Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[yulilin3]

A lot more AP holders are allowed into the part starting the 7th(today). I checked the wait times and yes they are significantly worse. 45min of Pirates Carribean, 50min Avatar FOP, 55min splash mountain, 1 hour MMRR, etc.

Too bad.

Combined that with the diminished experience, hot weather, Covid risk, makes it pretty unappealing unless you are a local with AP IMO. Definitely not worth travelling long distance and paying full price for.

the fact that Silver ap holders can go in doesn't really matter since the pool for AP is the same for all APs it's not like each category has a pool of spots to pull from.
It's just more people coming

 

[Spazz2k]

I think a lot has to do with silver now being able to go...With the exception of Epcot, all AP reservations are filled for the rest of August. We personally know soooo many silver passholders who are there this weekend and next. Silver is definitely the largest group of passholders

 

[Amanda2525]

Just got back from a 3 days Contemporary 8/4 -8/7 and wanted to contribute since you guys helped me finally take the plunge during this weird time. Warning: Long review, my takeaways are near the end. I did our check in through MDE app as soon as I made the reservations. This was a last minute trip and planned a week in advance. We only live 2 hours away so its not as arduous as living out of state. On our drive there around 10am I got the text our room was ready and got the room number. That was pretty awesome.

We parked, unloaded our stuff ourselves and went to our room. Pretty seamless. We went to the main pool soon after we unpacked and there were probably 10 people total there. They want you to wear a mask in all the common areas but once you are through the gate for the pool you can take them off. I saw the chairs, rails and other surfaces being wiped down. Someone came over to us and let us know the rules as soon as we grabbed chairs. Even though I have been studying how things work at Disney now and was familiar she was very friendly and just wanted to inform us.

That night we had dinner planned at San Angel Inn in Epcot around 5. We decided to drive since the monorail is not operating to Epcot. I did not see any parking attendants directing people on how or where to park so there was no social distancing in between cars like I've read others report. We were able to get a close spot and the walk was easy. Epcot was pretty empty near the front of the park and then got busier as you got back towards World Showcase. I say busy but it still wasn't. San Angel Inn was a ghost town in the restaurant area and there were many open tables. Service was great, food was great. I always love the atmosphere inside.

A family near us brought a small dog inside. It looked like a pomeranian mix. It was a little odd and the dog barked more than a few times which was very annoying and kind of weird. I'm sure it was a companion dog loophole type situation but it was strange. The girl at the table had it on her lap and when he would bark she would shush him and then get down on the floor with him to quiet him. That said, I love dogs and my 4 year old was entertained by it. We rode the boat ride after dinner. It was a walk on essentially. We got in line for Frozen which had a 30 minute wait and literally as we were at the que to board our boat the ride broke down. The escorted everyone out of the line que and told us it would be back later hopefully. I did ask for FP to get on later and they obliged. We ended up riding Nemo and then going to the aquarium and heading home afterwards as Frozen was still down.

The next day we did Chef Mickey breakfast and Magic Kingdom afterwards. Chef Mickeys was great, tons of food family style. We got to MK around 9:45 and the park entrance was empty. We were able to ride Dumbo twice, Carousel twice, tried to ride Small World but it broke down after waiting 20 minutes in line. This was something that seemed to be occurring more frequently than I've ever seen in the parks and I've been going for 35+ years as a Florida native (I'm 40 >_<) It seems like when I would check MDE lots of rides would be randomly down for longer than normal periods. I have some theories as to whats going on but its not definitely normal. We did a mobile order for Cosmic Rays and sat inside. Its SO hot right now and we needed the AC. We walked to AL to get Dole Whips and then headed back to Contemporary.

We came back around 5 for and had dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We were able to walk on Small World even though the MDE and wait time outside the ride both said it was 25 minute wait. So you may want to actually physically look at a ride que before writing it off based on MDE and posted wait times. We also rode Jungle Cruise with a 10 minute wait. This was the only time I was uncomfortable at Disney. They were crowding people on the boats and I don't understand why? They were loading the boats with 5 or 6 families per boat and leaving a person sized space between each group. There were some plexiglass dividers up but I was still not comfortable.

This morning we had breakfast at Floridian Cafe at GF. The NBA blue tarp and chainlink really takes away from the beauty of the resort. I would honestly not want to stay at those Villas right now as lots of the common areas outside are completely blocked off. We are now back home and I'm in that annoying limbo of vacation mode and reality of unpacking suitcases and cleaning out my fridge.

Some takeaways and thoughts...mask compliance everywhere we went was excellent. I'd say along the lines of the 98% or better that I keep seeing posted here. The resort monorails were never crowded and they are doing a good job of spacing people out. I never saw anyone cleaning inside the cars so I recommend bringing wipes if your kids like to touch the poles. Hand sanitizer dispensers were generously dispersed throughout the Contemporary and the parks we went to. It is HOT folks and wearing a mask in this weather magnifies that. I highly recommend neck fans, cooling towels (Chil pal brand specifically) and disposable masks. The disposable ones are much more breathable. They even sell kids disposable masks on Amazon.

My 4 year old who has mild sensory issues (she wears headphones in the rides as they are too loud for her) did amazing with this type of mask. Meanwhile she has a cloth one that she hates wearing in the AC as it makes her mouth hot lol. We did take lots of mini breaks, mostly for me to sip water off to the side. The CMs we encountered are polite about correcting mask wearing when they did it. My daughter had her nose out at one point and I didn't notice and the CM told her "Cover your nose! Your nose knows to be covered dear" I got a laugh out of that one!

Lots of rides breaking down for extended amounts of time to the point they escort the entire line out. This happened to us twice in 3 days. I've never experienced that more than a few times in all the times I've gone to Disney. Normally they can get rides back up and running within 15 minutes or so.

I saw someone else post about the security being crabby everywhere and that was our experience too. It felt weird since they don't have the stress of long lines. They are usually very friendly, even during busy times so it felt off. For example, monorail security at Contemporary had totally different procedures each time we walked through. Sometimes I would have to make my daughter get out of the stroller and walk through with me, other times she had to remain in the stroller and I was told to park it to the side and walk through alone. You walk up and they look at you with blank stares then get mad when you do something wrong. My husband was yelled at for not knowing to take out a stainless steel water cup out of the backpack but he wasn't told to take anything out and just to walk through. They sure did seem CRANKY, I can concur with the other poster. Overall we had a great time and all the CMs seemed really appreciative that we were there. We were thanked multiple times for being there. I welcome any questions!

 

[NettieNolan]

We just left today. I found that the posted wait times didn’t match the actual wait times. They were always inflated. For example, splash had a 45 minute posted wait time yesterday (8/6), but we only waited 20 minutes. Same with mine train, never waited more than 20 minutes but wait times always showed 30-45 minutes.

 

[Amanda2525]

We just left today. I found that the posted wait times didn’t match the actual wait times. They were always inflated. For example, splash had a 45 minute posted wait time yesterday (8/6), but we only waited 20 minutes. Same with mine train, never waited more than 20 minutes but wait times always showed 30-45 minutes.

Yes! Same here! Small World of all things was posted 25 minute wait. It was walk on. Wonder what the thinking behind this is? Inflated wait times don't make me personally want to get in line. Short wait times however do! Maybe they are trying to make it seem like they are busier than they are and possibly deterring people from riding things that are breaking down more frequently? Total speculation, I honestly have no idea whats going on.

 

[koquinn]

Yes! Same here! Small World of all things was posted 25 minute wait. It was walk on. Wonder what the thinking behind this is? Inflated wait times don't make me personally want to get in line. Short wait times however do! Maybe they are trying to make it seem like they are busier than they are and possibly deterring people from riding things that are breaking down more frequently? Total speculation, I honestly have no idea whats going on.

Or they just don't want to disappoint people? Or it's fluctuating too much to manage. Don't they normally have people take those red cards thru the line for timing? I imagine they don't want the guests handling those?

 

[HollyMD]

Anyone else notice they just shortened hours for September and October even more?

 

[Obliviate]

This morning we had breakfast at Floridian Cafe at GF. The NBA blue tarp and chainlink really takes away from the beauty of the resort. I would honestly not want to stay at those Villas right now as lots of the common areas outside are completely blocked off.

Agree on the weather, I thought it'd be a non-factor being used to it myself, but it's definitely something to keep in mind. Would you recommend breakfast at Chef Mickey over GF Cafe right now? In terms of both food and physical distancing.

 

[yulilin3]

Anyone else notice they just shortened hours for September and October even more?

Being discussed in the main covid operational thread

 

[Amanda2525]

Or they just don't want to disappoint people? Or it's fluctuating too much to manage. Don't they normally have people take those red cards thru the line for timing? I imagine they don't want the guests handling those?

Oh could be! I forgot about the red cards! The Small World instance was weird. It said 25 minutes for over an hour and was clearly walk on the entire time. So not really sure. If I a can look at a ride que an go "Yep, thats a walk on" surely a CM could see that its not a 25 minute wait. Maybe its just not a priority right now to adjust wait times too?

 

[NettieNolan]

Yes! Same here! Small World of all things was posted 25 minute wait. It was walk on. Wonder what the thinking behind this is? Inflated wait times don't make me personally want to get in line. Short wait times however do! Maybe they are trying to make it seem like they are busier than they are and possibly deterring people from riding things that are breaking down more frequently? Total speculation, I honestly have no idea whats going on.

No clue! I was thinking maybe they’re not good at looking at the line and determining wait times with the new social distancing measures in place? I noticed some groups would allow multiple markers between them and the group ahead of them causing the line to look longer than what it really was. Just a guess! Also, the lines seemed to move fast. You never really stopped walking even on rides that had a wait.

 

[brockash]

Anyone else notice they just shortened hours for September and October even more?

I saw a push notification, but when I look at the hrs.; they're all the same as they have been??? Are you seeing actual shorter hrs somewhere?

 

[HollyMD]

I noticed because of a push notification.
MK 9-6
EP 11-7
HS 10-7
AK 9-5

 

[yulilin3]

I saw a push notification, but when I look at the hrs.; they're all the same as they have been??? Are you seeing actual shorter hrs somewhere?

After September 8
Again this is being discussed in the covid operations thread, let's keep this one focused on just back experiences

 

[Amanda2525]

Agree on the weather, I thought it'd be a non-factor being used to it myself, but it's definitely something to keep in mind. Would you recommend breakfast at Chef Mickey over GF Cafe right now? In terms of both food and physical distancing.

So it kind of depends. GF cafe had better food and there was maybe a tad less people but Chef Mickeys felt very well spread out and its such a giant space that I think as far as ventilation goes it might be better? Chef Mickeys food was the typical food they always serve and the atmosphere is still fun but no characters. GF cafe is more of a quiet, relaxed breakfast for grown ups type place. I had the eggs benedict and marinated tomato salad and it was excellent. They also brought out biscuits with honey citrus butter. We had a seat by a window and what normally is a gorgeous view is now a view of a blue tarp and chain link fence. That was the one drawback.

 

[Skippyboo]

Back in my Pop hotel leaving tomorrow, enjoyed my week for the most part. Definitely hard to find something to do at night. Went to DS twice, definitely more crowded and less compliance with masks than the parks. So sick at eating at Pop food court.

The new security system needs better explanations of what to take out of your bag. Umbrellas are definitely a take out item.

Epcot and AK were super dead. HS seemed the most crowded. MK wasn’t bad but definitely noticed longer wait times today.

The stores need better labeling where the entrances are. The big gift store at AK is a prime example. There is like 5 exits but the entrance is over by flame tree. Didn’t stop 2 scooter ladies from driving through an exit because the doors were open.

I recommend being your own advocate. If you are behind a family with less than stellar mask habits in the line for Splash Mt put an extra wait here space between you.

I have a 9 night trip booked at end September at Pop. With the reduced F&W and no HHN, probably going to cancel and wait for cooler weather and hopefully a large room discount.

 

[Mickey18girl]

Sharing my experiences Aug 6-7, 2020. I went to AK and Epcot.

Animal Kingdom

• Great cast members... lots of people welcoming and saying hello (did not have this at Epcot)
• The boats with characters and musicians were fun and added some needed liveliness, just wish it was more often
• Animal Kingdom you can easily do everything in four hours. Recommend arriving near opening if it is blazing hot out or you want to do the safari and maximize chances of seeing animals. I arrived around 8:20 a.m. and walked on Everest, Kali and almost walked on Safari, then walked on Kali again. At this point, around 9:30 a.m. the wait times started increasing (but in pandemic world that meant from walk on or 5 minutes to 15 minutes or 25 minutes).
• Flight of Passage was about 10 minute wait until 9:30. Around 10 it jumped to 40 minutes then went back to about 25 minutes late morning. I felt least safe in this long queue and in the narrow hallways leading out of the building. Lots of merging on staircases and people just not paying attention to social distancing.
• Breakfast food is scarce. Eat breakfast beforehand if you go early or bring food. I only spotted one breakfast option, which was one sausage/egg breakfast sandwich near the safari line.
• Lots of open space to walk and spaces to sit and relax, including in shade
• More directional markers on the ground in AK... I missed a few of them. Didn't see them in Epcot. They also have super long extended distancing wait queue for FOP, into Africa, and Safari wait queues almost into Pandora, which makes me think they may increase park capacity at some point

Epcot

• Felt comfortable, plenty of space to spread out and the park was pretty empty at close
• Biggest mask issue was some people walking while drinking or eating when you are supposed to be stationary.
• Epcot experience felt "slower" because of having to stay in one place to eat and drink, but no long lines at the food booths. It didn't seem quite as enjoyable as a single person since you didn't have someone to chat with while stationary and I'd almost lean toward a dining reservation than food festival because taking masks on and off for small bites and drinks got a little tiresome after awhile
• Epcot was a really hot place to be in the afternoon (it was about 95 when I was there). There isn't a lot of shade when you are walking around the park (but yes there are shady places to sit or stand). This park might be better later in the day (4-9pm or 5-9pm)
• If you go in the summer, plan on that 5-6/7pm rain storm, so a good time to be waiting for an indoor ride (like Soarin) or in an indoor exhibit.
• Security and temperature checks fast like at AK; I entered via International Gateway
• Check on Skyliner hours and beware of evening lightning... when I left at 9pm the Skyliner wasn't running... maybe because of the weather. So if it is stormy, and you can't walk to your hotel, exit out the front and wait on a bus

Also I missed not going to MK, but it is still busy this time of year despite pandemic and didn’t want to deal with the crowds. If I come back in the fall I would go to MK, And also hope they offer some evening hours then. I really miss not being in the parks at night

 

[NokOnHarts]

Just got back from a 3 days Contemporary 8/4 -8/7 and wanted to contribute since you guys helped me finally take the plunge during this weird time. Warning: Long review, my takeaways are near the end. I did our check in through MDE app as soon as I made the reservations. This was a last minute trip and planned a week in advance. We only live 2 hours away so its not as arduous as living out of state. On our drive there around 10am I got the text our room was ready and got the room number. That was pretty awesome.

We parked, unloaded our stuff ourselves and went to our room. Pretty seamless. We went to the main pool soon after we unpacked and there were probably 10 people total there. They want you to wear a mask in all the common areas but once you are through the gate for the pool you can take them off. I saw the chairs, rails and other surfaces being wiped down. Someone came over to us and let us know the rules as soon as we grabbed chairs. Even though I have been studying how things work at Disney now and was familiar she was very friendly and just wanted to inform us.

That night we had dinner planned at San Angel Inn in Epcot around 5. We decided to drive since the monorail is not operating to Epcot. I did not see any parking attendants directing people on how or where to park so there was no social distancing in between cars like I've read others report. We were able to get a close spot and the walk was easy. Epcot was pretty empty near the front of the park and then got busier as you got back towards World Showcase. I say busy but it still wasn't. San Angel Inn was a ghost town in the restaurant area and there were many open tables. Service was great, food was great. I always love the atmosphere inside.

A family near us brought a small dog inside. It looked like a pomeranian mix. It was a little odd and the dog barked more than a few times which was very annoying and kind of weird. I'm sure it was a companion dog loophole type situation but it was strange. The girl at the table had it on her lap and when he would bark she would shush him and then get down on the floor with him to quiet him. That said, I love dogs and my 4 year old was entertained by it. We rode the boat ride after dinner. It was a walk on essentially. We got in line for Frozen which had a 30 minute wait and literally as we were at the que to board our boat the ride broke down. The escorted everyone out of the line que and told us it would be back later hopefully. I did ask for FP to get on later and they obliged. We ended up riding Nemo and then going to the aquarium and heading home afterwards as Frozen was still down.

The next day we did Chef Mickey breakfast and Magic Kingdom afterwards. Chef Mickeys was great, tons of food family style. We got to MK around 9:45 and the park entrance was empty. We were able to ride Dumbo twice, Carousel twice, tried to ride Small World but it broke down after waiting 20 minutes in line. This was something that seemed to be occurring more frequently than I've ever seen in the parks and I've been going for 35+ years as a Florida native (I'm 40 >_<) It seems like when I would check MDE lots of rides would be randomly down for longer than normal periods. I have some theories as to whats going on but its not definitely normal. We did a mobile order for Cosmic Rays and sat inside. Its SO hot right now and we needed the AC. We walked to AL to get Dole Whips and then headed back to Contemporary.

We came back around 5 for and had dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We were able to walk on Small World even though the MDE and wait time outside the ride both said it was 25 minute wait. So you may want to actually physically look at a ride que before writing it off based on MDE and posted wait times. We also rode Jungle Cruise with a 10 minute wait. This was the only time I was uncomfortable at Disney. They were crowding people on the boats and I don't understand why? They were loading the boats with 5 or 6 families per boat and leaving a person sized space between each group. There were some plexiglass dividers up but I was still not comfortable.

This morning we had breakfast at Floridian Cafe at GF. The NBA blue tarp and chainlink really takes away from the beauty of the resort. I would honestly not want to stay at those Villas right now as lots of the common areas outside are completely blocked off. We are now back home and I'm in that annoying limbo of vacation mode and reality of unpacking suitcases and cleaning out my fridge.

Some takeaways and thoughts...mask compliance everywhere we went was excellent. I'd say along the lines of the 98% or better that I keep seeing posted here. The resort monorails were never crowded and they are doing a good job of spacing people out. I never saw anyone cleaning inside the cars so I recommend bringing wipes if your kids like to touch the poles. Hand sanitizer dispensers were generously dispersed throughout the Contemporary and the parks we went to. It is HOT folks and wearing a mask in this weather magnifies that. I highly recommend neck fans, cooling towels (Chil pal brand specifically) and disposable masks. The disposable ones are much more breathable. They even sell kids disposable masks on Amazon.

My 4 year old who has mild sensory issues (she wears headphones in the rides as they are too loud for her) did amazing with this type of mask. Meanwhile she has a cloth one that she hates wearing in the AC as it makes her mouth hot lol. We did take lots of mini breaks, mostly for me to sip water off to the side. The CMs we encountered are polite about correcting mask wearing when they did it. My daughter had her nose out at one point and I didn't notice and the CM told her "Cover your nose! Your nose knows to be covered dear" I got a laugh out of that one!

Lots of rides breaking down for extended amounts of time to the point they escort the entire line out. This happened to us twice in 3 days. I've never experienced that more than a few times in all the times I've gone to Disney. Normally they can get rides back up and running within 15 minutes or so.

I saw someone else post about the security being crabby everywhere and that was our experience too. It felt weird since they don't have the stress of long lines. They are usually very friendly, even during busy times so it felt off. For example, monorail security at Contemporary had totally different procedures each time we walked through. Sometimes I would have to make my daughter get out of the stroller and walk through with me, other times she had to remain in the stroller and I was told to park it to the side and walk through alone. You walk up and they look at you with blank stares then get mad when you do something wrong. My husband was yelled at for not knowing to take out a stainless steel water cup out of the backpack but he wasn't told to take anything out and just to walk through. They sure did seem CRANKY, I can concur with the other poster. Overall we had a great time and all the CMs seemed really appreciative that we were there. We were thanked multiple times for being there. I welcome any questions!

What brand of disposable masks did you buy? Also, do you feel it was worth the trip with the ride breakdowns as that's pretty much what everyone is going there for currently?

 

[WillAustin]

Were people spaced far apart in Skippers? We are considering doing one or two indoor meals next week but only if spacing is far apart. It's either that, eat in the hotel, or sweat outside on patios. No good choice really.

Not sure about Skipper's Canteen, but when we were there 3+ weeks ago, all the restaurants were appropriately spaced for distancing. Chef Mickey's, California Grill, Backlot, The Wave, 50's Prime Time, STK Orlando, Oga's Cantina, and Grand Floridian Cafe. All had great distancing. We felt safe.

 

[Amanda2525]

What brand of disposable masks did you buy? Also, do you feel it was worth the trip with the ride breakdowns as that's pretty much what everyone is going there for currently?

So my husband had a bunch of the adult disposable masks from his work and I’m not sure what brand they were. I know you can type in disposable facemasks Amazon and lots of options will pop up. I would buy based on reviews. I can link the kids masks that I bought off Amazon though.
www. amazon.com/dp/B089Y97QVB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_tZPlFbJ6EFPHJ

As far as being worth the trip for us it absolutely was. I have a 4 year old and can’t prioritize rides the way I used to when I was child free anyway It was also so nostalgic to feel like we had the park to ourselves. That was how it used to be in the late 90s in September. I never thought Id get an opportunity to see it like that again.

Something you can do is look at the wait times on the MDE app frequently throughout the day over the course of a week. You can monitor how often rides are going down and which ones.