Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[krismom345]

7/18/21
MK 9:01 waiting at Frontierland rope (after Liberty Square rope)

Splash walk-on, BTMR 5 minute walk-on, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Sleepy Hollow mobile order pick-up at 10:55. Tangled bathrooms, Philharmagic, Plaza check-in at 12:15.
Space Mountain posted 70, took 50. On at 1:52
Ordered DTech phone case.
15 minute wait for Peoplemover.
DTech phone case pick-up.
Main Street Bakery for Starbucks.
Emporium
Pandora shop.
Calvacade

Bus to HS

ToT posted at 40 minutes. In line at 5:07..Out of preshow at 5:31.
6:00 Woody's lunchbox
6:32 TSMM, posted 35. 20 minute wait.

7/19

Pop bus at 6:50
7:15 let in park. Held at Pandora Rope until 7:30.
FOP. Navi. By 8:42 in 5 minute line at Kilamanjaro safari.
Bathroom Break
9:42 Royal Anandapur. Stale donut.
Everest in line at 10:12 Off Everest 10:40.
Discovery Island shops.
11:15 Tree of Life for Winged Encounters
Mobile ordered Satuli. Picked up at 11:45.
Wandered and did EE again with 20 minute wait(posted at 30).

Back to Pop. Then dinner in DS. Visited DS Art of Disney and got a print that Dirk Wunderlich then signed and sketched a Stitch for me on the back.

7/20

Pop skyliner 7:30 start (handful of people in line.
CBR transfer only five from CBR in line.
Arrived at HS at 7:50. Could see some cars lined up at gate. Went to the right line. Maybe 25 back in line. Entered. Straight to RNR line. First in line in Sunset BLvd. Three people already in the ToT line onSunset. Maybe 15 people entered the park ahead of us. Standing in the RNR line now. CM said we’ll be walked back at 8:30. If ready will start then or they may hold us until 9:00. Oh—BG 11. We sat at the tables outside Everything Pop with others doing the same thing. I was on data and got the BG. The others in my party were on WiFi.
Transferring to BCR tomorrow. Will report more later. I will say, though, that crowds seem much better than what I was seeing reported here last week.

“Stale donut” is best part of this.

 

[preemiemama]

Do you remember how crowded the bus was at Kidani for MK rope drop? We’re staying there in 2 weeks, and we’ll have a car, but the bus is so much easier to MK. But I‘m not too keen on a packed bus, lol.

Not the person you asked, but we just got back from a stay at Jambo. The bus stops at both Kidani and Jambo in the morning, but that 7:30 bus is not usually packed. There were a few families each time we were on it, but we all had seats and some space.

 

[moesy4]

It seems to me from these posts that rides being down, either for mechanics or weather, are almost a bigger problem at this point towards line waits than the lack of people eaters or staff. When headliners are down almost every day for sometimes a large chunk of the day, it has a disastrous effect on both the overall wait times for that line when it does finally open and also the other rides when it is closed.

 

[sjrec]

We are staying at Kidani too for the first time so I’m concerned about breakfast if everything is closed. Will we have to walk to Jambo in the mornings? We usually grab something quick like cereal and fruit

You should have a fridge-you could get fruit and cereal the night before and eat before you leave.

 

[RunWI1265]

Do you remember how crowded the bus was at Kidani for MK rope drop? We’re staying there in 2 weeks, and we’ll have a car, but the bus is so much easier to MK. But I‘m not too keen on a packed bus, lol.

Not packed at all. It was the latest bus to pick up in the morning though. When we got to the bus stop at 7:30 there was only one other person. But the bus didn’t come for 20 more minutes so obviously more people showed up. Had it come around 730 there would have been 3 of us on the bus. My husband and I both agreed it was the best overall bussing experience we’ve had of any trip.

 

[dmband]

Are the innertubes back in the wave pool yet? I believe they were not there when it first opened.

not when I was there recently

Thank you! At least one place is positive crowd wise!

Crowd was super low for us.
longest wait was like 1 minute. Took way longer to get a lazy river tube than anything else

 

[WEDWDW]

Northwest Mercantile(with one of my favorite Hidden Mickeys) and Trading Post have reopened in Canada!

We still have a ways to go to get all of the World Showcase shops reopened,but this is a great development.

(I still have hopes that one day they will put a shop in Hotel du Canada again.)

 

[BebopBaloo]

Question for anyone who may have attempted this recently... I'm currently on a "over two hour" hold with WDW reservations (third time attempting this). I want to add a note about my son's birthday to a dining reservation that I already have. I've attempted to do this online and in chat, but they can't do it that way. Is Disney doing anything special for birthdays at the moment anyway? In past there would be Mickey confetti and a card on the table. etc. I'm posting this question here in hopes that someone there, or just back may have experience with this. Thanks!

Edit to add: Iago is still singing his version of Friend Like Me from the old Tiki Room Makeover in the hold music.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Question for anyone who may have attempted this recently... I'm currently on a "over two hour" hold with WDW reservations (third time attempting this). I want to add a note about my son's birthday to a dining reservation that I already have. I've attempted to do this online and in chat, but they can't do it that way. Is Disney doing anything special for birthdays at the moment anyway? In past there would be Mickey confetti and a card on the table. etc. I'm posting this question here in hopes that someone there, or just back may have experience with this. Thanks!

When I went for my 40th in January, when we would check in on the app, there was an option to select if you were celebrating anything, birthday, anniversary, etc. I checked it every time during our trip. Some places would recognize it and bring an extra dessert, but most places didn't have anything they were doing. Is there a specific restaurant you're thinking about?

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Question for anyone who may have attempted this recently... I'm currently on a "over two hour" hold with WDW reservations (third time attempting this). I want to add a note about my son's birthday to a dining reservation that I already have. I've attempted to do this online and in chat, but they can't do it that way. Is Disney doing anything special for birthdays at the moment anyway? In past there would be Mickey confetti and a card on the table. etc. I'm posting this question here in hopes that someone there, or just back may have experience with this. Thanks!

We went to via Napoli on my birthday - they sang and brought me a cannoli with a candle. When my girlfriend made reservations, I wasn't planning on going, so my guess is she told them at check in.

 

[BebopBaloo]

When I went for my 40th in January, when we would check in on the app, there was an option to select if you were celebrating anything, birthday, anniversary, etc. I checked it every time during our trip. Some places would recognize it and bring an extra dessert, but most places didn't have anything they were doing. Is there a specific restaurant you're thinking about?

Garden Grill is our restaurant. That's good to know about it being asked for in app check in.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Garden Grill is our restaurant. That's good to know about it being asked for in app check in.

I don't remember for sure, but don't think they had anything special to offer at that time. Maybe it's changed since then though. You can always have a birthday cake set up to be delivered to the restaurant though.

 

[Looper]

Not packed at all. It was the latest bus to pick up in the morning though. When we got to the bus stop at 7:30 there was only one other person. But the bus didn’t come for 20 more minutes so obviously more people showed up. Had it come around 730 there would have been 3 of us on the bus. My husband and I both agreed it was the best overall bussing experience we’ve had of any trip.

So good to hear! Thank you!

 

[harleyquinn]

Garden Grill is our restaurant. That's good to know about it being asked for in app check in.

I highly suggest saying something when you check in there. Years ago, they brought my daughter (I think she was turning 3) a cupcake and sang her Happy Birthday. They also gave us a card signed by all of the Characters that appear at GG. I know part of it was that she was stinking adorable, and it was a long time ago, but it wouldn't hurt!

 

[honeymo78]

Question for anyone who may have attempted this recently... I'm currently on a "over two hour" hold with WDW reservations (third time attempting this). I want to add a note about my son's birthday to a dining reservation that I already have. I've attempted to do this online and in chat, but they can't do it that way. Is Disney doing anything special for birthdays at the moment anyway? In past there would be Mickey confetti and a card on the table. etc. I'm posting this question here in hopes that someone there, or just back may have experience with this. Thanks!

Edit to add: Iago is still singing his version of Friend Like Me from the old Tiki Room Makeover in the hold music.

No confetti or card on the table for me earlier this month, but I got a piece of "birthday" cake at California Grill and at Via Napoli I got a cupcake with a candle and they sang to me. I think I mentioned my birthday when checking in to CG, something about it being my grown up birthday meal the night before my birthday. At Via Napoli, I didn't mention anything but was wearing my "birthday girl" sash since it was my actual birthday. We also ate at Skipper Canteen and Yak & Yeti with nothing special - I didn't mention a birthday at any point so no surprise nothing happened.

 

[BebopBaloo]

I ended up not waiting the 2+ hours. I waited about 40minutes and then hung up. We'll just note it when checking in through the app. and he'll have a birthday button. We won't anticipate anything happening and will be especially happy if something does happen.

 

[Geomom]

Garden Grill is our restaurant. That's good to know about it being asked for in app check in.

DD17 celebrated her bday at Garden Grill in April. While it was noted on our resort reservation, she also wore her birthday button. She got a signature card and a cup of chocolate mousse with Mickey sprinkles and a candle and our waiter sang happy b-day to her.

 

[Manc]

We drove back to NC last night after a 9 day stay in BCV and BLT.
Overall we (4 of us) felt like we had a good time. We all loved Galaxy’s Edge. The 2 attractions are awesome. My kids did both the droid, and lightsaber builds, and they loved them equally. My 14 y.o. even snagged a black kyber crystal on his birthday. Hollywood Studios as a whole was a hit with us, despite the heavy crowds.
Being so crowded, AK became a half day park for us again. We did the rope-drop ‘Pandora Shuffle’, as my youngest calls it. FOP, Dinosaur, Everest, and Safari, and by then it’s lunchtime. The crowds were so heavy at this point, that we couldn’t bear lining up for a repeat ride. Tiffins for lunch was both very relaxing and so yummy.

Epcot was ok. rope-dropped Soarin, which was a walk on. The Land had no wait. Over to TT, which was around 30 mins. SE was a crazy 30 min wait for us. We also did Frozen for the first time, which wasn’t so bad at 30 mins.

MK was our biggest disappointment. Crowds were very heavy. We found it difficult to get motivated to line up for such a long time in the heat to ride things we have done so many times before. Thunder Mountain wait times were fairly reasonable. We had 3 and a half MK days planned, but the kids didn’t even want to go back for the final 1.5.
On our last night our 14 y.o. started getting sick. Low grade fever, chills, stuffy, very drippy nose, and ear ache. We took him to his pediatrician this morning. He tested positive for RSV. Got back from the doctors office, and my 16 y.o. is starting with the same symptoms. Icky. Wife and I are ok so far.

 

[lovethattink]

I’m on vacation in Ohio and my dh is sending me photo after photo of the F&W festival. It feels strange not to be there and experience it vicariously through his pics! His photos make it look like Epcot isn’t busy today.

 

[harleyquinn]

I’m on vacation in Ohio and my dh is sending me photo after photo of the F&W festival. It feels strange not to be there and experience it vicariously through his pics! His photos make it look like Epcot isn’t busy today.

"Vacation in Ohio" is very weird to this life-time Ohioan. Though, to be fair, I use the majority of my vacation time around the state. Hope it's a good vacation.

My friend just got back and felt like EPCOT was surprisingly uncrowded, but MK was "a nightmare."