Subsonic Radio

We have got our timeshare for the first week in June to WDW. This will be our first trip there and we need all the information we can get.

What about hopper passes? We are on a really tight budget. It will cost about $45 per ticket to add hoppers. I hear that it can take 45 min to 1 hour to get from park to park. That seems like time wasted and we will only be there 5 or 6 days. What do you think?

I love the hopper passes. Epecially for eating at Epcot! and Some parks are open later different days of the week. BUT if you are on a tight budget, and don't mind doing single park passes, then go for it.

I would go hopper, myself... It depends on which park you're going to/from... between MK and Epcot can't be more than 20-ish minutes by monorail, and between Epcot and MGM is about the same amount of time by boat. Sure, AK is a bit out there, but the buses run constantly.

Plus, whenever we go, we usually do one park at opening, then in the middle of the day when we get tired, go back to the hotel for a nap or swim, then hit a different park in the evening until closing. Keeps us sane, having the nap. The hopper is a great, great option.

We jump back and forth from DL to DCA serveral times a day in California to catch a show or use FastPasses.

I assume you can go back to the same park without hoppers if you want to take a nap or something?

You can leave and re-enter the same park as much as you want on one day. If you go to a different park that day, and you don't have the hopper option, your passport will be dinged for an extra day.

spaulo wrote:You can leave and re-enter the same park as much as you want on one day. If you go to a different park that day, and you don't have the hopper option, your passport will be dinged for an extra day.

Sorry for all the stupid questions. The diference between a 6 day pass and a 10 day pass is only about $10. Would it be cheaper (or even possible) just to get "dinged" for that extra day if we start in one park in the morning and finish in a different park in the evening?

if you go to two parks in one day with no hopper, you'll get dinged... if you are sure you'll "switch" parks four times or less on your six-day vacation, then it sounds like a 10-day non-hopper pass would be more cost effective for you.

I would opt for the hopper myself; but this is mostly due to knowing the parks as well as I do. I rarely eat two meals in the same park each day. However since this is your first trip to WDW you probably wouldn't use a hopper to the extent that some of us would.

The only real problem you might encounter by skipping the hopper option is if you want to squeeze in a "saw this at one park shop but couldn't find it in the other parks" or "our favorite rides" day before you leave.

I would most certainly consider the Park Hopper...I had the same situation, when I was down in August, and did not upgrade all 5 of my tickets to Hoppers....The one that didn't get the upgrade cost more in the long run, plus the time spent getting individual tickets, etc...

I have to dissent from what others have posted as someone who stays at a timeshare off property (which is what it sounds like you're planning on doing).

If you've never been to WDW you'll want the whole day in a park. The extra magic hours don't apply to you if you are off-property so you can't go to the early park them switch to the late park (well you can but not for the extra hours). You may want to call Disney about using a 10 day pass in 6 days and just using a seperate ticket as a "Park-hopper" for those few times you may want to hop. Really the only reason to hop is for dining if you aren't satisfied with the park's offerings but you don't want to go out of the parks to eat. Other than that maybe to see things you miss, but you can't even assess that until you've spent a whole day at a single park and look back on what you missed/what you'd like to see again; in those instances you might just want to reserve a fifth day for the "Park hopper day," and with a 10 day you should in theory have 6 admissions left on the ticket (4 for the 4 seperate parks and then the remaining 6) which would be more than enough considering there's only 4 parks. You might even consider 8 day (When I went in July they allowed for you to put as many days as you wanted and by the time we put I think 5 days on every additional day was like literally $1)

I will, however, say that you might consider spending a day to go to the Universals and hop between those 2 parks too. I know you said you have teens in another post and as a teen I preferred Universal to Disney (Don't stone me please) and they have some really great attractions there: The Mummy, Spiderman, The Hulk (If you like Coasters) etc. Spiderman alone is almost worth the day trip, it's one of the most imaginative rides in recent.

Park hoppers are nice, magic kingdom by day Epcot by night. Though the lat time I wnet to disney, we never used that function, maybe it was because I was with my sister that had little kids and after 4 that was enough time in the park for them. So plan on who your going with, because if your not going to be park hopping save yourself the money.

If you like to end evenings at Epcot for dinner, a park hopper is a must.

I have been to Disney over a dozen times and will be using the hopper pass for the first time this coming weekend. Before now, I've always used the single day pass for one park at a time.

I'll let you know how it is!

Hmmm it really depends on what you want to accomplish during your stay. If you are staying 5 days that gives you a day at each park, with one day to spare. If you are not intrested in the water parks or downtown disney etc, you could split your two favorite parks on the last day. I would suggest a rough schedule of what you want to do in WDW... then that might answer your question for you



And there are no stupid questions in here

Rich

Soccermouse, what did you decide to do?