Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Dallasmomoftwo]

I can only go by this past Sunday and Monday and say that the crowd size was still very small. We had no lines whatsoever at AK and really nothing crazy at HS. I do think that after August 7th, when silver AP go active again, it will get very busy compared to the current level. I can see wait times going up dramatically just due to increase in people and social distancing of the lines and ride capacity limits.

Excellent. We arrive the 8th. Just what I wanted. Bigger crowds and long waits
Just my luck!

 

[reposado]

I do think that after August 7th, when silver AP go active again, it will get very busy compared to the current level. I can see wait times going up dramatically just due to increase in people and social distancing of the lines and ride capacity limits.

You are 100% correct. Even with the increased annual pass numbers per Disney it starts to fully sell out for annual pass holders starting exactly on the 7th. For that beautiful no crowd book a trip prior to the 7th. See link below:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/?segments=tickets,resort,passholder

 

[Ensusieasm]

The worst things that have happened so far:
1) son was sitting on a bench outside Soarin. A woman sat next to him. The bench maybe fit 3 people. We made him get up, and the rest of her trashy family ran him over to sit next to her.

2) some teens drank from the fountains right next to where I was filling my water bottle in Batuu, like maybe a foot or so away. When I left, they started licking the fountains and the water bottle filler.

This is why we can’t have nice things

About those teens licking the water fountain and water bottle filler. Behavior like that can get a person arrested during the pandemic. There have been arrests for lesser offenses. I sure do wish they would have been led away in handcuffs.

 

[Geomom]

Another MK day today, looked as busy as yesterday when we arrived at 11am, but other than our 40 minute wait for 7D mine train at 11:30am (decided to wait today as we hadn't been on yet and it was closed due to PM storms our last 2 MK days), and 20 minutes for haunted mansion cleaning cycle, we walked on rides (or 5-10 minute waits) this afternoon, very different from yesterday. Had lunch at pecos bill, not quite as crazy as Pinocchio inside...but still no indoor tables free, so we ate outside. Saw a variety of 'entertainment': marching band, characters above train station, tink float, princess float, stitch and buzz at Tomorrowland, and interacted with Jack Sparrow (he was curious about their hair colors, telling DD20 that all of her would turn blue). Dinner at Kona, good food, but tables too close, at most 4 ft from the back of my kids heads to the back of other people heads as they were on the bench seating.

 

[soniam]

We are in a Jambo villa. They are stopping by every day to pick up trash even though we don’t have any housekeeping scheduled for our six day stay. She usually asks if we need anything else. A bit annoying, because yesterday she knocked and came in even though the Room Occupied sign was out, and woke us (including the baby) from our afternoon nap. I realize the sign had been out all day, but my son was in the room working remotely all day.

That's the security check. The Room Occupied sign is effectively worthless now. If you don't want them in the room while you are there, you have to do the door latch.

 

[Dave006]

Excellent. We arrive the 8th. Just what I wanted. Bigger crowds and long waits
Just my luck!

Won't be bigger crowds as long as the Disney Park Pass counts are limited.

The busiest park was and will be HS due to Galaxy's Edge. Epcot and AK appear to be tied to the lowest attendance on a daily basis and they both have plenty of room for guests to spread out.

Dave

 

[MomOTwins]

You are 100% correct. Even with the increased annual pass numbers per Disney it starts to fully sell out for annual pass holders starting exactly on the 7th. For that beautiful no crowd book a trip prior to the 7th. See link below:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/?segments=tickets,resort,passholder

Right--MK, AK, and HS are pretty much all sold out to AP holders prior to the 7th, it's only Epcot that has availability most days. Not going to make a difference if I go to HS on the 6th or the 8th since it equally sold out for both days.

 

[scrappinginontario]

That's the security check. The Room Occupied sign is effectively worthless now. If you don't want them in the room while you are there, you have to do the door latch.

Agree although the room latch would be a much louder sound if a baby is sleeping when they attempt to open the door. As you mentioned, security now accesses each room, each day.

 

[koquinn]

Agree although the room latch would be a much louder sound if a baby is sleeping when they attempt to open the door. As you mentioned, security now accesses each room, each day.

Why? I'm confused about why this is happening?

 

[polynor]

Question for those who have been or are there now. Are the buses taking a long time? We will be there in a few weeks and I’m trying to decide if we should rent a car. I prefer the Disney transportation, but if due to social distancing they are taking much longer, I’ll rent my own vehicle.

We are at BLT now. Buses have been ok, but we haven’t been trying to catch the opening except for DHS, and then we drove ourselves. Tonight, we closed out Epcot and just missed a bus back. One arrived within a minute but had to go through some sort of check for about 10 min before we could board. With that time, enough people had arrived that they had to take the next bus.
with 6 zones, the buses fill up fast but they seem to be coming at a higher frequency.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Why? I'm confused about why this is happening?

Disney security now checks every room each day. They may change towels or take away garbage but basically they are ensuring nothing inappropriate is happening within the rooms. Most major hotel chains started doing this after the tragedy in Las Vegas.

 

[Doingitagain]

That's the security check. The Room Occupied sign is effectively worthless now. If you don't want them in the room while you are there, you have to do the door latch.

It was the door knocking that did it. Yesterday my husband saw someone in the hall and requested it after four and they were there right at four.

 

[koquinn]

Disney security now checks every room each day. They may change towels or take away garbage but basically they are ensuring nothing inappropriate is happening within the rooms. Most major hotel chains started doing this after the tragedy in Las Vegas.

That is really weird. I guess it makes some sense but depressing thought.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

FWIW, you can read all about the room checks that have been occurring since 2018 on this thread over on the Resorts Board: Guest experiences with daily room checks

To cut to the punchline, nearly every thread on the topic eventually has had to be closed by the moderator of the Resorts board, and that experience post sticky itself was ultimately closed earlier this year. It's one of those topics where us DISers just can't seem to get along and discuss rationally.

Feel free to carry the discussion over to the Resorts Board, but do so at your own risk.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Dinner at Kona, good food, but tables too close, at most 4 ft from the back of my kids heads to the back of other people heads as they were on the bench seating.

Completely agree with this. We had dinner at Kona and the bench seating is too close. We had horrific service here too. They didn’t seem on their game.

 

[JPM4]

Leaving today after 4 days at OKW. Pack your patience with the busses. I didn’t go to any parks for rope drop but saw the amount of people at the bus stops and they did an ok job of sending busses with the social distancing inside but if you’re trying to get to DHS for Rise drive yourself or take an Uber.
Went to the parks around noon each day and you can easily do everything you want to do and have plenty of time to spare. It is more relaxing however with the absence of park hoppers there isn’t much to do and night. Avoided Disney springs because of the stories I’ve heard.
Felt DHS was by far the “busiest” but still manageable. DAK and MK unquestionably to me felt the safest. Epcot saw a lot of people walking and eating and drinking and not enough cast members to go around.
Was never huge DAK fans but absolutely fell in love with it during this time. The boat calvacades are great. You could ride anything anytime with minimal waits. Went to Nomad Lounge for the first time and it’s amazing. A seat by the water and you can see the characters go right by very cool.

 

[CAQDaddy]

FWIW, you can read all about the room checks that have been occurring since 2018 on this thread over on the Resorts Board: Guest experiences with daily room checks

To cut to the punchline, nearly every thread on the topic eventually has had to be closed by the moderator of the Resorts board, and that experience post sticky itself was ultimately closed earlier this year. It's one of those topics where us DISers just can't seem to get along and discuss rationally.

Feel free to carry the discussion over to the Resorts Board, but do so at your own risk.

Reminds me of years ago when my then three year old nephew said, "The sky sure is blue."
My then two year old daughter replied, "No it's not."

 

[Jonathan Friedman]

Leaving today after 4 days at OKW. Pack your patience with the busses. I didn’t go to any parks for rope drop but saw the amount of people at the bus stops and they did an ok job of sending busses with the social distancing inside but if you’re trying to get to DHS for Rise drive yourself or take an Uber.
Went to the parks around noon each day and you can easily do everything you want to do and have plenty of time to spare. It is more relaxing however with the absence of park hoppers there isn’t much to do and night. Avoided Disney springs because of the stories I’ve heard.
Felt DHS was by far the “busiest” but still manageable. DAK and MK unquestionably to me felt the safest. Epcot saw a lot of people walking and eating and drinking and not enough cast members to go around.
Was never huge DAK fans but absolutely fell in love with it during this time. The boat calvacades are great. You could ride anything anytime with minimal waits. Went to Nomad Lounge for the first time and it’s amazing. A seat by the water and you can see the characters go right by very cool.

Curious if you saw mask enforcement on ages between 2 and 3 who had trouble wearing masks 100% of the time?

 

[JPM4]

I didn’t see any cm ask a child to put their mask on unless they were clearly older like 9+.

 

[yulilin3]

Curious if you saw mask enforcement on ages between 2 and 3 who had trouble wearing masks 100% of the time?

today at MK saw a CM ask the mom to put the mask on the kid. She was in the stroller and looked to be around 4 or 5, the mom said "good luck having her keep it on"