Park hoppers with little kids?

[pinkxray]

I have been to WDW many times and have always had park hoppers. However this will be our first trip with young kids. DS will be almost 4 and DD will be around 18m. We are planning a more laid back trip so I am really thinking no hoppers. We would hit the parks in the morning and stay until whenever we are done.
Not really planning on returning for the night with the little ones.
Everyone once in awhile I start to think maybe we will want them but could use the $ saved for another night.
If you travel with little ones, did you have hoppers or no?

 

[LMA712014]

We had hoppers for our trip last month with DD4 and DS2!

We rope dropped parks, left around 12-2 and then returned to the parks in the evening for dinner and more exploring. We liked the flexibility of being able to drop in where we wanted.

With that being said, however, I think it’s also completely doable without

 

[hoffj070]

We had park hoppers with DS1 since we were staying at a monorail hotel. We wanted the option to go to one park in the morning, back to the hotel to nap in the afternoon, and then go to MK in the evening.

I think depending on where you’re staying and if you want more hotel downtime you don’t need them.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

another group as we are a larger group with young kids and we always do hoppers. we never other than first night tried a room nap with big failure. most times younger kids ended up at MK because of later hours there. most nights we have hopped

 

[jwolfpack]

Agree with others -- if you're staying near MK and can get to and from it easily, you may enjoy the hoppers. If not, you probably don't need to hop. When we traveled with kids those ages, we found rope dropping, leaving at lunch, and returning to park between 4:00 and 5:00 to work better for us than trying to power through for one longer stretch.

 

[Joyful2018]

i'm thinking base tickets for us. i also want a more laid back trip so i was thinking even if the kids are ok with being out at night we can hang out at our hotel, do the campfire, watch fireworks from a hotel, or swim.

 

[SarahC97]

We have two kids and never got hoppers -- and we are people who go to the park and stay until we're done. Personally, I don't think you need them with kids that small. This year our kids are 10 and 7 and we're trying hoppers for the first time, but I don't see how we could have gotten our money's worth in the past with hoppers.

 

[KrazeeK120]

We took our son last year at 18 months and didn’t get hoppers. We usually did rope drop and stayed at the park until 4 or so, then went back to the resort for dinner and bed. We put him to bed the same time on vacation as we do at home. We are going back this fall when he will be almost 3 and again, not getting hoppers.

 

[Ensusieasm]

I have been to WDW many times and have always had park hoppers. However this will be our first trip with young kids. DS will be almost 4 and DD will be around 18m. We are planning a more laid back trip so I am really thinking no hoppers. We would hit the parks in the morning and stay until whenever we are done.
Not really planning on returning for the night with the little ones.
Everyone once in awhile I start to think maybe we will want them but could use the $ saved for another night.
If you travel with little ones, did you have hoppers or no?

How many times do you want to fold and unfold strollers? Anyway, you can always return to the same park if you decide you want more park time after a break. You don’t need a hopper for that.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We had park hoppers with DS1 since we were staying at a monorail hotel. We wanted the option to go to one park in the morning, back to the hotel to nap in the afternoon, and then go to MK in the evening.

I think depending on where you’re staying and if you want more hotel downtime you don’t need them.

I agree with this. If you are staying at an EP resort, I would seriously consider park hoppers. When my DS was younger, we loved going to the parks in the morning, taking an afternoon break and then simply strolling into EP WS for dinner or walking over to DHS. If you are staying on the monorail, maybe consider it. Otherwise, I would probably skip the hoppers. If I were you, I would wait until you get there and see if you want to hop. You can always upgrade your tickets and add the PH option onsite.

 

[tbholc81]

I think your responses will continue to be split with this, it really is personal preference. With you plans it doesn't sound like you really need the hoppers.

For what it's worth we took our kids (DD 4 and DS 11 months) and had park hoppers. We stayed on the monorail loop and had park hoppers. They were perfect for us. We did rope drop in the mornings casue the kids were up early. Did the parks till a little after lunch, had all our FPs in the AM. Then took a break at the hotel for the afternoon and park hopped somewhere else around dinner. Our little guy always fell asleep in the Ergo after dinner so we did night shows some nights or just went back to the hotel. We found it hard to do more than a 1/2 day in HS or AK, and spent most evenings in EPCOT or MK. I could see how staying at a non MK or EPCOT resort would have made this more challenging. I should add this was in Sept. so evening shows were earlier

 

[JessicaW1234]

When our DD & DS were small we never bought hoppers. We rope dropped the park and stayed there until we were done, the same way you are planning.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

I think if you are not planning to go back out at night anyway, you don't need the hoppers.
That being said, we have two children and on every trip even when my DD was as young as 18 months, we always got hoppers. We find our kids need the midday break (even now at 7 and 5) to chill out a bit (when they were little they napped at the resort). So we have always been the family that leaves around lunch and heads back out around 4-5pm.
Even when they were little, we went back out to the park for a couple hours and then back to the resort to bed. Mine would have never made it passed 2pm in a park when they were little and it would have been a struggle to keep everyone "entertained" until bedtime. They were happier being out at the parks.
But you don't need hoppers to head back to a park (if you are doing the same one you did earlier). We like to switch it up at night, just our preference.
Have a magical trip!