Parks without hopping? Does it work?

[momof3+twins]

I decided to save a bundle for our family of 7 by NOT hopping this year. I have never done this. So, question: does it work out? Am I making a mistake? If you are a non-hopper, can you give me some tips and advice? Tour ideas?
Thanks in advance!

[caryrae]

We have never hopped except for when every ticket included hopping, it works for us. For us spending one day at one Park we will just take our time in that Park and really check things out and take more little sitting breaks throughout the day. It helps that we go at slower times when lines and crowd levels aren't to bad. We don't do much TS meals but if we do we just do an ADR for the Park we will be at at a certain day. There's good and bad either way. Hopping just isn't worth the extra cost for us.

[#1disneyfan]

We generally hop every trip. However there have been a few occassions where hopping was not necessary. I agree with the above poster, I think depending on the time of year you travel can make a difference if you hop or not. Have a great time whatever you decide!

[buzznwoodysmom]

Just look at it this way, by not hopping you are not wasting precious park time on a bus or monorail traveling to another park. We've found traveling from park to park can take an hour, sometimes longer. Now you will have that time to enjoy the park you are already in. I think you can make it work out.

[redthread]

Our trip this past February was the first time we didn't have park hoppers. We did it to save money (family of 5). It worked out great! I'm thinking we will probably skip the park hopper option on future trips as well (my son is already asking when we our going back!).

Colleen

[rhonary]

We dont always hop...we find that we dont really need to go to more than one park a day. When we have the meal plan we book most of our ts meals at resorts so we can go to any park.

[Ms. Mode]

We have always had the PH option on our tickets, but our first trip we never used them. Now we would just visit one park per day if not for our DD, she likes to jump from park to park. I don't think you'll have a problem.

[LandFan]

We've done both a lot. Really, you can get by fairly well without hopping. It DEFINITELY is easier if you are going at a slower time of year and if you tend to watch the park hours and EMH days. We also just make an adr for the park we will be in that day - or one at an accessible resort and just go from there.

Don't fret - just have fun - saving that much $$ should make you and allow you guys to have some fun in other ways too!

[DizneyRox]

I can't imagine not hopping...

But, we also go at peak times and the crowds often dictacte if we want to bother with spending the whole day dealing with them. At less busy times of the year (lower crowds and shorter hours) I can see not needing to hop, so it might work out.

But, during the summer for example, leaving the park is almost a must. When the time comes to head back, it might be a different park that's on my mind. Many also consider AK and MGM to be 1/2 day parks, so not being able to go somewhere else might be a problem.

Now that park hopping is a paid privilege, not everyone has the luxury of changing their mind. We use this to our advantage.

[tazlikesrobots]

We've never park hopped. Insted we arrive for rope drop, do the popular rides early in the day, and then head back to resort around 2PM for a mid-day splash in the pool.

We'll return to the parks around sunset and stay for evening EMH. This way we get to fully enjoy the parks but not kill ourselves in the process

[SingingLights]

We often travel with friends and family who have never been WDW and we suggest to them to not get the park hopper option. If we are there a week we can see AK in a day, DHS in a day, Epcot in 2 days and the MK in 2 days and that gives them a day for water parks, relaxing, shopping, or etc.

We tell them, if you discover you need the park hopper option you can add it your ticket at anytime for $50/ticket. Save the $50, have a great TS meal and a CS meal for the cost of park hopping. We are always looking for ways to save money at WDW. Hope my input helps.

[princessgirls]

I skipped the park hopping option on our December trip. I was on a tight budget, as it was a totally EXTRA trip, we had already done two full weeks of vacation in 2009.

Some of my thoughts...
It wasn't as bad as I had thought. I made our ADR plans and planned the park of the day around that.

We have never spent an entire day in Hollywood Studios, and found some interesting things there that we always skip.

Animal Kingdom empties out at 3:30. Delightful park in the afternoon.

We made every ADR on time and didn't feel as rushed trying to get to a meal, as we were in the park already.

Things I missed:
More Epcot dining!!! With our hopper we found ourselves in Epcot many nights of our week.

Not going to another park after a day in Animal Kingdom. It closes early.

Would I get the hopper again...YES!! Was I happy to go to Disney in December and willing to work within my budget...YES!!!
So there you have it. It's nice to have, but you can still have a wonderful vacation and not have the hopper.
Julie

[PlutoPlanet]

We've always done PH. We like having dinner at EPCOT. As long as dinner plans work, no PH should work out for you.

You can always spend a few hours at the pool. Lots of kids love pool time.

[wdwnutz]

We have gone to WDW with and without hoppers. We enjoy our vacation without the hopper option. We don't feel so rushed and take our time through the parks. We also go back to the resort in the afternoon for a refreshing swim. We plan our days around the EMH, shows and TS choices. I wouldn't spend the money on hoppers again for our family of four, more money to shop!!

[AJ Springfield]

We have never had PH...and never felt we were missing out on anything!! I couldn't see spending the extra money on it ($250 for our family of 5) or the time it takes to get from one park to another. Every minute is costing money and I don't want to spend an hour on a bus to get to another park to stand in more lines. We just go early, enjoy what we can, break mid day and (if we are at MK) return in the evening. We have never returned to the other parks after our afternoon swim.

[CU Tiger]

We stopped buying the hopper option a while ago. It is not worth the time spent going from park to park. If a park, such as AK, is only takes half of the day, we go back to the resort and enjoy what is offered there.

[i'm grumpy]

One day MK closed at 5 and another AK so I would rather have the hopper option, but for the price and time spent traveling, we didn't get them.

[Goofy Pluto]

I truly find the talk of HAVING to park hop astonishing. I just really don't get it. At all. There's no reason you HAVE to do it and spend extra money to do so. You just choose to. But, believe me, you can enjoy yourself without park hopping.

In the past when I was younger we always park hopped when we wanted to but this was also back when they didn't charge you extra for it (or for non-expiration tickets. It was included!) In more recent trips we've done the non-PH tickets and never even thought that we'd miss anything. It's been more important to us to save money. We just figured we'd spend one day in each park, do what we could, and that's it. I don't know, maybe I'm more tolerant than some but I just figure crowds and lines are part of going to WDW. And I certainly don't want to waste time going to another park when I'm already in one.

In any case, to answer your question, you're not missing anything by not park hopping. If anything, you may find you've actually gained something! (More actual time in the parks and more money in your pocket!)

[momof3+twins]

Wow!! Thanks guys! I wasn't expecting such a great response!! I am going in September on quick service dining. I felt last trip that we wasted alot of time hopping. We are using the extra $ for MNSSHP and doing that on our Animal Kingdom day. So, from all the great ideas and opinions, it sounds like a non-hopper is the ticket for me. I feel better!!

[Mousemates]

with the somewhat lower (I don't think there is really a true low time anymore) crowds of Sept you all should be fine...as others have hinted not having the parkhopper does actually have an advantage--it will slow down the running a little bit and take the stress out of deciding when to leave one park and choosing which park you think will be test to hop to....also you can probably ride several rides in september in the time it take to hop (walk out, catch bus, ride bus, enter park). have fun.