There’s a BIG way that you could potentially lose money in Disney World.
Magic Kingdom
Next time you’re planning a trip, you might be considering the Park Hopper ticket option. This option lets you “hop” to a second theme park instead of only having entry to one for the day. But, BE WARNED, there’s a catch!
Before we get into the danger, we need to talk about how Park Hopper tickets work. Park Hopper pricing ranges from $65-$95 based on how many days you’re visiting the parks. The Park Hopper is a ticket add-on that applies to your FULL ticket. That means that if you have a five-day ticket, but only want to hop for three days of your trip, you still have to purchase Park Hopper for all five days.
Park Hopping Information
The pro of this is that you have the option to park hop on any day during your trip; the con being that you could end up paying for days that you don’t use the add-on. Still, as long as you know to get your value out of the Park Hopper when you DO purchase it, it can be worth the cost. But, there are planning DANGERS.
Park Hopping
For one, Park Hoppers, like base Disney World tickets are nonrefundable and nontransferable. That means, that if you buy Park Hopper just in case and end up deciding not to use it during your trip, Disney will NOT be able to refund you. You’ll be out the $65+ per ticket. So, make sure you will 100% use Park Hopper before purchasing!
Screenshot of Disney Chat
The other BIG danger comes if you don’t purchase Park Hopper in advance. You don’t NEED to purchase the add-on ahead of time. If you decide on the trip that you want it, you can add it to your ticket. BUT, if you do opt to add it mid-way through your trip, you’ll still have to pay for ALL days of your ticket.
Hollywood Studios
If you purchased a five-day ticket without Park Hopper and decided that you wanted to add Park Hopper on the third day of your trip, you’d still need to pay for all five days — including the two days that have passed. That can add up with a larger party. Yikes! Because of this DANGER, it’s better to really consider in advance whether you want Park Hopper not.
EPCOT!
Of course, if you think it’s worth it to add a Park Hopper mid-trip, then it’s a good thing it’s an option! Still, really think through Park Hopper to make sure you don’t WASTE money in Disney World. Keep an eye on DFB for more Disney World tips and updates!
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The article didn’t mention that Park Hopping isn’t allowed until 2pm. Is that still the case?
Is another danger that if the park(s) you want to hop to is(are) closed by 2 pm., you are out of luck for using that park hopper ticket that day?
Hi! Yes, park hopping is currently not allowed until 2pm.
If I’m thinking this out correctly If you had a 7-day base ticket but wanted to go to another park on day 6 or so, then you would be better off just buying another 1-day base ticket for entry into the second park.
Because of the 2 pm and only if available time constraint, we are opting for NO park hopper option for our next trip. Save a few $$ for more snacks. And due to no Dining Plan, we are considering snacking our way through WDW this time. Actually looking forward to this since we usually have dining reservations and there is such a huge amount of food, we never snack (except vicariously through DFB!).
My party of 5 all had park hopping tickets. Four of them wanted to go to Animal Kingdom while I opted to stay at the hotel. When I tried to join them for at dinner reservation at Epcot at 3pm, I was told I could not enter Epcot as I didn’t go to my ‘first’ park. Went to guest services and was allowed in, but was quite dumbfounded by the logic.
With park hopping not allowed until 2PM, plus the time it takes to go from park to park (plan on an hour, but 20-30 min at LEAST), to me anyway makes it not quite worth the extra cost. I can see it being a benefit when the 2nd park closes really late (IE: Magic Kingdom at 11 PM or even if they return to the old 1 AM days) AND you only buy three days or less to begin with. Otherwise, get the most out of each full park day and skip the hopping.
The biggest downside of the park hopper option is that you can’t start hopping until 2:00 pm (1:00 pm at Disneyland Resort). In the past you could hop any time making it easier to ride multiple rides in one day. This was great for Disneyland Resort as the two parks are right next to each other. Now your trapped in a certain park until a designated time. I’m not sure if it is worth it, especially when the parks close so early.
I’m confused. It used to be that the hopper option was a flat fee, regardless of how many days your tickets cover, or how often you hop. Now you’re saying it is per day?
I just priced out a 7-day hopper versus 7-day non-hopper, both starting on 4/24. Hopper was 634+tax and non-hopper was 549+tax, an $85 difference.
What am I missing? That’s not 65 per day OR 65 total! I’m so confused.
We purchased park hopper for the end of May and plan on mainly using it to hop to Epcot or Magic Kingdom for dinner reservations. We’ve seen the warnings that dining reservations may not get you into a park that’s full. Is there any new info on this? Wish Disney would allow you to request a second park reservation on park hopping ticket.
FYI: During the past few years, in order to sign up for their Dining Plan (when available), Disney first requires that your purchase the Park Hopping Option in order to get the Dining plan, whether you want it or not. This is totally unfair.
Feel as if you purchase a ticket for 4 days or more park hopper should be included.since technically you have paid for entrance into all patks
Hi – I think the article should clarify that the park hopper option is $65 for a 1-day ticket, $75 for 2-3 day tickets (total, not per day), and $85 for 4-10 day tickets (total, not per day). So the daily cost drops significantly for longer tickets, and is less of an issue if you don’t use park hopping every day.
Thank you!
I will never return to Disney World until park reservations are no longer required and park hopping once again starts when the parks open in the morning. All of the rest of the Disney magic has been taken away. They could at least let people park hop all day and start wherever they want.
Important incorrect info to correct here: Park Hopper option is NOT a per-day $65 add-on. It’s an $85 add-on TOTAL for the length of the ticket, from four days through ten days. (Park Hopper on a one-day ticket is indeed $65. On two and three day tickets it’s $75. But NOT per day. The add-on is for the entire length of the ticket.
Disney has made everything more confusion. Magic gone!
Uh…just confirmed on the Disney website…adding the park hopper to a ONE-day ticket does indeed cost $65, but on a five-day ticket it’s “only” $17 more per day. Nowhere near as expensive!
I think that the author of this article and I have a very different definition of the word danger.
Dining reservations in a full park won’t get you in. Worse if you leave your starting park and try to come back and they closed it due to capacity, you can’t even get back into your starting park. What a online cast member told me when I was planning a trip late last year. Managed to snags Space 220 dinner reservation, but that was a planned Magic Kingdom day we already had an EPCOT day and a LeCeller reservation that day so just swapping wasn’t going to work. We used to love park hopping for dinner reservations, but with parks always being kept at capacity, as defined by staffing levels, park hopping is a waste of money now. Disney needs to do something about reservations and park passes. They need to make the starting point of dining reservations longer than the 60 days so that you can make dinner reservations before you have to solidify your park pass plans. Or allow dinner reservations exceptions to the park hopping and capacity rules in some way. Being able to park hop back to EPCOT during a festival for dinner was a great way to have something nice for dinner and not have to have dinner again at the resort or have something basic at your initial park or even have a sit down dinner there. Guest experience has suffered, but this is the new Disney I guess. They’re betting on revenue stream isn’t tied to guest experience anymore.
For all the reasons mentioned by previous commenters, on our last WDW trip we found park hopper to be next to useless. Sad–we used to love it. Just another way Disney seems determined to constrain your activities.
Parkhopping was a delight when it simply meant go to any or all parks at any time and any number of times a day, with NO extra fee and NO reservations needed. There was also no fee for fast pass.
Until the money-grubbing stops, we will not come back. They’ve taken out or destroyed most of our favorite shows and rides, anyway.
Is there an update to this since it is over 2 years old?
Hi Vicky! The only thing that has really changed is that you can park hop before 2pm now.