Is Disney World’s Park Hopper Ticket Worth It and When?

From deciding where to stay to when to visit, there are a number of things to consider when planning for your Disney World trips in 2023 and beyond. 

Four parks, one day

What about Disney World park tickets? Standard Theme Park Ticket or Park Hopper Ticket? Which ones are worth the cash and which might you want to skip? Today we’re giving you a breakdown so you can make those decisions for your upcoming vacation!

Park Hopper is a paid add-on to your Disney World park ticket that allows you to visit more than one park per day.

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The price of this add-on depends on how many days you’re buying tickets for. 1-park-per-day tickets start at $109 for a 1-day ticket and start at $55 per day for a 10-day ticket. Keep in mind that those are just starting prices. The actual price of the ticket will depend on the day/days within the ticket range as each day falls under a specific pricing bracket.

©Disney

Tickets with the Park Hopper option added to them start at $174 per day (that’s an addition of $65). But if you are buying a ticket for multiple days, that per-day cost for the Park Hopper add-on goes down. For example, for a 10-day ticket with the Park Hopper add-on, the cost is $64 per day — that’s just $9 more per day when compared to a 1-park-per-day pass for 10 days.

©Disney

Even if you get a ticket with the Park Hopper option, you’ll need to keep in mind that it’s not the same old Park Hopping you might remember. Certain restrictions are now in place, and compared to the Park Hopper of old, it simply might not be worth it for some folks.

Disney World Theme Park Ticket Cards

The first limitation is that you must wait until 2PM before you even CAN hop to another park. This means that you are dedicating at least half of your day to the first park you’ll be visiting (which you’ll still need to get a Park Pass reservation for). While this might not seem like much of an inconvenience, it does severely cut down on the time you can spend in the parks you hop to. If you were the type of person who liked to hop early in the day, then the current Park Hopping system might not work well for you.

Asia in Animal Kingdom

The second limitation to Park Hopping right now is that you must get a Park Pass reservation for the first park you want to visit AND you must actually enter that first park before being able to hop. For example, if you get a Park Pass reservation for Magic Kingdom and want to hop to EPCOT later that day, you MUST enter Magic Kingdom first before hopping to EPCOT, even if it’s after 2PM. That means that if you decided to spend the morning at the pool, it’s now 3PM, and you wish you could just go to EPCOT, you won’t be able to. You’ll have to enter Magic Kingdom first and THEN head to EPCOT. Of course, you could switch your Park Pass reservation to EPCOT to avoid this issue, but that would depend on there being an EPCOT Park Pass available.

Would you park hop to EPCOT?

Despite these negatives, there are some major positives to being able to Park Hop! The first is that you get to visit multiple parks in one day. If you are coming for a limited amount of days and want to fit a lot of stuff in, then a Park Hopper may be worth it for you.

Welcome to EPCOT

Park Hopper tickets may also be worth it if you’re the type of family that likes to be in the parks from sun up to sun down! If you’re looking to really squeeze every last second out of the day, then a Park Hopper can help you do that by giving you the chance to hop to other parks — potentially ones that stay open later. If you’ve got little ones who will need to stop in the middle of the day, the Park Hopper might give you the chance to take that nap and then come back to a park that stays open later. But you’ll want to remember that you can’t Park Hop until 2PM, so that can throw a wrench in your plans.

Magic Kingdom Fireworks

You may also want to add the Park Hopper option to your ticket if you want to maximize your flexibility. Despite the limitations, having the Park Hopper option still gives you more flexibility than if you don’t have it at all. The reality is if you don’t want to commit to spending your entire day in any one park each day, you may want to think about adding Park Hopper.

Heya Donald!

Who is Park Hopping Good for?

  • Your party includes adults or teenagers: Adults and older kids can move through the parks much faster than families with young kids.
  • You have visited Disney before: If you’re a repeat visitor, you’re more likely to pick and choose which rides and shows you want to see in each park, so you’ll be ready to move on to the next park more quickly.
  • You want the option to see a different nighttime spectacular or fireworks show every night: If you have the Disney Theme Park Ticket with Park Hopper Option, you can end your day watching whichever show you want, regardless of whatever park you visited earlier. For instance, you could spend your day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, then hop over to Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks that night.
  • You are visiting when it’s not super crowded: When the crowds are lower, you can move through the parks much faster, riding more and waiting less. Keep in mind, too, that the more people there are visiting, the more time it will take to get between the parks.
  • You don’t want to commit to which park you want to visit.

The Skyliner is a fun way to hop from EPCOT to Hollywood Studios

Who Should Avoid Park Hopping?

  • Your party includes older adults or young tykes: visiting one park can be plenty — plus, with base tickets, you can exit and reenter the SAME park as many times as you like during the SAME day.
  • You’re relying on Disney transportation to hop: The monorails and Skyliner can be a fun — and usually quick — way to traverse between parks. But if you’re relying on the bus transportation, and planning to hop to more than one park, you might be waiting for transportation longer than you’re in the parks.
  • You’re only in the parks for 1 day: The hopper add-on price diminishes over a multi-day ticket, but is quite an investment for just one day. And you’ll also want to consider how much time you might lose during the hopping process rather than just committing to one park and getting the most out of it.
  • You’re visiting when parks close earlier. Some dates in the Fall and Spring have the parks closing early, sometimes as early as 7PM or 8PM. When there are fewer park hours, there are fewer hours to hop.
  • You have Special Event Tickets: If you have tickets to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, those can act as admission tickets as early as 4pm the day of the party — so, no need to pay extra for that hopper ticket for that day.

Waiting for the bus at Pop Century

So, is a Park Hopper worth it? The answer is not the same for everyone. Our advice? Take a look at the park maps and list of attractions. Write down what your family wants to accomplish. See if you’ll realistically be spending full days in each of the parks, without any time to really hop to the other ones; or if you’ll have some time and want to Park Hop or need to Park Hop to get all of your must-dos done.

Don’t forget to visit Potatoland

One thing to remember is you don’t have to make this decision right this second. If you want to hold off until you get to Disney World to decide, you can add on the Park Hopper option to your standard 1-park-per-day tickets at the same price it would have been had you bought the Park Hopper ticket to start with (a.k.a. it doesn’t cost you more if you choose to add it on later).

In fact, if you’re on the fence at all about the Park Hopper option, we’d recommend that you wait until you arrive to add it. Once you’ve bought the Park Hopper option, you can’t really take it off and get your money back, so it’s best to wait until you’re sure you’ll need it.

Animal Kingdom Ticket Windows

Just remember that when you add it on, Disney will charge you for ALL of the days you have tickets for, so you’ll want to add it on early in your trip to take full advantage. In other words, if you have a 5-day park ticket and add on the Park Hopper option on day 3, you’ll still get charged for that Park Hopper option for days 1 and 2. So if you want to buy it once you’re in Disney, just be sure to buy it sooner rather than later!

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Are you a fan of Park Hopping? Or are you a “one-park-a-day” kinda person? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Is Disney World’s Park Hopper Ticket Worth It and When? first appeared on the disney food blog.