When purchasing Disney park tickets, you’ll notice that you can add an option called “Park Hopper” to your entrance fee. The Park Hopper option is exactly what it sounds like—it gives you the ability to enter different Disney parks on the same day. (Park Hopper does NOT include water parks; that is a separate option when you’re purchasing a package.) Without the Park Hopper option, you will be confined to visiting only one of the four main Disney World parks on any given day (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, or Animal Kingdom). But if you add on the Park Hopper option, you have a lot more planning freedom. You can do Hollywood Studios in the morning and Magic Kingdom at night. You can go to Animal Kingdom for breakfast and Epcot for dinner. You get the idea—the Hopper allows you lots of choices.
But the Park Hopper is not cheap (around $50 for each person), and therefore requires some forethought before purchasing. Here are 3 scenarios where it seems to make the most sense to have a Park Hopper, and 3 scenarios where you may not want it.
