Top Hotel Choice or Park Hopping

[DissyLove]

I would pick park hopper, but if travelling with little kids and I wanted the convenience of staying at, say, a monorail hotel to get the little ones back to the room for a nap quickly from EPCOT or MK, I would do that instead.

[lorilovestigger]

I say hopper especially if you are going for MF!

[Stitch]

I'm going with the purpose of catching all the crazy antics on film.

Mousefest is just a bonus!

[mritty]

But there is through the travel agent. The difference between the two is just about the price of adding Price Hopper to the tickets...hence the trying to make a choice.

I'd get a second opinion if I were you. Something sounds fishy there. The only difference in rates between Pop Century and the All Stars is the 0.5% difference in county resort tax.

It *might* make sense if there is a discount code available at one resort, but not the other. But even so.... Park Hopping is about $45 per person. I guess depending on the number of people and the number of nights, a $10 or $15 per night discount at one of the resorts might work out to the same price.... just seems odd to me....

[SnwhtNdwrfs]

Good plan! I like your decision. Now, figure out a way for me to go but be back in time for graduation.. and how to pay for it!

So glad you are going to be able to head off to the Rumble!

[Stitch]

Good plan! I like your decision. Now, figure out a way for me to go but be back in time for graduation.. and how to pay for it!

So glad you are going to be able to head off to the Rumble!

When I figure out how to pay for mine, I'll let you know!

[MandaBella]

Yup...I'll be there for the Rumble!

Are you coming solo?

[Stitch]

Are you coming solo?

Yuppers...just me, myself and I.

[HauntedGabe]

We are wrestling with this right now. We have reservations for Pop for Mousefest, we could stay down a few more days this way. But in our hearts we are thinking we should switch to POR, unfortunately the 3 other couples going down with us are also booked at POP. We often go moderate vs. deluxe so we can have extra days but never do we skip buying a hopper.

[Andrewgator]

If if the stay was for 5 days or longer I would go for the better hotel. Any less and I'd have to go for the park hopper. I end up only sleeping for a few hours at the resorts anyway.

[MainStreet, USA]

I've been doing a fair amount of thinking and re-thinking on this one over the past couple days, and I suppose it really is a situational kind of thing, and I guess there really is no one definitive answer... at least for me anyway. At first I was all gung-ho, "park hopper all the way", but now I'm reconsidering. I guess it really depends on what kind of trip you are planning, and how long you will be there, and how often you get to go.

As an example, I am fortunate enough to get to go to Disney all the time. Most of the time it's just daytrips, so I don't usually use a hotel (Disney or otherwise), but I have stayed in a fair few of them anyway. Last year my mom came down and joined me for a two-day commando-style extravaganza. We did four parks in two days (kinda), and so the park-hoppers were invaluable to us. The hotel on the other hand... was not. We stayed at All Star Music, and only found ourselves there to check in, to sleep (always arriving back at the hotel very late at night after parks were closed), and then leaving again in the morning to try to catch the next park opening. There would have been no point in a more expensive hotel.

But a few months before that, my now ex-gf, a seasonal Cast Member, came down to Florida to work for a few days. As my place in Daytona is too far for her to commute to work each day (hour and a half each way), she usually gets a hotel in or around Disney for a couple of nights. Sometimes I would stay with her if I could afford the time. She likes staying on Disney property because of the easy transportation, and because she gets discounts up to 50% off. Well on this particular trip, the only Disney resorts offering her a discount at the time were a select few deluxe level resorts. So sort of as a "What the hey, why the heck not?" she booked us a room for three days at the Yacht Club. It was the first and only time I've ever stayed at a deluxe resort. The hotel was gorgeous, the view from our room was breathtaking, and the pool... don't even get me started. Now this was kind of a waste for her, as she spent most of that trip running to and from the Magic Kingdom, working 10+ hours a day most days, but I on the other hand, really took advantage of the nicest resort accommodations I'd ever had. I tended to like to head to the parks in the morning, and then come back to the EPCOT area around mid afternoon. When it started to rain (like it usually did), I headed back to Yacht Club (a 5 minute walk), and watched the storm roll in across the Boardwalk... it was really cool to see. After it cleared, I would spend some time relaxing at Stormalong Bay, and then maybe head off to someplace else for the early evening. Then at night, I would come back to the Yacht Club, maybe take a walk around the Boardwalk area and take in some entertainment, take a whole lot of pictures, and maybe watch some of the fireworks from IlluniNations that I could see from my balcony...

It was great. I really lived it up those couple of days. But I think the only reason I did get to do that is because I was really trying to make the most out of my stay there, and not just live every waking moment in the parks. So I guess I could actually make legitimate points for either side... both the Park Hopper, AND the better resort. I guess it all really just comes down to how you intend to vacation. In the parks day in and day out until you collapse from all the crazy fun you're having, or just relaxing and taking it easy on your time away from home. I can have a good time either way.

[Andrewgator]

Well Said MainStreet, my sentiments exactly. I am just too lazy and too poor a writer to say it that way. LOL