What is the point of paying for Park Hoppers with Fastpass + - Page 5 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
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It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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We used to be ParkHopper people every trip. THE HORROR of having to stay in one park a day? Wasn't happening in my family. I needed my park freedom and I paid for it! Then as my kids grew, admission prices grew,accomadation prices grew, airline ticket prices grew, dining plan price grew, and I had to find a way to cut costs. Our last trip we stayed at a moderate and didn't buy ParkHoppers and I survived. Actually, I may have enjoyed our touring MORE.
Now, I missed Wilderness Lodge, don't get me wrong, but I loved CSR too. I found that by NOT Park Hopping I was more relaxed. I guess its just me, but I was going crazy trying to mark things off my list in the morning at Epcot, going back to the resort for a swim, then rushing back to Magic Kingdom to check more things off my list. I kind of realized alot of my day was spent in Disney Buses.
Now, I think on a long weekend trip or 4 or 5 day trip Park Hoppers may be a neccesity. But if you staying 7 to 10 days I don't think I will get Park Hoppers again. I enjoyed knowing I was going to be in Epcot all day. Now this is just my opinion, but I was a diehard park hopper and my views changed.
Now, I haven't had a trip with FastPass Plus YET. So I will reserve judgement until then...but I remember the days of my "clueless" disney touring when I didn't even understand how the classic fast pass worked and I still managed to enjoy an entire trip, and didn't miss a thing I wanted, without print a paper fastpass.
I think it all goes with how you are mentally preparing for your trip. Yes, its expensive, but you aren't going to do it all in one trip. I think my husband and I are approaching trip 11....and I have still yet to see Beauty and the Beast at Hollywood Studios. LOL
You're not the only one. We used to park hop a lot (morning in one park, evening in another). Then I realized we could get FP's before our break for later in the same park, so we did that and started park hopping less. Once we did that, I realized that we enjoyed our touring much more if we weren't always looking ahead to the park, adr, whatever it may be that was coming later on. We were more relaxed and got MORE done by not hopping, so we stopped getting the hopper. Now, there are still some circumstance when I would consider getting a hopper (short trip, staying at an Epcot resort, etc.) but for the most part, we don't really want or need it.
Honestly, the only reason we got park hoppers this past January, is because so many of our meals were in EPCOT that we _needed_ them just to make our ADRs.
Our last trip we only hopped rarely. We did hit 2 parks one day when it rained (came in and went back to a different park) and ONE day hit three (MK early magic for Belle's storytime, Epcot during the day, nap, then Animal Kingdom right before close--because it rained on our planned day--and back to MK with just the girls for night parade and fireworks). I was glad to have the hoppers that day, but we could have done without them if we had needed to.
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June 2013-BLT; Nov 2010-CBR; 2000-offsite, Universal and Epcot; 1996-All-Star Music; 1994-school choir competition; 1987-offsite; 1985-offsite; 1982-offsite
Well I'm glad I'm not the only one that has issues with the new system and how it is changing the way we tour. I truly contemplated downgrading to regular tickets and not park hopping this trip. Then I realized that we are staying at Yacht Club and want the ability to walk into Epcot any night we want and we might be eating in there more this trip due to our close proximity.
I just heard this may be changing soon. Hopefully before our July trip.
There are rumors that they are adding FP to 2 parks. That would only make sense why would anyone get PH if they didn't change it.
Hoping for the best!!
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We have always park hopped. We started going to WDW before that little add on was invented.
Our trips are also getting shorter than they used to be- now we average 4 days when we used to do 7, so it's even more important to us.
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