Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[ILoveMyDVC]

Has anyone currently (or recently, or soon) at WDW gotten the exact same email every day from Disney Destinations? I’m visiting 8/20-29 and since 7/21 I have gotten the same email with the same subject line: “Welcome! Your trip to the Parks.” Every single day.

YES

 

[cakebaker]

YES

We went 2 weeks ago and I got tons of repetitive notifications. Not sure why they're doing that.

 

[Haley R]

Has anyone currently (or recently, or soon) at WDW gotten the exact same email every day from Disney Destinations? I’m visiting 8/20-29 and since 7/21 I have gotten the same email with the same subject line: “Welcome! Your trip to the Parks.” Every single day.

Yes! Omg why do I keep getting these emails??

 

[e_yerger]

I’m feeling some FOMO because i have yet to get these emails!

 

[ellbell]

I’m feeling some FOMO because i have yet to get these emails!

The Disney portion of my trip starts on Sept 1st and I was about to say the same. Maybe someone who is getting multiple emails are receiving ours.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

It would depend on the CDC mandating it, which I think is highly unlikely at this point.

Opinion but I believe it is highly likely. Check hospitalizations in Florida due to Covid. I was going to cancel our Aug 27 trip this afternoon but just about cried on hold. I may wait till the last bloody minute. Sorry to be a downer

 

[cakebaker]

Opinion but I believe it is highly likely. Check hospitalizations in Florida due to Covid. I was going to cancel our Aug 27 trip this afternoon but just about cried on hold. I may wait till the last bloody minute. Sorry to be a downer

There are a lot of us who know exactly how you feel. It's just so disappointing. We've got a trip to DLR in October, Halloween party tickets bought back when it looked like things were getting better and now that is definitely on the chopping block.

 

[jods]

Has anyone currently (or recently, or soon) at WDW gotten the exact same email every day from Disney Destinations? I’m visiting 8/20-29 and since 7/21 I have gotten the same email with the same subject line: “Welcome! Your trip to the Parks.” Every single day.

I'm going 8/22. No email here.

 

[jbrinkm]

Has anyone currently (or recently, or soon) at WDW gotten the exact same email every day from Disney Destinations? I’m visiting 8/20-29 and since 7/21 I have gotten the same email with the same subject line: “Welcome! Your trip to the Parks.” Every single day.

I'm getting them. I was so confused.

 

[Lsyves]

I'm getting them. I was so confused.

I am too and we don’t go til October

 

[brockash]

7:50 left our Boardwalk room
8:05 through security & waiting
8:09 tapstyles (is that what their called) opened. Past them at 8:14.
8:16 waiting for Slinky (in the shade) View attachment 595832

Lol...well hello...we too rope dropped slinky today and see ourselves in your pic lol. I will say one thing that I didn't realize is how much better regular rope drop is now than before when they used to hold EVERYONE in the blazing sun on the main road...we ended up being in the shade and it wasn't nearly as cram-packed as yrs past. I still STRONGLY prefer the Covid way of rope drop, but tgis was better than expected.

We basically walked onto Slinky this morning, and were in line for RnR about 855am...had about a 15 min. wait, then 25 mind for ToT; 20 for Star Tours, snack break, 10 mins to get onto Rise, walk on muppets and then went to Epcot for a while (10 min. wait for Soarin and under 10 for Living with land around 4 today.

 

[DisneyOma]

For those staying at one of the Skyliner resorts, is it still necessary to line up 1 to 1 1/2 hours prior to the Skyliner opening?

We walked on to the Skyliner at 8:15 this morning and ended up a few rows behind the picture below

7:50 left our Boardwalk room
8:05 through security & waiting
8:09 tapstyles (is that what their called) opened. Past them at 8:14.
8:16 waiting for Slinky (in the shade) View attachment 595832

I'm going to look in my photos to see if I have this same shot from about 15 feet back, LOL!

Do you think Disney will bring masks back for outside?

I have no idea if they will, but we've been wearing them in crowds outside (like above) and so have many other people.

 

[KM82]

**I apologize for all of the typos. I’ve been doing these from my phone

This morning we headed to Epcot for rope drop, with a goal of getting in a ride on Test Track before a lunch at Beaches and Cream at 11:45. We left BWI at 10am and the first picture is what we walked up to at IG. At 10:20 we were let through the tapstyle. Second picture is looking behind us from where they held us at Canada until 10:30. We headed to Test Track - people from the main gate were there first, but we still didn’t have to wait more than 15 min to ride. We were off TT at 11:14 and headed to beaches and cream for sundaes at 11:35.

We went back to resort after lunch to pick up the birthday cake from the Grand Floridian bakery at 1pm. We relaxed in the room until 2pm - had to come down from the sugar high from the sundaes and cake.


We made it back to Epcot for the 2:15 Voices of Liberty performance- they are AMAZING


Next was Germany for Riesling and Schoefferhofer (both were really good). SE was down for technical difficulties so we headed to Soarin instead. It was a walk on but we waited for B1 which added a few minutes. Did living with the land (5 min wait) and then walked around the world.

Got a mimosa flight for me and a strawberry waffle cone for DS. They were actually good sized portions and both very tasty. DH got the pork rinds from the Swanky Saucy Swine to complete Emile’s Fromage. They were honestly so stale that it was actually difficult to bite through them.

We had dinner at Chefs de France for DS birthday dinner choice. It was really good and the service was great as well.

By this point, the crowd levels had really grown and I was starting to hit areas where I was uncomfortable with the density. So we made our way around and spent some time in the Beach Club arcade before calling it a night.

 

[SimonSez]

Went to DHS today and we managed to score a Boarding Group The place was packed and it was a pretty rough the first half of the day. We made only one meal reservation this trip and it was at the Hollywood Brown Derby at 1:30 today. Our boarding group was 56 and guess when our group was called Fortunately, if you bring your restaurant receipt to the ride, they honor it. ROTR went down twice while we were there. The first time we left to ride Smuggler's Run and lo and behold about 15 minutes into that queue, ROTR was operating again, so we left SR to head to ROTR. We were having a heck of a time getting on this ride. Finally, we get in line and we get to the very front where they take you into the preshow room, and it went down again We were the next in line to go in, so we saw all the comings and goings of CM's trying to figure things out. We probably waited about 40 minutes, but it wasn't so bad actually because we could see what was going on and it rained while we were in there, so we missed that. The ride was great and we were glad to experience it It's so much different than anything else Disney has done before. We also rode TOT, TSM, and Star Tours. DHS was pretty rough the first half of the day especially. The ride waits were quite long and Galaxy's Edge was crazy. All in all, the day got better as it progressed. We'd like to try Smuggler's Run on Wednesday. We are doing Epcot that day and will try to get to the Studios that evening. Hopefully it won't be so crazy that time of day. Tomorrow is MK

 

[Dentam]

Well, dang - so much for the reports of the crowds going down quite a bit.

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

Well, dang - so much for the reports of the crowds going down quite a bit.

Regular August traveler here. Only two park days so far (Epcot yesterday & Studios today) so not a large sample size. Crowds are noticeable lower than our past August trips. Caveat for Studios is that there's so little to do the LINES are way longer.

 

[SimonSez]

Well, dang - so much for the reports of the crowds going down quite a bit.

Epcot and AK haven't been that bad. AK was actually had the lightest crowds of any of our trips there. DHS is nuts because of Galaxy's Edge and trying to score Boarding Groups. It was also 96 degrees today. The wait times were freaking long, but we actually did more than I thought we would. Haven't been to MK yet this trip, we go tomorrow. Boo Bash is starting so I'm expecting some crowds there

 

[SimonSez]

Just wanted to give a quick review of our recent two week stay in the World. Overall, we had a fantastic trip. This was our first time visiting since 2019. We skipped our yearly trip for 2020 due to covid etc.

Positive highlights:

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, our favorite resort, and it was outstanding as usual. We had a standard view room that had a glorious view of the contemporary and MK fireworks. We we were on the 4th floor so we had a closed balcony, and a view of the smokehouse as well. Usually don’t like that, but honestly, the closed balcony blocked the smokehouse view, and the contemporary\fireworks more than made up for any negatives. The remodeled rooms are gorgeous. Wasn’t sure how we would like them being fans of the old decor, but Disney really did it right. Especially the bathrooms, lol.

We were on site for 12 days with a 10 day park ticket. The parks were PACKED and initially we were very concerned without having fast passes etc. After our first two park days that concern went away. Frankly, I hope fast pass does not return as the lines, while very, very long, moved very quickly and efficiently. Example, BTMRR had a line out past the Splash bridge and we were on the ride in roughly 30 minutes. We found this to be the case with almost all the attractions with the exception of huge hitters like FOP which were 60-90 minutes. We also found the posted wait times to be much higher than the actual waits.

Hollywood Studios. What was our least favorite park, is quite possibly our favorite now. Galaxy’s Edge is amazing, and ROR and Smugglers run were fantastic. We managed to score a boarding pass for ROR for both days we were there. It is a truly amazing ride and just can’t be explained without seeing it. We were also incredibly impressed with Mickey and Minnie’s runaway railroad. We absolutely LOVED this attraction. Old school Disney at its absolute best. Feels like a classic already.

Epcot.. Had a great overall experience there regardless of the construction. Love the crystal pillars for the fountain being back, and food and wine was awesome. Animal Kingdom, the same as always, but we love it as well.

Negatives:

Honestly, not much. Our biggest disappointment was that Disney re-instated the indoor mask policy on day 8 of our visit. We were very disappointed in this as one of the reasons we kept the trip booked was they had lifted the mandate some time ago. We dealt with it, but I would not would wanted to have dealt with it throughout our entire stay. Would have been better if it was truly only indoors, but they also had you masking in outdoor queues as well as outdoor attractions. Please no discussions that will close a thread over this. Just noting our thoughts and experience.

Overall, as I mentioned, we had a fantastic trip. Will we be going back again next year? Maybe. It really depends on what type of discounts they will offer. We were there this year with the 25% off room and honestly, it was still one of the most expensive trips we have ever taken. It will be hard to justify doing WDW yearly if things keep increasing as they have.

Last note. We did not miss the parades at all and thought the cavalcades were a great replacement. Spontaneous, short, and not crowd causing. Fireworks at MK and Epcot were great. We were very glad to see them back!

Thanks for the report. Glad your trip was good. We also don't miss the parades

 

[Dentam]

Haven't been to MK yet this trip, we go tomorrow. Boo Bash is starting so I'm expecting some crowds there

I am really looking forward to reading reports and watching vlogs about the first Boo Bash! We have tickets for it while we're there in Sept if we do end up going ahead with our trip. Hope you have a great MK day tomorrow!

 

[Gary Stocker]

So it has been rainy every day here around the same time (between 5 and 7ish) so capacity and ride waiting times are always in flux with the weather...honestly don't think Splash has been available while I have been here since Friday...but today at Epcot..with a few exceptions...was a perfect storm (pun intended).
When my son and I hopped and arrived around 4p we went to Soarin...which was a 10 min wait..Land walkon...went across...Spaceship walkon....Mission Space...walkon...skipped test track since I thought lightning in the area would cause it to go down...but was 25 min on TP when we passed.
School for a lot of Florida starts tomorrow/this week. I am starting to see a reduction in crowds as my trip progresses.
Good observation today..captain cooks meatballs still deliver the goods... as do frosty pineapples (rum and dole whip).from the Poly.
One outrage....they are MAKING children play in the circus part of the Dumbo queue
.they hand you a buzzer..much like in a restaurant..and when it lights up your child can ride Dumbo.
I asked the CM if we can skip it...you know Covid outbreak and stuff...and was told.."this is part of the queue now". Listen my son loved playing with other kids...the innocence of youth...but we spent 20 minutes or so in an enclosed "tent" with mostly tired parents sitting in bleachers while their kids (some with no masks .many with masks below their noses) played on top of one another...and this is "part of the queue?"
Honestly was flabbergasted by the whole thing..when we were finally furloughed the ride was maybe 1 minute long...so i recommend skipping Dumbo if you have covid related concerns.