Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[yulilin3]

I have a question regarding food allergies and mobile ordering. I have Celiacs disease and must eat gluten free. In the past, the cook/chef has come out and taken my order. I have also been instructed by CMs to only accept my food from the cook as that way I know it's the gluten free meal. Has anyone been in this situation recently? How is it now handled?

If you go on MDE and go on mobile order, pick the restaurant you want and click on more options or allergy free at the top of the menu. You'll see the options for gluten free

 

[mlayman7]

We spent yesterday at the MK and went back to HS this morning.

1 - arrive later in the day if possible, especially HS. Wait times drop dramatically after 2 pm. Only issue is getting rotr pass but if you can forgo that, it is worth it.

2. Magic kingdom, there was a lot more people around, on the pathways, in lines, but seems like it could easily handle it. We actually had to wait in line for 10 to 15 minutes vs walking on. Still you could easily do everything in a day plus repeats on some in one day. Longest wait here was splash mountain.

3. The only area we feel uncomfortable are the busses. They do everything they can to keep distance between guests, they even have the vent on top open to increase air flow but you are sitting right next to others with a small divider between other groups. Most of the time, we have been on busses with only one or two other groups so no issue at all. This morning we missed the first bus to HS because it was full, and barely caught the second one. The way back at 3 pm, only people on it.

4. We dined at 50s prime time cafe two nights ago, not as packed with people but still not spread out enough for indoor dining. You are still really close to others in there. The food though, best we've had there and have always loved it for the last 5 to 6 years.

5. Staying at kidani village. Nothing beats the view of the Savannah on property.

 

[Obliviate]

Not sure if you are aware that everyone in the International program was sent home.

Yes, I was aware. But last time I heard France and Morocco were supposed to at least have some representation. Regardless, it is one thing to know the international CM won't be there and that the menu is limited, and then there is to walk into an empty boulangerie, almost literally. I thought it was closed at first.

 

[summerw]

Yulilin, thanks for maintaining a great thread! You are always so informed and helpful.

And thank you to all the people reporting back. It’s so different planning right now and I really appreciate the info.

Although none of us likes it, Disney probably the most, everything at Disney is costing them more... all the barriers, how they have to staff and space causing them to get less value from everything, PPE, food, sanitizer, disposable everything, training. The value you are being offered is their effort to keep you safe during a pandemic.

I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t assume that closed spaces like elevators and buses would be a problem. We planned our hotels and park days around transportation and will also rent a car this time. I’m assuming that most things will have kinks that are being worked out, like everything in our lives right now.

I’m shocked people think others should be booted for mask violations, not for refusing to cooperate with a cast member (which would be reasonable), but for violations, which could be intentional or accidental. This is a new thing for all of us and we will make mistakes.

 

[JPM4]

We spent yesterday at the MK and went back to HS this morning.

1 - arrive later in the day if possible, especially HS. Wait times drop dramatically after 2 pm. Only issue is getting rotr pass but if you can forgo that, it is worth it.

2. Magic kingdom, there was a lot more people around, on the pathways, in lines, but seems like it could easily handle it. We actually had to wait in line for 10 to 15 minutes vs walking on. Still you could easily do everything in a day plus repeats on some in one day. Longest wait here was splash mountain.

3. The only area we feel uncomfortable are the busses. They do everything they can to keep distance between guests, they even have the vent on top open to increase air flow but you are sitting right next to others with a small divider between other groups. Most of the time, we have been on busses with only one or two other groups so no issue at all. This morning we missed the first bus to HS because it was full, and barely caught the second one. The way back at 3 pm, only people on it.

4. We dined at 50s prime time cafe two nights ago, not as packed with people but still not spread out enough for indoor dining. You are still really close to others in there. The food though, best we've had there and have always loved it for the last 5 to 6 years.

5. Staying at kidani village. Nothing beats the view of the Savannah on property.

I agree with DHS. The later the better. We are staying at Kidani for 2 nights in a couple of weeks. How rough is the food situation there? Have the pools been packed or with Jambo pool open is it a little more spread out?

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

Things are not normal. They will never be "normal" again.

I would agree to an extent... hopefully, this has made people realize the importance of good hygiene, etc. and that awareness will have permanent (positive) impacts. But I don't subscribe to the dystopian view that we now have to wear masks for the rest of our lives, must avoid contact with other human beings, and can never again eat at a buffet, go on a cruise, or attend a live concert.

My biggest fear is that, once this disease has been licked (and I have faith that we WILL get past it), we'll be told that things still can't go back to normal. The next disease might be waiting to pounce at any time and we can't risk removing these extreme measures for fear of there being another pandemic.

 

[pointybubble]

Can anyone tell me if you have seen the model trains running at Germany in Epcot? This is one of my DS5's most favorite things in all of Disney World and I'm wondering if I should prepare him for them to down.

 

[mlayman7]

I agree with DHS. The later the better. We are staying at Kidani for 2 nights in a couple of weeks. How rough is the food situation there? Have the pools been packed or with Jambo pool open is it a little more spread out?

We have a 2 bedroom and ordered plenty of food, frozen pizzas, mac n cheese, etc. So not an issue for us. The pool bar/grill really is a last resort. Better off getting food in the shop inside the lobby. We are at sanaa, had a reservation for dinner earlier in the week, and it was great, but cant afford or would want to eat their regularly. So short answer, if staying in a studio, food options are seriously lacking.

We have went swimming every day that we have been here so far, either morning or evening. Mornings definitely quieter, evening aren't too bad either. Never have we felt uncomfortable. I like the method they have with cleaning the seats after people have left. That slide though, would be fine if you weren't going down speed bumps, not sure why this hasn't been addressed at a deluxe resort.

 

[yulilin3]

Can anyone tell me if you have seen the model trains running at Germany in Epcot? This is one of my DS5's most favorite things in all of Disney World and I'm wondering if I should prepare him for them to down.

They were running 3 days ago

 

[Sarahraegraham]

Can anyone tell me if you have seen the model trains running at Germany in Epcot? This is one of my DS5's most favorite things in all of Disney World and I'm wondering if I should prepare him for them to down.

Yup. And you actually have time and space to enjoy them now that the crowds are so low

 

[JPM4]

We have a 2 bedroom and ordered plenty of food, frozen pizzas, mac n cheese, etc. So not an issue for us. The pool bar/grill really is a last resort. Better off getting food in the shop inside the lobby. We are at sanaa, had a reservation for dinner earlier in the week, and it was great, but cant afford or would want to eat their regularly. So short answer, if staying in a studio, food options are seriously lacking.

We have went swimming every day that we have been here so far, either morning or evening. Mornings definitely quieter, evening aren't too bad either. Never have we felt uncomfortable. I like the method they have with cleaning the seats after people have left. That slide though, would be fine if you weren't going down speed bumps, not sure why this hasn't been addressed at a deluxe resort.

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

 

[DanielNYC]

I read these boards endlessly for the month leading up to our trip and then I “practiced” at home for the first few steps.

I used cell phone data (not WiFi) and stood off to the side at 9:50-near the Disney Jr theater because no one else was there. I have no idea if it matters if no one else is around or not but I felt it helped with better reception. Then I sent my kids to ride tower of terror so they did not stress me out (ha)!

I practiced with opening the app at 9:59 on my iPhone and then would click “join” on the VQ about 30 seconds later. It was never there at that time- 9:59 and 30 seconds). But then I hit “back”, waited until exactly 10:00 am and then I Hit join again and could actually click my party and join. Again, no idea if this would work for all but I literally practiced at 10 and 2 for a week leading up to being in the park! Also I had other friends and-family linked to my account but deleted them prior to this trip bc you need to select your party so I only wanted the four of us that were on this trip.

This has been stressing me a bit so thanks very much for the crystal clear explanation!

 

[thingaboutarsenal]

We got back Monday from 7 nights at the Poly and I just finished recovering from vacation so here's my two cents.

The Polynesian: it's still the greatest hotel on property IMO. Sure looking at Space Mountain and the Castle from our room was somewhat disappointing knowing there'd be no fireworks, but the view was still great. The pool is always great and this time was no different. The staff of this hotel were beyond amazing. My son was treated like family by so many CM at the Poly and it was absolutely magical.

MK: it was great to ride 7d, which is something pre Covid we never did being local AP who don't ride without fastpasses. However it kinda sucked to wait for Winnie the Poo and other rides that always had a fastpass, even on busy days. It's a trade off I guess, but seeing distancing markers way back in some lines was pretty ominous to me and has me worried that they plan on increasing capacity without bringing Fastpass back. Longest wait we did was Splash Mountain at 45 minutes. Also did Skipper Canteen fully expecting it to be heavy on Skipper kitsch, which we love, but light on food. We were pleasantly surprised by the food. It was tasty and adventurous. No night time in MK was a major bummer.

HS: was a park we used to never do, but my son is now 41 inches so we really enjoyed it. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but Mickey and Minnie is better than the Great Movie Ride. Got 9 and 21 in two days for ROTR. On the 21 day it was broken most of the day including 90 minutes that we waited in line after getting called, then taken to interrogation before being evacuated. Finally got to ride at 5pm. The ride is amazing. I don't even like Star Wars and I thought it was great. HS has come a long way from a few years ago.

Epcot: I know it's in bad shape, but it was one of our favorites. Tangerine Cafe was closed and WS was quite weird without much international staff. Hacienda de San Angel had the best meal (and server, Gerry from Toluca) of the vacation with Pollo al Pastor. It was a transcendental meal. The longest and hottest line of vacation however was Frozen Ever After. The first 15 minutes are outside getting slammed by sun. Did it at rope drop the next time and rode 3x as a walk on. Mariachi Cobre miked up sounds better. I didn't think it was possible. They are, IMO the best musicians in all of WDW.

AK: by far the most disappointing park, which breaks my heart. There are 7 attractions not including Tough to be a Bug, which I only ever do when there are no Fastpasses left, not that I hate it, it's just old and boring and IMO a cautionary tale of using IP because it's dated with a movie that is not very timeless. FOP at 10 minutes was great and I got to see the standby queue for that and NRJ for the first time in my life.

Other observations: we had the most ridiculous encounter with a CM at world of Disney who made my 3 year old take a half step, literally a half step, like 3 inches, because he was not fully behind the plexiglass. He was wearing a mask and extremely excited because he was being rewarded with a toy for being so good about wearing a mask for the first half. He didn't understand her but I thought it was super petty and unnecessary especially the tone she used which sucked because he was getting rewarded for following rules that were hard for him at times. It was our only negative experience. It's funny too because we then went to the Sanuk store where one employee played with my son while the other leaned around the plexiglass because she said she feels like she can't hear behind it. I just laughed at how two different experiences happened back to back. We also got smoked by a rainstorm at AK, just a minute after I decided not to buy ponchos. We learned two things: 1. Social distancing happens much less in lines with little rain protection. 2. Soaking wet masks are suffocating, I'm asthmatic and it was brutal, fortunately we brought extra masks, but the time from the rain untill we got back to the stroller were awful. Also Kali got my mask wet too, which was confusing because Sea World makes you remove your mask for Infinity Falls, which is essentially the same ride system.

TL;DR Poly is great, everything else is cool, wet masks = suffocating

 

[MomOTwins]

We got back Monday from 7 nights at the Poly and I just finished recovering from vacation so here's my two cents.

The Polynesian: it's still the greatest hotel on property IMO. Sure looking at Space Mountain and the Castle from our room was somewhat disappointing knowing there'd be no fireworks, but the view was still great. The pool is always great and this time was no different. The staff of this hotel were beyond amazing. My son was treated like family by so many CM at the Poly and it was absolutely magical.

MK: it was great to ride 7d, which is something pre Covid we never did being local AP who don't ride without fastpasses. However it kinda sucked to wait for Winnie the Poo and other rides that always had a fastpass, even on busy days. It's a trade off I guess, but seeing distancing markers way back in some lines was pretty ominous to me and has me worried that they plan on increasing capacity without bringing Fastpass back. Longest wait we did was Splash Mountain at 45 minutes. Also did Skipper Canteen fully expecting it to be heavy on Skipper kitsch, which we love, but light on food. We were pleasantly surprised by the food. It was tasty and adventurous. No night time in MK was a major bummer.

HS: was a park we used to never do, but my son is now 41 inches so we really enjoyed it. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but Mickey and Minnie is better than the Great Movie Ride. Got 9 and 21 in two days for ROTR. On the 21 day it was broken most of the day including 90 minutes that we waited in line after getting called, then taken to interrogation before being evacuated. Finally got to ride at 5pm. The ride is amazing. I don't even like Star Wars and I thought it was great. HS has come a long way from a few years ago.

Epcot: I know it's in bad shape, but it was one of our favorites. Tangerine Cafe was closed and WS was quite weird without much international staff. Hacienda de San Angel had the best meal (and server, Gerry from Toluca) of the vacation with Pollo al Pastor. It was a transcendental meal. The longest and hottest line of vacation however was Frozen Ever After. The first 15 minutes are outside getting slammed by sun. Did it at rope drop the next time and rode 3x as a walk on. Mariachi Cobre miked up sounds better. I didn't think it was possible. They are, IMO the best musicians in all of WDW.

AK: by far the most disappointing park, which breaks my heart. There are 7 attractions not including Tough to be a Bug, which I only ever do when there are no Fastpasses left, not that I hate it, it's just old and boring and IMO a cautionary tale of using IP because it's dated with a movie that is not very timeless. FOP at 10 minutes was great and I got to see the standby queue for that and NRJ for the first time in my life.

Other observations: we had the most ridiculous encounter with a CM at world of Disney who made my 3 year old take a half step, literally a half step, like 3 inches, because he was not fully behind the plexiglass. He was wearing a mask and extremely excited because he was being rewarded with a toy for being so good about wearing a mask for the first half. He didn't understand her but I thought it was super petty and unnecessary especially the tone she used which sucked because he was getting rewarded for following rules that were hard for him at times. It was our only negative experience. It's funny too because we then went to the Sanuk store where one employee played with my son while the other leaned around the plexiglass because she said she feels like she can't hear behind it. I just laughed at how two different experiences happened back to back. We also got smoked by a rainstorm at AK, just a minute after I decided not to buy ponchos. We learned two things: 1. Social distancing happens much less in lines with little rain protection. 2. Soaking wet masks are suffocating, I'm asthmatic and it was brutal, fortunately we brought extra masks, but the time from the rain untill we got back to the stroller were awful. Also Kali got my mask wet too, which was confusing because Sea World makes you remove your mask for Infinity Falls, which is essentially the same ride system.

TL;DR Poly is great, everything else is cool, wet masks = suffocating

Sounds like a great trip! With the DS CM I do think we all need to give CMs some grace when they are strict—we are choosing to be there, but they need the job, and some may have high risk family members they are scared for. It has to be stressful even for the ones who are able to stay upbeat.

 

[thingaboutarsenal]

Sounds like a great trip! With the DS CM I do think we all need to give CMs some grace when they are strict—we are choosing to be there, but they need the job, and some may have high risk family members they are scared for. It has to be stressful even for the ones who are able to stay upbeat.

I'm all for grace but being rude to a 3 year old about moving 3 inches is absurd. He was more than 6 feet away and wearing a mask. Also, according to a peer reviewed study in the medical journal "pediatrics" little kids rarely carry the disease and even more rarely infect someone else.

Other than this it was magical. I didn't want to leave and my house is only 90 minutes away.

 

[Kyhome]

I have two days of parks to report thus far.

Huge Disney vets and OCD planners (me). I always get the fast passes 60 days out, we always stay on property, always get hoppers, etc. Have been to Disney at least once a year each year in last 10 years.

We wanted to take advantage of lower lines and less crowds. My kids are older now-8 and 13 years old. We have never cared about parades or fireworks (sorry but we do rides during those times) but are all about maximizing rides.

First two days have been great, split stay with Universal, which is new to us. We are staying off disney property for the first time in forever bc there are no extra hours and no early fast passes with staying at Disney.

At AK, we were there from 8-12:30, did FOP twice, EE four times, dinosaur twice, tricero spin, safari, and Navi once, rapids twice. Minimal or no waits for each.

Hollywood studios, we got there at 930 (drove), got a boarding pass number 8 for Rise. Did Rock and Roller x5, Tower terror x4, Mickey and Minnie x2, TSM x2, SDD x2, Smugglers run x2, Rise around 10:30, Star Tours x1 (not all in that order)! Took a two hour break in middle of day to leave park and go eat during a rainstorm.

I do miss the character greetings but my kids aren’t into that anymore (sad).
If you are into rides, now is the time to go because of low waits.

We also don’t really stop to eat (like I said, we go off parks to eat usually) so can’t comment on that.
Entry to parks was easy, including temp checks and bag walk through. I do like that universal now puts hand sanitizer on each persons hands where Disney just had it available. Mask compliance at parks close to 100 percent. Maybe 95? But I saw a few corrected. Yes it’s hot with a mask but we are from the south so we are used to it and did not bother us.
Feel free to ask any questions!

And for our last park day-we spent 10 hours at MK. We thought it was great. Per previous post, I have always been the OCD planner with fast passes and we have always stayed on property. We have never really waited over 20 minutes in line for anything because I always plan and strategically place fast passes, park days, etc.

However, we loved no fast passes this trip. It made the days so much more relaxing because everything was not planned and we could walk around to short waits. The longest we waited over three days was 30 minutes one time for Splash. Almost everything else was a walk on or very low wait. Today at MK, we walked on most rides (other than 30 minutes at Splash and 20 for Mine Train).

We honestly also liked driving ourselves to the parks. No waiting on busses and it was a lot easier than we had thought.

We are a ‘ride‘ family and go for the rides so this was the perfect time for us. Yes there are limited hours, limited dining and missing some attractions but the magic is still there, if you allow it to be. We were grateful to be out there, felt safe, and loved every single minute of this trip

 

[Cliz155]

I agree with DHS. The later the better. We are staying at Kidani for 2 nights in a couple of weeks. How rough is the food situation there? Have the pools been packed or with Jambo pool open is it a little more spread out?

We made Sanaa reservations for AK days (since they close early at 6pm)-- around 7:30 or so worked perfect. We made reservations at the parks for dinner on the other days (HS, EPCOT, MK). Try to time it so that your dinner reservation is about 10 minutes before park close and you'll get an emptier restaurant and a nice and peaceful park exit too! A lot of times, we ended up bringing back leftovers for the next day at lunch-- yay microwave! Otherwise, we did QS for lunch. For breakfasts, I packed a box of cereal and bought a half gallon of milk when we arrived. The donuts in the gift shop are an easy breakfast option too.

 

[Cliz155]

I made a new thread about shipping info because I wanted people to be able to search for it... but maybe I should post it here instead? or in addition? We spent a ton of time on the phone and asking different places about shipping, so I want to save everyone some time/hassle.

Current Shipping Info

After our long quest to find a way to ship home lightsabers and other Star Wars stuff, I just wanted to share back our findings. I was told by both the front desk, and guest services on the phone, that Disney World Resorts are NOT shipping any merchandise home for guests right now, even if you have the receipts. I asked guest services (from the phone in the room) about business centers, but none were open (even though the answering machine messages listed hours that seemed open). For example, Contemporary's business center had hours from 8-5pm (I think?) but when I called around 2 pm, they were not open.

Next, I decided to try and see if we could ship home from a park. Both guest services (from the phone in the hotel room) and the guest services in person at the front of Hollywood studios said that you could NOT ship merchandise home from a park. However, Hollywood Studios guest services did add that you COULD ship home, but ONLY at the point of purchase. If you're going to do shipping, make sure you're ready to ship when you purchase. Right now shipping home is only happening from the parks directly.

 

[disney_kings]

I have a question regarding food allergies and mobile ordering. I have Celiacs disease and must eat gluten free. In the past, the cook/chef has come out and taken my order. I have also been instructed by CMs to only accept my food from the cook as that way I know it's the gluten free meal. Has anyone been in this situation recently? How is it now handled?

We are at the parks now and my oldest daughter has Celiacs. We were told to always avoid the mobile ordering and order direct at a window to ensure it gets made properly. Haven't had any probs and even with reduced offerings because so many locations are closed, we haven't had trouble finding food for her that she likes.

 

[polynor]

We are back and getting back into our routine. some more thoughts now that the trip has passed.
1. Epcot. Finding remy kept the boys engaged at WS. They also were interested in some of the food. Places like Germany and Italy were completely empty. japans store was still populated, not too crowded. AP discount doesn’t apply here (separately owned). my 5yo was dying for AC, so we wandered into the “lamp shop” and then realized it’s where you probably meet jasmine/Aladdin? It was empty and he could run around for a little bit in cool air (and he didn’t take off his mask!).
2. Instagrammers. Ran into several trying to set up their shots. It’s ok if theyre not impeding the walkway but they often are and take a lot longer to get their shot. some would also then remove their masks to get the shot.
3. ROTR. We got boarding groups 2, 8, 5. We were about to board SDD @9:57. The cm let us step to the side and then boarded us after. turn off the WiFi and have someone else do a countdown. At 10sec, keep swiping down to refresh until the join shows up. We had to remove my parents each time so it‘s still possible.
4. masks. i read the prior conversation in this thread, I was the death stare poster. I will clarify, we didn’t confront. Ive seen enough videos where that goes poorly. I think it sucks that people react with that level of disregard for others, but that’s what we live with now. We chose to put more distance. I'm of the opinion if you can’t comply, you shouldn’t visit. While posters mentioned about people with small lapses, those are not the ones I’m concerned about, it’s those with flagrant noncompliance. While DHS was more crowded, we saw more CM engagement there. AK while not crowded was the poorest in CM engagment for masks.
5. mask care. We were staying in a 2br at BLT. We packed a delicates bag and put all the masks in there each day to wash. I made my family switch out midday to new masks as well due to exposure (brought an ziploc labeled dirty for them). We used cloth, and while the disposable are lighter, I found if you got the right seal on them, they trap in more moisture. The cloth ones absorb it ( why you should change them out).
6. because of the hours, we cooked quite a few meals and ended up with two instacart orders. Overall, we found it relaxing it. I brought individual Proseccos with me and snack packs of cheese and meats and had my own happy hour on the balcony lookingout on bay lake.