Why do you like to park hop?

[Vulnox]

wasn't always a PH, in the early travel days in the 2000s, but since kids are a little older,and we are DVC now, PH is a must
We are rope droppers, and almost always at some park well before opening. Then we ride, rush, do whatever, and usually done/leaving by 2 or 3 at the latest. Rest in room for a bit, freshen up, then often back out in the evening. Evening park often totally different from morning park Kinda depends on where we are staying. A LOT of times we end up at Epcot for eating, we're often there during a festival. We also stay at BWV often, nd so easy to just walk back to HS or Epcot for a few rides, food, no matter where we start the day.

Yeah the reservations are a big one too. While you can certainly get reservations that fit with your single park, you also sometimes cannot, even if you are there right away to make reservations. We have a WDW trip next week and one of the restaurants we really want to try was already full the day we were at its associated park. So we had to make it for the next day. We will have to make a special trip to do it, but since they require park admission to go to the restaurant, we would have been stuck if not for park hopper in terms of being able to eat there, or would have had to change around all our other plans/park reservations.

I don't love having to pay more just to park hop, but it's one of the few addons I have yet to regret getting.

 

[AnnaS]

After all these years, it is really not necessary or a must for us to park hop.

One reason I can think of where we really enjoy it is when we are staying at BCV. No matter which park we might visit during the day, we can take a quick stroll over to Epcot anytime/evening/morning. We can run in and catch a different band for the concerts.

We have APs so we don't give it a second thought. If we had to purchase a few day tickets in the future (not purchasing an AP or renew), we might buy base tickets.

 

[Zach197]

Growing up in Anaheim, I think we got the rope drop to close thing out of our system at an earlier age. Now, we go do the things we like to do when we want to do them, sort of like Disney a' la carte.

We don't rope drop anymore, kinda just go with the flow take everything in. The kids also appreciate it.

 

[Miffy]

We hop for a variety of reasons, and we don't necessarily hop every day of our trip. Reasons:

(1) The park we have reserved starts getting too crowded for our liking and we did pretty much everything we wanted to do there. Then we hop after 2.

(2) We love DAK and when we stay at AKL we often hop to DAK at the end of the day if we've been at any of the other parks first. Even an extra hour at DAK is wonderful.

(3) Food. We'll hop if there's something we want to eat that's at another park.

(4) An urge to ride x, y, or z at another park.

(5) Just for fun and/or variety.

I always have a PH or AP.

 

[AliceIn]

We always hop. Most stays are either on the monorail loop, or one of the Epcot resorts. During the day we stick with one park. We like to get out early for rope drop, then spend the hotest part of the day (noon-5) at the resort to swim and relax. Then we head out later in the evening to either MK or Epcot - sometimes to eat dinner at the park. I have two teens and young adult, so they like heading back out in the evening, too.

 

[sheilafri]

We now have APs which make hopping so feasible $-wise. We used to park hop to MK every night for HEA as I was a huge fan. Please, bring it back! I also like to hop between EP and HS as I’m late to start (at EP) then take the boat to HS to shut it down as crowds do thin out a bit later in the day. AK isn’t a whole day for these adults so it’s easy to finish up elsewhere. That said, there are many days we start and finish at the same park.

 

[karen4546]

We park hop because we do not want to spend an entire day at one park.

we always go to AK in the morning and Epcot in the evening.
we are not set on times at MK and HS.

I think that MK after 4pm is great though.

we do occasionally go back to our morning park but rarely.
we always visit at least 2 parks per day.

my daughters and I usually have one day planned where we visit all 4 parks and one adjacent resort-except AKL because that is our usual home resort.

we have APs now, but in previous visits, always had the PH. Option.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

We have never park hopped. Not even a little interest. We also go to sleep early and wake up early.

I mainly think all that travel time is inefficient but regardless, we like to completely focus in on one park a day even if we leave midday. We go back to the same park.

Tell me what you love about park hopping. I just feel like it’s not for me but want to hear why it makes sense for your family/trips?

We love going to one park early in the day, hanging out there until around noon or 1p, going back to hotel for a break, and then going to a different park at night. It seems too repetitive to go back to the same park after our break, between the transportation and all. We also like the option of going to one park during the day and having dinner in another. Without that flexibility, it makes it hard now with park reservations being a thing. What if I book a park reservation for MK, then later get my desired reservation in Epcot? The flexibility is a huge draw for us. That being said, we don't do it every single time, but last trip we did and it was great.

 

[Murron]

We do different parks each day, but must always end up in Epcot.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

I like flexibility. The park pass reservation throws a big wrench into it, but I enjoy booking ADRs the day before, deciding on a whim where to watch fireworks (MK or Epcot), and eating at whichever park or resort I want to when I want to. Sometimes I just want to hop in line to ride Peter Pan right before park close. We've always had hoppers.

Part of it might be that we usually stay at the Boardwalk. Epcot is so close, it just makes sense to visit for a quick bite or a stroll or a character pic. Hopper seems natural.

 

[Evita_W]

We frequently go back to the room midday when crowds start getting bad, then may choose to head back into a different park.

 

[JenSop]

Haven't read all the previous responses, but wanted to chime in with my own answer.
Let me first say that my first trip with the new "Park hop after 2pm" and Park Reservation rules was a few weeks ago, and it was really annoying. For example, we stayed at Boardwalk. In the "before times" I would maybe walk into Epcot for lunch (we sleep in late) and then walk to DHS for rides.
Or when some of the parks would have really late hours - I'd do rides during the day, then go back to the resort to get ready for dinner, then hit another park after dinner for more rides. I have always liked the flexibility.
Again, that being said, with the requirement to make a Park Reservation AND the no hopping before 2pm rule, we ended up not hopping at all. Kind of annoying.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

We love Epcot at night. We do another park during the day and then hit Epcot almost every night for cocktails in World Showcase. We love just strolling through World Showcase and enjoying some beverages. It helps that BCV is our home resort, so it is a short 4 minute walk for us after Epcot. I don’t see us ever NOT doing park hoppers.