Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Fangorn]

For kicks and giggles I went to time.gov for the exact time... compared my phone's time with the exact time and learned my phone was 2.6 SECONDS off!! who knew!! Check your phones! 2.6 seconds could mean the difference between getting a BG or not!

It could, but that's assuming Disney's servers are synched to official time. If your phone is off (normal), that means your carrier's server clock is off. There's no guarantee that Disney's server is synched to official time.

Steve

 

[Sarahslay]

I have a Boardwalk breakfast ADR at 10 am on a Sunday in January... What at my chances to riding the Skyliner from POP to IG that day? I think I should ask the CM at the CB skyliner station maybe a day or two before. Otherwise, Uber over..
I cannot be the first person with this situation... ADR before skyliner to Epcot is running, can I???

Since HS opens earlier I would just hop the skyliner to there and walk, it's really not much further than IG (and I HATE the hill coming from IG to the resorts)

 

[karmacats]

Don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention this yet, but noticed a day or two ago that there is now a Shop in Store option when you click the + at the bottom of the MDX app. Right now, it’s only available at Mouse Gear and Everything Pop. Sounds like a better way to shop with no one crowding at the check out line.
View attachment 543440

Tried this at mouse gear last week and it worked great. Heads up, if you want to use a disney visa discount you can't get the discount using the app and have to go to a register, but the app will take other discounts such as AP.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Tried this at mouse gear last week and it worked great. Heads up, if you want to use a disney visa discount you can't get the discount using the app and have to go to a register, but the app will take other discounts such as AP.

Thanks for the tip. I do have a Disney visa, so I’ll just do normal check out. good to know

 

[cyndiella]

I was at Pop and didn’t trust the Skyliner to get me to DHS as early as I’d like so I booked breakfast ADR at Trattoria al Forno on my DHS day. The plan was to drive over but the prediction was for temperatures in the low 40s. I’m avoiding indoor dining right now so I cancelled. I did a bit of research and it looked like a bus from AoA would be my best free option. I wanted to be on that first bus (also avoiding long indoor queues for the attractions) so I got to the AoA bus stops at 6:45.

What?? are you hinting that AoA buses come earlier than POP buses??? Is that all buses--MK, AK?? That would be super great! Let me know if you had more bus to parks experiences like this!

 

[cyndiella]

Since HS opens earlier I would just hop the skyliner to there and walk, it's really not much further than IG (and I HATE the hill coming from IG to the resorts)

yep, this will be "Plan b or c" lol

 

[yulilin3]

What?? are you hinting that AoA buses come earlier than POP buses??? Is that all buses--MK, AK?? That would be super great! Let me know if you had more bus to parks experiences like this!

there are no buses to Epcot or DHS from Pop

 

[cyndiella]

It could, but that's assuming Disney's servers are synched to official time. If your phone is off (normal), that means your carrier's server clock is off. There's no guarantee that Disney's server is synched to official time.

Steve

I know, right!? What to do...what to do....?

 

[cyndiella]

there are no buses to Epcot or DHS from Pop

That I knew from our Oct 2020 visit... but I was wondering if MK or AK buses were more frequent or come earlier than POP buses to those 2 parks. Also, wouldn't there be HS and Ep buses IF the skyliner was down, like for weather reasons? Do they run when it's really windy, for example?

 

[Carla1183]

I know, right!? What to do...what to do....?

We were there last week and used world clock on an iPad while I was on the app on my phone. Hit the first page Join at 6:59:59, immediately hit join join without stopping to read anything, got group 3.

 

[scrappinginontario]

That I knew from our Oct 2020 visit... but I was wondering if MK or AK buses were more frequent or come earlier than POP buses to those 2 parks. Also, wouldn't there be HS and Ep buses IF the skyliner was down, like for weather reasons? Do they run when it's really windy, for example?

Buses from Pop and AoA to MK and AK are the same. Some days the first bus might leave from Pop, other days from AoA.

Buses run from Pop to/from DHS/Epcot when the Skyliner is down.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

Just returned from a 12-day trip to the World, our first in 5 years. I posted in a bit more detail about our first couple days many pages back, but I'll sum up here. For context, we're 2 healthy-ish 30-somethings from California. We haven't eaten indoors since before March, we wear masks religiously, we cancelled our family vacation back in August because it wouldn't be safe, and while we were gone they announced a second lockdown of our area.

The Good
-Festival of Holidays and all the seasonal snacks were a big hit with us. Even in its reduced form, there are still plenty of things to try.
-Wait times were pretty reasonable (see below for a caveat)
-People did seem to be trying their best to abide by the rules. There were certainly people who didn't seem to be able to pay attention to anything outside of themselves/their party, but for the most part people were genuinely trying.
-We didn't have problems with mobile ordering, though outside the restaurants became a gauntlet of trying to get through everyone else who was waiting for their food.
-We missed park-hopping a little, but instead we did 2 days at each park and just went slower, which was kind of nice. And the lack of planning/racing around made for a much more relaxing vacation.
-Overall we had a really good time.

The Bad
-Drunk people cannot socially-distance. This was a big issue at EPCOT.
-Airports are very much a reflection of the state in which they are located. SFO was great - empty, distanced, quiet. MSP was a nightmare of epic proportions.
-The "stand here" lines are too close together. No party of more than 2 can fit on the line, so the group winds up filling most of the six-feet section. At Universal, the lines were closer to 10 feet apart, which helped account for the space that people took up.
-I did not see CMs correcting people who were wearing masks incorrectly. My partner said he saw one do it once. There were a lot of nose-peekers and a handful of forgetful folks, and no one was addressing it. I was surprised because people on here had reported that CMs were doing that - I'm not sure if they're just burned out or afraid of starting a fight or there are just too few of them now to add that job duty.
-The parks are not built for the kind of distance that is required. The number of choke-points are really ridiculous, especially for how recently many sections were built and therefore how large of crowds they should have expected. DHS was the worst - not only SWGE, which we expected, but TSL as well. Even without a pandemic, the walkways are just too narrow for the crowds.
-People still instinctively crowd together when there's any kind of 'spectacle.' Cavalcades - people hear the music and cram together at the front of the sidewalk. Lit-up castle - people stand in crowds to watch it...not change for 15 minutes. Why, people?!

The Unexpected
-Rise BG. I was thrilled to not need to race over into the throng and expected we would get something mid-afternoon and wander over when crowds were lower. Instead we got BG5 and BG6 on our two days! Whoops?
-I love the cavalcades. Except that you can't predict when they'll be so you can easily get stuck behind them. Like 4 times in one afternoon at MK.
-The number of lines that are inaccessible really shocked me. I use a tiny electric wheelchair and am used to some accessibility issues at DL because it was built in the 50s. Plenty of rides at DL make you enter through the exit or come back at a different time because it predates the ADA by some 30-40 years. But at WDW, which is much newer, and in particular parks/areas that postdate the ADA, it's really ridiculous. We couldn't take advantage of inflated line times because we were given return-times at almost every ride. On one hand, it was nice to wait outside the line; on the other, waiting 60 minutes for something you know is only a 30-minute wait is annoying - and mostly infuriating because it shouldn't be inaccessible after all this time. And don't even get me started on Pirates.
-I had seen people talking about how the mask makes them tired faster; in the heat I can see that, but it was pleasantly cool when we went. However, we were wiped out much faster than usual. I don't think it was the mask itself, I think it was the energy being expended to try to figure out how to avoid people and being constantly vigilant. The mental energy it took to try to be as careful as possible and worrying all the time left us more drained than we expected.

Overall, I'm glad we went. I desperately needed to get out of the house, and within the Disney Bubble I felt relatively safe. However, we won't be going back until after the pandemic - not because of Disney itself, not because of what was "missing," but because the journey to get to Florida was so exhausting and stress-inducing. When/if DL reopens, we'll almost certainly go there because we can drive.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Quick report from my trip Dec 5-10.
We had a pretty successful trip. Cooler temps were welcomed after our August trip.
Just DH, DS8 and I. We RD'd parks, and that first hour (including the earlier openings) was the must.
DHS on Tuesday didn't open MMRR as early as usual. Opened at 8:30. Slinky also didn't start running until 8:50, so we skipped it. We did TSMM, MF, and then the magic shots with the fighters and baby Yoda, then BG.
I went back Thursday by myself, and did Slinky 1st, walked straight on, did TSMM walk on, and then went to MMRR, posted 40, but made it to last divider row in 20, but then it broke down. Got a FP. Did ST, Frozen singalong at 9:30, and then MMRR was up so used my FP.
I did have BG 17, but it didn't start running until when I had to leave. (Got my push while waiting for boat back to YC)
But as you can see, YMMV daily.
Also, Tuesday they had us lined up back before the exit of the skyliner, so people coming off skyliner got a jump before us walkers.
Thursday they took us to temp tents prior to the skyliner people arriving. That had me one of the first 20 walking down towards MMRR.
Wed we did AK. Bus from YC. We went to the bus stop at 6:30, only ones there. Bus came about 5-10 minutes before 7. Walked straight in to AK, and to FOP. Stopped about 10 people in front of us at entrance, waited a minute, and then we walked right on, after short preshow. Did Safari, which didn't open until 7:55. Got the male lion roaring, his breath fogging in the cool air. EE, about 5 min wait, walk on at Dino.

If you don't mind pics with masks, and have a Disney Visa, I recommend the photo spot at Epcot. They had no one there, and our photographer gave us our own private photo shoot, lol. He took 18 pics in different fun poses. Here is the character magic shot:
View attachment 543286

Cute shot! Where is this in Epcot? We have a visa but rarely remember to do the character pictures!

 

[yulilin3]

Cute shot! Where is this in Epcot? We have a visa but rarely remember to do the character pictures!

Behind figment by the dancing fountains

 

[jsmla]

What?? are you hinting that AoA buses come earlier than POP buses??? Is that all buses--MK, AK?? That would be super great! Let me know if you had more bus to parks experiences like this!

Not that so much as that there is no bus between Pop and DHS. Pop only has the Skyliner and the timing is such that, no matter how early you are for the Skyliner at the Pop station, you’ll probably be behind a whole lot of people from Caribbean Beach and, perhaps, Riviera at the transfer point to DHS. When I stayed at Caribbean Beach in September every morning the line for DHS extended down the ramp and out onto the sidewalk long before the Pop people ever arrived. That was before AoA opened.

I’m avoiding longer indoor queues (like Runaway Railway and Tower of Terror) as much as possible which meant arriving at the front of the opening crowd. If it weren’t for COVID I would have just taken my chances with the Skyliner. I chose to skip Rise of the Resistance altogether. It’s just too indoorsy for me right now.

My original intention was to take a bus from AoA to DHS but it was cold, like really, really chilly with a nasty little biting wind. I saw a MK bus pull up and jumped on thinking I’d rather sit on a warm bus and transfer to another warm bus than wait at the chilly AoA stop for more a direct trip. If it had been 60 instead of 40 degrees out I probably would have just waited for the direct DHS bus from AoA. The convoluted route I ended up taking actually got me there significantly earlier than the Skyliner or any of the buses.

All of that said, I was on the first bus out from Pop once to AK and twice to MK and the AoA bus beat us every time. Pop did look like it was always second. If staying at AoA I wouldn’t hesitate to use their buses for park open.

In my experience this week (and I was paying attention) was that, aside from walk ups, first arrivals were the AoA buses at MK (3X) with Pop right behind, and the first people off the Skyliner at DHS (2 X) Walk ups seemed to be first at both parks.

I caught the earliest AK bus from Pop and was one of the first into the park, I’m pretty sure it was the second bus to arrive that morning.

Long way to say that, if my experience this past week is anything to go by, bus service from Pop works well if you can be there early enough to be on the first one out.

 

[jsmla]

Regarding CMs and the policing of masks-we were there over Thanksgiving week with our 2 3/4 year old granddaughter. We fully support and tried our hardest to adhere to the mask rules. DGD really did do her two year old best but this was all very new for her. The thing is, she is a thumb sucker and was seated in a stroller in front of me, completely out of my view. (PawPaw was useless in this situation, he takes his role as the fun grandparent very seriously.) Rules were occasionally forgotten (she’s two), masks were lowered, and thumbs sucked, all unintentionally done on my part.

We were asked many time to have DGD fix her mask. We never minded and some of the CMs were very sweet with it, but they definitely did ask. You may not see them do anything at the moment you’re noticing a slip-up but I’d bet it won’t be long.

 

[wdwrule]

Behind figment by the dancing fountains

We totally missed that spot bummer! We did get the visa spot at Star Wars Launch Bay at HS with storm troopers etc though.

 

[hlrubin507]

Today did second day at MK, did not try to arrive as early as possible but made it in before park opening.

Parked car @ TTC at 7:24am (8am opening)
7:34 was in line for monorail
7:40 departed on monorail
7:45am arrived at MK monorail station
7:48am through the tap stiles.

Walked on to: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (2x), Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and did BTMR with about a 15-minute wait between Buzz and Pirates. Stopped for Sleepy Hollow snack goodness about 9:30am (line took almost 15 min) and after that time, the wait times were about what they would be for the rest of the day. Since we had done 7DMT on our first day, we did not stress out about being through the tapstiles as early as humanly possible, which was a good call on day 5 of Disney.

We had a nice partial day at the MK -- did the Tiki Room, Aladdin, Carousel of Progress, Mad Tea Party, Pooh, shopped, and left about 1pm for lunch at the Wave, then shopped in the Contemporary and headed back to our rental. It was nice to have a relaxing afternoon/nap and quiet evening at "home" on our second MK day.

Food and cocktails at the Wave were REALLY good. Service was so-so. Value for the price paid was quite high for Disney standards.

The park does feel pretty crowded in the public thoroughfares and some of the lines are exceedingly long. That said, many lines move quickly and it is refreshing to not be looking at my phone all day worrying about my schedule of FP's.

Lovely day!

 

[MEC004]

We were there last week and used world clock on an iPad while I was on the app on my phone. Hit the first page Join at 6:59:59, immediately hit join join without stopping to read anything, got group 3.

One phone on world clock and the other on the app. Clicked join right at 7 and was in boarding group 12. It didn’t matter though since the ride was down until 12. We were able to board around 12:45ish.

 

[cyndiella]

We were there last week and used world clock on an iPad while I was on the app on my phone. Hit the first page Join at 6:59:59, immediately hit join join without stopping to read anything, got group 3.

wooow!!