Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[BridgetBordeaux]

Unless you're at the head of the pack, I don't see getting 2 headliners in within 30 minutes. Ride 1 and by the time you get to the next one, there will be a wait that has formed just from onsite guests. 1 ride yes, but 2 is a stretch and for me, to go through the trouble of being there really early to be in front is not worth 1 ride. FP would work ever so much better.

Is it better than nothing? Sure. But I expect more than the level of better than nothing when paying WDW resort prices. It's just another case of getting less and less while paying more. I'd love for them to explain how doing away with EMH somehow makes us all safer- because that's the excuse they're going with and it's ridiculous.

You have made a lot of valid points.................and yes, we rope drop and are usually one of the first 20-40 people they let in the park.

 

[jbish]

We arrived last night and today was our first day in the parks - MK. First of all, want to say how surreal it felt to actually be here after 15 months since our canceled 2020 spring break trip. So happy to be here! Won’t do the full ride by rude rundown as I’m two cocktails in sitting by the pool.

First, DME: we landed at 8 p.m. Saturday evening. Got right on a bus but of course we were the last of five stops. Clearly combined two routes, so that was not fun as we were starving but just barely made it to pick up my mobile order for food. Mobile order definitely has its advantages!

MK this morning. RD was great. Walked right in at 7:20ish, heading to space mountain. Walked right on. By 8, was also able to get in pirates before going to jungle cruise, which opened with the park.

Overall, I’d say the waits were rather pleasant. We were a FP family. My kids were dismayed with a 20-25 minute wait. But to be able to ride PP in the middle of the day in the summer with a <30 minute wait pre-FP would have been unheard of. And quite honestly, the waits were mostly under cover, which really helped us endure the heat. PP was our longest wait of the day. I honestly think no FP is better. The lines were just always moving unless the ride was paused for some reason

We hopped to AK, wanting to see how the closing hours really are, arriving at 5 p.m. knowing we wouldn’t get a ton done. We did EE, KS, KRR, back to Everest for two more rides. The kids would have done a third but wanted soft serve more. lol We also contemplated jumping into the FOP line, but we were beat. Closing time is great.

My one source of disappointment, so far, has been food. Limited options. My Skipper Canteen ADR was for 2:40. Didn’t get seated until closer to 3:00. Everything was slow. Also there are few late dining options available, so I’m currently waiting for my Uber eats driver to arrive with our late dinner.

Tomorrow is HS day! 18 months of practicing better pay off!!

 

[leannak]

If anyone is at HS this week for Rope Drop, please report back what time they let you go to the rides. I saw on the previous page that they held them in a large group at the Chinese Theater until about 8:45 before letting people go to rides. Wanted to see what other people's experiences are this week.

We were there 2 days ago and were held until 8:25. They sent people left for Star Wars and right for Toy Story. They said not to think about going right for Star Wars because you would face a wall of cast members blocking your entry.

 

[bdiddy]

Day 6: HS & AK

Set the alarm to get up for another boarding pass attempt. This time we got BG #12 (earlier in the week we were #55). We took an Uber to the park again and our plan before we knew we had an early BG number was to go right to Rock n Roller coaster since we didn’t get to that last week. When we were there before, we did Slinky first thing and both RnR and Tower were pretty low for awhile so we thought we’d be good hitting that first today. But since we got BG 12 we got called pretty early. Our return time was from 9:04-10:04. We didn’t get to the park until almost 9:30 so we had to go straight to Rise.

After Rise we went to RnR and of course it was up to a 45 min wait. We didn’t have a lot of options because we had an 11:40 at Oga’s and 1:20 at sci-fi and had to leave right after to AK. So we waited and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t quite 45 min. After RnR, we stopped in a few shops and went right to Oga’s. It was our first time there and it was super fun! Had a standing table and all ordered non-alcoholic drinks. DD got the Carbon Freeze which all the fizzy action was awesome! It tasted like a bubbly lemonade to me. I got the Blue Bantha milk that comes with the sugar cookie. I was not a fan and it took a lot for me to just drink half of it. It was just so strange. Like a weird fruity milkshake. And I’ve heard people rave about the sugar cookie that comes on top of it but I thought it was dry and nothing special! DH got the hyperdrive and he said it was pretty good. Picky DS was boring and got water! Haha

After Oga’s, we didn’t have all that much time so we went to Muppets which was one of the last things we didn’t get to along with RnR last week. After that it was time to check in for Sci-Fi. This was our 3rd time eating here over the last 13 yrs we’ve been coming and it’s always a fun meal. DD just got fried pickles for her meal and the meteor coke with the glowing ice cube. DS got the American burger and fries. I got the impossible burger which was the plant based burger - which I love these at Disney and just keep ordering them! DH got the drive-in burger.

After sci-fi we had to leave right away to go to AK. My best friend who lives in NC had just arrived with her family and we were meeting for the afternoon for a few hours. We haven’t seen them in about a year so it was nice to visit for a bit. They saved FOP for when we got there so we could hang out and talk in line. It said it was a 55 min wait but I timed it and it was 45 min. It felt so much faster though since we had them to hang out with.

After FOP, we all went on Navi which was a posted 25 min wait and we were on in 18 min. Then we all rode Everest which was pretty much walk-on. After that, they had to leave to their dinner reservation. DH and DS wanted to ride FOP again and it said it was “only” 38 min so they went and then DD and I went on safari which was 9 min posted wait but was walk-on. The rhinos were so active and right up next to the vehicle a bunch and we got to see the baby rhino which was so cute!

I also almost forgot!! And I will include a picture because this was AMAZING! My BFF had gotten it earlier in the day and told me about it so I had to go get it to try. It’s a strawberry shortcake ice cream cookie. It’s strawberry ice cream between two sugar cookies that are coated in a strawberry crumb topping. It was SO good! It’s from a little place in Dinoland right before Dinosaur called Dino-bites.

After FOP and Safari we left and this was the longest we had to wait for a bus to WL. It was about 15 min which really isn’t bad. It just shows how quick they were all the other nights. We came back and showered and I started organizing our stuff for packing tomorrow. Can’t believe it’s our last day!

Which we have Epcot scheduled first with a reservation at Coral Reef and then we’ll finish at MK. DH isn’t feeling so good though, he woke up with a scratchy throat and had been feeling really congested and is pretty sure he has a head cold. We got some Benadryl in the gift shop to hopefully dry him up a bit and knock him out to get some sleep tonight. Which we all figured that we’d probably be getting sick on or after this trip. It’s the first time we haven’t really had masks on since this all began! I normally get 2-3 colds a year and I haven’t been sick since the January before covid hit so I know it’s coming! I just hope it waits until we are home! And that DH feels a little better and can get though our last day.

 

[Leigh L]

Ha! My DH is not super tall (5'11") but he's broad/pretty solid so using him as a blocker usually helps. I still swear that room is a nightmare, though!

Thankfully, it's not bad right now. (Unless it changes during the day as crowds build up.) Plenty of room to breathe and no rush of people out of the stretching room. We went to HM sometime in the early part of 9 a.m. hour after we'd done BTMR, POC, and JC.

 

[Leigh L]

Ooh! So they are allowing row requests again?! Do they have a separate line for the front row as they did in the past?

I requested towards the front at EE today. CM didn't sound too happy about it, but I was accommodated.

Some of these coasters, especially the long train ones, I can't do the back anymore :/.

 

[oktxregulators2020]

Day 7 Disney Springs & MK (3rd Day at MK)

Day 7 was going to be a lazy day for us to continue enjoying the house we rented off property. We had lunch/early supper reservations at Homecomin at 3:30. We got to DS around 2:30 and it was very busy. I walked over to Gideon's just to get a chuckle to see how long the virtual que was for cookies and was told 4 hours!! We then went over to World of Disney and bought a few things before making our way to eat. Was seated around 3:45. Wife had Chicken & Donuts, I had the Chicken Fried Steak, Daughter had Shrimp N Grits and Daughter Friend had Chicken Breasts. My wife and myself split a yummy piece of Moonshine Cake for Desert. We finished up around 5 and decided to go back to our house and drop off leftovers and go to MK to see what we can do in around 3 hours (Closes at 9PM).

We drove to MK and the guy at the car line said since it was 5:35 he was not going to charge us to park. Wooohooo!! Got a very close parking spot and walked right on the monorail and right off into MK. Upon arrival everything had wait times under 30 min except for 7DMT, Splash and JC. We walked into the park at 5:50 and decided to see how much we can do in 3 hours.

Space was first with 25 min wait, then Buzz was 20 min wait. PM was a walk on. Speedway 10 min wait. Teacups walk on. Next we did 7DMT with a 50 min wait. It was almost 8'oclock and we then did HM 20 min wait (the graveyard is now open but it was not turned on). We still had 2 rides we wanted to do and it was 8:30. Walked over to BTM and walked on and then hit Splash with a 15 min wait and got off 10 minutes before park closed and closed out the night with a Dole Whip right as park closed.

Drove back to the house we have and my daughter started asking about a robot she wants at HS. So, I forgot that you could build a robot at HS so I got online and was able to snag two reservations tomorrow at HS to build Robots.

So, in a span of 3 hours we did 9 rides. Not bad I say!!

 

[yorkieteacher]

If anyone is at HS this week for Rope Drop, please report back what time they let you go to the rides. I saw on the previous page that they held them in a large group at the Chinese Theater until about 8:45 before letting people go to rides. Wanted to see what other people's experiences are this week.

On June 20 we went through security at 815, the tap points immediately afterwards, then held at one of three lines for Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story, or MMRR until 840.

 

[yorkieteacher]

Just curious, I was leaving HS today at closing and saw a bunch of people coming in for some event - they all had the same lanyards/name tags. Does anyone know what the event is?

On June 20 a convention my son is attending and my grandson and I are guests had a dessert party for attendees beginning at 930 pm . Many corporate events are after hours . We got to ride RnRC as often as we wanted, which is zero for me!

 

[yorkieteacher]

Two days into our week that began at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, we have designed a car again at Test Track, seen the preshow at MMRR and ToT, visited with Honda at MFSR, and had the full RotT experience. I haven’t noticed any differences from our trip early March 2020 except character hugs , nighttime shows, and street entertainers. Ready for those any time now!

 

[Eeyore1220]

Could you go to rock n roller coaster or Tower of terror right away, or was everyone held at the Chinese theater for ALL attractions?

Dan

Our plan is to rope drop RRC today so I’ll report back on how they handle that in terms of the holding

 

[WEDWDW]

Two days into our week that began at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, we have designed a car again at Test Track, seen the preshow at MMRR and ToT, visited with Honda at MFSR, and had the full RotT experience. I haven’t noticed any differences from our trip early March 2020 except character hugs , nighttime shows, and street entertainers. Ready for those any time now!

It is really amazing how FAST everything is coming back!

 

[tigger2002]

Tomorrow is HS day! 18 months of practicing better pay off!!

Did you get a boarding group?

 

[Southernmiss]

Two days into our week that began at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, we have designed a car again at Test Track, seen the preshow at MMRR and ToT, visited with Honda at MFSR, and had the full RotT experience. I haven’t noticed any differences from our trip early March 2020 except character hugs , nighttime shows, and street entertainers. Ready for those any time now!

These are new since Saturday!

We did Haunted Mansion with no pre-show on 6/16 and with pre-show on Saturday.

Fun to see the changes happening fast.

My brother and his family will experience things this week that we didn’t last week.

 

[Eeyore1220]

Our plan is to rope drop RRC today so I’ll report back on how they handle that in terms of the holding

They let us go back and get in (a long) line for rrc at 8:20. I decided to rope drop Starbucks instead lol but my family is headed toward the ride

 

[Eeyore1220]

They let us go back and get in (a long) line for rrc at 8:20. I decided to rope drop Starbucks instead lol but my family is headed toward the ride

 

[bdiddy]

These are new since Saturday!

We did Haunted Mansion with no pre-show on 6/16 and with pre-show on Saturday.

Fun to see the changes happening fast.

My brother and his family will experience things this week that we didn’t last week.

I’m so excited for the stretching room today! It wasn’t happening last Tuesday when we were there and we didn’t go on it Fri when we were at MK but will be today for sure!

 

[cakebaker]

There is no ride anywhere that will get me into a line like that.

 

[Eeyore1220]

Just an FYI because people were asking - they let everyone head into HS at 8:30.

 

[goodferry]

Unless you're at the head of the pack, I don't see getting 2 headliners in within 30 minutes. Ride 1 and by the time you get to the next one, there will be a wait that has formed just from onsite guests. 1 ride yes, but 2 is a stretch and for me, to go through the trouble of being there really early to be in front is not worth 1 ride. FP would work ever so much better.

Is it better than nothing? Sure. But I expect more than the level of better than nothing when paying WDW resort prices. It's just another case of getting less and less while paying more. I'd love for them to explain how doing away with EMH somehow makes us all safer- because that's the excuse they're going with and it's ridiculous.

I disagree, I think it's possible with the way things are working now to get two headliners in within 30 minutes. We were at the gates of Animal Kingdom when it opened (about 45 minutes early, no rope drop, last week) and we walked straight on FOP, then moved over to Everest and then to the Safari, which we got on at park opening. By 11 we had ridden everything and were walking the trails until lunch.
Magic Kingdom was a little harder, mostly because it's so spread out and not as much was open for us when they opened the gates. We rode Peter Pan and Pirates (two things we found that were open) before park open, followed by BTM, Splash, SM, Buzz, HM, VOTLM, People Mover, all before 11:30 (lunch) We saved 7D for the night when we had a late dinner reservation at BOG and waited about 15 minutes then.
Hollywood Studios was totally different, we got there early and were at the very front of the first rope drop. We immediately rode SDD, TSM, and the Alien spin just to get that area over with. We rode Star Tours with no wait and Smugglers Run next before our 10:30 Oga's reservation. For the rest of the rides we kept watching for a wait time to drop on the app and then went there. We were able to ride RNR and the runaway railway before our Rise boarding group, which was called around 1:30, then TOT on our way out
Without Fastpass, I do think that being there at open is vital. We felt like the wait times for the non-headliner rides were MUCH lower now and we didn't really miss FP+. Do we miss the OG paper fast pass system, ABDOLUTELY, but we never loved FP+