*** Official August 2021 thread ***

jbrinkm said:
I've always wondered how many people switch parks when they see low crowd predictions, and how much that changes the level from the original prediction... I was thinking about switching a few parks around but also running into the ADR issue.
Click to expand...
I admit I changed to HS when the predictions were updated for today.. and it seemed busy. Only went on Aerosmith...and failed twice at Rise. Regret making that call...thems the breaks.
 
i think because its only a best guess i wouldnt change my whole plan around if it was a pain to do so. if i had no adrs and was up in the air about which park to do i might use those numbers to help make my final decision though.
 
Last edited:
I switched my HS day from a crowd level 4 to a crowd level 2 day. I don't love where it falls in our plans but we only have 2 parks days this trip.....IF we still go which we STILL have not decided
 


Someone confirmed its the alps and spain that opened. Hoping the lobster booth opens too while we are there lol
 
We are back from our trip and we had an amazing time! We hadn’t been since June, 2018 and we really enjoyed everything! You know how some trips are just perfect and everything works out? That was pretty much this trip for us. I can’t really think of anything we’d change or a bad experience or interaction we had. It was just a great trip all around. We didn’t have any plans for future trips after this one - other places we want to visit - but we are now thinking of doing another two week trip in 2023. We’ll see…

Anyway, my new favorite ride is Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. I had zero idea what to expect and I thought it was so much fun! We rode it three times! We got to ride several rides multiple times - we rode Space Mountain four times over the course of our trip! We didn’t find wait times bad at all. Lines are constantly moving and it gave us time to take in the ride queues instead of skipping them - some queues are really cool!

We loved, loved, loved mobile ordering. I don’t think we ever waited more than 10 minutes (and that’s a stretch) once we clicked the “I’m here, prepare my order” button.

We didn’t mind the absence of Mousekeeping. We did get our towels changed and trash emptied every other day. I did have to call at the BC twice to ask them to do this, but it was always done as scheduled at the Poly. On our fifth day at the BC, our sheets were changed, which was a welcomed surprise.

We had some awesome interactions with CMs. I plan on emailing Disney to acknowledge some of them. We didn’t see one grumpy CM.

Parks are clean. We didn’t see any overflowing trash cans or towels laying in hallways.

If you’re still reading my post, thank you! For those of you that have upcoming trips, enjoy!
 
disny_luvr said:
We are back from our trip and we had an amazing time! We hadn’t been since June, 2018 and we really enjoyed everything! You know how some trips are just perfect and everything works out? That was pretty much this trip for us. I can’t really think of anything we’d change or a bad experience or interaction we had. It was just a great trip all around. We didn’t have any plans for future trips after this one - other places we want to visit - but we are now thinking of doing another two week trip in 2023. We’ll see…

Anyway, my new favorite ride is Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. I had zero idea what to expect and I thought it was so much fun! We rode it three times! We got to ride several rides multiple times - we rode Space Mountain four times over the course of our trip! We didn’t find wait times bad at all. Lines are constantly moving and it gave us time to take in the ride queues instead of skipping them - some queues are really cool!

We loved, loved, loved mobile ordering. I don’t think we ever waited more than 10 minutes (and that’s a stretch) once we clicked the “I’m here, prepare my order” button.

We didn’t mind the absence of Mousekeeping. We did get our towels changed and trash emptied every other day. I did have to call at the BC twice to ask them to do this, but it was always done as scheduled at the Poly. On our fifth day at the BC, our sheets were changed, which was a welcomed surprise.

We had some awesome interactions with CMs. I plan on emailing Disney to acknowledge some of them. We didn’t see one grumpy CM.

Parks are clean. We didn’t see any overflowing trash cans or towels laying in hallways.

If you’re still reading my post, thank you! For those of you that have upcoming trips, enjoy!
Click to expand...
I’m so glad you had such a great time! I love happy people. 🥰
 


Here Now report from our AK day. AK is amazing right now! We did not bother with rope drop—props to other families that can swing being at the bus stop at 6:30, but my kids are not up for it, so we took it easy, had a nice breakfast from Primo Piatto and headed to bus stop around 8.

First stop was EE. Got there at 8:40. Walk on. Rode it twice with no wait and could have kept going but opted to branch out. Kali also a walk on. 10 minute wait for Safari. Then headed to Pandora where FOP was posted 60 and Navi was posted 35–both accurate within 5/10 mins. Did not do lion king but was near it at various times in the morning and they were letting people in right up until show time so must not have been full.

At that point we had an early lunch at Tusker House. I actually really enjoyed the food—not sure why all the lukewarm reviews. Maybe because out bill came out the same as topolinos dinner yesterday, which was a much nicer meal, but you are mostly paying for characters. The shrimp curry is outstanding. We were sat in a side room where there were table between us and the characters and I was worried the character experience would suffer, but it was great. The little side room turned out to be very lively and we were all singing, clapping and cheering when the characters visited so they spend a good amount of time with us. Mickey played a fun game where we clapped and chanted his name and he “conducted” us to go louder and quieter, faster and slower. Kids loved it and got really into it, including the older ones who claimed they were only willing to go to character meals for the sake of their little brother.:rotfl:

After stuffing ourselves we stopped at dinosaur and it was just a 10 minute wait, inclusive of preshow. We went back for a swim but are very pleased with what we accomplished before 1pm on a day we slept in.

Mask compliance was also pretty much perfect today. We have been on three covid trips and were stunned how much better mask compliance has been this trip—never saw a nose all day after entering a ride queue.
 
Idk how many of you are following the here and now thread but it was posted that RotR was allowing standby guests yesterday after all boarding groups were complete. By 830pm it was a walk on. Not sure if that will happen again or how often but awesome that it even happened at all.
 
The13thLetter said:
Idk how many of you are following the here and now thread but it was posted that RotR was allowing standby guests yesterday after all boarding groups were complete. By 830pm it was a walk on. Not sure if that will happen again or how often but awesome that it even happened at all.
Click to expand...
That would explain the insane line outside of ROTR queue in the last 2 hours of park opening on Saturday. I couldn’t figure out why so many people were backed up scanning in with boarding pass.
 
We just finished (8/9-8/15) our 6 night, 5 park day trip and found it as magical as always. Wait times and crowds were the lowest we have ever seen. We always travel during school breaks and are used to much higher crowds. Our longest ride wait was for Little Mermaid, of all things (15 minutes.) We walked on to essentially everything, or waited 10 minutes or less. We did rope drop, took a daily break (except for Epcot day) and rode until closing. We generally accomplished everything I had planned for morning and afternoon before we broke for lunch. This allowed for swimming and naps in afternoon. We rode some headliners multiple times, and only skipped minor rides that we were fine with skipping. We didn’t do all the shows, but really enjoyed the few we did.

Transportation was very smooth. More frequent buses than we are used to (we stayed at Pop for the first time), and the Skyliner was glorious. Line for Skyliner at closing was long, but moved fairly quickly. That said, if parks were crowded, I would personally avoid leaving HS right at closing. We did run into getting stuck at CBR Skyliner hub when weather rolled through. CMs took names for buses, and walked guests onto a bus to HS or Pop. We also had to take buses from Pop to HS directly when skyliner was down for daily afternoon lightning. We were hoping to ride Skyliner to Riviera for breakfast at Primo Piatto, but were not allowed on from CBR, so just walked. This was a nice walk.

Mask compliance was fairly good. We did encounter guests in every queue who took masks off immediately after entry. CMs did not address this. Crowds were generally polite, but I did have an irate lady yell at me in line— apparently she mistook me (in a mask) for someone else. Her family apologized, but it was alarming. Guest behavior can always be erratic. Although there was no formal social distancing, we never experienced the crush of people that we have in past trips. Rope drop was more of a spread out walk than running and pushing, people held back a bit more in lines.

This was our first extended stay at a value, and I loved Pop! The rooms are very efficient and peaceful, the Skyliner access is great, and we enjoyed the pools. My teenage son missed the usual extras of the deluxe hotels, but we stayed for 6 nights for the cost of 2 at our usual favorite. We will definitely keep Pop in the mix with future stays. (I would not say the same for All Stars.)

Food was fabulous. I ended up booking 2 dining reservations a day to ensure down time for grandparents and myself with a recent knee injury. I generally don’t like the stress of quick service meals with a largish party. I like to be waited on! We ordered either an appetizer, or an entree (often splitting between 2 people), and enjoyed having a cool break from crowds for lunch and dinner. Most restaurants were only seating at about half their tables. Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom restaurants were the exception. When booking for a party of 7, I had had to split reservations into 2 tables. All restaurants except Skipper Canteen were able to combine our tables. We even added 3 people as a walk up to our table at Mama Melrose when we ran into friends from home with no issue. We ate at Sci Fi, Mama Melrose, Saana, Yak and Yeti, Rose and Crown, Grand Floridian Cafe, Skipper Canteen, Hollywood Brown Derby, and Oga’s. They were all excellent— food and service. We also ate at booths on our Epcot day— China, Japan, Australia, as well as Kabuki Cafe, Les Halles, and the French ice cream store.

Happy travels to all those who are visiting soon! Feel free to ask questions.
 
Mainemama said:
We just finished (8/9-8/15) our 6 night, 5 park day trip and found it as magical as always. Wait times and crowds were the lowest we have ever seen. We always travel during school breaks and are used to much higher crowds. Our longest ride wait was for Little Mermaid, of all things (15 minutes.) We walked on to essentially everything, or waited 10 minutes or less. We did rope drop, took a daily break (except for Epcot day) and rode until closing. We generally accomplished everything I had planned for morning and afternoon before we broke for lunch. This allowed for swimming and naps in afternoon. We rode some headliners multiple times, and only skipped minor rides that we were fine with skipping. We didn’t do all the shows, but really enjoyed the few we did.

Transportation was very smooth. More frequent buses than we are used to (we stayed at Pop for the first time), and the Skyliner was glorious. Line for Skyliner at closing was long, but moved fairly quickly. That said, if parks were crowded, I would personally avoid leaving HS right at closing. We did run into getting stuck at CBR Skyliner hub when weather rolled through. CMs took names for buses, and walked guests onto a bus to HS or Pop. We also had to take buses from Pop to HS directly when skyliner was down for daily afternoon lightning. We were hoping to ride Skyliner to Riviera for breakfast at Primo Piatto, but were not allowed on from CBR, so just walked. This was a nice walk.

Mask compliance was fairly good. We did encounter guests in every queue who took masks off immediately after entry. CMs did not address this. Crowds were generally polite, but I did have an irate lady yell at me in line— apparently she mistook me (in a mask) for someone else. Her family apologized, but it was alarming. Guest behavior can always be erratic. Although there was no formal social distancing, we never experienced the crush of people that we have in past trips. Rope drop was more of a spread out walk than running and pushing, people held back a bit more in lines.

This was our first extended stay at a value, and I loved Pop! The rooms are very efficient and peaceful, the Skyliner access is great, and we enjoyed the pools. My teenage son missed the usual extras of the deluxe hotels, but we stayed for 6 nights for the cost of 2 at our usual favorite. We will definitely keep Pop in the mix with future stays. (I would not say the same for All Stars.)

Food was fabulous. I ended up booking 2 dining reservations a day to ensure down time for grandparents and myself with a recent knee injury. I generally don’t like the stress of quick service meals with a largish party. I like to be waited on! We ordered either an appetizer, or an entree (often splitting between 2 people), and enjoyed having a cool break from crowds for lunch and dinner. Most restaurants were only seating at about half their tables. Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom restaurants were the exception. When booking for a party of 7, I had had to split reservations into 2 tables. All restaurants except Skipper Canteen were able to combine our tables. We even added 3 people as a walk up to our table at Mama Melrose when we ran into friends from home with no issue. We ate at Sci Fi, Mama Melrose, Saana, Yak and Yeti, Rose and Crown, Grand Floridian Cafe, Skipper Canteen, Hollywood Brown Derby, and Oga’s. They were all excellent— food and service. We also ate at booths on our Epcot day— China, Japan, Australia, as well as Kabuki Cafe, Les Halles, and the French ice cream store.

Happy travels to all those who are visiting soon! Feel free to ask questions.
Click to expand...
This is great and sounds so similar to our upcoming trip. Why couldn't you ride the SL from CBR to RR? weather? Primo is on my "to-do" list and I want to make sure I know how to get there from Pop!
 
Mainemama said:
We just finished (8/9-8/15) our 6 night, 5 park day trip and found it as magical as always. Wait times and crowds were the lowest we have ever seen. We always travel during school breaks and are used to much higher crowds. Our longest ride wait was for Little Mermaid, of all things (15 minutes.) We walked on to essentially everything, or waited 10 minutes or less. We did rope drop, took a daily break (except for Epcot day) and rode until closing. We generally accomplished everything I had planned for morning and afternoon before we broke for lunch. This allowed for swimming and naps in afternoon. We rode some headliners multiple times, and only skipped minor rides that we were fine with skipping. We didn’t do all the shows, but really enjoyed the few we did.

Transportation was very smooth. More frequent buses than we are used to (we stayed at Pop for the first time), and the Skyliner was glorious. Line for Skyliner at closing was long, but moved fairly quickly. That said, if parks were crowded, I would personally avoid leaving HS right at closing. We did run into getting stuck at CBR Skyliner hub when weather rolled through. CMs took names for buses, and walked guests onto a bus to HS or Pop. We also had to take buses from Pop to HS directly when skyliner was down for daily afternoon lightning. We were hoping to ride Skyliner to Riviera for breakfast at Primo Piatto, but were not allowed on from CBR, so just walked. This was a nice walk.

Mask compliance was fairly good. We did encounter guests in every queue who took masks off immediately after entry. CMs did not address this. Crowds were generally polite, but I did have an irate lady yell at me in line— apparently she mistook me (in a mask) for someone else. Her family apologized, but it was alarming. Guest behavior can always be erratic. Although there was no formal social distancing, we never experienced the crush of people that we have in past trips. Rope drop was more of a spread out walk than running and pushing, people held back a bit more in lines.

This was our first extended stay at a value, and I loved Pop! The rooms are very efficient and peaceful, the Skyliner access is great, and we enjoyed the pools. My teenage son missed the usual extras of the deluxe hotels, but we stayed for 6 nights for the cost of 2 at our usual favorite. We will definitely keep Pop in the mix with future stays. (I would not say the same for All Stars.)

Food was fabulous. I ended up booking 2 dining reservations a day to ensure down time for grandparents and myself with a recent knee injury. I generally don’t like the stress of quick service meals with a largish party. I like to be waited on! We ordered either an appetizer, or an entree (often splitting between 2 people), and enjoyed having a cool break from crowds for lunch and dinner. Most restaurants were only seating at about half their tables. Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom restaurants were the exception. When booking for a party of 7, I had had to split reservations into 2 tables. All restaurants except Skipper Canteen were able to combine our tables. We even added 3 people as a walk up to our table at Mama Melrose when we ran into friends from home with no issue. We ate at Sci Fi, Mama Melrose, Saana, Yak and Yeti, Rose and Crown, Grand Floridian Cafe, Skipper Canteen, Hollywood Brown Derby, and Oga’s. They were all excellent— food and service. We also ate at booths on our Epcot day— China, Japan, Australia, as well as Kabuki Cafe, Les Halles, and the French ice cream store.

Happy travels to all those who are visiting soon! Feel free to ask questions.
Click to expand...
Appreciate the report! We are due to arrive next week. How was the spacing at Brown Derby and Rose & Crown?

We have Le Cellier booked one night but am tempted to switch - as I’ve read tables are very close to each other.
 
5Tulips said:
Appreciate the report! We are due to arrive next week. How was the spacing at Brown Derby and Rose & Crown?

We have Le Cellier booked one night but am tempted to switch - as I’ve read tables are very close to each other.
Click to expand...

We are avoiding Prix Fixe restaurants during our stay. Those are the ones where they seem to be jamming people in.
 
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