Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[wilkydelts]

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[czmom]

I am staying at GF next week, but meeting friends at MK who are staying offsite. What is the best way for them to be able to meet us for rope drop? Is the ferry or monorail from TTC faster? Also- what time has MK actually been letting people in? Thank you!

 

[Gehrig1B]

I am staying at GF next week, but meeting friends at MK who are staying offsite. What is the best way for them to be able to meet us for rope drop? Is the ferry or monorail from TTC faster? Also- what time has MK actually been letting people in? Thank you!

We were dropped at Contemporary 90 minutes prior to park opening. Held first at security on the pathway around 7:55, again along the pathway until about 8:05... We were some of the first to line up at the tapstiles. When all the tapstiles were filled about 15-20 deep, the park opened. It was about 8:15.

We walked in just before the buses were allowed to unload, monorail and ferry a few minutes later.

If they try the rideshare to Contemporary method be aware you may be denied entry without some sort of dining reservation. One morning the Uber driver had to drop us at the World Drive intersection because we were too early for our ADR at the Wave.

They could always try to meet you at the Grand Floridian, just have the driver give security your name.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I am staying at GF next week, but meeting friends at MK who are staying offsite. What is the best way for them to be able to meet us for rope drop? Is the ferry or monorail from TTC faster? Also- what time has MK actually been letting people in? Thank you!

Are you both familiar with the MK? If so, I would recommend finding a common place to meet inside the park. Possibly in front of the Fire Station as it's not too busy there but close to the entrance?

 

[czmom]

Are you both familiar with the MK? If so, I would recommend finding a common place to meet inside the park. Possibly in front of the Fire Station as it's not too busy there but close to the entrance?

We can definitely meet inside the park! I just want to be at MK when they unofficially open. Can offsite guests get there that early from the TTC?

 

[Leigh L]

We can definitely meet inside the park! I just want to be at MK when they unofficially open. Can offsite guests get there that early from the TTC?

We did last week
Toll booths open at 8 a.m. and you can pretty much walk onto a ferry or monorail once you get there from the parking lot. We lined up at 7:30 one day and 7:40 another. Both days put us close to the front of the line to the booths and we got a few headliners in before official park opening (we didn't go to 7DMT though, that's where everyone seems to go)

I think it's pretty much equal by ferry or monorail if they are there early to park. Monorail did stop for a few minutes for traffic to clear, but the ferry takes a few minutes to fill up (edited to add, we tried both on our MK days).

 

[wilkydelts]

Are they still doing buses from TTC to help keep the crowds flowing to MK?

 

[ZellyB]

We got back on Sunday from a week-long visit with 6 park days. We stayed at Shades of Green and had our own car. This was our first time going where I needed to use an ECV due to a serious health condition that limits my stamina and ability to walk. It was me, my husband, our 17-year old twin daughters and two of their 17-year old friends for a travel group of 6. The weather was just spectacular. One day with a very short rain shower but the rest of the time, sunny with upper-70s and low-80s for temps,. None of us had a problem wearing the masks. We are all used to wearing them at work and school and the temps weren't high enough to cause any added discomfort.

The parks were a bit more crowded than I was hoping. Just thought maybe sneaking in between President's Day week and spring breaks might be smaller crowds, but it was actually still pretty busy. We saw mostly great compliance with masking and multiple times I heard CMs very kindly ask people to pull their masks up over their noses. While there were a few times we were in some fairly tight crowd spots, they usually cleared quickly as we moved through. I found using the ECV to be very easy. We had a trailer on our car and brought our own ECV so we just trailored it in each day. CMs were so helpful in letting us know how to navigate the lines. Honestly just a breeze and I appreciate how user-friendly the park is for those with mobility issues. We did not get a DAS as my only issues are stamina and walking and as long as I could use the scooter I had no problems with going through the regular queue. I think for 3 rides they sent me through an alternate entrance or gave us a return time (Spaceship Earth, Peter Pan and Haunted Mansion).

We rope-dropped each day and arrived early. A couple of times we got turned away at the parking gates for being too early, but a quick loop around usually got us back in line on time. We found the parks were generally already letting people tap in by the time we parked and got to the tapstiles -roughly 30-45 minutes before posted park open.

We had, as expected, short waits in the mornings where we tried to knock out some of the more popular rides. Lines in the afternoons were typically 45-60 minutes for most of the major attractions. Crazy how spaced out the lines are now and we typically found most people were conscious of distancing and tried to adhere. Usually the closer you got to the attraction the more people were likely to get too close, but I never felt like it was dangerously close. Even though lines were long, the fact that they move pretty constantly helped make it seem not so bad.

We did two DHS days to try and get Rise boarding groups. I failed on the first morning but we got a standby group at 1 and were in the next to the last group called that day. We were so excited and the ride was amazing. On the second day I got boarding group 55, so getting to ride the ride 2 times during our visit felt like a triumph. We were all in awe of the ride/experience. We also adored Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Train ride. Thought it was adorable and so very Disney.

Dining was a bit of a chore on days where we just did QS, but mostly it worked out okay.

I badly missed the fireworks at MK. One of my absolutely favorite things there, but we made the best of the trip regardless. I think for people like us who have been several times, it's easier to be satisfied with what is available. I would hate for this trip to have been my first though. Too many wonderful magical things that are missing, IMO. We saw multiple cavalcades in various parks and they were certainly cute and appreciated. We've never been a big parade family, so these short little snippets were actually perfect for our tastes.

We did go to Disney Springs one night for a few hours and I was anticipating a lot of mask issues there, but honestly mostly we saw people who were being compliant. We had to wait in a short line to get into World of Disney and another store was at capacity but we decided to move on, but otherwise you could walk into most of the stores.

We did have a meal at California Grill on our second-to-last night and it was fabulous as always. The girls loved it as they'd never really been to that fancy of a restaurant before and it just made for a lovely evening being able to look out over the castle. Overall, we had a great trip.

If I can answer any questions otherwise about our trip, I'd be happy to do so.

 

[Castlequeen5]

Dining was a bit of a chore on days where we just did QS, but mostly it worked out okay.

Why did you consider QS a chore? Mobile ordering? Hard to find a table? We will be doing some quick service on our trip in a few weeks, and I’m trying to get all the tips and advice I can.

 

[ZellyB]

Why did you consider QS a chore? Mobile ordering? Hard to find a table? We will be doing some quick service on our trip in a few weeks, and I’m trying to get all the tips and advice I can.

Mostly it was the lack of options. Many QS restaurants are still closed so we were stuck choosing some that we might not have chosen normally. Mobile ordering worked well except one time at ABC Commissary where we couldn't get the order to go through and we had to go to the CMs at the podium. They did something to fix it but then it got them all confused again when we went to pick up the food. Ultimately it was fine, but just a bit of a pain. Seating a couple of times was difficult to find but I think that was more because we were a group of 6. Again we were always able to find something but it took a bit of patience. It wasn't anything huge, just some minor inconveniences. I'd just make sure you know ahead of time which restaurants are open. One day we waited outside Columbia Harbor House waiting for my kids to join us until we realized the restaurant isn't open and is being used for the Peter Pan queue. LOL

 

[Wood Nymph]

Just went to change our park pass for tomorrow and everything but Epcot is unavailable for passholders. MK and DHS unavailable for everyone.

Where can I go to check to see if a park reservation is available before trying to make a reservation. I hesitate to cancel one park before knowing if there is availability at the park I want to change to.

We are here now and I echo everyone else who said that social distancing just doesn’t exist.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Where can I go to check to see if a park reservation is available before trying to make a reservation. I hesitate to cancel one park before knowing if there is availability at the park I want to change to.

We are here now and I echo everyone else who said that social distancing just doesn’t exist.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

I am back in the hotel getting some rest after my morning in MK



I headed to Peter Pan 1st which turned out to be a good choice as Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was down all morning (and was still down as of 2 PM when I left - though looks to be up now at 3:20) (Pirates was down from open until around 10:30)

After Peter Pan, I did some photos with photo pass photographers while the park was still mostly empty around those areas. I was able to do the following before 10:40AM: Big Thunder, Splash, Flying Carpets, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, and Peter Pan again. I was in line to go to Mickey's Philharmonic at 10:48, got held for another show, and bounced at 11:15 as I had a 11:30 lunch reservation at Tony's and wanted to be early so that I had a better chance of sitting outside.

For lunch, I had a salad, fried mozzarella, a latte, and the chocolate-hazelnut budino. The patio was wonderful - almost too chilly to be honest as the rain cooled things off! The Dapper Dan's sang atop the train station. I saw most of the cavalcades go by - they are doing shorter ones this week with just a single float and/or a character on a horse. Tink has her own cavalcade now. Mickey's float had him, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, and the "Mickey Get Your Ears On" dancers. Minnie was missing today and one of the dancers was standing in her spot. Also missing: Pooh isn't with Rabbit, Eeyore, and Piglet.



NOTES: MASK compliance was about 95% and the crowds didn't seem as crowded as the previous days.

AND: If you are a larger family/group traveling together please, please, PLEASE make things easier on yourself and the Cast Members by knowing WHO is riding with WHO AND what the seating is on each ride. I saw families getting up to Peter Pan today not quite clear which kid was riding with mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc). And yesterday, they had to STOP Toy Story Mania as a group of 18 had to decide which adult had which of the six or seven kids with them.

(edited)

 

[sequoia 14]

We just got back from a 4 day stay. I am a long time lurker, but wanted to add our perspective from a trip involving a newly 4 and 6 year old (the trip was celebrating their birthdays). Weather was beautiful. Our kids are used to mask wearing at school so it didn't seem to bother them. We stayed one night at the Yacht Club and really enjoyed Stormalong Bay. Staying there allowed us to walk to DHS in the morning and then hop over to Epcot via the Skyliner. We didn't try for a ROLR boarding group, but otherwise were able to knock off MMRT, Millennium Falcon, Aliens, Toy Story, Muppets, the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy, a character meal at Hollywood & Vine, and the Frozen show by 2. The longest waits were for the shows due to the limited capacity. If you want to see Frozen show make sure you are there 30 minutes prior. We ended up just missing the first two we tried to see by arriving 10 minutes before and then 15 minutes before. The kids loved riding the Skyliner. We waited 35 minutes for the Frozen ride after hopping and the cast members told us it is usually longer. Frozen was the only ride where I felt the plexiglass really detracted from the experience. The girls loved talking to Elsa and Mary Poppins in their respective gardens and also saw the princess parade roll by. Definitely stop by the World Showcase if your kids like seeing characters. Epcot was pretty crowded, but it was a weekend and we expected it.

We then moved over to the Contemporary that allowed us to walk to the MK. This was huge as it was easier on the kids and allowed us to ride multiple rides (Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan, Pirates, Seven Dwarfs, Big Thunder Railroad) before opening over the course of 2 1/2 days. There was an 30 minute average wait for the lesser rides and 60+ for the bigger rides after about 1030. Gaston's Tavern took 25 minutes from entering the line to sitting down at a table. The waits that stood out to us for being a bit strange were that It's a Small World & the Carousel consistently had a 60+ minute wait until the evening. The Speedway and the Haunted Mansion were the opposite by rarely going over 20 minutes when we checked. We had to constantly adjust our "plans" according to the wait times and kids temperaments. We were able to ride everything we wanted though over our multi-day visit. If we had only had one day though I think we would have been harried and frustrated. The wait times for the most part were pretty accurate in that they were within 10 minutes of the projected time in either direction. The character parades were pretty frequent mid-day and we saw a ton of characters. We even saw Chip & Dale on one of the Tom Sawyer Island boats and it was super cute.

We debated whether or not to bring a stroller and we are really glad we did. The extended queues due to social distancing really added to how much the kids were walking and having the stroller helped them rest between attractions. It also gave them some breaks from the sun as a lot of the queues were in the sun---while that was ok for us as the highs were only in the 80s I'm not sure how the kids would have held up in the summer heat/humidity.

We made sure to have one sit down table service lunch each day and this ended up working great with the combination of air conditioning, a mask break and filling our bellies easily.

The waterslide at the Contemporary pool was the perfect size for our kids' ages.

We did Disney Springs on a Sunday (against my better judgement, but we were meeting family). It was very busy. Gideon's had a 4 hour virtual queue by 2pm and all of the big stores had at least a 20 minute wait to get into the store. Pack your patience if you do DS on a weekend.

My phone app was also wonky throughout our trip and we had to mobile order/check-in to table service dining in person multiple times. Reactions varied, but all the cast members ultimately let us do so. This did slow us down though on the mobile ordering as we couldn't just walk in to grab the food when we arrived.

95% of park goers wore their masks and tried to social distance in the lines. Just know though that the parks are not anywhere near empty right now and it is inevitable that you will be in close contact with people from time to time while walking around. I just wanted to throw that out there for those that wouldn't be comfortable with that.

Overall, it wasn't anywhere near the same as a normal visit, but we had a great time as we had researched what was going to be open & went into with an open mind. A positive to not having fireworks is that the kids were asleep at their normal bedtimes and they are still on their Disney high as I write this.

 

[jo-jo]

Question about masks and eating. Our last trip in Dec of 2019, we bought PB& J sandwiches and juice boxes in and just sat on a wall somewhere and ate. Are you still allowed to do that? I haven't read every post, but haven't seen that mentioned.

We are still debating over a family trip that is about 5 weeks from now. It would be with 6 kids ages 4- 16.

 

[mkb3]

As far as rides for Animal Kingdome we only do Pandora and the Safari. Is it still best to rope drop or are the lines manageable (around an hour) towards closing? We would love to sleep in on our AK day like normal as we usually have been lucky to snag FOP Fast Passes on previous visits, then waited in line for the other two without issue.

 

[lovethattink]

Question about masks and eating. Our last trip in Dec of 2019, we bought PB& J sandwiches and juice boxes in and just sat on a wall somewhere and ate. Are you still allowed to do that? I haven't read every post, but haven't seen that mentioned.

We are still debating over a family trip that is about 5 weeks from now. It would be with 6 kids ages 4- 16.

Yes, you may bring in your own food, drinks, snacks.

 

[jo-jo]

Yes, you may bring in your own food, drinks, snacks.

But you can just stop anyway to eat? Not certain "no mask" zone?

 

[scrappinginontario]

But you can just stop anyway to eat? Not certain "no mask" zone?

Yes but you must be off to the side and fully stopped to eat or drink. No sipping or eating while in motion.

 

[lovethattink]

But you can just stop anyway to eat? Not certain "no mask" zone?

As an example, one of the times we went to MK, we ate packed sandwiches sitting on a bench not far from the store at Splash Mountain in the late morning. Then ate at Cosmic Rays around 3pm when it wasn’t nearly as busy.

Here are 2 links to Disney’s policy.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/#drawer-card-faceCoverings
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/dine/[/QUOTE]