Shellyred8
I'd rather be at Disney
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2016
Best time to go!
Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping
I'm sure that this question has come up before.....but any suggestions for any rain ponchos that you can easily pack into a backpack that isn't very expensive but not as flimsy as the grocery store plastic bags that you use to get your fruits and vegetables?
Last trip, I made the mistake of getting some really cheap rain ponchos at Target and they easily ripped and was torn by the 2nd time it rained.
I need to get 4 of them, so that means that I have to be able to easily fold and pack them into my backpack while taking up little space.
Any suggestions?
Last trip, I made the mistake of getting some really cheap rain ponchos at Target and they easily ripped and was torn by the 2nd time it rained.
I need to get 4 of them, so that means that I have to be able to easily fold and pack them into my backpack while taking up little space.
Any suggestions?
thornton0511
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2011
What time did you get to the bus stop this morning and how many parties were there by the time the first bus arrived?
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2010
I'm interpreting the OP's comment a little differently.
@limace, if you want to visit Riviera before Epcot opens, then yes, you may Uber there and visit the resort then take the Skyliner to Epcot.
If you want to visit Riviera after entering Epcot then it's as @VeronicaZS says.
Akck
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2019
We just got back from a 10 night stay at WDW and while I’ve made some posts here during this stay, I thought I’d go ahead and give an overview of what we did.
Our original flights would’ve gotten us in around midnight, so we booked a night at the airport Hyatt, figuring going to the resort would get us in at 2 am at the earliest. Our flights changed, but it was easier to keep our original plan. We did a split stay, 3 days each at CBR, RIV and BCV. One thing we learned is that if your room isn’t ready, talk to a CM in the lobby. They will do their best to expedite your room if they know you’re physically present.
On this trip, we had no plans to RD and got to the parks near the official opening times. We did RD MK one day. For the most part, actual ride wait times were shorter than posted wait times. I used TP Lines app for wait times and it was mostly accurate. I also used TP to determine our park reservations. While some have said the crowd calendar is garbage, there’s been almost a year’s worth of data under Covid and they’ve adjusted the models for it. We were able to get BGs for both our HS days using WiFi which was faster than data at the resorts. I recommend checking both just before 7.
As to crowds, AK was the only park that felt more crowded than when we were here in December. It could’ve been because it was our first park and we weren’t used to being in a crowd yet. The other parks seemed about the same or even slightly less crowded than in December. I’d also say wait times were generally less overall from December as we were able to ride what we wanted without RDing. Park hopping was not a problem as we PH to Epcot several evenings.
Restaurant tables are still spaced out and we felt comfortable eating indoors. We wore our masks while ordering until drinks came, just out of courtesy to our server. One new TS we tried was Spice Road Table. It’s a walk-in only TS, so you have to check in and they send you 2 texts. The menu is tapas. We loved the Spiced Shrimp, ordering a second one later. I also suggest ordering extra naan.
Mask compliance was generally good, but I did see more noses poking out. There was more eating/drinking while walking and I did see one person at Epcot walking with no mask on or in hand and a couple at DS who put on masks at temperature check and I later saw them with no masks. CMs do request that masks be worn properly, but they can’t be everywhere. If a guest doesn’t want to wear one properly, they won’t and only do so when they see a CM.
As I’ve said earlier in this thread, socially distancing is going out by guest actions in queues. Too many people are looking at their phones not paying attention, moving when they see motion, but not stopping. There are announcements to keep apart and CMs will tell guests to be on the markers, but there are no CMs throughout the queues, leaving it to guests to socially distance themselves. That said, it didn’t overly bother us as most queues are outside or in well ventilated areas. Time in enclosed areas is limited and most times you’re just moving through them.
We’ve been to the parks 3 times and Universal once post-Covid and felt uncomfortable only once and that was dining offsite. Of the 3 times, I’d say this last one we felt the most relaxed and we do have future trips planned.
Our original flights would’ve gotten us in around midnight, so we booked a night at the airport Hyatt, figuring going to the resort would get us in at 2 am at the earliest. Our flights changed, but it was easier to keep our original plan. We did a split stay, 3 days each at CBR, RIV and BCV. One thing we learned is that if your room isn’t ready, talk to a CM in the lobby. They will do their best to expedite your room if they know you’re physically present.
On this trip, we had no plans to RD and got to the parks near the official opening times. We did RD MK one day. For the most part, actual ride wait times were shorter than posted wait times. I used TP Lines app for wait times and it was mostly accurate. I also used TP to determine our park reservations. While some have said the crowd calendar is garbage, there’s been almost a year’s worth of data under Covid and they’ve adjusted the models for it. We were able to get BGs for both our HS days using WiFi which was faster than data at the resorts. I recommend checking both just before 7.
As to crowds, AK was the only park that felt more crowded than when we were here in December. It could’ve been because it was our first park and we weren’t used to being in a crowd yet. The other parks seemed about the same or even slightly less crowded than in December. I’d also say wait times were generally less overall from December as we were able to ride what we wanted without RDing. Park hopping was not a problem as we PH to Epcot several evenings.
Restaurant tables are still spaced out and we felt comfortable eating indoors. We wore our masks while ordering until drinks came, just out of courtesy to our server. One new TS we tried was Spice Road Table. It’s a walk-in only TS, so you have to check in and they send you 2 texts. The menu is tapas. We loved the Spiced Shrimp, ordering a second one later. I also suggest ordering extra naan.
Mask compliance was generally good, but I did see more noses poking out. There was more eating/drinking while walking and I did see one person at Epcot walking with no mask on or in hand and a couple at DS who put on masks at temperature check and I later saw them with no masks. CMs do request that masks be worn properly, but they can’t be everywhere. If a guest doesn’t want to wear one properly, they won’t and only do so when they see a CM.
As I’ve said earlier in this thread, socially distancing is going out by guest actions in queues. Too many people are looking at their phones not paying attention, moving when they see motion, but not stopping. There are announcements to keep apart and CMs will tell guests to be on the markers, but there are no CMs throughout the queues, leaving it to guests to socially distance themselves. That said, it didn’t overly bother us as most queues are outside or in well ventilated areas. Time in enclosed areas is limited and most times you’re just moving through them.
We’ve been to the parks 3 times and Universal once post-Covid and felt uncomfortable only once and that was dining offsite. Of the 3 times, I’d say this last one we felt the most relaxed and we do have future trips planned.
Akck
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2019
We got packable nylon ponchos. They cost more, but you don’t get so sweaty under them like a plastic one. That said, we no longer pack them. Instead, we use packable umbrellas. They are easy to pull out and deploy. I got one that reflects sunlight and offers shade. It was maybe 5-10 degrees cooler under it when standing outside in a queue.
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2004
Today Florida’s governor suspended all local Covid emergency orders. Please don’t post anything about it that isn’t Disney official because private businesses may still set their own standards. We ask for no guesses if there will be changes and only to post official Disney policy. Thank you, everyone!!
4Ds4Diz
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2011
Can you tell me the brand of umbrella?
JoJoGirl
Riding the Hydrolator to SeaBase Alpha
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2015
I got there at 6:41 and there were 2-3 parties ahead of me. There was room for all of us on the bus.
Akck
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2019
Wood Nymph
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2012
We are here now and just received a message from Disney saying that there were no changes to their Covid rules right now. We still need to wear masks. I am paraphrasing the notice, since I don't have it anymore.
Randy Miller
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2015
It only affects Government orders anyway....not local/private mandates so there should be no discussion/arguements. It is not up for discussion anyway
thornton0511
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2011
thank you for taking the time to reply back
We did a short trip as a quick fifth anniversary celebration. It was our first time to the parks during Covid and our first time together (we have both been before but it has been a while). My thoughts for what they are worth:
We flew in on Wednesday and were met by Tiffany Towncars. They made the process very simple and the driver met us right at baggage claim. He assisted in taking luggage out even though it was not necessary (kept my wife from having to roll a bag, which she appreciated). The vehicle was a black Lincoln SUV, which was very nice. The driver was also very professional. He answered any questions we had for him, but did not feel it necessary to fill the time with conversation, which we appreciated. Dropped off at the Swan and made our way in to where our room was waiting for us. Had a nice balcony room overlooking the boardwalk with the Spaceship Earth sphere in the distance. A nice room, but I would not call it Deluxe category. We saved a good bit from a comparable time at Yacht Club, Beach Club, or Boardwalk, but I believe those would be nicer rooms. The location, just like the others, is great for trips to Epcot and HS.
We did not RD any day, and we don't regret it. We were able to do everything we wanted to do which included basically every major ride (and the couple we skipped--TOT and Splash--we skipped out of choice and had plenty of time available to ride either). We did have 2 partial days at MK, but they were from 4-9 on our arrival day and we were there from 10:00-3 on our departure day. So neither day involved real early arrivals and the two together basically equaled one day in the park.
We went to MK on Wednesday after we got settled. Not significant crowds which was nice and we got some of the major rides out of the way. Noticed most people had masks on and up. Also noticed social distancing was not too bad. Noticed the Disney app was usually 10 minutes more than actual time on wait times, while touring plans was consistently 5 minutes under actual wait times.
Thursday was HS. We verified about 640 using time.gov how close our cell phones were to the atomic clock. Mine was nearly right on and so we just used it as our countdown. For some reason my wife's app did not keep both her and me checked when we practiced the day before. Mine did. So right as my clock hit 7 I clicked join and my fat, over-forty fingers managed to get boarding group 7! We thoroughly enjoyed Galaxy's Edge and ROTR was AMAZING! If you are going to be riding for the first time, I strongly suggest avoiding any spoilers as much as possible. It really is incredible experiencing it for the first time not knowing what is coming next. We rode everything except TOT, which we had time to ride, but chose not to. Instead we did several rides twice. On MFSR for our second ride, we were getting stuck as engineers again, but they allowed us to go into a different ship which my wife and I got to ourselves to be the pilots. It is MUCH more fun when you get to do something other than just hit a few buttons. We ended our day with Oga's Cantina reservations. We got lucky and got 8:55pm reservations for a day the park closed at 8. We had a great time wandering the park for an hour after close with much much fewer people. We basically closed the cantina down and got escorted out as part of the last people in the park. Talk about a peaceful way to head out (and get some great night time photos!). This day the mask and distancing were pretty good as well. The TP app seemed farther off today than it did at MK, but it was still generally closer than the Disney app for wait times.
Friday was Epcot. It was miserable. The place was packed! The temperature was very hot! I do not know why Epcot cannot set up the same kind of umbrellas that MK and HS have out to at least pretend to create shade for some of their tables. Instead, 90% of the tables are right out in the sun. I would strongly recommend a personal UV umbrella if you are fair skinned or to try and make it a few degrees cooler. In addition to being packed, mask compliance and distancing was not very good. If you need to have decent compliance to be comfortable at Disney, you probably don't want to be there on the weekend (Saturday in MK was even worse). We were reasonably happy with the selection of food and drinks and overall enjoyed ourselves. I can definitely recommend the shrimp and grits from Sunshine Griddle!
Saturday was our second partial day in MK and our departure day. Another good day at the park, but compliance with the rules was atrocious and some of the behaviors people exhibited when told that masks were required (we had a large group in front of us on the way into the park that had to be told to get masks and then had to be reminded by security that the use of profanity is grounds for removal from the parks) were even worse. We rode everything except Splash, which we chose not to do because of not wanting to risk getting wet before a flight. The wait times were generally accurate this day on the Disney app and underestimated on TP. It was also a very packed park on a Saturday as is expected.
My wife and I are not fans of mobile ordering. We are the type that like to go and then just see what is near for purposes of getting food and not ones who like to either make plans in advance or wait to get a time slot and then wait again to get the food. One of our order took 20 minutes after pressing the we are here button, which seems like longer than it should take when you clearly know how many orders are in that time slot. Overall it works, I just like the old way of being able to just stop and order much better.
We flew in on Wednesday and were met by Tiffany Towncars. They made the process very simple and the driver met us right at baggage claim. He assisted in taking luggage out even though it was not necessary (kept my wife from having to roll a bag, which she appreciated). The vehicle was a black Lincoln SUV, which was very nice. The driver was also very professional. He answered any questions we had for him, but did not feel it necessary to fill the time with conversation, which we appreciated. Dropped off at the Swan and made our way in to where our room was waiting for us. Had a nice balcony room overlooking the boardwalk with the Spaceship Earth sphere in the distance. A nice room, but I would not call it Deluxe category. We saved a good bit from a comparable time at Yacht Club, Beach Club, or Boardwalk, but I believe those would be nicer rooms. The location, just like the others, is great for trips to Epcot and HS.
We did not RD any day, and we don't regret it. We were able to do everything we wanted to do which included basically every major ride (and the couple we skipped--TOT and Splash--we skipped out of choice and had plenty of time available to ride either). We did have 2 partial days at MK, but they were from 4-9 on our arrival day and we were there from 10:00-3 on our departure day. So neither day involved real early arrivals and the two together basically equaled one day in the park.
We went to MK on Wednesday after we got settled. Not significant crowds which was nice and we got some of the major rides out of the way. Noticed most people had masks on and up. Also noticed social distancing was not too bad. Noticed the Disney app was usually 10 minutes more than actual time on wait times, while touring plans was consistently 5 minutes under actual wait times.
Thursday was HS. We verified about 640 using time.gov how close our cell phones were to the atomic clock. Mine was nearly right on and so we just used it as our countdown. For some reason my wife's app did not keep both her and me checked when we practiced the day before. Mine did. So right as my clock hit 7 I clicked join and my fat, over-forty fingers managed to get boarding group 7! We thoroughly enjoyed Galaxy's Edge and ROTR was AMAZING! If you are going to be riding for the first time, I strongly suggest avoiding any spoilers as much as possible. It really is incredible experiencing it for the first time not knowing what is coming next. We rode everything except TOT, which we had time to ride, but chose not to. Instead we did several rides twice. On MFSR for our second ride, we were getting stuck as engineers again, but they allowed us to go into a different ship which my wife and I got to ourselves to be the pilots. It is MUCH more fun when you get to do something other than just hit a few buttons. We ended our day with Oga's Cantina reservations. We got lucky and got 8:55pm reservations for a day the park closed at 8. We had a great time wandering the park for an hour after close with much much fewer people. We basically closed the cantina down and got escorted out as part of the last people in the park. Talk about a peaceful way to head out (and get some great night time photos!). This day the mask and distancing were pretty good as well. The TP app seemed farther off today than it did at MK, but it was still generally closer than the Disney app for wait times.
Friday was Epcot. It was miserable. The place was packed! The temperature was very hot! I do not know why Epcot cannot set up the same kind of umbrellas that MK and HS have out to at least pretend to create shade for some of their tables. Instead, 90% of the tables are right out in the sun. I would strongly recommend a personal UV umbrella if you are fair skinned or to try and make it a few degrees cooler. In addition to being packed, mask compliance and distancing was not very good. If you need to have decent compliance to be comfortable at Disney, you probably don't want to be there on the weekend (Saturday in MK was even worse). We were reasonably happy with the selection of food and drinks and overall enjoyed ourselves. I can definitely recommend the shrimp and grits from Sunshine Griddle!
Saturday was our second partial day in MK and our departure day. Another good day at the park, but compliance with the rules was atrocious and some of the behaviors people exhibited when told that masks were required (we had a large group in front of us on the way into the park that had to be told to get masks and then had to be reminded by security that the use of profanity is grounds for removal from the parks) were even worse. We rode everything except Splash, which we chose not to do because of not wanting to risk getting wet before a flight. The wait times were generally accurate this day on the Disney app and underestimated on TP. It was also a very packed park on a Saturday as is expected.
My wife and I are not fans of mobile ordering. We are the type that like to go and then just see what is near for purposes of getting food and not ones who like to either make plans in advance or wait to get a time slot and then wait again to get the food. One of our order took 20 minutes after pressing the we are here button, which seems like longer than it should take when you clearly know how many orders are in that time slot. Overall it works, I just like the old way of being able to just stop and order much better.
Sorry yes, didn’t mean to be confusing. We were talking about ubering from Bonnet Creek, checking out RIV DVC rooms, then sky lining to Epcot.
MickeyFan19
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2013
Anywhere in Disney Springs I can buy a charger for IPad Air? Got to our gate and that feeling of forgetting something hit me! I have it fully charged for our flight to Disney now but I'm afraid of our flight home. I priced a charger at the airport and it was $46 
The announcement that the Disney College Program will return NEXT month is the biggest development since the Parks reopened IMO.
Several Cast Members had told us they NEEDED the help from the DCP NOW,but I don't think anyone expected it to return until late 2021 at the earliest.
This development must mean Disney is really going to "ramp things up"-I think it could be a definite sign that Fireworks/Fantasmic!/reopening of POR and All-Star-Sports/Music,etc. are coming sooner rather than later.
JMO,but,at any rate,this is HUGE,HUGE news!
Several Cast Members had told us they NEEDED the help from the DCP NOW,but I don't think anyone expected it to return until late 2021 at the earliest.
This development must mean Disney is really going to "ramp things up"-I think it could be a definite sign that Fireworks/Fantasmic!/reopening of POR and All-Star-Sports/Music,etc. are coming sooner rather than later.
JMO,but,at any rate,this is HUGE,HUGE news!
Last edited:
DisneyFive
When is the 3:00 parade?
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
Anywhere in Disney Springs I can buy a charger for IPad Air? Got to our gate and that feeling of forgetting something hit me! I have it fully charged for our flight to Disney now but I'm afraid of our flight home. I priced a charger at the airport and it was $46
Do you have any wall chargers with the right charging cable with you? Any of them will work, it will just take longer to charge than the higher output chargers for the iPad Air. Doesn’t really need to be iPad Air specific
Share this page
GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!
