Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping



-Coca Cola Spirit jerseys are 30% off at Club Cool.
-The F&W festival lounge fly is 40% off
-passholder Oswald magnets are available at Creations.
-popcorn bucket refills went up to $2.25

I did the passholder preview for Journey of Water and loved it!
 
Just got back on Monday from our annual Food and Wine trip! Overall, it was a really great trip, albeit a very crowded one at the end! We stayed at the YC and loved our room. We looked out over the gazebo and had a great view of the Epcot fireworks, we even changed some of our evening plans to be back in the room just to watch them with a glass of wine out on our balcony.

The cast members this trip were amazing, not that they’re ever not, but we had some really great interactions with them this trip. From our check-in where we spent a solid 25 minutes chatting with the CM who wanted to find us the perfect room (she delivered!) to the photopass photographer during MNSSHP who had way too much fun giving us poses to do, we had the best interactions. We did have one not great one, getting out of test track my mom was taking a few extra seconds since she’s just coming off surgery on her leg, and the CM snapped at her to hurry up, but one bad egg out of the dozens of others that were great isn’t the end of the world.

We did end up using a wheelchair a few times during this trip for my moms leg, which I was initially worried about dealing with other guests, but like 99.9% of the other guests were actually really great with it. In the queues we could take it (most of them), so many people insisted we go first, and even just walking around people were much more aware of the wheelchair/didn’t step directly in front of it as often as I expected. There was one woman who jumped out right in front of us and then came to a sudden stop, so of course we slammed into her, she tried to give us an attitude about it, but I politely told her that she needed to watch where she was going, which surprisingly shut her up, guess she knew deep down she was at fault! :rotfl:

The only downside to the trip were the crowds this past weekend. The first few days of the trip were pretty standard late September crowds, but this past weekend was intense. The lines for the food booths in Epcot were taking 30-40 minutes to get through. We’re used to weekend crowds at Food and Wine, but this was unlike anything we’ve seen before. Even AK on Sunday was packed. Fortunately by Sunday night the crowds had died down a bit at Epcot so we were able to finish up our “must do” food booths with little to no wait.

Oh, and the weather this past weekend was amazing (probably why the crowds were so large :rotfl2:). Super low humidity, sunny, seriously amazing weather for September. Wish it could be like that all the time!
 
We've been here since the 13th and we leave tomorrow. Since it directly relates to our trip experience, I'll mention it - We all got covid mid-trip and were miserably stuck in our room for the second half of our trip. This is our first time ever getting covid and it beat us up badly including my 4 year old girl. My sense of smell is completely gone which I didn't expect because that's supposed to be really rare nowadays. The positive is we're all feeling better (but not 100% yet) but man, it really messed up our trip.
 


CounselorX said:
We've been here since the 13th and we leave tomorrow. Since it directly relates to our trip experience, I'll mention it - We all got covid mid-trip and were miserably stuck in our room for the second half of our trip. This is our first time ever getting covid and it beat us up badly including my 4 year old girl. My sense of smell is completely gone which I didn't expect because that's supposed to be really rare nowadays. The positive is we're all feeling better (but not 100% yet) but man, it really messed up our trip.
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So sorry to hear that. Get well soon.
 
We live in Virginia and planned a super quick weekend trip. Our flight was scheduled for this past Saturday from National airport near DC at 7am. This was forecasted to be in the midst of the tropical storm with severe flight schedule disruptions. 8:30pm Friday night we make decision to cancel flight and drive from Virginia! Leave at 9pm and take westerly route to avoid the storm. Drove until 2:30am and stopped near Charlotte. On the road by 7:30am. Of course at 7am looked and of course our flight took off on time!!! Got to Orlando at 4pm and checked into Drury at Disney Springs (awesome place to stay). Sat night did Universal HHN and then did MNSSHP Sunday. The weather both days was amazing! Low humidity with sunny days and cool nights. Got to MK just after 4 and crazy crowded but got in to park by 4:35. We did Tron for first time and loved it though wish was longer. Did 5 treat stations but still got tons of candy! Overall thought it was a great experience and enjoyed it more than HHN though hard to compare the two!! Monday morning was back on the road by 7:30am and home at 8:30pm. A whirlwind of a trip but we had a great time.
 
Does anyone know if they're still giving out the Oswald AP magnets? I know they said "September 20 to October 23, 2023, while supplies last" but I wasn't sure if they kept going if they didn't run out of magnets.
 
holyrita said:
Does anyone know if they're still giving out the Oswald AP magnets? I know they said "September 20 to October 23, 2023, while supplies last" but I wasn't sure if they kept going if they didn't run out of magnets.
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No they are not, they stopped on the 23rd. Walked by the space a couple times last week after that and they were not there.
 
PrincessJasmine88 said:
Does anyone know how long the wait is for meeting Figment? I know when he first started greetings, the line was a few hours, thanks!
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When I met him last week there was 1 family in front of me and any time I walked by it the most I seen was maybe 5-10 families, but usually it was only a couple. It does go quick.
 
This weekend was crazy at WDW starting 11/2 (race weekend/Jersey crowds). Satu li took 40 mins to place an allergy order.

11/3 MK: We were at SDMT and the LL was a good 30 min+ wait (standby was 110+ and the Cm sounded sarcastic when she said ‘the current standby wait is over 110 mins; enjoy your trip to the mines’). Winnie the Pooh was posted 30 mins but we weren’t even halfway through when we waited 35 mins standby.

Epcot was a mess 11/4: the lines at the food booths were 25-40 mins and curving everywhere around 11:30 am. For reference the Figment ride was a 40 min standby! We just entered the park via Skyliner, stopped by the Ireland booth (couldn’t resist the baileys coffee shake; the warm cake was just ok and not palatable in the heat) ate at Space220 (took 1.5+ hour for lunch with dessert to go) and left.

We had a Mears pickup at 1:55 pm and the bottlenecks near Test Track and the walkway between France and Canada was extremely difficult to maneuver. The Skyliner was slow and took 15 more mins than usual. The line to drop off bags was 30 mins and pickup was fortunately 15 mins.
 
just got back yesterday from a 6 day trip 10/31-11/5; staying at all star sports. Unfortunately i tested positive for covid this morning; had high fever and coughs. hopefully my daughter hasn't caught it.

some thoughts overall:
- we did a three day Universal before that staying at RP, and while the express pass system overall is superior, Universal is still way far off IMO. really, if it wasn't for the wizarding world, i would not step a foot in that theme park. maybe with epic universe this might be changing, but for now i don't get those people saying "universal is winning". I will not go into details of why i think so, as that is another thread by itself.
- early entry was hit or miss. HS days (opening 9, EE 8:30) , we would drive and be at the plaza at 7:30 - do not try before that, they will turn you away. That was a success (RD rise, TTM, MMRR, ToT). EE at AK was not as successful. we decided to head a little later towards the middle of early entry and we planned to do all the rides that are not FoP. Unfortunately EVERYTHING was down other than FoP. it's pretty bad, like Dino, EE, Navi, Safari, were all down during EE. should have just slept in. Epcot was fine, RD TT (did not need to go very early - right at EE start time got me towards the front of the TT RDs); and MK just RD space since SDMT RD is not pleasant.
- LL sometimes is really not a LL. many times we waited 30-60 mins in LL. Sunday 11/5 was a mad house at MK. mermaid and small world had 60 min waits!
- Guardians was great. I really wish they stop the VQ thing. our BG was called towards the end of EE and they were running mostly empty loads.. just let people RD, or maybe just resort guests during EE.. i understand it gets busy during the day, but if people want to do it more than once they should be able to stand in line and do it. just trying to squeeze more ILL money it seems :-/
- Tron was also great, but too short. still can't believe though that it took 5 years to get this..
- Mobile food order is the best.
- Buses to All star resorts were mostly OK. most we waited was 20 mins, but a lot of times we just drove.
- cast members were great.

Finally, cost wise, it really is getting more expensive. I am at the point of questioning whether it really makes sense to return. It's not like we cannot afford it (thankfully), but just don't know anymore if it's worth it paying more every year with no added - or even less - benefit.. I feel so cheated having to pay for ILL if we want to do Guardians or Tron more than once. every food item is grossly over priced. this is not just Disney, like $9 Butterbeer at Universal isn't great either.. anyway, i say that every year but we keep coming back. this time though it hit differently with the value for what we are paying..
 
M SH said:
just got back yesterday from a 6 day trip 10/31-11/5; staying at all star sports. Unfortunately i tested positive for covid this morning; had high fever and coughs. hopefully my daughter hasn't caught it.

some thoughts overall:
- we did a three day Universal before that staying at RP, and while the express pass system overall is superior, Universal is still way far off IMO. really, if it wasn't for the wizarding world, i would not step a foot in that theme park. maybe with epic universe this might be changing, but for now i don't get those people saying "universal is winning". I will not go into details of why i think so, as that is another thread by itself.
- early entry was hit or miss. HS days (opening 9, EE 8:30) , we would drive and be at the plaza at 7:30 - do not try before that, they will turn you away. That was a success (RD rise, TTM, MMRR, ToT). EE at AK was not as successful. we decided to head a little later towards the middle of early entry and we planned to do all the rides that are not FoP. Unfortunately EVERYTHING was down other than FoP. it's pretty bad, like Dino, EE, Navi, Safari, were all down during EE. should have just slept in. Epcot was fine, RD TT (did not need to go very early - right at EE start time got me towards the front of the TT RDs); and MK just RD space since SDMT RD is not pleasant.
- LL sometimes is really not a LL. many times we waited 30-60 mins in LL. Sunday 11/5 was a mad house at MK. mermaid and small world had 60 min waits!
- Guardians was great. I really wish they stop the VQ thing. our BG was called towards the end of EE and they were running mostly empty loads.. just let people RD, or maybe just resort guests during EE.. i understand it gets busy during the day, but if people want to do it more than once they should be able to stand in line and do it. just trying to squeeze more ILL money it seems :-/
- Tron was also great, but too short. still can't believe though that it took 5 years to get this..
- Mobile food order is the best.
- Buses to All star resorts were mostly OK. most we waited was 20 mins, but a lot of times we just drove.
- cast members were great.

Finally, cost wise, it really is getting more expensive. I am at the point of questioning whether it really makes sense to return. It's not like we cannot afford it (thankfully), but just don't know anymore if it's worth it paying more every year with no added - or even less - benefit.. I feel so cheated having to pay for ILL if we want to do Guardians or Tron more than once. every food item is grossly over priced. this is not just Disney, like $9 Butterbeer at Universal isn't great either.. anyway, i say that every year but we keep coming back. this time though it hit differently with the value for what we are paying..
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Sorry to hear about Covid for you. I hope it is a mild case otherwise. My family was there the last week of Oct. and it seemed like at least half the people on buses or waiting in lines were coughing. I am amazed none of my family came home with Covid or the flu. maybe the difference in coming from the cooler northern climates to the heat and humidity of FL??

We did Universal for the first time last summer, and I have to agree that other than Potter areas and Velocicoaster, the rest was overly hyped IMO. I am sure we will head back in a couple years to see Epic U but I don't see the argument that Universal is winning. Prices were just as overinflated.
 
M SH said:
just got back yesterday from a 6 day trip 10/31-11/5; staying at all star sports. Unfortunately i tested positive for covid this morning; had high fever and coughs. hopefully my daughter hasn't caught it.

some thoughts overall:
- we did a three day Universal before that staying at RP, and while the express pass system overall is superior, Universal is still way far off IMO. really, if it wasn't for the wizarding world, i would not step a foot in that theme park. maybe with epic universe this might be changing, but for now i don't get those people saying "universal is winning". I will not go into details of why i think so, as that is another thread by itself.
- early entry was hit or miss. HS days (opening 9, EE 8:30) , we would drive and be at the plaza at 7:30 - do not try before that, they will turn you away. That was a success (RD rise, TTM, MMRR, ToT). EE at AK was not as successful. we decided to head a little later towards the middle of early entry and we planned to do all the rides that are not FoP. Unfortunately EVERYTHING was down other than FoP. it's pretty bad, like Dino, EE, Navi, Safari, were all down during EE. should have just slept in. Epcot was fine, RD TT (did not need to go very early - right at EE start time got me towards the front of the TT RDs); and MK just RD space since SDMT RD is not pleasant.
- LL sometimes is really not a LL. many times we waited 30-60 mins in LL. Sunday 11/5 was a mad house at MK. mermaid and small world had 60 min waits!
- Guardians was great. I really wish they stop the VQ thing. our BG was called towards the end of EE and they were running mostly empty loads.. just let people RD, or maybe just resort guests during EE.. i understand it gets busy during the day, but if people want to do it more than once they should be able to stand in line and do it. just trying to squeeze more ILL money it seems :-/
- Tron was also great, but too short. still can't believe though that it took 5 years to get this..
- Mobile food order is the best.
- Buses to All star resorts were mostly OK. most we waited was 20 mins, but a lot of times we just drove.
- cast members were great.

Finally, cost wise, it really is getting more expensive. I am at the point of questioning whether it really makes sense to return. It's not like we cannot afford it (thankfully), but just don't know anymore if it's worth it paying more every year with no added - or even less - benefit.. I feel so cheated having to pay for ILL if we want to do Guardians or Tron more than once. every food item is grossly over priced. this is not just Disney, like $9 Butterbeer at Universal isn't great either.. anyway, i say that every year but we keep coming back. this time though it hit differently with the value for what we are paying..
Click to expand...
I feel you. A couple years ago we decided to take our money elsewhere. It's a shame when you can leave the country and spend less than at WDW. I'm the Disney fanatic in our house and I'm not willing(maybe I'm unable) to give up on them altogether. We now spend less days at Disney and have ventured to other places. It's a fair compromise because I need my Disney days!!
 
M SH said:
just got back yesterday from a 6 day trip 10/31-11/5; staying at all star sports. Unfortunately i tested positive for covid this morning; had high fever and coughs. hopefully my daughter hasn't caught it.

some thoughts overall:
- we did a three day Universal before that staying at RP, and while the express pass system overall is superior, Universal is still way far off IMO. really, if it wasn't for the wizarding world, i would not step a foot in that theme park. maybe with epic universe this might be changing, but for now i don't get those people saying "universal is winning". I will not go into details of why i think so, as that is another thread by itself.
- early entry was hit or miss. HS days (opening 9, EE 8:30) , we would drive and be at the plaza at 7:30 - do not try before that, they will turn you away. That was a success (RD rise, TTM, MMRR, ToT). EE at AK was not as successful. we decided to head a little later towards the middle of early entry and we planned to do all the rides that are not FoP. Unfortunately EVERYTHING was down other than FoP. it's pretty bad, like Dino, EE, Navi, Safari, were all down during EE. should have just slept in. Epcot was fine, RD TT (did not need to go very early - right at EE start time got me towards the front of the TT RDs); and MK just RD space since SDMT RD is not pleasant.
- LL sometimes is really not a LL. many times we waited 30-60 mins in LL. Sunday 11/5 was a mad house at MK. mermaid and small world had 60 min waits!
- Guardians was great. I really wish they stop the VQ thing. our BG was called towards the end of EE and they were running mostly empty loads.. just let people RD, or maybe just resort guests during EE.. i understand it gets busy during the day, but if people want to do it more than once they should be able to stand in line and do it. just trying to squeeze more ILL money it seems :-/
- Tron was also great, but too short. still can't believe though that it took 5 years to get this..
- Mobile food order is the best.
- Buses to All star resorts were mostly OK. most we waited was 20 mins, but a lot of times we just drove.
- cast members were great.

Finally, cost wise, it really is getting more expensive. I am at the point of questioning whether it really makes sense to return. It's not like we cannot afford it (thankfully), but just don't know anymore if it's worth it paying more every year with no added - or even less - benefit.. I feel so cheated having to pay for ILL if we want to do Guardians or Tron more than once. every food item is grossly over priced. this is not just Disney, like $9 Butterbeer at Universal isn't great either.. anyway, i say that every year but we keep coming back. this time though it hit differently with the value for what we are paying..
Click to expand...
We're under 60 days out and it's sad to hear what your saying, but I get it.

The problem is for those of us who experienced the parks before.

When you look back at prior trips, even the kids were talking about the Pirate's League and another time when they did a treasure hunt on a boat before the parks opened where they were ransacked by Stinky Pete the Pirate but then they captured the treasure back.

These things were great memories that their younger siblings won't ever experience.

Fighting Darth Vader, F&W experiences and so much more!

Fastpasses for resorts guests in advance were awesome, magical express.

In many ways most of us are just still living off the happy memories that this place once gave us. I hope they start bringing these things back (not that I'm holding my breath). We still find our happy place here because of what I said above, but it's sad to know what Disney once was. Also, there seems to be a decline in the type of people visiting Disney and/or the prices are making people feel overentitled and grumpy and not the type of happy crowd we used to see at Disney.
 
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