Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Hezzy04]

I’m apparently failing at the search option today because I know this has been answered....I’m sorry

What time have all the parks actually been opening lately? I believe Hollywood Studios is posted as 10 but has been opening at 9: is that correct? What about the others?

 

[FinallyFL]

MK is posted at 9 and is opening at 8:30.

 

[pooch]

Given that DHS is my very least favorite park and getting a BG is a crap shoot, I am seriously consider dropping a day on our passes and using DD’s comps to spend the day at Universal instead. DHS is just becoming too stressful for me.

 

[BBH]

Yes but we saved over 3 hours worth of wait times in the park. We were able to get MMRR, Tower of terror, and Rockn Rollercoaster before the park even officially opened. I'd rather wait outside the park for a while than spend park hours in lines.

I was also at Hollywood Studios yesterday. I walked over from the Boardwalk and got in line at 8:52, and I was in line for MMRR by 9:09 and got on the ride at 9:37.

 

[bad91922]

I read here and follow bloggers and look up park info constantly leading up to our trip. I know y’all are saying you have to have a plan but I have wry young kids that will only be interested in MMRR and Slinky for the most part. Everything else will just be bonus. How do you plan a HS day without waking at the crack of Dawn for pre RD rides and still have a good day because my babies wouldn’t do well getting in line at 730 or be able to make it all day in the park and we have reserve for lunch currently and I have a late reservation at Beaches that I’m trying to find an earlier seating.

 

[Cynt]

Wednesday was DHS. BLOT! We should have skipped it. Pack your patience, snacks, extra $$ for snacks and drinks. This was our 1st time to see Star Wars. I'm NOT a SW person so after riding the 3 rides they were ok. I liked MF better than RoR. DH enjoyed it but he liked MF better too.

Let's start with the bus ride from okw to dhs. We were in line at 830am at the 1st bus stop. We were the 4th family. The 1st family with a scooter arrived a 8am. 840 the lines growing. 850 the line is down the sidewalk. 9am the line is almost to the bridge. 9am the bus arrives. Claps of joy and frustration ensues. We pack out our bus covid style. As we're leaving 3 more dhs busses arrive.

We arrive at dhs at 930. We walk thru temp check, scan and tap in. Its 938. We walk towards GE to ride SWT. They held the line until 948. We're off SWT by 956. Tons of people line the street. We post up and wait for the count down. DH, who practiced once, gets us BG34. Mission accomplished. We head to MF 50 minute posted wait time. We wait 35 minutes. TSM 40 minutes posted. We wait 10 minutes. All the head liner rides now at 60+ minutes.

We head to the gondolas for lunch at the Riviera. No lines and we love the convenience of the gondolas. Really wish they would use these to connect to more resorts and Disney springs. While everyone else was looking for lunch spots in DHS we had a nice leisurely lunch at Primos piattos. Loved the chicken sandwich. Their tomato soup is better than the tomato soup at Edison.

Headed back to DHS to finish our day and with full bellies we were ready to WAIT 60 minutes per ride. We hit a few rides and then our DG34 was called at 2pm. We were underwhelmed. We get it but way too much hype for this ride. We rode a few more rides and left the park.

DHS definitely needs more attractions and definitely shows to thin out the crowds. If we had done DHS on our 1st park day I would have been so discouraged. We canceled our 2nd DHS day and we're headed back to AK Thursday.

 

[katyringo]

Y’all. We took an Uber from pop at 7 to boardwalk bakery. Got our food and then walked to HS. It’s 7:40 and we are very first in line. Say whhhhaaaaat.

 

[dachsie]

What restaurants are folks mobile ordering from at Boardwalk? I have 7:50 ADR at Trattorio on a Saturday when the park opens at 10. Debating on whether to cancel if I can do mobile order instead. A 7:50 ADR won’t put me ahead of the crowd, but back and forth on whether that even matters this trip. Back in March I Ubered to HS really early. (Before sunrise.) Still never got a BG and it took 7 hours to do 4 rides. That’s with a FP for MMRR...
I just don’t know if it’s worth the hustle and bustle. Sounds nicer at times just to enjoy breakfast and a casual stroll to HS. As long as I’m there by 10 to try for BG is what I’m thinking ...

I had a 7:35 ADR there and decided to switch it to a 7:10 at Ale & Compass for that very reason. You can do mobile order at Boardwalk Bakery tho

 

[lorileahb]

What restaurants are folks mobile ordering from at Boardwalk? I have 7:50 ADR at Trattorio on a Saturday when the park opens at 10. Debating on whether to cancel if I can do mobile order instead. A 7:50 ADR won’t put me ahead of the crowd, but back and forth on whether that even matters this trip. Back in March I Ubered to HS really early. (Before sunrise.) Still never got a BG and it took 7 hours to do 4 rides. That’s with a FP for MMRR...
I just don’t know if it’s worth the hustle and bustle. Sounds nicer at times just to enjoy breakfast and a casual stroll to HS. As long as I’m there by 10 to try for BG is what I’m thinking ...

We are going to mobile order from boardwalk bakery.

 

[yulilin3]

I read here and follow bloggers and look up park info constantly leading up to our trip. I know y’all are saying you have to have a plan but I have wry young kids that will only be interested in MMRR and Slinky for the most part. Everything else will just be bonus. How do you plan a HS day without waking at the crack of Dawn for pre RD rides and still have a good day because my babies wouldn’t do well getting in line at 730 or be able to make it all day in the park and we have reserve for lunch currently and I have a late reservation at Beaches that I’m trying to find an earlier seating.

Under the current conditions rope drop is the best if not only way to not make long lines, If your family can't dgo that maybe skip the park this trip or plan on coming another time

 

[Avery&Todd]

We were there from 10/12-17, stayed at BLT for the first time and DH and I had the best time! I must thank this Board for all the great tips and tricks – I think that DH was actually impressed with my above average planning that we actually pulled off!

Most notably was HS – I booked a 7:30am breakfast at Trattoria, which was delicious, out the door before 8:30 and walked to HS (this was a Wednesday) – in line outside by 8:45, walked to the health screening lines by 9am and inside by 9:15! Walked quickly to M&M and was off there by 9:35ish – it was great!

We then popped over to Slinky and here is where it got tricky…JUST AS we got to the load area, it was 10am….I asked nicely if we could skip our load and they said yes, put us to the side and we got boarding group #32 for RISE!!

We then did Saucers, Toy Story x 2 – that line would show 45-50 wait and was never more than 20 min

Rise at 12noon and then by the time we were off, it was time for our 12:45 @ 50s PT!

On our 2nd MK day we were out the door by 8am, and walking into MK by 8:15 – managed to ride Mine Train, Peter Pan, Pooh, Jungle Cruise by 9am and then walked on to Pirates, and then did Splash and Big Thunder by 10am – it was a great and very productive morning!!

We go back in Dec for DS’s late-but-not-never HS graduation trip and I’m ready! I made some adjustments to our plan based on what worked/didn’t work for us on this last trip and I can’t wait to see the Christmas decorations – this was our first time to see fall and Christmas decorations!

Then we’re back again in late February to take my cousin who hasn’t been – I can’t wait to go with a “newbie” and show her all the fabulous things!!

I would say, that if this is your first time, you might wait – there are obvious things missing, like characters and parades and fireworks, but this wasn’t our first, or last trip and we had a blast!

 

[yulilin3]

Ive said this on several threads now but if you're getting an adr or mobile order for the sole purpose of being able to be dropped off and not really interested in the food, being dropped off and walking from the speedway station is your closest bet

 

[dachsie]

I am wondering something about the DHS crowding. When they figure 25% capacity, they must not take into account the areas of the park that are closed. If they took out those areas, then numbers would go down. With that park being as small as it is, I think they should have taken that into account.

 

[bastraker]

Went to Epcot for a few hours, it was as crowded as a normal day pre-covid. The line for Frozen Ever After snaked out Norway and over to China to outside the quick service restaurant in China and it was posted a 60 minute wait. The Friendship boats were training CM's. We just went to walk a little, did the loop and left.

We were in that line at Epcot around 2pm. The wait did say 60 minutes, but only waited 40 - so not too bad.

We also went right to Soarin right after that. The posted wait said 30 minutes - we walked right on. It was great! I thought the crowds were light. It seemed most people were waiting in lines.

 

[katyringo]

Ive said this on several threads now but if you're getting an adr or mobile order for the sole purpose of being able to be dropped off and not really interested in the food, being dropped off and walking from the speedway station is your closest bet

We wanted to food but yes.

 

[katyringo]

Someone asked how early you can mobile order. I made our mobile order for boardwalk bakery for 7am opening at about 6am this morning. And just now waiting to get into DHS I made our mobile order for ronto roasters for noon.

 

[lorileahb]

Ive said this on several threads now but if you're getting an adr or mobile order for the sole purpose of being able to be dropped off and not really interested in the food, being dropped off and walking from the speedway station is your closest bet

We are actually saving HS for when we have our whole family so we are using Boardwalk Bakery for Epct - just to have a little more relaxed entry. Plus, we've never seen Boardwalk - hoping they'll have a few Christmas decorations, too!

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Given that DHS is my very least favorite park and getting a BG is a crap shoot, I am seriously consider dropping a day on our passes and using DD’s comps to spend the day at Universal instead. DHS is just becoming too stressful for me.

After a very stressful day at MK ( sunday) our Monday plans were HS. It was my boys favorite.
I decided at the last minute to drop HS because I could not deal with all the people again. MK was crazy and it was not to capacity like HS is everyday.
We went to AK.. and after watching ride times we loved our choice

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Someone asked how early you can mobile order. I made our mobile order for boardwalk bakery for 7am opening at about 6am this morning. And just now waiting to get into DHS I made our mobile order for ronto roasters for noon.

I ordered lunch at the landing pad while in line at a ride. when I got over there I could not check I have arrived because they were closed and opened in 3 mins. The CM manually checked me in and a few mins later they told me I could go in to #6 my food was ready

 

[katyringo]

At 825 we are in the front of the line about to be moved closer to temp screening. This is like behind us. Again it’s 825 for an offical 10am opening. And for some reason disboards always loads my pictures sideways