Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[disneygirlsng]

I see what you're saying but...a quick screenshot of the number of dining experiences alone that are currently closed at MK. I count 18. Number listed as available: 20. Almost exactly half. As for replacing experiences with more COVID friendly alternatives - the alternatives aren't able to service nearly the same amount of guests. And a couple of the refurbs wouldn't be closed right now if Disney hadn't laid off so many construction workers. PeopleMover and the Railroad could have been up and running by now if construction hadn't ground to a halt for so long. That was my point. A whole lot of guests with no where to go. Not trying to start an argument, just looking at the realities of what it's like in the parks right now and what Disney needs to do to solve it.

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Only 10 of those are actual dining venues. But I get it, just not sure how much can be done about it quite yet.

 

[mamaofsix]

Most of those are fireworks parties of after hours events, not dining venues—they have no impact on crowds.

? After hours events and fireworks dining parties absorbed thousands of people a day into those experiences. I'd say they had an impact on spreading out / reducing crowds just as much as the closed restaurants did.

 

[loswest]

We were also at Epcot yesterday. The morning was great! We jumped on TT as soon as they let us into the park around 10:15, after just 5-10 minutes waiting for the ride to get started. By 10:45 we were walking on to Frozen with NO wait! I couldn’t believe how short the Frozen line was the first hour! We were also able to do Soarin, LWTL and Figment before lunch at 12:15. Looked at some art and headed out at 1:30pm.

When we came back at 5:30pm, it was MUCH busier. World Showcase was harder to walk around, Frozen line was down to China. It wasn’t really comfortable to be there, although the masking was better than we expected (having heard horror stories) about walking/drinking/eating.

We were at Epcot for MLK day weekend 2020 and it was so wall-to-wall people we literally couldn’t move. It was definitely not like that yesterday, but it also was very busy in the evening . We dealt with it by heading to the front of the park and doing more rides with pretty short waits, then circled back to buy something, and headed out.

What transportation did you use to get to the park at opening and which entrance did you go to? We're trying to figure out how to rope drop Epcot for our last day at the parks and it sounds like you had a great morning despite the holiday weekend.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Any experience with park hopping this weekend? Since this is the first time we've seen yellow days, just wondering if anyone has tried to hop to a yellow park and been turned away?

 

[disneygirlsng]

Any experience with park hopping this weekend? Since this is the first time we've seen yellow days, just wondering if anyone has tried to hop to a yellow park and been turned away?

I saw a post on FB of someone who called the park hopping hotline multiple times yesterday and all parks were always open. Haven't seen any other reports yet, interested if anyone else tried.

 

[golex]

For reference, MK, AK and Epcot ended up being about 30% busier yesterday week over week. No real change at HS since it’s already been running at near capacity.

 

[ckb_nc]

Anyone at MK today - seeing pics where they closed the line for Peter Pan which I can't ever remember being done

 

[WhitneyMB]

What transportation did you use to get to the park at opening and which entrance did you go to? We're trying to figure out how to rope drop Epcot for our last day at the parks and it sounds like you had a great morning despite the holiday weekend.

We walked over from Boardwalk Villas and entered at the International Gateway. Just adults and teens in our party.

 

[WhitneyMB]

For reference, MK, AK and Epcot ended up being about 30% busier yesterday week over week. No real change at HS since it’s already been running at near capacity.

The CMs on the ground are confirming this too. At MK today we went to get in a long line for Jungle Cruise and asked the CM at the line marker if it would really be about 50 minutes. He said he “wasn’t sure because we haven’t seen crowds like this since Christmas.” It ended up being about 40.

It’s very busy here at MK today! (as was to be expected)

 

[emilymad]

I am trying to read back some on this thread but where would be the best place to read transportation from Riviera to the parks? What time does transportation start running and how early should you get in line before that?

 

[lovethattink]

I am trying to read back some on this thread but where would be the best place to read transportation from Riviera to the parks? What time does transportation start running and how early should you get in line before that?

The transportation board would be the best place to read or ask about transportation.
https://www.disboards.com/forums/transportation.16/

 

[Chris Ehlers]

Anyone at MK today - seeing pics where they closed the line for Peter Pan which I can't ever remember being done

When we were there last weekend PP was closed for most of the day, when it opened the line went all the way back and into Columbia House and up stairs and back out, but that only took 45 min to get on ride

 

[Sbunit81]

Are crowds expected to be sustained during the entire week? Or is this just because of the long weeekend and things are expected to die down a bit come Tuesday? Normally I’d assume this would be a busy week but no idea what to expect this year. And we are flying down to Orlando tomorrow (decided not to stay at Disney however due to a number of pre-pandemic experiences missing, first time Ever in 15 years of traveling to Orlando for vacation). Will be trying the universal experience instead with a 2 day trips to Disney).

 

[MomOTwins]

? After hours events and fireworks dining parties absorbed thousands of people a day into those experiences. I'd say they had an impact on spreading out / reducing crowds just as much as the closed restaurants did.

Except the parks are not open in the early mornings (for the dining events like early morning fantasyland) or late evenings most days at the times they used to do fireworks. Recognize hours are extended the next few days for the holiday weekend, but that is really not the case any more for the most part. If the parks aren't open, no point in having an event to disperse crowds in the park because there won't be crowds (or anyone at all) in the parks.

 

[HokieRaven5]

? After hours events and fireworks dining parties absorbed thousands of people a day into those experiences. I'd say they had an impact on spreading out / reducing crowds just as much as the closed restaurants did.

Those are only going to impact crowds 1 hour before whenever HEA would've been scheduled though, which in Pre-COVID operation was scheduled at 8pm with either a 9pm closing during the week and 10pm on the weekends. So really they only absorb crowds for the last 2-3 hours of park operation. Sure they can help, but even in COVID operations the waits are dropping towards the end of park operations so their impact wouldn't be as substantial as you might think.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Are crowds expected to be sustained during the entire week? Or is this just because of the long weeekend and things are expected to die down a bit come Tuesday? Normally I’d assume this would be a busy week but no idea what to expect this year. And we are flying down to Orlando tomorrow (decided not to stay at Disney however due to a number of pre-pandemic experiences missing, first time Ever in 15 years of traveling to Orlando for vacation). Will be trying the universal experience instead with a 2 day trips to Disney).

Nobody really knows as as you pointed out, nobody knows what to expect this year. Have a great trip!

 

[BigOHawk]

Peter Pan down or just getting a minor facelift and rike is ok? Looked like the scrims were out front...

 

[MomOTwins]

Nobody really knows as as you pointed out, nobody knows what to expect this year. Have a great trip!

Well, Disney knows because they can see park pass data, and apparently they think the whole week will be busy since they extended park hours so much.

Peter Pan down or just getting a minor facelift and rike is ok? Looked like the scrims were out front...

Work being done on the queue but ride is up and running.

 

[boop0524]

Question for those who've been driving to the parks. We're doing a last minute trip to Epcot and Hollywood Studios here soon. Is it still a good strategy to plan on arriving at the park an hour before posted opening? Worked great for us in December, but not sure if things have changed.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Question for those who've been driving to the parks. We're doing a last minute trip to Epcot and Hollywood Studios here soon. Is it still a good strategy to plan on arriving at the park an hour before posted opening? Worked great for us in December, but not sure if things have changed.

That's still a good strategy.