Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Naomeri]

Did they open the parks an hour earlier than the posted openings today? I noticed the wait times were showing up and were quite significant for parks that were't supposed to be open yet.

It was Disney+ day today, so Disney+ subscribers could get in 30 minutes early, and if they were also staying onsite, they could get in 1 hour early

 

[leeniewdw]

Did they open the parks an hour earlier than the posted openings today? I noticed the wait times were showing up and were quite significant for parks that were't supposed to be open yet.

I noticed that today too. I forget which ride but it was 75 mins and it was before 730am?

 

[SkyGuy]

Did they open the parks an hour earlier than the posted openings today? I noticed the wait times were showing up and were quite significant for parks that were't supposed to be open yet.

Yes, people staying on property got in 60 minutes early because Disney+ subscribers were able to get in 30 minutes early. We walked from BWI at 7:10ish and rode SDD and TSM before 8:30, then headed to MF:SR with a 10 minute wait. We then booked it to RocknRoller Coaster and beat the 9am crowd. When we got off, it was 55 minutes.

 

[boop0524]

As of 3 pm at HS, the only ride not sold out of G+ is Muppets and Star Tours. Wow. MMRR available still but that’s ILL$. What a waste of $15… sorry for the negativity but honestly just so frustrating. We’ve only been able to use G+ for Muppets, SDD, and TSM later today.

 

[BrotherCraig]

As of 3 pm at HS, the only ride not sold out of G+ is Muppets and Star Tours. Wow. MMRR available still but that’s ILL$. What a waste of $15… sorry for the negativity but honestly just so frustrating. We’ve only been able to use G+ for Muppets, SDD, and TSM later today.

Head to guest services and state your complaint there. That is what I would do. I have been hearing the same from folks with the same issue. If you only can get a few rides using Genie+, then it is not a system that will work for most guests.

 

[boop0524]

Head to guest services and state your complaint there. That is what I would do. I have been hearing the same from folks with the same issue. If you only can get a few rides using Genie+, then it is not a system that will work for most guests.

I’m thinking about it. Rise is closed and MMRR is sold out. Still muppets and Star tours left for LL but we’ve already done those. The remaining options are…Well you know

 

[Revan]

I’m thinking about it. Rise is closed and MMRR is sold out. Still muppets and Star tours left for LL but we’ve already done those. The remaining options are…Well you know

Don’t believe the MMRR stand by wait times, they were at least 50% lower the 3 times we rode it this past week

 

[TropicalDIS]

Here now. Arrived yesterday, MK this morning. Was great at the start with early entry, got multiple rides done, but come 10am park was jammed. Lines were crazy, Splash kept going down, and holy heck is it humid!

Hopped to Epcot for an early dinner and some rides. Crazy busy there as well. Spaceship Earth seemed to move awfully slow when on the ride. Is that just how it is now due to the lack of a refurb?

TP was wrong today. No way was MK a 5.

on the bright side, buses were great today and all CM’s have been fantastic. Oh and Dole Whip, enough said.

Taking tomorrow off and then off to AK Sunday. Will report back.

 

[cjlong88]

Day 1: we are HERE! Woke up and booked ILL$ for Remy at 12:30pm and Rise at 6pm. Booked first LL for SDD at 6:40pm. Hoping to create a stack as the day go a on.

Starting off at Ale & Compass this morning. Amazing as always. Such a great vibe and wonderful food. We will activate our annual passes before heading into Epcot to enjoy F&W. Beautiful weather to start the weekend visit!

 

[lovethattink]

There is filming being done today. My husband is one of the many there for it!

 

[scrappinginontario]

There is filming being done today. My husband is one of the many there for it!

Fun! What park is he in as I'm sure it will affect crowd flow in certain places.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Day 1: we are HERE! Woke up and booked ILL$ for Remy at 12:30pm and Rise at 6pm. Booked first LL for SDD at 6:40pm. Hoping to create a stack as the day go a on.

Just curious, did you try for virtual queue and get shut out, or were you just not going to mess with the VQ? Seems like VQ Is getting harder to get into now

 

[lovethattink]

Fun! What park is he in as I'm sure it will affect crowd flow in certain places.

MK

 

[cjlong88]

Just curious, did you try for virtual queue and get shut out, or were you just not going to mess with the VQ? Seems like VQ Is getting harder to get into now

We opted to buy it because we wanted to choose the time. Purchasing the LL was nice because the VQ line looked long and we walked right on. We did snag a BG at 1pm, though, because we enjoyed it that much!

 

[GBRforWDW]

We opted to buy it because we wanted to choose the time. Purchasing the LL was nice because the VQ line looked long and we walked right on. We did snag a BG at 1pm, thought, because we enjoyed it that much!

Ah nice, that's awesome. I was thinking about the opposite direction... Virtual Queue at 7 and if we liked it enough to ride again, we'd buy ILL$ if there was any passes left. We're staying off-site in December during Christmas week though, so our only option will probably be virtual queue

 

[BioInfoLib]

Yesterday we returned from a combined Universal/Disney trip - here's what we did on the Disney portion.

A few notes about us - my husband and I are both in our 60s, DVC, have been to Disney a zillion times. Our priorities on our Disney vacations are sleeping in (no rope drop for us), riding all our favorite attractions, and eating better food than we can find in the college town in which we live.

On this trip we made use of both Genie+ (LL) and Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) purchases, which for all days except Animal Kingdom worked well for us. As we don't rope drop, being able to reserve attractions for later in the day is great. By the end of the trip I was a master at stacking, although a few overlapping reservations were a little bit harrowing. I didn't keep track of times for every LL, but the schedule below should give you some idea of what we accomplished and our strategy, The numbers in brackets indicate the order in which I reserved each day.

Sunday 11/7, EPCOT - transfer day with late arrival so did not bother with Genie+.
9:47, leave Portofino Bay/Universal for Disney Springs
11:00, walk in Frontera Cocina lunch, seated right away
12:17, arrive Fort Wilderness, get golf cart, explore resort, cabin ready 3:14
3:57 arrive EPCOT
Test Track Standby (SB) (47 minutes)
Soaring SB (33 minutes)
Karamel Kuche (shortest line ever - 6 people ahead of us even though World Showcase was packed!)
5:48 arrive walk in Tokyo Dining (seated at 6:04)
Done for the day at 7:11
In park appr 3 hours 15 minutes; 2 rides SB, caramel corn, table service dinner
14,750 steps

Monday 11/8 Magic Kingdom
10:42, purchase Seven Dwarves
10:49, purchase Genie+
12:18 arrival at park
12:35 Haunted Mansion LL [2]
Liberty Square Riverboat SB (next boat)
1:30 lunch Liberty Tree Tavern (seated 1:52)
Big Thunder LL [3]
4:15 7 Dwarves ILL [1]
Pirates of the Caribbean LL [4]
Buzz Lightyear LL [5]
People Mover SB (12 minute wait)
6:27 Done for day
In park approx 6 hrs 15 minutes, 7 rides (4 LL, 1ILL, 2 SB), table service lunch
11,860 steps
Was just getting used to Genie+; if I had to do it again I would have booked Jungle Cruise first as it was gone for the day by the time I figured out what I was doing. Splash was available for most of the day, but we didn't want to get wet.

Tuesday, 11/9, Hollywood Studios
7:02 purchased Rise of the Resistance
7:04 purchased MMRR
7:09 purchased Genie+
11:30 Steakhouse 71 lunch (seated 11:34)
1:16 arrive Hollywood Studios
Skyliner to/from CBR just for fun as we had time
Toy Story LL [4]
Star Tours LL [5]
Slinky Dog LL [3]
3:40 Rise of the Resistance - down [1]
Muppets LL (unnecessary LL) [6]
Vacation Fun SB (next show)
4:40 MMRR ILL [2]
Rise of the Resistance ILL [1]
Star Tours SB 16 minutes
7:15 dinner Mama Melrose (seated 7:20)
8:13 done for the day
In park approx 7 hours, 8 rides (4LL, 2 ILL, 2 SB), skyliner, table service dinner
18,263 steps
Did better with stacking this day; the only thing we missed was Millennium Falcon - this one runs out fast as well, but I think Slinky is the priority.

Wednesday, 11/10 Animal Kingdom
8th day in a row in the parks and we were tired. It was rainy, cold, and we bailed after a couple of hours, so Genie+ was a definite fail on this day.
7:58 purchase FOP
10:50 arrival, line up for Nomad Lounge, table available 11:12
11:02 purchase Genie+ (was super undecided about this)
Safari LL [2]
Rainy walk through gorilla trail
2:05 FOP ILL [1]
3:40 Navi River, [3] bailed instead - went back to cabin took a nap
In park approx 3 hours, 2 rides (1 LL, 1 ILL) plus 1 trail and lounge lunch.
6:30 Dinner at Boma (seated 6:22)
9,072 steps
I'm thinking there are not enough actual rides that we enjoy at this park (we love the trails and exploring the park in general), so perhaps starting here and hopping to EPCOT would make Genie+ worth it (see Thursday for a similar strategy).

Thursday, 11/11, Hollywood Studios and EPCOT - a really crowded day but Genie+ worked well.
8:07 purchased MMRR
8:08 purchased Remy
8:14 purchased Genie+
11:02 arrival
11:15 Woody’s Lunchbox Mobile Order
Star Tours 2X SB (34 minutes, 12 minutes)
Toy Story LL [4]
1:30 MMRR ILL [1]
Skyliner to EPCOT, sit at international entrance 20ish minutes until break in rain
Try to ride test track SB but not yet reopened from rain
Earth Eats and Noodle Exchange Early dinner
4:05 Spaceship Earth LL [6]
4:35 Soaring LL [5]
5:24 Remy ILL [2] (only 11 minutes left in window)
Skyliner back to HS
6:28 Millennium Falcon LL [3] (only 12 minutes left in window)
Alien Saucers LL [7]
Churro and pretzel
7:16 Done for day
In parks approx 8 hours 15 minutes - 2 parks, 9 rides (5 LL, 2 ILL, 2 SB), skyliner 2 directions, QS Lunch, booth dinner and snacks
Best day ever, 22,261 steps
Stacked well on this day - maybe a little too well as we ended up near the end of our windows for both Remy and Millennium and if Soaring had taken much longer or if the skyliner lines on the way back to HS had been longer, we may have missed a ride. And I think if I had been up at 7:00 am rather than 8:00, I may have snagged Slinky Dog before it disappeared for the day.

Friday, 11/12
11:15 Boathouse (seated at 11:00)
Drive home

We found Genie+ and ILL to be useful for us for both HS and MK. We'll likely combine AK with EP (or either one with another park) to pick up the few rides we enjoy at those two parks. We really enjoyed being able to reserve late in the day; not thrilled that its not free, but happier with the whole Genie thing than we thought we would be.

 

[CarolynFH]

Yesterday we returned from a combined Universal/Disney trip - here's what we did on the Disney portion.

A few notes about us - my husband and I are both in our 60s, DVC, have been to Disney a zillion times. Our priorities on our Disney vacations are sleeping in (no rope drop for us), riding all our favorite attractions, and eating better food than we can find in the college town in which we live.

On this trip we made use of both Genie+ (LL) and Individual Lightning Lane (ILL) purchases, which for all days except Animal Kingdom worked well for us. As we don't rope drop, being able to reserve attractions for later in the day is great. By the end of the trip I was a master at stacking, although a few overlapping reservations were a little bit harrowing. I didn't keep track of times for every LL, but the schedule below should give you some idea of what we accomplished and our strategy, The numbers in brackets indicate the order in which I reserved each day.

Sunday 11/7, EPCOT - transfer day with late arrival so did not bother with Genie+.
9:47, leave Portofino Bay/Universal for Disney Springs
11:00, walk in Frontera Cocina lunch, seated right away
12:17, arrive Fort Wilderness, get golf cart, explore resort, cabin ready 3:14
3:57 arrive EPCOT
Test Track Standby (SB) (47 minutes)
Soaring SB (33 minutes)
Karamel Kuche (shortest line ever - 6 people ahead of us even though World Showcase was packed!)
5:48 arrive walk in Tokyo Dining (seated at 6:04)
Done for the day at 7:11
In park appr 3 hours 15 minutes; 2 rides SB, caramel corn, table service dinner
14,750 steps

Monday 11/8 Magic Kingdom
10:42, purchase Seven Dwarves
10:49, purchase Genie+
12:18 arrival at park
12:35 Haunted Mansion LL [2]
Liberty Square Riverboat SB (next boat)
1:30 lunch Liberty Tree Tavern (seated 1:52)
Big Thunder LL [3]
4:15 7 Dwarves ILL [1]
Pirates of the Caribbean LL [4]
Buzz Lightyear LL [5]
People Mover SB (12 minute wait)
6:27 Done for day
In park approx 6 hrs 15 minutes, 7 rides (4 LL, 1ILL, 2 SB), table service lunch
11,860 steps
Was just getting used to Genie+; if I had to do it again I would have booked Jungle Cruise first as it was gone for the day by the time I figured out what I was doing. Splash was available for most of the day, but we didn't want to get wet.

Tuesday, 11/9, Hollywood Studios
7:02 purchased Rise of the Resistance
7:04 purchased MMRR
7:09 purchased Genie+
11:30 Steakhouse 71 lunch (seated 11:34)
1:16 arrive Hollywood Studios
Skyliner to/from CBR just for fun as we had time
Toy Story LL [4]
Star Tours LL [5]
Slinky Dog LL [3]
3:40 Rise of the Resistance - down [1]
Muppets LL (unnecessary LL) [6]
Vacation Fun SB (next show)
4:40 MMRR ILL [2]
Rise of the Resistance ILL [1]
Star Tours SB 16 minutes
7:15 dinner Mama Melrose (seated 7:20)
8:13 done for the day
In park approx 7 hours, 8 rides (4LL, 2 ILL, 2 SB), skyliner, table service dinner
18,263 steps
Did better with stacking this day; the only thing we missed was Millennium Falcon - this one runs out fast as well, but I think Slinky is the priority.

Wednesday, 11/10 Animal Kingdom
8th day in a row in the parks and we were tired. It was rainy, cold, and we bailed after a couple of hours, so Genie+ was a definite fail on this day.
7:58 purchase FOP
10:50 arrival, line up for Nomad Lounge, table available 11:12
11:02 purchase Genie+ (was super undecided about this)
Safari LL [2]
Rainy walk through gorilla trail
2:05 FOP ILL [1]
3:40 Navi River, [3] bailed instead - went back to cabin took a nap
In park approx 3 hours, 2 rides (1 LL, 1 ILL) plus 1 trail and lounge lunch.
6:30 Dinner at Boma (seated 6:22)
9,072 steps
I'm thinking there are not enough actual rides that we enjoy at this park (we love the trails and exploring the park in general), so perhaps starting here and hopping to EPCOT would make Genie+ worth it (see Thursday for a similar strategy).

Thursday, 11/11, Hollywood Studios and EPCOT - a really crowded day but Genie+ worked well.
8:07 purchased MMRR
8:08 purchased Remy
8:14 purchased Genie+
11:02 arrival
11:15 Woody’s Lunchbox Mobile Order
Star Tours 2X SB (34 minutes, 12 minutes)
Toy Story LL [4]
1:30 MMRR ILL [1]
Skyliner to EPCOT, sit at international entrance 20ish minutes until break in rain
Try to ride test track SB but not yet reopened from rain
Earth Eats and Noodle Exchange Early dinner
4:05 Spaceship Earth LL [6]
4:35 Soaring LL [5]
5:24 Remy ILL [2] (only 11 minutes left in window)
Skyliner back to HS
6:28 Millennium Falcon LL [3] (only 12 minutes left in window)
Alien Saucers LL [7]
Churro and pretzel
7:16 Done for day
In parks approx 8 hours 15 minutes - 2 parks, 9 rides (5 LL, 2 ILL, 2 SB), skyliner 2 directions, QS Lunch, booth dinner and snacks
Best day ever, 22,261 steps
Stacked well on this day - maybe a little too well as we ended up near the end of our windows for both Remy and Millennium and if Soaring had taken much longer or if the skyliner lines on the way back to HS had been longer, we may have missed a ride. And I think if I had been up at 7:00 am rather than 8:00, I may have snagged Slinky Dog before it disappeared for the day.

Friday, 11/12
11:15 Boathouse (seated at 11:00)
Drive home

We found Genie+ and ILL to be useful for us for both HS and MK. We'll likely combine AK with EP (or either one with another park) to pick up the few rides we enjoy at those two parks. We really enjoyed being able to reserve late in the day; not thrilled that its not free, but happier with the whole Genie thing than we thought we would be.

Thanks, this is really useful for us - y’all tour like we do, no rope drop or early entry for us!

 

[PrincessJasmine88]

Has anyone seen the projection show at HS at Tower if Terror? I’d love to know when it is, and how long it is. Thanks

 

[Cotta]

We opted to buy it because we wanted to choose the time. Purchasing the LL was nice because the VQ line looked long and we walked right on. We did snag a BG at 1pm, though, because we enjoyed it that much!

Curious how long you waited in VQ line? Trying to decide if it is worth it with a toddler...

 

[SkyGuy]

Curious how long you waited in VQ line? Trying to decide if it is worth it with a toddler...

Probably not super helpful, but I got group 6 and was given an estimated return time of 10:45, so we decided to head up front and do early entry Soarin’, and while on Soarin’, I got the push notification at 9:50 that it was time to head to Remy. We did Living with the Land first before heading back to France. They had called another group by the time we got back there, and it was still a complete walk on.