Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[petunia]

Yes it will likely be bad by then. But since AK closes pretty early and there's no nighttime show, another option is to hop in line for FoP at the very end of the day. The posted wait time might be long, but it's usually wildly inflated at the end of the night.

Wish that was an option, but I booked an ADR at Disney Springs that night since AK closed pretty early, not even thinking about it at the time

 

[cakebaker]

How many of you all ended up testing positive for Covid?

None of us! He just got back from the Dr and it's a viral infection. They tested for strep, but went no further since the treatment is the same regardless. No since in making him go through having something else stuck up his nose! He's on steroids to try and calm down the coughing and inflammation. I feel for his mom- steroids can make you a little rough to put up with. lol We are very lucky it wasn't anything more serious than that, but still surprised he caught anything considering all the precautions we took.

 

[Jellybean9]

None of us! He just got back from the Dr and it's a viral infection. He's on steroids to try and calm down the coughing and inflammation. We are very lucky it wasn't anything more serious than that, but still surprised he caught anything considering all the precautions we took.

Yay!!! I was hoping that was the case. My 9 and 6 year olds passed a cold on to me (I’m vaccinated) and it knocked me on my tush for a solid 7 days. A lot of gunk is going around!

 

[Tess]

None of us! He just got back from the Dr and it's a viral infection. He's on steroids to try and calm down the coughing and inflammation. We are very lucky it wasn't anything more serious than that, but still surprised he caught anything considering all the precautions we took.

That is wonderful news! Guess that just shows you how sneaky those viruses can be. Not much stops them.

 

[KM82]

We are here and checked in! When we booked, water view wasn’t available, so we got a garden view room (BWI). I went to the front desk to see if a water view was available and if we could upgrade, and at what cost. He came back after a bit and said he found one for us and there’s no charge! First time we’ve been pixie dusted like that! Totally unexpected and amazing! My son is obsessed with the view already

 

[Chaitali]

Just to end the Disney portion of our trip…we had lunch at homecoming. They had a really nice patio with shade and fans for outdoor dining. The food and service were great. We highly recommend it! And I’m a vegetarian. It looks like they don’t have much that’s vegetarian on their menu but they have gardein “chicken” so I was able to have a fried “chicken” sandwich. The chips are made in a shared fryer so you’d have to choose another side if that bothers you.

we checked in at royal pacific and can already tell far fewer masks here. We’ll just keep trying to be careful, wear masks indoors and opt for outdoor dining whenever possible.

 

[bbn1122]

We are here and checked in! When we booked, water view wasn’t available, so we got a garden view room (BWI). I went to the front desk to see if a water view was available and if we could upgrade, and at what cost. He came back after a bit and said he found one for us and there’s no charge! First time we’ve been pixie dusted like that! Totally unexpected and amazing! My son is obsessed with the view already View attachment 595016

So excited for your family! What a view.

My family will be at the Riviera beginning on Sunday, August 15th. We cannot wait. Have a wonderful time!

 

[JoJoGirl]

We are here and checked in! When we booked, water view wasn’t available, so we got a garden view room (BWI). I went to the front desk to see if a water view was available and if we could upgrade, and at what cost. He came back after a bit and said he found one for us and there’s no charge! First time we’ve been pixie dusted like that! Totally unexpected and amazing! My son is obsessed with the view already View attachment 595016

Awesome upgrade, what a view!! Have a wonderful trip!

 

[sjrec]

We are not typically rope droppers for an 8 am AK day (especially since it seems that actually means 730), but really love FoP... is it pretty much the case now that if we get there at 9 or 10 there will usually be a 2+ hr wait? Also, is a significant amount of the wait outside, Im wondering if we do a long wait if it would work that one of us runs to get breakfast to eat in line, would that be allowed? Thx!

If you could bring yourself to get there early there are so many advantages. It’s cooler (slightly!). Getting there early gets you off the ride by 8:20, Navi is a walk on if you’re interested and it’s still a short wait on Everest because the majority streaming in head for FOP. We did a majority of the attractions with lower wait times and still had a coffee break and lunch before 2:00.

 

[KM82]

So excited for your family! What a view.

My family will be at the Riviera beginning on Sunday, August 15th. We cannot wait. Have a wonderful time!

Awesome upgrade, what a view!! Have a wonderful trip!

Thank you! It was a very exciting surprise! We are spending the evening at food and wine. Definitely busy here. DS has been leaving his mask on outside because he feels a bit too closed in walking around. I’ve been putting it on if it gets a little tight. We expected lots of people, it’s definitely a different feeling after spending the last year and a half avoiding crowds. Not a negative, but definitely a mental adjustment

 

[kmrobins03]

We are not typically rope droppers for an 8 am AK day (especially since it seems that actually means 730), but really love FoP... is it pretty much the case now that if we get there at 9 or 10 there will usually be a 2+ hr wait? Also, is a significant amount of the wait outside, Im wondering if we do a long wait if it would work that one of us runs to get breakfast to eat in line, would that be allowed? Thx!

I am answering based on my experience a few weeks ago.. Yes, if you wait to arrive until 9-10, there will probably be a 2 hour wait for FOP. I think you can eat in line as long as you are outside and from what I saw, there is a big part of line outside. I suggest also looking at the Rope Drop post. I found an extremely helpful post about strategies for AK rope drop

 

[cakebaker]

8 hours total over 2 days, give or take MAYBE 30 minutes. We went once in the late afternoon and waited for FoP. Then Nomad Lounge, then back to FoP again right before park closing. So 2x that day.

That makes more sense to me that it was 2 days in the park to ride FOP 3 times. I took your post to mean you did all you listed in 1 8 hr span. How long did you spend in line in total when you waited in the afternoon, then waited in line at closing?

For us, FP+ allowed us to ride FOP every trip we made into AK with no wait at all other than however long it took to get thru the FP line. Of course there are ways to ride it multiple times now, but as you show, you will be waiting in a long line at least once or twice and/or having to get there an hour before opening. We love doing AK at night, but much prefer the after hours they offered rather than just standing in a line late at night. I hope they bring them back soon.

SDMT and Slinky are 2 rides we’ll ride every trip into each park and in the past, we’ve ridden each of them as many as 4-5 times over the span of a trip- all without a long line and none using rope drop. Now it would take a lot more effort to accomplish that and some would involve waiting in a long line and giving up riding secondary rides with little or no wait to get there for rope drops- having to be in that mass of people during rope drop is just something we were not willing to do on this trip. We didn't consider it safe to have my grandson in a huge crowd of people.

But it's for that reason that we won't return until they have a FP system of some type in place. It's coming, we just don't know when. I'm confident it will be something we can work with. We've been going for over 30 years and have been able to adapt to whatever system Disney puts in place. FP+ worked perfect for us, but we'll figure out the new system too to make it work. We just need them to give us a system to work with. What they're doing now just doesn't. We're one of those families who don't mind paying for a more relaxed experience but one that gets us what we want rather than wearing ourselves out doing it. We don't like having to do commando style touring anymore.

To be clear, we had a more enjoyable time this trip than I expected, it's just not the Disney we want and not the way we want to visit.

 

[cakebaker]

We are not typically rope droppers for an 8 am AK day (especially since it seems that actually means 730), but really love FoP... is it pretty much the case now that if we get there at 9 or 10 there will usually be a 2+ hr wait? Also, is a significant amount of the wait outside, Im wondering if we do a long wait if it would work that one of us runs to get breakfast to eat in line, would that be allowed? Thx!

It would actually mean earlier than 7:30. If you get there just as they're opening the ride, you'll be in a very long line. We found the longest waits of the day seemed to be for those who entered the park just as they opened the ride rather than being there an hour or so before then. At 9 or 10, you're likely looking at the longest wait times of the day. We usually got to AK right at 8 to ride anything except FOP and Navi and I was amazed at how far the line for FOP snaked out

If you're in the very long outdoor extended queue, I don't think you'll have much trouble having a runner join you in line, but once in the formal queue, I wouldn't try it. You'd probably run into more than a few people unhappy to see someone trying to work their way through to meet up with their family.

 

[cakebaker]

We are here and checked in! When we booked, water view wasn’t available, so we got a garden view room (BWI). I went to the front desk to see if a water view was available and if we could upgrade, and at what cost. He came back after a bit and said he found one for us and there’s no charge! First time we’ve been pixie dusted like that! Totally unexpected and amazing! My son is obsessed with the view already

This happened to us at the BC last week. We had asked to be put as close to the elevator as possible and our room was pretty much as far away from them as it could get. I went to the desk and politely asked if they had anything else closer and the CM upgraded us to a beautiful water view at no charge. I do love pixie dust! Congrats!

 

[allaboutthemouse]

Just to end the Disney portion of our trip…we had lunch at homecoming. They had a really nice patio with shade and fans for outdoor dining. The food and service were great. We highly recommend it! And I’m a vegetarian. It looks like they don’t have much that’s vegetarian on their menu but they have gardein “chicken” so I was able to have a fried “chicken” sandwich. The chips are made in a shared fryer so you’d have to choose another side if that bothers you.

we checked in at royal pacific and can already tell far fewer masks here. We’ll just keep trying to be careful, wear masks indoors and opt for outdoor dining whenever possible.

Would love to hear about your time in Universal!
Please, and thank you!

 

[Chaitali]

Would love to hear about your time in Universal!
Please, and thank you!

Sure, I wasn’t sure if this thread was just for Disney experiences but if it’s ok, I’m happy to keep posting. We aren’t big thrill ride people though so it will mostly be Harry Potter stuff, shows and smaller rides. No velocicoaster for us!

 

[stiirfry]

Hey guys
Here are some pics from our vacation today. I included some pics of the crowds since I think a few people wanted to see that. We went to HS today and went to MMRR as soon as the park opened and had a 20-minute easy wait. We had to run to ROTR because I had a boarding group for it. Then we decided to wait in line at smugglers run which was posted at a 70 minute wait, and it was indeed an 80 minute wait. After this (around 1:30?) the park was pretty packed and we decided to leave and head back to epcot for some food and drinks We might head back in a bit if the waits come down but we're fine either way. I noticed a lot of people saying ride times are inflated but I only notice that towards the end of the day like the last two hours of the park being opened (and rope drop I suppose). Anything before that and they're fairly accurate within 20-30 mins.

 

[2Lunds]

Sure, I wasn’t sure if this thread was just for Disney experiences but if it’s ok, I’m happy to keep posting. We aren’t big thrill ride people though so it will mostly be Harry Potter stuff, shows and smaller rides. No velocicoaster for us!

There's a whole Universal/Seaworld section here as well...

 

[fivikse]

Would love to hear about your time in Universal!
Please, and thank you!

not the person you asked, but we moved over to universal a couple days ago. Pretty much no masking, and to me it feels way more crowded. Food lines are crazy.

But we have hotel express passes so haven’t waited in lines, except velocicoaster (45-55 minutes x3 times). The hagrid virtual queue is fine if you keep trying. Velocicoaster and hagrid are both incredible. We are enjoying our universal stay, but to me, it feels more crowded than usual and more than WDW at start of week. But the hotel EPs mean no waits!

eta: I don’t mean to sound negative- we are having a great time!

 

[bbn1122]

Thank you! It was a very exciting surprise! We are spending the evening at food and wine. Definitely busy here. DS has been leaving his mask on outside because he feels a bit too closed in walking around. I’ve been putting it on if it gets a little tight. We expected lots of people, it’s definitely a different feeling after spending the last year and a half avoiding crowds. Not a negative, but definitely a mental adjustment

I was there in November with my DH. Mask on everywhere and social distancing everywhere. When I book this summer trip I figured mask would still be required.
I was thrilled when they dropped the outdoor Mask in May and followed with no mask in June.
Fast forward just 6 weeks, I would have never believed we would be worrying once again.
Good news, my family and friends are all adults and fully vaccinated. So, we a ready to go, we will mask up when asked and we will make it all work.

Praying for no storms and hopefully crowds will drop a little.