4 Days at DLR... do we need a hopper pass?

[coattales]

My husband and I will be traveling to Disneyland with our twin 5 year old sons. This will be the first Disney trip for everyone. We will be at the parks Sunday through Wednesday in mid May, before California schools let out for the summer. We are staying at a condo on Walnut St, within walking distance. I'd like some advice on whether to get 4-day park hopper tickets or just regular 4-day tickets. It looks like magic mornings come with both. The hopper tickets will cost us an additional $140. Is it worth it? Thanks!

 

[Cheshirecatty]

My husband and I will be traveling to Disneyland with our twin 5 year old sons. This will be the first Disney trip for everyone. We will be at the parks Sunday through Wednesday in mid May, before California schools let out for the summer. We are staying at a condo on Walnut St, within walking distance. I'd like some advice on whether to get 4-day park hopper tickets or just regular 4-day tickets. It looks like magic mornings come with both. The hopper tickets will cost us an additional $140. Is it worth it? Thanks!

Well……..you don't "need" hoppers, but in our opinion, they are definitely worth it, and having the option to change Parks during the course of a day is fabulous!

 

[sherilaine]

The parks are right across from each other - I mean you don't really hop but you can walk from the gates of one park to the gates of the other in a couple of minutes so it's really great to be able to start at one park and finish at another. I'd not want to ever be confined to just one park on any one day, especially if I am only there for 4 days.

 

[Butterfly123]

I think hoppers are absolutely worth the extra money. If one park is extra busy you can hop to the other. It's even easy to hop for just one or two rides, or for a show.

 

[Caseheidi]

We never get the hopper at WDW, but always do at DLR. As the parks rea right across from each other it just makes more sense. Having said that, I last trip we only used the hopper one day out of five. I would suggest not getting the hopper, and if you decide one day you need both parks, you can then add it on.

 

[amarberry]

We just returned from a trip that involved 4 days in the parks. We ended up with hoppers because of the Orbitz/Ebates offer, but I have to say that we really didn't utilize the hopping as much as I thought we would. We ended up only hopping once on our third day and it was mostly because we wanted to eat at a restaurant in a different park.

If you are trying to conserve money, I would skip the park hopper. You could take the $140 and have a really nice meal instead (or buy souveniers or whatever). If when you are there you decide that you'd really like to hop, you can always just add it on at that point.

 

[bittersweet]

Hoppers aren't a necessity, but I definitely think they are worth it. Since the parks are so close to one another, it's so easy and convenient to just hop from one park to another.

 

[Just Peachy]

We go to DLR about every two years and (being somewhat of a planning person) I always set up events & tours & dinner reservations across both parks in a day to maximize our fun-time while minimizing our wait times. We always get the Park Hoppers and take full advantage of them. We are at the park with the EMH hour that day, out at midday for rest and time at the DLH (out family mainstay), and back at the other park in the evening and until close. Since we have always had to travel during the peak seasons, the lines can be really rough and when the flow of people overloads one park, we cross over. We were there last Thanksgiving week and with planning and park hopping, we never had a wait over 15 minutes (except RSR, which kept closing just as we got to the front of the line).

I have twin boys too. We took them to the park for the first time when they turned 5! They are in college now but we still do family vacations at DLR.

 

[Kristina4109]

Something else to consider, especially if you are used to WDW - when you go through security at DL, you do it before you hit the entrance plaza. This means that when you hop from park to park, you do NOT have to go through security again! Much faster and much simpler.

 

[purple figment]

Unlike DW, the parks are so close to one another, hopping is easy and extremely tempting. Walking leisurely it takes less than 2 minutes and approx 150 steps to get from one park to the other.

 

[larina]

We hop multiple times a day when we visit.

 

[tstidm1]

With how close the parks, I would buy a Park Hopper in a heartbeat. It's amongst the best money you could spend there. When you can take a Lunch Break at Flo's or Carthay Circle after a morning of Pirates and IASW, that's a pretty awesome four hours at Disneyland Resort.

 

[Barbday62]

Going to give an alternative viewpoint to most of them here. I have always park hopped and the military ticket includes it with out extra cost. This past 3 day trip my husband and I took the grand kids (4, 9 and 12) and we park hopped first day. I feel like we wasted a lot of time waiting in the line to enter the parks. On Saturday we did only one park. We chose california adventure and stayed from park opening (We was chosen as family to open the park...yea) to when the kids wore out completly after World of Color. We did almost everything and some things over and over. The older two loved the california screaming and the youngest loved the carosel next to that ride so we spent a lot of time there!! I must say that was perhaps the best day I have ever spent at Disneyland because we did everything at kids pace and repeated at kids pace and never left the park at all. The next day we did same thing at Disneyland. I was always a die hard get park hoppers then having such youn kids with out their parents reformed me LOL to one park per day. This was last August and the park days were long. I think if one closed early Id still park hop and If I didnt have the kids in tow I would still probably park hop.

 

[mnrose]

Another vote for the park hopper. I debated the same point for our recent trip, and ultimately decided on the hopper. So glad we did! We were back and forth multiple times each day. The parks are SO close. It was great for one of the adults to run over and grab FP at the opposite park for popular rides. Extra walking, but sure made it easy to miss the lines!

 

[tiffjoy]

I'll go the opposite of the previous poster. Lol. We have young kids and for the reason, I love hoppers. My older DD4 loves the characters. Always has. We typically meet 30ish or so each visit, and half of those we see multiple times, like Mickey and Minnie. This last trip, she was determined to meet Sophia for the first time. I bought her and her little sister, 2, matching Sophia costumes as a surprise. Well, we spent an hour at the art of Animation waiting for Sophia. She danced with Jake for about half that time, but it was Sophia she wanted to really meet. We finally found out Sophia wouldn't be coming. So, I talked them both into wearing the costumes again the next day just to get a picture, then change to new costumes (they are big on their costumes!) afterwards. That was to be our DL day, but we popped over to CA mid morning to meet Sophia. Success! (And one of my favorite memories and best picture of the whole trip!) We also popped over when my DD4 wanted to see Viva Navidad a second time, then found out it was cancelled due to weather, so we tried again the next day. Also switched to meet Stitch at the Visa meet and greet. On our CA day, our DD2 wasn't enjoying the rides as much, so I hopped over to DL with her to go on some of her favorites. I love the flexibility of hopping. Maybe it takes a bit of time (15 minutes?) but it's worth it to not have to worry if we miss something- we can always just go back to do that one thing. We also switch for food, too, depending on what the kids feel like eating. DL can get crowded, so we like being able to move to CA in the evening when DL gets hectic. At WDW, I'm good without hoppers. At DLR, it's a must for us.

 

[Baxhappyplace]

If you purchase a 4 day 1 park per day from way.com you would pay for adults $235 and kids $215. If you purchase 4 day park hopper (buy 3 day and get the 4th day free) through Orbitz/Ebates deal you would pay for adults $243 and kids $228. $8 more for adults and $13 more for kids. I think with that cost difference I would do the park hoppers so you can change parks if you wanted to.

When we go during the summer we like to start at one park first thing in the morning then go back to the hotel and rest then head back put to the other park. There are also days that we do use the hopper but we have it if we wanted to.

 

[coattales]

If you purchase a 4 day 1 park per day from way.com you would pay for adults $235 and kids $215. If you purchase 4 day park hopper (buy 3 day and get the 4th day free) through Orbitz/Ebates deal you would pay for adults $243 and kids $228. $8 more for adults and $13 more for kids. I think with that cost difference I would do the park hoppers so you can change parks if you wanted to. When we go during the summer we like to start at one park first thing in the morning then go back to the hotel and rest then head back put to the other park. There are also days that we do use the hopper but we have it if we wanted to.

Thanks so much for all the great advice! Could you tell me how to get the orbitz/ebates offer? That sounds like a great deal!

 

[momof4fans]

Both times that we've gone (first 4 days, then 5 days) we've got park hoppers. And we used them everyday. The flexibility is very nice. DCA seems to close an hour earlier then DL so we would close DCA and then hop over and close DL. We also have girls so we did the princess makeover in DL and then hopped over and had lunch at Ariel's Grotto. Also, DL can get super crowded and it's nice to leave and go to DCA where I feel like I can breath!

 

[Delilah1310]

Our DS6 has his own agenda and that often involves walking from one park to another.

We do our best to cluster activities in each park, but frankly if we are at DCA and he REALLY wants to ride Splash Mountain again, we will walk over and ride Splash Mountain again.

That's just our touring style while at DLR ... because we can, because the parks are so close.

have a great trip!

 

[superlarz]

It really boils down to your family and your own preference. It can be worth it, but its not necessary. If you do hop, there is a lot of extra walking involved, but you have the option at the spur of the moment to go on something at the other park. There is plenty to keep you occupied throughout the individual parks. If you do not choose to park hop, make sure you plan your entertainment beforehand, due to some things not going every day in both parks.