I like the hoppers, and always buy them. Are they "worth it" in dollars and cents terms? Maybe not. To be honest, I don't even know, because I've never really thought about them that way. Instead, I think of them like this:
the freedom of movement is well worth it
To explain: No matter how carefully I plan ahead, the trip
never unfolds exactly the way I had planned it for one reason or another. Committing to hopping
in advance means that when something unexpected happens, I can make the best possible decision for the overall trip
without asking myself if it is "worth it."
As an example, our last trip, just under the COVID-wire, ended a couple of days after MMRR opened. In "the plan" I had planned to avoid Studios on MMRR opening day because I was afraid it would draw extra people to the park. But, when we were on our afternoon break that day, we realized that we had gotten so much done earlier in the trip that we didn't really have any must-do's left. So, we decided to pop into Studios and wait in a line that was longer than we normally would have bothered with so that we could have an opening day credit.
If I had to ask myself in the moment whether that was worth $80-90pp (or whatever hopping cost then) I probably would have skipped it. But, because I bought them in advance, I only asked how we'd like to spend our
time. And that day was a great memory for us! Looking back on it, I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I spent the money---we hopped a few other times that trip, but even if we hadn't, I wouldn't have begrudged the expense.
I get a rental car each trip for very similar reasons.