Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[lelew]

I have been following this thread for a while. With info from here and watching vlogs I decided to grab a last minute trip stay at old key west. Our trip started Saturday morning driving down from VA. We stopped overnight in Savanna GA. I would recommend not doing that for folks driving down 95. It was horrible. We went to downtown Savanna and everyone walking around with no mask. There were crowds of young people walking around with drinks just getting trashed. It reminded me of something you see on Bourbon st in New Orleans precovid. They also had some sort of 10 person bike where you peddle for free shots and people were getting trashed on those things. I felt this was a big mistake on my part stopping there. The next day we drove to Florida and checked in to Keywest. It was a breath of fresh air. I'm still here and so far feel VERY SAFE. We also went to Disney Spring around 5pm Sunday evening to eat dinner at Splitsville and that also felt safe. The Springs was a little crowded but that's ok. Compared to downtown Savanna there are no complaints coming from me. So far Disney is doing a phenomenal job with trying to keep guest safe. It is now 830 Sunday night and we are only a few families here at the pool. Also employees here at Old Keywest are Super friendly, So far it's lovely and relaxing. My two teenage kids are loving it as well even with the mask.

 

[sara_s]

We went into Epcot tonight for some food booths. Didn't do any rides because of the listed wait times. It's been raining on and off since we arrived earlier, but it cooled off and the breeze was fantastic!

I'd been reading that some folks saw less mask compliance at the end of the day, etc. I'm happy to report that tonight I would mark it as 90% compliance. Some people walking while eating, but most people respectfully pulling off to the side and eating or drinking. I would say 90% even because it was really obvious when someone's nose and/or mouth was out.

Tomorrow is MK day....I hope Mondays are good days. I also hope the weather holds up!

 

[yulilin3]

We went into Epcot tonight for some food booths. Didn't do any rides because of the listed wait times. It's been raining on and off since we arrived earlier, but it cooled off and the breeze was fantastic!

I'd been reading that some folks saw less mask compliance at the end of the day, etc. I'm happy to report that tonight I would mark it as 90% compliance. Some people walking while eating, but most people respectfully pulling off to the side and eating or drinking. I would say 90% even because it was really obvious when someone's nose and/or mouth was out.

Tomorrow is MK day....I hope Mondays are good days. I also hope the weather holds up!

These temperatures are amazing, enjoy them while we have them

 

[sara_s]

These temperatures are amazing, enjoy them while we have them

As a Floridian, I'll take a cloudy, breezy park day over anything else!

 

[cjlong88]

Where did you get the bamboo cloth masks

NxtStop Apparel. https://thenxtstop.com/

 

[Elle23]

The high wait times I have seen on the app and the reports here have been a little disconcerting. The low wait times is seriously the only perk left and now it seems like that is dwindling. High wait times when the parks will only be open 8 hours is really frustrating.

 

[wilkydelts]

The high wait times I have seen on the app and the reports here have been a little disconcerting. The low wait times is seriously the only perk left and now it seems like that is dwindling. High wait times when the parks will only be open 8 hours is really frustrating.

They aren’t high

 

[cjlong88]

The high wait times I have seen on the app and the reports here have been a little disconcerting. The low wait times is seriously the only perk left and now it seems like that is dwindling. High wait times when the parks will only be open 8 hours is really frustrating.

I agree. I will say that I think overall Disney is definitely inflating the wait times, so the times on the app may be a bit misleading. A 30 minute wait was often only 10 or 15 minutes max. 20 minutes usually meant a 5 minute or a walk on. With the line moving almost continuously, it also made the waiting go by much faster than just standing still like the standby line when FP was up and running.

Wait times really jump up when they do a routine cleaning. We got lucky and only got caught in a queue when they stopped the loading process for cleaning once (Spaceship Earth). That definitely adds a bit of time to the wait. All three times we did Space Mountain, we would be walking off the ride just as they started the cleaning process. It’s luck of the draw, that’s for sure.

 

[Elle :)]

We went to HS today. We walked over and arrived around 9:15am. We were lined up outside (near the skyliner) and held until about 9:30ish when we went through temperature checks. I‘m glad we showed up early because the line behind A couple more minutes and we were let through ticketing. We went straight to Slinky Dog which was a walk on. After trying unsuccessfully to get a boarding group for ROTR (the virtual queue was down), we walked onto Alien swirling saucers. I used my phone to track posted wait times vs what we waited. Toy story had a 45 minute wait. We waited 45 minutes. I think we got caught in a cleaning cycle because we didn’t move for a good ten minutes. Rock n roller coaster had a 50 minute posted wait and we were through in just about 25 minutes. We left around 2pm after a fun trip to Olgas Cantina.

The park felt pretty busy but it wasn’t insane. The line for MMRR looked intense so we didn’t try it. Mask compliance looked pretty good and there were plenty of hand washing stations and hand sanitizer.

 

[Elle23]

They aren’t high

They sure looked high on the app. Test Track was 60 minutes, Frozen 50, Splash 50, BTM 45-50 to name a few. Many were 40 minutes throughout the day. Small World was consistently around 30 minutes.

And with no park hopping, if we get one of those days at one of the parks we are stuck.

 

[Elle23]

I agree. I will say that I think overall Disney is definitely inflating the wait times, so the times on the app may be a bit misleading. A 30 minute wait was often only 10 or 15 minutes max. 20 minutes usually meant a 5 minute or a walk on. With the line moving almost continuously, it also made the waiting go by much faster than just standing still like the standby line when FP was up and running.

Wait times really jump up when they do a routine cleaning. We got lucky and only got caught in a queue when they stopped the loading process for cleaning once (Spaceship Earth). That definitely adds a bit of time to the wait. All three times we did Space Mountain, we would be walking off the ride just as they started the cleaning process. It’s luck of the draw, that’s for sure.

Any thoughts on why they are inflating the wait times?

 

[Aimeedyan]

They sure looked high on the app. Test Track was 60 minutes, Frozen 50, Splash 50, BTM 45-50 to name a few. Many were 40 minutes throughout the day. Small World was consistently around 30 minutes.

And with no park hopping, if we get one of those days at one of the parks we are stuck.

It's hard to judge based on the app as they inflate them some to cover cleaning times. But if you hit during a cleaning, it's pretty darn close IMO.

MMRR was posted at 50 minutes this week - nearly all day. We waited 35 minutes (mostly in the sun).
Small World was posted at 25 minutes a couple of weeks ago and we waited 25 minutes.
Buzz was posted at 10 minutes. We stood outside in the sun, not moving, for 15 minutes and finally bailed.
HM was posted at 10 minutes and we waited 15 minutes.

But other times, it was posted at 10 and we walked on. I never hit anything posted more than 10-15 minutes that was a walk-on.

 

[yulilin3]

The high wait times I have seen on the app and the reports here have been a little disconcerting. The low wait times is seriously the only perk left and now it seems like that is dwindling. High wait times when the parks will only be open 8 hours is really frustrating.

It's has been reported on several outlets, along with normal operations, that weekend are busier, also as time goes by people feel more comfortable and are starting to travel more. I've been flipping about 3 times a week wince reopening and can say that weekends are in fact busier BUT if you rope drop efficiently and stay until closing you will still find a lot of walk on attractions

Any thoughts on why they are inflating the wait times?

It's hard to predict wait times with social distancing and the cleaning cycles. Queries generally look longer because they are spilling out of buildings but that's because of social distancing, in most cases the times posted are longer. They will never under post wait times cause then they get people upset. Some times a queue time is posted at 10 or 15 and a lot of people swarm over making the line longer, but these cases are few, it usually happens in rides like Buzz when space mountain goes down and with out the peoplemover, everyone flocks there

 

[SPSRAS]

The high wait times I have seen on the app and the reports here have been a little disconcerting. The low wait times is seriously the only perk left and now it seems like that is dwindling. High wait times when the parks will only be open 8 hours is really frustrating.

Our experience the week 17th was that wait times were completely inflated every single time. We rode SM twice once posted 20min one posted 35min we walked on both times. We weren’t there on a weekend but as others have said the lines look really long but they keep moving quickly so it goes much faster than when FP is in use.

 

[Happy99]

Olga's - still need reservations?

 

[armerida]

Olga's - still need reservations?

Yup. We tried for a walk up a week ago and they were totally booked.

 

[mamamelody2]

Olga's - still need reservations?

Yes, but Craig from the DIS did a live stream last week where he had been unable to get an ADR. He decided to ask if they were taking walkups and he only had to wait a couple minutes and was let in, so definitely ask if you're unable to get an ADR!

 

[EjandMD]

We went into Epcot tonight for some food booths. Didn't do any rides because of the listed wait times. It's been raining on and off since we arrived earlier, but it cooled off and the breeze was fantastic!

I'd been reading that some folks saw less mask compliance at the end of the day, etc. I'm happy to report that tonight I would mark it as 90% compliance. Some people walking while eating, but most people respectfully pulling off to the side and eating or drinking. I would say 90% even because it was really obvious when someone's nose and/or mouth was out.

Tomorrow is MK day....I hope Mondays are good days. I also hope the weather holds up!

Please come back and report your day at MK!

 

[TheNotSoGreatGonzo]

So I got back a week ago and just now have the chance to update. Just my wife and I went (4 nights at Riviera, with Epcot-Fri/DHS-Sat/Epcot-Sun/MK-Mon/AK-Tues park days).

The Good:
- Barely any wait times. I think the longest we waited was 25 mins at MMRC (rope drop), Slinky, and 7DMT. Everything else was walk-on/5 mins (when we rode, at least).
- CMs were great as always.
- WDW did a great job with social distancing.
- Mask compliance was amazing.
- Riviera was a very nice hotel (coming in just behind GF and Poly).
- Skyliner is super-convenient (at times).
- Brown Derby is a new favorite for us (had never been there).
- Epcot food and wine festival (some of our faves - Frozen Smores with vodka, Lobster roll, Street corn funnel cake, etc.)
- Very few strollers/scooters in the park (not sure how to explain that, but it opened things up for foot traffic even more while also making bus access more efficient).
- Between 8:30 and 11:30 at AK, we had ridden Dinosaur, Everest (twice - only ones on the ride), Safaris, Kali River Rapids, Tough to be a Bug, and Flight of Passage). Under the current circumstances with no shows and no Tuskerhouse, I would only plan for a 1/2 day here. We ate at Yak n Yeti, and left the park around 1pm.
- Even at MK, we did everything we wanted to do and left at 4:30pm after being the 1st ones on Main Street that morning. Space Mtn twice, BTMR twice, Splash, 7DMT, Dumbo, Under the Sea, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz ride, Pirates, Country Bears, Carousel of Progress, Haunted Mansion, and Hall of Presidents. We did Sleepy Hollow for a quick lunch.

The Bad:
- SOOOOO much is closed. Stores, kiosks, food carts, restaurants, etc. - all closed. I get that WDW can't afford to bring all CMs back immediately when crowds are lower, but I had no idea it was THIS bad. Some of our favorite shops/snacks were simply not available on this trip - disappointing.
- We had to spend about 90 minutes at City Hall to sort through a Magic Band issue where we couldn't room-charge. We finally figured out that when our resort merged our 2 separate 2-night reservations into one, they didn't copy the credit card on file on the 1st reservation over to the 2nd reservation, so we were not able to charge starting on Monday at MK until we got back to the resort later that night. Fortunately, my wife had Apple Pay because we didn't have any credit cards with us in the parks.
- Disney transportation. Left DHS mid-day to head to B&C for ice cream and had to walk because the boats weren't running. The buses were okay, but we often had to wait 15-30 minutes for a bus (probably again due to reduced operation based on lower crowds). The Skyliner we loved, but the hours were tough. After a late dinner at Brown Derby, it had already shut down, so we had to Uber it.
- Skyliner (process) - We were 1st in line at Riviera so we could get inside DHS as early as possible. Unfortunately, when it stops at CBR, you have to get in the BACK of the line to switch to the DHS line. This seemed a bit unfair to us and set us back about 15 minutes.
- It was most crowded at DHS (Saturday, duh!). We didn't get ROTH virtual passes despite our best efforts, although it appeared it was down for most of the day, so it may not have mattered anyways. Around 5pm, we walked by ROTR and they were only on Groups 13-18(!!!). Regardless, we did everything else (and LOVED MMRC...so good).

 

[katyringo]

So I got back a week ago and just now have the chance to update. Just my wife and I went (4 nights at Riviera, with Epcot-Fri/DHS-Sat/Epcot-Sun/MK-Mon/AK-Tues park days).

The Good:
- Barely any wait times. I think the longest we waited was 25 mins at MMRC (rope drop), Slinky, and 7DMT. Everything else was walk-on/5 mins (when we rode, at least).
- CMs were great as always.
- WDW did a great job with social distancing.
- Mask compliance was amazing.
- Riviera was a very nice hotel (coming in just behind GF and Poly).
- Skyliner is super-convenient (at times).
- Brown Derby is a new favorite for us (had never been there).
- Epcot food and wine festival (some of our faves - Frozen Smores with vodka, Lobster roll, Street corn funnel cake, etc.)
- Very few strollers/scooters in the park (not sure how to explain that, but it opened things up for foot traffic even more while also making bus access more efficient).
- Between 8:30 and 11:30 at AK, we had ridden Dinosaur, Everest (twice - only ones on the ride), Safaris, Kali River Rapids, Tough to be a Bug, and Flight of Passage). Under the current circumstances with no shows and no Tuskerhouse, I would only plan for a 1/2 day here. We ate at Yak n Yeti, and left the park around 1pm.
- Even at MK, we did everything we wanted to do and left at 4:30pm after being the 1st ones on Main Street that morning. Space Mtn twice, BTMR twice, Splash, 7DMT, Dumbo, Under the Sea, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz ride, Pirates, Country Bears, Carousel of Progress, Haunted Mansion, and Hall of Presidents. We did Sleepy Hollow for a quick lunch.

The Bad:
- SOOOOO much is closed. Stores, kiosks, food carts, restaurants, etc. - all closed. I get that WDW can't afford to bring all CMs back immediately when crowds are lower, but I had no idea it was THIS bad. Some of our favorite shops/snacks were simply not available on this trip - disappointing.
- We had to spend about 90 minutes at City Hall to sort through a Magic Band issue where we couldn't room-charge. We finally figured out that when our resort merged our 2 separate 2-night reservations into one, they didn't copy the credit card on file on the 1st reservation over to the 2nd reservation, so we were not able to charge starting on Monday at MK until we got back to the resort later that night. Fortunately, my wife had Apple Pay because we didn't have any credit cards with us in the parks.
- Disney transportation. Left DHS mid-day to head to B&C for ice cream and had to walk because the boats weren't running. The buses were okay, but we often had to wait 15-30 minutes for a bus (probably again due to reduced operation based on lower crowds). The Skyliner we loved, but the hours were tough. After a late dinner at Brown Derby, it had already shut down, so we had to Uber it.
- Skyliner (process) - We were 1st in line at Riviera so we could get inside DHS as early as possible. Unfortunately, when it stops at CBR, you have to get in the BACK of the line to switch to the DHS line. This seemed a bit unfair to us and set us back about 15 minutes.
- It was most crowded at DHS (Saturday, duh!). We didn't get ROTH virtual passes despite our best efforts, although it appeared it was down for most of the day, so it may not have mattered anyways. Around 5pm, we walked by ROTR and they were only on Groups 13-18(!!!). Regardless, we did everything else (and LOVED MMRC...so good).

how annoying to have to get back in line for the skyliner! Another poster stated they didn’t have to. Super conflicting. We would love to take the skyliner but now I’m not sure...