To hop or not (with toddlers)

[CouponGirl]

I keep going back and forth whether or not park hoppers are worth the extra expense.... I think the reality with toddlers will be one park and then off to bed at the normal time. BUT then I think what if ... what if we go to one park and then man I wish we were still at MK or wherever ... or what if we decide to go back out after dinner for fireworks ... or what if (you fill in the blank)

I know I won’t know how it will be until we are actually there, but for those of you that have gone with kids under 3, what are your thoughts about park hoppers?

 

[shairpdrh]

We are hopper fans and always do more than one park per day. That said, I think are unusual for families with toddlers. I have always purchased hoppers before and after having a kid and we only have 1 kiddo, so that might make a difference too.

If you aren’t sure you could always get base tickets and upgrade while you are there if you need the hopper option.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We used hoppers when our kids were little, but we went back to the room for a nap and then to a different park in the evening.

The cost is the same, no matter when you add the hopper option. You could always plan without hoppers and add them if you decide you want to hop.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

On our last trip, we had hoppers simply because it was a requirement of free dining, otherwise, we would have done without. We hopped once (last minute decision) after Epcot closed to go to MK for evening EMH only because we were trying to get one more ride on Splash (not for the toddler) during the trip before it closed down (and of course it closed early so that was a waste). We used the monorail to hop and frankly thought that it was a huge amount of added walking and time out of one park to transportation and into the next park. We had originally planned to hop on our last park day around mid-day (again, from EP to MK so we could spend our last evening there), but after our earlier experience with it and how long it took, we decided it wasn't worth it to waste park time trying to leave and go to another park.

I could see hopping being worthwhile for people who take a mid-day break at their resort as then you could go to a different park after the break with no more time spent than if you returned to the morning park. We don't leave for breaks though, so that wasn't a benefit to us. Also, if you have a car and don't have to rely on Disney transportation it might not be as big of a pain, or with older kids/adults. In my opinion, the extra time on buses/monorails to hop just isn't worth it with toddlers when we could just be spending that time doing things he enjoys in the first park.

Think about how you plan to tour the parks, how many park days you have, whether you will have breaks at the hotel, where youre staying, what transportation you're using, etc, and how much time it would take to park hop. For some families, it's a great option that lends flexibility to their park plans, but for others, it doesn't fit in so smoothly with their touring style and is just not worth the time.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

I have a toddler and a six year old and don’t do hoppers. I plan our day around one park and for the days we’re back late afternoon or early evening we swim and enjoy the resort. There’s a chance I’d consider hoppers if I stayed at an Epcot resort though.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I have a toddler. We did not get hoppers last trip (18 months), nor did I buy them for the next trip (week before 3rd birthday). He goes to bed at his normal time even when we are away from home, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do hoppers since we are done for the day at 5-6 pm.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

We are an afternoon break family, so we often hop. We rope drop or close to it, parks through lunch, and then head back for swims/naps/etc. We head out again around 4 or 5 and make it until around 8 or 9.

And - we seem to now go during party season, which means ideal Magic Kingdom touring is the morning of party days. So, we also hop to avoid crowds. We really saw like night and day differences between party and non-party mornings at MK on our last trip.

If you're planning to just steamroll through the day (and your kiddo will stroller nap, unlike mine!) then I agree - transit time really can eat up things.

 

[2019TripIdeas]

We’re going back and forth on this too. I have 3 little ones but they’re really flexible about nap etc (will pass out in stroller, baby carrier etc) and can generally hang pretty well til 9ish at night so my gut instinct is that if we stay at POFQ (our current plan), we won’t buy park hoppers and will just do long days in one park, maybe do a few days where we go back to room mid-day. I figure from there we can always boat up to disney springs if we still want to do “something” at night.

We’ve still got staying at Boardwalk and Beach club semi on the table and if we stayed at either, I think I’d buy the park hoppers because of the convenience of walking in to a park.

 

[CouponGirl]

We are hopper fans and always do more than one park per day. That said, I think are unusual for families with toddlers. I have always purchased hoppers before and after having a kid and we only have 1 kiddo, so that might make a difference too.

If you aren’t sure you could always get base tickets and upgrade while you are there if you need the hopper option.

We used hoppers when our kids were little, but we went back to the room for a nap and then to a different park in the evening.

The cost is the same, no matter when you add the hopper option. You could always plan without hoppers and add them if you decide you want to hop.

I had not considered or even realized that I could upgrade the tickets to add the park hopper while we are there. Is that something that we could do at any park? Do we just go up to the ticket counter? And does it matter where we originally purchased the tickets? Or how many days we’ve already used?

That seems like a good way for us to go - then we can see how things are going and I won’t regret not having the flexibility nor will I be kicking myself for spending extra on something we wind up not using.

 

[CouponGirl]

On our last trip, we had hoppers simply because it was a requirement of free dining, otherwise, we would have done without. We hopped once (last minute decision) after Epcot closed to go to MK for evening EMH only because we were trying to get one more ride on Splash (not for the toddler) during the trip before it closed down (and of course it closed early so that was a waste). We used the monorail to hop and frankly thought that it was a huge amount of added walking and time out of one park to transportation and into the next park. We had originally planned to hop on our last park day around mid-day (again, from EP to MK so we could spend our last evening there), but after our earlier experience with it and how long it took, we decided it wasn't worth it to waste park time trying to leave and go to another park.

I could see hopping being worthwhile for people who take a mid-day break at their resort as then you could go to a different park after the break with no more time spent than if you returned to the morning park. We don't leave for breaks though, so that wasn't a benefit to us. Also, if you have a car and don't have to rely on Disney transportation it might not be as big of a pain, or with older kids/adults. In my opinion, the extra time on buses/monorails to hop just isn't worth it with toddlers when we could just be spending that time doing things he enjoys in the first park.

Think about how you plan to tour the parks, how many park days you have, whether you will have breaks at the hotel, where youre staying, what transportation you're using, etc, and how much time it would take to park hop. For some families, it's a great option that lends flexibility to their park plans, but for others, it doesn't fit in so smoothly with their touring style and is just not worth the time.

Thanks for sharing your experience - I am thinking we will probably go back to the room for afternoon naps (unless we can get in stroller naps) but if we don’t, then the time spent in transit probably would not make much sense.

 

[CouponGirl]

I have a toddler and a six year old and don’t do hoppers. I plan our day around one park and for the days we’re back late afternoon or early evening we swim and enjoy the resort. There’s a chance I’d consider hoppers if I stayed at an Epcot resort though.

We’re going back and forth on this too. I have 3 little ones but they’re really flexible about nap etc (will pass out in stroller, baby carrier etc) and can generally hang pretty well til 9ish at night so my gut instinct is that if we stay at POFQ (our current plan), we won’t buy park hoppers and will just do long days in one park, maybe do a few days where we go back to room mid-day. I figure from there we can always boat up to disney springs if we still want to do “something” at night.

We’ve still got staying at Boardwalk and Beach club semi on the table and if we stayed at either, I think I’d buy the park hoppers because of the convenience of walking in to a park.

This will be our first time staying onsite and I keep forgetting that there are other things we can do at the resort or go to visit Disney Springs!

I agree if we were at a resort within walking distance of one of the parks then I think a hopper would def make a lot of sense.

 

[CouponGirl]

I have a toddler. We did not get hoppers last trip (18 months), nor did I buy them for the next trip (week before 3rd birthday). He goes to bed at his normal time even when we are away from home, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do hoppers since we are done for the day at 5-6 pm.

When I don’t get caught up in all the excitement of going, going, going, I really think this will be us too. I think staying on/close to the normal schedule will make the overall trip more enjoyable for everybody. Years and years ago when I went with a large group of extend family, our big joke during various children’s meltdowns was how we were at the happiest place on earth. I think all of them would have benefited from sticking more to their normal schedule, but we were all staying offsite and car pooling and I don’t think anyone wanted to inconvenience anyone and we pushed too hard and over did it a lot of days. I keep trying to keep that experience in mind as I get caught up in the Disney excitement!

 

[loves to dive]

I only had one child but we always had hoppers even when he was under 3. We went totally by his schedule, I was a single mom so it just made life easier. If he got too tired to stay in the park, we would go back to the resort. More often than not, I'd get too tired and we would go back for me to nap and him to watch cartoons. We would then go to a different park at night. In over 30 years of going we have only stayed at one park all day once.

 

[KrazeeK120]

When I don’t get caught up in all the excitement of going, going, going, I really think this will be us too. I think staying on/close to the normal schedule will make the overall trip more enjoyable for everybody. Years and years ago when I went with a large group of extend family, our big joke during various children’s meltdowns was how we were at the happiest place on earth. I think all of them would have benefited from sticking more to their normal schedule, but we were all staying offsite and car pooling and I don’t think anyone wanted to inconvenience anyone and we pushed too hard and over did it a lot of days. I keep trying to keep that experience in mind as I get caught up in the Disney excitement!

That was exactly my mentality. And my then-18 month old had exactly one meltdown the entire trip...when we had to pull him away from the Splash Mountain playground, lol. Keeping his sleep schedule made for a fantastic trip. He had a blast and so did we! We will hit nighttime entertainment when he’s older

 

[bigbabyblues]

I had not considered or even realized that I could upgrade the tickets to add the park hopper while we are there. Is that something that we could do at any park? Do we just go up to the ticket counter? And does it matter where we originally purchased the tickets? Or how many days we’ve already used?

That seems like a good way for us to go - then we can see how things are going and I won’t regret not having the flexibility nor will I be kicking myself for spending extra on something we wind up not using.

Yes, you can go to any ticket counter or Guest Services and upgrade them. It doesn't matter how many days you have used, but I think it has to be before you have used the last day on the ticket. The price will be the same.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We like the flexibility of having hoppers but do not use them every day of the trip. My kids will be 3 & a couple months short of 2 on our upcoming trip.

Even though we don’t use hoppers every day of the trip like we did before kids, we really value the flexibility hoppers offer.

We book all our FP before 1pm and play the rest of the day by ear based on how the kids are doing. We were not going to get hoppers this time to save money. Then I chickened out and got hoppers again. I like to be somewhat spontaneous based on how everyone is feeling and truly value having the option to hop when we can.

 

[ElenaRN]

We are AP holders, but we do park hop on most days and would def pay for the hopper option. We've done it on every trip no matter the ages of the kids. We rent a car though so it might be different if we were reliant soley on Disney transportation.

 

[CouponGirl]

Yes, you can go to any ticket counter or Guest Services and upgrade them. It doesn't matter how many days you have used, but I think it has to be before you have used the last day on the ticket. The price will be the same.

Thanks!

 

[amymgould]

We have experience with both. Our first trip we did not hop (kids were 4 and 6). We stay at Bay Lake Tower, so there were some evenings where we would have liked to walk over to MK after being at AK or HS then taking a break at our resort. We did not feel like getting back on a bus to go to those parks. This year (kids 5 and 7) we did hop and loved it. We liked having the option of going to a different park in the evening if we want it. Plus our location (BLT again) makes PH worth it.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I agree if we were at a resort within walking distance of one of the parks then I think a hopper would def make a lot of sense.

I should have mentioned this in my post too! It can depend when you’re staying. Totally agree that if you are staying near a park it is much easier to hop with toddlers.