Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[gottalovepluto]

Very bad interaction with another guest this morning at AK EE. We were maybe 6 families from the tap point when we got there and when they opened everyone in front was going through. In the line next to ours apparently there was an issue with a guest’s tickets so it wasn’t moving. I saw a guy next to me starting to shift out of his line into ours so I just walked in front of him and blocked him off. Well I guess he squeezed in behind us.

I went through first and when I turned back I saw this guy legit shove his hand around my daughter and try and squeeze his phone in to tap before my daughters could. In the process he put his arm around one of my daughters waists and was touching in areas you ain’t allowed to touch. So I stepped back to him quick and slapped his arm away and said no. He actually put it back. So I slapped it away again and stepped to him and started dropping f-bombs.

The guy kept saying - I was in front of you mate - I was in front of you mate. But I just kept staring him down and swearing at him until my wife and daughters were able to tap in and get away from this guy. Apologies to any families who heard me but I ain’t gonna stand for that and I don’t care what happens to me. Ain’t no one gonna touch my girls there while they being a huge pos.

Yikes! What a creep.

You made your choice obviously understanding the potential consequences so this is for others in case they don’t know- profanity is a direct violation of park guidelines so if you chose to use it in a situation be aware Disney has the right to kick you out of the park.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I didn't put this in my post but over the weekend I noticed that at the gates and for scanning in at Lightning Lanes/VQs, the people having the most issues were ones trying to use their phones to scan in for their entire party. It held up the line so bad at some of them. The Guardians LL line was very long because one party of about 10 people had all of their tickets on one person's phone and were trying to flip through everyone.

It would be easier and quicker to have your own ticket on your phone or to get a keycard if you don't want to buy a Magicband. Everyone in line will thank you.

 

[lovethattink]

Phone scanning is often an issue, mb or hard ticket move the line along much faster.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Issues with tickets should mean an automatic trip to Guest Relations instead of holding up the line, IMO.

The window is for serious issues. They’ll work with you a little at the tap point, then they call over a roaming GR CM who may or may not need to pull you aside, then they send you to GR window. Many times it’s a low-level fix that can be done on an iPad. My issue was a nasty IT bug, it was finally sorted but I was at that GR window a good half hour. It feels annoying when you’re standing behind the delay but it’s actually quite efficient for getting the most people into the park as quickly as possible.

 

[thevolcanogod]

Issues with tickets should mean an automatic trip to Guest Relations instead of holding up the line, IMO.

We witnessed a bunch of times where it wasn’t an issue with tickets - people come in with different media - pieces of paper, cards, phones and talk really fast to the CM who obviously don’t speak that language and they just look off in the distance and repeat the same thing and the non-native English speakers shove thing after thing at them to scan before they hit the right ones. CM scanning tickets should speak at least English/Spanish. Also IMO half the issue is the complexity of a Disney vacation. It’s confusing enough for people who speak English and been here before. Free basic magic bands like they used to would probably improve things considerably

 

[WEDWDW]

It also seems that the in-park CMs will nearly always direct you to the front when the skyliner is down, however if you exit the park and ask the skyliner CMs, there are usually buses either backstage or at one of the Crescent Lake resorts. I'm not sure why they don't seem to be on the same page or if it is intentional.

I think intentional-they want as many Skyliner Resorts Guests as possible using buses at the Epcot Bus Depot.

But they have to always provide a bus from the Crescent Lake/IG area because there could be Skyliner Resorts Guests dining or visiting in this area who are not inside Epcot and don't have a ticket to enter Epcot and walk to the Depot.

 

[thevolcanogod]

AK great again today - park clean and cast members all on point. Crowds were low. Walked on so many things. We had genie plus so we rode everything twice including FoP at rope drop and rode standby at 45 mins posted 38 mins actual around 3pm.

Yak and Yeti for dinner - dannnng this place is where it’s at. One of the few experiences where my wife looked at each other and were like - we got our money’s worth. Had the calamari and Korean chicken appetizers - they were huge and tasty. Dinner portions were gigantic. Wish we would have gone here earlier - I’d probably try and sneak in another ADR. This reservation was extremely hard to get. It was completely booked a month ago and I was lucky to snag a cancellation a week before the trip. But at our 4:40 seating there were empty tables. So not sure what’s up with that.

Yak and Yeti highly recommended. Other than that guy this morning it was a wonderful day. It’s 5:30 and we’re hopping to Epcot extremely stuffed.

 

[pens4821]

Just a comment on the holdup at the entrances. My moms fingerprint (or scan or whatever they call it) hardly ever works. We go to at least two parks a day the 6 days we are there, and I’d say we are lucky if it reads it five times a trip. She has tried everything we can think of. Different fingers. More pressure, less pressure. I’ve even asked the cms with the iPads if there is anything we can do, but they don’t have an answer. I asked if we could forgo the finger scan, they said yes but we’d still have to come over to verify identity. It’s such a hassle, and we have no idea what the issue is with her in particular. This is across a handful of trips since 2014.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

Another lesson learned (I unfortunately speak from experience). Last time my wife and I visited DHS, we both kept having an issue with our MBs. They had us trying a finger on the other hand, but I was sure we had both used our right hand index finger.

Any guesses?

That's right... we had accidentally swapped MBs that morning. Once we exchanged them, both of our fingerprints registered correctly right away.

 

[gottalovepluto]

AK great again today - park clean and cast members all on point. Crowds were low. Walked on so many things. We had genie plus so we rode everything twice including FoP at rope drop and rode standby at 45 mins posted 38 mins actual around 3pm.

Yak and Yeti for dinner - dannnng this place is where it’s at. One of the few experiences where my wife looked at each other and were like - we got our money’s worth. Had the calamari and Korean chicken appetizers - they were huge and tasty. Dinner portions were gigantic. Wish we would have gone here earlier - I’d probably try and sneak in another ADR. This reservation was extremely hard to get. It was completely booked a month ago and I was lucky to snag a cancellation a week before the trip. But at our 4:40 seating there were empty tables. So not sure what’s up with that.

Yak and Yeti highly recommended. Other than that guy this morning it was a wonderful day. It’s 5:30 and we’re hopping to Epcot extremely stuffed.

Y&Y super limits their Disney ADR inventory, many people end up doing walk ups. If you have a Landry’s Card you can call the restaurant direct and make a reservation with pretty good availability, also if you have a card you get priority in the walk up line.

 

[Leigh L]

The window is for serious issues. They’ll work with you a little at the tap point, then they call over a roaming GR CM who may or may not need to pull you aside, then they send you to GR window. Many times it’s a low-level fix that can be done on an iPad. My issue was a nasty IT bug, it was finally sorted but I was at that GR window a good half hour. It feels annoying when you’re standing behind the delay but it’s actually quite efficient for getting the most people into the park as quickly as possible.

Yes!
I had an issue in June entering a park on day 1 where I spent a brief delay at MK while they fixed on iPad and only held the line up briefly, but when I hopped to Epcot later that day, the same thing happened and I spent a long while at GR after that.

Turns out it was in my account somewhere and I think was related to my new (old school) MB. I ended up with a voucher for a new MB (so it had to be a + since that's all they had) and then a CM at a blue umbrella had a code/number to call IT with to use so I could be properly linked. 90 minutes later, I could join the rest of my party lol

 

[Tess]

Just a comment on the holdup at the entrances. My moms fingerprint (or scan or whatever they call it) hardly ever works. We go to at least two parks a day the 6 days we are there, and I’d say we are lucky if it reads it five times a trip. She has tried everything we can think of. Different fingers. More pressure, less pressure. I’ve even asked the cms with the iPads if there is anything we can do, but they don’t have an answer. I asked if we could forgo the finger scan, they said yes but we’d still have to come over to verify identity. It’s such a hassle, and we have no idea what the issue is with her in particular. This is across a handful of trips since 2014.

We don't usually have an issue, but in May this year, my husband was stopped nearly every time for GR verification. We have different MBs that we used throughout the vacation and my husband had difficulty with the finger scan. There was no rhyme or reason to his problems--sometimes he could enter a park without problem but had an issue when hopping to another. Sometimes he would have an issue entering the reserved park and when hopping. . .CMs had no answer either. We are APs (since mid-90s) and have never had this much difficulty with the finger scanners. It is very frustrating especially when rope dropping.

 

[NashvilleMama]

Yak and Yeti for dinner - dannnng this place is where it’s at.

We went to Yak and Yeti for the first time last month and I cannot. believe. I hadn't eaten there before - I kept saying "this is my new favorite in all the parks" like I'm a huge dummy for being late to the party.

 

[disneyseniors]

We went to Yak and Yeti for the first time last month and I cannot. believe. I hadn't eaten there before - I kept saying "this is my new favorite in all the parks" like I'm a huge dummy for being late to the party.

I agree. We eat there at least twice per visit. We have never been disappointed.

 

[JakeAZ]

We did Disney and Universal in 2021. We had a great time at both, but Universal, with EP, was so much easier. However, my kids were still not tall enough to ride everything there.

We just got back from a trip to Florida for a competition, but decided to add in some theme parks.

We looked a Disney and it's just too much. Too much $ and too much planning / lack of freedom.

Universal has the 5 day for the price of 2 promo and that worked out so well for us. We were able to pop over one night, after the competition ended and hit Hagrid's / a few others. We then did Volcano Bay on our second day (no competition). I booked us at Portofino for our final two nights, for the EPs and that made all the difference. We could start in the morning, hit a few rides, then Uber over to the convention center for completion stuff. Then come back to UO to finish out the nights. No reservations, no lighting lanes, no checking in before park hopping....just go with the flow. Couple that with my kids (10 & 7) now being into bigger Roller Coasters, I think Disney is in our rearview mirror. I couldn't get my 7 year old off VelociCoaster. We'd finish and it's "can we go again". Yep, with EP, you sure can. We'd pop into Hagrid's at the end of the night and then walk back to our hotel.

I get the Disney bubble, but when you're talking bang for your buck, IMO, Universal can't be beat. Once that third park opens...oh my....especially if they, as rumored, add another HP Land.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[M SH]

I think Disney is in our rearview mirror. I couldn't get my 7 year old off VelociCoaster. We'd finish and it's "can we go again". Yep, with EP, you sure can.

Since when VelociCoaster is EP eligible? I thought both Hagrids and VC are only standby.

 

[JakeAZ]

Since when VelociCoaster is EP eligible? I thought both Hagrids and VC are only standby.

I believe it was back in February. Hagrid's is the lone holdout.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Since when VelociCoaster is EP eligible? I thought both Hagrids and VC are only standby.

Universal added Velocicoaster to Express Pass around late February/early March when Hagrid's was being refurbed.

 

[M SH]

I believe it was back in February. Hagrid's is the lone holdout.

sweet! that's the perfect news for my upcoming fall trip.

 

[Skip Coffee for Rope Drop]

My family was visiting this week and stayed at the Riviera. At 2pm, they took the skyliner from Epcot to HS. The Skyliner was down from CBR to Hollywood Studios. All guest from POP/AA/CBR and Riviera were told to take the Skyliner to Epcot then onto the Friendship boats. No busses would be provided from any resort to HS because it was mechanical not lighting causing the shutdown.

When they arrived back to Epcot, the Friendship boat line cue was 4-5 boats deep and they didn't arrive to HS till 4:15pm, the skyliner was still shut down. It was very hot, blazing heat and have a few in the party over 60 so the walk would have been too much. Some people walked to the Boardwalk hoping to get on there but the whole thing was a mess.

It is a shame that they can't use the parking lot trams to load people onto from that CBR station to Hollywood Studios for emergencies. For when it shuts down, There is a traffic light there. But when you are only a couple of hundred yards from the entrance, it shouldn't take that long to get there.