Do I Need To Buy Disney World Park Hopper Tickets? Well there are 4 parks at Disney World, but if you want to visit more than one park a day you are going to need to add the Park Hopper option to your tickets. Park Hopper allows you to use your one day ticket to enter 2, 3 or 4 parks a day (depending on how daring you are!) and it is a one time fee of $65 – $85 per multi-day ticket. Disney does not require you to purchase the Park Hopper option when you purchase your multi-day ticket. You can add Park Hopper at any time, including the day you plan to start hopping!
What is Park Hopper exactly?
Say we have a 10 day ticket. We wake up in the morning and we go to Magic Kingdom, but it’s so crowded and hot. We either have to stay at Magic Kingdom that day or we can use our Park Hopper option to hop to another park like Animal Kingdom (where it’s shaded and more spread out and doesn’t seem as crowded). The ONLY way we can enter both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on the same day is with the Park Hopper option. Disney will NOT allow you to use 2 days worth of tickets on the same day to enter 2 different parks.
Do you need to shell out $65 – $85 per ticket before you arrive?
If you are undecided if you would even use Park Hopper, you are in luck. Disney does not require you to make the final decision on the Park Hopper option when you buy your ticket. So even if you have already bought your tickets, you can go to the ticket window and add the Park Hopper option right there in the parks and then you can immediately hop to another park.
Is it easy to Park Hop?
Yes. Disney transportation runs between each park. You can take the monorail from Magic Kingdom to Epcot and a boat from Epcot to Hollywood Studios (you could also walk between Hollywood and Epcot). They run buses as well. You can also take a bus to Animal Kingdom. It could be time consuming if transportation is running slow or you get there just as the bus/monorail/boat has left (they run every 20 minutes or so) but it can be worth it!
Do you NEED to Hop?
Well that is totally up to you and your touring style. Some people get to the parks in the morning and don’t leave until the park closes. They would probably be content to stay in the same park. Some people take a break in the middle of the day (like us) and it would be nice to spend your mornings at one park and your evenings at another. But like I said, the beauty is that you do not have to make the decision today!
What have I done?
The first trip we got Park Hoppers because we felt like we HAD to Hop. We were first time visitors and I had NO IDEA that you could buy it later. I wish I had known that. We didn’t hop until the 6th day of our trip and we only hopped because we felt like we had to because we had already paid the money.
The second trip we had park hoppers and we once again didn’t feel like we had to have them because we were there for 10 days. But we had a fun time hopping when we did.
The third trip we didn’t hop at all and we didn’t miss it one bit.
The fourth trip was just 3 days, so we had park hopper and use it all 3 days. It was so worth it for such a short trip.
On our fifth trip we did not plan on purchasing park hoppers but I had the money set aside in case we changed our mind once we get there. We decided to spend that money on souvenirs on our last day.
If you want to visit the Walt Disney World Water Parks, you will need to add the Park Hopper Plus Option.
Do you hop or not?
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I got park hopper the first time I went (WDW) because i felt I had to and did not end up using it until the last day, it was worth it that day (had to get those fairy autographs)! I also got it for my upcoming trip because there will be 4 of us and we will take breaks. I now have one trip under my belt and will have a better strategey for using it.
We definitely hop! Many times in the evening after dinner, we may chose to visit another park to ride our favorite ride again or to see a show or fireworks. I agree this is more important on a shorter trip!
Do we need to purchase the park hopper option if we want to leave for a few hours and re-enter the same park? For example if we wanted to go into MK earlier in the day, leave to go swimming for a few hours and come back later to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours, are we required to have the park hopper option?
I know that this comment is old, but there may be other people with this question. No, you don’t need to buy the park hopper to re-enter the same park; just your park ticket. At least, that’s my understanding…
Park Hoppers from birth here :-) But we stay on property at either the Beach Club or Boardwalk as DVC members every trip so we go to either MK or AK in the AM back to the hotel for naps and swimming then walk to either Hollywood Studios or Epcot for the evening. Only HAVE to use the disney transportation for the MK and AK so it’s great. We have been known to take the monorail from MK to Epcot – walk thru Epcot take a break at the hotel then onto HS :-)
I guess I’m in the minority here but we haven’t hopped in a long time. We once had FL resident seasonal annual passes years ago and tried hopping then but it just seemed to eat up so much of our days. We like to spend as little time as possible on Disney Transportation and so we now are usually a one park/one day “opening to closing” family.
A Hopper is a must for us! We like to break up the days, especially with ADR’s and EMH.
We park hop all the time at Disneyland and California Adventure, sometimes going back and forth multiple times a day. Those properties are much closer than the Florida parks so I’m not sure I would do it if in Florida.
We park hop almost every day. We camp at Fort Wilderness, so we go to one park in the morning, then back to the campground for naps after lunch. We make dinner at our camper, then head out to (usually) a different park in the evening. Sometimes we’ll go back to the same park in the evening if it hasn’t been that busy in the morning. Before leaving for naps we make sure we get as many Fastpasses as possible to use in the evening.
Many times we’ve been at a park in the morning and it wasn’t supposed to be that busy (according to Touring Plans) but we found that wait times were far too long. It’s nice to have the option to go to a less busy park. We also take advantage of days that Magic Kingdom is closing early for a special event (Prom Night, MNSSHP,etc.). We find the park is usually not as busy in the morning, probably because people that don’t have Parkhoppers don’t want to waste a ticket on a park that is closing early.
It depends on how many days we plan to be at Disney. On our December 2009 trip to Disney we did not get Hoppers. We planned our meals and stayed at one park each day. We were only able to be at Disney for 7 nights that trip because of school so we only went into the parks four days. This plan worked great for us that trip,. We usually vacation at Disney for 11-12 nights and have been lucky the past two Junes to get YES Program tickets. The prices were great and we got 8 Day Hoppers for a great price. This gave us the flexibility to spend our mornings in one park, take a break from the sun and heat at our resort and then go to another park for the Extra Magic Hours at night. This works great for our family during the summer.
So to answer your question…It depends on how long we will be able to enjoy Disney, the amount of days we have for our tickets and even whether or not we are on the Dining Plan.
Glenda
We have only been once but chose not to hop because hopping with two children plus my parents (my father was using a scooter to get around) sounded like a huge pain to me. Worked out fine for us but I could see us hopping if we went again and the kids were older and no one had mobility issues.
I only hop if I’m staying at a resort close enough to walk to the park, like staying at BC. If I’m staying there, then on my non-park times, I can walk over to EPCOT if I want and grab a quick lunch or run grab a souvinier I saw that I just couldn’t live without. Otherwise, there’s no hopping for us. I don’t want to waste my precious park time commuting!
I’m all about park hopping! That’s one of the reasons we stay at Beach Club it’s really easy to start the day at either Epcot or Hollywood Studios stop back at the room quick for a break then move on to the other park. Epcot is our favorite place to have dinner so on other park days we may still end up their for dinner especially our Animal Kingdom day since that park closes early. We love having the ability to go to whatever park is offering the entertainment we want for the evening as well. For my upcoming trip there are only a couple of days I’m not already planning to park hop and we’ll probably do it anyway.
I always buy the park hopper. We do not go to more than 1 park every day but we definitely use it. Like last year when we were there we was going to Magic Kingdom and the bus there was taking forever and Animal Kingdom bus showed up so we rode that bus went to Animal Kingdom only stayed 30 minutes. That is my least favorite park probably because it is so hot there and then took a bus from there to Magic Kingdom.
I miss the days when the Water Parks & Park Hopper were already included in the tickets. But yes, we definitely do hop. I really enjoy having the options available and flexibility. Also, if a park is crowded one day doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go there to eat. Or what if you could only get an ADR for the day the park is crowded? We usually hop pretty much every day. My lil ones love it as well. The trip is just as much for the adults as they are for the kids so I’ll often cut them a deal: EPCOT in the AM MK in the PM for example. I get more cooperative kids that way too because they have a goal to work towards.
Another vote for hopping! — especially if you do NOT have little ones. For instance, it opened up the possibility of eating in EPCOT for meals. I even went to all 4 parks in one day (& got photopass pics for my scrapbook) — just to say I did! If you are hopping, I enjoyed the boat ride between Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
I say yes. Its great if you manage to cover all the things you want to see at say Magic Kingdom, but the Toy Story ride is closed that day or you just don’t have time for its a small world. WIthout it your choice is to forgo another park and spend a whole extra day there, or miss it altogether. There always seems to just be that one last thing you can’t squeeze in. But I agree with waiting, because we never hop more than once or twice, so if you wait, you may decide you can just save the money.
We always hop because we can book our meals for where ever we want! Plus if fire works or a show are on a special night we can hop:)
We always hop. Normally our dinner reservations are in EPCOT. Plus we dont have to give a second thought to the process when we can easily get in any park we want at any time. It is worth it for peace of mind.
We have only hopped our first trip and not 2-4. We do not plan to hop for our 5th trip. While we break for the afternoon, we don’t find it necessary.
Love hopping as well. While there is a lot to do in each park, sometimes you just need a change of pace.
We always hop. We also have little ones. They were 4 and 2 1/2 last time we went. This time, they’ll be 7, 5 and add one to the mix, 2 1/2. The older 2 had no problem hopping last time we went. They loved it. The love riding the monorail, the boat and even the bus gets them excited.
We always hop! I wouldn’t go to the parks without that option. We stay on the property, so hopping is great. We tend to go to one in the morning, break at hotel in the afternoon and back to another in the evening. I have 3 kids and it works wonderfully with them since they generally don’t agree on where they want to go!
Do not hop with little ones, they are going to be tired it’s way too much for them.