Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[dachsie]

Our names were already in there. We were there last week and tried to get a boarding group on the second day of the 7 time slot. We got boarding group 24. From what I have seen think everyone now knows to try at 7 and they go fast. Good luck. I had the app open and as soon as 7 clicked I hit the join button.

So how have the morning crowds been at HS since the 7am virtual queue thing started? Did it ease the park opening at all?

 

[PirateSnowmen]

So how have the morning crowds been at HS since the 7am virtual queue thing started? Did it ease the park opening at all?

I never experienced HS before the 7am virtual queue, but from what I experienced this past week when we went, I would say it didn't ease crowds by too much. We managed to get towards the front of the crowd entering the park. We went straight to MMRR and were on the ride within 10-15 minutes of entering the park. By the time we got off the ride (9:35am or so), they had closed the line to MMRR because it hit capacity. It also didn't help that Slinky and ToT didn't open unitl closer to 10am that morning.

Again, I hadn't been to HS when they were doing the 10am RotR virtual queue, so I don't really have a frame of refrence. But to us it felt pretty crowded all day long.

 

[Tgoody]

Just got back on Wednesday from a 7 day stay at Bay Lake Tower. Thank you all for the tips and info posted here. It made for an enjoyable trip.
We only had to take an Uber twice. Once to get to HS early for breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery and then another time when a DS bus never showed up after 30mins of waiting to take us to a dining reservation.

We went to the following parks on these days:
11/4 Wednesday Hollywood Studios - missed 2pm boarding group by 3 mins trying to get through bag check.
11/5 Thursday AK - rode FoP twice, both under 45mins actual wait with a 60-70min posted time. Lunch at Yak and Yeti was meh.
11/6 Friday Epcot - Frozen was open a day early after refurbs. Rode everything with minimal waits. After 6pm the park got crowded and the alcohol was flowing.
11/7 Saturday MK - rode SDMT at park open with a 40min actual wait 70min posted. Dinner at California Grill was amazingggggg.
11/8 Sunday HS - uber to BW Bakery. Straight to MMRR 45min wait 105 posted. BG13 was called when we got off MMRR. Rode SDD with 60min wait after RR. Dinner at Hollywood and Vine was great.
11/9 Monday MK - rainy morning did a few things and looked around before going back to room for nap. Came back into park before Be Our Guest dinner and rode SDMT at park close with 20min wait.
11/10 Tuesday DS - Shopped and ate at DS. Fonterina Cocina was a disappointment for dinner.
11/11 Wednesday Tragical Express pickup at 4:30am was rough.

Overall mask compliance was better than expected. Only heard a cast member have to get on to someone 2-3 times. Few noses hear and there as well as people in line that got too close.

Going back in January will be interested to see how different it is.

 

[Debbie Jean]

So how have the morning crowds been at HS since the 7am virtual queue thing started? Did it ease the park opening at all?

Absolutely! I was here in January and the RotR booking routine was insane. With SW land having newly opened, morning crowds were insane. People got here early and there just weren’t a lot of places to go. Biggest crowd I saw today was MMRR.

 

[Hieraxx]

Very busy HS today. Mis posted rise issues

 

[swelch1976]

Hi everyone. I joined 13 years ago, but am still "earning my ears". However, this community has been so helpful in helping me plan my recent trip (11/6-11/11), that I wanted to give a report to (maybe) help others. I'll do this in a few posts, but I'll start with some overall thoughts on my trip:

- I was incredibly impressed with how Disney is taking precautions for COVID-19. I would say mask compliance was well above 95%. I witnessed a couple folks being warned that their drinking in line was grounds for being removed from the park. However, the policing of masks never took away from the magic (for me). The hand sanitizing stations were EVERYWHERE - we used them before and after every ride. And I would say that people respected the social distance markers well above 90% of the time... i only had to give "the look" to a few groups behind us.

- I can see why many posters have said that this is not a great time for first-timers - nighttime spectaculars, shows, and character meet-and-greets not operating, and many shops closed certainly takes something away. But, for a Disney World vet (I've been 10 times in the last 12 years), i LOVED it. It was one of my favorite trips I've taken.

- Getting to the parks as EARLY as your mode of transportation allows is the KEY to a great day. We rented a car, and still used Uber/Lyft twice in 4 park days to make sure we were among the first to enter the parks.

- Some of the lines were long - but without FASTPASS+ and with the social distance markers, the lines are constantly moving. Even the handful of 45 minute+ lines we experienced were not unbearable. In fact, the long (distance, not necessarily time) queues allowed me to enjoy some queue / land Disney details that I've never been able to enjoy. CAVEAT - WE WERE FORTUNATE THAT TROPICAL STORM ETA WAS THREATENING CENTRAL FLORIDA AND HELPED LEAD TO LOWER CROWDS ON OUR SUNDAY, MONDAY, AND TUESDAY PARK DAYS. (at the same time, the weather was overcast and breezy, but only had a few downpours).

This trip was just me and my 10-year old DD. My DW and little DS stayed home this trip.

We got in Friday night and went to bed worrying / anxious about whether we'd score BG for ROTR the next morning... Saturday at DHS is next!

 

[Disneymom1126]

We’re heading to AK near closing. Haven’t seen Pandora at night in a long time! Wonder how crowds will be then? As an AP, I find that I like the last few hours there parks are open best.

I can let you know! We are heading back for a Yak and Yeti reservation at 5 and plan to ride a few things before we leave.

 

[soniam]

But even "fake" coughing on someone is still spreading your COVID on them. You should be thrown in jail for that! And it's unethical to even be at Disney anyway.

View attachment 538189

The acceptable solution to people crowding you is to fart pixie dust on them (how's that for a "blast" from the past?).

I had my mask covering my chin Isn’t that enough?

 

[pluto377]

Very busy HS today. Mis posted rise issues

it must really depend on your timing. I didn’t find hs crowded today.

We got bg 38. Was on the app at exactly 7. Had read to just keep tapping join without reading and also to be on data not WiFi.

We got to the parking lanes at 8:00 and they let us in at 8:10. Parking was easy as was temp check and security. I realized in the temp tent that I had forgotten ds’s mb in the room. So a quick stop and guest services and off to slinky. Not sure how long the slinky wait was but we were off by 8:45.

Went to mmrr next. Posted was 90, actual 60. So glad they let you keep the stroller for the outside part of the line! And also nice that a cm parked it for me bc my party is just me and ds (4). When we came out the line was significantly shorter.

Circled back to tsm. Posted 40, actual 20. They let you keep the stroller here too but despite 3 cast members standing at the entrance to the parking area no one helped me. So I got out of line and when we got back in the gentleman behind me was rather more rude than was necessary. I get that he thought I was cutting but he could have been nice about it first.

Saucers next, posted 50(!), actual 30. It was close to our bg number now so we headed over there, but the 15 minutes turned into 30. We just killed time until we got called. The relaxation station in swge is nice. Ride was amazing! Ds is pretty much exactly 40 inches and they checked him 3 times. I was so stressed we wouldn’t get on.

Lunch at mama Melrose. Distancing was good. Food was blah. What’s with chocolate gelato not being an option for the kid dessert? Waitress seemed really put out when I said ds wouldn’t eat vanilla.

Headed back toward entrance taking pics and catching two calvacades. Ds wanted to ride the skyliner so we took it to AoA and played on the playground there and took pics with the Cars. Then rode to Epcot and back and finally back to the car.

heading to ak tomorrow and then home in the evening. Will be interesting to see how this 7am open goes. No way we will be there that early.

 

[JFox]

I just returned from my trip. Went to DHS this past Tuesday 11/10. I had never practiced getting a boarding group and had no issues. I just hit "join" right at 7am. There were only 2 of us going and we were both pre-selected. Actually, something glitched and some random person was also selected in my group. Literally no idea who they were, so I de-selected them. Still got boarding group 45, which was called around 12:35pm that day. Good luck!

Is the area/location to join a BG on property only? We have a MGM PR on our arrival day and will be there mid-day. Can I join before even leaving home?

 

[yulilin3]

Is the area/location to join a BG on property only? We have a MGM PR on our arrival day and will be there mid-day. Can I join before even leaving home?

The 7am cam be from whether as lonf as you have a park reservation and can get ro the park within the hour provided once your bg gets called

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Last night we went to Disney Springs and boy, it was a madhouse. It got worse after 7PM (likely due to the parks closing and it being a Friday) and felt no different than pre-pandemic times. I did have a few people bump right into me (what’s the deal folks lol!) so that doesn’t say much about the physical distancing. Mask compliance was okay, l saw lots of people take them off for photos though in crowded walkways, etc. People in line queues hit or miss with giving you space.

That being said, I felt that most of the time we had space to weave around people without getting too close. The stores were managed with lines so they never felt too overwhelming besides World of Disney. The line to get in World of Disney moved so fast I wondered if they were just using it to slow down the incoming groups of people- it never stopped moving.

I would avoid evenings if you can, we expected it to be crowded but not that crowded. It didn’t bother us too much because I think we had our ‘crowd band aid’ after months of working from home ripped off in the Denver airport which was a total zoo.

I’m a Disneyland vet and I loved Disney Springs, the World of Disney store is so huge! Big hit for us, we might come back another night. Lots of fun holiday touches everywhere like the themed xmas trees and cms dressed as nutcrackers on stilts, ice skaters, etc. We walked in right when it was doing the snow soap and it made for a fun first impression.

 

[supergirl04]

I don’t know if this is the right place to post but we are going thanksgiving week. I am so nervous about crowds. Especially now that is has been stated and not just speculated that capacity has increased.

 

[Beachmom0317]

Playground is open at SSR

 

[coolbrook]

Just back Thursday from a 4 night trip staying at the Poly. We did AK, EP, and MKx2. We skipped HS because our CM daughter was blocked out. Overall it was a lovely, relaxing trip. We especially liked the boat rides to and from MK from the Poly, spending more time relaxing over meals and talking with our daughter, watching the characters go by, and only averaged 4 attractions a day. The DVC lounge at Epcot and the festival center with the piano player were nice too.

 

[princess jasmine 76]

I don’t know if this is the right place to post but we are going thanksgiving week. I am so nervous about crowds. Especially now that is has been stated and not just speculated that capacity has increased.

Us too, we leave in 6 days and stay through Thanksgiving weekend

 

[scrappinginontario]

Us too, we leave in 6 days and stay through Thanksgiving weekend

If crowds are that concerning, now is the time to take a good look at your comfort level. Parks have already increased capacity. If this is not comfortable to you then possibly rescheduling your trip until later will give you the breathing space you need. Thanksgiving is notoriously busy at Disney and within the new guidelines, this year will be no different. I would ask myself if I will be comfortable if the parks are as busy as they are allowed to be? You are paying a lot of money if you’re thinking you’ll spend your time overwhelmed and frightened and possibly leaving the parks if you feel they’re too crowded for your comfort level.

 

[bennifer]

I don’t know if this is the right place to post but we are going thanksgiving week. I am so nervous about crowds. Especially now that is has been stated and not just speculated that capacity has increased.

I was there last week/weekend. I thought I was crazy to go because I’ve spent the last 8 months being very cautious. I made a plan with my friends who I went with that if anyone felt uncomfortable with the crowds in any area, restaurant or queue, we would leave. The only time I felt uneasy was when we were walking towards the hub in MK in the evening. I’m not sure what they were expecting? Fireworks and lightshows are canceled! They were projecting 4 different things on the castle. Once people realized that was all that was happening, most of the crowd dispersed. There are even lines to get into the shops, so it wasn’t wall to wall people. I have no idea what the capacity was when I was at any of the parks, but knowing that we had a backup plan helped me. It actually helped me so much that I’m debating taking my family down the week between Christmas and New Years!

 

[hakunamoscato91]

Has anyone at the parks now or recently noticed if they have Christmas magic bands out? I waited as long as I could for them to show up in the resort magic bands and have been watching shop Disney since. They still have Halloween, NBA bands, everything but Christmas!

 

[hereforthechurros]

Has anyone at the parks now or recently noticed if they have Christmas magic bands out? I waited as long as I could for them to show up in the resort magic bands and have been watching shop Disney since. They still have Halloween, NBA bands, everything but Christmas!

I was shocked not to see any with the Christmas rollout on shopDisney. Is it normal for them to be this late?