Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[DisneyFive]

Every photo pass photographer that we asked during our 10 nights (just got back three days ago) did use our iPhones to take our pictures when we asked.

Dan

 

[Kip Herner]

Skyliner was very easy this morning to HS. Left AoA at 7:30 and was at HS by 8am. They let us in the park at 8:30 and we were on MMRR at 8:45.

So, overall a good day. Ended up riding MMRR, MFSR, Slinky Dog, Rockin Rollercoaster, and ROTR at HS. Went back to hotel in the afternoon for a nap. Headed to Epcot and road Figment, Soarin, Nemo, Spaceship Earth, and Three Cabalaros. Hit up a couple if food booths, most food was good. Then finished the night watching Epcot Forever. Rope Dropping AK in the morning, then switching to Royal Pacific in the afternoon for a week at Universal with Boo Bash added in.

 

[RinaMB]

What is the hand sanitizer situation like? I was last there in April, and while I know SD is non-existent, I was wondering if they are still keeping the sanitizer stations filled before/after the rides.

All the stations we tried at EPCOT today were full.

 

[SimonSez]

I flew down from NH this morning. Had the smoothest arrival ever in terms of timing. Plane got to the gate at 8:43, I had my luggage at 9, in the rental car, no traffic backups on I-4, luggage stored at Movies, and on a bus to Epcot by about 10:15. Walked in to Epcot about 10:35. Soarin was posted as a 20 minute wait and it was a walk on still. I don't think I saw Soarin go above 25 minutes for a posted wait today, when I was looking. Frozen was never above 35 minutes when I looked. Test Track was the high wait of the day for the bulk of the day. But overall everything was very manageable and wait times were slightly shorter than posted. Food booth lines seemed to cycle. If one I wanted was a bit long, I just went to a different booth and came back. Doing that I didn't have to wait more than a few minutes for any food booth. I did though leave about 6 because that 5:30 am flight meant a 3 am wakeup this morning.

Cast members were generally very pleasant, if not their usual very friendly. Photopasss seemed to be the exception, but not across the board. I didn't see any overflowing trash cans, and custodial was seen regularly cleaning trash can surfaces. I saw people using Disney's sanitizer so they weren't all empty. I didn't try any of the dispensers; I've brought my own sanitizer to Disney forever and keep it hanging from my park bag. Was a real saving grace a few years ago when a bird used us for target practice in Epcot Mask compliance today was generally pretty good. Like 90% or better.

Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom and more Epcot.

Thanks for the update

 

[act1980]

After reading about how crazy the crowds are in Disney & Universal at the moment, I just wondered if anyone that is fully vaccinated has tested positive when on vacation or once home?

We're both fully vaccinated apart from our 2 small children and are planning on going at the end of October.

If things are still bad then we will cancel our trip as there's no way I would put them at risk and if one of us tests positive we won't be able to fly home as it's a U.K. requirement to hold a negative covid test before boarding the flight home.

 

[Kbrb]

Its totally possible to get covid with double vax. Its very unlikely to cause you to get seriously sick however. Im from the uk, and as its looking out there right now flordia has a higher case rate than the whole of the UK. I have no intention of going back this year.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I am seriously impressed with how fast you ended up in the park! Nice work!

I definitely did not expect it to go that smoothly!

 

[allaboutthemouse]

So, overall a good day. Ended up riding MMRR, MFSR, Slinky Dog, Rockin Rollercoaster, and ROTR at HS. Went back to hotel in the afternoon for a nap. Headed to Epcot and road Figment, Soarin, Nemo, Spaceship Earth, and Three Cabalaros. Hit up a couple if food booths, most food was good. Then finished the night watching Epcot Forever. Rope Dropping AK in the morning, then switching to Royal Pacific in the afternoon for a week at Universal with Boo Bash added in.

If it’s not too much trouble, please report back about boo bash and Universal in their respective threads! Staying at Universal in a couple weeks, with boo bash added in as well, and hoping for lower crowds…Thanks so much!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Merging your question with the 'Here Now and Just Back' thread as people are reporting their experiences. Reading the past 10 pages will give you many experiences answering your question.

 

[Southernmiss]

After reading about how crazy the crowds are in Disney & Universal at the moment, I just wondered if anyone that is fully vaccinated has tested positive when on vacation or once home?

We're both fully vaccinated apart from our 2 small children and are planning on going at the end of October.

If things are still bad then we will cancel our trip as there's no way I would put them at risk and if one of us tests positive we won't be able to fly home as it's a U.K. requirement to hold a negative covid test before boarding the flight home.

As the moderator said, read the last ten pages of this 'Here and just back thread' and this thread

https://www.disboards.com/threads/to-go-or-not-to-go.3847408/page-16

 

[Gary Stocker]

Random impressions from yesterday.. not having fastpasses is actually not a terrible thing
.lines at AK went pretty quick. Didn't rope drop so no FOP but did have wonderful Satuuli..those cheeseburger bao buns are delightful.
Also was able to drink it all in....found that hidden path next to the otters that brings you under the tree of life and into the queue for Its Tough to be a Bug...my 5 year old started crying he was so scared...but then loved Everest...lol...kids.
After a couple Frozen Rum and Cokes at Drinkwalla freshened up...coffee..and Ubered to Ohana.
Ohana was overall incredible...the singer and her guitar walking around...the back scratchers..the kids menu for the unadventurous (mac and cheese, Nuggets fries)...the honey butter for the papaya bread was unbelievable. Everything was good...didn't get the shrimp casserole due to allergies..the bread pudding was better than I remember...the only thing to nitpick is we forgot to tell the server how we liked our steak..so some of them were undercooked and some just about right or medium well...went down and got a boat to hop to the MK...splash was down...just went on Pirates and Mansion..which my nervous daughter loved at the end of the night...watched the fireworks from behind the castle...I don't need no stinking projections and all the madness...the fireworks show is just perfect and the music...
Walked to Contemporary to avoid transportation madness...kids were passed out in the double stroller...and Uber'd back to Boardwalk. Ended up here at the Bell Vue Lounge..water, more water, gins and tonics, sleep.

 

[shm_helene]

So I had grand plans of summarizing each day we were in the parks, but my vacation had different plans

We were there 7/29-8/4.

Here's what we learned and observed:
-Rope drop is imperative if you want to do any headliners, and the rope drop where you are there like an hour before the park opens. All parks opened 30 minutes early with the exception of MK, which was exactly at 9. Lines build about 2 hours after opening.
-At MK we were able to knock out SDMT, Splash, and BTM in about 1h20 (Splash was down for a kid puking incident which build lines at BTM and Splash). We then were able to get through about 3 rides before lines really built (Aladdin, Barnstormer 2x, Dumbo, Teacups), these were all walk on but by 11 the lines for everything were exceptionally long (and not moving). On our 2nd day at MK we roped dropped Jungle Cruise (not a headliner necessarily but we don't do Space and had done the other mountains), then hit Speedway (such a ridiculous time suck that my kids love), Under the Sea, Buzz, Barnstormer, BTM / Philharmagic (we split for this ride), IASW - these were all walk on. We never got on TTA, it was closed when we went twice and then the lines just got super long and was moving really slow. It really seems to happen about 2.5 hours into the day when I think the crowds are coming off of the headliners and move en masse to the lesser rides. *Note: We were about the third group through the tapstiles at MK and about 6 rows back for SDMT - if going to this first, be to the right on the pathway - more shade and they take the whole group to the right. We were on the bus at 7:40 out of Beach Club. Rope drop was fine here, groups were jockeying for position and we had a decent amount of space around us.
-At AK we rope dropped Pandora (we were 5 ppl back at the tapstiles, on bus at 6:40). This was insane. We were packed in like sardines and despite the "Don't run" from the CM's, most people were running. We still were walk on and towards the front. We then went to Safari and then EE, for 2 rides which were essentially walk on. Then Kali, also walk on, 2nd time on Kali wasn't quite walk on - maybe 10 minute wait, but by the time we got off the 2nd time the line was substantially longer. We then did one of the trails and checked out the tree of life, headed over to Rafiki's and did the animation class, did some pin trading, and headed out. We returned in the evening and did Safari, which was walk on at 645, as I stupidly thought the park closed at 8. EE remains easy to do early in the AM or in the PM, which we did on another night (although about 10 minutes before closing the line gets longer - took about 10 minutes for us to get through).
-At HS we rope dropped Slinky. We walked from Beach Club and we were through the tapstiles at 8:05. We were not quite as close to the front with this one, but still made it to Slinky walk on, followed by TSMM, and Saucers. We then wandered over to Star Wars and did MFSR as single riders, great advice! That line was long, in the sun, and barely moving at all (posted 90 minutes). After that we watched the Frozen show (always great), and walked back to our hotel. We did do HS another night (hadn't planned on returning and couldn't get a reservation), got there about an hour before closing. We did TSMM which was posted 20 mins and took 19. We then went to Slinky about 40 mins before closing, listed wait was 65, our wait was 55. That was the least enjoyable part of our trip. We didn't to RnR or ToT because one of mine doesn't love the thrill rides so much and the other one was fine doing SDD a 2nd time. Will say SDD is great at night!!
-Epcot we did rope drop also, entering via IG. We were there around 10:10 and then led us back at 10:30, really good CM's here. They told us TT was down, but my DD really wanted to go so we ended up going anyways - it was running pretty much by the time we got there and the line was pretty long. Took about 30 mins for us to get on the ride. We are COVID cautious and wouldn't do this ride again. After that my DD and DH went and did FEA while I took other DD on Soarin', we finished closed in similar in time and then did Remy Hide n Squeak (spoiler, as was in the past, you do have to go into Japan and China more so than the other lands to find Remy). We also tried several different foods from F & W! All which were good (we really liked the SPAM from Hawaii and the Strawberry Soft Serve from sparkling, not so good were the apple desserts from Germany and Appleseed). We hopped to Epcot on 2 other nights and did more. Not sure if this was new, but all of the Land and Seas was open until closing (Living with the Land and Sunshine Seasons used to close earlier). This area is always empty after 6 and proved to be so again. We did everything walk on, including Soarin' 2x (posted wait for Seas was 10 and literally we never stopped walking). We asked for, and got, Concourse B, Row 1 on Soarin', which my oldest DD was super excited about. Only issue was Spaceship Earth - we got to Epcot at 5:30 and this was about 15 minutes too early. It was a slow walk on - took about 10 mins - but no line when we got off (I knew this getting in line....)
-Did BB twice, once at 3:30 and once at opening. On the 3:30 day lines stayed right through closing, although we never waited more than 10 mins for Team Boat. On the day we went at opening it was supposed to storm all day and the park literally never got full. We never waited for any ride that day. It was glorious (and it never stormed). Greatlly prefer TL though, just don't find this park as much fun.
-Did Wintersummerland Golf, really fun and quick! We didn't need a reservation for it. Part of our PH+ package, just remember you have to go before 4.

Overall impressions:
-I was really worried about no FP. I still want FP BUT you can do it. The only things we didn't ride were mostly by choice, due to the nature of the ride. We didn't feel comfortable on HM, RnR, or FOLK (plus - no tumble monkeys), ToT is something my kids haven't been on so we didn't want to burn a rope drop and have them hate, or wait in line at the end of the night and have them hate it when we could do something they liked. We also didn't do TTA, closed and too long of a line, and I think that was about it. We don't like Pirates so we skipped that. What made not having FP difficult was how early you have to be at the parks - it definitely does help - so I waited in line for 30-50 minutes - it put me ahead on every ride after that. Having to get up so early every day was tough. With FP we would have had a true off day in there, which we did not because what I would have done in one day with a good touring plan now took 2 rope drop mornings. Really, your plan doesn't change that much, except that you rope drop your headliners and then follow the plan you would have done normally. You do have to criss cross parks a little more also. It was like the original FP, which I didn't enjoy having to run across the park to get the FP and then go back again later.
-We didn't get RoTR, we were on LTE, but we did in the hall at Beach Club and I needed to be outside. I did do a speed test inside, but it lagged on the 2nd join. I noticed random dips on the speed test in the hallway and I think we were a casualty of that.
-The parks were pretty clean and I could say that 2/3 of the sanitizer stations were filled. None of the garbage issues I had read about. Biggest thing was leaves, etc., at Wintersummerland.
-We wore KN-94 masks I bought off Amazon the entire time we were there. Although Disney has mandated masks on rides, queues, we were more comfortable wearing the masks at all times unless we were walking and there wasn't anyone around. The masks were great, breathable, comfortable, much more so than the blue disposables ones and any of the other million masks we have more. If you get them, I have a tiny head and I needed a medium! Had I not booked the trip 8 mos ago when they had more restrictions in place and had this trip not been combined with our first Wizarding World for my HP obsessed daughters, we would have cancelled. The girls were sooooo looking forward to the trip. I will not go again until this COVID stuff is over. We were as safe as we could have been, but with no social distancing, etc., it definitely didn't feel safe. Didn't hear too much push back over masks while I was there. Universal, ironically, had about 25-30% of guests voluntarily wearing masks on rides (this was before Disney mandated, we were there on 7/28).
-We did the Kitchen Sink at Beaches 'n Cream. Sadly, my daughter asked for no peanuts - our waitress confirmed that we didn't have a peanut allergy - but they didn't put any snickers / peanut butter / etc. on ours. This was a bucket list item and wouldn't do again. This was our only "sit down", other than that we ordered delivery or ate in our room mostly (did Sunshine Seasons and Flame Tree towards closing, so not many ppl)
-Really enjoyed Beach Club. Poly has my heart! but the walking proximity to Epcot, HS, and closeness to BB/TL was great. Felt super busy and walking to pool / marketplace took longer than when I'm at Poly. Very different vibe. Pool wasn't as crazy packed though, because it's massive, so with COVID, that was really nice. Liked the marketplace for food.
-Limited pin trading locations this time, but still did at least 1x in each park. Look forward to that returning to usual.
-We drove from PA for the 3rd time and I know everyone has probably given up reading this but we were super excited that my car sick prone kids didn't throw up on the way home, as has happened on the prior two trips. We won with a combination of Hyland's Motion Sick pills (take BEFORE you get sick and keep up every 4 hours) and Emetrol for when it failed us. Thankful for Waze which re-routed us several times. Did both 81 and 95, but never got to DC on 95. Let me know if you have any questions about the drive!
-I know this is a Disney thread, but we enjoyed Universal. Just did HP, stayed at the cheaper on property resort and really loved the first hour which is for resort guests only - there was no wait! We were of course there for rope drop, but much further back than any day at Disney. I understood peoples hatred of FP as I watched the Express Pass people pass me by . If you have any questions about Universal, feel free to ask!
-We continue to love the popcorn buckets and drink refill cups!
-We did PhotoPass - got some great pictures and some of the best / more interactive CM's we've had - but they are few and far between. Only found one at HS. MK had the most. Don't know if I would have done again. I know I can ask them to take a picture using my phone, but I don't really like doing that. Had some issues with out older MB's not picking up ride pics.
-We used Skyliners for the first time - they were fun! We rode in the middle of the day 2x, with no wait and no one in our gondola. Rode the buses to and from AK and MK, for both our rope days. For these two days we were at the bus stop 1.5 hours early and were waited at most 10 mins for out bus. Buses were full but no one standing. Rides back were similar, but had to wait for about 20 mins at AK for a bus to get back. 2nd morning for MK we didn't arrive as early (only about an hour) because we weren't trying for major headliner. Waited 20 mins and still no bus, ended up driving, partially because we didn't know how much longer we would have waited and partially because there were SOOOOO many people and we didn't want to be sandwiched on the buses. Took monorail from TTC, was pretty packed both there and back, but I have seen worse. Note that the express train back from MK to TTC doesn't start until noon. We were there around 11:30, you have to take Resort. Not sure if this is a COVID thing, we have stayed at Poly for the last 8 years so we've always taken boat or monorail.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will do my best!

 

[DJFan88]

Oh no! We’re staying at BW next week for two nights. What’s open for food?

Dolphin has a pretty nice little ice cream/sandwich shop and a decent grab and go. Picabu is not bad there either.

Yes! The Dolphin is So close to BWI. It’s closer than BC/YC. People don’t think about it since it’s technically not Disney. Pikabu is open a lot and The Fountain is excellent, I can’t tell you how much we loved their ice cream window and regular food for a meal so good ( think burger food with a sweet potato fries option) . This was pre-covid, but look into.
What I Always do is when I first get to a resort we walk around everywhere that is in walking distance and explore everything!!! It’s actually one of my favorite things to do! So in this case All of the boardwalk options! You’ll see it’s not so dire then!! Also check menus ahead of time and when you are so hungry you can’t think, you’ll realize the options aren’t as bad as you think.
But I am a Glass half full, but do explore.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Oh no! We’re staying at BW next week for two nights. What’s open for food?

Dolphin has a pretty nice little ice cream/sandwich shop and a decent grab and go. Picabu is not bad there either.

Yes! The Dolphin is So close to BWI. It’s closer than BC/YC. People don’t think about it since it’s technically not Disney. Pikabu is open a lot and The Fountain is excellent, I can’t tell you how much we loved their ice cream window and regular food for a meal so good ( think burger food with a sweet potato fries option) . This was pre-covid, but look into.
What I Always do is when I first get to a resort we walk around everywhere that is in walking distance and explore everything!!! It’s actually one of my favorite things to do! So in this case All of the boardwalk options! You’ll see it’s not so dire then!! Also check menus ahead of time and when you are so hungry you can’t think, you’ll realize the options aren’t as bad as you think.
But I am a Glass half full, but do explore.

Swan and Dolphin definitely have some great options that get forgotten about. The Fountain is the ice cream shop and while the atmosphere is nothing special, the food is quite good. Highly recommend downloading the (free) Swan and Dolphin app that lists all the current hours for each restaurant ... they are not typical/intuitive. For example, The Fountain is currently closed on Thursdays and doesn't open until 3pm on Mondays and Tuesdays (noon open Wed and Fri - Sun).

 

[sunnyshari]

After reading about how crazy the crowds are in Disney & Universal at the moment, I just wondered if anyone that is fully vaccinated has tested positive when on vacation or once home?

We're both fully vaccinated apart from our 2 small children and are planning on going at the end of October.

If things are still bad then we will cancel our trip as there's no way I would put them at risk and if one of us tests positive we won't be able to fly home as it's a U.K. requirement to hold a negative covid test before boarding the flight home.

Yes my fa

After reading about how crazy the crowds are in Disney & Universal at the moment, I just wondered if anyone that is fully vaccinated has tested positive when on vacation or once home?

We're both fully vaccinated apart from our 2 small children and are planning on going at the end of October.

If things are still bad then we will cancel our trip as there's no way I would put them at risk and if one of us tests positive we won't be able to fly home as it's a U.K. requirement to hold a negative covid test before boarding the flight home.

Yes, my fully vaccinated family and I returned home 8/4 from Disney. My 20 year old son started having a stuffy nose the night before we left. He went for a rapid test and they said he was “very positive” for Covid. The rest of us have no symptoms but have our rapid tests today to see if we’re positive and asymptomatic or by some miracle negative for Covid.

 

[act1980]

Yes my fa

Yes, my fully vaccinated family and I returned home 8/4 from Disney. My 20 year old son started having a stuffy nose the night before we left. He went for a rapid test and they said he was “very positive” for Covid. The rest of us have no symptoms but have our rapid tests today to see if we’re positive and asymptomatic or by some miracle negative for Covid.

Hope your son feels better soon, pleased to hear that you have all tested negative.

 

[IluvMGM]

Skyliner was very easy this morning to HS. Left AoA at 7:30 and was at HS by 8am. They let us in the park at 8:30 and we were on MMRR at 8:45.

Just curious what time you got in line for the skyliner? I know last year we had to line up super early and be one of the first in line in order to get right into the line when we got to the CB.

 

[cakebaker]

After reading about how crazy the crowds are in Disney & Universal at the moment, I just wondered if anyone that is fully vaccinated has tested positive when on vacation or once home?

There is at least one more member here, LSUmiss I think, who is reporting testing positive once they returned home who was fully vaccinated.

 

[sjrec]

We were there 7/23-8/2. We all got tested to be cautious (none of us feeling sick) and thankfully, all negative.
We have agreed though that no more trips to Florida until my 11 year old grandson can be vaccinated-he was trooper about wearing his mask even before the new mandate, but it’s just not worth the risk.

 

[ladynmom94]

Visited 7/28-8/4 and one in our group of 9 so far has tested positive (she was unvaccinated & symptoms started first day home). 5 have tested negative, still waiting for results for 2 others in our group. I am vaccinated & started with symptoms (cough, stuffy nose, fatigue) same day home but tested negative. I will do another test in a couple days since I live with positive individual.

Overall the trip was ok & I cannot say I regret going. It certainly was different and a challenge to adjust to not having fast passes. I was with a group that was not big on waking up early so rope drop wasn’t ideal. We used lines app and found it to be very helpful and much more accurate.
We stayed at Pop and loved the Skyliner. Such a convenience with a stroller, highly highly recommend staying at a Skyliner resort if using a stroller or wheelchair.
My grandson much preferred the Skyliner (he called it the yellow car) over any other ride he went on all week lol. I could’ve saved $100s in park tickets if I would’ve known. We rode it just for the “fun” of it multiple times. Best time was during Epcot fireworks which were just far enough in the distance where the noise didn’t scare him.