I am planning a surprise trip to WDW with my younger sister for her birthday in late January. The trip would be 3 nights/ 4 days. If I had it my way we would be spending one day at Epcot, one day at MK, split a day between HS and AK, and do what we wanted on the 4th day. Would the park hopper option really be worth it for splitting only one day between parks, or should I just try to make a plan around 1 park per day?
"Adults are only kids grown up" -Walt Disney
If I paid for parkhopper I would plan my trip to take advantage of it; spend the morning at AK, go back to resort to rest, and then off to epcot for dinner and fantasmic
It really depends on how you like to travel. We like the hopper due to preferring multi parks in one day. If you don't plan on really taking advantage of the hopper then disney still has things beyond the park like down town disney or the boardwalk that can entertain you.
To me the park hopper is always a good thing to have. 
yep, I am a park hopping fool. I hit at least 2 different ones per day, and sometimes even 3 if two of them are Epcot and HS...walk between them.
Maybe I have a short attention span, maybe I just like to do it because I can, or maybe I just like to move it move it. 
that is me!
We alway do park hopper. Look up the park hours for the time your going to be there....if the parks aren't open late you may find you don't have time to hop. But we find if the parks are open late and evening Magic Hours (not sure your staying on site) we will hop to another park like MK to see Wishes and The Electrical Parade.....or over to Epcot for Illuminations. Especially where AK isn't open late to begin with and I think can be done in half a day....
Jackie 
Well, it looks overwhelmingly like the park hopper option is necessary! I had completely forgotten about the night parades and fireworks 
I would upgrade just for those!
VelcroPooh - I have now had to watch that video at least three times, and I am sure that song will be stuck in my head all day! Could be worse, it could have been small world!
Jackie - We will be staying at CBR for this trip and will have EMH one morning at MK, next evening at Epcot, last morning at HS I am definitely planning so we can take advantage of those!
Magic Days - I only discovered the Boardwalk by accident last time I was at WDW. My older sister and I had tickets to one of the night time events, but didn't get any regular park tickets, so we decided to wander around the Swan (where we were staying) during the afternoon, lo and behold the path we were on just dumped us out onto the BW. I am so glad we found it, it is really a neat place to spend some down town!
"Adults are only kids grown up" -Walt Disney
I'm also pro park hopping. We always plan for at least a full day in each park, but the "full day" is usually split over several days with doing Epcot one morning followed by MK at night, then maybe MK another morning (to complete the full day) and DHS at night, etc.
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Totally worth it. Just being able to go back to a park and get that ONE thing that you were sure you'd see somewhere else but never did....
Totally worth it. Just being able to go back to a park and get that ONE thing that you were sure you'd see somewhere else but never did....
That is soooo true!!! I've been to WDW several time and I always do that! I see something at a park and think it will be at another park or at Downtown Disney but isn't....
Jackie
I went to buy the ticket for my sister, and with the park hopper option it is just as cost effective for me to buy her a seasonal pass. So, I think I am going that route. It works out nicely that most of the blackout dates are during July and August; times when we wouldn't be going because of the heat and crowds anyway.
"Adults are only kids grown up" -Walt Disney
We cant live without the Park Hopper. Were always done usually with a park halfway through the day. Were always hitting 2 parks a day... sometimes 3 if one is open late.
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