Missed pro for park hoppers: families that are going back to the resort for a nap. You’re already traveling and if you just weren’t feeling that park that morning, easy to change course.
Along the same lines as this for some people some parks are not a full day thing, so splitting a day between two parks can be a good thing. For example I was not super into Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom. Neither were worth a full day for me, but with park hopper I went to Animal Kingdom in the morning (had the character meal at Tusker House, so got in early), went back to the hotel and rested mid-day and finished the day at Magic Kingdom. It worked well for me.
I would also add as a pro for park hopper, if you are a person who LOVES upscale Disney restaurants, park hopper is a MUST. Most of the best restaurants are in Epcot so having dinner in a different one each night is a great way to make the park hopper worth it. I've been to Disney close to 20 times now and food is a major priority for my wife and I. So, getting a great lunch in Animal Kingdom with a fantastic dinner in Epcot (all while enjoying all the rides of both parks in between) just makes sense.
Dining packages are easily my number one. Turns the last part of the day when everyone is hot and tired (and cranky) into a few easy stress free hours. Eat a nice dinner, stroll into reserve seating for a show. We've done the candlelight processional twice, and fantasmic many, many times. 50s primetime probably has my favorite vibe of any Disney restaurant
Park hopper is really good for anyone staying at Y+B club or Boardwalk. Having Epcot in walking distance makes it so easy to do a day in any park, have a late afternoon nap at the hotel, then a late dinner in world showcase.
Before watching, my initial thought is to invest in the refillable mugs.. well worth it. Refill 5 times throughout your stay and it more than pays for itself… plus, you have a nice souvenir/travel mug for home..
Team Breea on park hopper. I rather take my time in the park that I'm already in rather than have to split between two on a separate day. I say Disneylands park hopper is more worth it than Disney worlds park hopper because Disneyland and DCA are located right next door to each other.
The best investment I made for the Disney family trip, one I regret not having fir Universal, is photopass. As AJ said once, don't buy stuff, buy experience. With photopass prepaid with the tickets, we didn't have to think about taking pictures - we just lined up for every photo op, in every iconic location, and got high quality, professional, entire family photos, hundreds of them, as memories from our already very expensive trip. In universal we did not buy memory maker, and end up with much, much fewer good pictures.
In 2018 on my wife last trip to Disneyworld, We got over 300 photo's because she wanted every photo opportunity. The last photo of her ever was at Cinderellas Royal meal, with a camera, of her 'making a wish'. In 2021 my kids, sister family and I got 300 with 4 group photos per day, 32, and Wonderful separate ones. If it matters to you, it is well worth the price. Eight park days each trip.
Agreed. I think this is actually one of the better deals at Disney. We just wrapped a long extended family trip with both sides of our family. We bought all photos for $185 and was able to share the photos with all grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.
Favorite thing as well. And if you follow Disney Photopass on socials you can see what the Current Magic Shots are if those are your thing. I love them.
Park Hoppers: At Walt Disney World, Team Breea. It takes too long to hop from park to park. Unless I'm already planning on having a midday break back at my resort, in which case I'll be spending time in transit anyway, I stick to one park per day. At Disneyland, Team A.J. Walking back and forth between two parks that share an entrance esplanade is so easy and fast -- I don't even have to go through security to get to my second park!
Team Breea on Park Hopper. I almost always buy Park Hopper tickets because I have huge FOMO, but honestly, I only remember Hopping once. On one trip, last day, my daughter thought it would be cool to do a list of her favorite rides instead of going to a park, so we did that. It was cool, but only did it once.
I’m definitely not COMPLETELY against Park Hoppers, but I’m right there with ya. So many times in the past I’ve purchased it and then didn’t want to use it because I wasn’t ready to leave the park I was already in.
I’m not a park hopper fan- Disney transportation takes way too long to go between parks and adds several lines to wait in for your day- I never recommend park hopper
I agree, we used to use the Park Hopper years ago. Now we don't find it worth it unless you were doing a short weekend trip and hit up your favorites only in each park
It depends on your agenda. I prioritize rides over anything else. I recently was park hopping between epcot and hollywood studios and lightning lanes and got on all the rides I wanted between both parks. I used the skyline to park hop.
The talk about the Dining Plan makes me miss the Tables in Wonderland card. Loved that card. Used a free dining offer once and though we tried new to us restaurants, we never bought or or used a free dining offer again.
So my sister and I are going in December and we had the park hopper discussion and we decided it was better to have it, and potentially not use it (not likely lol) than not have it, and have to add it later on for more or pay individual park tickets if we just had to go to a different park the same day as another. So I am PRO park hopper!
we always hop...just because we prefer some parks in the morning and others at night. we also go back to the resort in the afternoon but you can buy the hopper at any time, even halfway through your trip. so you may want to wait and see how you tour before you buy
I think if buying park hopper like I think of buying insurance. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Most recently was glad for that decision when I visited with my parents over spring break. I was 20 seconds too late and didn’t get a LL for RotR on our Hollywood Studios day. It was one of our absolute must dos so I was glad to be able to try again the next day and park hop over at the end of our Epcot day.
I am SO excited for after hours! Hubby and I are going end of January and got tickets for MK and HS the day they went live. We are not morning people and prefer to stay up late, so we don’t want to rope drop, we’d rather spend the day riding as much as we can and using after hours to do it all a 2nd time, and maybe even a 3rd!
Park Hopper is a must for me! Doing (at least) two parks a day makes my vacation feel longer and fuller somehow. As a frequent solo traveler, I splurge on Memory Maker sometimes so that not *every* pic of me is a selfie. 😅 And while I *have* "beaten" the Dining Plan by getting more value out of it than it cost (helps a lot that adult beverages are included with the QS meals!), I also ended up eating more than I really wanted to, sometimes feeling like I *had* to get a QS meal when what I really wanted was a snack. I don't think I'll do that one again.
I've found Memory Maker and Dining Plans to be a waste of money. But we always buy Park Hopper tickets. I didn't think the Magic Band Plus was worth it but my husband wanted it. The grandkids did enjoy theirs when we took them.
Hop hop hop! My next trip is for 5 days. I’m planning to hop almost if not all of them. It will be the holidays so going to take advantage of starting in parks with parties for the lower waits and hopping to others with a nighttime spectacular. Park hoppers give flexibility for dining reservations and during a festival, I like to swoop through EPCOT for a booth or two and monorail to MK or skyliner to HS.
When it comes to Park Hopper - I agree if it is a short trip get it. We are coming in OCT and we have 6 Days at the parks. We will be spending money on Lightening Lanes and things like that instead of Park Hoppers.
Park Hopper and Park Hopper Plus are not priced per day, but for the whole ticket (up to 10 days). Park Hopper Plus pays for the plusses and Also for Park Hopper. So that $85 you're paying (for up to 10 days) includes the $65 Park Hopper, giving you up to 10 plusses for $20. For your 4-day ticket, that's $5 per plus.
I was just thinking about this. If there are four decent family photos at the end of a trip, then for about $80 we could buy those. That's about half the price of memory-maker, so I think for this next trip, we'll be skipping memory maker. Magic bands ARE worth it for kids who have no phone. They love being able to open the hotel room door, and they can tap themselves in to an LL without clogging up the entryway of the queue.
If you know you want to park hop and you are military, buy the military discount tickets. I think they're called the military salute. They are a great price and include the parkhopper.
I’m pro park hopper but it depends on what kind of trip I think if you were someone who tires easily or will hang it up early it’s not worth it. I think you have to spend at least three hours at a park for it to be worth hopping. That being said, I love them because you can Ride twice as many rides and if park is crowded or lots of rides the day isn’t a wash. The key is to hop between parks where you don’t have to take a bus such as Hollywood to the back of Epcot or magic Kingdom to the front of Epcot .
I always get a park hopper. The only park I can really stay in all day long is Epcot. I usually rope drop MK, AK, and HS and honestly? I’m usually done in about 3-4 hours.
I'm a morning person and SO is not a Disney fan so nighttime events are a no go for us. We aren't into meet-and-greets with exception of one Minnie Mouse who just happens to be a very dear friend of his niece. Dining plan - are you kidding? I'm trying to keep my weight down. I've done Behind the Seeds more than once - and Up Close with Rhinos and both are worth the rather reasonable price point. He's 100% disabled - the Military Salute ticket price difference for Park Hopper Plus vs just Park Hopper was worth the differential since my SO loves water parks and went to Blizzard Beach twice during a one week trip.
I always get Park Hopper - and as it turns out Military Salute tickets came with it anyway. I rope dropped, met SO for lunch, rode a few more rides together then took a break and dined at another park - and took in a few more rides and at Epcot the night time spectacular.
PARK HOPPER. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If I have a longer trip, I'll usually get a 7-10 day ticket with Park Hopper. If I'm doing a short-trip with just 4 days, I'll just do one park a day. Since I'm usually in Orlando two weeks at a time, I'm usually doing Park Hopper at Disney and two-park at Universal usually for three days. With Epic Universe, I expect I'll do the multi-park at Universal for more-days-than-there-are-parks, AND the same at Disney.
I used to get the Park Hopper PLUS all the time... when Disney Quest was open (that was fun to go to a lot!) and BOTH waterparks were open ALL THE TIME! And, back in the day... River Country. Now that it's down to one waterpark at a time and mini-golf... probably not getting it again.
Hi DFB team and Disney fanatics! Quick question. If I am planning to park hop and am staying on Disney property, is it possible to purchase a multi pass for my first park, and then an individual lightning lane for my second park of the day all a week in advance? Or do I need to purchase individual lightning lane once I have entered my second park. Thank you!!
Team park hopper all the way. So often a favorite ride will be down when you visit a park, and with a hopper you can, say, run over to DHS after AK closes to Ride ToT because ot was down on BOTH your DHS days. Not that I would know ANYTHING ABOUT THAT.
Magic bands are a plus in WDW not so much at DL. Park hopper is a must at DL not WDW. Memory maker or Photopass is a must for me because I like pictures. It is better at WDW. Lighting lanes are great for me especially if it includes Photopass.
We’ve only really used park hopper when bouncing back and forth between Epcot and HS. AK and MK make it difficult to hop for us. That being said, Disney threw in free park hopper with our park tickets this December, so we’ll see if we use it more. I’m not sure…
Nope! Not getting rid of the dance party as far as we know. But the Disney Junior Dance Party does not happen during After Hours Events - only during the regular day hours!
Team Brea because we come for a good amount of time and just do one Park a day. Also, I think that they make you pay for your full trip even though you might want to upgrade halfway through is ridiculous and just another price gouging from Disney. As for the single lightning lanes, I think it’s ridiculous. All of them should be on the one pass and they should just be in the top-tier. They need to stop price gouging people, it’s ridiculous.
I don't know where Brea is from, but for people like me who are coming in from the Midwest, we may have 3-4 days planned in the parks, and many things can happen that make a park day end at a location (bad weather at Animal Kingdom are awful, given how much of the park is outdoors) and I'd be much happier hopping to a different location. Or sometimes I like to do a half day at one park, go to Disney Springs for lunch, and end my day in another park. My Disney trips are farther apart than someone working for DFB, so I want that flexibility.
Do you have to buy LL for everyone in your group? For example, with 2 adults and 1 child, can you just buy them for the adults, since the child likely can’t ride as many rides?
You can buy them for whoever wants to use them! You’ll just have to remember that IF you wanna ride any of the rides with the kiddo who doesn’t have a Lightning Lane, you’re just gonna have to wait in the standby line with them instead of using a Lightning Lane for that ride. That being said, Lightning Lanes can still be super useful in a park like Magic Kingdom even for the tiny tykes - since a good chunk of those rides are actually made for all riders to enjoy!
With the possibility of traffic included, the trip will more than likely take you around 20 minutes by bus (not counting how long it takes for a bus to come pick you up/load up guests, too). But it is a direct route!
Can someone humour me. We are staying at POP in November and are actually quite interested in an AOA suite however budget doesn’t currently allow for us to stay there. However, I’ve heard it’s way cheaper to upgrade, if availability allows, upon arrival? Can anyone confirm this for me?
It did! A recent change, but the virtual queues are still around for Cosmic Rewind and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure! (For now……… until they switch on us again 😅)
I will never go to a Disney park without multipass and park hopper. It’s nonnegotiable. I want as much flexibility as possible. I’d rather have them and not use them, than not have them and wish I did.
Man, the cost of MagicBands and MagicBand+'s now... remember when you'd just get a basic colored MagicBand for FREE when you booked your resort stay vacation? A drawer in my jewelry chest certainly does ;-p I miss being able to afford Disney on a middle class income. Haven't been now in almost a decade... the decade before that, went every year and sometimes multiple times a year.
That's better than giving it "free" and factoring the cost into the ticket, so that everybody has to pay for it whether they want it or not (they'd probably make more money that way).
