Hi there. My husband and I have always bought Park hopper. We normally stay somewhere on the board walk so it’s super convenient at night to go to Epcot or HS. However we will have our 3.5 year old with us and just trying to figure out if we would actually use it. Do you ever have regrets NOT having park hopper? I know we can always add it once at the parks if we feel that we need it. We plan on going to MK three days and two of those we plan on going back to MK at night. Our AK park day, we plan to go to Disney springs. Then we will go to EP and HS each one day. So I think we would only really utilize park hopper on one of our MK days. We have always utilized park hopper but not sure we would get much of our money’s worth this time. Thoughts? Thanks
Honestly if you would just use it for one evening? I’d skip it. That is a lot of extra money - because you would have to buy it for the whole length of the tickets regardless of when you upgraded - to hop for only one night.
I was used to hopping because of an AP or CM passes and thought I would miss it, but it allowed me the chance to explore some resort dining options or other restaurants at Springs that I would have missed had I been intent on hopping.
That’s what I am thinking. I am planning on trying to make due without it and if we have to have it then once at the parks we can upgrade. Our thought has always been well if we arrive at MK for example and the waits are crazy but the waits at EP for example aren’t then we can always switch parks. I know that shouldn’t really happen if you have looked at the crowd calendar and have a touring plan but it’s all mental at that point for us haha. It’s like a just in case we need it thing. But maybe since our schedule is different this time, it may not be worth it. We want to spend a lot of our time at MK with our little one.
IME - If this is the first time you are bring a toddler / small child along you’ll be going back to the hotel earlier than you think… 
Think of what else you can buy with the money that would have gone to park hoppers.
True. Like genie + 
haha.
Prob so. We took him when he was 20 months. He did great but we did go back and nap everyday.
Obviously, you can utilize Park Hoppers if you have them…but up until last year, we only purchased park hoppers once in all our umpteen times going…and that one time, we never actually hopped, so it ended up being a waste of money. Of course, we stayed off property, so that plays into it.
We did buy hoppers for our trips in August and December last year, and utilized them…but with a 3.5 year old? I think you will be fine without them…and if you change your mind, you can always add them on once you are there.
In general we love park hoppers to go to a different park to eat, particularly Epcot. So staying that close to Epcot, I’d really consider it. The 3.5 year old is a conundrum though - would you ever leave the kid with your spouse so you could adventure back for the fireworks or to roam World Showcase on your own late at night? If so, how much is that freedom worth?
My son and I really enjoyed roaming over to HS and Epcot for late night bonus fireworks when we were staying at BC. It is so easy to hop from those resorts…
Something to consider at least, although park hoppers may not be optimal for you for a couple more years until your child can take advantage of them with you…
We always like the idea of park hoppers but almost never use them… We did add them for our last trip and I think we only park hopped one time - so not worth it for us. It’s easier for my brain to process/plan one park per day 
Are you staying at one of the hotels with extended evening hours? If so, hoppers would give you a bit more flexibility on organizing your schedule to catch them instead of having to lock your entire day in if you want to take advantage of those.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/extended-evening/
When our kids were young, we always did a midday break at the hotel than headed to wherever had evening extra magic hours.
We are staying on property but not at one of those hotels with extended hours
We always have had park hoppers since at least 1988. We’ve rarely had a day we’ve not hopped. We’ve brought several littles. We might be weird, but everyone’s favorite park - by far - is Epcot, almost especially the littles. I mean it’s not like they’re going on BTMRR several times in a row. Little kids like lots of new stuff to look at and Epcot has always filled the bill. Epcot’s usually open later so that’s where we eat. Even the littles.
The great thing about Disney World is all the many ways to explore it. Have fun exploring.
We got park hoppers our first trip when youngest was 5. I vaguely remember using it once. Haven’t ended up hopping since despite stays at Boardwalk and Beach Club. Last trip (2019) was just me and DD17. We added hopper on Day 2 because we were done at AK and really wanted to go back to MK for fireworks after a rain out the night before. Was worth it to be able to say yes to a teenager who was tolerating mommy time. Otherwise, nope, we haven’t found it worth the cost.
We are the same way. We stayed at Beach Club and went to Epcot every night!
We have always had hoppers and use them every day. We start in one park and then hop to Epcot or MK later. We usually don’t start in Epcot and get our time there toward end of day. But now I would be inclined to make an Epcot park reservation to try and get a Remi’s BG.
For one day? I don’t think it is worth it. We have them this trip because we had purchased them for May 2020 and were going to use them. Now that I have them, we are using them most days. We plan to go to a park in the morning and hop to a different park later in the day. It will help us avoid early closure for MK due to the pricey after hours parties and we can spend some extra time in Epcot.
That is definitely a good thought. We are staying on board walk so we definitely could use them at Epcot or HS. I’m just not sure how much we will use them with our LO on this trip. He is used to going to bed a little later at home some nights so he could handle it well. So many things to decide
Yeah my concern is if we don’t start there will we be able to do Remi’s or Frozen? Those are the two big ones I would want my son to experience. We plan on buying Genie + so if we start in another park…will Frozen times be gone by the time we would actually get to the park which would probably be around 5pm with nap time.
Did you go to Epcot every night with a little one?