Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[lovethattink]

My whole trip

The good thing is that it looks like less rain north of I-4. Also more rain on the coasts, not good for beach days. But we should see rain off and on.

If you watch Denis Phillips from ABC Action News, he said he got 10 inches yesterday in his back yard. I think I got an inch and a half.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I always drive to HS and Epcot, and Bus to MK and DAK. This is the first time the parking lot plaza did not open at 7 for a 8:30 am early entry, also it was the first time folks were held up near the skyliner station till 7:30 and not let through security. Not saying you are wrong but in my experience this was a change..

Thanks for reporting this info. I have been pondering for a while whether to drive or bus it to the Studios for ETPE. I believe someone else reported that driving got them in nicely early, but then they ended up all the way at the end of a parking lane and had to do the long walk back. That has me leaning towards the bus.

 

[M SH]

Thanks for reporting this info. I have been pondering for a while whether to drive or bus it to the Studios for ETPE. I believe someone else reported that driving got them in nicely early, but then they ended up all the way at the end of a parking lane and had to do the long walk back. That has me leaning towards the bus.

Yea driving was always better for me since I’m usually in the first 5 cars parking and I always got in at one of the first turnstiles or at most second one in line. But that was with the security at the plaza letting us in at 7am. With this later opening of the plaza which others are saying is more common or the actual norm, bus was better since the first bus left our resort at all star at 7:10 and got us in at the security check before 7:30.

 

[juuuliebeth]

We were there for Monsoon Week in May 2009 (over 14" of rain during our 7 day stay). The rain was not predicted that week -- a front stalled over central FL.

OMG. I was there that week too! It was my first ever trip -- post college graduation. We were not at all prepared for the rain. We were staying off-site and driving to the parks each day. One day while waiting for the tram in the MK parking lot, my friend's dad looked ahead of us and said, "Ladies, if that's any indication, it's going to start raining here in about ten seconds." And we could see this wall of rain making its way over. We call it The Great Poncho Race of 2009, since we all proceeded to tear into our backpacks and rip out our ponchos as the tram pulled up in front of us. The folks on the tram had a good laugh watching us. It's one of my all time favorite memories.

It definitely set a benchmark for what I consider bad weather while at Disney. Nothing has ever come quite as close. We were wet all week long. Luckily, I was with a great group of people, and we insisted on having fun regardless. Just goes to show that the Disney Magic is always there if you look for it -- even if you're 22 years old and drenched to the bone.

Thanks for the memory spark.

 

[mickeymom629]

DH and I (both 65) went to use our APs June 2-9. We drove from MD. It was a wonderful trip except for the heat (100 degrees by the end of the week!), which made walking anywhere nearly unbearable. I am not a thrill ride person so we didn't buy G+ and didn't set an alarm, though we are fairly early risers anyway. We usually come with kids and grandkids, stay DVC. We were using the APs that I had to activate the vouchers of last year if I didn't want to add money to use them when we retire in a few years, which was the original plan.
We left on Saturday morning and stayed overnight in Jacksonville. Arrived in WDW by 10:15a.m., parked at POP and went to check-in the front desk because I had made room requests. Our room was ready! It wasn't exactly what I had requested except that it was not too far from the food court (my main request).
Love taking the skyliner but the bus was fine, too, when we took it to MK and during rain to HS. We drove to AK both times we went.
We went to the AP lounge in Epcot twice. It was nice to get out of the heat, get some cold water and snacks and got a picture with Genie one of the visits.
We didn't mind waiting for some rides that had queues in air-condition - like Remy, MMRR, etc. I had a neck fan and umbrella which helped. DH didn't love the neck fan because it made the back of his neck sweaty. He tolerates heat better than I do.
We saw Beauty and the Beast sing-along in France for the first time as well as the new movie in The Land. Both were worth seeing at least once. We also enjoyed the updated Hall of Presidents which I've been meaning to see but remember it being so boring.
We did drawing with an animator 2 x one day and another time on a different day at AK because it was cool and comfortable and we always enjoy that. We lucked out on the Friday we were there and saw a cheetah getting a root canal and tooth extract! First time seeing a procedure - finally! We also did the safari one afternoon around 2p with zero wait. The animals had gotten a snack, so it was as good of a safari as other times. Afterwards, we went to the gorilla trail. We had already done it a few days before so we headed right for the gorilla exhibit. They had just gotten a treat and were being very cute. The cm who was there told us to hurry to the next area where the male gorillas were going to be thrown snacks. They had marks they had to go to. So, that visit to AK was 'magical' for me. Afterwards we watched the Harambe acrobats. These are the kinds of things I love to stumble upon when we aren't rushing from ride to ride.
We still managed to do FOP, RotR, MFSR, ST(a couple of times), see FotLK, Nemo, B&B, Tiki birds, JC, Pirates, HM, etc. etc. as we went to each park more than once. We only park-hopped a few of the days.
One night we watched MK fireworks from behind the castle and, as soon as they started, we regretted it. I didn't like that you had to turn one way to see the big fireworks and the other way to see the ones being shot from around the castle. We left and rode PP. We went back another night and watched from the bridge to Tomorrowland. I still don't love the show but it was a better place to watch. We saw F! which I love now that they have updated that! We watched the fireworks at E from the bridge near where the cruises are parked and that was really good.
Caught the end of a new show in Epcot called Force of Nature, I think. 4 girls doing acrobatic moves on a spinning thing. I wish we had seen them again. I couldn't find show times for them. We saw the juggler in Italy who we always love and listened to the music in Canada and Germany.
We didn't have any dining reservations but we did enjoy a sub at Pizzarizzos, the Ariel Dole whip, a jalapeno pretzel and berry tea slushy at Cheshire Cat, a spicy chicken waffle near Cinderella Castle, Asian bowls at a stand in front of the Fantasmic! entrance, kabobs at Morocco, frozen banana and lemonades at stands, iced coffees, a noodle bowl at Satuli Canteen, salmon for dinner at POP food court. I carried a few snacks in our backpack. Filling water bottles at soda stations tastes much better than the designated water bottle stations.
I had breakfast in our room - cereal with milk we kept in our cooler with ice. DH had gotten a refillable mug so he went to get his coffee every morning at the food court but they didn't open until close to 7, which I find ridiculous considering people are trying to get to the parks earlier than that. I know we can make coffee in the room (I did) but others want to use their mugs.
All cast members were great and we had nice conversations with other guests in the long lines we waited.
We only had rain/thunderstorm one afternoon, so we were really lucky. We spent a few hours relaxing in our room several afternoons to get out of the heat. We aren't pool people but it was too hot for us to want to be at the pool anyway - I thought I'd get a headache unless I kept my head wet. I had sworn off summer visits years ago and this trip reminded me why. We had a very good time but I much prefer Disney when I can enjoy walking around.

 

[123SA]

Caught the end of a new show in Epcot called Force of Nature, I think. 4 girls doing acrobatic moves on a spinning thing. I wish we had seen them again. I couldn't find show times for them.

Where in Epcot? And around what time?


Thanks so much for taking the time to write a report.

 

[dcassetta]

We also enjoyed the updated Hall of Presidents which I've been meaning to see but remember it being so boring.

I saw it on the last trip also while every else went to ride Space Mountain. I thought the show was much improved and liked the focus on the history office of the president, rather than whoever is currently in the White House. I had not seen it in quite a while because I had heard stories of people being rude during the show, and was happy that it did not happen in the one I saw.

 

[brockash]

Where in Epcot? And around what time?


Thanks so much for taking the time to write a report.

We were there last week and saw a bit from a. distance. - It was in the new garden area - kind of across/close to the communihall- whatever that new building is called.

 

[mickeymom629]

Where in Epcot? And around what time?


Thanks so much for taking the time to write a report.

We saw them on Sunday, June 2 at 3:20 (according to the video I took). I see on the app that they are Forces of Nature by Antigravity in the new area between Spaceship Earth and where you can meet Mickey and Friends. In a circular area with trees.

I just found this: Forces of Nature takes place in the new Inspiration Garden in World Celebration of EPCOT. Guests will find this quad of talented aerialists Saturdays through Wednesdays. Showtimes are at 10:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:10 p.m., 2:10 p.m., and 3:10 p.m

 

[mickeymom629]

I saw it on the last trip also while every else went to ride Space Mountain. I thought the show was much improved and liked the focus on the history office of the president, rather than whoever is currently in the White House. I had not seen it in quite a while because I had heard stories of people being rude during the show, and was happy that it did not happen in the one I saw.

Yeah, there was one person behind me who said something once only loud enough for the people around her to hear. Other than that, a baby cried on the other side of the theater from me the entire time, lol.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I went to DHS for early theme park entry today. As recommended on the thread devoted to ETPE, I arrived at the bus stop (All-Star Sports) at 7:00am, 90 minutes ahead of ETPE start time. Waiting at the otherwise vacant DHS bus area, I noticed an EPCOT bus pulling up around 7:03 and a MK bus around 7:04, also the time that the DHS bus arrived. I cannot say whether this was the first bus of the day leaving for DHS, or whether the other parks' buses also were the first, but it seemed likely. We had about 15-ish passengers total when the bus departed a few minutes later.

I joined a small group of people who were held by security CMs near the Skyliner. About 7:30 or so, we were walked up to another waiting area near the security checkpoints, where we waited maybe another 10-ish minutes before being allowed through security. After being pulled aside for additional screening (d'oh), I proceeded all the way to the far-right tapstile which people always assume, wrongly, will not be in service. So even after a security delay, I ended up first at one of the tapstiles.

I cannot remember exactly when we were let in, but it seemed like it was well in advance of the 8:30am official start to ETPE. Many of us did the speedwalking thing to the Galaxy's Edge tunnel, where a CM was announcing that Rise was out of service. Not being a huge fan of Smugglers Run, I went 'the long way' around to Slinky Dog which had a scary-looking queue (due to Slinky fans having beaten me there), but regardless, I boarded in maybe 10-15 minutes when the ride opened. Then I went over to TSM which was having technical issues with a track out of service or whatever, but assuming that had not happened, it would have been similarly 10 minutes' wait or so.

Later in the day, Rise was back in service and I waited maybe 35-40 minutes before reaching the first element of the attraction. Also noticed near the end of the day that actual wait times (as opposed to the lies posted on the ride sign) were quite reasonable for such a super-headliner, and I pondered going back except my feet were in poor shape by this time.

As I departed this evening, I noticed that people were being admitted to the park a few minutes after 9:00pm. Now I know they were all going to the 9:30 F! but this still puzzled me a bit, because the park officially was closed.

All in all, I thought ETPE worked out pretty well, even though I struck out with Rise, and the bus service was quite efficient. I will be following a similar schedule in a couple of days with EPCOT, though the IG issue with Remy is kind of a bummer there and means it won't be easy to do very much after Frozen.

 

[M SH]

I went to DHS for early theme park entry today. As recommended on the thread devoted to ETPE, I arrived at the bus stop (All-Star Sports) at 7:00am, 90 minutes ahead of ETPE start time. Waiting at the otherwise vacant DHS bus area, I noticed an EPCOT bus pulling up around 7:03 and a MK bus around 7:04, also the time that the DHS bus arrived. I cannot say whether this was the first bus of the day leaving for DHS, or whether the other parks' buses also were the first, but it seemed likely. We had about 15-ish passengers total when the bus departed a few minutes later.

I joined a small group of people who were held by security CMs near the Skyliner. About 7:30 or so, we were walked up to another waiting area near the security checkpoints, where we waited maybe another 10-ish minutes before being allowed through security. After being pulled aside for additional screening (d'oh), I proceeded all the way to the far-right tapstile which people always assume, wrongly, will not be in service. So even after a security delay, I ended up first at one of the tapstiles.

I cannot remember exactly when we were let in, but it seemed like it was well in advance of the 8:30am official start to ETPE. Many of us did the speedwalking thing to the Galaxy's Edge tunnel, where a CM was announcing that Rise was out of service. Not being a huge fan of Smugglers Run, I went 'the long way' around to Slinky Dog which had a scary-looking queue (due to Slinky fans having beaten me there), but regardless, I boarded in maybe 10-15 minutes when the ride opened. Then I went over to TSM which was having technical issues with a track out of service or whatever, but assuming that had not happened, it would have been similarly 10 minutes' wait or so.

Later in the day, Rise was back in service and I waited maybe 35-40 minutes before reaching the first element of the attraction. Also noticed near the end of the day that actual wait times (as opposed to the lies posted on the ride sign) were quite reasonable for such a super-headliner, and I pondered going back except my feet were in poor shape by this time.

As I departed this evening, I noticed that people were being admitted to the park a few minutes after 9:00pm. Now I know they were all going to the 9:30 F! but this still puzzled me a bit, because the park officially was closed.

All in all, I thought ETPE worked out pretty well, even though I struck out with Rise, and the bus service was quite efficient. I will be following a similar schedule in a couple of days with EPCOT, though the IG issue with Remy is kind of a bummer there and means it won't be easy to do very much after Frozen.

We did the exact same steps you did for DHS early entry last week when we were there from all star sports (this was the first bus) and both times rise was also down. It was a major bummer and we did treck towards Slinky and waited in that 15 min line. After that my feet were pretty much done for the day.
For epcot we went to the bus stop about 30 mins later than DHS and still though were almost first in line for TT. With that being closed now, I'm not sure how Frozen is going to be. It's a shame that guardians is still VQ and you cannot rope drop it at early entry.

 

[fivikse]

We got back yesterday from a quick trip. Sunday at MK was great - short lines, park felt empty, no transportation issues or dining issues, including switching dinner reservations at the last minute (from Skipper's Canteen to Liberty Tree Tavern). Rode everything we wanted multiple times, using standby, G+, and ILL. Enjoyed Tron but agree it is too short and felt Disney could have done a better job with the theming and the building itself.

Monday and Tuesday were very crowded. EP was Monday. After a late start, we were able to ride Soarin, LwtL, ILL for Guardians (had a G+ for Mission Space, but skipped it), Mexico, Remy, and VQ for Guardians. Loved Guardians but the lines there were an issue both times. The ILL time we got to preshow quickly, but then there seemed to be a breakdown. They kept pushing people out of the preshow and into that hallway, but no one was moving forward. The hallway was packed. It honestly felt unsafe. They needed to stop the preshow and didn't. Then the VQ time the line was really long before the preshow but then walked straight from preshow onto ride. We all loved the ride though - probably our favorite ride of this trip. I did not like Remy (terrible motion sickness. But I am fine with similar rides like Spiderman?). Family was okay with it, but none of us need to do it again.
Tuesday we did a couple of rides at DHS before heading over to Universal. DHS felt very crowded, but we were gone by 11:00. Rides seemed to go down a lot this weekend. The heat was not a factor for us at all. Overall it was a very fun quick trip - glad we got to see a lot of the new things!

 

[SkyGuy]

We got back yesterday from a quick trip. Sunday at MK was great - short lines, park felt empty, no transportation issues or dining issues, including switching dinner reservations at the last minute (from Skipper's Canteen to Liberty Tree Tavern). Rode everything we wanted multiple times, using standby, G+, and ILL. Enjoyed Tron but agree it is too short and felt Disney could have done a better job with the theming and the building itself.

Monday and Tuesday were very crowded. EP was Monday. After a late start, we were able to ride Soarin, LwtL, ILL for Guardians (had a G+ for Mission Space, but skipped it), Mexico, Remy, and VQ for Guardians. Loved Guardians but the lines there were an issue both times. The ILL time we got to preshow quickly, but then there seemed to be a breakdown. They kept pushing people out of the preshow and into that hallway, but no one was moving forward. The hallway was packed. It honestly felt unsafe. They needed to stop the preshow and didn't. Then the VQ time the line was really long before the preshow but then walked straight from preshow onto ride. We all loved the ride though - probably our favorite ride of this trip. I did not like Remy (terrible motion sickness. But I am fine with similar rides like Spiderman?). Family was okay with it, but none of us need to do it again.
Tuesday we did a couple of rides at DHS before heading over to Universal. DHS felt very crowded, but we were gone by 11:00. Rides seemed to go down a lot this weekend. The heat was not a factor for us at all. Overall it was a very fun quick trip - glad we got to see a lot of the new things!

Remy is the only ride at WDW (or Universal) that makes me queasy - not really sure the reason, but we don’t ride it anymore either. Glad you enjoyed the trip!

 

[Gary Stocker]

Remy is the only ride at WDW (or Universal) that makes me queasy - not really sure the reason, but we don’t ride it anymore either. Glad you enjoyed the trip!

I agree..who likes getting mop water sprayed on them?yuck!

 

[brockash]

We got back yesterday from a quick trip. Sunday at MK was great - short lines, park felt empty, no transportation issues or dining issues, including switching dinner reservations at the last minute (from Skipper's Canteen to Liberty Tree Tavern). Rode everything we wanted multiple times, using standby, G+, and ILL. Enjoyed Tron but agree it is too short and felt Disney could have done a better job with the theming and the building itself.

Monday and Tuesday were very crowded. EP was Monday. After a late start, we were able to ride Soarin, LwtL, ILL for Guardians (had a G+ for Mission Space, but skipped it), Mexico, Remy, and VQ for Guardians. Loved Guardians but the lines there were an issue both times. The ILL time we got to preshow quickly, but then there seemed to be a breakdown. They kept pushing people out of the preshow and into that hallway, but no one was moving forward. The hallway was packed. It honestly felt unsafe. They needed to stop the preshow and didn't. Then the VQ time the line was really long before the preshow but then walked straight from preshow onto ride. We all loved the ride though - probably our favorite ride of this trip. I did not like Remy (terrible motion sickness. But I am fine with similar rides like Spiderman?). Family was okay with it, but none of us need to do it again.
Tuesday we did a couple of rides at DHS before heading over to Universal. DHS felt very crowded, but we were gone by 11:00. Rides seemed to go down a lot this weekend. The heat was not a factor for us at all. Overall it was a very fun quick trip - glad we got to see a lot of the new things!

Hmmmm....same thing happened to us on GoG about 2 weeks ago. We all said the same thing, seems very unsafe. You could not move in that room/hall. No one knew. what was really going on and it was a lil scary. I don't know why they would allow the CMs to keep pushing ppl. into a room with waaaayyy too many ppl. I was hoping it was a crazy. fluke, but sad to hear it may be the norm when there's a breakdown.

 

[emily nicole]

Just back from a solo trip 6/15-6/20. I really enjoyed the freedom of not deciding which park to go to until the last minute, if I so chose!

The 15th was a travel day, didn't get to All Star Movies until 10pm.

16th: I went to AK this day. I did not buy Genie+, just a ILL for Flight of Passage. I rode the safari on early entry, used single rider all day on EE, and hit Navi River when the wait time was only 30 minutes later in the day. I watched all the shows they offer and enjoyed the offerings at the Dawa Bar. Positively great day. Crowds were low.

17th: Forgot the cardinal rule not to go to MK on Mondays, and it was crowded, but nothing too crazy. I bought Genie+ this day and got into the VQ for Tron. I regretted Genie+ a little bit because most of my return times ended up being for late afternoon even though I was booking them in the AM. I planned to take a midday pool break but was unable to do so because by 11AM anything I wanted to ride with Genie+ was already at 4PM or so. Got a primo spot for fireworks by parking myself down 1.5 hours beforehand.

18th: Hollywood Studios. Rope dropped TOT during Early Entry. Bought Genie+ again and had the same issue with being unable to take my beloved midday break due to return times being in the afternoon. But, I had a great day. I tried Oga's Cantina for the first time. BEST PART OF MY TRIP!!! I will never skip that again. Used ILL for Rise. Since I was unable to take my midday break, I was too pooped for Fantasmic and called it quits at 7pm.

19th: Epcot. I really, really miss the old Future World. The music change is a huge loss IMO. But, it is what it is. Used VQ and ILL to ride Guardians twice. Saw the Moana area for the first time, very cute. My favorite ride at WDW is Living with the Land, and it was malfunctioning because it was missing the music. (I LOVE THE BARN MUSIC AND IT WASN'T PLAYING???) So that was a bummer. World Showcase was missing something without a festival (I usually go during F&G or F&W etc). Overall I enjoyed my day. Did not use Genie+ and did wait 70 minutes for both Frozen and Ratatouille, but didn't mind it. 2 hours before Luminous I parked myself on the second story balcony of the Japan store and this viewing area DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I enjoyed this show even more than Happily Ever After. Just beautiful.

20th: VQ and ILL to ride Cosmic Rewind again, then had to head back to the hotel to catch my Mears bus at 12.

Overall a great trip!!! Edit to add: I thought the weather was quite pleasant for June. It was warm, but breezy the entire trip. It did rain much of the day at Epcot, so I was grateful for my poncho and Tevas and kept on trucking. But even when the sun was shining, it wasn't too bad. Honestly much cooler than it currently is here in TN!

 

[Shughart]

We are finally entering rainy season. Plan accordingly Wednesday through Sunday. Significant amounts of rain are expected.

We were there for Monsoon Week in May 2009 (over 14" of rain during our 7 day stay). The rain was not predicted that week -- a front stalled over central FL. Fortunately, we are always prepared for rain at Disney and each of us had 2 pair of shoes, lots of extra socks, and rain ponchos (though we quickly realized that the cheap $1 rain ponchos weren't going to be adequate and purchased the Disney rain ponchos. Best money spent that week...and Disney will replace them if they tear.) I also had a bunch of clothes pins which made it easier to hang this up to dry in the room. We had a routine for drying out shoes -- stuff towels/wash cloths into the shoes overnight and then pull those out in the morning to let the shoes dry the rest of the way while we wore our dry shoes. Repeat each night. Even my son's leather sandals didn't completely dry overnight. Even though it was raining probably 80% of the time we were in the parks, we still had a great trip. The rain keeps the locals away (and many non-locals) and most rides had very short waits. You could walk up to almost any TS restaurant and even if you didn't have an ADR, you usually could get a table within a few minutes. While I wouldn't choose to go to Disney for an all day, every day rain event, you can still have a great trip. Just grab your rain gear and go! We're arriving early next week and I'm anticipating some residual rain the first day or two.

I hope you have a great trip!

The good thing is that it looks like less rain north of I-4. Also more rain on the coasts, not good for beach days. But we should see rain off and on.

If you watch Denis Phillips from ABC Action News, he said he got 10 inches yesterday in his back yard. I think I got an inch and a half.

Thankfully we had only a slightly wet trip, not a tropical storm level trip. It seemed to rain during our breaks/dinners. It absolutely poured Saturday night during our Homecoming dinner in DS. Like the hostess asked us inside or covered porch and I said inside because it looked like it might unleash. Then the moment I walked away it started to drizzle. We walked inside to wait and watched it unleash from inside.

One night we watched MK fireworks from behind the castle and, as soon as they started, we regretted it. I didn't like that you had to turn one way to see the big fireworks and the other way to see the ones being shot from around the castle

We watched it from the stone benches behind the carousel and same. I have now watched it from behind the castle and I'll now go back to my normal spot in front. Not main Street/on the hub but offset. I did not like feeling on swivel.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Some comments from my park days (also solo) earlier this week:

(1) EPCOT, Wednesday 6-19-24

I failed to carry out my plan to arrive at EPCOT half an hour before the start of early entry. Due to being old, my energy level and foot-pain tolerance just aren't what they once were. I drove over and got to the interior early-entry checkpoint at maybe 8:42 or so. (ETPE was 8:30 this day.) By the time I finally made it to the Frozen queue, the wait ended up being somewhere around 30-35 minutes, I would say. This still seemed like a win to me, given how this attraction has monster wait times pretty much all day. I bought G+ today and used it for Remy, Soarin' and several others. I succeeded with the 1:00pm VQ for Guardians and was called somewhere around 5:40pm. That ride is too much for me, which I already knew as this was my second time on it, but I rode anyway. "Disco Inferno," which I remember hearing when it was released in the 70s, was a superb choice for this ride. Spaceship Earth kicked the bucket while I was on it, and we sat there for perhaps 15 minutes until a CM showed up to lead us down the emergency stairs. (The multi-use LL we all got was absurdly useless--I figured they would exclude Frozen and Remy, but come on, we can't even use it for Soarin'?? Rubbish.)

(2) AK, Friday 6-21-24

Chagrined by my disregard of ETPE strategy at EPCOT, I decided today would be strict adherence. I saw one AK parking booth with a green light as I arrived behind two other cars at 6:26am. (Fortunately they weren't just throwing out cars that arrived more than one hour before ETPE's 7:30am start time.) At 6:32am, our parking booth plus several others opened for business. A short time later, I followed my usual practice of lining up at the right-most tapstile that was un-roped and un-tarped. A handful of tapstiles at the extreme right, which were roped off and tarped, I watched like a hawk as I was about 90% sure of what was about to happen. And yep--a CM walks over and starts removing the rope and the tarps, at which point two young guests and I immediately moved to one of those tapstiles. Then the CM announces that they will be in use and moments later 50+ people are behind us. Funny stuff.

Anyhoo, I think it was around 7:10am when tapstiles opened and the early entry masses headed for the Pandora bridge. Side note: running really isn't necessary, although a lot of people were doing it. I just did a brisk walk to the bridge and stayed alert for CM instructions on how the queue was going to be managed. The sheer number of people looks alarming and can make you think you messed up somewhere, but you just end up walking through the entire queue area pretty much to the preshow loading zone. I forget the time specifics of what happened when (sorry), but I can report that after exiting FoP, I went over to Na'vi and it was maybe 15 minutes. Then I headed over to the safari and it was JUST before the queue there got serious. For me, it was maybe a 30-minute wait. When I exited the safari, the queue was spilling out of its main space and stretching out in the park--probably closer to an hour by that point. Continued on to Dinosaur, which was about 20 minutes (also got a laff from those red and yellow condiment-colored pipes, left over from when McDonalds used to be sponsor). Then early lunch at Harambe Market, which was excellent. Since my special 3-day ticket "required" me to visit AK, that did it for me as I'm not a huge fan of anything there other than FoP.

Of all the parks where I have strictly followed ETPE strategy, I really think I got the best payoff at Animal Kingdom. FoP is absolutely the boss, and getting to ride it with minimal wait is the way to go. If you can handle the early start to your day, I recommend it.

 

[SwanVT2]

DH and I (both 65) went to use our APs June 2-9. We drove from MD. It was a wonderful trip except for the heat (100 degrees by the end of the week!), which made walking anywhere nearly unbearable. I am not a thrill ride person so we didn't buy G+ and didn't set an alarm, though we are fairly early risers anyway. We usually come with kids and grandkids, stay DVC. We were using the APs that I had to activate the vouchers of last year if I didn't want to add money to use them when we retire in a few years, which was the original plan.
We left on Saturday morning and stayed overnight in Jacksonville. Arrived in WDW by 10:15a.m., parked at POP and went to check-in the front desk because I had made room requests. Our room was ready! It wasn't exactly what I had requested except that it was not too far from the food court (my main request).
Love taking the skyliner but the bus was fine, too, when we took it to MK and during rain to HS. We drove to AK both times we went.
We went to the AP lounge in Epcot twice. It was nice to get out of the heat, get some cold water and snacks and got a picture with Genie one of the visits.
We didn't mind waiting for some rides that had queues in air-condition - like Remy, MMRR, etc. I had a neck fan and umbrella which helped. DH didn't love the neck fan because it made the back of his neck sweaty. He tolerates heat better than I do.
We saw Beauty and the Beast sing-along in France for the first time as well as the new movie in The Land. Both were worth seeing at least once. We also enjoyed the updated Hall of Presidents which I've been meaning to see but remember it being so boring.
We did drawing with an animator 2 x one day and another time on a different day at AK because it was cool and comfortable and we always enjoy that. We lucked out on the Friday we were there and saw a cheetah getting a root canal and tooth extract! First time seeing a procedure - finally! We also did the safari one afternoon around 2p with zero wait. The animals had gotten a snack, so it was as good of a safari as other times. Afterwards, we went to the gorilla trail. We had already done it a few days before so we headed right for the gorilla exhibit. They had just gotten a treat and were being very cute. The cm who was there told us to hurry to the next area where the male gorillas were going to be thrown snacks. They had marks they had to go to. So, that visit to AK was 'magical' for me. Afterwards we watched the Harambe acrobats. These are the kinds of things I love to stumble upon when we aren't rushing from ride to ride.
We still managed to do FOP, RotR, MFSR, ST(a couple of times), see FotLK, Nemo, B&B, Tiki birds, JC, Pirates, HM, etc. etc. as we went to each park more than once. We only park-hopped a few of the days.
One night we watched MK fireworks from behind the castle and, as soon as they started, we regretted it. I didn't like that you had to turn one way to see the big fireworks and the other way to see the ones being shot from around the castle. We left and rode PP. We went back another night and watched from the bridge to Tomorrowland. I still don't love the show but it was a better place to watch. We saw F! which I love now that they have updated that! We watched the fireworks at E from the bridge near where the cruises are parked and that was really good.
Caught the end of a new show in Epcot called Force of Nature, I think. 4 girls doing acrobatic moves on a spinning thing. I wish we had seen them again. I couldn't find show times for them. We saw the juggler in Italy who we always love and listened to the music in Canada and Germany.
We didn't have any dining reservations but we did enjoy a sub at Pizzarizzos, the Ariel Dole whip, a jalapeno pretzel and berry tea slushy at Cheshire Cat, a spicy chicken waffle near Cinderella Castle, Asian bowls at a stand in front of the Fantasmic! entrance, kabobs at Morocco, frozen banana and lemonades at stands, iced coffees, a noodle bowl at Satuli Canteen, salmon for dinner at POP food court. I carried a few snacks in our backpack. Filling water bottles at soda stations tastes much better than the designated water bottle stations.
I had breakfast in our room - cereal with milk we kept in our cooler with ice. DH had gotten a refillable mug so he went to get his coffee every morning at the food court but they didn't open until close to 7, which I find ridiculous considering people are trying to get to the parks earlier than that. I know we can make coffee in the room (I did) but others want to use their mugs.
All cast members were great and we had nice conversations with other guests in the long lines we waited.
We only had rain/thunderstorm one afternoon, so we were really lucky. We spent a few hours relaxing in our room several afternoons to get out of the heat. We aren't pool people but it was too hot for us to want to be at the pool anyway - I thought I'd get a headache unless I kept my head wet. I had sworn off summer visits years ago and this trip reminded me why. We had a very good time but I much prefer Disney when I can enjoy walking around.

I totally agree-coffee should be available at 6 a.m.!!