One of the first things you have to decide when you book your trip to Walt Disney World is what kind of tickets are right for your family. There are literally dozens of different options to choose from!
One of the most popular ticket options is the Park Hopper. This add-on allows you to visit more than one theme park per day. With a base ticket, you can leave and re-enter the same park during the day, but you cannot “hop” over to another one. You could, for example, start your day at Magic Kingdom and leave for a swim at your resort pool in the middle of the day, but if you want to return to a park in the evening, it must be Magic Kingdom again. With the Park Hopper, though, you can start your day at Magic Kingdom go to Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, then end the day at Epcot.
One of the most important things to know about the Park Hopper is, of course, the price. Currently the cost of adding the Park Hopper option to a regular ticket is as follows:
- 1-day ticket: $55
- 2- or 3-day tickets: $65
- 4- to 10-day tickets: $75
This is just the cost for upgrading to the Park Hopper. It’s important to note that this is a one-time cost that covers the entire ticket. For a 10-day ticket, it’s $75 total for the Park Hopper, not $750! The price of your base admission ticket will vary based on which days you’re visiting. For more information on base tickets, we’ve broken down Disney’s new date-based ticketing system for you here.
So is the Park Hopper option worth the additional cost? Our feeling? Yes and no.
It really depends on your family and your goals for your vacation. A few things to keep in mind when deciding on the Park Hopper:
Travel Time in Walt Disney World: Even though Disney has lots of (free!) modes of transportation to get you between parks, it can take a lot of time — more than 90 minutes during peak seasons. So even though you can travel freely from park to park with a Park Hopper ticket, keep in mind it’s going to take some time to get from place to place.
Length of Stay: Are you staying for two days or 10? If you’re staying for a shorter amount of time and have must-dos in all four parks, you may have to consider the Park Hopper to be able to get around to everything you want. However, if you’re staying for a longer visit, you may be able to check off everything on your must-see list without park-hopping.
Your Vacation Goals: The most important factor in deciding whether you need the Park Hopper option is knowing your family and what you want out of your vacation. Maybe you’ve got little kids and the idea of packing up all the strollers and bags to jump on a boat in the middle of the day is a stress you’d like to avoid. Or perhaps you’re adults going to enjoy the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, and you know you aren’t leaving until you’ve eaten all around the world! In these cases, you may want to skip the Park Hopper. On the other hand, maybe you and your teenagers want to ride all of the coasters in one day – from Expedition Everest to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Or maybe you just love the freedom of being able to start your day on Main Street USA and finishing it with IllumiNations. In this case, you may want to upgrade to the Park Hopper option.
At the end of the day, the Park Hopper is absolutely worth the cost for some families, and not for others. If you’re unsure about using the Park Hopper, keep in mind you can always upgrade tickets, but you cannot downgrade. We recommend buying the base tickets, and then if you decide you’d like to Park Hop, simply stop by Guest Relations and they can upgrade them for you!
What do you think? To Park Hop or not to Park Hop? Let us know in the comments!
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If your family are late riser I would say skip the park hopper. It’s a difficulty getting my family into a park before 10 am. This last trip we had park Hopper and felt like we had to use it but none of us really liked it. The only time I’ve had success with it was during the F&W F. We would do EPCOT in the morning then go somewhere else at night
Another great reason to park hop- the uncertainty with weather! On our last trip, it rained the first 3 nights we were there and we didn’t see any of the evening shows or fireworks. Thankfully the last 3 nights were were able to see the 3 night shows we really wanted to see, and it required us to park hop due to our pre-determined Fast Passes in the mornings of those days!
As adults travelling to WDW nearly annually, we love the park hopper option. Riding a boat or the monorail between parks can be a relaxing part of the day. Additionally, we tend to book most of our dinners in Epcot and start in a different park in the morning. We take a leisurely approach to our trips outside of fastpasses and like to have options to move between the parks.
Nick, I couldn’t agree more. The monorail ride from MK to EPCOT is as enjoyable and relaxing as any attraction.
I think it is worth it if your stay is long. It is an extra expense but since you are already spending a lot on your park ticket, it is worth the extra cost for the freedom to do what you want to do.
we haven’t added a park hopper in years. remember when it was standard and included?? but this upcoming trip we will have it, as it the required ticket option with the free dining package. it will be interesting to see how we use it this time. i fear wasting time between parks with small kids.
Another consideration is where you are staying- in the Epcot resorts area it is so easy to go to MK or AK during the day, return to the resort for a nap/pool and then walk over to Epcot for the evening. Same applies to the monorail resorts.
I always get the Park Hopper option. If the park you’re in becomes too crowded and you’re getting stressed out, you can simply escape to another park and start having fun all over again!
For us, any trip over 4-5 days will always include the Hopper option. The flexibility is worth it. Now with the MDE app it’s easy to see what is going on in all 4 parks and call an “audible” in the middle of the day. And 90 minutes between Parks? Not with Uber – time is money and an Uber van can get you Park to Park for $8-10. Except for buses out each morning there is no way I’d spend that much time on Disney transportaion
Do you find that Uber is 1)easy to use and 2) that the pick up/drop off points are easy to navigate?
Disney now has “Ride Share” lots for drivers to wait and pick up points at the park entrances. We never waited more than 5-10 minutes for pick up, in fact we learned to wait until we were at the pick up area to even use the App. Ride share areas were clearly marked and Cast Members were always helpful. At the end of a long day it was worth it to just climb into a van and be back at Pop Century in under 20 minutes