Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[butterscotchcollins]

I was looking at the wait times this evening before dinner and they didnt look as bad as the last few days. The longest was pirates and splash at 50min, 7dmt was 40 min and most others were 30-15 min. Looked much better than Tuesday! Can anyone confirm?

Wait times post-dinner when they extended park hours were definitely doable - maybe 25 mins of actual waiting time for the popular rides.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I thought I read on here that (maybe during the holidays?) The castle was having little low level bursts of fireworks or pyrotechnics? Is that still a thing?

That was only over Christmas. No longer happening.

 

[Leigh L]

DD and I walked from Poly to Shades of Green last month. On our way back to Poly along the SOG sidewalk, we started hearing fireworks. It lasted several minutes with a burst every 10ish-30ish seconds. It was hard to see where it was coming from but was sort of in the direction of MK. Is there somewhere else in that direction where they might have been coming from?

It took us a few minutes to get to the end of the Shades' driveway where we could see better, but by then it had stopped. This would have been on Wed., Feb 17. It was around 7 pm (ish), I'm not sure how long we were at the SOG ticket office but IIRC, it closed at 7 p.m.

We closed out MK two nights the following week and saw/heard nothing like that again.

 

[WIll C]

Hi! We are staying at the Riviera the first week of April nd plan on doing Rope Drops all week. What time did you get to Skyliner and bus stop? I know they start running 45-60 minutes before park opening, but what time did you need to be at the stations to get in line? I keep imagining walking up to the bus station and seeing huge lines and busses and skyliner not even running.

Also, anyone have thoughts on allowing toddlers to snack while we are waiting in line for the busses/skyliner? I'm not familiar with the resort and how those lines work. Toddler would be contained in the stroller, but will we be getting the stink eye if we let her eat her 2nd breakfast (dry cereal) while we wait for the bus/skyliner?

I am super anxious about getting to the parks before opening and an worried about long lines just to get on the bus vs sitting at the bus stop crazy early before transportation even begins.

The first MK bus is around 7:45 for a 9am opening. That gets you there just at 8am when they start lining people up and before the boat docks or the parking opens.
I took the AK bus just after 7am and got there just after opening. There is probably an earlier one. I still made it to FoP with about a 30-40 minute wait. Navi was just under an hour after that. I could have hit Safari but I detoured for the AP magnet and then the line got too long for me.

Skyliner for HS opening at 9am runs around 7:30-7:45. They'll let you to CBR and then hold you. Still faster than driving since they hold up the parking until 8am at least.

I never had more than a few people at the bus stop. Not enough to worry about not getting on. I was always about 10-15 minutes early, just in case but we never had a full bus. YMMV with crowds at the resort but I didn't see it. Skyliner backup to Epcot was the worst of anything and the return from Epcot at park close can get very long.

I was very happy with the morning travel here. We seem to be pretty central and not overcrowded.

 

[Akck]

If you are at MK for rope drop, which side of the "mountain" should you go around to get to the line for 7DMT?

It depends. If you’re truly first to get there, go to the right. If you’re coming off the 1st or 2nd ferry/monorail, you should go left as the line will circle around. We arrived on the 2nd ferry and mistakenly went right. We ended up circling the mountain, ending up near Gaston’s Tavern. That allowed me to get a cinnamon roll (plus extra icing), and drinks. I then set up near the Speedway and we took turns grabbing a bite as our spot in line neared. Even with the long line, our wait was 40-50 minutes, as the line moved quickly (likely due to the queue opening up, filling the inner queue).

 

[brockash]

I was looking at the wait times this evening before dinner and they didnt look as bad as the last few days. The longest was pirates and splash at 50min, 7dmt was 40 min and most others were 30-15 min. Looked much better than Tuesday! Can anyone confirm?

They were much better than earlier today, but splash and pirates were still longish. We did btm around 7 posted 25- actually walkon. Splash was listed as 50, but was 35...pirates was posted at 40, but we ended up skipping because it was looking like it was probably 30 at least andcthr kids wanted to do space again...it was posted at 25 and was 15. We also did tea cups, pooh, carpets, and cars all with around 10-15 min wait after dinner tonight.

Unfortunately we ended up waiting an hr for a bus back to mk this afternoon- not due to amount of ppl just a bus never came, so that ate into our return, but still glad we left midday as waits were more reasonable tonight.

 

[Lizgistix]

Just returned home today from a 3-night stay at Yacht Club. Ate at Spice Road Table twice. Went to Hollywood Studios and ate at PizzeRizzo. Did a few rides and walked around inside Walt: One Man's Dream (recommend). At Animal Kingdom I rode Everest, ate at Satul'i (highly recommend), did Wilderness Explorers (lots of fun) and won 3 plush dinosaurs. (!) Also had a lovely dinner at Ale and Compass.
Was assigned a club level room on the 5th floor which would be nice but the club lounge isn't open so it's just another floor of rooms for them to use.
Oh and I finally bought some carmel corn from the shop in Germany.

 

[Lizgistix]

This restaurant is wait list only right? How was your process eating there?

I walked up to the stand. Asked about their availability. They said "we can seat you right now." I said "okay. Booth, please"

 

[juju]

We arrived 3/10 and here for a week. I think the skyliner line at Epcot at closing is the worse. We waited over 55 mins to get to Pop and were back near the Beach Club entrance walkway. We usually stay at our DVC home resort BWV and able to walk to Epcot so this was a hard adjustment. We went to MK yesterday and Pop had the buses one after another going to MK in the morning. Good thing as the line was long. We didn’t do much as it was so busy but ate at Sleepy Hollow and I got my citrus swirl. One attraction only, Carousel of Progress and took a short nap. Had several photo pass photos taken. On the way back in the afternoon the bus line was long and the wait was even longer. That was discouraging. We noted that park hopping wasn’t restricted so we took the skyliner to DHS around 1 hour before they closed. We rode my favorite, Toy Story Mania, 3 times quickly and mobile ordered Docking Bay 7 for pickup 5 minutes before park close. Not crowded at all in there and took our time. It was still busy when we left and the skyliner was about a 35 minute wait to go back to Pop but better than at Epcot. Luckily we have been to WDW many times so I think we’re going to just try to relax and take it as easy as we can from now on. We came down for the snacks anyway! I feel bad for anyone who didn’t prepare before they came down.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

Yes, thanks for your reply! We now have a 7:50 reservation at the Wave our MK morning, which is the earliest I could get. If we can get there early enough to get seated early, we might eat really fast. If not, we might just not show up and eat the $20 cancellation fee. We shall see. I had to not show up, but I feel like they don't give any other options at this point to make sure we're there at opening! On my most recent trip in October, they let us mobile order and pick up, and I enjoyed my breakfast sandwich on our walk!

Also, our weekend (next week!!) is looking a little cool and rainy. (70% chance on Saturday, our HS day and a high of 75) I'm stoked about the cool weather, but have only been to Florida when it's hotter. (July and late October) What do I need to plan clothing wise, coming from Arizona (so similar to our temps, but how humid is it?) Will a light jacket probably suffice, or does it -feel- colder in Florida at the same temperatures as AZ? Does anyone know? Trying to figure out shorts/pants and what kind of jacket to lug around. We have ponchos and umbrellas.

I can’t tell if you’ve already had your trip or not—how did this work out? We have a 7:45 ADR at the Wave tomorrow morning so we could get past the guard and walk to MK for RD, but it’s only for half our party. I’m thinking that instead of wasting it, we have half go in and order and get some to go for everyone else. We would plan to show up for 7:30 seating.

 

[bdiddy]

Where is everyone eating with all the mobile ordering now? Is it hard to find spots? And tables? Also how do you judge how much time you need between ordering and picking up the food. Is it just random, spending where you are ordering from? Does it tell you when you go in to order what the wait will be before you order?( Thinking about if you went to order from one place and it was a long wait so you wanted to try somewhere else).

Sorry for all the questions - we’ve never done mobile ordering before.

 

[Wosmama6]

We just got back form our 6 night stay at AKL Jambo. Wanted to share some reports/reflections since this thread was so helpful to my planning:

Direct SW flight on 3/4 - only 70 people total, vs our return flight on 3/10, which was almost full.

3/5 - AK
Got going about 20 minutes behind schedule, but DH and DS did FOP w 32 min start of line to end of ride, while DD and I walked on to Navi at 745. Then DS and I rode fop and we all headed over to KS for a 10m wait. We all hopped in line at about 920 for wildlife express and just made it onto the first train. We spotted Ranger. DD and DH did affection section, which had a decent line by the time we left at 1045, while DS and I drew Pan, one of the monkey/catfish crosses from Raya. Fun fact: baby tuk tuk is inspired by a pill bug, a pug and a pangolin. I love it.
After the return train ride, next on our list was maharajah. In all of my AK visits, I’ve never done it, and I wanted DD to see the “hiptotmis”. But DS just kept asking when we were riding EE (I tried to give him a lesson on enjoying the moment instead of thinking about what’s coming next, he is his mother’s child, poor thing), and I was starving since I only had 2 bites of lumpia for breakfast, and DH was reaching peak WTFAMIDOINGHEREINAPANDEMIC, so I walked up to y&y 40m early for our res, which I could only get by calling calling restaurant directly and giving them my landry’s #. They said sure, and we were seated by 1135.
Kids had lo mein, DH and I had tuna nachos and he ordered the kobe burger, while I had honey chicken. Honestly those tuna nachos were one of my fave dishes on disney property ever.
Then, finally, to everest. The line looked crazy long but DH and DS waited 10m max, and the RS for that one is super short.
Then we high tailed it out. I could’ve stayed all day, but that is not my crew, so back to the room.
we headed to jambo’s pool around 330. It was not crowded, but not empty, and the weather was perfection. They were doing a poolside craft and had some outdoor movies on the schedule as well.
We got on the road to DS right on time, but the lime garage was full. The orange garage was a lot further away, so we were about 10m late, but it was fine.
DS LOVED T-REX. The food was crap, but I would recommend going just for the atmosphere (if your kids are 10 and under) and maybe splitting an app or dessert. The ribs and chicken were gross, and neither kid ate much of their meals.
Then DH and DS stood in line for the LEGO store for about 10m. DD and I snuck into amorette’s, my first time! I grabbed a mickey mousse and a salted caramel eclair.

 

[Wosmama6]

3/6 - plan was originally Gatorland in AM and AK in pm, but while practicing to get a BG, I actually got one! So we decided not to test our luck, and they had just extended Sunday AK hours to 8p, so we swapped plans around.
Gatorland is the coolest tourist trap ever. So worth a couple of hours. We were there about 2 hours but you could easily spend 4.
Landry’s walk in at rainforest at AK, seated in 10m. The kids loved it, but I make better food in the microwave the day before a grocery run, so…
We relaxed in the room until babysitter came at 3. Perks of having your kid’s teacher’s daughter in Orlando.
Dh, ds and I took a lyft to hs. The place looked absolutely mobbed at 4pm but it was mostly just optics. 3 hours late for BG but no one cared, and we were on the ride in 15. Long line for black spire so we skipped.
On and off tsmm in 10, slinky in 30, and then a 23m wait for rnrr, with a num num cookie on the way. Snagged a sanaa res while in line.
Lyft to kidani 30m early, waited all of that plus 15for our table. The butterscotch dessert was awesome, and DS was super pleased w his dirt dessert.

 

[WIll C]

Where is everyone eating with all the mobile ordering now? Is it hard to find spots? And tables? Also how do you judge how much time you need between ordering and picking up the food. Is it just random, spending where you are ordering from? Does it tell you when you go in to order what the wait will be before you order?( Thinking about if you went to order from one place and it was a long wait so you wanted to try somewhere else).

Sorry for all the questions - we’ve never done mobile ordering before.

You pick a window for when you want to be there, like 12:30-1pm, and then make your order. When your window opens you can tell it you are there and they will prepare it. That will take some time, depending on the size of your order. Once it tells you it is ready, you can come in and pick it up.

Tables are hit and miss. Most places I went, I was able to get a table somewhere. Cosmic Rays always had some either inside or out. Smaller places might not have as much room.

You can, and probably should, make your window for when you want to eat and order early. That way, you don't miss out on that eating window as they will fill up so you'll end up waiting a long time if you order right when you get there. Order right as they open and give yourself enough time to finish what you're going to do and get over there. I think you can push your window out if you can't get there in time but I never tried that.

 

[Wosmama6]

3/7 - HS

Without RD, HS is crazy. We arrived at the toll booths at 8:57, a full hour later than planned. Then, DS wanted to ride tot instead of going to mmrr. So, we waited 35m for that, DD freaked out riding AS2 w DH, and then we used the tot RS, which took about 25m. Scifi adr, which was fun and very cool, then frozen singalong. Get there a half hour early for sure. DD was not looking like she would tolerate a 35m wait for mmrr so we bailed.

That night, we drove to AK around 6 and headed straight for EE. Our first ride was a walk on, and in 5 rides it varied from walk on to about 5m. I only lasted 3 of those rides. That ride at sunset, where you can see the tree on one side and spaceship earth and tot on the other… just amazing all around.
Then, we walked through discovery island to the valley of mo’ara. As we passed the tree, I remarked that I was sad that the awakenings weren’t happening, and then they started up!!!! I was so happy to see them.
We looked at all the things and then hopped in the fop line at 7:51. Touring plans said a 37m wait (Disney said 60), and that was longer than we wanted but we got in line anyway. We waited 15m.
Also, I realized that I had never actually seen the queue before. I’ve only ridden with fp or rs. Very, very cool to experience.
Then, on the way out, the tree was active again, this time with Jungle Book (maybe my absolute fave, and terribly underrepresented in the parks imo) and Lion King.
I went back toAKL, and DH and DS went to epcot and managed to ride soarin and test track before close (10p)

 

[Wosmama6]

3/8 - MK, EP

Didn’t get in a hurry this morning, because DD can’t ride MK headliners, so I didn’t think we would need to RD, as DS and DH were headed to legoland. I was wrong. We got on two rides, I was hoping for 4, but she adored the castle and the calvacades and the park in general. 25m for iasw at 930; 15 for pooh afterwards.
11 am lunch at LTT. It was all delicious, and I hadn’t spent much time in liberty Square. I loved it. It’s nice just to appreciate the details. DD was getting grumpy, so our family friend/furloughed cast member babysitter met me at the main gate and took DD back to AKL for a nap.
I headed back to main street and looked at all the things and bought none of them, and then tried for cbj. 20m wait (at 1230p), so I walked to HM… and then turned around and walked right back once I saw the end of the line was actually at cbj. Looked atrocious but was about 20m… I love that ride and it’s nice to do it without kids so you can enjoy instead of reassuring them that it’s not scary, etc.
After HM, I went to cbj. I had just missed the show, so another 20m wait, but I hadn’t done this in a couple decades and wanted to see it. A person in the group behind me ran over to aloha isle for a dole whip since the line was stationary. I told them I was gonna do the same and they held.my spot. Grabbed a kakamora float and ate about a third of it. Yummy.
Cbj is fun, but I prefer the tiki room if we are comparing outdated shows.
After cbj all the wait times and the crushing crowds were bugging me so I decided to hop. A CM gave me some bad info about busses for hopping, so I ended up in the ttc, waiting for a lyft to epcot. - FYI - there ARE park to park busses for hopping, and CMs can be wrong. I saw a lot of ones in training.
Waited 15 for SE at 215p, waited 25 for soarin and sat in the very middle seat in b1, Saw Mary poppins, a princess calvacade. Dawdled around France some, grabbed ice cream, and hopped on the skyliner to riviera, where I took a lyft back to akl.
Then, we discovered that you could get homecomin delivered on postmates. this was HUGE as it saved us a second trip to DS and worrying with ADRs (we had one, but at a weird time we kept trying to change unsuccessfully). Definitely recommend this.

 

[Wosmama6]

3/8 - EP
We had topolino's brunch ADR at 1020, which I highly recommend, and got seated early after checking in right at 10. 25m wait for the skyliner from rr to epcot at around 1045. We had planned to go FEA but the wait was showing 40m on touring plans and 70 on Disney, so we meandered through morocco (almost all shops closed) and japan. By the time we got to FEA, it was down, and stayed down for about an hour. DH and DS went to ride Mission Space, which ruined the rest of their day (I tried to warn them!), and DD and I hovered. In the short wait, she managed to meet Elsa and Anna, see a princess calvacade and enjoy the Frozen topiaries. We went back to check one more time for FEA, and they announced it was opening, so we hopped in line and only waited 8m. It was our first ride, and we loved it. We then walked on to Nemo at around 2 and headed back to to meet DD and DS at the skyliner (no line). We drove back to AKL to rest a bit, and I had tried to talk DS into a 4 park challenge, but AK closed at 5, and by 3:30 he was still queasy from MS, so we ended up skipping AK and doing 3 parks in 1 day. Tapped into HS at 541 for a 7p close and rode MFSR with 25m wait and MMRR with a 25m wait. First time on MMRR, loved it!!!!
Then we hightailed it to MK for a 10p close. We rode Splash w a 25m wait and got in line for BTMR at 956, waited 10m.

Definitely recommend getting to park an hour before opening, riding as much as you can, THEN enjoying the details/atmosphere for a while, and leaving and coming back 2 hours before close. Our longest wait of the trip was 35m for ToT, but waits were about 20m across the board, which adds up over time (we are used to split FPs with rider switch, memorizing same day drops and basically riding everything with FP).

 

[Lizgistix]

Where is everyone eating with all the mobile ordering now? Is it hard to find spots? And tables?

I ate at Satul'i Canteen in Animal Kingdom and they have cast members outside guarding the entrance and exits. You are only allowed in when your order is ready and only Satul'i customers are allowed to sit in the seating area.

When you want to place a mobile order, it tells you what the return time is currently. Some are available right now, some were an hour out. I chose accordingly to how soon I wanted to eat.

 

[dez1978]

I'm here now until Friday and crowds are decent sized. We were here in in 2019 both about the same time (Feb/Mar) and the week leading up to, and including, Christmas Day. Christmas was far busier, especially at MK. The previous winter was about the same as it is now. HS being a bit more crowded it seems. Epcot hasn't seemed that bad, even with the festival starting. This is all weekdays, however, not weekend days.

I'm staying at the Riviera and found my mornings the best at avoiding the crowds.

Monday at MK, I got on the first bus around 7:45am. We arrived at MK about 8am for a 9am park open. We were very close to the front of the temp checks and they held people for a few minutes. Once they started, shortly after 8am, we moved through the security screening to the taps and waited. I was a few people back from the front. People starting quickly filling in the lines all across the front. We held for a few more minutes and they let the flood in.
I was probably in the first hundred or so let in and made it to 7DMT in a few minutes. Most people were headed there. I walked on to that. Made my way to Peter Pan and walked on there. Pooh was closed so I went to Haunted Mansion but it was closed as well with a short line waiting for the opening.
I moved towards Big Thunder but I couldn't hear it running so I diverted to Pirates and walked on to that. Went out from there and did Jungle Cruise after about 10 minutes of a wait. When I got off, it was over 30. I went to Aladdin and spent a few minutes in line for that (it's my wife's favorite).
After that, I went to Haunted Mansion and it was a near walk on as well. It was now getting towards 10am.
The line for Peter Pan was now snaking through the Columbia Harbor House and near an hour.
I headed towards Tomorrowland and happened upon Pooh just opening after being closed for a while. Was 2nd in line and got to ride that.
At that point, 11am or so, the park had become fairly busy. Everything was a minimum of 30 minutes and climbing for the 2nd tier rides and an hour or more for others. I had other plans for the afternoon, so I had lunch and left.

Today, for Hollywood Studios, I had much the same morning luck with transit from Riviera. Skyliner to CBR was quick and we were lining up to get the line to HS, which was holding briefly. I got in in about 10 minutes and was crossing the parking entrance road a few minutes before 8am. I could see them holding the cars at the booths as I rode over. I got down and saw the long line waiting for the left side temp checks. As I came down the ramp, they opened the right side tents and I was redirected there towards the front. We waited a few minutes and got sent in right away to the park. I made my way down to get on MMRR while most people heading to Toy Story. They told us it was down but we could wait. I opted for that as I hadn't ridden it yet and was willing to wait (not a roller coaster fanatic, so SDD wasn't a draw). I waited maybe 10 mins but I was first in line and got to experience the ride finally.
Made my way back out to Toy Story. Rode the other two rides as the SDD queue started to stretch out to Docking Bay and then ate breakfast at Woody's. Heading to MFSR and got in the line for that which was approaching 45 minutes by then but I finally got to pilot so it was worth it.
I had missed the BG for RotR at 7am and waited around for the 1pm but it glitched out and I didn't get one then either. Not sure if things were slow as BGs were only around 60 or so when that came up and they might not of been handing them out. Wasn't too concerned and went over to Star Tours which was about 30 minutes. At that point, I was done and crowds were heavier. I headed back to the hotel around 2:30pm. Gideon's cookies were calling and I need to get to Disney Springs.

I'll see how AK goes in the morning.

We are staying at riviera in a week. What time did you go to the skyliner station to head to HS?

 

[samsonjs]

You pick a window for when you want to be there, like 12:30-1pm, and then make your order. When your window opens you can tell it you are there and they will prepare it. That will take some time, depending on the size of your order. Once it tells you it is ready, you can come in and pick it up.

Tables are hit and miss. Most places I went, I was able to get a table somewhere. Cosmic Rays always had some either inside or out. Smaller places might not have as much room.

You can, and probably should, make your window for when you want to eat and order early. That way, you don't miss out on that eating window as they will fill up so you'll end up waiting a long time if you order right when you get there. Order right as they open and give yourself enough time to finish what you're going to do and get over there. I think you can push your window out if you can't get there in time but I never tried that.

So if I know I want to eat at 11am can I order early before they open and pick an 11am window? How much time should I give them to make it? 20min?