Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[yulilin3]

Quick question. Staying at Bay Lake. Going to EPCOT on Saturday. Which option would get us to the front gate earliest, Driving or Bus?

In other words, when does Epcot allow us to start lining up at the parking booths, and when do they start letting cars in? Versus, when do buses start running to Epcot from Contemporary?

Thanks!

Epcot is the latest to allow people through, at around 10:15-10:30 on days the park opens at 11am 11:15-11:30 on days it opens at noon

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

Anyone have experience with the SSR buses post COVID? We will have a car but if drivers are being held at the parking booths (especially at MK) is it still worth driving?

 

[BK2014]

I asked this on the ROTR thread, but maybe it is better asked here - are they consistently letting people on MMRR at DHS prior to park opening at 10:0am, or is it hit and miss? On Friday, the line didn't start moving until 10:00am, and I am curious if that was a fluke. I have seen reports of people getting on and off MMRR before 10:00am.

 

[ellbell]

My 15 year old son and I got here last night and today was our first day in the parks.

Today was a great day at Epcot. The park was open from 11-7. We left our room for the skyliner just before 9am. We got in line all the way back by building 2 in the 50s section at 9am. We were on the skyliner by 9:30. At Caribbean beach we were added to the end of the line. All guests for Epcot and HS got in the same line and it didn't matter that POP guests already waited to get on the skyliner. At 9:40 we reached the end of the line for the skyliner. I had heard reports that there were buses to take people to HSat Caribbean beach because of how long the line was but this was not the case today. At 10:06 reached the point where the HS and epcot line seperated and we were told the Epcot line would start flying at 10:30. At 10:26 they started loading it up.

At 10:42 we were off the skyliner amd by 10:59 we were in line for Frozen with a posted wait of 45 minutes. There are shade umbrellas all through the outdoor queue. We were in the ride by 11:25.

After frozen we walked on to Gran Fiesta in Mexico. We decided on lunch after that and got a walk up to Garden Grill.

After lunch we got in line for Soarin with a 40 minute wait. We were in the preshow by 1:06. Soarin is allowing 3 groups per row with plexiglass in a 2 seat, 2 seat, 3 seat configuration. After getting off soarin we walked right back on to ride again.

We then rode living with the land, watched awesome planet, rode figment, watched disney and pixar shorts, rode nemo and friends and spaceship earth all as walk ons. My son then rode Mission space while I sat in the empty relaxation station.

Then we went to wait on line for test track. We got in line at 5:04. At 5:14 the ride went down for cleaning. We didn't move for 20 minutes. We finally got on the ride at 5:50. That was our longest wait and it was because of the cleaning.

We ran out of time to spend any other time in world showcase. We ended up getting dinner in our room.

All day I only saw one adult nose out of the mask. 3 kids had noses out that I noticed. Everyone was really compliant. The cast was all really friendly and genuinely happy to be there.

 

[IluvMGM]

I asked this on the ROTR thread, but maybe it is better asked here - are they consistently letting people on MMRR at DHS prior to park opening at 10:0am, or is it hit and miss? On Friday, the line didn't start moving until 10:00am, and I am curious if that was a fluke. I have seen reports of people getting on and off MMRR before 10:00am.

All 3 times we were there it started running around 9:30. Could there have been a problem with the ride?

 

[TikiTikiFan]

I'm a Disneyland park goer switching over to WDW for the holidays (since we have no reopening date in sight..) and I was wondering if anyone could help answer a few questions for me about their recent park experiences!

I've been lurking for a few days and I'm reading that weekends tend to be more busier. Is that true for all four parks or the more popular ones like Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom? I think I can finagle things to make our park days only weekdays for the most part but we might have one weekend day too.

Art of Animation vs. Caribbean Resort- which has a better atmosphere to spend your evenings in? I think we're going to avoid Disney Springs and just stick to the parks so trying to pick which resort we should go with. My son is 10 so he'd love the cartoon themes but I prefer the look of the Caribbean Resort... What do you think? Do the resorts feel really crowded in the evenings right now? Does it really matter? We'd save more money staying at the Art of Animation that I could easily turn into an extra park day..

Does anyone have a good resource for park strategies right now? I've been following along on this thread but it sounds like we're all just winging it- does that sound about right? But like, what rides do you head towards first? I'm so used to operating on a rope drop strategy I'm having a hard time letting go of that lol!

Any other tips you want to give me? Thanks everyone!

 

[keishashadow]

I asked this on the ROTR thread, but maybe it is better asked here - are they consistently letting people on MMRR at DHS prior to park opening at 10:0am, or is it hit and miss? On Friday, the line didn't start moving until 10:00am, and I am curious if that was a fluke. I have seen reports of people getting on and off MMRR before 10:00am.

I’m guessing a fluke in play there but you really do have to hustle to get to MMRR. People move very fast, not quite the running of the bulls but it’s a quick pace.

Last Thursday, we were off it by 9:35 am. RoTR group 63

On Saturday, closer to 10:45 am. RoTR, shut out via error messaage on one iphone, no times left on 2nd on 10 am distribution. 2 pm go-round, we scored group 86, rode relatively early 3:30 pm or so. I’m thinking fact that it was a rainy day, many people gave up and left.

 

[brockash]

Quick question. Staying at Bay Lake. Going to EPCOT on Saturday. Which option would get us to the front gate earliest, Driving or Bus?

In other words, when does Epcot allow us to start lining up at the parking booths, and when do they start letting cars in? Versus, when do buses start running to Epcot from Contemporary?

Thanks!

I really think it depends, but when we went a cpl weeks ago and staying at Poly; we got a bus around 940 and we could see all the stopped cars as we went through the gates a little before 10. Having said that they seem to start buses earlier on the weekends, so who knows.

 

[mcomber7]

It's not at the bus loop. As you're leaving the park it's left of the bag check, or as facing the entrance it's right , by the handicap parking

Thank you so much!

 

[pooch]

My 15 year old son and I got here last night and today was our first day in the parks.

Today was a great day at Epcot. The park was open from 11-7. We left our room for the skyliner just before 9am. We got in line all the way back by building 2 in the 50s section at 9am. We were on the skyliner by 9:30. At Caribbean beach we were added to the end of the line. All guests for Epcot and HS got in the same line and it didn't matter that POP guests already waited to get on the skyliner. At 9:40 we reached the end of the line for the skyliner. I had heard reports that there were buses to take people to HSat Caribbean beach because of how long the line was but this was not the case today. At 10:06 reached the point where the HS and epcot line seperated and we were told the Epcot line would start flying at 10:30. At 10:26 they started loading it up.

At 10:42 we were off the skyliner amd by 10:59 we were in line for Frozen

WOW!! Almost 2 hours from Pop to Epcot via Skyliner?!?!?! That’s insane!

 

[ellbell]

WOW!! Almost 2 hours from Pop to Epcot via Skyliner?!?!?! That’s insane!

Ya it was constantly moving amd we did have to wait for 20 minutes for the skyliner to epcot to start but there were a lot of peope who were angry about not getting to HS on time. I left early toake rope drop at Epcot but I would suggest using a different method of transportation to HS if a boarding pass is your goal. The rest of the day there were no lines for the skyliner.

 

[dachsie]

I'm a Disneyland park goer switching over to WDW for the holidays (since we have no reopening date in sight..) and I was wondering if anyone could help answer a few questions for me about their recent park experiences!

I've been lurking for a few days and I'm reading that weekends tend to be more busier. Is that true for all four parks or the more popular ones like Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom? I think I can finagle things to make our park days only weekdays for the most part but we might have one weekend day too.

Art of Animation vs. Caribbean Resort- which has a better atmosphere to spend your evenings in? I think we're going to avoid Disney Springs and just stick to the parks so trying to pick which resort we should go with. My son is 10 so he'd love the cartoon themes but I prefer the look of the Caribbean Resort... What do you think? Do the resorts feel really crowded in the evenings right now? Does it really matter? We'd save more money staying at the Art of Animation that I could easily turn into an extra park day..

Does anyone have a good resource for park strategies right now? I've been following along on this thread but it sounds like we're all just winging it- does that sound about right? But like, what rides do you head towards first? I'm so used to operating on a rope drop strategy I'm having a hard time letting go of that lol!

Any other tips you want to give me? Thanks everyone!

I would say Caribbean Beach would probably have more to do than AoA. If nothing else, you could enjoy a drink at Banana Cabana in the evenings. I would go on the resort board and ask there tho. I haven't heard if any of the activities are going on. AoA has Animation class in normal times - that might be fun they are doing it. Also, if you dont get a suite at AoA, you will walk forever to get to your regular hotel room in Little Mermaid section.

 

[auntlynne]

I'm a Disneyland park goer switching over to WDW for the holidays (since we have no reopening date in sight..) and I was wondering if anyone could help answer a few questions for me about their recent park experiences!

I've been lurking for a few days and I'm reading that weekends tend to be more busier. Is that true for all four parks or the more popular ones like Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom? I think I can finagle things to make our park days only weekdays for the most part but we might have one weekend day too.

Art of Animation vs. Caribbean Resort- which has a better atmosphere to spend your evenings in? I think we're going to avoid Disney Springs and just stick to the parks so trying to pick which resort we should go with. My son is 10 so he'd love the cartoon themes but I prefer the look of the Caribbean Resort... What do you think? Do the resorts feel really crowded in the evenings right now? Does it really matter? We'd save more money staying at the Art of Animation that I could easily turn into an extra park day..

Does anyone have a good resource for park strategies right now? I've been following along on this thread but it sounds like we're all just winging it- does that sound about right? But like, what rides do you head towards first? I'm so used to operating on a rope drop strategy I'm having a hard time letting go of that lol!

Any other tips you want to give me? Thanks everyone!

Looks like a consensus of arrive early - before official rope drop time to shorten wait times for the first hour or two.

Hit your favorite of the popular rides first. Everest, FoP, 7DMT, BigThunder, ...

It seems like MMRR never has a short line - and you don’t want to be it at RotR BG attempt time.

As someone just posted (and I concur), if you get to a ride with a long wait, consider trying something else at that moment. I saw several lines at AK go from long to reasonable while doing something else (or while I was on them).

 

[Pens Fan]

We were at MK today and while we had a blast the crowds seemed almost like a normal day to us. Our son estimated that they were 2 to 3 times as large as when he was there the first week of August. The first hour or so was fantastic. We walked on Pirates and Splash, waited about 25 minutes for Big Thunder, but from then on it was lines, lines and more lines. I will say that I was pretty impressed with the how the crowds were managed though. With the exception of one completely clueless family behind us in the Big Thunder queue most people seemed to be at least trying to do a good job of distancing. Mask compliance was very high. We never felt unsafe, but by around 4:00 or so we decided the lines were just too long for the things we still wanted to do and we headed back to the hotel. That was fine, as we were tired anyway and it was nice to relax a bit before heading out to a wonderful dinner at the Wave. We'll be back to MK in a few days to hopefully finish up the things we missed today.

Lines over the weekend at AK and EP were pretty long as well - especially EP (though not as bad as MK was today). I'm not saying this to discourage anyone from coming. We are having a great time. But just be aware that the days of wandering around an empty park all day and walking on rides seem to be ending. Rope drop is a must, as is tempering your expectations. I recommend monitoring ride times prior to coming so you will know which rides to hit first thing after rope drop.

Two other items of note for anyone heading to the MK:

1. They are sold out of Madame Leota sippers. The CM told us they'd been on reorder for two weeks, but haven't come in yet.
2. The spring roll cart was not open as of around 11:00 or so. I don't know if it ever opened, but it wasn't open at that time. We'd heard it was open over the weekend and were excited to grab some, but missed out today. We plan on trying again next Saturday.

Heading to DHS tomorrow. Fingers crossed we get a Rise boarding group!!

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Thanks for the tips folks!

New question: I'm seeing lots of reports of limited food carts/etc. Can you still find the staples like churros and pretzels? I mean, that'd be a given wouldn't it? But then I keep hearing people say there's not many options.

 

[lmbcdb]

Today was a great day at Epcot. The park was open from 11-7. We left our room for the skyliner just before 9am. We got in line all the way back by building 2 in the 50s section at 9am. We were on the skyliner by 9:30. At Caribbean beach we were added to the end of the line. All guests for Epcot and HS got in the same line and it didn't matter that POP guests already waited to get on the skyliner. At 9:40 we reached the end of the line for the skyliner. I had heard reports that there were buses to take people to HSat Caribbean beach because of how long the line was but this was not the case today. At 10:06 reached the point where the HS and epcot line seperated and we were told the Epcot line would start flying at 10:30. At 10:26 they started loading it up.

At 10:42 we were off the skyliner amd by 10:59 we were in line for Frozen with a posted wait of 45 minutes. There are shade umbrellas all through the outdoor queue. We were in the ride by 11:25.

So including travel and wait time, it took you almost 1 hr 45 minutes to get from Pop to EPCOT?

If these times are happening regularly, I’d rather shell out some money for an Uber/Lyft. Does anyone know how much they run? (yes, I realize it depends on how far).This thread has shown me that I probably am going to Uber/Lyft from Pop to both HS and EPCOT.

 

[Best Aunt]

If these times are happening regularly, I’d rather shell out some money for an Uber/Lyft. Does anyone know how much they run? (yes, I realize it depends on how far).This thread has shown me that I probably am going to Uber/Lyft from Pop to both HS and EPCOT.

People look at RideGuru to get an estimate of what ride shares would cost. You also can open the Uber and Lyft apps on your phone while you are home, and type in the pick up and destination points you would want, to see what the cost would be. (Your phone will think you want to be picked up wherever you currently happen to be, so you have to change the pick up point. But you can change it to someplace at Disney World.)

 

[lmbcdb]

People look at RideGuru to get an estimate of what ride shares would cost. You also can open the Uber and Lyft apps on your phone while you are home, and type in the pick up and destination points you would want, to see what the cost would be. (Your phone will think you want to be picked up wherever you currently happen to be, so you have to change the pick up point. But you can change it to someplace at Disney World.)

Thank you! We live in the suburbs and have two cars, so I have very little experience with this.

 

[HollyMD]

Just encountered the worst bus driver ever picking up for AL at BRV. Line was AK and HS. He pulls up, opens sores, waits 2 secs, then starts closing doors to pull off. Someone flagged him down, then the END of the very well labeled line starting rushing on the bus. Was a dang free for all! And there are so many people on the bus, since he didn’t assign seats, that several are STANDING. no social distancing whatsoever.

 

[snappy]

Just encountered the worst bus driver ever picking up for AL at BRV. Line was AK and HS. He pulls up, opens sores, waits 2 secs, then starts closing doors to pull off. Someone flagged him down, then the END of the very well labeled line starting rushing on the bus. Was a dang free for all! And there are so many people on the bus, since he didn’t assign seats, that several are STANDING. no social distancing whatsoever.

This is freaking unacceptable. I think it will only get worse. Is there a way to report a particular driver?