopping this year since we’ll have our tickets covered, but I’m having a difficult time coming up with ways to park hop? Or reasons? Plans? All of the above.

I’d love to hear how and why people park hop to utilize it best and really make it worth the money. Thank you!

We get military promo tickets that are park hoppers...

We don't always get to go for the super long trips like many do, so we like to have flexibility (in the olden days of yore, anyway.).
Hollywood Studios and AK aren't always full day park to us, even with all the new additions. So, we might hop from AK to HS or vice versa, or head to Epcot late. It was more relevant when there were late hours. We might decide to go catch Pandora at night, or the Star Wars fireworks show (in the days of yore), or the Epcot fireworks... in a TRUE days of yore, we would go to HS for the Osborne Family lights after being in other parks during the day.

 

[antmaril]

We like park hoppers because we usually stay at the Yacht Club or Beach Club and no matter which park we are visiting during the day, we can walk over to Epcot for dinner.

 

[kwdw]

Let’s see, I park hopped one year because AP holders had to visit Epcot 4 times during F&W to get a free gift and as an out of state AP holder I was going to be there 5 days during F&W. I park hopped when I started at DHS and didn’t get a boarding pass for ROTR (rules have since changed on that process). I park hopped on a day when MK had a party that night and I was not going to the party, so I headed to a park open late. I park hopped on a 3 day trip when I wanted to hit all four parks. I park hopped when I was actively trying to collect SOTMK cards (now dead) so I wanted to hit MK every day on a solo trip. All but ONE day I have park hopped has happened when I owned an AP and was traveling solo. I’m in the camp that for infrequent visitors with at least four full days in the park, it’s not worth the time or money. But for frequent visitors, and those with APs, those folks tend to just want to hit certain things, know their favorites and least favorites, have their crowd strategies and dining desires, and such, that group finds park hopping useful.

 

[epcotized]

We might start getting tired in the afternoon but don't want to go back to the resort. By the time you get to a bus or monorail and take an air conditioned ride to another park it can be refreshing enough to give another burst of energy.

 

[Moliphino]

We might start getting tired in the afternoon but don't want to go back to the resort. By the time you get to a bus or monorail and take an air conditioned ride to another park it can be refreshing enough to give another burst of energy.

Our mid-day breaks were frequently stopping into Trader Sam's for a few hours on our way between MK and Epcot.

 

[DisLiss]

While having a hopper offers ultimate flexibility, it comes at a price that has be weighed against your budget and park plans. I would think the generally the longer the trip, the better the idea of getting a hopper is.

I definitely agree. If I only had 4 days, then I'd go for the one park per day approach so as not to spend any extra time on transportation.

My family really enjoys taking relaxing rides across property on Disney transport, so that part of hopping doesn't bother us, but that's because we always go for at least a full week. Likewise, if you're following any sort of touring plan, hopping will likely make that more difficult.

 

[Tennor]

If I only had 4 days, then I'd go for the one park per day approach so as not to spend any extra time on transportation.

I'm the opposite. I only have 4 days, and I got the hopper so I can extend my park time. I can leave AK at closing and still have 3 more hours in another park, for example.

 

[RamblingMad]

I'm mainly a DL person, so for me it's just walking over to the other park usually to catch World of Color.

For WDW it's because some parks stay open later than others. And it's easy to walk from Hollywood Studios to EPCOT to grab some dinner. More dining options.

 

[SoCalDisneyFan2708]

Right now a good reason is just to get more out of your day. Lately I’ve been going on Sunday. AK and HS close at 6 and 7 while MK and EP are open till 8 and 9. So I’d start at one of the early closing parks and end at one of the late closing ones.

 

[Rob Huff]

Pre-COVID, the reasons were nearly endless for us. Mid-COVID, the list is impacted, but I'll still list some of the items that come to mind:

• Freedom/Flexibility. This is, and always has been, the dominant motivator for my family. Whenever you want to go somewhere, you can. When a kid (or a spouse or even you) decide that you're tired and want to rest, you're not beholden to your park ticket to dictate your schedule. If you're staying at BC and it's your Epcot day, who cares? But if you're staying at the GF and it's your AK day? The calculation feels a lot different. With a park hopper, you can just go to AK on another morning/evening whenever you have some free time.
• Rest. This has become increasingly important for us over time. We never have more than one meaningful trip per day. So, on our last trip at the Poly, that meant we never go to both AK and HS on the same day. We mostly visit parks for half-days at a time. For example, we'll do the morning at AK, then come back to the Poly for lunch/swimming/rest, then enjoy nighttime at one of our monorail parks (EP or MK). If we do morning at MK, we might do AK in the evening. The best days are those with only monorail/boat transit; that feels like vacation. In all cases, however, we get to enjoy big chunks of time at the resort during the daytime yet also get lots of park time. We're not interested in doing morning at AK, coming back to the Poly, then going back to AK for the nighttime. That's a lot of Disney transit and not particularly peaceful/enjoyable.
• EP to HS. This is my personal #1 reason for park hopping. It remains my favorite thing to do at WDW. That's dumb. I get it. But I don't care. I just love the walk from World Showcase to the gate at HS, regardless of whether we walk through the BC area or across the BW. Some of it is surely novelty that we can walk between two parks. Some of it is the excitement and joy of the Crescent Lake resorts. Some of it is the remarkable calm of the pathway between BW and HS, probably the calmest spot at all of WDW for me. It's not pretty, so that's not it! In any event, I love walking between those parks. We've even done the walk from HS to the EP monorail station, truly passing through the park.
• Nighttime Spectaculars. This item -- and, come to think of it, most of the items on this list -- are seriously enhanced when staying at a Crescent Lake or MK-area resort. The ability to spend most of a day at a park, get some swimming and rest time, then still be able to hit up another park for a nighttime show is extraordinarily valuable for us. This is surely the biggest WDW-related casualty of COVID in my mind. There were plenty of days where we'd tour one park for 4-6 hours, rest/swim, and then visit another park for its nighttime show and a ride or two. Rivers of Light was never a huge draw on this front. But Fantasmic!, the Star Wars Fireworks, Illuminations, and most of all, HEA always justified an evening trip. I loved being able to pop over to EP or MK for incredible shows as something of a bonus add-on at the end of a day.

COVID restrictions have seriously hampered much of the above. That's a bummer. But one day, when the parks are functioning at full force again, these benefits should return.

 

[Stratman50th]

We have been so many times we know what we can skip and what we'd like to do, therefore we don't need to stay in any one park all day. We like to leave the morning park, come back for lunch and pool, then back for evening at another park and close. We park hop/ used to park hop for flexibility.

 

[Amy11401]

We park hopped for a few reasons. Often we hopped to another park for dinner reservations or night-time entertainment.

 

[Boopuff]

Love PH. We are big planners. We book dining at the 60 day mark. Sometimes we find ourselves at one park, dinner at another. (most of the dining is Epcot) I'd hate to travel without it. So we'll hang on until more normal operations are in full swing. (could be a wait....)