Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Best Aunt]

What are the awakenings?

At Animal Kingdom Park:

Tree of Life Awakenings
Entertainment located in Discovery Island at Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Witness the majestic centerpiece of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park come to life at night.

A Mesmerizing Nighttime Experience​

Flickering fireflies magically appear and stir to life the animal spirits in the tree’s towering trunk—bringing to light a dazzling visual display swarming with color and animated imagery.
Gaze upon a young doe embarking upon a thrilling journey. Behold love blossoming between a pair of hummingbirds. Spy a sly fox spreading gifts of love among the denizens of a wintry forest.
A feast for the eyes, each revelation celebrates the eternal balance and harmony that exists in all living things, big or small, and is sure to inspire and delight your whole family tree.

Reawakening Your Love of The Lion King​

The Tree of Life sleeps tonight—or does it? Experience the wonder as an original musical score and mystical images—featuring animals and themes inspired by The Lion King—take you on a sublime journey. Be there to see this slumbering iconic tree become even more stunning in a new awakening.

Know Before You Go​

Tree of Life Awakenings begins after dark and occurs approximately every 10 minutes until the park closes.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/animal-kingdom/tree-of-life-nighttime-awakenings/

 

[godfather927]

GaSleepingBeautyFan, unfortunately, my wife got Covid during our trip. Just be aware folks .. this pandemic ain't quite over yet.​

Our small family of three also all positive. Wife and I work in a hospital and never tested positive. She worked on the first covid unit here. All 3 of us are VERY symptomatic. This is the worst I have felt in years.

Out of curiosity, did you both have a few ADRs with indoor dining? For our upcoming trip, I'm trying to strike a balance between reasonable precautions but still enjoying a nice meal or not be sweating with a mask on. We have 2 ADRs and plan to wear masks on any public transit but not sure what else we should do beyond that. Maybe also wear it for any indoor ride queues?

 

[lynch34]

After being home for a week or so now, I think I can calmly present the pros and cons of the trip.

Cons:
Inconsistent trams for parking - To me, this is crazy. I don't mind it so much at Magic Kingdom as the bridge work makes it borderline useless but in AK - it's quite bad.

Genie+ is an ok product if you don't know the "old world." The old world of paper Fastpasses or even the 3 fastpass reservations you make ahead of the trip. The issue if you might get stuck with nothing to do or nothing to see. That is not an issue in Magic Kingdom but it is in Hollywood Studios, which is a madhouse. Epcot and Animal Kingdom don't even need Genie+. I had it for every day but it was totally unnecessary in those parks. I was advised by a friend to just suck it up and get it every day and then it's one less thing you have to think about and if you can afford it, that's probably the right decision. The issue with that is - it isn't cheap and it's made wait-times signficantly worse.

I think one of the main issues for me with Genie+ is talking to my family who don't go as often as I do (or have never gone). They ask me how is it and with the current system I have to tell them that 1 - it's too expensive (meaning the overall trip) and 2 - you have to be a Disney expert to have a good time or just flat out not care if you see or do much. My crew knows how to manage it with the whole (ok - this lunch needs to be a tad longer or hey, the riverboat is running - let's do that, etc.) People that have the "1st time visit" buttons on - I legitimately feel bad for them.

The parks feel empty compared to the old days but the wait-times have never been worse. They must not have staff or must be running things at low capacity. The parking lots are EMPTY and yet everything has a 60 minute wait for it. I couldn't believe it. If you would have told me I was in Zurg parking lot in the old days with when we arrived (not rope drop) - I would have said the park was empty. It's easy to navigate. There's a massive disconnect with attractions.

Update the shows. Indiana Jones and Frozen in HS - like how have they not been updated? Frozen doesn't even bring anything in from the second movie. That has to be pretty easy to do and it shows you care. They are the same jokes (and its a good show) but c'mon.

Remy is very cute but almost every country needs something like that. Guardians will help but Epcot - there's not a lot there. In fairness, Disney never marketed it or built it to be some headliner but it's a solid ride but that's about it.

Toy Story Land is still the hottest place on Earth. They can put up as many umbrellas as they would like - that design is a total disaster. I can't imagine July and August.

Cost is a major con. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford it but the cost is crazy. I have three kids and a wife. The 5 of us going for a week - $3k with no park hopper or $3.4k with park hopper and that does not include Genie, food or accommodations. We are going to Maui in June and I have an oceanfront AirBnB condo for about the same cost (no airfare obviously) but you get my point. There is going to be a major correction soon. I did have siblings ask me about this summer and I strongly advised them to skip. I would have died advising them to go with the current cost. They are catering to the rich and the super rich. I could go to Universal for a week and get accommodations and tickets for the cost of just Disney tickets.

Pros:
Harmonious is very good. It blows Illuminations away for me.
Epcot is gorgeous.
Animal Kingdom is still a great park for those who don't want a stressful day.

Hollywood Studios is a mess - totally a mess.

Wish I could be more positive but I will give it 3-4 years and maybe come back when they have figured it out. Too many other places to see and spend my money on. I can't defend spending more for an inferior experience when I've been so much.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Disney Vacation Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Started off with an oopsie - set my alarm for 6:55PM instead of AM so slept through initial Genie+ drop. But it all worked out well. I was able to stack up several offers while I worked from the room making selections at 8:00 (Jungle Cruise), 11AM (Splash), 1PM (Haunted Mansion), 3PM(Pirates). I had been hoping to get BTMR at 1PM, but it had pushed past when I needed it - but managed to pull one in the right slot at 5PM right as I entered the park. Perfection. I got to work - rode Splash, BTMR, HM, JC, and Pirates and still managed to check in for my 7:40 Plaza reservation at 7:21 as I was walking across the hub. A whirlwind 2.5ish hours in the park. And I was able to pull a Peter Pan Genie+ after tapping into BTMR.

I made the Plaza reservation because I wanted to try the monte cristo. I loved the one in Disneyland at Blue Bayou - this was fine but not nearly as good. And it was a sugar bomb - I was glad I ordered green beans as the side so I could at least pretend it was somewhat balanced. Also had a glass of Chardonnay - ok two glasses of Chardonnay - there was a bit of a wait for the food. I know alcohol service in MK can be controversial, but I really enjoy being able to have a glass of wine with dinner.

I finished dinner around 8:40 and decided to rode Peoplemover before heading into Fantasyland. I found a spot back near Be Our Guest to watch the fireworks. A very unique view. Obviously you don't get the castle show, main street lights, and you have to turn around to see the castle (lower) fireworks - but the view of the high fireworks is phenomenal. And no crowds. I'd definitely watch from here again - I love the castle projections, but hate crowds even more.

After fireworks I did Pooh walk-on, Under the Sea walk-on, Mickey's Philharmagic, and then Peter Pan. IASW had gone down early in the evening and never reopened. Despite lots of fiddle faddling, I never did get a Space Mountain G+. Thought about going to do it via standby, but decided I'd rather head back to Adventureland. Did BTMR again - posted 20 minutes at 10:17 and was 21 minutes. Then got in line for Splash - posted 20 minutes at 10:44 and was a walk on. That view of the castle lit up from the top of the big drop on Splash is phenomenal.

I feel like I got a ton done in my six hours in the park. For me, this is kind of the perfect use case for Genie+ - it allowed me to get essentially a full days of rides in even though I didn't enter the park until 5PM. I'm not an early bird and I think I'll be tempted to tour this way in the future even when I'm not working. The only downside is the getting up at 7 for the first drop - but I can probably do that and then fall back asleep. I can see my routine being sleep in, lazy morning at resort, late breakfast or a nice lunch and heading to the parks at 2PMish and having a few G+ reservations lined up already. But, I totally get why that approach wouldn't work for everyone.

Tomorrow's plans: non-park day, work, checking out the resort, dinner at Topolinos.

 

[Naomeri]

Disney Vacation Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Started off with an oopsie - set my alarm for 6:55PM instead of AM so slept through initial Genie+ drop. But it all worked out well. I was able to stack up several offers while I worked from the room making selections at 8:00 (Jungle Cruise), 11AM (Splash), 1PM (Haunted Mansion), 3PM(Pirates). I had been hoping to get BTMR at 1PM, but it had pushed past when I needed it - but managed to pull one in the right slot at 5PM right as I entered the park. Perfection. I got to work - rode Splash, BTMR, HM, JC, and Pirates and still managed to check in for my 7:40 Plaza reservation at 7:21 as I was walking across the hub. A whirlwind 2.5ish hours in the park. And I was able to pull a Peter Pan Genie+ after tapping into BTMR.

I made the Plaza reservation because I wanted to try the monte cristo. I loved the one in Disneyland at Blue Bayou - this was fine but not nearly as good. And it was a sugar bomb - I was glad I ordered green beans as the side so I could at least pretend it was somewhat balanced. Also had a glass of Chardonnay - ok two glasses of Chardonnay - there was a bit of a wait for the food. I know alcohol service in MK can be controversial, but I really enjoy being able to have a glass of wine with dinner.

I finished dinner around 8:40 and decided to rode Peoplemover before heading into Fantasyland. I found a spot back near Be Our Guest to watch the fireworks. A very unique view. Obviously you don't get the castle show, main street lights, and you have to turn around to see the castle (lower) fireworks - but the view of the high fireworks is phenomenal. And no crowds. I'd definitely watch from here again - I love the castle projections, but hate crowds even more.

After fireworks I did Pooh walk-on, Under the Sea walk-on, Mickey's Philharmagic, and then Peter Pan. IASW had gone down early in the evening and never reopened. Despite lots of fiddle faddling, I never did get a Space Mountain G+. Thought about going to do it via standby, but decided I'd rather head back to Adventureland. Did BTMR again - posted 20 minutes at 10:17 and was 21 minutes. Then got in line for Splash - posted 20 minutes at 10:44 and was a walk on. That view of the castle lit up from the top of the big drop on Splash is phenomenal.

I feel like I got a ton done in my six hours in the park. For me, this is kind of the perfect use case for Genie+ - it allowed me to get essentially a full days of rides in even though I didn't enter the park until 5PM. I'm not an early bird and I think I'll be tempted to tour this way in the future even when I'm not working. The only downside is the getting up at 7 for the first drop - but I can probably do that and then fall back asleep. I can see my routine being sleep in, lazy morning at resort, late breakfast or a nice lunch and heading to the parks at 2PMish and having a few G+ reservations lined up already. But, I totally get why that approach wouldn't work for everyone.

Tomorrow's plans: non-park day, work, checking out the resort, dinner at Topolinos.

I found that the tables outside Gaston’s tavern are very comfortable for watching the fireworks if you don’t care about the castle projections (or have another MK night where you can focus on the projections)

 

[barbarabini]

Here now. After refreshing for a month after getting dumped into Epcot for two days, and begging ,3 guest relations people here to put me in any other park, it was a no go. Epcot two days. Rope drop at IG for ratatouille EM but turns out once inside the ride was on delay and no estimate for opening. Same day test track went down, and a day later, I'm at Epcot again, where I don't want to be and it's still broke. Writing this at 7 am because I had to get up early again to try to get a ll pass. No one understands genie plus here. I walked into a bathroom and asked and 10 mom's have me 10 different explanations. Nah.

 

[Marionnette]

Here now. After refreshing for a month after getting dumped into Epcot for two days, and begging ,3 guest relations people here to put me in any other park, it was a no go. Epcot two days. Rope drop at IG for ratatouille EM but turns out once inside the ride was on delay and no estimate for opening. Same day test track went down, and a day later, I'm at Epcot again, where I don't want to be and it's still broke. Writing this at 7 am because I had to get up early again to try to get a ll pass. No one understands genie plus here. I walked into a bathroom and asked and 10 mom's have me 10 different explanations. Nah.

So sorry that you have to deal with this during what is supposed to be a "magical" vacation experience. The park pass/2 PM hopping rule is one of my major gripes with Disney right now. It made sense as we were just coming out of the pandemic shutdown and Disney needed to social distance queues, provide additional attraction cleaning and other COVID protocols. But now that pretty much all of those measures no longer exists, the only reason that the park reservation system seems to exist is for Disney's benefit at the expense of the guests.

I hope that your vacation satisfaction improves during your stay. It sounds like your experience so far is not what anyone should have to settle for.

 

[Meglen]

When did you make your mark passes? Or did you pick Epcot but ended up being a mess of a park ?

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Here now. After refreshing for a month after getting dumped into Epcot for two days, and begging ,3 guest relations people here to put me in any other park, it was a no go. Epcot two days. Rope drop at IG for ratatouille EM but turns out once inside the ride was on delay and no estimate for opening. Same day test track went down, and a day later, I'm at Epcot again, where I don't want to be and it's still broke. Writing this at 7 am because I had to get up early again to try to get a ll pass. No one understands genie plus here. I walked into a bathroom and asked and 10 mom's have me 10 different explanations. Nah.

Unfortunately Chapek has your money so he doesn’t care.

 

[barbarabini]

So sorry that you have to deal with this during what is supposed to be a "magical" vacation experience. The park pass/2 PM hopping rule is one of my major gripes with Disney right now. It made sense as we were just coming out of the pandemic shutdown and Disney needed to social distance queues, provide additional attraction cleaning and other COVID protocols. But now that pretty much all of those measures no longer exists, the only reason that the park reservation system seems to exist is for Disney's benefit at the expense of the guests.

I hope that your vacation satisfaction improves during your stay. It sounds like your experience so far is not what anyone should have to settle for.Unfortunately Chapek has your money so he doesn’t care.

In response to anna, Funny you say that. With the shot show I saw at epcot early opening on monday, I tought they are destroying their brand. Gen x nd beyond are going to hate this way of vacationing. I bought puts right there. Stocks down 5% and falling. I have chapeks $$$ this morning and their desperate bid for subscribers by giving a 2% vacation discount tells me I am about to get more of it in the coming weeks. a few more points and I will have totally gotten my money back

 

[mickey916]

I made the Plaza reservation because I wanted to try the monte cristo. I loved the one in Disneyland at Blue Bayou - this was fine but not nearly as good. And it was a sugar bomb - I was glad I ordered green beans as the side so I could at least pretend it was somewhat balanced. Also had a glass of Chardonnay - ok two glasses of Chardonnay - there was a bit of a wait for the food. I know alcohol service in MK can be controversial, but I really enjoy being able to have a glass of wine with dinner.

I was very interested when you mentioned you were going to the Plaza for the Monte Cristo, as we had a reservation there on 4/7 for the same exact reason. Rather than a sugar bomb ours was a grease bomb. It was just soaked with grease and also cold. My DH and I looked forward to it so much and it was the absolute worst thing we ate in 11 days (and we ate a LOT of stuff). Sounds like you're having a great solo trip though and hope it continues!

 

[Mango7100]

Returned from a trip 4/14-4/19. We stayed at the Swan. We bought Genie for all of our 3 park days.

Friday 4/15—-HS. First LL was SDD with a return time of 8-9am. Tried to make a ILL at 717 for Rise and said I was ineligible. As I was walking to Guest Service umbrella I realized the app dropped my Swan reservation. Got reservation back on at Guest Services, and the Cm gave us an anytime pass for Rise and did not charge our party of 3! Maybe he was feeling generous since it was so early, but it was a pleasant surprise. Did early entry and Runaway Railway was down, so did RnRC and Smugglers Run during early entry. After that we did LL for Slinky, LL for TSMM, met Olaf standby, Frozen show, ILL for Rise at 1030, and lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge. Returned at 6 for Baseline Tap House, used our 3 stacked LL for MMRR, RnRC, Saucers, and did TSMM as a walk on at park close. We did 5 LLs total.

Saturday 4/16 at MK—Arrived for early entry 30 minutes ahead to do Space. Made our first LL for PP with return time of 915-1015. In morning we did Space, Buzz, and Carousel during early entry. During the morning we did standby for Haunted Mansion with 10 minute wait, People Mover with 5 minute wait, LL for PP, LL Speedway, and LL Buzz. Standby to meet Mickey with a 5 minute wait and then watched the parade at 12 outside of the Mickey Theater (easy to find a spot about 5 minutes before parade arrived). Went to GF to see the Easter Eggs and take a break. Had early dinner at CRT—I though the food was very good, the portions are smaller than Storybook or BOG but it was plenty to eat without feeling stuffed. For the evening we did LLs for Space, Big Thunder, Pooh, and another LL for Big Thunder since our LL for Pirates was converted to an anytime since it was down all evening. After I received the anytime LL for Pirates being down, I booked another Pirates and got another anytime LL since it was still down. Used that one on Small World (not the best choice but DD wanted to go on it and it was a 30 minute wait). Did Dumbo as walk on and rode 3 times in a row during fireworks. Then did Little Mermaid, Speedway and People Mover with short 5-10 minute standby waits to close out the night. So we did 8 LL total.

Monday 4/18–Epcot. I know people say Genie isn’t worth it at Epcot, but I think it is. We did Remy during early entry (it had a 30 minute delay opening and we finally started moving 2 minutes before early entry finished. By the time we were off the ride 20 minutes later, the line was all the way to the France food booth). We did our first LL for Test Track at 10, and then did LL for Spaceship Earth, stacked LL for Frozen and one for Soarin for evening. Those 4 rides had a 3 1/2 hour wait time combined and we waited maybe 25 minutes combined for them. We ate the last seating for Topolinos breakfast—it was the first day of character hugs and the breakfast was excellent. Definitely would do again. Returned to Epcot around 6 to do our LLs for Frozen and Soarin, do some food booths, watched fireworks from Norway and went to Frozen about 2-3 minutes before fireworks ended to start extended evening hours. We walked on Frozen, but as we left the wait time was 30 minutes for extended evening guests. We did Soarin again as a 5 minute wait, and went to Remy at 1040 and did it with a 25 minute wait, Test Track was down for the whole extended evening and then Frozen went done for the last hour, so there wasn’t much left.

We had a great trip. Never been during Easter and it was not as crowded as I was fearing. Lines do build very quickly in the morning. You have about 30 minutes after opening before everything balloons. We didn’t have any negative interactions with CMs, saw plenty of people cleaning, etc.

 

[orangecuse]

Does anyone whose been there recently know if The Incredibles little alleyway with the snacks is open yet? It was closed last time we were there and we love those snacks!

 

[SkyGuy]

Does anyone whose been there recently know if The Incredibles little alleyway with the snacks is open yet? It was closed last time we were there and we love those snacks!

If you mean the coffee shop and the kiosk next to it in HS that sells the NumNum cookies, then yes, those are open. (If not, ignore me!)

 

[orangecuse]

If you mean the coffee shop and the kiosk next to it in HS that sells the NumNum cookies, then yes, those are open. (If not, ignore me!)

The place that sells the shushies with like the fizzing candy in it etc! It was a little further down.

 

[SkyGuy]

The

The place that sells the shushies with like the fizzing candy in it etc! It was a little further down.

The Market (Num Num Cookie stand) sells slushies. They usually have a standard flavor and a specialty flavor. Maybe that will do in a pinch for you.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Disney Vacation Day 3 - Resort Day - Topolino's

Had a fabulous non-park day. Worked from the room most of the day - never even made it to breakfast just snacked in the room. After finishing I headed down to check out the resort. I'm at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. The resort amenities are great - pool area is super nice plus a beach area, 9 hole pitch and putt course, rock climbing wall, and (my favorite) an adult's only hot tub. I grabbed a rum runner from the pool bar and relaxed in the hot tub or an hour or so. I'd definitely stay here again. I'm a hyatt globalist, so I get free breakfast for 2 adult and 2 kids per room and free valet parking - it's really been an ideal spot for me for this trip and the value can't be beat. Tomorrow I move over to the Swan/Dolphin (aunt booked the room - I actually don't know which one it is - but I'm excited to be walkable to Boardwalk/EPCOT/DHS).

Headed over to the Riviera Resort for an 8:30 reservation at Topolino's. Got there just a little bit early so was able to wander around the resort a bit and explore - very nice grounds. Dinner was fabulous. I showed up a bit early for my reservation so had to wait a few minutes - as if hanging out on the terrace was a hardship. I was seated at a table at the windows with a fireworks view and was thrilled. Started with a French Rose cocktail and the octopus. Then a glass of chardonnay with the veal chop. And finished up with an espresso martini and the warm chocolate cake. Everything was fabulous. This might actually be my favorite meal in Disney to date (still haven't made it to V&A). Afterwards I needed to walk off some of the calories and booze so I did a big loop around the Caribbean Beach resort - it's huge! I've never stayed there, but it looks super comfortable and laid back - a lot of different pool areas, a playground, beach areas, hammocks - it looks like it would be a great place for a nice, relaxing stay. Plus direct access to the Skyliner can't be beat.

Tomorrow's plans: Pack up and move to Swan/Dolphin, aunt and uncle arrive, EPCOT in the evening. No real agenda, but I think we'll be snacking our way around the world showcase for dinner.

 

[itf]

Had a fabulous non-park day. Worked from the room most of the day - never even made it to breakfast just snacked in the room. After finishing I headed down to check out the resort. I'm at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. The resort amenities are great - pool area is super nice plus a beach area, 9 hole pitch and putt course, rock climbing wall, and (my favorite) an adult's only hot tub. I grabbed a rum runner from the pool bar and relaxed in the hot tub or an hour or so. I'd definitely stay here again. I'm a hyatt globalist, so I get free breakfast for 2 adult and 2 kids per room and free valet parking - it's really been an ideal spot for me for this trip and the value can't be beat. Tomorrow I move over to the Swan/Dolphin (aunt booked the room - I actually don't know which one it is - but I'm excited to be walkable to Boardwalk/EPCOT/DHS).

Just wanted to say thanks for the report on the Grand Cypress, we're staying there in August (myself, wife and 6 year old, she's very excited about the pool!). We've got breakfast included - assume you've got the buffet? How was it?

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Just wanted to say thanks for the report on the Grand Cypress, we're staying there in August (myself, wife and 6 year old, she's very excited about the pool!). We've got breakfast included - assume you've got the buffet? How was it?

I had the choice of buffet or a la carte. I did the buffet one day and it was pretty good - made to order omelets and pancakes, breakfast meats, pastries, fruits. This morning I ordered the avocado toast and it was very good. Not the best breakfasts I've ever had - but a solid option for sure.

 

[Shadow02]

Just wanted to say thanks for the report on the Grand Cypress, we're staying there in August (myself, wife and 6 year old, she's very excited about the pool!). We've got breakfast included - assume you've got the buffet? How was it?

We just left the Grand Hyatt Cypress. We’ve stayed there many times. We love the executive suites because they give us more room. The grounds are great. We did notice they closed pitch n putt, bikes, etc at 5 which is earlier than the 6:30 it used to be. They also removed the outdoor ping pong, pool table and corn hole which was disappointing for our teenage boys. Food is good- a solid breakfast but being a hotel or is pricier than I’d like (it’s only free if you are a globalist). Pool is great, the outside hot tub that is adults only is great, the other one is typically filled with kids and not very appealing to relax in, lol. They could definitely use another adults only hot tub