Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[scrappinginontario]

Hi all! What's the Tron VQ wait time like these days? I was there in March 2023 and we waited at least 90 minutes if not longer. I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to buy ILLs for that to save some time on our quick trip down in a few weeks. If it's been hit or miss, with some days the wait being short and some long, then I'll probably err on the side of ILL. If it matters, we'll be in MK on a party day.

Our experience is it's hit or miss. We rode 5+ times and waited anywhere between 20 mins and 75 mins. It really depends on how many guests return at the same time you do.

Guardians allows guests to return at any time from the time their BG is called until park closing which means there is potential for things to ebb and flow.

Traditionally, the earlier in the day your BG is called I would anticipate the line to be a bit shorter but we once rode at 10:30 AM and still waited 60 mins.

 

[Erinmc3]

Hi all! What's the Tron VQ wait time like these days? I was there in March 2023 and we waited at least 90 minutes if not longer. I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to buy ILLs for that to save some time on our quick trip down in a few weeks. If it's been hit or miss, with some days the wait being short and some long, then I'll probably err on the side of ILL. If it matters, we'll be in MK on a party day.

Rode Tron twice our trip and waited for about an hour each time.

 

[NashvilleMama]

Here now and wanted to share our Thanksgiving week experience to date:

Arrived Saturday evening, checked into Wilderness Lodge for 4-night stay. Had a great dinner at Story Book Dining, 1st time visit there and would recommend.

No park hoppers, taking it easy this trip so sleeping in, breakfast at resort, etc.

- Sunday: MK day, Christmas party in the evening but we aren't attending that. Arrived to park around 9:30am and crowds were noticeably light which was the case through at least early afternoon. ILL Tron and 7DMT, G+ about every single other ride we wanted to ride (which was a lot) and left park at 4pm - the party lines to get in at that time were nuts. We are now huge converts to doing MK on a party day. All reports have said the day before (Saturday) and yesterday (Monday) were insane with crowd levels so Sunday/party day was definitely the way to go, but also think last week's rain-out has contributed to those non-party day levels as well.
- Monday: Epcot. Arrived 11:30am in time for our ILL to Guardians, then G+ Test Track, Soarin (really enjoyed the California film, not sure why this is getting all the hate?), Living on the Land (a personal fave.) Then walked around World Showcase, again crowds pretty light compared to previous visits this year. Around 2pm the crowd volume started picking up presumably from park hoppers. Met up with friends for early dinner at Biergarten which was excellent. Hit up Moana on way out of the park around 6:30pm, had just gotten fully dark and it was wonderful....we all really enjoyed this including my 2 teen daughters who are not easily impressed but do love Moana.
- Today: Animal Kingdom...will report back if anything crazy happens but anticipate it'll be pretty chill based on what I'm already seeing on wait times.

Summary - do NOT be scared of pre-Thanksgiving week crowds if you can plan park days correctly, we were here in July and it was way worse. I really think last week's rain-out helped create the MK chaos over the weekend on non party days, but we had a really really great park day.

P.S. Was totally unaware somehow that now Disney Visa discounts apply to all merchandise purchases, not just $50+ ones - so that's been a nice surprise! Passing along in case any other cardholders didn't catch that update either.

 

[NashvilleMama]

Hi all! What's the Tron VQ wait time like these days? I was there in March 2023 and we waited at least 90 minutes if not longer. I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to buy ILLs for that to save some time on our quick trip down in a few weeks. If it's been hit or miss, with some days the wait being short and some long, then I'll probably err on the side of ILL. If it matters, we'll be in MK on a party day.

This Sunday was a party day and we had a Tron ILL for around 10:45am, we heard the people next to us in the VQ line near boarding say they'd been waiting for 90 minutes - crowds in the park were light that day, too.

 

[cjlong88]

We got back late last night from a trip to USO/WDW. Had a good trip. Some mixed experiences.

We stayed at Dockside Inn at USO. Last time we stayed at USO it was Royal Pacific. After staying on Disney property so many times, I have to say that while the price was great, the experience was just okay. I witnessed some interesting behaviors, and the constant smell of pot on our floor wasn't pleasing. I just don't feel the escape from the world like I do on WDW property. I know WDW hotel prices are insane, but for us we won't be staying at USO again. It will be WDW or a good neighbor hotel for us.

Disney CM's were just amazing on this trip. We are at Spice Road Table and our server brought us complimentary dessert platters. At Chicken Guy they got our sauces wrong, so they gave us extra chicken and a ton of extra sauces for free. Anytime we were given instructions they were super polite and positive. Didn't have a single negative interaction. I've had those before, and it was so so nice to just feel positive energy from everyone we encountered.

Had our first MVMCP and we loved it. Short lines. The other guests were having fun and everyone around us was polite and courteous. The fireworks were great. TRON virtual queue worked great. Loved it.

We also did a day at EPCOT and I have to say, being there during a non festival time must have something to do with the crowds. I've never seen World Showcase so open before on a weekend. I loved it. We got to try new things that are just standard fare in the countries because there were no booths, which was truly a great experience.

Orlando Informer Meetup was great. Team Members were awesome and the free food was great. However, I just left Universal a bit underwhelmed, even though it has my two favorite rides in all of Orlando. If I didn't.go back, I wouldn't be heart broken. If I do go back, though, I think doing a Meetup is the best way for me.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Arrived early Thursday (Thanksgiving) afternoon and spent a few hours in Disney Springs (very manageable crowds) for shopping and dinner before heading to Riviera and wow, CMs were wonderful. So positive, everyone wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving with every interaction, everyone has just been so kind. I know working holidays must be tough (I did retail and remember those days) but all the CMs were doing their job with smiles. Even our Mears driver was great and despite being the 5th and last resort drop off, it was only about an hour from leaving the bag claim to being at our resort. Ubers/Lyfts were maybe $32-42 so not anything to worry about on a holiday.

Today we did AK and crowds were moderate to even low. It really thinned out at 2 when people presumably left to park hop. We didn’t get to the park until an hour and a half after opening and only waited 20 minutes to ride the safari. Lightning lanes were practically immediate all day or very easy to refresh for. By early afternoon FoP and NRJ both dropped under 75. Everest was around 30 all day and safari peaked at maybe 60ish.

We went to Epcot this evening and again moderate crowds, festival lines were almost nonexistent or very short except at the Germany booth and that was only because that had trouble keeping up with fondue orders (still waited less than 15 minutes). The cooler weather and showers must have scared people off, we somehow missed every single light shower as we were in rides or shows or shopping, it really did little more than sprinkle.

Epcot and a HEA dessert party tomorrow, I’m sure MK will be slammed given it’s a non-MVMCP night so will report back! But so far, the week after Thanksgiving is proving to be a great time to visit like it has the last couple of years we’ve gone at this time.

I will say, so far, guests have been quite well behaved, at least in AK and Epcot. Since it hasn’t felt crowded and weather has been cooler, I think that has helped. CMs have been great and so friendly. I was at Disneyland in September and there were so many CMs hanging out and gossiping where guests could hear and I totally get it, but it was jarring. Lots more high school age CMs there which probably makes a difference. We’ve had really nice photopass CMs today and they have been EVERYWHERE. They’re way easier to spot in green as well. In general, staffing has felt significantly better this trip and I’ve done multiple trips since 2020. Some trips the last few years it felt like you had to hunt CMs down but yesterday and today it felt like there were so many CMs who were just there to stand around and greet guests and it really makes a difference.

 

[katyringo]

We arrived late yesterday afternoon. We just enjoyed the resort (pop) and hung out. Today we did Magic Kingdom and had an incredible day. The crowds felt heavy- walkways very very full- however we were successful at riding just about everything.

At 7am I got the tron VQ(group 51), SM LL for 930, tron ILL for evening time and SDMT ILL. We decided to do smaller rides for early entry- hitting tea cups, dumbo, barnstormer and Ariel before offical park open. I don't remember the exact order of everything but we rode all the headliners plus some, did a fireworks dessert party, watched rain day calvacade and did an afternoon breaks. We didn't have a single ride break down on us. We had amazing CM interactions

The only negative was after fireworks.. you really can't move in any other direction than what the crowd is doing. That was actually a little scary. We wanted to get to thunder mounting and the hub was just a locked in sea of people stuck where they are.

 

[katyringo]

Full day number 2: Hollywood studios

Early entry was at 8am this morning. We got our place in the skyliner line at pop century around 615- 1st in line. We purchased Genie: by 7am we were already on the skyliner to HS, having already made it to the connection point from Pop. We were to the HS turnstiles by 710 and 2nd in line.

At 7am I pulled 9am SDD and I bought a rise ILL. Rise did not open until almost 1pm- but it did open and we got to ride.

We had an amazing day. We used early entry to ride MMRR, rocking roller coaster, and tower. At 9- we went and hit all the characters. Little mermaid, chewy, and Olaf. We timed our SDD perfect as I was then able to book aliens and midway mania right after and ride immediately. We caught the army men, and then had lunch at roundup BBq. Full toy story expirence and it was great. While we were waiting for our lunch reservation time- we went into the Pixar area and found short waits to see frozone, Edna, sully, and the incredibles. We did soooo many characters today!

From there I can't remember the exact order but we saw frozen show, and rode rise. We then timed seeing the mandalorian perfectly and my son got an actual picture with him.

We then took a nap and did some swimming. I LOVE the skyliner.

During our break I started stacking LL for the evening.

We got back to the parks around 545. We ate at woodys lunch box and then did our LL stacks. Smugglers, MMRR(second time), rocking roller coaster (second time) and tower (second time).. in between there my kids also went and hunted for gold statues. We jumped in Fantasmic standby line at 8pm for the second show and had amazing seats.

It was an incredible day. Really. I know Disney gets some heat lately- and while I use it and pay for it for our infrequent trips- I don't like the current LL and ILL system... but the last two days have been incredible and the number of magical moments.. it's been great and really no snags hardly at all.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I was at Disneyland in September and there were so many CMs hanging out and gossiping where guests could hear and I totally get it, but it was jarring. Lots more high school age CMs there which probably makes a difference.

Just a side note DLR CMs skew younger but are not high schoolers. The minimum age to work at Disneyland is 18 and high schoolers go back to school in Aug in CA so the difference is that DLR management allows that sort of CM behavior.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Just a side note DLR CMs skew younger but are not high schoolers. The minimum age to work at Disneyland is 18 and high schoolers go back to school in Aug in CA so the difference is that DLR management allows that sort of CM behavior.

Oh no, so you’re telling me that 18 year olds look a lot younger than I thought, I’m getting old

I will write more the next few days but after an Epcot day yesterday and MK day today crowds have been sooooo light for a holiday weekend. We’ve done this exact week (starting Thanksgiving) 3 times now in the past 5 years and this has been the quietest one yet by a landslide. Weather has been perfect as well, a light sprinkle here and there but nice and cool. Genie+ times have been immediate all day long. Lines have been so short across parks. I’m not sure anything got longer than 60 all day here in MK!

 

[2vets]

Oh no, so you’re telling me that 18 year olds look a lot younger than I thought, I’m getting old

I will write more the next few days but after an Epcot day yesterday and MK day today crowds have been sooooo light for a holiday weekend. We’ve done this exact week (starting Thanksgiving) 3 times now in the past 5 years and this has been the quietest one yet by a landslide. Weather has been perfect as well, a light sprinkle here and there but nice and cool. Genie+ times have been immediate all day long. Lines have been so short across parks. I’m not sure anything got longer than 60 all day here in MK!

That’s great! I do think today being a party day has helped dampen MK crowds, in addition to people heading home, I had a similar experience in August with the Halloween parties - great days to visit MK. But nice to hear that relatively speaking, it’s uncrowded. Thank you so much for posting. Enjoy the rest of your trip, I can’t wait to get there, flying tomorrow .

 

[Disneyhanna]

Cannot rave enough about how quiet it’s been the past few days. Today is cold, in the mid/high 50s, but no rain. Party day at MK and ride lines are so short. At lunch time 7DMT was the longest line in the park at a whopping 45 minutes. After lunch Space Mountain was 5 and Big Thunder was 10. Pirates has been 5 all day. Even Jingle Cruise was only 45 when we rode around noon. We use Genie+ but you wouldn’t need it today. I just finished Tron from the 1PM VQ with group 91 and from scan in to being on the ride was under 15 minutes and they’re only using one side presumably because it’s so empty here. Lots of people were checking out of the hotel this morning.

MK was busy on the two non-party evenings I was there briefly but nothing crazy, I’ve certainly seen worse! One thing, if you’re coming to the party, get here EARLY. When we left MK the other day a little after 4 the lines for party people to get in looked insane. Like, they were holding off bus and ferry people and letting them through at intervals. Everyone was lined up at 3 already too but at least that looked way shorter than it did around 4:30.

All in all, the days after Thanksgiving have continued to be our absolute favorite time to visit. Good weather, holiday decor, short wait times especially on MVMCP days.

One other thing I have to say is transportation has been unreal. We are staying at Riviera and so we are using the Skyliner half the time but our bus usage has been fabulous. We have walked onto almost every bus or waited no more than a couple minutes, certainly less than 10. The resort bus times are pretty spot on but tend to reflect the time the bus leaves the stop, so plan to get there 2-3 minutes before the quoted time. I know buses are mostly luck but still, it’s been wonderful! (And I used a Boardwalk bus to MK the other night, so not just Riviera). Walked by the Pop bus from MK and they had two buses stacked.

We haven’t rope dropped at all but security and scanning in has been quick as well. I used to always have trouble with my fingerprint scanning in (like 1 in 2 times) but no issues this trip.

 

[JoJoGirl]

Cannot rave enough about how quiet it’s been the past few days. Today is cold, in the mid/high 50s, but no rain. Party day at MK and ride lines are so short. At lunch time 7DMT was the longest line in the park at a whopping 45 minutes. After lunch Space Mountain was 5 and Big Thunder was 10. Pirates has been 5 all day. Even Jingle Cruise was only 45 when we rode around noon. We use Genie+ but you wouldn’t need it today. I just finished Tron from the 1PM VQ with group 91 and from scan in to being on the ride was under 15 minutes and they’re only using one side presumably because it’s so empty here. Lots of people were checking out of the hotel this morning.

I entered MK at about 12:10 today from the tapstyles in the left (monorail) side. There was literally no one else entering at any of the styles. NO ONE! I even asked the CM if the entry point was open, it was so strange, lol!

On Main Street the parade started coming by, so I stopped and watched it in front of the bakery (I think). The only people in front of me were sitting on the curb, so I had a perfect view - on Main Street walking up at parade time! Crazy!

 

[katyringo]

Oops I stopped posting daily- we are on our flight home now.

We did the Christmas party on 11/26 and it was raining during the 4pm time and it was totally backed up at the turnstiles so that kinda killed the initial joy, but the rain cleared and we had a fantastic time at the party. The one thing that surprised me was I found it hard to get food between 6-7pm. We didn't time that well.

On 11/27 we did Epcot. We were so tired so I decided to change our approach and at 7am I got guardians VQ and ILL from our room and also managed an early frozen return time. We then took our time getting to Epcot, but still arrived half way through early entry and jumped into the Remy line (we came from the skyliner) and only waited 20 minutes. We had a great Epcot day. Honestly- this trip was nearly perfect. We didn't have any snags. The only ride down we ran into was test track and our LL converted and we just came back later and rode it. We loved the Moana journey of water.

Today our last day we did AK from around 845-2pm. We bought Genie but really didn't need to. I basically bought it for Navi. We did ILL for FOP. Again I did this from our room- we like a good super early, first in line, day for MK and HS, but just didn't find it necessary for AK and Epcot. We strolled into AK about half way through EE and rode Everest 3x in a row with no wait. We then went to the safari, did Navi, did FOP, ate some food, saw lion king, dinosaur, played the games in Dino land ($6 bucks a game is ridiculous).. saw the puppets, took pictures, and back to the hotel to catch bus to airport.

We stayed at POP and really really liked it. We did a preferred pool view and were right by the main building and very close to skyliner. So glad we made that upgrade. CM's were also awesome there- my daughter loved the daily changing of the guard dance at the pool and they started to expect her everyday. We tie dyed shirts and went to a glow party. Housekeeping was frustrating. I had it marked we wanted daily housekeeping but had to track down towels a few times.

Notable food: we did roundup BBQ and enjoyed it. I don't know if I would give up the time again for it, but the food did hit the spot. Teppan Edo continues to be a favorite. Festival holidays was very good- we walked world showcase for lunch on our Epcot day. Ohana was great. For QS we liked woody's lunch box and the Canteen in Pandora the best. MK needs better options, nothing stood out there. We felt the food at POP was pretty good too.

Shopping: we love a good Disney gift shop and found lots of treasures. I will say- nearly every shop had a lot of the same things. Which I liked because it gave us time to decided what we really wanted. We didn't make it to DIsney Springs. Wish merch was everywhere. I took the kids to see it the night before we left and so now I own several wish items because my daughter loved it.

Christmas merch was plentiful. We shipped a lot back home.

My hubby has questionable knees and used a cane up until yesterday when he hit a wall. We checked out a scooter and I was so worried it would be such a hassle- turns out it's not at all. We will rent one for the entire trip next time.

It was a great trip. CM's were lovely. Too many magical moments to count.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Oops I stopped posting daily- we are on our flight home now.

We did the Christmas party on 11/26 and it was raining during the 4pm time and it was totally backed up at the turnstiles so that kinda killed the initial joy, but the rain cleared and we had a fantastic time at the party. The one thing that surprised me was I found it hard to get food between 6-7pm. We didn't time that well.

On 11/27 we did Epcot. We were so tired so I decided to change our approach and at 7am I got guardians VQ and ILL from our room and also managed an early frozen return time. We then took our time getting to Epcot, but still arrived half way through early entry and jumped into the Remy line (we came from the skyliner) and only waited 20 minutes. We had a great Epcot day. Honestly- this trip was nearly perfect. We didn't have any snags. The only ride down we ran into was test track and our LL converted and we just came back later and rode it. We loved the Moana journey of water.

Today our last day we did AK from around 845-2pm. We bought Genie but really didn't need to. I basically bought it for Navi. We did ILL for FOP. Again I did this from our room- we like a good super early, first in line, day for MK and HS, but just didn't find it necessary for AK and Epcot. We strolled into AK about half way through EE and rode Everest 3x in a row with no wait. We then went to the safari, did Navi, did FOP, ate some food, saw lion king, dinosaur, played the games in Dino land ($6 bucks a game is ridiculous).. saw the puppets, took pictures, and back to the hotel to catch bus to airport.

We stayed at POP and really really liked it. We did a preferred pool view and were right by the main building and very close to skyliner. So glad we made that upgrade. CM's were also awesome there- my daughter loved the daily changing of the guard dance at the pool and they started to expect her everyday. We tie dyed shirts and went to a glow party. Housekeeping was frustrating. I had it marked we wanted daily housekeeping but had to track down towels a few times.

Notable food: we did roundup BBQ and enjoyed it. I don't know if I would give up the time again for it, but the food did hit the spot. Teppan Edo continues to be a favorite. Festival holidays was very good- we walked world showcase for lunch on our Epcot day. Ohana was great. For QS we liked woody's lunch box and the Canteen in Pandora the best. MK needs better options, nothing stood out there. We felt the food at POP was pretty good too.

Shopping: we love a good Disney gift shop and found lots of treasures. I will say- nearly every shop had a lot of the same things. Which I liked because it gave us time to decided what we really wanted. We didn't make it to DIsney Springs. Wish merch was everywhere. I took the kids to see it the night before we left and so now I own several wish items because my daughter loved it.

Christmas merch was plentiful. We shipped a lot back home.

My hubby has questionable knees and used a cane up until yesterday when he hit a wall. We checked out a scooter and I was so worried it would be such a hassle- turns out it's not at all. We will rent one for the entire trip next time.

It was a great trip. CM's were lovely. Too many magical moments to count.

just a comment for your next trip Have your husband bring cane even if you do the scooter. it helps getting on and off rides. it has helped me many times even with the scooter

 

[Disneyhanna]

Shopping: we love a good Disney gift shop and found lots of treasures. I will say- nearly every shop had a lot of the same things. Which I liked because it gave us time to decided what we really wanted. We didn't make it to DIsney Springs. Wish merch was everywhere.

I totally noticed this too! The shops were SO repetitive this trip. Sizes were also terrible, and did not get restocked all week. We went through nearly every shop and found very few unique items. Christmas ornament options were truly dreadful. Lots of tacky large ornaments that must sell well or be cheap to make, since Disney keeps selling them. We are glad we bought a metal Disney 100 spinning ornament on our last trip as the metal ornaments were nowhere to be found other than the spinning Mickey ears. It is amazing how fast designs turnover, if you see something you like, buy it since it won’t be there next time or even the next day!

We leave tomorrow sadly, but overall had such a great trip. This is the first trip since Covid where we were able to get so much done without waking up at 7AM or rope dropping. Not sure if it was the low crowds or fewer people buying Genie or what. I noticed none of the individual lightning lanes were ever selling out either. Whereas during my last trip in February you had to be on your phone at 7AM. Either way, it made a pleasant experience for us and we spent way less time in MDE. I hardly had to refresh for immediate lightning lanes because they were so plentiful. I will say, we definitely got eyed by people at the front of the standby lines when we were in the lightning lanes! Can’t say I blame them! Those ride queues were hot and humid, even if the weather was pleasant!

 

[RoyandWalt]

DAS worked so well for us at MK Thursday, Nov. 30, we didn’t need to buy LL. Low crowd and knowing the park allowed us to do 10 attractions, train, Liberty Bell and parade in 6 hours.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

We arrive Wednesday and am so excited!! How is the weather feeling right now? Based on the forecast seems like good legging and t-shirt weather and maybe hoodies at night? Last December we were there xmas day week when Florida got that wild deep freeze of 30 degree temps so trying to plan effectively!

 

[gottalovepluto]

We arrive Wednesday and am so excited!! How is the weather feeling right now? Based on the forecast seems like good legging and t-shirt weather and maybe hoodies at night? Last December we were there xmas day week when Florida got that wild deep freeze of 30 degree temps so trying to plan effectively!

If the last week is any indication just bring it all.

Today has been lovely- tank top, shorts, sweatshirt for early morning. Earlier this week I roasted at MK in shorts and a tank top and then last night was so cold I literally wore a winter coat to Candlelight and was quite comfortable (full disclosure I’m from CA so I don’t do cold, I did not see many others in their winter coats but I heard lots of complaining about being cold ).

 

[jmc56]

Hello everyone,
We just returned from our trip to Universal Orlando we also were in the Magic kingdom and Hollywood studios for the night time special events.
Thought i would share some key take aways.
We did a special evening event at universal it was great inclued lots of food and soda park hopping to both parks we got into Universal in time for a good spot for the Macys parade which was fantastic.
we then went to Magic kingdom at night loved the event saw 2 great shows the parade and rode on lots of rides this was better the Hollywood studios allthough with the help of a cast member we got into the que for Rise of the Resistance for 11pm.

We do like the uiversal city walk also. If anyone wants more info i would be happy to share.