Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Carol_]

We just got back. HS was packed with long waits, MK was better than usual, and AK crowds were good but the offerings were so slimmed down as to be barely worth it. I still waited 40 min to get on FOP but having never obtained a FP before, I figured this was my only chance to ride it. I hated the movie but the ride was great.
MCO is much busier than it was in June. (June was spooky empty.)

 

[AKVFamily]

Hello friends!

First off thank you all for your commentary and suggestions through this board; it was very helpful when I was planning our trip. We are now sitting in the Orlando airport (which is very, very quiet and many stores and dining places are closed) after a 4 night stay at Copper Creek. We did the parks over 5 days, with 2 days in Epcot to enjoy F&W, spending 1 day is each other park. Our resort was nice and quiet. As previously mentioned, the hotel side of WL is not open and it is just Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek that is open to guests. The pools were lovely and guests generally spread out both by virtue of the chairs situated, but also in the water. Only 1 time did we leave the hot tub when a bit too many people for my comfort level started coming in. If you are staying at WL or want to dine at Geyser Point, just a couple thoughts. We love Geyser Point and always go during our trips. The word must have gotten out and the fact that it is outdoor, has lended itself to being more popular right now. On our first night, Wednesday evening, we were hoping to grab dinner and a drink, but the wait for a table was over an hour. We ended up just ordering from the bar and eating at the tables near Roaring Forks. When you go up, there is a line with markers to order from the bar or a cast member with an iPad to take your name and phone number, then they will text you when the table is ready. Another night, since we knew the procedure now, came by a bit earlier, put our names down for a table and were seated in about 35 minutes (this was around 9:30pm and they kept the kitchen open a little late so that they could accommodate us for dinner). Mobile ordering at Roaring Forks was hit or miss. As WDW has been highly encouraging guests to use mobile order, it has inevitably had bugs with the system. One morning we could not use the app for mobile ordering and when I asked a cast member how we could order, they pointed to the sign about mobile ordering. We explained that we had tried multiple times on the app on two separate phones, repeatedly receiving an error message (v frustrating). The cast member finally took our order at the cash register. It seemed that other families were also having difficulties and waiting while for food that morning. Another time, we went to just get soft drinks from Roaring Forks and did mobile order, but it took a solid 5 minutes for our order to be "ready" which felt oddly ridiculous as we just wanted some coke zero and no food. I think the orders are not shuffled accordingly, so you have to wait for other food orders prior.

For the parks. Our first day we went to Epcot and had a blast. Walked onto almost everything or waited no more than 15 minutes. Some of the F&W booths had longer lines, but we didn't feel the wait was extravagant, except in the France pavilion, where for reasons unknown to anyone had ONE cast member taking orders and making food. When we finally reached the front, a second cast member finally appeared. After that was smooth sailing. Our second day, we went to HS. Wait times were definitely higher, but less than the posted time. We typically waited about 45 minutes for most rides that were listed for >60 minutes. We did ride MMRR twice, which was a highlight, and by some stroke of faith, were able to get a boarding pass at 2pm and got on RoR at 4pm. Epcot our second day was as lovely as our first. When we got to Animal Kingdom on Saturday, I was starting to feel as though there were more crowds. Overall, we had a great day, but between the crowds and heat, I was starting to feel uneasy. We were in the park prior to opening and got in line for FoP (we waited 30-40 minutes). Initially the line was snaking back to the bathrooms near the Harambe theater. I expected this and knew that with the spacing in line, the standby line would appear very long (I have waited all the way back there pre-COVID), so we were not surprised. However judging by other guests with multiple exclamations of "this is ridiculous" and "how could this be" it seems that many people expected to have the parks to themselves. We left the park after doing Navi River Journey (about a 30 minute wait), Safari (about 20 minutes), and Everest (about 20 minutes). We were happy with those and after it started heating up, started back for a relaxing afternoon at the pool.

Today we were at the Magic Kingdom and it felt very crowded. I think this had more to do with the limited shows, character M&G, and limited dining. It just seemed we were always met with a very long line and crowds of people. We did SDMT right away when we got to the park around 8:30am (via boat from WL) with only a 20 minute wait. We did some other of our favorites (haunted mansion, little mermaid, big thunder) with relatively short waits (about 20-30 minutes). But after 10:30am, the wait times continued to increase and since the queues are spaced with so many outside, we cut our day short around 12:30. This was mostly prompted by us entering the line for pirates and the time increasing to 70 minutes with much more of the queue in the hot sun. I envied the people who thought to bring umbrellas for shade! We jumped ship (pun intended) and got some dole whips. The Main Street bypass was even open and we were able to avoid Main Street on our exit (and the accompanying crowds). All the dining locations had long lines for mobile order pick-ups, so we headed to the WL and got on the walk-up list for Whispering Canyon. We waited in the lobby for about 30 minutes and were seated. It was a lovely and relaxing lunch at the end of a hot morning.

If you asked me at the beginning of the vacation, I would have said that I had no problem with coming back to WDW during this pandemic. However, as the week continued and the parks got more crowded over this weekend, coupled with the Governor's recent announcement to move to Phase 3, I'm not planning on returning to WDW anytime soon (personal preference!). I would be okay with do a resort-only stay as the resorts do seem less crowded or only doing the parks during weekdays. Right now the parks are in an adjustment period as capacity increases, but with limited offerings. I hope this is helpful to someone!

Any interesting activities/hidden gems these days for a WL stay? And how often does the MK ferry run?

 

[AKVFamily]

We are wrapping up our second full day of our trip. Sorry it got long but here are the first two days.

We flew in from LAX on American on crowded flights. I think the worst part was they apparently aren’t springing for turning on the air conditioning while at the gate. Boarding and waiting for takeoff with masks in that heat was awful. That will be the last American flight I book for a long time.
We landed at 12:15 am and didn’t get to Wilderness Lodge until 2, mostly due to picking up the rental car. Note: If you are a new Budget Fastbreak member, you can’t proceed directly to the garage until your 2nd rental. Oops. Also, the middle of the night crew is not fast and the closure of Terminal B services was a pain. Only minivans and trucks were left so we got an upgrade.

Wilderness Lodge is beautiful even at night. I’m sure the signs to guest rooms are fine normally, but for the bleary eyed entering a completely empty lobby (not a soul in sight), they took a few minutes of wandering to find the Copper Creek rooms.

We loved the studio and took a few to unpack before heading to bed. We also called down for our Instacart order and they brought it up very quickly. Instacart was a bust: they’d texted me while on the plane and substituted over a third of my order with things I didn’t really want, but when I went through it, another third was missing. Also there were items I hadn’t ordered that will go to waste.
Day 1 (Saturday) we slept until about 10 and grabbed brunch at Roaring Fork, a cheeseburger, pulled pork sandwich and chicken and waffles. Everyone enjoyed their food. DH especially enjoyed the sandwich.

After lunch we tried both pools. They weren’t crowded and we found chairs in the shade. Everyone kept their distance. The slide may not be the best on property, but we still laughed our way down several times each. It was a great way to start the trip.
We drove over to Animal Kingdom around 3 pm (closing at 6) and after some pics, we waited for Dinosaur. Wait time said 20 and would have been that, but they started a cleaning cycle when we were 3 parties from boarding. It took about 7 minutes. Then we headed for some otter viewing and a Starbucks break and then Flight of Passage. It said 50 minutes and we waited that to close the park. This is our favorite ride although they stopped the audio after a minute to tell people to put on their masks. It definitely took us out of the moment, but I’m glad they are enforcing it.

When we got back to the hotel, we stopped by the front desk to check in on the issue we’d reported earlier with the fold out couch folding upward any time DS moved at all. I had a message from housekeeping that they couldn’t duplicate the problem we were having and wanted to meet us in our room. We met the supervisor who was great and was going to try to fix it or add a mattress while we were at dinner at Geyser Point. The wait for that was 90 minutes but that’s no problem when your room is only a few steps away.

We shared the charcuterie board, cheesy brisket and bacon cheeseburger. All amazing and we finished just before 10. I had some Homer Simpson moments eating the brisket. So good. We left the charcuterie board empty too.

The supervisor called while we were there and said they couldn’t fix the couch without taking it all apart but would upgrade us to a 1 bedroom!!! We were so excited and the 1 bedroom is AMAZING!! Packing cubes for the win and even with our overpacking, we were moved in about 30 minutes. It was at the end of the hall overlooking Geyser Point and a view of the lake (pic above).
The mattresses are more comfortable than the studio’s on both beds, we love the bathroom “window,” my boys can’t get enough of the bathtub and it’s enormous. DS has already made me promise we will get a 1 bedroom here in a future year.


We got settled in and both DH and DS decided to take advantage of the tub with bubbles. They finished up and we headed to bed. Supposedly. All quiet until the tub jets switched on so we switched them off. Back to bed and 20 minutes later, there they go again. I finally called the front desk who had to call specialists in who broke into a lock for a door covering the breakers so they could switch them off until they could fix it the next day. By then it was 1:30 which was rough for our early breakfast wake up, but whatever. We love this room and the CMs been so kind and helpful through all of this. The supervisor even texted me the next day to say she was so sorry to hear about the tub trouble and ask if we needed anything. Sweetest lady.
Day 2 (Sunday) was an early day. We had breakfast planned for Ale & Compass to take advantage of the walk to HS. We ordered the eggs Benedict, apple caramel french toast and bacon blueberry pancakes. The eggs Benedict were decent. The sauce was a little bland and I’m not sure I love the roasted pork element. It was a little tough which made it hard to cut with the butter knife and chew and the charred flavor overwhelmed the rest. DH said the French toast was more raisin than apple and wasn’t enthusiastic about the dish. DS said the pancakes were good, but he ordered apple juice and between that and the side sausage which DH said was spicy, I think it was just too much for his stomach at that hour. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again, but it was decent. The service was excellent. Our server left a pot of coffee with us and brought a pitcher of water to fill our water bottles when I asked for a cup. He also had the check ready.

Then we headed off to HS where I saw the Skyliner moving and buses going to HS and wondered if walking wouldn’t be an advantage this day. However neither was actually moving guests yet. We arrived at 8:48. I’ve included a picture of the line at that time. It was maybe 50-60 people. They held us there until 9 and then brought us to lines in front of the temperature tents on the left. At 9:03 people started arriving on the Skyliner and the line of cars in appeared. They directed Skyliner people to the still empty temp check lines on the right.

At 9:10 they started letting everyone into the temp check tents and we walked quickly through security. I’d read you should hold your water bottle and umbrella in front of you. A security guard saw me and demonstrated I should hold them as far from me as possible so they were farther from my body than the scan panels are wide. No beeps and we sailed though.

We walked quickly to MMRR and were loading at 9:21. Such a cute ride! We love the shorts and loved this. We moved quickly from there to Slinky and were in line for that by 9:36.

Fortunately, we were still about 10 groups from boarding when 10:00 came and DH counted down while DS and I tried for RoTR. I clicked through quickly assuming all our names would be checked but apparently only I got BG1. I went back and hit join again and got BG38 for DH and DS.

Since my group was already called, we headed that direction and stopped by the GET umbrella on the way. They were able to move them into my group, although before the cm with an iPad could help me, his supervisor had asked me what I needed and he was saying multiple people must have been trying on my account because there was no way one person could get through twice. I explained I got them both. He was shocked.
Here are my suggestions: use cell service instead of WiFi as long as you have good reception where you are. Josh from easywdw said to turn off the location services so I did. I do notice it slows me up other times while it takes a second to locate me so I think that helped. And I did it by staying on the home page screen and waiting to click on Join under the two AT-ATs right as my husband said it was 10 by following the time on an app that shows the seconds.

We pretty much walked through the whole ROTR line and were into the preshow quickly. On the transport section, the front and back screens were broken and still showing the planet scene so that part wasn’t as immersive. DS and I had ridden it at Disneyland but this was DH’s first time. Other things were missing or out of sync but I don’t want to give anything away by explaining. Hopefully they have it running smoothly soon.

None of these ruined anything, but I will say between it all working and the amazing CMs at Disneyland where I’ve ridden it before , when the doors opened to the scene right before you board, I actually felt nervous for a minute. I don’t think I’d ever felt more like I was living in the story of any ride than in that moment. It wasn’t not good today. It just wasn’t quite that level I’d experienced at Disneyland.
After that, we exited to the heat just being overwhelming. Hot and so sticky. It was 93 with a real feel of 101. Just ewww. We drank lots of water but DS said he was hungry. We had a lunch reservation for Brown Derby at 1:25 and it was around 11, but between lack of sleep, the heat and never knowing if you’ve forced enough water on the kid, we decided to stop to get him a kids meal from Docking Bay 7. We had to wait 15 minutes for an open time slot but we’d accomplished 3 big rides so we decided to just hunker down in the shade.
When we picked up DS’s chicken tip yip, the CM said they’d made an extra pot roast and offered it to us. I had a few bites and it was very good. DH inhaled it. I think we were all a little off so the break was nice although the a/c was so cold we were all shivering. DS orders the chicken every time we eat there in Disneyland and it was gone in seconds.

Then it was time for Savi’s. After a lot of go here and there in a hot courtyard with a little shade, we were directed inside by the poor CMs who have so much to explain and coordinate with all this social distancing. I think it took about 20-25 minutes to go through and get inside and about that agin for the rest. The ceremony was great and the CMs were wonderful about helping DS11 get everything together. When I saw another family with their 4 kids and dad doing it, I was very grateful we got off with just $400. I love Star Wars but getting a saber isn’t my thing, probably because I’m not going to spend any time whacking someone else with it. However DH and DS have already spent the evening doing that so money well spent.
Then it was time for Brown Derby (first visit). I ordered the cobb and DS got a hot dog. DH was still full but ordered a French press pot and was in heaven. Unpopular opinion: I wasn’t crazy about the cobb. It was very egg forward with tiny bits of lettuce. I prefer the tangy cheese and dressing parts so it was just ok for me. I couldn’t finish it and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a slice of the grapefruit cake down as well, which bummed me out since I’d read about it so many times. The waiter asked if we wanted dessert and I said sorry, I’m sad there’s no room for the cake because I hear it’s delicious. He asked, you’ve never had it?, and I told him no. When he reappeared he brought me a small piece they must use for celebrations! Sweet man! It was sooo good. I turned away for a second to say something to DH and DS had snatched the rest of it. Kids! We all 3 really liked it. I would definitely eat here again.
We walked back outside into the wall of liquid heat. Everything had caught up with us and we headed back to the hotel for a rest. On our way to get the car from YC, we took the Skyliner back to Epcot, which made us even more excited to move to our home resort at Riviera on Tuesday.
Well that rest turned into a nap and mutiny. Lol. No one was up for going back (even though it was open until 8 and cooler at that point) so we headed to the pool, checked out Whispering Canyon (one hour wait at 7:45) and opted for Roaring Fork. The boys got the pork sandwich and burger again and I got the tuna sandwich, which was good. They both got the campfire cupcake and loved them. I tried a bite of the cake and even though I usually favor white cake, this was really good and moist. I got the magic cookie bar. It was good but sooo sweet. I ate a few bites and imagine it will stretch over a few days.
Overall there have been a few bumps, but so much pixie dust and Disney is always worth it to me. The masks are brutal but so is the heat without them. When it’s not sweltering or we’re in a/c, I forget I’m wearing one sometimes. I’ve been favoring ones I have from Athleta and Toes on the Nose.

I’ll keep reporting while I’m here though next Sunday if people are interested.

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Interested whether you plan to drive to the parks or take the buses/ferry from WL?

 

[dachsie]

We are wrapping up our second full day of our trip. Sorry it got long but here are the first two days.

We flew in from LAX on American on crowded flights. I think the worst part was they apparently aren’t springing for turning on the air conditioning while at the gate. Boarding and waiting for takeoff with masks in that heat was awful. That will be the last American flight I book for a long time.
We landed at 12:15 am and didn’t get to Wilderness Lodge until 2, mostly due to picking up the rental car. Note: If you are a new Budget Fastbreak member, you can’t proceed directly to the garage until your 2nd rental. Oops. Also, the middle of the night crew is not fast and the closure of Terminal B services was a pain. Only minivans and trucks were left so we got an upgrade.

Wilderness Lodge is beautiful even at night. I’m sure the signs to guest rooms are fine normally, but for the bleary eyed entering a completely empty lobby (not a soul in sight), they took a few minutes of wandering to find the Copper Creek rooms.

We loved the studio and took a few to unpack before heading to bed. We also called down for our Instacart order and they brought it up very quickly. Instacart was a bust: they’d texted me while on the plane and substituted over a third of my order with things I didn’t really want, but when I went through it, another third was missing. Also there were items I hadn’t ordered that will go to waste.
Day 1 (Saturday) we slept until about 10 and grabbed brunch at Roaring Fork, a cheeseburger, pulled pork sandwich and chicken and waffles. Everyone enjoyed their food. DH especially enjoyed the sandwich.

After lunch we tried both pools. They weren’t crowded and we found chairs in the shade. Everyone kept their distance. The slide may not be the best on property, but we still laughed our way down several times each. It was a great way to start the trip.
We drove over to Animal Kingdom around 3 pm (closing at 6) and after some pics, we waited for Dinosaur. Wait time said 20 and would have been that, but they started a cleaning cycle when we were 3 parties from boarding. It took about 7 minutes. Then we headed for some otter viewing and a Starbucks break and then Flight of Passage. It said 50 minutes and we waited that to close the park. This is our favorite ride although they stopped the audio after a minute to tell people to put on their masks. It definitely took us out of the moment, but I’m glad they are enforcing it.

When we got back to the hotel, we stopped by the front desk to check in on the issue we’d reported earlier with the fold out couch folding upward any time DS moved at all. I had a message from housekeeping that they couldn’t duplicate the problem we were having and wanted to meet us in our room. We met the supervisor who was great and was going to try to fix it or add a mattress while we were at dinner at Geyser Point. The wait for that was 90 minutes but that’s no problem when your room is only a few steps away.

We shared the charcuterie board, cheesy brisket and bacon cheeseburger. All amazing and we finished just before 10. I had some Homer Simpson moments eating the brisket. So good. We left the charcuterie board empty too.

The supervisor called while we were there and said they couldn’t fix the couch without taking it all apart but would upgrade us to a 1 bedroom!!! We were so excited and the 1 bedroom is AMAZING!! Packing cubes for the win and even with our overpacking, we were moved in about 30 minutes. It was at the end of the hall overlooking Geyser Point and a view of the lake (pic above).
The mattresses are more comfortable than the studio’s on both beds, we love the bathroom “window,” my boys can’t get enough of the bathtub and it’s enormous. DS has already made me promise we will get a 1 bedroom here in a future year.


We got settled in and both DH and DS decided to take advantage of the tub with bubbles. They finished up and we headed to bed. Supposedly. All quiet until the tub jets switched on so we switched them off. Back to bed and 20 minutes later, there they go again. I finally called the front desk who had to call specialists in who broke into a lock for a door covering the breakers so they could switch them off until they could fix it the next day. By then it was 1:30 which was rough for our early breakfast wake up, but whatever. We love this room and the CMs been so kind and helpful through all of this. The supervisor even texted me the next day to say she was so sorry to hear about the tub trouble and ask if we needed anything. Sweetest lady.
Day 2 (Sunday) was an early day. We had breakfast planned for Ale & Compass to take advantage of the walk to HS. We ordered the eggs Benedict, apple caramel french toast and bacon blueberry pancakes. The eggs Benedict were decent. The sauce was a little bland and I’m not sure I love the roasted pork element. It was a little tough which made it hard to cut with the butter knife and chew and the charred flavor overwhelmed the rest. DH said the French toast was more raisin than apple and wasn’t enthusiastic about the dish. DS said the pancakes were good, but he ordered apple juice and between that and the side sausage which DH said was spicy, I think it was just too much for his stomach at that hour. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again, but it was decent. The service was excellent. Our server left a pot of coffee with us and brought a pitcher of water to fill our water bottles when I asked for a cup. He also had the check ready.

Then we headed off to HS where I saw the Skyliner moving and buses going to HS and wondered if walking wouldn’t be an advantage this day. However neither was actually moving guests yet. We arrived at 8:48. I’ve included a picture of the line at that time. It was maybe 50-60 people. They held us there until 9 and then brought us to lines in front of the temperature tents on the left. At 9:03 people started arriving on the Skyliner and the line of cars in appeared. They directed Skyliner people to the still empty temp check lines on the right.

At 9:10 they started letting everyone into the temp check tents and we walked quickly through security. I’d read you should hold your water bottle and umbrella in front of you. A security guard saw me and demonstrated I should hold them as far from me as possible so they were farther from my body than the scan panels are wide. No beeps and we sailed though.

We walked quickly to MMRR and were loading at 9:21. Such a cute ride! We love the shorts and loved this. We moved quickly from there to Slinky and were in line for that by 9:36.

Fortunately, we were still about 10 groups from boarding when 10:00 came and DH counted down while DS and I tried for RoTR. I clicked through quickly assuming all our names would be checked but apparently only I got BG1. I went back and hit join again and got BG38 for DH and DS.

Since my group was already called, we headed that direction and stopped by the GET umbrella on the way. They were able to move them into my group, although before the cm with an iPad could help me, his supervisor had asked me what I needed and he was saying multiple people must have been trying on my account because there was no way one person could get through twice. I explained I got them both. He was shocked.
Here are my suggestions: use cell service instead of WiFi as long as you have good reception where you are. Josh from easywdw said to turn off the location services so I did. I do notice it slows me up other times while it takes a second to locate me so I think that helped. And I did it by staying on the home page screen and waiting to click on Join under the two AT-ATs right as my husband said it was 10 by following the time on an app that shows the seconds.

We pretty much walked through the whole ROTR line and were into the preshow quickly. On the transport section, the front and back screens were broken and still showing the planet scene so that part wasn’t as immersive. DS and I had ridden it at Disneyland but this was DH’s first time. Other things were missing or out of sync but I don’t want to give anything away by explaining. Hopefully they have it running smoothly soon.

None of these ruined anything, but I will say between it all working and the amazing CMs at Disneyland where I’ve ridden it before , when the doors opened to the scene right before you board, I actually felt nervous for a minute. I don’t think I’d ever felt more like I was living in the story of any ride than in that moment. It wasn’t not good today. It just wasn’t quite that level I’d experienced at Disneyland.
After that, we exited to the heat just being overwhelming. Hot and so sticky. It was 93 with a real feel of 101. Just ewww. We drank lots of water but DS said he was hungry. We had a lunch reservation for Brown Derby at 1:25 and it was around 11, but between lack of sleep, the heat and never knowing if you’ve forced enough water on the kid, we decided to stop to get him a kids meal from Docking Bay 7. We had to wait 15 minutes for an open time slot but we’d accomplished 3 big rides so we decided to just hunker down in the shade.
When we picked up DS’s chicken tip yip, the CM said they’d made an extra pot roast and offered it to us. I had a few bites and it was very good. DH inhaled it. I think we were all a little off so the break was nice although the a/c was so cold we were all shivering. DS orders the chicken every time we eat there in Disneyland and it was gone in seconds.

Then it was time for Savi’s. After a lot of go here and there in a hot courtyard with a little shade, we were directed inside by the poor CMs who have so much to explain and coordinate with all this social distancing. I think it took about 20-25 minutes to go through and get inside and about that agin for the rest. The ceremony was great and the CMs were wonderful about helping DS11 get everything together. When I saw another family with their 4 kids and dad doing it, I was very grateful we got off with just $400. I love Star Wars but getting a saber isn’t my thing, probably because I’m not going to spend any time whacking someone else with it. However DH and DS have already spent the evening doing that so money well spent.
Then it was time for Brown Derby (first visit). I ordered the cobb and DS got a hot dog. DH was still full but ordered a French press pot and was in heaven. Unpopular opinion: I wasn’t crazy about the cobb. It was very egg forward with tiny bits of lettuce. I prefer the tangy cheese and dressing parts so it was just ok for me. I couldn’t finish it and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a slice of the grapefruit cake down as well, which bummed me out since I’d read about it so many times. The waiter asked if we wanted dessert and I said sorry, I’m sad there’s no room for the cake because I hear it’s delicious. He asked, you’ve never had it?, and I told him no. When he reappeared he brought me a small piece they must use for celebrations! Sweet man! It was sooo good. I turned away for a second to say something to DH and DS had snatched the rest of it. Kids! We all 3 really liked it. I would definitely eat here again.
We walked back outside into the wall of liquid heat. Everything had caught up with us and we headed back to the hotel for a rest. On our way to get the car from YC, we took the Skyliner back to Epcot, which made us even more excited to move to our home resort at Riviera on Tuesday.
Well that rest turned into a nap and mutiny. Lol. No one was up for going back (even though it was open until 8 and cooler at that point) so we headed to the pool, checked out Whispering Canyon (one hour wait at 7:45) and opted for Roaring Fork. The boys got the pork sandwich and burger again and I got the tuna sandwich, which was good. They both got the campfire cupcake and loved them. I tried a bite of the cake and even though I usually favor white cake, this was really good and moist. I got the magic cookie bar. It was good but sooo sweet. I ate a few bites and imagine it will stretch over a few days.
Overall there have been a few bumps, but so much pixie dust and Disney is always worth it to me. The masks are brutal but so is the heat without them. When it’s not sweltering or we’re in a/c, I forget I’m wearing one sometimes. I’ve been favoring ones I have from Athleta and Toes on the Nose.

I’ll keep reporting while I’m here though next Sunday if people are interested.

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Great report and would love to hear more!

 

[twodogs]

anyone there today?? I will be trying from Texas for a BG for our friends who are there. I sure hope someone gets it!!!

 

[twodogs]

I was on 4 phones here in Texas, they were on 3 phones there (2 wifi, 1 cell). I got BG 8 with one of the phones here on Wifi! Mission Accomplished!!!

 

[twodogs]

And their group just got called! I have to share on here because no one else understands how exciting this is, even though I am 1000 miles from WDW right now!! Thanks for indulging me!

 

[Nanceliz319]

I thought you had to be in the park to get a boarding group. This is good news.

 

[unbanshee]

I thought you had to be in the park to get a boarding group. This is good news.

You have to be in the park to be qualified for a Boarding Group. Anyone on your friends/family list is able to get a boarding group for you anywhere in the world

 

[twodogs]

I logged into their MDE account from my house, and I got a BG for them, not for me! You can only get a BG if you are scanned into DHS.

 

[yulilin3]

The process of getting a bg is explained in great detail in the sub forum, lets keep this thread on just back reports

 

[Khobbs18]

Does anyone still just just take the bus to HS? My FIL has a scooter and we have 3 littles that need carseats so an Uber isn't really an option for us. I was hoping getting to the bus stop by 8AM for a 10AM opening would get us there between 930-945...

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

Not sure if I should put this here or the covid thread, but saw people here mention needing more stuff. Big news for Hollywood Studios on October 5th

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...eriences-abound-at-disneys-hollywood-studios/

Monday October 5th is our DHS day. That makes me happy. Especially since I am dreading the lines at DHS.

 

[Walt4ever]

Just back from a 3 day stay. Almost want to call it "the one where we experienced transportation".

The difference in the overall lightening of the mood was palpable over the weekend with the announcement that Florida was OPEN. Parks were busy with Saturday being at capacity, Sunday very close to it. We stayed off site, but nearby. Friday was Epcot and Disney Springs. We got in early, and since Epcot doesn't open until 11, we started the day at Springs, grabbed Starbucks, then took a bus to Polynesian as we wanted to get something from the gift shop there. Ended up staying a bit longer for a brunch at Captain Cook's. It's one of our favorite resort quick service locations. Took a bus from there to Epcot. Focused just on the front as we had planned Saturday as our eat around the world day, then took bus to Contemporary where we again looked thru gift shops before taking another bus to Springs where we meandered around for a few hours.

Saturday again parked at Springs, took bus to Poly, went back to gift shop as I wanted an Orange Bird fan I had seen at Contemporary. Contemporary had it on display, but none in stock. Yet another bus to HS so that we could ride the gondolas to the back entrance of Epcot. Ate around the world, dining exclusively at festival booths. Only hit about a third of them. Planning to do the ones we missed on our next trip. Back to the gondolas, this time stopping at Riviera. Wanted to check it out. Personal opinion - rather blah. This turned out to be a mistake as there was a long line of folks waiting to go to Springs. It would have been a full bus load in normal times. We were on the 3rd bus, but easily could have had to wait for the 4th. First bus driver took the common sense approach. The buses are divided into typically 6 sections. One group per section. Some of the sections have 4 seats on one side and 4 seats on the other. Bus driver asked first to make sure the people didn't mind, but he put 2 small groups into the same section, on opposite sides. So they were still distanced from each other, but didn't have an overabundance of empty seats. Based on everyone's comments in line, we all would have happily rode together. 2nd bus was much more by the book. One group of 4, he only had a section with 3 seats for. Dad stormed off and said he didn't want to go to Springs anyway.

Sunday was MK, but again started off parking at Springs, then bus to Poly as I wanted the tiki sipper. Unfortunately, resort monorail was down. Hoped to do the trifecta of bus-gondolas-monorail, but that was not to be. They had buses running the "monorail route". It was cool still as after the stop at Grand Floridian, it took a right and went all the way around the back of MK. You can't see much, but there was a glimpse of the back of the big top tents. The bus temp check line was also very much shorter than the front. We only really went to MK that day to get the Haunted Mansion sipper and donut holder (got the popcorn one last fall). They are doing all of the Mickey's Not So Scary stuff all throughout the day, which was really cool. We got to see a couple of the mini-parades while we were there. Exited and walked to Contemporary to catch bus back to Springs. That location made it easy to get gas on our way off property for our drive home.

Parking at Springs each day was really an unusual tactic for us this trip. We are AP holders, so we get free parking at the parks anyway. We weren't trying to avoid paying. But what we did is really the only way to get to some of the resorts, which ended up being a bigger part of this trip than normal. They ask at the parking gate if you have park reservations, so trying to get to Poly by car would have been cumbersome.

For anyone interested in masks - Friday I actually saw a few CMs noses. Not many, and they were brief, but there they were. Saturday and Sunday, a few more occasional CM faces - when they were far away from people and trying to escape the heat like everyone else. By far, you will see the most faces at Epcot. Mostly following the rules of being stationary, but we also saw several walking about drinking or talking and holding masks in hands. CMs did say something if they were moving, and there was a CM in the area. We were behind one maskless family that walked from Test Track and entered into the building with the Epcot Experience video, without anything being said to them. The areas around all the festival booths are lined with folks enjoying the food and refreshments. The steps across the walkway from the saki place in Japan were covered with people sitting and enjoying their saki, etc., laughing and having a good time. If this bothers you, be warned, as you will see a lot more faces throughout Orlando and Florida in general now. One of the gas stations we usually stop at in Lake City - masks on workers Thursday night, bright smiling faces on workers Sunday afternoon. Florida is OPEN. Disney will most likely be the last one to loosen things up, but you WILL see faces around town.

Edited to add - the line for Frozen at Epcot was INSANE Saturday. The end of the line was in China, back at the store entrance.

 

[mcomber7]

We are wrapping up our second full day of our trip. Sorry it got long but here are the first two days.

We flew in from LAX on American on crowded flights. I think the worst part was they apparently aren’t springing for turning on the air conditioning while at the gate. Boarding and waiting for takeoff with masks in that heat was awful. That will be the last American flight I book for a long time.
We landed at 12:15 am and didn’t get to Wilderness Lodge until 2, mostly due to picking up the rental car. Note: If you are a new Budget Fastbreak member, you can’t proceed directly to the garage until your 2nd rental. Oops. Also, the middle of the night crew is not fast and the closure of Terminal B services was a pain. Only minivans and trucks were left so we got an upgrade.

Wilderness Lodge is beautiful even at night. I’m sure the signs to guest rooms are fine normally, but for the bleary eyed entering a completely empty lobby (not a soul in sight), they took a few minutes of wandering to find the Copper Creek rooms.

We loved the studio and took a few to unpack before heading to bed. We also called down for our Instacart order and they brought it up very quickly. Instacart was a bust: they’d texted me while on the plane and substituted over a third of my order with things I didn’t really want, but when I went through it, another third was missing. Also there were items I hadn’t ordered that will go to waste.
Day 1 (Saturday) we slept until about 10 and grabbed brunch at Roaring Fork, a cheeseburger, pulled pork sandwich and chicken and waffles. Everyone enjoyed their food. DH especially enjoyed the sandwich.

After lunch we tried both pools. They weren’t crowded and we found chairs in the shade. Everyone kept their distance. The slide may not be the best on property, but we still laughed our way down several times each. It was a great way to start the trip.
We drove over to Animal Kingdom around 3 pm (closing at 6) and after some pics, we waited for Dinosaur. Wait time said 20 and would have been that, but they started a cleaning cycle when we were 3 parties from boarding. It took about 7 minutes. Then we headed for some otter viewing and a Starbucks break and then Flight of Passage. It said 50 minutes and we waited that to close the park. This is our favorite ride although they stopped the audio after a minute to tell people to put on their masks. It definitely took us out of the moment, but I’m glad they are enforcing it.

When we got back to the hotel, we stopped by the front desk to check in on the issue we’d reported earlier with the fold out couch folding upward any time DS moved at all. I had a message from housekeeping that they couldn’t duplicate the problem we were having and wanted to meet us in our room. We met the supervisor who was great and was going to try to fix it or add a mattress while we were at dinner at Geyser Point. The wait for that was 90 minutes but that’s no problem when your room is only a few steps away.

We shared the charcuterie board, cheesy brisket and bacon cheeseburger. All amazing and we finished just before 10. I had some Homer Simpson moments eating the brisket. So good. We left the charcuterie board empty too.

The supervisor called while we were there and said they couldn’t fix the couch without taking it all apart but would upgrade us to a 1 bedroom!!! We were so excited and the 1 bedroom is AMAZING!! Packing cubes for the win and even with our overpacking, we were moved in about 30 minutes. It was at the end of the hall overlooking Geyser Point and a view of the lake (pic above).
The mattresses are more comfortable than the studio’s on both beds, we love the bathroom “window,” my boys can’t get enough of the bathtub and it’s enormous. DS has already made me promise we will get a 1 bedroom here in a future year.


We got settled in and both DH and DS decided to take advantage of the tub with bubbles. They finished up and we headed to bed. Supposedly. All quiet until the tub jets switched on so we switched them off. Back to bed and 20 minutes later, there they go again. I finally called the front desk who had to call specialists in who broke into a lock for a door covering the breakers so they could switch them off until they could fix it the next day. By then it was 1:30 which was rough for our early breakfast wake up, but whatever. We love this room and the CMs been so kind and helpful through all of this. The supervisor even texted me the next day to say she was so sorry to hear about the tub trouble and ask if we needed anything. Sweetest lady.
Day 2 (Sunday) was an early day. We had breakfast planned for Ale & Compass to take advantage of the walk to HS. We ordered the eggs Benedict, apple caramel french toast and bacon blueberry pancakes. The eggs Benedict were decent. The sauce was a little bland and I’m not sure I love the roasted pork element. It was a little tough which made it hard to cut with the butter knife and chew and the charred flavor overwhelmed the rest. DH said the French toast was more raisin than apple and wasn’t enthusiastic about the dish. DS said the pancakes were good, but he ordered apple juice and between that and the side sausage which DH said was spicy, I think it was just too much for his stomach at that hour. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again, but it was decent. The service was excellent. Our server left a pot of coffee with us and brought a pitcher of water to fill our water bottles when I asked for a cup. He also had the check ready.

Then we headed off to HS where I saw the Skyliner moving and buses going to HS and wondered if walking wouldn’t be an advantage this day. However neither was actually moving guests yet. We arrived at 8:48. I’ve included a picture of the line at that time. It was maybe 50-60 people. They held us there until 9 and then brought us to lines in front of the temperature tents on the left. At 9:03 people started arriving on the Skyliner and the line of cars in appeared. They directed Skyliner people to the still empty temp check lines on the right.

At 9:10 they started letting everyone into the temp check tents and we walked quickly through security. I’d read you should hold your water bottle and umbrella in front of you. A security guard saw me and demonstrated I should hold them as far from me as possible so they were farther from my body than the scan panels are wide. No beeps and we sailed though.

We walked quickly to MMRR and were loading at 9:21. Such a cute ride! We love the shorts and loved this. We moved quickly from there to Slinky and were in line for that by 9:36.

Fortunately, we were still about 10 groups from boarding when 10:00 came and DH counted down while DS and I tried for RoTR. I clicked through quickly assuming all our names would be checked but apparently only I got BG1. I went back and hit join again and got BG38 for DH and DS.

Since my group was already called, we headed that direction and stopped by the GET umbrella on the way. They were able to move them into my group, although before the cm with an iPad could help me, his supervisor had asked me what I needed and he was saying multiple people must have been trying on my account because there was no way one person could get through twice. I explained I got them both. He was shocked.
Here are my suggestions: use cell service instead of WiFi as long as you have good reception where you are. Josh from easywdw said to turn off the location services so I did. I do notice it slows me up other times while it takes a second to locate me so I think that helped. And I did it by staying on the home page screen and waiting to click on Join under the two AT-ATs right as my husband said it was 10 by following the time on an app that shows the seconds.

We pretty much walked through the whole ROTR line and were into the preshow quickly. On the transport section, the front and back screens were broken and still showing the planet scene so that part wasn’t as immersive. DS and I had ridden it at Disneyland but this was DH’s first time. Other things were missing or out of sync but I don’t want to give anything away by explaining. Hopefully they have it running smoothly soon.

None of these ruined anything, but I will say between it all working and the amazing CMs at Disneyland where I’ve ridden it before , when the doors opened to the scene right before you board, I actually felt nervous for a minute. I don’t think I’d ever felt more like I was living in the story of any ride than in that moment. It wasn’t not good today. It just wasn’t quite that level I’d experienced at Disneyland.
After that, we exited to the heat just being overwhelming. Hot and so sticky. It was 93 with a real feel of 101. Just ewww. We drank lots of water but DS said he was hungry. We had a lunch reservation for Brown Derby at 1:25 and it was around 11, but between lack of sleep, the heat and never knowing if you’ve forced enough water on the kid, we decided to stop to get him a kids meal from Docking Bay 7. We had to wait 15 minutes for an open time slot but we’d accomplished 3 big rides so we decided to just hunker down in the shade.
When we picked up DS’s chicken tip yip, the CM said they’d made an extra pot roast and offered it to us. I had a few bites and it was very good. DH inhaled it. I think we were all a little off so the break was nice although the a/c was so cold we were all shivering. DS orders the chicken every time we eat there in Disneyland and it was gone in seconds.

Then it was time for Savi’s. After a lot of go here and there in a hot courtyard with a little shade, we were directed inside by the poor CMs who have so much to explain and coordinate with all this social distancing. I think it took about 20-25 minutes to go through and get inside and about that agin for the rest. The ceremony was great and the CMs were wonderful about helping DS11 get everything together. When I saw another family with their 4 kids and dad doing it, I was very grateful we got off with just $400. I love Star Wars but getting a saber isn’t my thing, probably because I’m not going to spend any time whacking someone else with it. However DH and DS have already spent the evening doing that so money well spent.
Then it was time for Brown Derby (first visit). I ordered the cobb and DS got a hot dog. DH was still full but ordered a French press pot and was in heaven. Unpopular opinion: I wasn’t crazy about the cobb. It was very egg forward with tiny bits of lettuce. I prefer the tangy cheese and dressing parts so it was just ok for me. I couldn’t finish it and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a slice of the grapefruit cake down as well, which bummed me out since I’d read about it so many times. The waiter asked if we wanted dessert and I said sorry, I’m sad there’s no room for the cake because I hear it’s delicious. He asked, you’ve never had it?, and I told him no. When he reappeared he brought me a small piece they must use for celebrations! Sweet man! It was sooo good. I turned away for a second to say something to DH and DS had snatched the rest of it. Kids! We all 3 really liked it. I would definitely eat here again.
We walked back outside into the wall of liquid heat. Everything had caught up with us and we headed back to the hotel for a rest. On our way to get the car from YC, we took the Skyliner back to Epcot, which made us even more excited to move to our home resort at Riviera on Tuesday.
Well that rest turned into a nap and mutiny. Lol. No one was up for going back (even though it was open until 8 and cooler at that point) so we headed to the pool, checked out Whispering Canyon (one hour wait at 7:45) and opted for Roaring Fork. The boys got the pork sandwich and burger again and I got the tuna sandwich, which was good. They both got the campfire cupcake and loved them. I tried a bite of the cake and even though I usually favor white cake, this was really good and moist. I got the magic cookie bar. It was good but sooo sweet. I ate a few bites and imagine it will stretch over a few days.
Overall there have been a few bumps, but so much pixie dust and Disney is always worth it to me. The masks are brutal but so is the heat without them. When it’s not sweltering or we’re in a/c, I forget I’m wearing one sometimes. I’ve been favoring ones I have from Athleta and Toes on the Nose.

I’ll keep reporting while I’m here though next Sunday if people are interested.

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Great report! Where is the locator permission that you turned off on you phone? Is it in the Disney app?

 

[IluvMGM]

Does anyone still just just take the bus to HS? My FIL has a scooter and we have 3 littles that need carseats so an Uber isn't really an option for us. I was hoping getting to the bus stop by 8AM for a 10AM opening would get us there between 930-945...

A lot of people are staying at the skyliner resorts, so no bus option. We ubered to the Contemporary for breakfast and took a bus to Epcot from there. We were super early, so saw the first bunch of buses arrive for HS. They were one right after the other, as we experienced taking the buses to AK and MK from POP. So, I am guessing most of the resorts are like that.

 

[Khobbs18]

A lot of people are staying at the skyliner resorts, so no bus option. We ubered to the Contemporary for breakfast and took a bus to Epcot from there. We were super early, so saw the first bunch of buses arrive for HS. They were one right after the other, as we experienced taking the buses to AK and MK from POP. So, I am guessing most of the resorts are like that.

Thanks! We are staying at BLT so we will walk over to CR for busses. Kind of nervous because their bus line doesn't break out into specific lines for each park but hopefully we just get there much earlier than most or they have a CM there conducting people traffic.

 

[IluvMGM]

Thanks! We are staying at BLT so we will walk over to CR for busses. Kind of nervous because their bus line doesn't break out into specific lines for each park but hopefully we just get there much earlier than most or they have a CM there conducting people traffic.

Yeah, it's very awkward, we weren't sure where we were supposed to stand to wait for the bus. There were 2 people there that you checked in with and they wrote down who was going where and in what order. So, we just sat and waited on a bench. They remembered we were the first ones waiting for Epcot and we got on first.

 

[BK2014]

DW and I were at MK this morning. We are local so we drove. We arrived at the MK tollbooth right at 8:00am, just as the car that were lined up on the right side of the road were starting to get in line at the tollbooth. We waited about 15 minutes at the tollbooth before they started letting us through. It appeared that some cars were let through right at 8:00am, but then they stopped letting car through - but I couldn't see for sure.

We go into MK a little after 8:30am and were on and off Buzz Lightyear by 8:50am. We then did Dumbo, the Little Mermaid Ride, Peter Pan, and Phillharmagic. The longest waits was Peter Pan, which was posted at 15 minutes took right around 15 minutes. We were done with all that by around 10:35.

Then we watched a couple of cavalcades as we waited for our 11:15 ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. The food at LTT was good, but I am not sure it was worth the price. With only two of us, we definitely did not care to eat more than they brought us the first time. But we did enjoy the food. We were seated inside the Diamond Horseshoe, a venue we had never been inside of before.

It was definitely more crowded than our other post-covid trips. The area between Phillharmagic and Momento Mori's really felt crowded, but part of that is because some of the queue lines were taking up outdoor space. Mask compliance was good, but notably less than on other trips.

Only saw one adult without a mask on at all. Unfortunately, that person was DW. It was an honest mistake. DW loves the characters. When were were eating lunch, she heard another cavalcade. In her excitement she ran out of the restaurant to see it, and simply forgot her mask. She didn't realize it until someone mentioned it to her, and she felt bad about forgetting her mask.

After lunch, we were full and hot and decided it was time to head home. I love going to the parks, but I think visits with masks on have diminishing returns. The mask in the heat was more bearable at first, due to the excitement of being back after WDW was closed. But with each subsequent trip the mask becomes harder to bear - at least for me. But then again, going to the parks usually means I am walking 10,000 steps, instead of my normal 2,500 as I sit down all day at work. This is not a commentary on the mask policy, just my own observations about what it is like having to wear the masks in the parks.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Yeah, it's very awkward, we weren't sure where we were supposed to stand to wait for the bus. There were 2 people there that you checked in with and they wrote down who was going where and in what order. So, we just sat and waited on a bench. They remembered we were the first ones waiting for Epcot and we got on first.

I'm glad they're taking names at the bus stop and getting people in the order they arrived. When I was at CBR a couple years ago, it was always a scramble to get on the bus in the order you arrived. some people were good about making sure the ones that came before them got on, but others weren't aware of any of their surroundings.