Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[mm824]

Oh thank goodness (that you are talking about MDE not that you had longer waits) bc I was really banking on the TP app

I hope you have better luck with the TP app!

 

[mm824]

Were you there the week of Presidents week? That's when we were there and I was surprised at how crowded it was ALL WEEK LONG. I was anticipating that Presidents day weekend and maybe one or two days after would be busier, but it was the entire week. So, we just took the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather and be glad we weren't home in the sub-zero temps!

We were just there this past weekend (2/20 - 2/23) -

 

[mm824]

If it's literally life and death you don't belong at Disney World during a pandemic, just saying.

To be completely honest with you, given the current crowds, if you have any fear of COVID19, this is probably not the place for you to be. For us, this felt like every other busy trip we've taken, sans the 6ft tape lines and "mask requirement". CM's can only do so much when you have hundreds of people in line at once ....

Without derailing this conversation, my DH and I are both vaccinated, and commented to ourselves how uncomfortable we felt in many situations. The very vast majority of people were diligent about following the rules; but some people are just going to do what they want to do ...

 

[rileyz]

To be completely honest with you, given the current crowds, if you have any fear of COVID19, this is probably not the place for you to be. For us, this felt like every other busy trip we've taken, sans the 6ft tape lines and "mask requirement". CM's can only do so much when you have hundreds of people in line at once ....

Without derailing this conversation, my DH and I are both vaccinated, and commented to ourselves how uncomfortable we felt in many situations. The very vast majority of people were diligent about following the rules; but some people are just going to do what they want to do ...

Yes to all of this. There are bottlenecks in parts of every park, some lines go into walking areas and people come within inches if not come into contact with you. If you go at opening or leave at closing you will be very close to people. Getting off the Ferry at MK Monday night was people on top of people, I stepped to the side and let ppl go ahead to avoid crowd. It’s not an awful experience but it’s compromised and for me, as I said in an earlier post, I wouldn’t be here without an annual pass and free accommodations.

 

[DisneyByMarriage]

My husband and I are/were both in the food service industry and I feel like a lot of the issues people are talking about could be helped by an increase in staffing. For those that have been there recently, does it seem like the QS and shops aren’t adequately staffed? We try to go during off season; but what’s going to be hardest for us is not being able to get a Mickey pretzel or popcorn in under 10 minutes!

 

[Amy M]

I can only speak for Grand Floridian since we just came back. We found the main pool to not be busy- plenty of room to spread out. The kid's pool area (with slide) looked busy so we stayed away (we don't have young kids anyways)

Do you still have to wear a mask in the pool area if you aren’t actively swimming in the pool (just sitting in a lounge chair)?

 

[Naomeri]

Do you still have to wear a mask in the pool area if you aren’t actively swimming in the pool (just sitting in a lounge chair)?

I didn’t have to wear one at Pop in October while I sat in a lounge chair

 

[mm824]

My husband and I are/were both in the food service industry and I feel like a lot of the issues people are talking about could be helped by an increase in staffing. For those that have been there recently, does it seem like the QS and shops aren’t adequately staffed? We try to go during off season; but what’s going to be hardest for us is not being able to get a Mickey pretzel or popcorn in under 10 minutes!

More staffing and more options. There are not enough food options to cover the current crowd level.

I didn’t have to wear one at Pop in October while I sat in a lounge chair

Same at Yacht/Beach. Pool area is a free for all -

 

[disneygirlsng]

Feb 20-23. I'm told all four parks hit capacity on Saturday, explaining the massive crowds. We went to Epcot on Saturday @ 10:30, AK on Sunday right before opening, waited 45 minutes for Nali River (the posted sign and app said 30 btw) and FOP was already at 80 minutes. There were low crowds coming in, but when we left around 11, it was jam packed.

Monday we went to MK, which was also low crowds the first two hours (until about 9:45), and HS on Tuesday.

We took the Skyliner to HS and waited 45 minutes at the transfer station at 7:55AM ...
The evening prior (Monday) we waited almost an hour (posted time was 40 minutes) @ 7pm (park closes at 8) to ride Soarin.
As we were walking out around 8:10, the line for the Skyliner stretched all the way back to the Yacht Club.

It was just massively .... crowded.

I think last week/the last 2 weekends were pretty well expected to be insane. Many people have off the whole week, plus it was Mardi Gras with others having off for that. 2 big holidays in one week, big crowds are expected, especially on the weekends.

 

[mm824]

I think last week/the last 2 weekends were pretty well expected to be insane. Many people have off the whole week, plus it was Mardi Gras with others having off for that. 2 big holidays in one week, big crowds are expected, especially on the weekends.

I guess I should have researched this more before going. I never fathomed Disney would allow their parks to reach these level of crowds during the Pandemic; I've been proven wrong ....

 

[Leigh L]

Does anyone know what the typical timeline for updating/adding park hours has been. I know right now they are increased up to 3/13 I just didnt know if it was every Friday at noon or some specific time that it has been occurring.

I just got an email from Touring Plans that Friday's MK (and I think MK and EP for Saturday) hours extended. Usually, it is on Fridays, but this is the 2nd or 3rd time it has happened to us a day or two before our park day.

This is our first year using Touring Plans and it's mostly great. However, the TP morning wait times this week have been way off in our experience (saying they are shorter than they are). Later in the day, pretty accurate. Except for one day, at 2 p.m. on Thursday, it said Slinky was 32 minutes and MDE said 70. Actual wait was 60 minutes.

(Edit: I meant to quote two posts but lost the other )

 

[GBRforWDW]

I just got an email from Touring Plans that Friday's MK (and I think MK and EP for Saturday) hours extended. Usually, it is on Fridays, but this is the 2nd or 3rd time it has happened to us a day or two before our park day.

This is our first year using Touring Plans and it's mostly great. However, the TP morning wait times this week have been way off in our experience (saying they are shorter than they are). Later in the day, pretty accurate. Except for one day, at 2 p.m. on Thursday, it said Slinky was 32 minutes and MDE said 70. Actual wait was 60 minutes.

(Edit: I meant to quote two posts but lost the other )

@wilkydelts Typically, new park hours are released about 2 months out and have kept a mostly consistent rolling pattern of 1 weeks worth at a time.

then, about 2 weeks before the dates, they’ll release updated/extended hours, usually based off park pass reservations and projections.

Both of these are usually on a Friday, but can sometimes happen on Thursday.

Then there’s times leading up to a date that they feel will be even busier than originally thought, so they’ll extend the hours once more, similar to what Leigh mentioned happening in her post, I believe.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Seems like this 11 day span (2/11 - 2/21) is going to help revenue tremendously in what will otherwise be a very soft Q2 of Disney's fiscal year. This year was always going to include the February trifecta: Valentine's Day + President's Day + Mardi Gras in a 4 day span. (For reference, the last time this happened was in 2015). Nothing I saw out of the wait times today surprised me - if anything there were encouraging signs with lower waits than are typical for this holiday.

I think it's easy to confuse what it looks like and feels like, vs. what the actual data shows. Here are wait times from President's Day 2020 vs. President's Day 2021 (the blue line is today). The major factors that are different are socially distant lines which take up more space, and lack of FastPass to ensure 3 short waits.

View attachment 556721

As some have said, people hear 35% capacity and think - "oh man, Disney will be dead, I want to be there!" not realizing what 35% really means. What those people really want is Disney at 15-20% of capacity which is what it seems like we're getting on weekdays through much of Jan/Feb (outside of the major holidays).

All these reports of shock at crowds last week... one word my friends: TRIFECTA

This week (and then corresponding crowds) has been coming for 6 years. None of the wait times I’ve seen recently have surprised me.

EDIT:
Here's a quick graph of the wait times from the Wednesday we spent at MK in late Jan, vs. today, vs. last Wednesday ("Trifecta" week). I'd say this is about what we'd expect to see from one of the slowest weeks of the year vs. a normal week vs. one of the busiest.

You can read my report of Wednesday 1/27 at the MK (to get a sense of what those crowd levels were like) HERE.

 

[Jaina]

Just wanted to say I hope you have a great trip!

I've followed a lot of your DL trip reports over on that forum.

We haven't done this early morning, but lately we've done a good bit of mobile ordering to resort hop. We just moved to Orlando in January and don't have APs so we've visited the resorts a ton.

Most of the time we'll do dinner. I remember at AOA the security guard wanted us to press the 'we are here' button in front of him. The AKL guard just waved us through without even seeing the phone. The Poly guard also wanted us to press the 'we are here' button but didn't watch us to make sure we did.

Hi! And thanks! I still haven't quite finished my trip report from my October trip to WDW, but it's nearly there! For this trip I'm hoping for a little cooler weather than our late October trip was, and maybe a touch less crowded. That would be fabulous! We're doing 3 days at Universal (since that's what my husband is excited about) and a day each at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We'd love to stay like 10 days and do everything, but leaving our 5 kids for 6 nights/days already is pushing it a little as it is! Do you think you'll get AP's at some point?

I'm hoping we won't have trouble with the mobile order and pushing the "we are here" button, but I what's the best alternative if they won't let us in? Have the Lyft driver go drop us at the transit center and grab a bus?

 

[Brittany Fata]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences it is really helpful. One thing I am trying to gauge is how often you might get stuck in "crowds" or at a chokepoint. I know that it might vary based on each persons experience, but are the interactions generally short (5 mins or less). Are you always in a sea of people regardless off where you are walking in the park, or is it just sometimes?

I'm not super paranoid, but obviously don't want to be stuck in crowds all day long. Overall, I would say I'm somewhat comfortable being in public. I've done indoor dining, I ride the subway in NY occasionally, gone to retail stores, ride in Ubers, gone to public parks, etc. I've obviously been within 6 feet of people in certain instances while doing these things; however, I don't think any of them are comparable to being in a theme park all day. So I'm just trying to figure out how often/for how long will I be in "crowds."

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Hi! And thanks! I still haven't quite finished my trip report from my October trip to WDW, but it's nearly there! For this trip I'm hoping for a little cooler weather than our late October trip was, and maybe a touch less crowded. That would be fabulous! We're doing 3 days at Universal (since that's what my husband is excited about) and a day each at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We'd love to stay like 10 days and do everything, but leaving our 5 kids for 6 nights/days already is pushing it a little as it is! Do you think you'll get AP's at some point?

I'm hoping we won't have trouble with the mobile order and pushing the "we are here" button, but I what's the best alternative if they won't let us in? Have the Lyft driver go drop us at the transit center and grab a bus?

Sounds like you're going to have a great trip. Lately the weather has been just about as perfect as it can be. Mid to late 70s most days with warm evenings. So long as it stays the course you'll love it.

We will get APs the first day they go back on sale, that is how eager we are.

Yeah, I think going to the transit center and take either a bus, monorail or ferry.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Mid-late January/early February wait times were incredibly low. I saw FOP at 20 minutes mid-afternoon several times. If that's any indication for off-season times.

Which is great, but when things are crowded you absolutely feel it. And without FP there’s really no navigating around it.

Not that you were saying anything to the contrary but the difference is remarkable right now.

 

[emilymad]

I am here now and this is my recap so far....it is crowded! I am sure it is not as bad as last week but it is way more crowded then we thought.

We had an ADR in DS Sunday night. It was full on summer crowded. We expected it and just went to and from dinner. You could barely walk it was so crowded.

We had another ADR in DS on Monday night. When we arrived around 5pm it was pretty empty. By the time we left dinner around 6pm it was almost as crowded as Sunday. It was surprising how fast it got crowded. I am guessing the short park hours is not helping this.

We did HS on Tuesday. They held us at temperature check until 8:15-8:20am. We hustled to SDD and rode with almost no wait. By 10:00am lines were long and people were everywhere. There was barely any place to walk in the park between the ride lines and people standing to eat/drink etc. We only stayed until 2pm because we had managed to get a BG. We hoped to EP around 4pm which was very empty.

Today we did MK in the morning. We arrived on the bus around 8:30am. The first hour was great. After that it escalated quickly. Things were very crowded but it didn't feel as crowded as HS. Lunch options are very limited in MK. We struggled finding something to eat. We hopped to EP again around 4pm. Crowds definitely worse today but still manageable.

My overall thoughts is that mask compliance is good. We haven't noticed any issues. However, the keeping distance thing was completely thrown out the window. Most places it was actually impossible. It seems a lot of rides are skipping their regular queues in favor of lines out in the walk ways.

Food feels like a major struggle. If I had planned this trip further in advance I would have booked 2 ADRs a day. Mobile order has been a mess and seating impossible. It is exhausting to be on your feet all day with no break.

We opted for only 2 day PH tickets since we normally have an AP. I am glad we went to the parks but I wouldn't bother in the future. We rode way less rides for more hours in the parks as our usual trips. The wait times are a complete guess. We waited both longer and shorter than the posted time. You just get in line and hope for the best. Until both FP and AP come back we are out.

I think travelers need to be aware that hopes of truly social distancing isn't a reality right now. Or maybe it is ok for the first hour in the park a day. This may be true of all travel right now. Our plane down was a completely full flight and I have a feeling our flight home will be the same.

 

[emilymad]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences it is really helpful. One thing I am trying to gauge is how often you might get stuck in "crowds" or at a chokepoint. I know that it might vary based on each persons experience, but are the interactions generally short (5 mins or less). Are you always in a sea of people regardless off where you are walking in the park, or is it just sometimes?

I'm not super paranoid, but obviously don't want to be stuck in crowds all day long. Overall, I would say I'm somewhat comfortable being in public. I've done indoor dining, I ride the subway in NY occasionally, gone to retail stores, ride in Ubers, gone to public parks, etc. I've obviously been within 6 feet of people in certain instances while doing these things; however, I don't think any of them are comparable to being in a theme park all day. So I'm just trying to figure out how often/for how long will I be in "crowds."

It has felt like a sea of people to us. We have been out to eat at home, have gone to stores, etc but this has been nothing like at home. We were ok with the situation because we somewhat expected it from the reports last week.

 

[Jaina]

Another thought on the Contemporary. If I made a reservation just for myself (my husband doesn’t eat that early even in our own time zone and would rather wander around the amazing hotel and take pictures of the view) would they let us both in?