Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[NJlauren]

Did Epcot today. Was a bit hot after 1pm, but not so hot we’re you felt like you were melting . Crowds didn’t show up till after noon. Got to the park around 8am. We’ve been to WDW the last week in October a few times and it definitely felt busier then the past. Lots of European accents. Not so busy like the holidays. Loved the guardians of the galaxy rideIt was amazing. We’re staying at Bay Lake tower, 1 bedroom suite lake view. I hate the genie plus, miss the fast pass. It just felt like more walking and lots of phone screen time. Disney app glitches way to much and internet was so so. New phone so maybe that had something to to with it. Tomorrow MK

I find not being on the wifi better then being on the wifi in the parks.

Good luck!

 

[jods]

I find not being on the wifi better then being on the wifi in the parks.

Good luck!

I have to agree with this. I never use wifi and had no problems.

 

[DisneyFive]

I find not being on the wifi better then being on the wifi in the parks.

Good luck!

For the most part, I agree. There are certain places however where cellular does not reach well and I switch to Disney Wi-Fi, such as the depths of Pirates of the Caribbean and other inside attractions where cellular drops

Dan

 

[Tina1]

MK today. Started off rough. 6:45 am genie app not working, 4 phones and 3 iPads later, nothing tickets not showing up it was a hot mess and made getting started stressful. We had one in our party that missed the change over and has to purchase it daily. Stoped at guest service and a couple taps on there iPad and presto everybody’s back online. Missed the 7am window for lightning lane setup. Through the whole morning off. I really miss fast pass. We don’t really mind buying it, but one would think the system should work. MK not to crowded even after noon most rides were no longer than a 30 minute wait. This was a party night. Weather was a bit cooler but at times more humid with rain showers on and off throughout the day. Even with the day starting off stressful which made the day a bit tough, any day at WDW is a good day

 

[WIll C]

I'm here now and it's getting busier with the weekend coming. Wednesday at HS was pretty chill. Crowds seemed reasonable while I was there until mid-afternoon. Wait times (outside Rise, which was nearing 2 hours) was decent. Got a lot done by myself with G+/LL+ and when I met up with friends we did another 3-4 with reasonable wait times. TSMM was still at 30 mins (really less) at 2pm.
MK on Thursday morning was chill as well and I got a lot done before the party. The MNSSHP was crowded (sold out) and rides weren't just walk ons for the popular ones. We were too tired to do too much more than get a lot of candy but Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder, Space Ranger Spin and People Mover were all pretty quick to get on. We left at the fireworks and headed back to pass out.
AK was busy today, Friday, and we didn't get much done (didn't rope drop). We bought a LL+ for FoP, spent and hour each for Safari and Everest and then left. Navi was consistently trending over an hour and we didn't want to wait that long. It was even longer than FoP for a good deal of time.
Staying at Riviera, I've been going to Epcot in the evening. Crowds are heavy and getting heavier with the weekend coming. Most people are in World Showcase to eat and you can tell the weekend crowd is there to get in the last bit of F&W and the big rides were still had pretty long wait times.
Heading off tomorrow to Universal to do HHN and I'm sure that will be packed. Looks like we are in the busy season for Disney.

 

[Gentry2004]

How the crowds been low, especially at HS? I've been tracking G+ times/availability the last couple of days trying to envision a touring plan for us and it seems that the rides aren't selling out like they did before. Have people been able to get more than 3-4 G+ rides at HS lately? It does not seem the dire situation it was not that long ago, but maybe its just in a crowd lull. We are going during a much busier time (week before Christmas) so I'm sure I'm not getting a good sense of availability.

 

[WIll C]

I used G+ for a couple of days (both HS and MK) and had no problems with getting times for rides all day. Granted, the bigger rides did tend to sell out but even Slinky still had ones around lunch when I was there. It will just get busier from here until January as the holidays heat up.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

Did the price of G+ go up today at WDW? I was just wondering, since Disney said the initial price range was for October.

 

[WIll C]

G+ varies by day. I had $15 & $18 on Wed/Thur and then saw $22 on Fri and Sat last week.

 

[TropicalDIS]

Did the price of G+ go up today at WDW? I was just wondering, since Disney said the initial price range was for October.

Not yet, $18 today.

 

[Cat0727]

We were there from 10/30-11/3 and stayed at Pop Century. The Skyliner was so easy to use (less than a 5 minute wait when we rope dropped Epcot and DHS) and the buses ran frequently. We did not purchase Genie+ or ILL. Utilized early entry for most of our park days. I found the crowds not to be bad at all this week. Below are some of the notes I remembered to take.

Airport Transportation: We booked the Sunshine Flyer.....the staff was nice, buses were clean but boy do I miss Magical Express. We checked-in at 10:15am and didn't get to Pop until 11:35. In all my trips with ME it never took more than 45 mins door to door. Going back to MCO the bus was right on time and it took an hour to get to the airport. But for the next trip I might try Mears Connect or just take an Uber because the 90 minutes to get to the hotel was kind of excruciating.

10/30: Arrival and Epcot day. Entered the GoG virtual queue at 7am and got boarding group 32. Our plane was a little delayed so instead of doing this from my seat like I had thought I ended up having to enter while we were standing in the jet bridge so I was freaking out a bit. It is a miracle I had no issues with cell service. Boarding Group got called at 9:35am but we entered the line at 2:45pm and it was about a 30 min wait. Saw the Hanson concert and that was the highlight of the day.

10/31: AK. We were a little late this day (got to the park just before 9am) so we decided to not go to Pandora and instead went to EE, rode that twice in a row since it was a walk-on. Dinosaur was a walk-on. KS was an accurate posted wait time of 35 minutes (this was at 10am). At 3pm the wait was down to 5 minutes. By then FoP and Navi were both an hour wait. We probably would have waited for FoP but after seeing FOTLK we had to head to DS for our Wine Bar George reservation. At 9pm Gideon's was not doing a virtual queue and it was only a 5 minute wait. Nomad Lounge had a 30 min wait when we went at noon which ended up being accurate.

11/1: Epcot. Got boarding group 83 for GoG, this was called at around 1:15pm. When we checked-in at 2:30pm it was only a 10 minute wait. At 9am Remy was a posted wait of 25 minutes but it was more around 15 minutes. Soarin' was a low wait time all day, 15 minutes. TT we could have done single rider but we were too busy with Food & Wine. After 9am Frozen went up from 25 minutes to 55 minutes and stayed at a high wait time all day. There were barely any lines for the F&W booths.

11/2: MK. This was a non-party day so I was wondering how bad the crowds would be. The Christmas decorations were up! We went straight to Peter Pan at 8:30am and it was a 20 minute wait (posted wait time was 60 mins). Then headed to HM which was a walk-on. BTMRR was a 5 min wait (15 min posted). Pirates was a 20 minute posted wait time and we waited about 10 minutes. It was raining that evening so Splash and BTMRR (rode 2x in a row) were walk-ons. Waited 20 minutes for Space Mountain (around 9pm); this wait time was accurate. For lunch we ate at Steakhouse 71 and it was so. good. We were too full for dessert but will definitely split the burger or something next time so we can have some more room; I want to try that chocolate cake.

11/3: DHS. I was worried about this one because the reopening of Fantasmic was that day and I was anticipating insane crowds. Our priority was Slinky. We went straight there and it was only a 15 minute wait. When we got off we could have rode it again but we decided to move on. TSM was a 5 minute wait. RnR was a literal walk-on so we rode that twice in a row. Rode ToT twice in a row, wait time was 10 mins each. Star Tours was a walk on. We are not Star Wars fans and we have been on those rides last year so we decided to skip them.

Overall thoughts: I am satisfied with how we were able to navigate the parks without Genie+. It wasn't stressful and we had a fun time. I thought the Food and Wine booths this year were really good as well as all our TS and QS meals. And a big shout-out to all the cast members we encountered. They were absolutely wonderful. I can't wait to go back.

 

[DisneyNDecember]

We were there from 10/30-11/3 and stayed at Pop Century. The Skyliner was so easy to use (less than a 5 minute wait when we rope dropped Epcot and DHS) and the buses ran frequently. We did not purchase Genie+ or ILL. Utilized early entry for most of our park days. I found the crowds not to be bad at all this week. Below are some of the notes I remembered to take.

Airport Transportation: We booked the Sunshine Flyer.....the staff was nice, buses were clean but boy do I miss Magical Express. We checked-in at 10:15am and didn't get to Pop until 11:35. In all my trips with ME it never took more than 45 mins door to door. Going back to MCO the bus was right on time and it took an hour to get to the airport. But for the next trip I might try Mears Connect or just take an Uber because the 90 minutes to get to the hotel was kind of excruciating.

10/30: Arrival and Epcot day. Entered the GoG virtual queue at 7am and got boarding group 32. Our plane was a little delayed so instead of doing this from my seat like I had thought I ended up having to enter while we were standing in the jet bridge so I was freaking out a bit. It is a miracle I had no issues with cell service. Boarding Group got called at 9:35am but we entered the line at 2:45pm and it was about a 30 min wait. Saw the Hanson concert and that was the highlight of the day.

10/31: AK. We were a little late this day (got to the park just before 9am) so we decided to not go to Pandora and instead went to EE, rode that twice in a row since it was a walk-on. Dinosaur was a walk-on. KS was an accurate posted wait time of 35 minutes (this was at 10am). At 3pm the wait was down to 5 minutes. By then FoP and Navi were both an hour wait. We probably would have waited for FoP but after seeing FOTLK we had to head to DS for our Wine Bar George reservation. At 9pm Gideon's was not doing a virtual queue and it was only a 5 minute wait. Nomad Lounge had a 30 min wait when we went at noon which ended up being accurate.

11/1: Epcot. Got boarding group 83 for GoG, this was called at around 1:15pm. When we checked-in at 2:30pm it was only a 10 minute wait. At 9am Remy was a posted wait of 25 minutes but it was more around 15 minutes. Soarin' was a low wait time all day, 15 minutes. TT we could have done single rider but we were too busy with Food & Wine. After 9am Frozen went up from 25 minutes to 55 minutes and stayed at a high wait time all day. There were barely any lines for the F&W booths.

11/2: MK. This was a non-party day so I was wondering how bad the crowds would be. The Christmas decorations were up! We went straight to Peter Pan at 8:30am and it was a 20 minute wait (posted wait time was 60 mins). Then headed to HM which was a walk-on. BTMRR was a 5 min wait (15 min posted). Pirates was a 20 minute posted wait time and we waited about 10 minutes. It was raining that evening so Splash and BTMRR (rode 2x in a row) were walk-ons. Waited 20 minutes for Space Mountain (around 9pm); this wait time was accurate. For lunch we ate at Steakhouse 71 and it was so. good. We were too full for dessert but will definitely split the burger or something next time so we can have some more room; I want to try that chocolate cake.

11/3: DHS. I was worried about this one because the reopening of Fantasmic was that day and I was anticipating insane crowds. Our priority was Slinky. We went straight there and it was only a 15 minute wait. When we got off we could have rode it again but we decided to move on. TSM was a 5 minute wait. RnR was a literal walk-on so we rode that twice in a row. Rode ToT twice in a row, wait time was 10 mins each. Star Tours was a walk on. We are not Star Wars fans and we have been on those rides last year so we decided to skip them.

Overall thoughts: I am satisfied with how we were able to navigate the parks without Genie+. It wasn't stressful and we had a fun time. I thought the Food and Wine booths this year were really good as well as all our TS and QS meals. And a big shout-out to all the cast members we encountered. They were absolutely wonderful. I can't wait to go back.

Question, you said ”Boarding Group got called at 9:35am but we entered the line at 2:45pm and it was about a 30 min wait”, I did not think they would let you in that long after your boarding group was called?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Question, you said ”Boarding Group got called at 9:35am but we entered the line at 2:45pm and it was about a 30 min wait”, I did not think they would let you in that long after your boarding group was called?

VQ BG and ILL$ allow entry any time after they’ve been called, until park close.

G+ LL are only able to be used 5 mins before window through 15 mins after window.

 

[Cat0727]

Question, you said ”Boarding Group got called at 9:35am but we entered the line at 2:45pm and it was about a 30 min wait”, I did not think they would let you in that long after your boarding group was called?

For the VQ boarding group you can enter any time after it has been called. If it is past your window, when you scan your magic band it will scan blue but the CM will just tap their tablet and say you are good to go on through.

 

[Aimeedyan]

For the VQ boarding group you can enter any time after it has been called. If it is past your window, when you scan your magic band it will scan blue but the CM will just tap their tablet and say you are good to go on through.

Interesting. Mine has always turned green like normal, even hours after it was called

 

[Aimeedyan]

In case anyone is ever interested in such a day, thought I'd share what we did yesterday! We are very frequent visitors (biweekly or so) and rarely do Genie+. However, family was in town and paying $$$$ for a one day park hopper so we had to make it worth their while!

My goal: hit all the best/new rides, plus do some fun things for our 3 year old. We drove in for the day so no onsite perks.

7am book Genie+ Ratatouille for midafternoon
8:30am ILL Rise for evening
8:30am ILL Guardians for midafternoon
10:30am book Genie+ Winnie the Pooh
10:45am arrive at MK
Genie+ Winnie the Pooh
Genie+ Dumbo
Walk-on Teacups
Genie+ Buzz
Book Genie+ for MMRR for late afternoon
Haircut at the Barbershop
Snack/picture at castle
Drive to HS, stopping for ChickFilA on way
Book Genie+ for Smugglers for evening
Take Skyliner to Epcot
ILL Guardians (child swap so takes longer)
Genie+ Ratatouille
Skyliner to HS
Genie+ MMRR
ILL Rise
Snack and drink break
Book Genie+ for TS Mania
Genie+ Smugglers
Eat dinner at Docking Bay
Genie+ TS Mania
Leave park at 9:10pm and head home!

We could have done more at MK - the rides were easy to get back to back - but wanted lunch and the 3 year old needed some rest by that time.

25k steps, 3 parks, "the best of" tour as I consider it, absolutely worth the $$$ spent. It takes some thought, for sure, to stack them right so it's incredibly helpful to be frequent visitors and know realistically how long it takes to navigate the parks/property.

 

[Conno]

I’m on my first vacay in WDW since November 2019…. What happened — rhetorical. But seriously, it’s not just the locals. I’ve never been one to find things to complain about at WDW - but at this point, I’m struggling to find things that DON’T warrant a complaint.

Let me start with the lack of aircon… literally everywhere, including busses. I used to do full days at the parks, it was easy to duck into a ride, show, or shop and get a refreshing blast of chilly air.

Now I get to stand in a line and “experience” the pleasant sensation of sweat dripping down my back.

My park days this trip have resulted in 4-5 hours in the parks, at most, mainly due to not being able to find relief from the heat. Incase you’re reading this Bob/Josh: you know what I’m not doing while I’m over heating on my way back to the resort hotel on a hot bus? I’m not spending money on merch and extortionately priced snacks. Think about that for a moment.

There’s a bunch of other things I could complain about as I sit here overheating in the AKL Jambo House laundry room. I’ll wait until I get home to do a full write up though.

Going to brave HS for Fantasmic tonight. Will see how it goes

Can you tell this is going to be my last trip after visiting for 14 days every year for the last decade?

 

[butterscotchcollins]

I don’t believe in Genie+ but it probably would’ve provided some relief from the crowds this weekend! We’re APs and come 3-4x a year so NBD for us to skip stuff, but currently here w family for first time and we’re having miserable luck - insane lines, so many breakdowns. I know that’s not everyone’s experience, and we’re still having fun, but I wish we were able to get more done!

 

[dorchrislen]

7am book Genie+ Ratatouille for midafternoon

You booked right at 7 AM and you couldn’t get Remi until the afternoon? That is going to put a kink in my plan because I was planning on getting Remi by 1030 if I try at seven. Maybe I should change my reservation for San Angel and start in the Mexico side. I was hoping to avoid having to walk back there after eating around the world midday

 

[Aimeedyan]

You booked right at 7 AM and you couldn’t get Remi until the afternoon? That is going to put a kink in my plan because I was planning on getting Remi by 1030 if I try at seven. Maybe I should change my reservation for San Angel and start in the Mexico side. I was hoping to avoid having to walk back there after eating around the world midday

There were earlier times but I didn't want them - I refreshed every minute or two until I got the late afternoon slot I needed. They were definitely going fast and I'm pretty sure I finally booked at around 7:09ish.

You should be okay!