Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Betty Rohrer]

Thanks! I will have them drop us at the gas station across the street and we can walk in if need be! My daughter loves looking at the gingerbread carousel so we have to get in!

maybe try dropping at the Swan and walk over from there

 

[Disneyhanna]

Quickly Remy early entry update from International Gateway:

7:46 left Dolphin room
8:02 Made it to back of line at international gateway not too long
8:07 started letting people through security
8:09 through security
Started feeling really bad about my odds as it looked like everyone from the main entrance was already crossing the bridge to France before hardly anyone from IG was in
8:17 scanned in
At this point, no one was even coming from the main entrance except maybe a few stragglers. I was nervous about my wait!

I was in the outside queue for a while and made it inside at 8:41. The line was moving the entire time I’m not sure if they waited until 8:30 to start the ride or if it started earlier. I’ve only done ILL so I had no idea how long the inside would be. To my huge surprise it was not much queue inside. I was thinking it would be hours

8:55 onto ride!
9:01 done

Standby was up to 105 by 9:30 and was at Chefs de France. Photo is where I started in line, I had to “cross” the walkway almost right away and the outside moved very fast since LLs weren’t starting until 9:00 with regular park open.

 

[jimim]

No, access to resorts vis their parking gate is restricted to guests staying or eating there snd have a reservation.

That’s what I thought. Why I said what I did above.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Genie+ was probably a waste at Epcot today. We used it for Frozen and Test Track, didn’t try for Remy since I did early entry. Haven’t bothered with anything else because we are doing another half day but all other rides have basically been immediate LLs up til now (5:20) including Soarin. Only Remy, Frozen, TT have remained consistently over an hour wait. Oh well! We probably wouldn’t have ridden Frozen or TT otherwise. You win some you lose some! But obviously people aren’t buying it here today (still $29). Remy is current 95 so not awful.

 

[Ricguz]

Genie+ was probably a waste at Epcot today. We used it for Frozen and Test Track, didn’t try for Remy since I did early entry. Haven’t bothered with anything else because we are doing another half day but all other rides have basically been immediate LLs up til now (5:20) including Soarin. Only Remy, Frozen, TT have remained consistently over an hour wait. Oh well! We probably wouldn’t have ridden Frozen or TT otherwise. You win some you lose some! But obviously people aren’t buying it here today (still $29). Remy is current 95 so not awful.

It’s a shame what management has done to the Disney family. I will be there in just over a week staying at YC. I have genie plus and from what I have seen and heard it’s going to be such a hassle with time management concerning genie plus. I have been playing with the app at home. More often than not the major rides are either not available with genie plus or they are broken down. I am older now so rides are not the end all, however I am not waiting 95 minutes for any ride. I have come to the conclusion, we are going to enjoy CL at YC, enjoy the resort, enjoy Stormalong bay, do the skyliner and see other resort decorations, walk the parks and see the sites, do Mickey Christmas party, fantastmic, and candlelight procession and holiday booths at Epcot. If we can do some rides with genie, great. If not then there are other priorities. I am not going to let genie ruin by vacation. I understand that I get early entry, and a few late night park closings. With that, I am going to have breakfast at YC, CL at 7 am, and if we can get to the parks for rope drop without killing ourselves okay. I can always try to stack rides later in the day or at night. I hope it works out for us.

 

[Disneyhanna]

It’s a shame what management has done to the Disney family. I will be there in just over a week staying at YC. I have genie plus and from what I have seen and heard it’s going to be such a hassle with time management concerning genie plus. I have been playing with the app at home. More often than not the major rides are either not available with genie plus or they are broken down. I am older now so rides are not the end all, however I am not waiting 95 minutes for any ride. I have come to the conclusion, we are going to enjoy CL at YC, enjoy the resort, enjoy Stormalong bay, do the skyliner and see other resort decorations, walk the parks and see the sites, do Mickey Christmas party, fantastmic, and candlelight procession and holiday booths at Epcot. If we can do some rides with genie, great. If not then there are other priorities. I am not going to let genie ruin by vacation. I understand that I get early entry, and a few late night park closings. With that, I am going to have breakfast at YC, CL at 7 am, and if we can get to the parks for rope drop without killing ourselves okay. I can always try to stack rides later in the day or at night. I hope it works out for us.

I hope you have a great time! I’m not sure if what I said was clear but you could definitely ride every single thing in Epcot very quickly with Genie+ today. The waits were short enough it’s not needed but the only ride that goes quickly is Remy, Frozen and Test Track follow after and every other ride you can basically get the Genie+ return time for whenever you want to ride…today at 5:20 all but the 3 I mentioned about had return times from 5:20-5:15. So you could scan in and then make the next right away. Your walking ability is the limiting factor since they are so far apart! I think HS is the only park so far where it’d be hard to do everything even with Genie+ and a full day. I went a few times earlier this year and to me it seems like the higher prices have way less people purchasing Genie+ as times went way faster earlier this year with similar crowd levels!

We are definitely slowing down too, we don’t need to do everything anymore. The magic is still there. Life has not been a walk in the park these past few years and it feels wonderful just to be here. We spent an hour on the Boardwalk tonight and just soaked it in, everyone was having so much fun watching performers and enjoying time together.

 

[Ricguz]

I hope you have a great time! I’m not sure if what I said was clear but you could definitely ride every single thing in Epcot very quickly with Genie+ today. The waits were short enough it’s not needed but the only ride that goes quickly is Remy, Frozen and Test Track follow after and every other ride you can basically get the Genie+ return time for whenever you want to ride…today at 5:20 all but the 3 I mentioned about had return times from 5:20-5:15. So you could scan in and then make the next right away. Your walking ability is the limiting factor since they are so far apart! I think HS is the only park so far where it’d be hard to do everything even with Genie+ and a full day. I went a few times earlier this year and to me it seems like the higher prices have way less people purchasing Genie+ as times went way faster earlier this year with similar crowd levels!

We are definitely slowing down too, we don’t need to do everything anymore. The magic is still there. Life has not been a walk in the park these past few years and it feels wonderful just to be here. We spent an hour on the Boardwalk tonight and just soaked it in, everyone was having so much fun watching performers and enjoying time together.

That is so nice to hear. Thanks so much for the detailed report and the encouragement. We will have a blast no matter what happens, We are both lucky that we know Disney well enough and able to prioritize what important to us. Thanks again.

 

[liquid17]

We are definitely slowing down too, we don’t need to do everything anymore. The magic is still there. Life has not been a walk in the park these past few years and it feels wonderful just to be here. We spent an hour on the Boardwalk tonight and just soaked it in, everyone was having so much fun watching performers and enjoying time together.

 

[jvalic33]

Quickly Remy early entry update from International Gateway:

7:46 left Dolphin room
8:02 Made it to back of line at international gateway not too long
8:07 started letting people through security
8:09 through security
Started feeling really bad about my odds as it looked like everyone from the main entrance was already crossing the bridge to France before hardly anyone from IG was in
8:17 scanned in
At this point, no one was even coming from the main entrance except maybe a few stragglers. I was nervous about my wait!

I was in the outside queue for a while and made it inside at 8:41. The line was moving the entire time I’m not sure if they waited until 8:30 to start the ride or if it started earlier. I’ve only done ILL so I had no idea how long the inside would be. To my huge surprise it was not much queue inside. I was thinking it would be hours

8:55 onto ride!
9:01 done

Standby was up to 105 by 9:30 and was at Chefs de France. Photo is where I started in line, I had to “cross” the walkway almost right away and the outside moved very fast since LLs weren’t starting until 9:00 with regular park open.

I didn't notice the park hours the other day when you did this. Was it EMH starting at 8:30?

Are all the parks letting in about 15-20 minutes before that time like they were last year? I haven't heard mention of it and I am getting close and need to start planning because like you, the last time I did Remy I had a ILL and it was great and now I have more work to do!

 

[Disneyhanna]

I didn't notice the park hours the other day when you did this. Was it EMH starting at 8:30?

Are all the parks letting in about 15-20 minutes before that time like they were last year? I haven't heard mention of it and I am getting close and need to start planning because like you, the last time I did Remy I had a ILL and it was great and now I have more work to do!

Early entree was 8:30 for a 9:00 open! They started letting people through security and scanning in 8:07 from the IG. I never stopped in the Remy line so not sure if they started the ride early or not. I got to IG by 8:00ish and was on at 8:50 so I don’t think you need to be THAT early. Not sure how it is at the main entrance though! But I think they all were in line before me

 

[scrappinginontario]

I didn't notice the park hours the other day when you did this. Was it EMH starting at 8:30?

Are all the parks letting in about 15-20 minutes before that time like they were last year? I haven't heard mention of it and I am getting close and need to start planning because like you, the last time I did Remy I had a ILL and it was great and now I have more work to do!

The rule of thumb to be towards the front of the early entry crowds is to arrive at resort transportation 90 mins before ETPE begins.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

For anyone who had pre-purchased G+, how did you “activate” it each day? Did you have to do anything at all, or did the app show you had it and you just went to the rides list and chose LL? Thanks!

Like pp said it will automatically show up, but don't panic if it takes a minute. Our first day at 7:00 it kept trying to get me to buy Genie+ and I had to spend about a minute refreshing the screen before it would let me book rides. Every day after that it worked fine.

 

[jvalic33]

Early entree was 8:30 for a 9:00 open! They started letting people through security and scanning in 8:07 from the IG. I never stopped in the Remy line so not sure if they started the ride early or not. I got to IG by 8:00ish and was on at 8:50 so I don’t think you need to be THAT early. Not sure how it is at the main entrance though! But I think they all were in line before me

We're staying at BW so I'll be entering at IG like you.

Good to know around when we should arrive. I don't want to have to use up one of my G+ for Remy since I know I'm basically paying for TT and Frozen as it is and I can walk on Remy. It should also be a little less crowded the week I go but who knows. I also don't want to have to backtrack to IG later in the day, but you know how G+ goes...you have to bounce around half the day if you don't plan it just right or are willing to skip things.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Thanksgiving week trip here! We've been back for a few days and I've had some time to think about the trip. Overall, it was great and I'm glad we went. The only day I was taken aback by crowds was Monday at AK - I'd just never seen so many people there, but the same crowd at another park would've seemed normal for a holiday week. We had purchased Genie+ months ago for the trip and did not rope drop a single day, most mornings arriving 30 minutes after opening to avoid the crush. We used up everything we wanted to at Epcot and AK by lunch but it left us time to enjoy the parks. We talked to a lot of people who were turned off of buying Genie+ by the $29 price, and given that we had no trouble booking rides we wanted, the higher price seemed to accomplish what Disney was going for there. We also did not encounter any broken down rides, a first! We walked a minimum of 7 miles a day, more often 9. There's a lot of crisscrossing the park with Genie+. As the week went on we got better about strategizing, but it was still a lot of walking.

One big thing that stood out to me this week (especially when comparing it to 2020 and 2021) is both cast member and guest morale were so much better! We had so many great conversations with people on the buses and in lines. There was one photographer at MK who, while polite, just had that look on her face like she was having a rough day. We were the only ones there at the time, so we took a few minutes to chat and joke with her, and I wish you all could see the transformation - a few kind words really do work miracles sometimes.

Food. We had some of the best we've ever had, and some of the worst. Brown Derby was a huge disappointment. Server was great, but a lot of our food went uneaten. Tiffins and Hoop Dee Doo blew our socks off though! My husband is still raving about the fried chicken at HDD and the whole fish at Tiffins was amazing, my kids kept stealing bites.

We did not see a lot of visibly sick people in the parks. A few random coughs here and there.

Guardians of the Galaxy took us off guard. 3 of the 4 of us were struggling when we got off. Not to the point of being sick, but stumbled a bit for a while while our heads spun. None of us usually struggle with motion sickness. Someone threw up on the ride before us so they had to send that string of cars off to be cleaned. Later in the day a guest told us a woman collapsed in front of them after riding. It's a really cool ride, but that spinning bit at the end.... oof. I'll do it again, but maybe take some meds before.

This is really my favorite time of year to go and I'm looking forward to doing it again in a few years.

 

[kmoehall]

Another Thanksgiving week tripper here! We had a great time. Our last visit was Thanksgiving week 2017 so we knew to expect higher crowds.
We did bite the bullet and pay for Genie + each day and did not regret it. We are not a rope drop family and don’t like to wait in long lines so it worked perfect for us, we rode all the rides we wanted to.
Guardians of the Galaxy was awesome! We got VQ every time we tried. My son and I struggle with motion sickness but with Dramamine for him and a Scopalamine patch for me we had no issues and are so glad we tried it.
Food was great, standouts for us were Steakhouse 71 and Hoop Dee Doo Revue.
We love the Christmas decorations, and I agree with the poster above that everyone we encountered (staff and other visitors) seemed to be in such good moods. It’s such a fun time of year to go!

 

[Ricguz]

Thanksgiving week trip here! We've been back for a few days and I've had some time to think about the trip. Overall, it was great and I'm glad we went. The only day I was taken aback by crowds was Monday at AK - I'd just never seen so many people there, but the same crowd at another park would've seemed normal for a holiday week. We had purchased Genie+ months ago for the trip and did not rope drop a single day, most mornings arriving 30 minutes after opening to avoid the crush. We used up everything we wanted to at Epcot and AK by lunch but it left us time to enjoy the parks. We talked to a lot of people who were turned off of buying Genie+ by the $29 price, and given that we had no trouble booking rides we wanted, the higher price seemed to accomplish what Disney was going for there. We also did not encounter any broken down rides, a first! We walked a minimum of 7 miles a day, more often 9. There's a lot of crisscrossing the park with Genie+. As the week went on we got better about strategizing, but it was still a lot of walking.

One big thing that stood out to me this week (especially when comparing it to 2020 and 2021) is both cast member and guest morale were so much better! We had so many great conversations with people on the buses and in lines. There was one photographer at MK who, while polite, just had that look on her face like she was having a rough day. We were the only ones there at the time, so we took a few minutes to chat and joke with her, and I wish you all could see the transformation - a few kind words really do work miracles sometimes.

Food. We had some of the best we've ever had, and some of the worst. Brown Derby was a huge disappointment. Server was great, but a lot of our food went uneaten. Tiffins and Hoop Dee Doo blew our socks off though! My husband is still raving about the fried chicken at HDD and the whole fish at Tiffins was amazing, my kids kept stealing bites.

We did not see a lot of visibly sick people in the parks. A few random coughs here and there.

Guardians of the Galaxy took us off guard. 3 of the 4 of us were struggling when we got off. Not to the point of being sick, but stumbled a bit for a while while our heads spun. None of us usually struggle with motion sickness. Someone threw up on the ride before us so they had to send that string of cars off to be cleaned. Later in the day a guest told us a woman collapsed in front of them after riding. It's a really cool ride, but that spinning bit at the end.... oof. I'll do it again, but maybe take some meds before.

This is really my favorite time of year to go and I'm looking forward to doing it again in a few years.

Can you tell me about the Brown Derby. I have a reservation there for fantasmic but if the food is awful, I would rather cancel and do I walk in if I want to see the show

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Can you tell me about the Brown Derby. I have a reservation there for fantasmic but if the food is awful, I would rather cancel and do I walk in if I want to see the show

Not all was bad. The squash soup was very good and my husband had a seafood soup that he liked. However the Cobb salad was swimming in dressing and the grapefruit cake was really sour. So sour we actually wondered if they forgot to add sugar. My son’s fish was over cooked and dry.

Im willing to say it might’ve just been an off day. We’re not usually picky but these three things were really bad.

 

[Ricguz]

Not all was bad. The squash soup was very good and my husband had a seafood soup that he liked. However the Cobb salad was swimming in dressing and the grapefruit cake was really sour. So sour we actually wondered if they forgot to add sugar. My son’s fish was over cooked and dry.

Im willing to say it might’ve just been an off day. We’re not usually picky but these three things were really bad.

Thanks for that. I know from experience that the Cobb salad can be ordered dry with the dressing on the side and we can mix it ourselves. Other unfortunately like your family have had the same experience. I’m so sorry for that. It too expensive for that to happen.

 

[Disneyhanna]

MK report on a MVMCP day with Genie+ for a party of 2. We have been many times and only one of us rides the big rides, we are okay not doing everything.

At 7am I got a Jingle Cruise for 9:45, I had to refresh a few times for it to go down as we weren’t rope dropping.

9:34 entered MK
9:41 scanned Jingle Cruise LL, standby 45 in outdoor overflow, on in 3 mins
Made a Winnie the Pooh for 10:05 in the JC queue
10:04 scanned in for Pooh LL, standby 30, on in 7 mins
At this time, PPF was returning 3pm, Space Mountain returning 11am, Big Thunder returning 1:30 for reference
Made a Buzz LL for 10:25 in Pooh queue
10:24 scanned in for Buzz, standby 15, on in 2 mins
Made a 10:30 speedway LL in Buzz queue
10:35 scanned into Speedway LL, standby 15, on in 7 mins
Made an 11:05 Small World LL in speedway queue
10:58 entered People Mover queue, standby 15, waited 8 mins
11:25 scanned into Small World LL, standby 25, waited 5 mins
Made an 11:30 LL for Little Mermaid in Small World queue
11:55 scanned into Little Mermaid, standby 25, basically walked on
Made a BTMR for 12:30 in Little Mermaid queue - paused to refresh maybe 5 mins in LM queue for this, purposefully did this as it had been down for HOURS and I knew it would most likely become an anytime pass
12:29 got alert that BTMR LL turned to anytime pass, could immediately make new LL now (not good for Space Mountain, 7DMT, Peter Pan, meet and greets, parade, or Jingle Cruise)
Made a Peter Pan LL for 4:35, which was the going return time (no refreshing), took this as we were having lunch at 12:40 and couldn’t ride anything anyways so no worries about 2 hour wait to make a new LL
At 1:30 I saw Splash and Meet Mickey LLs were “gone” (remember nothing is gone, you can almost always refresh for something if there are more than two hours of park time left)
Space Mountain must not be as popular as it still had almost immediate return times
To pass time did the Liberty Belle, it takes about 20 min to go around the Rivers of America
2:29 went to BTMR but it had just went down again!
2:29 scanned ONE person into Splash, standby 60, waited 4 mins
After I got off I refreshed maybe 5 mins and got a 2:50 Space Mountain LL for one
3:03 scanned into SM LL, standby 45, waited 9 mins (got to skip a few parties as a single rider)
Saw splash standby was down to 25 even with Pirates and BTMR being down, surprising
After SM I sat on a bench and refreshed for about 15 min straight for Meet Mickey or Haunted Mansion, both were “gone”
After 15 min at 3:44 I secured a LL for Meet Mickey at 4:00!
I saw 5:25 HM pop up a few times but too late for us as we wanted to leave by 5
3:58 scanned into Meet Mickey LL, standby 30, waited maybe 10 mins

And that’s all we did for MK! There were immediate LLs pretty much all day for smaller things we skipped like Barnstormer, Aladdin, Dumbo, Tea Party, etc. I checked other parks and wait times were so low, the Thanksgiving crowds definitely subsided! At lunch time I saw Safari at 15 and FoP at 60 and it’s been a nice weather day. I made some FPs for this evening at HS and I had to wait as they were returning times too soon. I refreshed maybe a few min and got a Slinky LL for 6:55 at 4:44, score!

While Genie+ wasn’t necessary for MK today it was “only” $17 compared to the $29 of Thanksgiving and it made getting through rides so easy. Definitely recommend MK on party days which I’ve always done in pre-pandemic years!

 

[jvalic33]

Not all was bad. The squash soup was very good and my husband had a seafood soup that he liked. However the Cobb salad was swimming in dressing and the grapefruit cake was really sour. So sour we actually wondered if they forgot to add sugar. My son’s fish was over cooked and dry.

Im willing to say it might’ve just been an off day. We’re not usually picky but these three things were really bad.

It's been a year or so since our last visit, but since COVID we have found the food not as good. Some of our favorite dishes are no longer on the menu and I was told that it was due to staffing shortages that they had to remove a number of items because they couldn't have as many stations in the kitchen to make the different items.

If you have loved it in the past, you may find the food and menu limited and not as exciting as it once was. Maybe check it out before you decide. I checked and still seemed limited so I didn't book it for this trip.

I think that one day it might get back to where it was, but I had a similar experience the last time I was there as well and everyone voted to skip it this trip.