Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[coolbrook]

I could’ve stayed all day, but that is not my crew, so back to the room.

That, my friends, is the key to a happy Disney trip. Know your crew!

 

[mster425]

Thanks so much for these reviews! How did your dd meet Anna and Elsa, do they just randomly pop up in Norway sometimes? We missed them last trip.

Also, your DH being “*** am I doing here in a pandemic” will be me.

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).

 

[Wosmama6]

That, my friends, is the key to a happy Disney trip. Know your crew!

This is also why i want my next trip to be solo

 

[Wosmama6]

Thanks so much for these reviews! How did your dd meet Anna and Elsa, do they just randomly pop up in Norway sometimes? We missed them last trip.

Also, your DH being “*** am I doing here in a pandemic” will be me.

they are in one of the courtyards in Norway, the reddish building. we just hung out there until they appeared.

 

[Naomeri]

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?

I order lunch before I leave my hotel room in the morning. I’m a solo diner with simple food choices, so my meals are usually ready within 5 minutes of hitting the “I’m Here” button in the app. If you’ve got a bunch of people eating, or complicated meals or something, it may take longer.

 

[DisneyByMarriage]

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.

Can’t agree more with you here - three kids under age 10 and they all want to go back to TREX. Dad and Pop say no way in hell!

 

[jenmsmith]

@Wosmama6 Did you happen to visit the Kidani pool? I‘m interested in confirming if the splash area was open there.

 

[closetmickey]

Thanks so much for these reviews! How did your dd meet Anna and Elsa, do they just randomly pop up in Norway sometimes? We missed them last trip.

Also, your DH being “*** am I doing here in a pandemic” will be me.

We saw Anna and Elsa in the Norway pavilion late morning.

 

[Wosmama6]

@Wosmama6 Did you happen to visit the Kidani pool? I‘m interested in confirming if the splash area was open there.

It was! We didn't swim because it was cold but we definitely checked it out

 

[jenmsmith]

It was! We didn't swim because it was cold but we definitely checked it out

Great!

 

[brockash]

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

We're actually on ME heading home now...if it were me; I'd walk to CBR skyliner station and be there by 710 for a 9am dhs open if you want to be one of the first 10-15 families on there way to dhs.

 

[LovesBelle]

These are such great reports! For those of you who were just there—what rides are open during the early theme park entry period for resort guests? I have seen people mention that Splash wasn’t running but Big Thunder was, for example. Would love advice about all four parks. Thanks!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I am currently on a Southwest plane flying back to the west coast (I sprang for wifi, LOL), after a 5-night stay at the BWV from (March 7-12. We had 5 park days: HS, AK, HS, MK, and EP. We planned to hop, but only did two parks on the evenings we had dinners planned in Epcot.

Originally this trip was planned for a BLT stay over the Star Wars half, but I decided to move it up after earlier reports of lighter crowds, thinking I could squeeze it in before the Spring Breaks started. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have moved it forward, but we were anxious to return to the parks after vaccination. I suspect April will be busy, too, as more people get vaccinated and decide to travel so the jury is still out on whether I made bad decision

We had a great time. DS24 special needs has been chomping at the bit to get back to Disney, and it was nice to see him enjoying something he loves after such a long, difficult year. I didn't take detailed park notes as some PPs have done, but I thought I'd give my general impressions.

POSITIVES:
--The Weather! Today was the warmest day, but the week has been absolutely gorgeous. 70s for the most part with cool mornings, very little humidity, and a lovely breeze most of the day. We've been having unseasonably fabulous weather in Northern California before we left, and it was a nice continuation.
--Mask wearing: overall it was pretty impressive and this is from someone from Northern California Oakland/Berk area where mask compliance is exceptional even outside exercising, etc. and has been for a year. Epcot was by far the worst--with lots of people moving around with drinks and food--but the rest of the time we saw great compliance.
--Great job Disney with the markers, plexiglass, and hand sanitizer. Only hit a few empty hand santizers but we just moved on to the next attraction and could always find some.
--ADRs and table serves. Even though I booked this trip just a few weeks ago, I managed to get a number of our favorite reservations. We are Deluxe Dining Plan fans and have gotten used to breaking up the day with meals. Although we are ride commandoes at Disneyland, we were initially frustrated by Disney World, until we learned to appreciate the food. That has become a big part of the enjoyment for us. We had all table serves with the exception of a a few breakfasts at the boardwalk bakery: Teppan Edo, Hollywood Brown Derby, Sanaa, Raglan Road, Mama Melrose, Via Napoli, Wave (Breakfast), Skippers, Morimoto, Trattoria (breakfast) and Beaches & Cream. For the most part the restaurants did a great job, although I did think the quality and offerings had declined with the pandemic. I hope they get back to full capacity and open more restaurants soon. It was kind of depressing to see so many favorite Signatures and character buffets closed (Flying Fish, CA Grill Brunch, Bomb, Tiffins, etc.) We haven't eaten inside in a year, and although it initially felt very weird, it was nice to have some normality again.
--BWV: this was our first stay at BWV (we are VGC and BLT owners), and although we missed the second bathroom in our 1-bedroom, I love love love the location. We had a room near the HS path, and it was awesome to be able to walk to two parks--especially on our HS days. We hate the buses, so about 3-4 years ago, we just decided to bite the bullet and rely on uber/lyft. The couple hundred dollars added to the cost was well worth the stress/frustration for me. But due to COVID we wanted to try to limit transportation exposure, so I decided to try out BWV. So happy we did. It really cut down on the amount of times we hopped in a car. This was a good thing as one of our negatives was uber/lyft! (see below).
--Scored ROTR boarding groups on both our HS days!!! Yay. Timing worked out for both, too, so that was awesome.

NOT AS POSITIVE:
--It was way too crowded--basically wall-to-wall people at times. Despite the efforts made by Disney with spacers, etc., there were just too many people on walkways to keep any distance apart let alone 6 feet. The long lines winding along those same pathways didn't help or the side-by-side strollers, with large groups of slow moving families. The only time we had a "light" park day was today at Epcot right around opening. I won't add to the 35% discussion--I've read many of the back and forth's and why's--but however it's being spliced the reality is that the parks are very crowded and don't feel reduced. If we weren't vaccinated, it would have been a very difficult trip. I would have been much more anxious, etc. As other posters have said, if you are anxious about COVID and haven't been vaccinated, this is probably not the time to visit the parks.
--the wait times for headliner rides were pretty crazy. we steered clear for the most part, and did what we could with DS's DAS. But I was really glad I'd set expectations very low. I'd intended to try to rope drop, which we never do, but it didn't work out. We have a pretty standard schedule that we stick to (breakfast, a few hours in the park, lunch, back to room for rest, etc.) and we stuck to that. They need to do something about the wait times/lines. Whether that is bringing back fast pass, virtual queues or Maxpass (my favorite by far). The rides were so crowded we pretty much didn't do any of the hopping we had planned so that park hopper ticket for DS was money not well spent (DH and I are passholders).
--Characters: Characters are such a big part of the experience for DS, even though I set the expectations very low, I don't think he really got it. It was so sad to see his disappointment when he couldn't get close, but I did appreciate the effort by Disney. We saw a ton of characters on raised platforms, cavalcades, etc, and he had a couple interactions, but it wasn't the same. Disney is doing what they can, but unfortunately this is one experience that can't be replicated without a return to "normal," whenever that might be.
--I wish they would open up more entertainment/restaurants. It would really help to spread people out. I suspect it's more a financial thing than a COVID thing, but it's time Disney!
--Uber/Lyft was painfully slow. We've never had this kind of trouble. In the 5-10 rides we had this trip, I don't think any were under a 10 minute wait. It felt like we'd choose the one that was allegedly quickest and then they changed it on us every time. We've been doing this for years to get around the parks, but maybe they've changed something and we're doing it wrong? Really frustrating to accept a ride and then have the driver be 15 minutes away. On our many previous visits to WDW, 5 minutes was a long wait.

I'm really glad I had this thread to set expectations. I think we would have had a very different trip, if I hadn't read so much in advance. So thanks to all who have posted. It really helped to put us in the right frame of mind. We knew what we were getting into and made the most of it. I'm sure I forgot something, but that's it for now

 

[Twitterpaited]

But it could also be deceiving-after seeing Pan lines go through Columbia Harbour House,the "normal,non Social Distanced Pan line" will look SHORT!lol

Not just through Columbia Harbor House, but upstairs and back down again.

 

[brockash]

These are such great reports! For those of you who were just there—what rides are open during the early theme park entry period for resort guests? I have seen people mention that Splash wasn’t running but Big Thunder was, for example. Would love advice about all four parks. Thanks!

I think it somewhat varies day to day, but for us at MK, 7dmt was, but ppan, splash and thunder were not (I believe thunder was supposed to b but was having tech problems.)

AK FOP and Navi were and Everest was byvthe time we got there right before 8am open.

Epcot - Frozen was running right away, testtrack was down and I believe while soarin started before park open; they didn't seem to b running until closer to 1030/1045 for 11 open (we were on/off frozen by 1020.)

DHS- Slinky was, ToT and rnr were by the time we got there, but still before park open. I believe mmrr was as well.

 

[Twitterpaited]

I just got back from a 3/3-3/7 split stay between Pop Century & Coronado Springs.

Some of my observations:

• Crowds- some areas (WS and FL come to mind) were much worse than others. When they got beyond our comfort levels, we removed ourselves from the situation and moved on to other things.
• Mask wearing- only saw a few CMs have to correct guests about it. IMO, it was much worse in the airports than at Disney. Disposable masks are so much more comfortable/breathable for park days than the cloth ones.
• Mobile ordering- love it! When we were there last only a few places were participating, so it was great that we could use that option pretty much everywhere.
• Bussing- The busses seemed to be coming less often than before but in the grand scheme of things, it's no big deal. We still got to where we were going in plenty of time to do what we wanted.

As someone who has been working from home with some sporadic trips to the office this past year, I was surprised at how much my calves hurt the first few nights.

One thing that helped my feet and legs - lay on the bed with your butt up against the headboard and put your legs straight up against the wall for about 10 minutes. It will help your circulation and get those toxins to stop pooling in your legs and feet. It also helps your back. You can even massage your feet and legs while they are up and feel the improvement.

 

[only hope]

These are such great reports! For those of you who were just there—what rides are open during the early theme park entry period for resort guests? I have seen people mention that Splash wasn’t running but Big Thunder was, for example. Would love advice about all four parks. Thanks!

The early entry hasn’t started yet. The parks have just been opening early.

 

[yuhas82]

The early entry hasn’t started yet. The parks have just been opening early.

I think LovesBelle is simply referring to the time period just before official posted opening time when some rides are open - not the not-yet-in-place official extra 30min

 

[Tauwillow]

Can anyone tell me if Conservation Station is still running the veterinarian checkups? It is one of our very favorite things to do at the park. I have to decide between doing that or trying to get on FoP, since there aren't any fastpasses.

 

[Makmak]

Can anyone tell me if Conservation Station is still running the veterinarian checkups? It is one of our very favorite things to do at the park. I have to decide between doing that or trying to get on FoP, since there aren't any fastpasses.

When we were there we didn’t see any and were told they were only doing the animation experience and limited petting zoo. We went for the animation and did not see any activity in the other areas, beyond the standard displays and videos playing.