Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Disneymom1102]

Sounds like a great day for the kids. If anyone has had a similar experience but been able to incorporate the mountains and/or mine train then I’d be really impressed.

We could've gotten an ILL for Mine Train. We opted not to but was definitely available. During my refreshing I was able to snag the mountains if I wanted but would either have had to spend more time at the parks or trade for other evening rides. But we definitely could have replaced our repeat rides with the mountains without a problem with repeat refreshing...that's the trick!

 

[Disneymom1102]

Sounds like a GREAT day!! This is helpful to read as I plan our MK day. Does Mickey talk in town square meet? Where did you get the chicken waffle sandwich?

He doesn't talk anymore but he used to.
Chicken waffle sandwich was at Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square

 

[covington]

Here now. Sitting in Hollywood Studios waiting for my family to get off Rise (we have a baby, so have to rider swap). I’m sitting in front of a giant fan, so it’s manageable. Day 4 of 10. It’s hot. It’s crowded. It’s magical. I was so so worried we would not feel the magic this time like we have in the past, but we’re having an amazing time. I’m still not a fan of all the changes and I miss FP+ desperately, but it still feels like Disney. Also, every cast member we’ve interacted with has been wonderful.

Can you pls fill me in on how the Rider Swap is working? Do you have to ride the ride immediately after your group gets off or can you come back? Are you only allowed to ride with one other person? Thank you!!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Can you pls fill me in on how the Rider Swap is working? Do you have to ride the ride immediately after your group gets off or can you come back? Are you only allowed to ride with one other person? Thank you!!

There is a lot of info about rider swap in the Disney for Families forum also.

 

[Jfsag123]

Can you pls fill me in on how the Rider Swap is working? Do you have to ride the ride immediately after your group gets off or can you come back? Are you only allowed to ride with one other person? Thank you!!

It has varied from attraction to attraction. At Rise and Slinky Dog we had to ride back to back. At Test Track, Flight of Passage, and Guardians they scanned the bands of the person who waited and whoever was going to ride with them and they were able to return later in the day. Every attraction but Test Track has had it where the waiting rider rides with one other person. At TT they let both of our older kids ride with each parent. At all other attractions we either have chosen which big kid would get to ride twice or just gone 2 and 2.

 

[EmilyGahr]

So I am doing the WDW Half in November, which includes after party park admission to EPCOT. Staying on site. Can I buy a ILL for Guardians if I don’t have a “reservation” for EPCOT (I have no idea if that race after party will be added to MDE)

Put another way, can you buy a ILL for a park you don’t have a current reservation for?

Yes, it just has to be after 2pm (when park hopping is allowed).

 

[asuburbanman]

First day here using G+ with a 6 and 2 year old.

Booked Peter Pan for 9:30 at 7:00
Arrived at MK about 8:40
Carousel SB (My 2 year olds request)
Small World SB (walk on)
Meet Tiana and Rapunzel SB (20 minutes)
Peter Pan G+
Are some Cat Tails
Dumbo SB (10 min playing and 10 min wait)
Mermaid G+
Met Belle SB (10 min)
Pooh G+
Tea Cups G+

Left by 12:15

Returned for 4:30 Skippers. Cheese bread is no joke.

Carpets G+
Saw two calvacades
Pirates G+
Cinderella Meet G+
Buzz G+
Dumbo G+

Headed back to hotel at 8:20

 

[cjlong88]

Here now. The CM’s we have interacted with are incredible. Guardians of the Galaxy is hands down our new favorite attraction. We were grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

 

[preemiemama]

Here now. The CM’s we have interacted with are incredible. Guardians of the Galaxy is hands down our new favorite attraction. We were grinning from ear to ear the entire time.

Agree with you on the CMs. Most of them have been really wonderful. We’re trying to be kind, smile, say hi as much as possible. They are dealing with a lot of grumpy and demanding guests, so being kind seems to be appreciated.

 

[mkacar24]

Guardians was huge, huge hit.
Cast members were friendly all around.
Food was good.

Ride breakdowns were noticeable.
Remy broke down while we were next to load at 8:30PM. We got an anytime LL to use through next day for that. Next day was Hollywood studios and we stacked a bunch of LL plus Rise ILL for that night. Rode runaway railway, which we enjoyed but the fun stopped there. Toy story mania broke down when we got to it. Slinky dog shut down for weather when we went to it next. This was at 7:45PM and we got anytime LL to use that day. So we now had three anytime LL that expired in 1.5 hours and our Rise ILL and a RNR LL. Went to Rise first, big Star Wars fans this was our first time on it. It broke down while we were in interrogation room. We were in the hallway waiting for it to come back up for an hour. They shouldn’t have reopened it as it wasn’t working. No lightsaber through ceiling, the large canons didn’t fire and Kylo at end was in B mode. When we got off ride the park was closed and we had lost the 3 anytime LL and the RNR LL.

Went to guest services and they refunded Rise and offered to extended one of the anytime LL to our next day at MK which was fine with me. I didn’t even ask for that I just wanted someone to know how poorly the night had gone. Perhaps we should have left the Rise line to use those anytime LL somewhere else in retrospect. But we were excited for Rise and had no indication that it would be down that long. Went to MK the next day and the anytime LL was not extended. I’m not sure what went wrong on that, I blame myself for not checking MDE for it before leaving HS guest services the night before. Bad experience.

Went back to Hollywood Studios a few days later and again paid ILL for Rise hoping to get the full experience. Kylo was still in B mode at the end though. Bad luck or is it just that unreliable?

Otherwise good trip. Genie+ worked fine but we missed being able to refresh to get some rides twice like we could before.

 

[asuburbanman]

Day 2 in the books

It was a resort transfer day so it was wonky

7am Frozen for 9:30 and GG boarding group 16

Got to park at 9 bc we had to transfer luggage from AOA to Pop. Learned they are not as close as they look

9:15 rode Frozen
Got some snacks

I was gonna ride GG via BG but kids wanted to swim before checking out of AOA so we went back to hotel. Then switched hotels

2:50 Beaches and Cream reservation

Had a Remy but overlapped with our dining reservation. Blue Umbrella fixed it so we could ride. Love this addition to the parks to just help with minor adjustments. Remy was fun. Seemed more like a Universal ride but enjoyable.

Disney Character Meet (Pluto and Minnie in 50th attire)
FP+ Nemo
FP+ Land
FP+ Soarin

While my wife did land with kids I did G+ for GOG. Overall I wasn’t too impressed. Except for the launch sequence I thought it was upgraded Space. Would have preferred them refurbish Space and put something different in Epcot

Debating solo hopping to HS. Have G+ for Smugglers Run and Rockin. Will see if I make it that way

Killed too many miles this morning and am exhausted

Cast members have been great. Encountered one at B&C who initiated wi to my 2 year old for a solid 5 minutes. Just chit chatting. Great restaurant staff as well.

 

[preemiemama]

Not sure if this is just an AKL thing or property-wide, but found out the hard way that there is an issue with room charging privileges if you have done online checkin and you bypass the desk. Thought I’d pass along the warning to stop and check before you get to the park!

 

[asuburbanman]

Yesterday was Hollywood Studios

Booked ROR ILL and MMRR G+

8:30 am Disney Junior breakfast for the kids. Food was…goodish…still not buffet, which I think helps. Well organized. Characters were fun but moved pretty quickly.

MMRR was a blast but scared the crap out of my 2 year old. They finally fixed the issue with low audio on rides. This thing was so loud. Liked this better than rat at Epcot. Trackless ride systems are the one thing Disney has over Universal at this point.

G+ Beauty and Beast show. 90s nostalgia all around. Also loud and scared my kid.

G+ Olaf Meet

I rode ROR while my wife and kids G+ Frozen Sing Along.

ROR lived up to the hype and then some. Last scene was in B mode but I didn’t care. Super creative and great cast members that make it fun. Had some pork rinds and a drink from Rontos. Mobile order is the best. Pretty quick turn around on everything

Went back to the hotel and there was basically a tropical storm. Took a much needed 3 hour rest.

My wife went back to HS and at that point we had stacked Smugglers Run, Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers. Two turned into Multiple Experience passes for low tier rides. She also did ROR. For those with little kids. If you buy an ILL but your kids don’t want to ride they said the other parent can use the ILL any time that day.

I stayed back at the pool with the kids. The pool is their favorite part of the trip. Go figure.

Honestly the only things we didn’t do that’s we wanted to were Muppets and that dance party.

 

[mickey916]

Yesterday was Hollywood Studios

Booked ROR ILL and MMRR G+

8:30 am Disney Junior breakfast for the kids. Food was…goodish…still not buffet, which I think helps. Well organized. Characters were fun but moved pretty quickly.

MMRR was a blast but scared the crap out of my 2 year old. They finally fixed the issue with low audio on rides. This thing was so loud. Liked this better than rat at Epcot. Trackless ride systems are the one thing Disney has over Universal at this point.

G+ Beauty and Beast show. 90s nostalgia all around. Also loud and scared my kid.

G+ Olaf Meet

I rode ROR while my wife and kids G+ Frozen Sing Along.

ROR lived up to the hype and then some. Last scene was in B mode but I didn’t care. Super creative and great cast members that make it fun. Had some pork rinds and a drink from Rontos. Mobile order is the best. Pretty quick turn around on everything

Went back to the hotel and there was basically a tropical storm. Took a much needed 3 hour rest.

My wife went back to HS and at that point we had stacked Smugglers Run, Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers. Two turned into Multiple Experience passes for low tier rides. She also did ROR. For those with little kids. If you buy an ILL but your kids don’t want to ride they said the other parent can use the ILL any time that day.

I stayed back at the pool with the kids. The pool is their favorite part of the trip. Go figure.

Honestly the only things we didn’t do that’s we wanted to were Muppets and that dance party.

Sound like you had a great day! Interesting about the B mode. My husband and I rode it for the first time in April and then took our sons in May and I said to my husband afterwards, "I didn't remember some of these parts last time." I had no idea there was a B mode. We must have ridden the B mode the first time because the ride was even better the second time.

 

[asuburbanman]

So far things are working out well for us. We did feel HS felt way more crowded than MK and Epcot but it’s so much smaller.

B mode is the back up. If at the end Ren is on a screen in a tie fighter then it is B mode. I haven’t actually seen the A mode at the end.

MK today with Chef Mickeys tonight. Nabbed a 9-10 SDMT and 9:30-10:30 Jungle Cruise so we are off to a good start.

 

[asuburbanman]

Not sure if this is just an AKL thing or property-wide, but found out the hard way that there is an issue with room charging privileges if you have done online checkin and you bypass the desk. Thought I’d pass along the warning to stop and check before you get to the park!

Experienced same thing at AOA/Pop. Always take back up payment first day

 

[lovethattink]

Experienced same thing at AOA/Pop. Always take back up payment first day

Also good to have some back up in case the credit card machines are down. That’s happened to us a handful of times.

 

[snikki]

Yesterday was Hollywood Studios

Booked ROR ILL and MMRR G+

8:30 am Disney Junior breakfast for the kids. Food was…goodish…still not buffet, which I think helps. Well organized. Characters were fun but moved pretty quickly.

MMRR was a blast but scared the crap out of my 2 year old. They finally fixed the issue with low audio on rides. This thing was so loud. Liked this better than rat at Epcot. Trackless ride systems are the one thing Disney has over Universal at this point.

G+ Beauty and Beast show. 90s nostalgia all around. Also loud and scared my kid.

G+ Olaf Meet

I rode ROR while my wife and kids G+ Frozen Sing Along.

ROR lived up to the hype and then some. Last scene was in B mode but I didn’t care. Super creative and great cast members that make it fun. Had some pork rinds and a drink from Rontos. Mobile order is the best. Pretty quick turn around on everything

Went back to the hotel and there was basically a tropical storm. Took a much needed 3 hour rest.

My wife went back to HS and at that point we had stacked Smugglers Run, Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers. Two turned into Multiple Experience passes for low tier rides. She also did ROR. For those with little kids. If you buy an ILL but your kids don’t want to ride they said the other parent can use the ILL any time that day.

I stayed back at the pool with the kids. The pool is their favorite part of the trip. Go figure.

Honestly the only things we didn’t do that’s we wanted to were Muppets and that dance party.

Sounds like a great day and good info on splitting the ILL for two parents. Good idea to split up so you both get to ride rides the kids can't/won't do.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Don't sleep on park time near closing, especially if you have a small child. We went to HS on Sunday night. Got there at 7pm for a 9pm close. Swirling Saucers posted 30 minutes. We waited 12. TSMM was posted 35 minutes. We literally walked on. MMRR posted 40 minutes. We waited 10. Walkways weren't crowded (even in Toy Story Land!) and the atmosphere was so pleasant. No doubt lines for other big rides were similar but we just wanted to do little kid stuff.

We were back at our hotel, watching Harmonious from our room after stopping in the club lounge for desserts, at 9pm.

We were there with our 2 year old and park closing is the only time we do HS right now. He can ride very little, and the lines are soooo long in the morning/early afternoon for a little guy to wait in. And don't believe the posted waits!

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

Don't sleep on park time near closing, especially if you have a small child. We went to HS on Sunday night. Got there at 7pm for a 9pm close. Swirling Saucers posted 30 minutes. We waited 12. TSMM was posted 35 minutes. We literally walked on. MMRR posted 40 minutes. We waited 10. Walkways weren't crowded (even in Toy Story Land!) and the atmosphere was so pleasant. No doubt lines for other big rides were similar but we just wanted to do little kid stuff.

We were back at our hotel, watching Harmonious from our room after stopping in the club lounge for desserts, at 9pm.

We were there with our 2 year old and park closing is the only time we do HS right now. He can ride very little, and the lines are soooo long in the morning/early afternoon for a little guy to wait in. And don't believe the posted waits!

Assume! We are planning an evening after dinner.