Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[SwanVT2]

We went from 5/12 to 5/20. We took Tiffany Town Car to AKL Jambo. Quick ride, room was ready as we pulled in. Took some time to settle in, grabbed some food at the Mara, headed off to AK with the bus (rental wasn’t scheduled until 5/13; flight changes resulted in adding a day to the front end of our trip). AK was pretty empty at 4 pm. We walked on to every ride we wanted (Na’vi River, Safari, Kali River Rapids, Everest, Flying Dinos, and Dinosaur). We rode most rides multiple times before closing and then stopped to eat at Flame Tree. The cast members there surprised my younger one with a cupcake and wished her a happy birthday. We headed back to AKL on the bus, which was busy since it was almost an hour after park closing. Loved the villa; the views from what is a value one bedroom. We saw animals constantly from our balcony.

We checked out on 5/13 and headed over to VGF. Our villa was ready at 8 am, before we even left AKL. We went right to the room and off to our cabana. It was a great place to relax and chill out. Snacks were great; drinks were appreciated.

We headed off to MK at 4ish and opted to walk over using the GF walkway. It was a pretty walk and it went by quickly. It was nice not having to smell that odd smell the BLT walkway has in parts. We walked in and caught the Fantasyland Cavalcade with Gaston, Moana, Peter Pan, etc. Then we saw the Royal Princess Processional immediately after it. We were able to walk on to: Flying Carpets, Pirates, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Small World, Peter Pan’s Flight, Mine Train, teacups, PeopleMover, Buzz, CoP (of course), Speedway, Barnstormer, Dumbo, teacups again, Mine Train again (had a 15 minute wait but that’s how long it took us to walk through the winding queue), and Little Mermaid before our 8:20 BOG dinner reservations. Walking out of MK at 10 pm was AMAZING! We ended up walking back to GF.

We repeated MK again on 5/14. Again, crowds weren’t bad.

We walked in to AK on 5/15 and were surprised at no temperature checks and no outdoor masks unless in queues. We had some waits this time:
-Navi River was a 10 minute wait (posted time was 30 minutes)
-Safari was 20 minutes (posted wait time of 40 minutes that one time, walked on other two times)
-Kali River Rapids was walk on (posted time was 25 minutes)
-Flying Dinos were walk on (posted wait was 20 minutes)
-Dinosaur was 20 minutes (posted wait was 45 minutes

We did what we wanted at AK, had lunch at Sa’tuli canteen and left by noon. We headed over to Disney Springs around 5. We stood in what appeared to be a crazy line for World of Disney but ended up 5 minutes. World of Disney was crowded but not impossibly so. Paying was quick as always. We hit up some less crowded places, grabbed dinner, and headed back to GF.

We headed to Epcot on 5/16. We arrived at the car booth at 9:30 and we were the first ones allowed to stay. We entered Epcot at 10. By 11:30, we had ridden Test Track once, Frozen twice in a row, and the Three Cabelleros once. We meandered the world and stopped at the stalls that were open for food and snacks (and Orange Bird sippers). Sadly, the Orange Bird passholder cup was sold out and so were the Orange Bird ears and passholder ears. We headed over to Figment, which had no wait even though the app showed a 25 minute wait. Then we did Pixar Movies, stopped for popcorn and ice cream, and walked on to Living with the Land and Nemo. We walked on to Spaceship Earth and left by 1:30 pm.


On 5/17, we headed over to Hollywood Studios and entered at 4 pm. It was fine. We had waits of:
-15 minutes for MMRR (posted wait 30 minutes)
-5 minutes for Swirling Saucers (posted wait 15 minutes)
-10 minutes for Toy Story Mania (posted wait 25 minutes)
-20-30 minutes each time we rode Slinky Dog (we rode it twice; posted wait each time was 70-75 minutes)
-25 minutes for Millenium Falcon (posted wait 80 minutes)
-85 minutes for Tower of Terror (completely accurate wait time for when got in line at 7:45 pm)

On 5/18, we repeated MK but took the monorail over at 9 am. Waits were “long” compared to 5/14 and 5/15:
-Small World was a 10 minute wait (posted time 30 minutes)
-Peter Pan was a 15 minute wait (posted time 45 minutes)
-Teacups were walk on (posted time 15 minutes)
-Pooh was a walk on (posted time 25 minutes)
-Dumbo was a 5 minute wait (posted time 20 minutes)
-Little Mermaid was a walk on (posted time 25 minutes)
-Buzz was a 5 minute wait (posted time 25 minutes)
-People Mover was a 5 minute wait (posted time 20 minutes)
-Mine Train was a 20 minute wait (posted time 60 minutes)
-Thunder Mountain was a 10 minute wait (posted time 25 minutes)
-Splash Mountain was a 30 minute wait (posted time 70 minutes)
-Haunted Mansion was a 10 minute wait (posted time 30 minutes)
-Flying Carpets were a 10 minute wait (posted time 30 minutes)

We left MK around 12:30ish and had some pool time. Then we headed over to DS around 3:30. World of Disney had no line at all to enter. We did some more shopping, grabbed pizza at Blaze, and headed back. At 6 pm, we went back to MK and did some more rides. Mine Train, Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion had similar wait times as in the morning. We stopped for snacks and left MK at 8:30. We walked back using the GF walkway and caught the EWP from there.

On 5/19, we headed over to HS again but an hour before park opening. We walked on to Slinky Dog, Saucers, Toy Story Mania, and MMRR and then left. We hopped over to Epcot at 2. We walked on to Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Living with the Land, Figment, Three Cabelleros, and stopped to eat at the Cantina. Then we headed over to Frozen, where it said there was a 30 minute wait but we were able to walk through the queue and get right on. We spent about 10 minutes walking through the queue. We left Epcot at 7:30 and drove back to VGF. We opted to walk over to Poly for Dole Whips at Pineapple Lanai and headed back and stopped to catch EWP from the beach.

The weather was amazing the whole time. It was warm but not unbearably so. It was in the 80s for most of our trip. There were plenty of breezy days so it always felt cooler.

This sounds like a GREAT trip. I am impressed by how short all your wait times were. Feb 2020 we did rope drop and by 10/11 all our favorites at MK had up 45 minute to 2 hour waits and it was very discouraging. Plus FP were out for all the rides we really wanted to hit. Hope Feb. 2022 (last week) will be better, but I know lots of people will be traveling to make up for the lost year!

 

[npatellye]

This sounds like a GREAT trip. I am impressed by how short all your wait times were. Feb 2020 we did rope drop and by 10/11 all our favorites at MK had up 45 minute to 2 hour waits and it was very discouraging. Plus FP were out for all the rides we really wanted to hit. Hope Feb. 2022 (last week) will be better, but I know lots of people will be traveling to make up for the lost year!

My MIL and FIL came with us and they usually stayed in the parks all day. They complained about wait times. I was surprised that we had shorter wait times this trip than we did during our November trip!

 

[Becky Mouse]

They also still have their old 6 feet social distancing markers everywhere making lines look crazy long.

They aren't old. Disney said they're slowly phasing out distancing in some areas of the parks. So far, that has mostly been outdoor bus stops and the outdoor overflow lines to attractions. If you see the markers elsewhere, follow them. Encroaching on other people's space doesn't make you get on the attraction any faster.

 

[Amy&Dan]

you’re correct. Kilimanjaro Safari is not known to open until posted park opening time.

But you are allowed to get in line at the bridge (I think that's where the line starts forming). By the time we got done with FOP and Na'Vi River, it was just about 8 and the line was snaking way back and the wait was 75 minutes. Two hours later it was 65 minutes, at 1 when we left AK it was around 60 minutes. In full sun extending behind the Dawa Bar seating area. If you want to ride it in the morning you're going to wait one way or the other. I checked later in afternoon and I think it was down to 45 minutes. I can't imagine waiting in that line in the Harambe Market area on a really hot summer day. I assume the later afternoon is the best time to do Safari as far as wait times. We just didn't want to wait that long and we'd done everything else so we left.

There were no other long waits at AK when we left (EE was 20, Dinosaur was about that, Kali was 15).

 

[Rivergirl2005]

Hey everyone! I am loving the reports! Not sure if I should ask here but I do have a couple questions. Our trip is June 14-22 so we are less than a month away. We are staying at Coronado springs. What time should we be at the bus stop if we want to first each day? Also if we are park hoping but want to grab dinner at a quick service, can we still order our meal even though we are not in the park in the morning? So like we start at HS but want to eat at AK. How does that work?

 

[Helvetica]

I opened and closed Animal Kingdom yesterday. It started pretty crowded, got super crowded, but by the end pretty much everyone left and everything was pretty much a walk-on.

The weather was perfect, so that helped.

 

[Rosanne]

I have a little gossip from a bellman. He told me even though Disney has increased crowds levels a lot, they haven’t hired back enough CMs & they are stressed, overworked, & tired. Also told me that there is concern about the pipes at BC, since they are old & they’ve just been randomly flushing every so often. The fear is once it fully opens they will be plumbing issues. And that Disney hired a company to deal with it but took lowest bid & in the past that’s caused more issues. Anyway, take that as you will, just thought I’d share.

When we stayed at BC a couple of years ago our toilet didn't flush at all when we first got to the room. I called and went down in person (looooong walk through the halls) and tried to find a maintenance person myself. It took about 8 hours before it got fixed. They didn't seem to have access to plungers even. I'd forgotten about it by now but, Yikes! Sounds like a bad issue.

 

[Haley R]

I opened and closed Animal Kingdom yesterday. It started pretty crowded, got super crowded, but by the end pretty much everyone left and everything was pretty much a walk-on.

The weather was perfect, so that helped.

What time would you say the crowds died down?

 

[hereforthechurros]

I opened and closed Animal Kingdom yesterday. It started pretty crowded, got super crowded, but by the end pretty much everyone left and everything was pretty much a walk-on.

The weather was perfect, so that helped.

What time did you notice a slow down?

Ha, sorry just saw the saw exact question was already posted.

 

[Helvetica]

What time would you say the crowds died down?

What time did you notice a slow down?

Ha, sorry just saw the saw exact question was already posted.

I’d say around 3 - 4. The last few hours were very dead.

 

[Sarahslay]

Was it always busy like this during May? It seemed excessively busy in all the Florida theme parks this week…even Sea World had full stadium shows…or is this people having COVID fatigue and getting out there?

I just noticed two observations this week…it was hot, and not in a good way. Also, the lines were crazy long on most things until about 5/6 o’clockish?

I just never remember May being crazy busy

I went in May 2019, during what everyone always called a historically low time, and it was defintely not low crowds. Was it lower than what I had usually experienced? Yes. But it was still hot and crowded. I took my mom who hadn't been in a VERY long time, and I kept telling her that people always say the beginning of May is quieter, so she kept asking "is it always this busy? I didn't think it was supposed to be this busy....." I went a month later in June and there were fewer crowds. I'll say, I've been during every month but September now, Covid or no Covid there are no slow times anymore.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Was it always busy like this during May? It seemed excessively busy in all the Florida theme parks this week…even Sea World had full stadium shows…or is this people having COVID fatigue and getting out there?

I just noticed two observations this week…it was hot, and not in a good way. Also, the lines were crazy long on most things until about 5/6 o’clockish?

I just never remember May being crazy busy

I went the 2nd week of May in 2018 and it was dead. Walked on almost everything, never waited more than 20 minutes, even without FPs. Even just walking around many pathways were empty. Last couple days of October into the first week of November 2019 was probably the slowest pre-pandemic trip I've had though.

 

[Haley R]

I’d say around 3 - 4. The last few hours were very dead.

We’re not going until September. We were planning to rope drop but maybe we’ll change our plan up

 

[3kidsmom]

We got

Just wanted to report on my safari experience today since I had asked earlier in the thread.

We got to animal kingdom at 730 this morning, and we’re in line for safari at 740. We were on the ride at 8:05. By the time the we started moving at 8 it had grown pretty long so idk what the actual wait time would’ve been had we not gotten in line early.
[/QUOTE

Just wanted to report on my safari experience today since I had asked earlier in the thread.

We got to animal kingdom at 730 this morning, and we’re in line for safari at 740. We were on the ride at 8:05. By the time the we started moving at 8 it had grown pretty long so idk what the actual wait time would’ve been had we not gotten in line early.

We got on Safari about 1:30, with a 45 minute posted wait, actual wait was about 20 minutes. Animals were fairly active for mid-day, and our guide was great.

Most of our waits today were actually half of what was posted, except FOP. We waited about 35-40 minutes around 5pm. We had never done it before, and it is worth every minute of the wait.

 

[tanyaandallie]

So this is our last day at the parks. We went to MK for rope drop and one of the first at the turnstile. We briskly walked to Space Mt while the rest of the crowd went to the Seven Dwarves. The CM at Space Mt said that the ride will start running 5~10 minutes so we waited. Soon we had many crowds lining up on Space Mt saying that Seven Dwarves is down and don't know how long it will be before running again. After Space, we were headed for Thunder and Splash, saw Buzz start running so quickly hopped on. When we got to Thunder Mt. they just started to run it so it was a quick 10-minute walk of the lines before we were loaded on the train. After Thunder Mt, our goal was to ride Splash, which has been running yet. This is around 8:30. We decided to sit around and wait for it. We were really lucky and it started to run within 5 minutes. We were the first 5~6th group that was on Splash. Our observation this week on MK is that both Thunder and Splash do not run at the rope drop. Thunder will start operating at 8 am and Splash little afterward. Other minor rides also do not open at the rope drop either other than Pirates of Caribbean. So at the rope drop, you have a choice between Seven Dwarves Mine Train or Space Mt. Other than headliners, we went back to MK on other nights to do Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz, People Mover, Pirate, Little Mermaid, Barnstormer, and Haunted Mansion. All were less than 15-minute wait or less. We saw some of the worst behavior at MK, especially the people with little kids. The mask compliance on the line was really bad and at some point, we were really uncomfortable b/c the people behind us were so close to us that they were breathing down on our necks. They were a huge family group and one of them was coughing and on our personal space in the excuse of their children. I do understand the kids get excited at Disney but that does not excuse the behavior of the adults feed the bad behavior of the children and do not have regard to other people's personal space.


At Epcot, we did Soarin and Test Track at rope drop and decided to stroll around the WS while most of the crowd are still at Future World lining up for the rides. We had ADR at Via Napoli at 12:10 and after lunch, we came back to the resort. We went back to Epcot on other nights to do minor rides like Figment, Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, Living with the Land, and Nemo. They were all walk-on and at times, we were the only ones on the rides. We definitely enjoy a drink or two but there seem to be too many drunk people at Epcot due to the Festival.

AK, we drove to the park, and the security guards set up cones on the fork to AK toll booths. So we followed several other cars, with our emergency light on, parked at the sides of the road until they cleared the cones and let the cars go to the toll booths. Like everyone else, we went to FOP and Navi River. We were one of the first people to be loaded on FOP so when we were getting out of Pandora, we felt like we were swimming against the current as most people were still coming into Pandora. We then went to Safari which had a 20-minute wait but it was constantly moving and we were loaded right away. Next was EE which had a 15 minute wait time which was less than 5 minutes before we were loaded. We did the trails and animal watching and had 11 am ADR and Yak and Yeti. After lunch, we rode Kali and exited from the park.

For HS, we had two park days dedicated b/c of Rise of Resistance. On our first day DS got us Boarding Group 78 at 7 am and on our second day, DS also got us Boarding group 82 at 1 pm. On our first Rise of Resistance, there was no preshow and it was our first time on it which was still awesome. However, on our second ride on it had a full preshow, and the ride made much sense. However, on our second ride, while we were waiting to be loaded, it broke down and took more than 40 minutes before it was back in operation. On our first day we went straight to SDD, Toy Story Mania, Millenium Falcon, ToT, and RnR. On our second day, we went to ToT first but it wasn't running yet to went to RnR then ToT, MMRR, then Star Tour, and Muffet's. We were finished by 10~10:30 both days.

We also went to Vineland Premium Outlets for a couple of days. The parking is much easier to find in the back of the outlets. As for the mask compliance and the social distancing, we found it better at the outlets than at the parks. Many of the shops had the lines to get into the store b/c of max numbers but most were pretty short wait. Disney Store at the outlets has a virtual wait. They text you when it's your turn.

We came here knowing that there are not many shows and no FP nor nighttime fireworks thanks to the board. However, we miss FP as well as all the shows. Although we love to ride, the shows break up constant running and standing. On each trip, we do maybe one or two fireworks shows and definitely miss that. We are staying at Dolphin and have a spectacular view of Epcot from our room and if there were fireworks at night, we probably have a really good view of it.

As for the masks, despite we were fully vaccinated, we wore our masks even outside. There are just too many people bumping their shoulders. We only removed in the remote spots or while we were eating at the restaurants. We had almost every lunch ADR except for a MK day, and definitely regretted our choice. We felt that the tables were rather closer at QS than TS restaurants.

I was really worried about wearing the masks in the heat but this week, we got lucky and the weather is so very nice. I hope this is helpful to those who have trips ahead. Thank you to everyone who contributed. It was really helpful in preparing for our trip.

Curious what time they let you line up ak and what time they started letting cars in.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We went to AK today from 3pm-close. Had an amazing day and thought the crowds were low to normal for a weekend in May.

Walked on Triceratop Spin (5 minute posted), 10 minute wait for Everest (15 posted), walked both trails, 15 minute wait for Safari (35 posted), 15 minute wait for Navi (20 min posted), dinner at Satuli (half empty restaurant at 6pm), and finished the night with the Lion King (walked right in at 6:45 and theater was never full).

BTW - I had big crocodile tears when FOTLK started. I forgot how much I missed that part of Disney (and live theater, in general). Even with the modifications, I couldn't stop smiling.

 

[mousegear]

Curious what time they let you line up ak and what time they started letting cars in.

When we arrived at the fork leading to AK toll booth, it was 6:50 am. The guards cleared the cones at 7:05 am. We were 5th car parked. We went straight through the security and turnstiles. Some people were literally running but we just walked briskly towards FOP. I know that we were one of the first to be loaded because we never stopped walking until we were loaded to ride. We were finished riding FOP by 7:15 and went straight to Navi with two other groups in front of us. By the time we were getting out of Pandora, there were so many people coming into Pandora, it was at times difficult to walk against the sea of people.

 

[starryagain]

We did a few hours at Epcot and the party split and some did HS and did MK today.

Epcot - we rope dropped from International Gateway. Got in line at 9:57, gates opened 10:06, in the park 10:08. Ish. I don't know if this was just bad luck but we went to Test Track and it didn't seem to start operating until 10:40. We were on around 10:50 which was sort of a bummer. Then we did Mission Space and Spaceship Earth with minimal waits. Lunch at Italy. Went back to our room for a long break.

Overall Epcot was somewhat crowded. Seemed a bit less than a normal May. Standby waits were down for headliners and up for everything else.

The group who went to HS got there at 7:00 and road Tower of Terror with a 15 minute wait (posted was higher) then walked on Star Tours. Out by 7:50.

The MK group got there at 7, road Haunted Manson (true walk on, posted 15 minutes), Big thunder twice (2 minute wait and 5 minute wait, posted 15 minutes), and Pirates twice (walk on, posted 20 minutes). Could have done much more but we stopped for Dole whips and we have school age kids slowing us down.

I actually thought the bus situation leaving after park close was much better than with fireworks. We got in line around 9:20 and were on the bus within minutes WITH SEATS FOR EVERYONE.

I'm actually enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would. We'll see how we survive the heat wave.

 

[Helvetica]

I opened and closed Epcot today. I had a pretty good day. The crowds didn’t seem as bad as they were earlier on in the trip and the waits were mostly reasonable. The park slowed down in the evening and by the end of the night both Frozen and Soarin were walk-ons.

 

[JJoe]

We’re at AK right now. They weren’t planning to open parking until 7:45 and kept redirecting people to McD, which was full. So at 7:30 they allowed people to line up at the tollbooths. At 7:45 the allowed us to begin parking (already lined up in holding in the lot). We were through the park turnstiles by 7:55. By 8:10 Avatar had a 10 minute wait. So as my family rides I’m enjoying the atmosphere of View attachment 508602Pandora

Pandora at night is great but I find it hard to stay all day in ak