Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[UrsulaTime]

3/17 - 3/21
I broke up a longer 'review' into smaller bits for specific forums, so I'm sharing here without backstory but feel free to PM if you have any questions. I'm really so grateful for all of the info made available on this site throughout the years so I'd like to pass that on to others with the relatively limited experience I have.
I was the planner/instigator for the trip. I was joined by my aunt (she'd been to WDW twenty years ago and didn't remember much) and my 17 y/o cousin (first time, doesn't like rides!). I felt a little responsible for their enjoyment, as far as planning could take us.

I was solo on 3/18 and had made a park reservation for MK weeks before. Chose MK by default, thinking it would be the first to sell out and I'd narrow down my plans and change the reservation then. I had a park hopper anyway, so no big deal, right? By the time I realized I wanted to go to HS, it wasn't available...but I had a park hopper, so on big deal, right? [Repeat intended.] Long story short: I was exhausted morning of 3/18, and since it didn't affect anyone else, I let myself rest and was ready to hit the parks at an obscenely late [i.e., there was no bang-for-my-buck happening] hour. Which was fine...except I couldn't jump into my plans at HS. I had to go to MK first, tap in, and make a U-turn back to the buses. Accordingly, the bus to HS required driver shift switches...I arrived at 6:40.

On 3/20, with my aunt and cousin, I'd forgotten that when my aunt bought her ticket, I told her to make a reservation for MK (same reasoning as above)...meanwhile I'd switched my cousin's reservation and my own to HS. I didn't remember until we were on the bus to HS at 12:15! In the end, we decided she should try to tap in (because she wasn't 100% sure about her reservation). It didn't work, and a CM (additional to the CM at the turnstile) with an iPad came right over, and we sheepishly told him what had happened. I thought she'd never get in, but he was quite gracious, tapped a few times, and she was in! We expressed our thanks, of course! My aunt, who didn't know much about current DW protocol wasn't surprised at all; she said, "They wouldn't want to break up families," but I was very surprised. And remembered how I didn't even consider asking a CM on 3/18 if I could skip my first park, seeing as it was 6:40 pm.

 

[T'Lynn]

We did Epcot yesterday. I got an LL for Test Track at 7 am.

RD Remy’s… which was down until about 8:45. We’re 2 for 2 on our RD rides being down! It was ok tho, we enjoyed France, UK and Canada on our way to Future World (or whatever it’s called now)

I had to wait for 10:30 to book another LL so we rode Figment standby and got Nemo for right after and Spaceship Earth after that. We stopped for some great photos in the front of course!

after SE I got LwtL and we had lunch reservations at 12:25 at Garden Grill and I got another 8 pm LL for Soarin

long after swim break!

Returned to the park about 6pm and caught The American Adventure then ate (Magnolia Terrace is delicious!)

we did our LL for TT and then Soarin’ and Extended Evening began. We did Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Frozen, and Grand Fiesta. The walk between rides really cuts into the time at Epcot but it was so nice to walk through a nearly empty park and all the CMs were great!!

MK today!!

 

[MainMom]

We did Epcot yesterday. I got an LL for Test Track at 7 am.

RD Remy’s… which was down until about 8:45. We’re 2 for 2 on our RD rides being down! It was ok tho, we enjoyed France, UK and Canada on our way to Future World (or whatever it’s called now)

I had to wait for 10:30 to book another LL so we rode Figment standby and got Nemo for right after and Spaceship Earth after that. We stopped for some great photos in the front of course!

after SE I got LwtL and we had lunch reservations at 12:25 at Garden Grill and I got another 8 pm LL for Soarin

long after swim break!

Returned to the park about 6pm and caught The American Adventure then ate (Magnolia Terrace is delicious!)

we did our LL for TT and then Soarin’ and Extended Evening began. We did Spaceship Earth, Test Track, Frozen, and Grand Fiesta. The walk between rides really cuts into the time at Epcot but it was so nice to walk through a nearly empty park and all the CMs were great!!

MK today!!

Was TT already into the evening hours when you booked at 7am? My DD and I will be trying for an evening G+ on our arrival/ travel day.

 

[tofubeast]

I was at the park 3/18-22. With Spring Break, the crowds were off the charts. Worse than the weekend of T-Day for me. But, being FL AP passholders, we went with the attitude that we didn't need to see everything, and the Poly pool/resort time was a higher priority.

As we were driving north to WDW on our DHS day, I made a point to stack starting in the late afternoon. I had already canceled my 50s PT ADR because not knowing when you would get a Genie and if it conflicted with the ressie time was stressful. (Side note, the day after our DHS visit, Disney sent me a survey about dining at DHS. I made a point to let them know that not being able to schedule or land a time with Genie makes it very hard to work around ADRs. Perhaps them hearing that they missed out on table service revenue (vs QS) might make them rethink things?)

I was able to get a Slinky minutes after 7 am. I refreshed until I knew I probably had a nighttime genie. I think they sold out seconds later. I hit the road. Fortunately, the timing was right for my next genie and I was able to secure one while at a FL turnpike rest stop. (Another side note....there is great mobile phone service at those rest stops because the highway patrol is there. Good towers! I easily scored a Remy VQ last fall from there, too!) I got a RnRC genie then. Later, while chilling at the OKW pool, I got TSM and then ST.

My DHS stack:
ST 5:50-6:50
RnR 6:35-7:35
SDD: 7:10-8:10
TSM: 8:05-9

Given the level of crowds, this was the best I could do and still made for a fun evening. We ended up eating at DB-7 and doing the single rider line for Smuggler. My daughter is 11, and we have her in the middle between my hubby and me when we do SR. Every time, she has ridden with either him or me. We also did Mickey and Minnie after Slinky (8:00 or so) and had a 25min wait which was much shorter than what was posted. Had we gone on after our TSM genie, the queue would have been even shorter. **I honestly think stacking for a later DHS is the way to go if you don't care about seeing everything. I didn't want to wait in the long queues and I didn't 'care' about the shows and character pics. So even if I had spent the whole day there, given how quickly genie was drying up with each 120 run, I wouldn't have done any better had I been there all day.

That was my only Genie day this trip. Other than that, we took advantage of that extra half hour at MK and did Space and some other rides. One AM, we were a little late for the half-hour, so we RD'd for Splash. We ended up on one of the first logs and then had a short wait for Thunder. One night, we went back to MK (post Enchantment). I'd promised my daughter we'd do 7D. We got in line about a half-hour before closing, even knowing that the ride had just gone down. It came back up and we ended up only waiting about 20min.

We did Extended PM hours at EPCOT. After viewing Harmonious from Japan, we stayed put for a bit and then took a leisurely stroll to Norway. The posted wait was 50 min, but the true wait was about 20. We then headed to TT. The posted wait was 45. We decided to just do SR and it was essentially a walk-on. We do the same strategy with SR on Smugglers. Most times, our daughter is in the same car as me or hubby. Our feet were tired and our allergies bad, so we headed back to the resort. The posted wait times (even assuming they were inflated) were not as awesome as I had hoped.

Speaking of allergies, we headed to first aid after getting a nice tip to do so from a kind hibachi table-mate at Teppan Edo. They will give you (and children) a dose of allergy meds. People at first aid said that pollen count is really high right now, and perhaps also with the Flower fest, many had been stopping in with allergy issues. So bring your allergy meds with you when packing! (and your moleskin for blisters)

Again, this trip was more chill for us. I finally got to stay at the Poly (childhood dream), and it didn't disappoint. Rather than worry about too many rides at MK, I enjoyed the Dapper Dans, character cavalcades, and strolled the shops. Met lots of nice people along the way and the CMs were very kind and helpful. As far as Genie+, I will never use it for AK or EPCOT. I'd consider it for a DHS stack again (maybe) and MK.

 

[lovethattink]

We were at Epcot last night. Definitely less people than last week! I noticed a lot more cm were earning their ears.

A tip for those with strollers, keep your bags zipped closed when you leave the stroller unattended. There’s always been squirrel issues of getting into belongings. But last night I saw 2 rats. One was busy eating something outside The Land and one was between the restrooms and pin store that use to be an Art of Disney store. He scurried under a garbage can that had a stroller parked right beside it.

There was a cm feet away from the rat at the land. I told her about it. It was not afraid of people. She went near it and blocked the view of it, so people didn’t stop, take photos and gawk like we did.

 

[lockets]

We were at Epcot last night. Definitely less people than last week! I noticed a lot more cm were earning their ears.

A tip for those with strollers, keep your bags zipped closed when you leave the stroller unattended. There’s always been squirrel issues of getting into belongings. But last night I saw 2 rats. One was busy eating something outside The Land and one was between the restrooms and pin store that use to be an Art of Disney store. He scurried under a garbage can that had a stroller parked right beside it.

There was a cm feet away from the rat at the land. I told her about it. It was not afraid of people. She went near it and blocked the view of it, so people didn’t stop, take photos and gawk like we did.

Please repost this at thread below. That thread needs this!
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...oncerning-disney.3866716/page-2#post-63889087

 

[BrianL]

We were at Epcot last night. Definitely less people than last week! I noticed a lot more cm were earning their ears.

A tip for those with strollers, keep your bags zipped closed when you leave the stroller unattended. There’s always been squirrel issues of getting into belongings. But last night I saw 2 rats. One was busy eating something outside The Land and one was between the restrooms and pin store that use to be an Art of Disney store. He scurried under a garbage can that had a stroller parked right beside it.

There was a cm feet away from the rat at the land. I told her about it. It was not afraid of people. She went near it and blocked the view of it, so people didn’t stop, take photos and gawk like we did.

Oh, it was just Remy taking a break from the France pavilion.

 

[mickey916]

Oh, it was just Remy taking a break from the France pavilion.

Haha! I was trying to think of a good Remy response but you beat me to it!

 

[T'Lynn]

Was TT already into the evening hours when you booked at 7am? My DD and I will be trying for an evening G+ on our arrival/ travel day.

Yes. I refreshed maybe a couple times but it got to the late times pretty quickly for TT!!

 

[bambialways4ever]

We had a stroke of luck today. We had a Genie+ time for pirates for 9:05 am this morning. At 8:58, we get an alert that "there was an issue" and they've converted it to a multiple experiences pass.

Out of curiosity I went to check, and I could ALSO make a new Genie+ selection even though it hadn't been two hours! It was awesome.We got a freebie and could make a new one

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

We are here now. We arrived on Saturday, so I’ve had a few days to see some things and get my opinions together now that I’ve experienced all of the parks at least once.

Sold out parks made me concerned, but crowds are manageable, and people are kind and friendly. Everyone seems to have a good attitude.

Parks are clean overall and well maintained. I’ve not encountered any overflowing trash cans or neglect.

Cast members are fine. Not super friendly, but they aren’t rude either. Some go above and beyond, but on the whole, I’d say they are professionally polite.

Evening Epcot hours had more crowds than I’d expected. Perhaps it moved quickly, but at 9:30 the line for Frozen was out into the world showcase. Remy also showed a 50 minute wait at 9:45. Magic Kingdom is tonight from 11-1, so we will see what that is like.

 

[lovethattink]

If you’re here now, be sure to stop by the Grand Floridian’s gorgeous edible Easter egg display and Grand Cottage with Easter treats to purchase. We bought the handmade marshmallows, a 50th Mickey Woopie Pie and a raspberry chocolate Mickey head. The Whoopi pie tastes like French toast. Planning on catching fireworks at MK tonight.

 

[bambialways4ever]

If you’re here now, be sure to stop by the Grand Floridian’s gorgeous edible Easter egg display and Grand Cottage with Easter treats to purchase. We bought the handmade marshmallows, a 50th Mickey Woopie Pie and a raspberry chocolate Mickey head. The Whoopi pie tastes like French toast. Planning on catching fireworks at MK tonight.

Can second this. Outside of the delicious snacks, the Easter Egg displays are truly works of art.

 

[mickey916]

Can second this. Outside of the delicious snacks, the Easter Egg displays are truly works of art.

Can't wait to see them next week!

 

[Sammy]

Here now…arrived Sunday. Any questions let me know.

Arrived at OKW at 10:00 AM, didn’t receive room assignment until 5:20 PM. TONS of people just hanging out at the pool waiting for their rooms. CMs were talking about how short-staffed housekeeping was.

Did Epcot yesterday although hubby did not want to do Early Entry (grrrr), so I set an alarm for 6:45 and did what I said I wouldn’t: paid for a LL for Remy! I am SO glad I did though because I didn’t see the wait time drop below 60 minutes all day, with the highest being 150. As another poster said, it was still 45 minutes at 10:45 PM. With LL at 10:25, we pretty much walked on. All the rides had long waits all day. We were there mainly for the food booths though. Best things we had were the Bison Ribeye at Farmers Feast, Spicy Gumbo at Magnolia, and the Mojo Marinated Pork Belly at Citrus Blossum. We sampled something from almost every booth!

Busses have been spotty. One family at the bus stop yesterday morning (7:30) said they had been waiting an hour for a bus to MK. We waited almost 45 for one back to OKW from Epcot. Definitely not as plentiful as on past trips. Masks mandated on all so far.

Side note: Disney is making a KILLING on the Loungefly backpacks. I swear every other person I see has one.

Off to the Polynesian for dinner and a little monorail resort hopping!

 

[samsonjs]

Update for Coronado And first day of MK today. We utilized genie + and ILL.

Coronado- we haven’t stayed since the tower was built. I can go more in depth later on the Coronado forum but I would say building the tower is a huge plus. It feels much more alive, reminds me of boardwalk. Lots of people out enjoying the resort until late, but it’s still quiet and peaceful. The tower is impressive, love dahlias. Still regret every visit to Rix. No long waits or overcrowding on buses today.

MK: we always have been rope droppers, break, back at night. We did this again today. We were near the fromt of the rope drop. I had bought 7dmt ILL at 7am which it switched to 7:20 then to 8:30 after I paid. I was very annoyed that it switches after I’ve paid. The secondary confirmation page already switched it to 7:20 which I approved but then it switched it again! This is not right for an extra paid ride imo. Genie + we got our moneys worth at MK. I definitely wouldn’t try MK without genie + if you prioritize rides. I dislike that you can only book a genie + once per ride. I like that you can overlap your booking times so I could stack rides in one area of the park which fastpass wouldn’t allow. Towards the second half of the day (around 4-5) headliners were nonexistent and the evening (7-8pm) the genie + options were slim. I did learn something new that I will apply next time. When I’m ready to return to the park I will try to book my final 120 min rule ride as close to my arrival so that I can start checking for more genie+ when I tap in to that ride. I think I could have done more if I had done that. Here’s what we did:

7dmt (rope drop)
Haunted mansion (standby)
Splash (genie +)
QS early lunch
Philharmagic
Meet stepsisters
Pirates (genie +)
Parade
Break
Meet mickey (standby)
Cavalcade
Btmr (genie +)
Space (genie +)
Buzz (genie +)
QS dinner
Meet princess
Teacups (genie +)
7dmt (ILL)

I feel like we got a lot done considering our break. We left just before the parade bc my daughter was very tired. We were in the parks from 8-12:45 and 5:30-9. We didn’t plan to rope drop 7dmt but my kids decided they wanted to do that instead of Peter Pan. We return Thursday and I’m wanting to play around with genie + more. I did a lot of nighttime stacking.

Crowds: its not as bad as I thought. My worst fear was corridors where you can barely move. I haven’t encountered that yet. Genie + helped avoid the headliner lines.

Staff and cleanliness: staff at the resort is very friendly from housekeeping to lifeguards, everyone is wonderful. The park staff was courteous. You can tell they seem more tired of guests or something though. It seemed pretty clean and there was only one time where I could tell they haven’t been through a line. I see lots of staff walking around prepared to clean.

50th: the castle looks amazing at night. It’s much cooler than photos present. But, merchandise and food is disappointing. It’s s lot of the same stuff but slightly different. I wish the Been There mugs were still available. It’s a crime that they aren’t. No fridge magnets. Am I the only person that buys those? I wish there were more special shows or characters for this. I wouldn’t visit just for the 50th. I wish they had more Encanto merch. My daughter really wanted a plush Mirabel doll. It was available briefly on Disney store months ago but now is not and there isn’t anything Encanto on site.

 

[Haley R]

Here now…arrived Sunday. Any questions let me know.

Arrived at OKW at 10:00 AM, didn’t receive room assignment until 5:20 PM. TONS of people just hanging out at the pool waiting for their rooms. CMs were talking about how short-staffed housekeeping was.

Did Epcot yesterday although hubby did not want to do Early Entry (grrrr), so I set an alarm for 6:45 and did what I said I wouldn’t: paid for a LL for Remy! I am SO glad I did though because I didn’t see the wait time drop below 60 minutes all day, with the highest being 150. As another poster said, it was still 45 minutes at 10:45 PM. With LL at 10:25, we pretty much walked on. All the rides had long waits all day. We were there mainly for the food booths though. Best things we had were the Bison Ribeye at Farmers Feast, Spicy Gumbo at Magnolia, and the Mojo Marinated Pork Belly at Citrus Blossum. We sampled something from almost every booth!

Busses have been spotty. One family at the bus stop yesterday morning (7:30) said they had been waiting an hour for a bus to MK. We waited almost 45 for one back to OKW from Epcot. Definitely not as plentiful as on past trips. Masks mandated on all so far.

Side note: Disney is making a KILLING on the Loungefly backpacks. I swear every other person I see has one.

Off to the Polynesian for dinner and a little monorail resort hopping!

This makes me a little nervous. We check into OKW today for one night and were hoping to get a room earlier even though I know it’s not guaranteed. Did you try asking for a room early at the front desk?

 

[kc51570]

We were at Epcot last night. Definitely less people than last week! I noticed a lot more cm were earning their ears.

A tip for those with strollers, keep your bags zipped closed when you leave the stroller unattended. There’s always been squirrel issues of getting into belongings. But last night I saw 2 rats. One was busy eating something outside The Land and one was between the restrooms and pin store that use to be an Art of Disney store. He scurried under a garbage can that had a stroller parked right beside it.

There was a cm feet away from the rat at the land. I told her about it. It was not afraid of people. She went near it and blocked the view of it, so people didn’t stop, take photos and gawk like we did.

I saw a rat at Epcot over the summer-it practically ran over my foot as we were walking along the pathway from test track back to World Showcase.

 

[Naomeri]

Here now, staying at Coronado. Report for Tuesday, March 29

I bought G+ on my flight down yesterday, and got Jungle Cruise for 605-705 pm. This was perfect, since I didn’t know exactly when I’d make it to the parks. I wasn’t landing at MCO until almost noon, and then I’d need to take the Sunshine Flyer to the resort and get my room before I could go (I needed to unpack stuff).

At 11am, I got BTMRR for 415-515. My flight landed a bit early, my bag was in the first bunch on the conveyor belt, and I waited less than 10 minutes for my bus to Coronado. I got there right at 1, so before I headed into the lobby, I grabbed Space Mt for 740-840. My room wasn’t ready yet, soI sat in the tower lobby for about 10 minutes before I went up to the desk to ask for an ETA. They were able to assign me to an available room right away, so I hauled my stuff to the Casitas and unpacked. I was on a bus to MK by 215. I ordered lunch on the way there, but then I pushed the arrival window back because the parade was going to be starting and I wanted to see it.

At 3pm, I got HM for 910-1010. Then I watched the parade, headed to Cosmic Ray’s for food, and then to my LL at BTMRR. I did Hall of Presidents to kill some time, and got Buzz for 820-920 at 5pm. I waited briefly for Philharmagic, and then headed toward Jungle Cruise. I got over there about 20 minutes early, so I checked other rides, and saw PotC was only 35 minutes, so I did that (wait time was accurate) and then headed back to JC. At 7pm, I grabbed a Laugh Floor for 740-840, just for the heck of it. I walked onto the teacups, and then sat by Space Mountain until my LL. The I did Laugh Floor, had a brownie sundae, did my Buzz LL, and got done just in time to squeeze into the edge of the hub for fireworks. Then I wriggled through the crowded hub to get to my HM LL and then headed back to the resort. All in all, a pretty good day for only having half a day.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

I’ve seen it mentioned before, and I can’t agree strongly enough - if you are eligible, be sure to use the extended hours at MK!!! We took a really long afternoon break and didn’t enter the park until 8:00. By 12:30, we had done everything and more than we’d hoped - including taking pictures and strolling through the shops - that we left. It was a magical evening.