When we first visited Walt Disney World, we were diehard 1 park per day ticket people. Our kids were 3 and 8 years old our first time and it seemed logical not to push the kids from park to park each day. We did one park, were there at opening, took a break midday for naps and returned to the same park each night for fireworks or whatever. This is how we did it for the next 13 years. Do we need to pay the extra price for park hoppers? “No!” was our answer. We will do one park per day.

Then one day flights to Orlando were SUPER cheap. I mean $70 round trip FOR BOTH OF US. Who can pass that up? Not us. My husband and I decided on a kid free weekend and quickly booked a hotel. We were only going to be in the parks for 2 or 3 days and I found out that the new projection show started At Magic Kingdom while we were there. Here was my problem, I loved the old projection and wanted to see it one last time, but I also wanted to see the new projection show since we would be there. Solution – park hoppers!

We went to all 4 parks in one day. We went to Animal Kingdom just to ride Expedition Everest. I still wasn’t completely convinced and my next trip with my son we went back to our old one park per day tickets. My son didn’t know what he was missing, and it was SUPER hot that February, so we crashed midday and I didn’t miss not park hopping.

Our next two trips we had free dining and park hoppers. Let me tell you, that is the best of both worlds! We could hop from one park to another just to eat and ride a couple rides. It gave us the flexibility we didn’t know we were missing. On our last trip we were finished in Animal Kingdom by 9am thanks to Extra Magic Hours and headed back to the hotel for a quick break before our brunch reservation. Then spent the afternoon and evening at a different park.

We have decided that park hoppers are our go to ticket. Our kids are older and ready to bounce from park to park. Would I do it with smaller kids? I didn’t, but now I’m rethinking that decision. When my kids were tired of one park, we could have headed to another after the midday break.

One quick thing about park hopping to consider, if you are depending on Disney transportation to park hop, you can lose a lot of time waiting on the buses. (That’s true about the bus system even if you are only doing one park per day.) When we rented a car, it was easier and faster. Using the Skyliner from Epcot to Hollywood Studios works great for park hopping.

Next time you are trying to decide what type of ticket you want to buy for your next Disney World vacation consider these questions:

Does your family finish riding all the rides in a park and want to leave the park early and then are bored the rest of the day?

Do you want the flexibility to dine at any park on any day? This is a great alternative during Epcot’s Wine and Dine.

Does your family want to see any of the nighttime shows more than once? (I saw Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom 3 times in one trip)

During your next trip, try out the park hoppers and see if they work for you and your family.

Quick note – At Disneyland, we ALWAYS get park hoppers. Disneyland and California Adventure are just across the promenade from each other and the fastpass systems are not linked, so we jump back and forth getting fastpasses and riding rides all day long.