Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[cam8n]

At MK right now, seems crowed to me but wait times not to bad

 

[DoughR]

Went to DHS this morning, no finger print scan. Park hopped to DAK, did the finger scan. Going to MK tonight, will report back.

 

[DoughR]

Went to DHS this morning, no finger print scan. Park hopped to DAK, did the finger scan. Going to MK tonight, will report back.

No finger scan at MK tonight, but the scanners were uncovered.

 

[orangecuse]

Was told at MK this afternoon they will start fingerprinting on Thursday just an FYI.

 

[orangecuse]

MK afternoon was a bit of a bust for us. Park seemed MUCH more crowded than HS yesterday and AK this morning.

Lines werent awful- walked right into a laugh floor show at 3ish. Then did Buzz (15 min wait), speedway (15 min wait), and teacups 2x. Teacups is where our afternoon started to sour. Our first ride stopped after just half of a turn and we all just looked around at each other. No cast members said anything so slowly everyone left. They filled the ride back up and did the next group as normal. We and several other groups got back in line and asked the castmembers what happened and they all said "I dont know why that happened." No further explanation. This ride was just a few minute wait so it didnt upset us too much but I felt bad for two parties whose kids seemed pretty flustered.

Anyway, walked over and did Dumbo (maybe 10 min wait). Then we went to head toward LM and I have NEVER seen the outside queue of that ride full. It looked like at minimum a 20-30 minute wait. We decided to bail at this point (about 6:15) and had a fantastic evening swimming instead.

So MK wait times would tell you it was a light crowd, but every walkway felt packed. In addition mask compliance here was poor compared to HS and AK.

We had one more MK afternoon planned this week and I just shifted course so we arent back there in the afternoon. While HS thinned out quickly around 3-4, MK seemed to just build in crowds the later we were there.

Planning Epcot tomorrow morning so we can sleep a little later!

 

[EveDallas]

Here today 8/23, did Universal, well really Harry Potter World. We had early admission so got there right at 8:00, took Lyft from AKL, easy, easy. Crowds were really light for the first 2 hours, rides were basically walk-ons, after getting to them after going through the Castle and such. Mask compliance inside and outside was not enforced and I'd say maybe 20% inside wearing them, about 5% outside. No distancing at all. Lots of tiny, tiny babies there too. After about 11:00 people were packed in like sardines so we left. We did everything there we wanted to do an frankly, were not really impressed with Universal overall, but loved everything Harry Potter! It's pretty overcast today keeping the heat down some. Tomorrow is AK and then hopping to Epcot.

Masks aren't enforced because they aren't required.

 

[cam8n]

Just watched MK fireworks from main st. It was jammed as usual but still amazing. Everything seemed busier than we expected but still managed fine. Impossible to social distance anywhere, were wearing mask and washing hands and hoping for the best. Still having lots of fun!

 

[murmer]

AK did fingerprints today, Epcot said they will start Wednesday when we went tonight. So if Magic Kingdom is starting Thursday then Hollywood is likely starting tomorrow.

 

[The13thLetter]

I got a backup boarding group today around 3pm and totally missed the alert that it got called. Weird thing was it got called at 859pm and it said i had 30 mins to get there (we were already long gone even if i noticed it). Is that normal though? The park closed at 9. Was surprised theyd give us until 30 minutes after close. Kinda bummed I wasnt still there. Woulda walked out the ride an hour after closing. Oh well.

 

[Palaura]

At MK right now, seems crowed to me but wait times not to bad

Oh. Wow. That’s night and day to Sunday…

 

[BillFromCT]

I got a backup boarding group today around 3pm and totally missed the alert that it got called. Weird thing was it got called at 859pm and it said i had 30 mins to get there (we were already long gone even if i noticed it). Is that normal though? The park closed at 9. Was surprised theyd give us until 30 minutes after close. Kinda bummed I wasnt still there. Woulda walked out the ride an hour after closing. Oh well.

I got the same thing today. Got backup boarding group 151 that we got from a 1:50 join. They were at boarding group 139 at 8:30pm, so we didn’t think we had a chance. Got a notice while in line for Slinky at close that we had until 9:26. We got off Slinky at 9:20, but decided we had 3 more days we could play the park hop virtual que game.

 

[mantysk8coach]

Was at Epcot today. Agreed that crowds didn’t seem as low as I was expecting, and had been reported recently. We had a great first couple hours though, walked onto Spaceship Earth (pretty much…maybe 5 minute wait), Soarin and Figment, then a bit longer wait at Nemo (maybe 15?) Then moved on to Mexico (walk on) and Frozen (maybe 20 minutes or so). Test Track was probably our longest wait of the day at about 30 min. We had planned to get back and hit a few rides after dinner at Biergarten, but our service was super slow and we decided to head out and beat the post fireworks crowed to the Monorail. We’ll be back again on Thursday. Magic Kingdom and Boo Bash tomorrow. Hope the crowds drop a bit as the week goes on!

 

[quhawk]

When you took Uber to Riviera to catch the Skyliner didn’t you need a dining reservation to get past security gate?

Nope. Just dropped us off at the front entrance.

 

[Haley R]

We get there Sunday and I was hoping for the low crowds everyone has been talking about. I guess we’ll see what happens. Maybe yesterday was a fluke

 

[Steve678]

Masks aren't enforced because they aren't required.

There are continual announcements and signs stating they are following CDC guidelines and masks should be worn indoors but you are correct, it isn't "required" per se, just common sense that if you are in a closed compartment with 10 other people. put your mask on..

 

[OhBother1984]

We get there Sunday and I was hoping for the low crowds everyone has been talking about. I guess we’ll see what happens. Maybe yesterday was a fluke

I was watching wait times yesterday and really the wait times were still pretty low overall. We are going this weekend.

 

[Sarahslay]

I was watching wait times yesterday and really the wait times were still pretty low overall. We are going this weekend.

It really is very low compared to normal, I think some people just think it's going to be empty and that's not the case. Also, some people do get unlucky and find themselves in pockets of people or not in the park with the super low crowds. There is always one park that has most of the people, if that's the park you're in (and keep being in) then you won't feel the low crowds. I've had several friends there at the same time, one reports low crowds and the other is like "I don't get it, I thought there were low crowds", but compared to normal it is low and they just don't know and they got caught every day in that park that had more people while the other friend got really lucky in different parks. I watch the TP Lines app daily since it's a bit more reliable on wait times, and it's been looking really good, they also have the crowd levels going down to level 2 overall after today (which is a 3). Compared to all the trips I've taken since reopening (6) these wait times have looked heavenly.

 

[OhBother1984]

It really is very low compared to normal, I think some people just think it's going to be empty and that's not the case. Also, some people do get unlucky and find themselves in pockets of people or not in the park with the super low crowds. There is always one park that has most of the people, if that's the park you're in (and keep being in) then you won't feel the low crowds. I've had several friends there at the same time, one reports low crowds and the other is like "I don't get it, I thought there were low crowds", but compared to normal it is low and they just don't know and they got caught every day in that park that had more people while the other friend got really lucky in different parks. I watch the TP Lines app daily since it's a bit more reliable on wait times, and it's been looking really good, they also have the crowd levels going down to level 2 overall after today (which is a 3). Compared to all the trips I've taken since reopening (6) these wait times have looked heavenly.

Yeah I am not as concerned with crowds of people as long as the wait times are low...LOL. 3 yo with very little mask patience means if the lines are long it just won't work.

 

[Sugarshock]

We get there Sunday and I was hoping for the low crowds everyone has been talking about. I guess we’ll see what happens. Maybe yesterday was a fluke

For what it's worth, Touring Plans said yesterday had higher crowds than any day in recent weeks. I'm not quite sure why a Monday would draw big crowds, but here's hoping it doesn't last!

 

[Sarahslay]

For what it's worth, Touring Plans said yesterday had higher crowds than any day in recent weeks. I'm not quite sure why a Monday would draw big crowds, but here's hoping it doesn't last!

Yeah, it was weird, it's like people were like "today's the daaaaaayyyyyy!!!!" but not on a day you'd expect like a saturday. No, lets do it on a Monday to throw everyone off. Next monday, on my first full day in the parks, they have it a bit higher as well so there must be something about Mondays.