Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[crazymomof4]

They opened at 10 when we went. They let us in to the park by 9:15, we were one of the first ones waiting to enter. We went right to M&M and got into line. They didn't start running the ride until around 9:30, we got on and off quickly. By the time we get off the ride the line is crazy long since most people seem to go there first.

What time did you arrive at or near DHS to be "one of the first ones to enter"? We will be at BWV and walking to DHS, so we have control over our timing.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Ak this morning, parked and inside by 8:35, i rope dropped navi which opened at 9am, was on the second boat
Walked to safari, 10 minute walk through queue saw all the animals it was great. And then gorilla falls trail, walking out saw 3 of the cavalcades, left at 11

We rope dropped FOP and then went to safari. We were just behind increasing crowds. Gorilla Falls was closed when we got off safari. They didn't tell us why.

 

[Naomeri]

Hollywood Scoops has reopened and is operating noon to 6pm

Yay!!
Now, if they would just reopen Market before my trip next month so I can get my french toast pretzel, all would be well with my world (my Disney-related world, anyway)

 

[hereforthechurros]

Yay!!
Now, if they would just reopen Market before my trip next month so I can get my french toast pretzel, all would be well with my world (my Disney-related world, anyway)

I was just thinking I hope Market is open by Christmas. We loved their Olaf snow flurry drink and gingerbread cookies.

 

[Eldritch]

What time did you arrive at or near DHS to be "one of the first ones to enter"? We will be at BWV and walking to DHS, so we have control over our timing.

We Uber’d from Pop to Boardwalk this morning. We were there at 8:15 and walked from Boardwalk to HS. Nice trail. We got to where they held us up around 8:30. There were maybe 20 people before us (though not explicit line). At 9 they walked us to the temperature stations and we waited there until 9:15, when they let us in.

 

[Eldritch]

Please report back and let us know about your rope dropping experience. Looks like MK opens officially at 9 am tomorrow, so am curious how your experience is after walking through the tapstiles around 8:30. Pixie dust to you for a good day!

Thank you very much. I feel like we could use all the help we can get.

I’m going to park my in the bus line very early, as it sounds like we can’t Uber to Contemporary (they get pissed), and to Uber to the gateway doesn’t help as the monorails don’t themselves start until 8:30.

 

[yulilin3]

Thank you very much. I feel like we could use all the help we can get.

I’m going to park my in the bus line very early, as it sounds like we can’t Uber to Contemporary (they get pissed), and to Uber to the gateway doesn’t help as the monorails don’t themselves start until 8:30.

Just be careful with the words you use, they got asterisk'ed i erased out for you so you don't get warning points

 

[Eldritch]

Didn’t, know, now I do (and knowing is half the battle). Thanks.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

We Uber’d from Pop to Boardwalk this morning. We were there at 8:15 and walked from Boardwalk to HS. Nice trail. We got to where they held us up around 8:30. There were maybe 20 people before us (though not explicit line). At 9 they walked us to the temperature stations and we waited there until 9:15, when they let us in.

Co-signed - last week we walked from YC to the holding line (between Skyliner and bus station) left the hotel around 8:18 and got there about 8:30 (we walk fast). When they moved everyone forward to the temp check and spread us out between tents we wound up being the first in line at our tent, and then the first through security and tapstiles, and the first on MMRR that morning. It was pretty cool

 

[20yBWDW]

Never mind. Off topic.

 

[katyringo]

Co-signed - last week we walked from YC to the holding line (between Skyliner and bus station) left the hotel around 8:18 and got there about 8:30 (we walk fast). When they moved everyone forward to the temp check and spread us out between tents we wound up being the first in line at our tent, and then the first through security and tapstiles, and the first on MMRR that morning. It was pretty cool

This idea of Uber to a walking distance resort for HS is intriguing. I just keep hearing of the skyliner taking a while to start, people having to get in the back of the line at beach resort once getting off from pop, ubers being held at parking. Could someone be more specific about the route of walking once dropped off at boardwalk? New to Disneyworld.

 

[lynzi2004]

After today’s debacle at HS studios today, I’m worried about MK tomorrow morning. I was wondering if someone could give some quick information/advice on how to start the day off. We are staying at Pop.

We got into our Uber around 8am and saw the huge lines for buses. What’s the best way to get to MK and at the best time to take advantage of anything going on before the official 9am rope drop? We could take the bus but at this point I don’t mind Ubering. Is that the way to go, and if so WHERE? I would guess the Contemporary?

When do they start things up at MK? Is it like HS where they let people in early and start rides soon after that?

I would assume 7 Dwarfs first? We were thinking of doing all of fantasyland while we’re there. Or would it be better to let that sit and go down by Pirates, Splash and Thunder with maybe hitting Mansion along the way?

I’m sorry if this is already somewhere else. I did look. Thank you.

We stayed at Pop about 2 weeks ago. We got in line for the Mk bus around 7am and were within the first 4-5 families there so on the first bus. The line quickly ballooned after about 7:20. This was on a Sunday morning.We were the first bus to bag check and some of the first people on MainStreet that morning. We did 7DMT 2x, PP, HM, BTMRR, Splash 2x, Pirates, Carpets, and Jungle Cruise by 11am. Afterward a Dole Whip break we did Tiki Room, Country Bears, and Hall of Presidents before moving back to Fantasyland and doing LM, Dumbo, Teacups, Speedway, Space and CoP all before a Plaza reservation at 4:10.After dinner we finished with Philharmagic, Small World, BTMRR and Splash. Now this was with the 7pm close. But I would still recommend something similar to this, maybe not all the extra shows if you aren’t interested, but we were kid free and had never done them so figured why not. Small World was walkon when we did it, but when we tried to do it midday it was a 30+min wait with the line to match the wait time. It’s just such a slow loading ride. The only thing I would have done different is skip the 2nd splash ride first thing that morning. Although we walked on Pirates, it was showing a 30 min wait. But we somehow lucked out and they opened the FP lane and we were some of the first to get to go through so we walked right on.
Yes, we had roughly a 1hr wait to get in the bus first thing that morning, but it made the rest of the day a BREEZE! I would suggest over and over again, if your worried about crowds, bring on that FIRST bus is the key to a very pleasant day! Good luck!

 

[Eldritch]

We stayed at Pop about 2 weeks ago. We got in line for the Mk bus around 7am and were within the first 4-5 families there so on the first bus. The line quickly ballooned after about 7:20. This was on a Sunday morning.We were the first bus to bag check and some of the first people on MainStreet that morning. We did 7DMT 2x, PP, HM, BTMRR, Splash 2x, Pirates, Carpets, and Jungle Cruise by 11am. Afterward a Dole Whip break we did Tiki Room, Country Bears, and Hall of Presidents before moving back to Fantasyland and doing LM, Dumbo, Teacups, Speedway, Space and CoP all before a Plaza reservation at 4:10.After dinner we finished with Philharmagic, Small World, BTMRR and Splash. Now this was with the 7pm close. But I would still recommend something similar to this, maybe not all the extra shows if you aren’t interested, but we were kid free and had never done them so figured why not. Small World was walkon when we did it, but when we tried to do it midday it was a 30+min wait with the line to match the wait time. It’s just such a slow loading ride. The only thing I would have done different is skip the 2nd splash ride first thing that morning. Although we walked on Pirates, it was showing a 30 min wait. But we somehow lucked out and they opened the FP lane and we were some of the first to get to go through so we walked right on.
Yes, we had roughly a 1hr wait to get in the bus first thing that morning, but it made the rest of the day a BREEZE! I would suggest over and over again, if your worried about crowds, bring on that FIRST bus is the key to a very pleasant day! Good luck!

I like your plan and will likely try to do something very similar (though I’ll likely go down to the bus stop even earlier). I’m just not so optimistic we can get that much done after what happened today at HS.

Thanks, and thanks for the well wishes. I‘ll take it!

 

[Julie Amber]

We were in Hollywood Studios today. This is our first experience back at the parks since the whole Covid mess, but have been many times in the past during this time of year.

We walked in the gates at 9:30 and were met with 80 min line at MMRR. The line attendant actually asked us to come back later so that they could get the line social distanced more and they closed the line for a bit

We decided to go to Slinky instead and waited about 20 minutes.

We tried to get a Rise boarding group right at 10 am. The system glitched and wouldn't recognize that we were in the park (even with refreshing and going out and back in). We were smart and took a screen shot, which was good to use later on. We had heard that if that happens and you take a screenshot to show the guest services, sometimes they can help you

After that, we did Rockin Rollercoast and Tower. Both were listed at 50-60 minutes. We got on each in about 25 minutes. So we saw much inflated posted times. We were pretty grateful for such quite ride times compared to listed waits

All of our QS dining went fantastic. I am totally in love with mobile ordering. We used it as Rontos and Pizza Rizzo where they had our food ready super duper fast (maybe 1-2 minutes after arrival) and we found it easier and quicker than regular ordering by far. Loving that and hope it stays forever

The rest of our waits: Walked on TSMM and Alien Saucers, 10 min wait for Star Tours, 45 for Millennium Falcon.

The line for guest services was forever long right around 10 am when a lot of people didn't get Rise boarding groups, so we decided to check it out later in the day. We visited guest services around 2:30 and only had one person in line in front of us. They gave us a fast pass for MMRR because of the Rise glitch. We walked right on that one... which was our first time riding ever and we loved it so much!!

Overall, it was a great day. We ended up going to Disney Springs for dinner and had an amazing meal at Polite Pig, which had our food ready the moment we sat down at our table.

So, overall, today has been a pretty great day. Even though it LOOKED pretty crowded at HS today, we were able to do everything but Rise, ate some amazing food, did some shopping, picked up the exact Halloween popcorn bucket I wanted (Poison Apple) and found most people to be very good at following the rules...

Which, for the record, I am okay with social distancing staying for a while. I'm really enjoying being in the parks without being smooshed right up against everyone else. lol.

Magic Kingdom tomorrow with everyone else on the planet. Hoping to get there in time to rope drop the biggies!!

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Just back after a long weekend with my daughter. We went to AK on Saturday and MK on Sunday. Long story short, while still lower than normal, I'm guessing the empty parks are a thing of the past. We got to AK about 30 minutes pre opening. Walked on FOP then waited maybe 10 minutes for Navi. When we got off of Navi, FOP was already a 30 minute wait and only climbed from there. We rode it again at the end of the day and waited an hour, which was what was posted. In fact, I found listed wait times to be accurate both days. At one point, the line to FOP made it all the way to Lion King.

It rained quite a bit on Saturday but it's still doable at AK, especially because it kept temps lower. Kali soaks you anyway. We didn't ride EE because my daughter wasn't into it so I can't speak to that line. Dinosaur was about a 30 minute wait. I think it got up to 50-55 during the hardest rain times.

Mobile order from Flame Tree and we waited about 15 minutes for it. I REALLY enjoyed sitting down and eating by the lake. We saw several floating drummers and some characters that way.

Sunday at MK we arrived about 30 minutes before again and after a few amazing pics in front of the castle (don't miss this, the photographers were so great!) we went straight to 7DMT and waited 25 minutes. This is pretty much the tone set for the day. Lots of waiting. Splash was down for most of the day and Space for quite a bit too, so those crowds went to the other big rides. At one point BTMR was 80 minutes! I think we waited 60, would've been shorter but we caught a cleaning cycle riiiiiight before we got on. It was nice to know we were sitting on clean seats though.

Dinner reservation right at closing at BOG. The filet was delicious. It was fun to walk out of an empty park. Castmembers were gently shooing people out, so we stopped for a few quick photos and kept walking. They had buses ready and waiting for late diners. By the way, cast members were amazing! So nice, kind, and helpful. Definitely magical. Also magical are the calvacades! We felt like it was a personal parade, with the eye contact and waving. The wicked stepsisters hang out on the back of the castle to heckle people walking by. They are my favorite characters and never disappoint!

I found the standby lines kind of fun! Some of the best ones I'd never been through as I was a FP stalker. It was a fun, magical surprise to see some new things. My daughter also loved having room to just run around, something that never happens in normal times. We spent a lot of time looking at wildlife in the parks.

Reduced menus kind of stink but I get it. Sometimes it was something weird too, like not as many goodies in the confectionary as normal. Having some fun Halloween snacks to track down was fun. My daughter really loved the poison apple cupcake. Oh, and Gaston's is open, yeah!

Mask wearing was 99%, from what I saw, and I never saw a cast member correct anyone for mask misuse. Not due to ignoring it, but they just weren't around then. I maybe saw 10 people blatantly disregarding the rules and from messages on their clothing, I'm guessing they were making an intentional statement. I tried to just give them a wide berth and move on like most others. Every now and then you'd see someone take a quick breath or drink but it got pretty muggy, especially on Saturday. Distancing was really good too, except for that bottleneck in Fantasyland. Lots of people in the morning saying oops and backing up in a line, it got better as the day went on.

Flying: Friday was ok (on SW), Monday was not fun out of the Disney bubble. I even saw one of the flight attendants take off her mask every time she went up by the cockpit. Mad rushes to the line to board, even when asked to wait for their number. maybe 75% mask compliance in the terminal.

Now that I've filled my Disney cup, I'm glad I went, but also glad it was a short trip. Even using disposable masks was hard in the super muggy parts of the day. We had a great trip and I'm sorry to miss the Halloween decorations going up tomorrow.

 

[lynzi2004]

I like your plan and will likely try to do something very similar (though I’ll likely go down to the bus stop even earlier). I’m just not so optimistic we can get that much done after what happened today at HS.

Thanks, and thanks for the well wishes. I‘ll take it!

Getting there earlier wouldn’t hurt a thing, that’s for sure. On our AK day we got to the stop around 6:30 and I think there were 2 people in the MK bus line to give you an idea.

I missed what happened to you at HS, but I feel for you as ours was a crazy experience too. Seems to be par for the course with that park! But I will say that our MK day was a nice reprieve from the crazy anxiety of our Hs day the day before!

 

[IluvMGM]

What time did you arrive at or near DHS to be "one of the first ones to enter"? We will be at BWV and walking to DHS, so we have control over our timing.

We took the skyiner from Pop Century which got us there a few minutes after 9:00.

 

[IluvMGM]

We stayed at Pop about 2 weeks ago. We got in line for the Mk bus around 7am and were within the first 4-5 families there so on the first bus. The line quickly ballooned after about 7:20. This was on a Sunday morning.We were the first bus to bag check and some of the first people on MainStreet that morning. We did 7DMT 2x, PP, HM, BTMRR, Splash 2x, Pirates, Carpets, and Jungle Cruise by 11am. Afterward a Dole Whip break we did Tiki Room, Country Bears, and Hall of Presidents before moving back to Fantasyland and doing LM, Dumbo, Teacups, Speedway, Space and CoP all before a Plaza reservation at 4:10.After dinner we finished with Philharmagic, Small World, BTMRR and Splash. Now this was with the 7pm close. But I would still recommend something similar to this, maybe not all the extra shows if you aren’t interested, but we were kid free and had never done them so figured why not. Small World was walkon when we did it, but when we tried to do it midday it was a 30+min wait with the line to match the wait time. It’s just such a slow loading ride. The only thing I would have done different is skip the 2nd splash ride first thing that morning. Although we walked on Pirates, it was showing a 30 min wait. But we somehow lucked out and they opened the FP lane and we were some of the first to get to go through so we walked right on.
Yes, we had roughly a 1hr wait to get in the bus first thing that morning, but it made the rest of the day a BREEZE! I would suggest over and over again, if your worried about crowds, bring on that FIRST bus is the key to a very pleasant day! Good luck!

I second this. We were at Pop and always one of the first, if not the first in line for the bus or skyliner. It was fine with us that the parks closed earlier, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep so we could get up early to start our day.

 

[grannyminnie]

Can anyone whose been through ATL or MCO lately speak to how mask compliance is? Still on the fence about making a trip down before the end of the year and while I feel like Disney is doing the right thing who knows with the airports.

I flew out of Atlanta a couple of weeks ago (on a Saturday) and was pleasantly surprised at social distancing and mask compliance. I had read posts that suggested otherwise. Of course, your mileage may vary at any time, but I would feel comfortable doing so again. I didn't fly into Orlando, so am wondering how that is going to be by November. Incidentally, I flew SW if that helps.

 

[RunWI1265]

Arrived yesterday afternoon at BCV. First time staying here. Love it so far! Will follow up with more details later on.

Epcot day today. Anyone know what’s the better plan for open Frozen or TT? Will be entering via IG.