Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Princess Katelet]

People who use Rideshare to rope drop…the driver willingly sits in the car with you in a line for 20 or so minutes waiting to get through? Don’t they charge extra for that?

 

[kylenne]

People who use Rideshare to rope drop…the driver willingly sits in the car with you in a line for 20 or so minutes waiting to get through? Don’t they charge extra for that?

Rideshares don’t work that way. Prices are set in advance in the app when you book the ride, there are no on the fly adjustments during the ride and the driver has no control over the price anyway. These aren’t taxis, there’s no meter running.

I apologized to my driver but she was cool with waiting 10 minutes and just asked if she could handle her bank business on the phone while we waited (she spoke Spanish and didn’t realize I could understand her lol). But I tripled her tip to thank her for her time

 

[spumonisowner]

I’m curious how people there now feel crowds are flowing. They’ve been increasing capacity and I just checked MDE wait times and all of the headliners are 50 minutes or under- that seems pretty great, in my opinion.

I had been wishing for a return of free FP because I was worried about horrible 90+minute waits for everything, but now I may be on the other side of that- to be able to tour freely without the necessity of FP (or wait 2-3 hours for something like FOP) sounds pretty nice.

although I know things will continue to change as crowds heat up, will keep watching those wait times to see if increased staff/ride capacity balance out the increased crowds without FP.

Not trying to start another thread on FP vs no FP (we have plenty of those!) - just want to get a feel for people’s impressions of crowd flow and wait times and if it is as manageable as it seems while I sit at home looking at my MDE app

We were at MK yesterday, our first time after covid. We didn’t make it to rope drop but stayed until close. It seemed like average level pre-covid crowds to me. It was definitely manageable - our longest wait was 55 minutes at 7 dwarfs, but most of them were 30 minutes or less. We found the wait times posted were not accurate. Some actual waits were longer and most were shorter. I missed having FP, though, because I used to average 13-15 FP per day at MK just refreshing all day. That said, we got done almost as much done as we would have with FP and had a good day. My DH liked not having FP because we didn’t need to cross the park as much.

 

[kylenne]

I’m curious how people there now feel crowds are flowing. They’ve been increasing capacity and I just checked MDE wait times and all of the headliners are 50 minutes or under- that seems pretty great, in my opinion.

I had been wishing for a return of free FP because I was worried about horrible 90+minute waits for everything, but now I may be on the other side of that- to be able to tour freely without the necessity of FP (or wait 2-3 hours for something like FOP) sounds pretty nice.

although I know things will continue to change as crowds heat up, will keep watching those wait times to see if increased staff/ride capacity balance out the increased crowds without FP.

Not trying to start another thread on FP vs no FP (we have plenty of those!) - just want to get a feel for people’s impressions of crowd flow and wait times and if it is as manageable as it seems while I sit at home looking at my MDE app

I got back on Saturday night, and had 7 park days, albeit with plenty of break time at my resorts.

Crowds are very, very manageable. The parks are not empty like they were last summer, but still not quite at pre-Covid levels imo. There really are far less people in the parks right now--I think folks are still not understanding that just because you see a lot of people out and about it doesn't mean crowds are back to normal. We still have a ton of closed shows that would normally be eating up a lot more people than you would see just walking around. For the most part, posted times are still grossly inflated, only twice did I notice actual waits were close to it. I used the Touring Plans Lines app extensively both to report and see times and it was much more accurate, though I always have to remind people that it's important not just to look at the time but go into the ride's screen and look to see when the last user submitted time was reported. Things can change quickly sometimes. In general though, if you rope drop and stay flexible, you'll be good. Alternatively if you come in the late afternoon, you can get a whole lot done as well (though Epcot is the exception to this, Test Track lines stay ridiculous all day long even up to closing). The tried and true strategy of rope drop, resort break during the peak heat and crowds of the day, then come back in late afternoon/evening is 100% the best way to go imo. I used it very well and did not wait longer than 30 minutes for anything the whole trip.

I will say though that HS right now is the hardest park to deal with by far in terms of wait times, just because aside from Frozen and the Disney Jr. thing, all you have there are headliners. I was very glad to have multiple HS days reserved not just for extra Rise attempts but also because wait times just build here so quickly and stay high all day without those shows to spread crowds. And if any one of them has downtime (eg. SDD, due to weather), it gets even worse. If you are ride focused people and enjoy the HS offerings I would highly suggest 2 days there and do the rope drop/evening strategy.

 

[kylenne]

Let me also add for the folks who don't want to do rope drop and are thinking of turning up later on in the afternoon/evenings to hit the parks, if you want certain snacks or food items, pay attention to when locations close. Some of them close way earlier than the parks, and certain items will move from carts to a nearby QS. Last Thursday for instance, when I went back to HS around 4:30p after my spa appt and siesta, I noticed Ronto Roasters had closed at some point so I had to order my Ronto Wrap from Docking Bay 7. Hopefully this kind of thing will not be an issue for much longer, as Disney continues to hire back more cast, but it's something important to keep in mind.

 

[MDIME]

Let me also add for the folks who don't want to do rope drop and are thinking of turning up later on in the afternoon/evenings to hit the parks, if you want certain snacks or food items, pay attention to when locations close. Some of them close way earlier than the parks, and certain items will move from carts to a nearby QS. Last Thursday for instance, when I went back to HS around 4:30p after my spa appt and siesta, I noticed Ronto Roasters had closed at some point so I had to order my Ronto Wrap from Docking Bay 7. Hopefully this kind of thing will not be an issue for much longer, as Disney continues to hire back more cast, but it's something important to keep in mind.

Thank you for sharing your updates! I’m sure I’m not the only one here who lived vicariously through your reports! Glad you had a great time!

 

[WEDWDW]

I think the chances of some sort of fireworks show at Epcot for Independence Day are looking up-judging by the Crowds at the "return" of Epcot Rope Drop today,I don't think Disney is "worried" about Fireworks "crowding" anymore!lol

 

[kylenne]

Thank you for sharing your updates! I’m sure I’m not the only one here who lived vicariously through your reports! Glad you had a great time!

It was my pleasure! Honestly it was a load of fun and I just hope it helped (or entertained) as much as this thread did so for me when I was planning.

I think the chances of some sort of fireworks show at Epcot for Independence Day are looking up-judging by the Crowds at the "return" of Epcot Rope Drop today,I don't think Disney is "worried" about Fireworks "crowding" anymore!lol

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Yikes, and I thought rope drop at the IG was bad!

 

[Tess]

I think the chances of some sort of fireworks show at Epcot for Independence Day are looking up-judging by the Crowds at the "return" of Epcot Rope Drop today,I don't think Disney is "worried" about Fireworks "crowding" anymore!lol

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It appears that it is time to let those entering at the IG a few minutes head start as used to occur with regulartity. No wonder TT wait times are outrageous from start to finish and those at IG have no chance to get there before the front gate when they are queuing at SE.

 

[lovethattink]

At MK today. Splash is running without water on the hill. Looks strange. But might try it to see what we think. There is water otherwise.

Big Thunder Mt Railroad is closed for the week according to cm.

Jack Sparrow is out for a meet and greet!

Country Bear is out above country Bears and walkway to Adventureland.

Pooh and friends are on the double decker bus for their cavalcade.

Marching band is playing Cruella Devil song.

Walkways seem more crowded than past Tuesdays.

It’s super hot. We won’t be staying long. Just needed a dole whip fix!

 

[elittleton]

I think the chances of some sort of fireworks show at Epcot for Independence Day are looking up-judging by the Crowds at the "return" of Epcot Rope Drop today,I don't think Disney is "worried" about Fireworks "crowding" anymore!lol

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My DD and I waited in that crowd on Monday. We were held there until 10:30. Due to the crowd we wore our mask. When they finally let us go we had a 30 minute wait for TT and we were closer to the front of the crowd. It was crazy and very hot.

 

[PanchoX1]

so is epcot not doing the opening 45 min or so before posted opening time?

 

[elittleton]

so is epcot not doing the opening 45 min or so before posted opening time?

Yesterday they opened the parking booths shortly after 10:00 and we walked straight thru security and the ticket touch points but then held by Spaceship Earth until 10:30. At that point people started running for TT. We are not runners so we ended up with a 30 minute wait.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Yea sadly it seems my trip next month (July) will be the usual summer crowds . I saw that someone over on twitter posted that there was a whole new batch of park reservations open for the month of July ( the Disney World website calendar was pretty much green for the entire month). It seems Disney has quietly increased park capacity again. I knew I should have planned better lol...

 

[brockash]

It appears that it is time to let those entering at the IG a few minutes head start as used to occur with regulartity. No wonder TT wait times are outrageous from start to finish and those at IG have no chance to get there before the front gate when they are queuing at SE.

Don't get me wrong; I totally would prefer them not doing rope drop etc., but in all ours years of rope dropping Epcot Spaceship Earth has been the furthest we've ever been held (other than when entering through IG.) A few years we've qued closer to TT or Soarin - they would have 2 sets of ropes at either Innovations bldgs.

 

[monstermash23]

Yea sadly it seems my trip next month (July) will be the usual summer crowds . I saw that someone over on twitter posted that there was a whole new batch of park reservations open for the month of July ( the Disney World website calendar was pretty much green for the entire month). I knew I should have planned better lol...

I'm with you on that one. This trip I have coming up at end of July, was actually a trip that was planned for the first week of lockdowns back in March 2020. That obviously didn't happen and this is the postponed version of that trip. Crowd timing is not on our side. I just hope some version of fastpass returns before then to help alleviate these growing crowds.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I'm with you on that one. This trip I have coming up at end of July, was actually a trip that was planned for the first week of lockdowns back in March 2020. That obviously didn't happen and this is the postponed version of that trip. Crowd timing is not on our side. I just hope some version of fastpass returns before then to help alleviate these growing crowds.

Yea it seems they have quietly increased park capacity again. This trip was actually a graduation trip to myself that I planned last year but canceled due to the pandemic. Will be interesting to see how next month goes lol

 

[kylenne]

so is epcot not doing the opening 45 min or so before posted opening time?

They still were as of last week.

It appears that it is time to let those entering at the IG a few minutes head start as used to occur with regulartity. No wonder TT wait times are outrageous from start to finish and those at IG have no chance to get there before the front gate when they are queuing at SE.

I honestly didn’t even bother the one day I rope dropped Epcot, when I saw the hordes going over to TT I just went to Soarin.

Don't get me wrong; I totally would prefer them not doing rope drop etc., but in all ours years of rope dropping Epcot Spaceship Earth has been the furthest we've ever been held (other than when entering through IG.) A few years we've qued closer to TT or Soarin - they would have 2 sets of ropes at either Innovations bldgs.

The problem with trying to rope drop FW from the IG nowadays is twofold, I think: the terribly late by comparison opening time encouraging more people to do rope drop in the first place, and then the construction walls making it such a pain to navigate FW from the back of the park. I found FW absolutely exhausting on this trip as compared to Nov 2019 when I did it from BC.

I will be coming from the front of the park come October, gods willing on the monorail, so I’ll be curious to see how it compares. The last time I came in that way the walls weren’t like this.

 

[VandVsmama]

We were at MK on Sunday, 6/6 (flew back home yesterday and it was a long travel day!).

MK opened at 8, but we didn't get into the park until after 8:00 am. We stayed at Pop Century and the MK bus line was REALLY REALLY long. If you want to be there for the opening or beforehand, you really probably need to be in the bus line at the 6:30 am mark, I think.

We tried a few times that day to get on Jungle Cruise, but the line was so long and so much of the queue was in the blazing sun. AND on top of it, it was as hot as a mother trucker on Sunday at MK. So we passed.

At 8:50 am, we went on Aladdin's magic carpets in Adventureland. Posted 10 min wait, but it was more like 5. Spitting camel not operating.

Just after 9:00, we went on Fast Choo Choo (BTMRR; we used to call Heimlich's Chew Chew Train at DCA "slow choo choo"). It had a 16 min posted wait time, but was more like 5. Skipped Splash Mtn because the wait was already at 40 min and we didn't want to wait 40 min for anything.

Then we went on Peter Pan (probably 5-7 min wait), Mad Tea Party (5 min wait, but it was posted at 10), them Dumbo (almost a walk on, had to wait for 1 iteration of the ride before we got on), and People Mover (5-7 min wait, line moved constantly, it was fine).

Then took bus to Riviera and had lunch at Primo Piatto. Only waited 5 min for the bus, which was pretty nice compared to a couple evenings' prior when I waited 50 min at the end of the night at MK for a bus to Pop Century!

Then we napped, got some pool time, another nap, showers again.

Then took bus back to MK. Waited 10 min for a bus this time. Took resort monorail to CR for dinner at The Wave. After that, we went to MK and rode POTC & HM before park close. At one point on our way to POTC, we thought about Jungle Cruise, but JC was totally closed. After POTC, we considered 7DMT, but the queue was 40 min and stretched way way WAY into Fantasyland...and we didn't want a repeat of the 50 min wait for a bus from a couple of nights' prior, so we went to HM and walked right onto that with no wait at all.

 

[Kerr84]

We have been here since Thursday. We have visited each park once. Crowds haven’t felt too bad until today. We are at Animal Kingdom and it is so hot and crowded. You can barely walk around because of all of the people. They definitely need to reduce capacity here but I know that won’t happen.