Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[PrincessV]

Just back from 2 nights/3 days - Jan. 24-26 (Sun-Tue)...

VERY low crowds. Not quite as low as August, but close.
I am not a RDer, and I really wasn't there for rides, particularly, but I did a few.

Sun 1/24 DHS & EP:
Arrived about noon - walked from BCV to DHS and MO'd DB7 on the way. Hit "I'm Here" as I approached GE and it was ready by the time I finished washing my hands. Plenty of outdoor seating, but really not physically distanced: I sat at the little bar outside and people sat at the table right behind me, 2-3' away. It was breezy and blowing away from me, so I was okay with it, but surprised to not see more distancing between available seating.

Rode MMRR: waited 25 minutes, posted wait showed 40.
Rode TSM: waited 12 minutes, posted said 25.

Hopped to EP around 4:30pm: only wanted to see the new section of France, which I did. Did not feel crowded at all.

Mon 1/25 EP:
Walked from BCV at 11am, left about 5pm.

Only there for the Festival of the Arts - no crowds, plenty of room for everyone to space out. No lines to get into art tents, no lines for food booths. Waited behind one other party at L'Artisan des Glaces. Looong wait to pay at Mitsukoshi, only because the system was down and only one register open to take cash payments. Physical distancing went out the window as the line built up.

ETA: forgot rides...

Rode Nemo: walk-on, posted 10 minute wait
Rode Frozen: waited 7 minutes, posted 15. The plexiglass is every bit as bad as others have said! I'm not a big fan of the ride, so I didn't really care, but yeah - it's pretty bad.

Tue 1/26 AK:
Arrived by car about 10am, left at 1pm.

Rode Safari: 10 minute wait, posted was 15.

MO'd Restaurantosaurus - was ready 5 minutes after hitting "I'm here."

Masks: really excellent compliance all around in the parks. Much less so out of them. Walking to DHS I passed about 20 people - half weren't wearing masks at all. Leaving AK, woman walking ahead of me wore her mask on her elbow while smoking a cigarette. Indoors at BCV/BC mask compliance was excellent, but less so outdoors. It seems some folks don't bother following the rules when there are no CMs policing an area. I'll admit that while sitting alone - literally: the only person out there - on the beach, I took mine off.

Distancing: pretty good all over. As always, best where there are markers, worst where there are not. But with such low attendance, it was very easy to keep my distance from others everywhere except in line in Mitsukoshi.

 

[fairestoneofall]

We went the first week of January. AH, HS and MK were all opened early. They didn't necessarily start all of the attractions early, but you were not held anywhere in the park (in our experience). We did not visit Epcot in the morning.

For HS, my youngest had a reservation at Droid Depot for 30 minutes prior to park opening. My older kids rode MFSR prior to park opening. And our boarding group (13) was called 17 minutes prior to official opening.

 

[sethschroeder]

It's always early. Be at the bus 1hr 15mins early for the first bus (might not get there until 45mins prior to opening).

Park will normally open 45 mins early or there abouts.

Bus is highly likely to get you there sooner because busses will be dropping off before the parking lot even opens.

 

[DenCl]

Can anyone share how early before stated Park Openings do the Parking Lots open?

 

[gregorykicks]

Typically they've been letting you line up an hour before and they start letting you through 45 min before.

If you get there earlier than an hour before they are making cars turn around.

 

[to be tink]

Does anyone know if Epcot has been opening early?

 

[Gehrig1B]

Lots open same time parks are allowing entry. We walked To DHS the other day and were going through temp. tents as we saw the first cars arriving. This was about 45 minutes prior to scheduled opening.

 

[Gehrig1B]

Does anyone know if Epcot has been opening early?

Yes, EPCOT is opening prior to scheduled time. These early openings are to avoid large numbers of people congregating at the gates at park opening time...

 

[yulilin3]

merged a couple of threads that were asking about opening times
Please take some time and read back a couple of pages for recent reports, that's the best way to know

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Magic Kingdom 1/27 (WEDNESDAY) report:

Boardwalk bus stop at 7:35 - while waiting we placed our mobile order for lunch

No bus until 8:10 - everybody in line did not fit on the first bus so being early still worked out for us.

Entered park at 8:30 and did rides in this order (all waits were accurate or slightly exaggerated and nothing over 10 ):

• 7DMT
• Peter Pan
• Splash Mt (BTMRR was temp closed at 9am)
• BTMRR
• Pirates
• Magic Carpets
• Jungle Cruise
• Swiss Family Treehouse

11:00 - lunch at Tomorrowland Terrace. Sat in lower level seating and were able to get maskless castle pictures as a regular (inside tip)

Resumed rides focusing on things 15 mins or less

• Little Mermaid
• Dumbo
• Pooh
• Speedway
• Space Mtn
• CoP
• Buzz

2:00 - Dole Whip

• Country bears
• Haunted mansion
• Barnstormer
• it’s a small world (this was a mistake, 20 mins posted; 35 min actual - should’ve waited until after dinner)

4:15 - main st. shopping break
4:45 - dinner at the Plaza with ice cream for dessert since Ice Cream is closed

The rest of our evening didn’t go well; splash went down right as we got in line. 5 min wait for BTMRR; hurried to Space - posted 10 but was backed up outside the entrance so skipped Briefly stood in 40 min line for 7DMT but opted to prioritize sleep and headed for a bus instead. Girls are going to sleep now for our early DHS day tomorrow.

The only things we missed I believe were Astro, Philharmagic and Tiki room. Easily could’ve accomplished those but we are back Friday and none of those repeat experiences for us so we’ll do them once then and repeat a bunch of the above.

 

[sethschroeder]

BW bus experience this morning. We got to the stop at 7:30am. First bus didn’t arrive until 8:10; line was almost back to the boardwalk lobby (distanced of course). I’d say only half of the people got on the first bus. And we are on our way to MK as I type. We used the time at the stop to look at some pictures, and complete our mobile lunch order. Glad we got there early!

The MK from BW arrives roughly 45-50 mins early week days and 1hr 15mins weekends from what I noticed.

For MK I think you want to be there by 1hr 30mins early no matter what and either the bus comes in 15 mins or it comes in like 45 mins but you for sure get a seat.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

A few random observations:

1) I have ALWAYS had the theory that we don’t “waste steps” chasing shorter lines. Just hit ‘em in order - that felt even more true now. Had we rode iasw/barnstormer in opposite order or done Space after dinner we’d have rode more things today. I lost my mind on my strategy around 4pm for some reason. I’m blaming it on the masks

2) place your mobile order early and you’ll get your pick of a time slot. We chose early to avoid any rush or backup.

3) MK on a middle of the week day is so awesome. Saturday scares me based on the wait times I’ve seen and the markers setup all over the park for long lines lol.

4) we caught very few character cavalcades. We just weren’t in the right area for them sadly. We just spent very little time around the hub and Main st.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The MK from BW arrives roughly 45-50 mins early week days and 1hr 15mins weekends from what I noticed.

For MK I think you want to be there by 1hr 30mins early no matter what and either the bus comes in 15 mins or it comes in like 45 mins but you for sure get a seat.

How about the one at YC? LOL!!

 

[sethschroeder]

How about the one at YC? LOL!!

I would think it's the same but unfortunately can't comment. BW has dedicated bus lines now and doesn't share.

I will say plenty of busses arrived around that time so based on the quantity of busses arriving have to think YC/BC was in there.

 

[magicwdw]

Going to MK next Wednesday 2/3. If park opens at 9am, does Main Street sill open an hour earlier? Also, I know some of the parks open for rides a bit earlier. Can I assume MK and the different lands do not open until 9am these days? Thanks

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

A 7:40 arrival at DHS from the gets you this view:



Looking forward to putting this beauty to good use:

 

[cjlong88]

A 7:40 arrival at DHS from the gets you this view:

View attachment 552667

Looking forward to putting this beauty to good use:
View attachment 552669

How did you get to the parks this morning?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

How did you get to the parks this morning?

My feet, lol. We’re at the Swan.

 

[GBRforWDW]

My feet, lol. We’re at the Swan.

Congrats on group 1, have a great day!

 

[minmin27]

I posted this on the Wilderness Lodge thread by accident. So reposting here.

My still-here but going home today report. We arrived on Saturday and did a split stay with three nights at CBR and two at WL. The first 3 days we focused on Epcot and HS using the skyliner. We were at MK the last two days from WL. We did hop to AK on Sunday afternoon. I kind of regret buying hoppers since we only used them that one time. But otherwise, we wouldn't have seen AK.


My son (10) and I came this same time last year. I was a little worried about the trip this year. But the magic is still here for us. Cast members are so kind and helpful. We did miss pin trading with them. One plus from the changes for us... My son has always been afraid of meeting the characters. This time, knowing they can't come up to him, he's really enjoyed waving at them and seeing them.


Like others, I really have enjoyed the line spacing. You don't feel like someone is on top of you or in your space all the time like before. We made a game out of how far would we walk in the line before we had to stop and go to the nearest marker. (kind of like musical chairs) It helped make the line waits more fun. Speaking of waits, the lines have been wonderful for us. One of the longest wait we had was for Astro Orbiter (seriously!) and that's because of only one group at a time on the elevator. We rode FOP on Sunday afternoon around 3:15 with a 23 minute wait.


I have lots more I could share but I'll stop. For anyone on the fence, take the trip! We've made the best memories and have felt welcome!