Did you know that it costs extra money to go between the theme parks in Disney World? Well, it does. It’s known as park hopping and is a ticket add-on.
EPCOT Monorail
With Park Hopper tickets costing more than regular tickets (some single-day tickets are over $220), is this upcharge really worth it? We asked our readers to find out what they think.
So, what is a park hopper ticket? In Disney World, there are 4 theme parks. If you only buy a base ticket, that will allow you to visit one park per day. If you are wanting to go to both Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom on the same day, for example, you will need a park hopper ticket!
All 4 parks by 9:30AM!
The catch to getting a park hopper ticket is that you have to add it on to EACH of your tickets if you want it. Meaning you can’t just add it to a day or two of your trip, you have to add it to every single day. This can be a huge additional charge and sometimes ends up being a big waste of money if you only actually hop parks once or twice.
Since this is something quite a few people add on to their tickets, we reach out to our readers to see if they thought the park hopper add-on was worth the additional $65-$95 per person, per day, depending on how long you’re visiting Disney World.
Do You Think the Extra Cost of a Park Hopper Ticket Is Worth it?”
We posted the question to our Instagram story, and over 11,000 of our followers responded to the question. Here’s a chart of what they said:
Is Park Hopping Be Worth the Extra Cost in?
More than 4,700 people voted “yes”, that Park Hopping is worth the cost, but more than 6,200 people voted that it isn’t worth it. Let’s break down their responses.
“Yes,” Park Hopping Is Worth the Extra Cost
Of the 43% of people who said that Park Hopping is worth it, we got several interesting responses. Many of our readers love the flexibility that Park Hopping allows. Some of our readers said that they didn’t really care to spend entire days in each park, with one saying “Not even 3PM at Animal Kingdom and we’re done. Would be great to hop over to another park for the evening.”
Animal Kingdom
Another reader shared that he and his wife don’t like to spend a lot of time at Magic Kingdom, so Park Hopping works well for when they want to enjoy a few extra hours in the other parks.
“No,” the Cost of Park Hopping Isn’t Worth it
However, the majority of people (57% to be exact) had some different things to say. One reader shared that they didn’t think Park Hopper tickets were worth the price because of the amount of time transportation takes. They feel that it takes too much time away from being in the parks.
Toy Story Land
“It Depends” And a Variety of Other Responses
Not all of our readers fit simply into the “yes” or “no” categories though. We had a few send in responses that depended on certain scenarios. One reader said, “I think it depends on the type of trip you’re taking. If you really want to experience a festival at Epcot, then yes. Or perhaps you want to sample a lot of dining at Animal Kingdom. If you want to explore each park in depth, then not so much. I have had equally good trips with and without the park hopper, but the priorities were different.”
Magic Kingdom
With the heightened confusion surrounding the technicalities of the new system, we took on the challenge of Park Hopping and searched for answers to all your burning questions.
Overall, it really depends on your plans and needs. If you might only use it once or twice, you may want to skip spending the extra money on park hopping. But if you really think that you are going to park hop more often than not, than totally add it on. Just price out that extra cost per person in your group and weigh out your options.
Why It’s Harder Than You Think to Park Hop in Disney World.
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The good old days of park hopping at Disney seem to be over. The only way that Disney can control the crowds coming in is to raise the prices to unprecedented levels and keep the capacity low. I wonder, can you get around the park hopping issue by purchasing an annual pass ???? Hmmmm
We need the opportunity to buy annual passes for 2021 to come back. We’re coming down on September for a 22 day stay and if we buy a 10 day park pass it has to be used in 14 days. We need annual passes to return.
Never used the park hopper when it was available. We sometimes had to buy it to get a better package deal but never used it. We are a one park a day family
Yes u can park hop with annual passes my family has them for years and we love them and will continue to do so
I’ve purchased it for every trip and used it minimally, but it was nice to have it for that one day that here and there. This last trip (last week) we werent able to get a ROR boarding pass so instead of spending half a day at DHS, we had to cancel and move our park reservation to Epcot. Kind of a pain.
Park hopping was more than just going to different parks, it was a way to get more transportation options when staying in the Epcot Resort Area. We would go to MK or AK and get the monorail or bus back to Epcot, walk through the park, grab a snack or ride while going back to the hotel. Now it is just an opportunity to get a few hours at another park without guaranteed entry. We ditched our two day park hopper ticket for a three day, one park per day, ticket. Five hours at a park on a travel day is better than the current park hopping situation.
Just one more reason to keep renewing that annual pass… Hoping they don’t change that!
We often count on being able to park hop for dinner in another park. Since we are no longer the militant “we must ride all the rides” family, we take the days slower and it’s nice to hit two parks to feel like we still “got our money’s worth”. Also, during festivals we often choose lunch time or dinner time at Epcot every day so we want to go to one (or two!) of the other parks for the balance of the day. In the summer we are huge fans of an early airconditioned lunch in the park and then back to the hotel for a swim/nap and out again around sunset. I think if Disney ever decided to abolish park hopping or keeps it too restricted, we may start to rethink our time at Disney, and finally branch out to other parks/vacations. That would be sad for us. We’ve been going to Disney for 20 years, multiple times most years, and have only ventured to SeaWorld once. So there’s lots out there to explore if Disney doesn’t work for us anymore. Still sad.
Park hopping add on I have it for 20 years I used it 2 times . By the time you get to the other park most of the rides are taken or lines are to long . If you are going to spend all that extra money to me it is not worth it . Per pandemic it was not worth it but if you are so inclined to get annual pass and that helps you go from park to park . You want to spend the money then you are richer .