Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[cdurham1]

We were at MK yesterday, our first time after covid. We didn’t make it to rope drop but stayed until close. It seemed like average level pre-covid crowds to me. It was definitely manageable - our longest wait was 55 minutes at 7 dwarfs, but most of them were 30 minutes or less. We found the wait times posted were not accurate. Some actual waits were longer and most were shorter. I missed having FP, though, because I used to average 13-15 FP per day at MK just refreshing all day. That said, we got done almost as much done as we would have with FP and had a good day. My DH liked not having FP because we didn’t need to cross the park as much.

I was surprised to read you used to get 10+ fastpasses/day at MK with refresh, but still were happy on this trip waiting 55 minutes for anything. I am in the same boat, used to refresh the crap out of fastpasses, and now I am horrified at the idea of waiting in lines.

 

[disneyseniors]

Buses back to SSR at night were HORRIBLE. After an hour wait one night they finally sent a Mears coach bus and packed it full. We kept watching bus after bus pull up to all the other resorts, but not SSR.

We were at SSR for eight days in May. Buses back to SSR from parks were TERRIBLE. Hardly any came and when they did they filled up right away with scooters and their families. I don’t know why they get front of the line privileges…. Finally after an hour of waiting at the Studios they called in a Mears coach bus that crammed us all in to every seat. I’m not sure how any people were left after they filled it to the brim but it did scoop up a whole bunch of us.
Day after day we would watch bus after bus after bus, sometimes two at a time, come for all the other resorts, but not SSR.

Princess, sorry you had such a long wait for SSR. I'm betting it's all related to not enough bus drivers. But that should not be something that paid guests have to worry about. Unfortunately it is at this time.
I wanted to address the comment of "don't know why those on scooters get front of the line privileges". I feel your frustration but there is a reason.
The scooters have to be loaded first due to safety reasons. Up to 6 family members are allowed by disney to accompany the disabled. Then, after their "front of the line privilege", they are the Last to disembark from the bus.
I hope you don't have to ever need to use a scooter. It is not fun and it is no "privilege" to have to get on and off the buses with it. When you ride a scooter you must keep your eyes on the front of your scooter to watch for children who wander in front of you or adults who want to cut across or are in a hurry. You don't get to see much else while in the parks until you park. You can't look at the windows, scenery, or attractions due to having to be constantly on the watch for people. The disabled who use the scooters don't want to need them, but must use them for their mobility or health issues. They have every right to ride the bus same as non disabled guests. Please think of these things when you are frustrated at the disabled guests with their scooters. I bet they would give anything to be able to stand and wait and to walk while at disney.

 

[VandVsmama]

6/4:
Slept in a bit on this day. I was up at 7:45. Had ADR at Whispering Canyon at WL for 10:15. Got a Lyft to WL at 9:30. We all really enjoyed this breakfast, don't care about character meals anymore (kids are teenagers). We'd go here again. DH & I browsed in the gift shop. I'd love to stay at WL some day. Very relaxing vibe there. Love the lobby.

Took a Lyft back to Pop, got back to room at noon. Filled up our refillable mugs and water bottles in the Pop food court. The $19/mug price was worth it for us. Napped, watched TV, rested in the room, did laundry (which was a popular place).

Had an ADR at Biergarten in Epcot for 5:15 pm. When we were ready to go get on the Skyliner to Epcot, it was pouring rain. buckets. Torrential downpour. DH inquired at the front desk and they said take a Lyft or Uber or wait an hour for a bus. We opted for Lyft. DH was no longer laughing at me for bringing 2 UV umbrellas and 1 regular umbrella and 2 ponchos on this trip. So we walked in the torrential rain from the front of Epcot all the way to the back in the Germany pavilion. Bought the kids some Disney rain ponchos...about $20 in total for that. Worth it. Everybody's feet were soaked. Sneakers soaked and squishing with each step. For the next trip, I'm making the kids get hiking sandals.

Dinner was fun, but picky YDD didn't care much for the food. We're going next time in late 2022 with friends, so I think we'll try Tutto Italia at Epcot next time.

After dinner, we got ice cream in France & DH bought ODD & I fancy scarves in the France pavilion. Then we went on Spaceship Earth, Soarin', Living with the Land, then decided to try for the Frozen ride. After getting off of Frozen, the park was closing soon or was already closed. After we'd gotten off of Spaceship Earth, DH asked at Guest Relations if the SKyliner was running. They said yes, which is why we went on Frozen. Well, we walked all the way over to the International Gateway and what do you know? The Skyliner was not operating.

So we then had to walk all the way back to the front of the park. We were exhausted.

6/5:
HS again. Everybody slept in. After the frustrating and exhausting evening the night before at Epcot, we all needed the rest. had an appointment at 11 am at the Droid Depot and we made that on time. Kids loved doing this. We were going to go to the Droid store next door right after to arrange to have the droids shipped home, but would have been late to our lunch ADR, so we postponed that.

12:00 - checked in at 50's Prime Time Cafe for lunch. First time at this restaurant. We all enjoyed this a lot. DH had the meatloaf, I had the pot roast, YDD had the fried chicken, can't remember what ODD had. Both kids ordered milk shakes. Server had "attitude" like they're all known for at this restaurant. It was a real hoot. Definitely going back there next time.

We lucked out this time and got a ROTR BG at the 7:00 am BG drop (I got up early for that, then went back to bed). Wifi speed in the room wasn't great and cell service in our room was bad, so I went outside and got 3 bars on 5G. Our ROTR BG was called at 1:00, right when we were finishing up with lunch.

After ROTR, we went back to Droid Depot. Bought 3 personality chips per kid and paid to have that and the 2 droids shipped home. $36 to ship all of it. That was pretty great. No need to carry it all throughout the park all day long and figure out how to get that stuff and the lightsabers on the plane.

After that, we got ourselves added to the virtual queue for Dok Ondar's. ODD wanted to get a pair of Ahoka Tano color changing lightsabers and DH wanted to get a legacy lightsaber as well. Then DH started to whine about taking a break back at the room. Told him that the kids & I were staying but if he wanted to go back to Pop, he was welcome to, but by the time he took his 3-4 hour break and got back, the park would be almost closed and he'd miss out on Dok Ondar's.

So he wisely decided to stay. It was hot as heck this day.

Dok Ondar's had 82 other parties in line ahead of us. We went to Muppet 3D next...which was a walk on...to escape the heat. Then went on Star Tours, posted wait time was 10 min, but was really 5. It rained while we were in Star Tours.

Then got soft serve ice cream from Epic Eats, but it was so hot that they started to melt almost right away. Crazy! We were so hot & sweaty. Ick.

4:10 pm - were in the shaded queue for the Frozen sing along show (for the 4:30 pm show). My kids are past the Frozen stage, but we all agreed to do this because it was survival mode at that point and I knew the show would be about 30 min long inside in the A/C. So nobody complained. A dad sitting behind us belted out "Let It Go" super loud. That was cute.

I think we got more snacks after that. At 6:20, got in the MFSR queue with a 20 min posted wait, but was really a walk on. Galaxy's Edge at that time of day is really nice, and pretty empty. Nobody was hungry for dinner yet.

Eventually, we got the text that our 60 min return time slot was now available for Dok Ondar's. The virtual queue is ONLY for the legacy lightsaber part. Otherwise, you stand in the regular queue in person. By the way, the queue for the marketplace was nonexistent at this time of day. Earlier in the day, there were about a dozen parties waiting to go into the marketplace!

DH obsessed for a long time about which lightsaber to get. He eventually settled on one of the Skywalker ones (it looks super cool). We treated ODD to the Ahsoka Tano lightsabers. YDD wasn't interested in getting another one, so she passed. Paid a total of $36 for all of it to be shipped home...they arrived 2 days ago (on Thursday) with everything intact and in working order. We all had light saber battles in our family room on Thursday evening and yesterday evening. Super fun!

Then left HS and took Skyliner to Riviera for a late dinner at Primo Piatto. DH complained about how come there isn't deluxe resort quality food at a value resort and the kids & I looked at him like he had 2 heads. LOL.

 

[Epcot242]

So are people finding that if they get there at rope drop they're getting on a decent amount of rides? We have a 2-day, 1 park/day quickie trip coming up and I'd like to set expectations for our small group if I can.

 

[VandVsmama]

6/6:
MK day. Last park day. We avoided AK on purpose on this trip...too hot there. MK park hours started at 8 am and I **intended** for us to be out the door early, but that didn't work out.

I got up at 6:10. By the time everybody showered, got dressed, and ate breakfast, it was 7:40 am. So we were already behind. Had to get batteries for 1 of our WDW fans. Learned that our DME pick up for the next day was NOT scheduled like my travel agent had told us, so I had to go to the front desk in order to get that sorted out. Front desk agent said it was good I went there in the morning because with that much time ahead of time, she could resolve it herself instead of me having to call. Pick up for the next day was at 10:30 am.

Then went to the MK bus line and the line was insanely long. And not socially distanced long, but parties 2-3' apart long. DH & I took 1 look at that line and said to each other, "It's going to take an hour to get there. Forget it, let's get a Lyft." So that's exactly what we did and we ended up with the same driver who'd taken us to Epcot 2 evenings prior.

8:49 am - were in Adventureland, REALLY wanted to go on Jungle Cruise, but wait time was 30 min, so YDD said, "Let's skip it and see what the wait is later. I really love that ride, but I dont' want to wait half an hour for it." Went on Aladdin's Magic Carpets instead with a 10 min wait (was really 5).

9:02 - in line for BTMRR with a 16 min wait, but was really half of that. DH now officially likes this attraction.

After that, we went on Peter Pan (had to wait outside in the sunny queue for a few min, so the UV umbrellas saved us), then Mad Tea Party with a 5-10 min wait. After that, we all noticed how much more intense the heat felt today compared to 1 or 2 days' prior, so we stopped for drinks and snacks before moving on to Dumbo (5 min wait), then Peoplemover (posted 20 min, but was 7-8).

After that, it was 11:54 and we were on a bus to the Riviera (5 min wait for the bus). Pre-ordered lunch while on the bus - 2 pizzas, 2 Italian sandwiches with tomato soup. Dh & I browsed in the Riviera gift shop. There's a Princess & the Frog painting there that I'd like to purchase on our next trip. Love the vibe of the Riviera. I'd like to stay there some day.

then it was Skyliner back to Pop, followed by nap, pool, nap, shower, laundry

Took a bus back to MK and only waited 10 min this time for the MK bus. We had 5:40 ADR at The Wave for dinner. Took resort monorail to CR with no wait. Checked in at The Wave at 5:35. Dinner was good. Both kids ordered the steak and really enjoyed it. We shared a 7-layer chocolate cake and carrot cake for dessert. Kids liked the 7-layer cake a lot.

After dinner, took the monorail back to MK, but got on board on the wrong side, so we took the scenic deluxe resort circle tour around the resort monorail loop on accident.

Tried again for Jungle Cruise, but it was still a 40-60 min wait and YDD said, "No way, forget it." At 7:48, got in line for POTC. Probably waited 10 min for this. A really annoying family of 5 (2 parents, 3 young children) were so close to us that the mom and kids were touching my rear end. After a few min of this, I couldn't take it anymore and told them to please go on ahead of us. And then I watched them snuggle up to the rear ends of the people who were in front of us.

After POTC, we thought again about Jungle Cruise, but decided against it. We only had time for probably 1 more ride before park close. Went over to 7DMT and the wait was posted at 40 min with the queue extending way way down towards Dumbo. Did we want to wait 40 min? No.

How about BTMRR? Maybe. But we got to HM and it was a walk on, so we did that instead. Finished up with HM about 4 min before official park close.

On Main Street, we split up...DH & YDD went into the Emporium while ODD & I went to the Pandora shop because she wanted to spend some of her money on a Pandora charm. Then we all met up at the bus stop.

Bus stop to Pop this time wasn't nearly as long as it had been a few nights' prior. Lots of buses coming every couple of minutes. I think it was about 20 min by the time we were seated on a bus. LOTS of scooters. By the way, they were not pulling the scooters out of line for priority access, so somebody in a scooter at the back of the line didn't get to "cut" in front of the dozens of other parties.

About 30-50% of the buses were these larger, newer, fancier "Academy" buses, but those don't take scooters. The Academy buses accommodate strollers by putting the strollers in the luggage compartment area under the bus. Sometimes, you didn't even have to fold up the stroller.

Stopped at the Pop food court to pick up a mobile order of Mickey rice krispy treats and chocolate chip cookies. I really wish that there were more options there for desserts.

The following day was check out day. Met up with a local Orlando friend for breakfast (picked us up at Pop), then got our bags from the room and headed to the bus stop for the Tragical Express bus ride to the airport!

Overall impressions:

• It was a fun and awesome trip.
• I live in AZ and am used to hot weather, but not used to FL hot.
• I hope they reopen the ice cream parlor on Main Street again soon.
• Bus service from Pop to MK early in the morning is a pain in the neck.
• My DH is a bit of a primadonna about food prices at WDW and would like to be able to order a Deluxe resort TS-quality omelette at a value resort food court for breakfast.
• Star Wars Galaxy's Edge was amazing.
• Saw Goofy at Pop Century 1 afternoon doing socially distanced meet & greets while I was walking back from the laundry room. That was cool.
• The customer service at WDW is really great.
• I'd like the dining plan to return so we can use it on our next trip and my DH can quit whining about the cost of the food.

 

[kclark9830]

So are people finding that if they get there at rope drop they're getting on a decent amount of rides? We have a 2-day, 1 park/day quickie trip coming up and I'd like to set expectations for our small group if I can.

For our experience I'd say it depends on the rides. If you're heading toward anything other than headliners than yes, but if you do headliners than it will cut what you can do, even if you're there early.

 

[OhioWDWDuo]

Yes! That’s what we thought too! The WL gift shop said it’s bc it’s not a “Disney” product, it’s a third party. You need a receipt for everything you want to ship. Basically the receipt from Oga’s looks different. It doesn’t have any text on the back compared to the other receipts. The front desk did help us out and shipped it Fed Ex for us because we were going to have to either buy a $170 or $200 suitcase or return it. So that was great but we thought same thing.

Thanks for the heads up! The rancor tooth beer flight will be coming home with us one way or another, per DH.

 

[jlundeen]

Princess, sorry you had such a long wait for SSR. I'm betting it's all related to not enough bus drivers. But that should not be something that paid guests have to worry about. Unfortunately it is at this time.
I wanted to address the comment of "don't know why those on scooters get front of the line privileges". I feel your frustration but there is a reason.
The scooters have to be loaded first due to safety reasons. Up to 6 family members are allowed by disney to accompany the disabled. Then, after their "front of the line privilege", they are the Last to disembark from the bus.
I hope you don't have to ever need to use a scooter. It is not fun and it is no "privilege" to have to get on and off the buses with it. When you ride a scooter you must keep your eyes on the front of your scooter to watch for children who wander in front of you or adults who want to cut across or are in a hurry. You don't get to see much else while in the parks until you park. You can't look at the windows, scenery, or attractions due to having to be constantly on the watch for people. The disabled who use the scooters don't want to need them, but must use them for their mobility or health issues. They have every right to ride the bus same as non disabled guests. Please think of these things when you are frustrated at the disabled guests with their scooters. I bet they would give anything to be able to stand and wait and to walk while at disney.

I would like to add one more thing about scooters loading first. I had a personal experience trying to load a scooter on a bus that people were already on. Most folks would temporarily move from their seat across from where the scooter loads if asked politely. However, one guy, defiantly crossed his arms and said "NO!". Well, I'm not sure if many folks have ever tried to park a scooter on the bus, but it's not just a piece of cake. I attempted to work around his legs in angling the scooter into the spot, but that left me out too far, so I had to go forward again. And his legs were in the way, but he still didn't get it until I accidently "nudged" him trying to get around. At that point, the bus driver firmly told him to move until the scooter was in, and the other people retook their seats. He whined about it all the way back to the resort.

It's not as easy as it looks sometimes, and as disneyseniors said above, most of us are NOT in a scooter by choice, and love visiting Disney parks just as much as any other family.

 

[Princess Katelet]

Princess, sorry you had such a long wait for SSR. I'm betting it's all related to not enough bus drivers. But that should not be something that paid guests have to worry about. Unfortunately it is at this time.
I wanted to address the comment of "don't know why those on scooters get front of the line privileges". I feel your frustration but there is a reason.
The scooters have to be loaded first due to safety reasons. Up to 6 family members are allowed by disney to accompany the disabled. Then, after their "front of the line privilege", they are the Last to disembark from the bus.
I hope you don't have to ever need to use a scooter. It is not fun and it is no "privilege" to have to get on and off the buses with it. When you ride a scooter you must keep your eyes on the front of your scooter to watch for children who wander in front of you or adults who want to cut across or are in a hurry. You don't get to see much else while in the parks until you park. You can't look at the windows, scenery, or attractions due to having to be constantly on the watch for people. The disabled who use the scooters don't want to need them, but must use them for their mobility or health issues. They have every right to ride the bus same as non disabled guests. Please think of these things when you are frustrated at the disabled guests with their scooters. I bet they would give anything to be able to stand and wait and to walk while at disney.

Thank you so much for the very kind response to my report. I appreciate your gentleness and even level of response. I, too, hope I never need a scooter someday, and definitely realize touring Disney (or any place, or just everyday living) is infinitely harder and less enjoyable with mobility issues, and the crowds at Disney make this incredibly difficult and dangerous. It was definitely frustrating to be in line for an hour though and watch as scooters and their family would walk up 45 minutes after us, and get on the next bus while we again waited, shut out. I thought this was odd because I had a scooter behind me in the Slinky Dog ride, so they did not get head of the line privileges for that attraction, so why buses? (Not the same, but I watched a nearly blind woman stagger all through the looooong Soarin' line with her husband holding her elbow and her white cane sweeping the area before she took a step and wondered why on earth that poor lady had to deal with that line and crowd so I find how Disney treats guests with various health issues all rather inconsistent, personally.) Then VandV'sMama just posted that while waiting for her Pop bus to return them to Pop the scooters were NOT going in front of everyone so again there's inconsistency. Plus, with a resort with multiple stops, like SSR, you CAN'T load a scooter into an empty bus because the scooter could be at the last stop and by then the bus already had people on it. So they do indeed load scooters into buses that guests are already on. So I'm not sure what the actual rules are and they definitely don't apply them consistently across the board.
And you're probably right about not enough bus drivers, but SSR was consistently the stop with hoards of people while other resort lines were empty, yet buses still kept pulling up to those empty lines! I've never stayed at SSR before this trip but later someone told me it's the largest hotel on property (as far as how many guests it holds) so a place like that obviously needs more buses than a smaller resort does. I also don't know why there aren't transportation people at the stops radioing in which buses to send and not send, they are on the ground and can see which lines are long and which are empty. I mean there WERE transportation people there because on several different nights they would walk over and apologize to the line for wait and lack of buses, but they didn't seem to be able to DO anything about it. We had a good time overall, we were grateful to be there, but we did miss FP and we missed the larger variety of food options, and the buses were a consistent issue. Also, the inability to load the buses fully played an enormous role in the bus issue. The scooters truly only take up two extra seats (they use three, and if the person was not in a scooter they would be in a seat, so it's only two seats that you lose for others when loading a scooter) however, as you said, if they load first no matter when they hit the line, and they are allowed six family members, then with the vastly decreased capacity of buses it does mean people who have been waiting forever continue to wait. I've never had an issue with buses or scooters before this covid, socially distanced trip so things simply aren't ideal for anyone, le sigh.

 

[PPFlight75]

6/6:
MK day. Last park day. We avoided AK on purpose on this trip...too hot there. MK park hours started at 8 am and I **intended** for us to be out the door early, but that didn't work out.

I got up at 6:10. By the time everybody showered, got dressed, and ate breakfast, it was 7:40 am. So we were already behind. Had to get batteries for 1 of our WDW fans. Learned that our DME pick up for the next day was NOT scheduled like my travel agent had told us, so I had to go to the front desk in order to get that sorted out. Front desk agent said it was good I went there in the morning because with that much time ahead of time, she could resolve it herself instead of me having to call. Pick up for the next day was at 10:30 am.

Then went to the MK bus line and the line was insanely long. And not socially distanced long, but parties 2-3' apart long. DH & I took 1 look at that line and said to each other, "It's going to take an hour to get there. Forget it, let's get a Lyft." So that's exactly what we did and we ended up with the same driver who'd taken us to Epcot 2 evenings prior.

8:49 am - were in Adventureland, REALLY wanted to go on Jungle Cruise, but wait time was 30 min, so YDD said, "Let's skip it and see what the wait is later. I really love that ride, but I dont' want to wait half an hour for it." Went on Aladdin's Magic Carpets instead with a 10 min wait (was really 5).

9:02 - in line for BTMRR with a 16 min wait, but was really half of that. DH now officially likes this attraction.

After that, we went on Peter Pan (had to wait outside in the sunny queue for a few min, so the UV umbrellas saved us), then Mad Tea Party with a 5-10 min wait. After that, we all noticed how much more intense the heat felt today compared to 1 or 2 days' prior, so we stopped for drinks and snacks before moving on to Dumbo (5 min wait), then Peoplemover (posted 20 min, but was 7-8).

After that, it was 11:54 and we were on a bus to the Riviera (5 min wait for the bus). Pre-ordered lunch while on the bus - 2 pizzas, 2 Italian sandwiches with tomato soup. Dh & I browsed in the Riviera gift shop. There's a Princess & the Frog painting there that I'd like to purchase on our next trip. Love the vibe of the Riviera. I'd like to stay there some day.

then it was Skyliner back to Pop, followed by nap, pool, nap, shower, laundry

Took a bus back to MK and only waited 10 min this time for the MK bus. We had 5:40 ADR at The Wave for dinner. Took resort monorail to CR with no wait. Checked in at The Wave at 5:35. Dinner was good. Both kids ordered the steak and really enjoyed it. We shared a 7-layer chocolate cake and carrot cake for dessert. Kids liked the 7-layer cake a lot.

After dinner, took the monorail back to MK, but got on board on the wrong side, so we took the scenic deluxe resort circle tour around the resort monorail loop on accident.

Tried again for Jungle Cruise, but it was still a 40-60 min wait and YDD said, "No way, forget it." At 7:48, got in line for POTC. Probably waited 10 min for this. A really annoying family of 5 (2 parents, 3 young children) were so close to us that the mom and kids were touching my rear end. After a few min of this, I couldn't take it anymore and told them to please go on ahead of us. And then I watched them snuggle up to the rear ends of the people who were in front of us.

After POTC, we thought again about Jungle Cruise, but decided against it. We only had time for probably 1 more ride before park close. Went over to 7DMT and the wait was posted at 40 min with the queue extending way way down towards Dumbo. Did we want to wait 40 min? No.

How about BTMRR? Maybe. But we got to HM and it was a walk on, so we did that instead. Finished up with HM about 4 min before official park close.

On Main Street, we split up...DH & YDD went into the Emporium while ODD & I went to the Pandora shop because she wanted to spend some of her money on a Pandora charm. Then we all met up at the bus stop.

Bus stop to Pop this time wasn't nearly as long as it had been a few nights' prior. Lots of buses coming every couple of minutes. I think it was about 20 min by the time we were seated on a bus. LOTS of scooters. By the way, they were not pulling the scooters out of line for priority access, so somebody in a scooter at the back of the line didn't get to "cut" in front of the dozens of other parties.

About 30-50% of the buses were these larger, newer, fancier "Academy" buses, but those don't take scooters. The Academy buses accommodate strollers by putting the strollers in the luggage compartment area under the bus. Sometimes, you didn't even have to fold up the stroller.

Stopped at the Pop food court to pick up a mobile order of Mickey rice krispy treats and chocolate chip cookies. I really wish that there were more options there for desserts.

The following day was check out day. Met up with a local Orlando friend for breakfast (picked us up at Pop), then got our bags from the room and headed to the bus stop for the Tragical Express bus ride to the airport!

Overall impressions:

• It was a fun and awesome trip.
• I live in AZ and am used to hot weather, but not used to FL hot.
• I hope they reopen the ice cream parlor on Main Street again soon.
• Bus service from Pop to MK early in the morning is a pain in the neck.
• My DH is a bit of a primadonna about food prices at WDW and would like to be able to order a Deluxe resort TS-quality omelette at a value resort food court for breakfast.
• Star Wars Galaxy's Edge was amazing.
• Saw Goofy at Pop Century 1 afternoon doing socially distanced meet & greets while I was walking back from the laundry room. That was cool.
• The customer service at WDW is really great.
• I'd like the dining plan to return so we can use it on our next trip and my DH can quit whining about the cost of the food.

I love your trip report and am glad you had a great time. Your husband cracks me up! I am going to have to look into Lyft if the buses are crazy!

 

[VandVsmama]

Re: scooters loading on buses:

What I observed is this...

When a bus pulled up, if someone was on a scooter and they were near the front of the line, the bus loader/monitor person would count the # of people in front of them and then have the person on the scooter get out of line and sit to the side. The scooter would be loaded first, then able bodied passengers afterwards.

So essentially the person on the scooter had to wait in the queue with everybody else the whole entire time. There was not a separate scooter/wheelchair line.

What did NOT occur is a CM scanning the big long line of guests and pulling out all of the scooters and having the scooter rider and his/her group cut to the front of the big long queue.

My apologies if what I said earlier was confusing!

 

[Princess Katelet]

Re: scooters loading on buses:

What I observed is this...

When a bus pulled up, if someone was on a scooter and they were near the front of the line, the bus loader/monitor person would count the # of people in front of them and then have the person on the scooter get out of line and sit to the side. The scooter would be loaded first, then able bodied passengers afterwards.

So essentially the person on the scooter had to wait in the queue with everybody else the whole entire time. There was not a separate scooter/wheelchair line.

What did NOT occur is a CM scanning the big long line of guests and pulling out all of the scooters and having the scooter rider and his/her group cut to the front of the big long queue.

My apologies if what I said earlier was confusing!

Hmm…what I observed at parks was scooters just pulled off to the side of the queue, they did not get IN the line, ever. When the bus pulled up they loaded scooters and family first. Again they were not in line, they were off to the side where I think there was a wheelchair icon telling them where to wait. Maybe this was only for SSR bus stops?? Not sure.
AT SSR at the five little resort stops the scooters went front and center in the middle of the covered stop and they got loaded first regardless of when they got to the stop.
Your observations vs my observations just again proves Disney’s inconsistency here, lol.

 

[SwanVT2]

It is interesting to see how many people experienced long lines for jungle cruise. Since we have been bringing our daughter we have yet to get on that ride because it is either closed or the line is 45 minutes plus wait after we have rope dropped and used fast passes. Maybe this year I should just go on it first thing! Haha.

 

[georgina]

Hmm…what I observed at parks was scooters just pulled off to the side of the queue, they did not get IN the line, ever. When the bus pulled up they loaded scooters and family first. Again they were not in line, they were off to the side where I think there was a wheelchair icon telling them where to wait. Maybe this was only for SSR bus stops?? Not sure.
AT SSR at the five little resort stops the scooters went front and center in the middle of the covered stop and they got loaded first regardless of when they got to the stop.
Your observations vs my observations just again proves Disney’s inconsistency here, lol.

I haven't been lately, but that was always my experience with Disney buses. Scooters did not wait in the regular line and boarded ahead of those who had been waiting in line longer. We mostly drive ourselves to the parks now.

It is interesting to see how many people experienced long lines for jungle cruise. Since we have been bringing our daughter we have yet to get on that ride because it is either closed or the line is 45 minutes plus wait after we have rope dropped and used fast passes. Maybe this year I should just go on it first thing! Haha.

That line is always long, it seems. We only ever rode it with FP or during after hours events. NOT worth a long wait!

 

[JBRB828]

I LOVE a white noise machine, we just bought a tiny one for travel, to replace the one that we wore out.

I have tinnitus so, I have white noise ALL the time!

 

[ScarletFire]

So are people finding that if they get there at rope drop they're getting on a decent amount of rides? We have a 2-day, 1 park/day quickie trip coming up and I'd like to set expectations for our small group if I can.

Yes! Rope drop is the way!! We rode everything over a four day period, no problems. We had park hoppers and always rode an end of the night ride or two.

You must be at transportation 90 minutes before announced park opening. We stayed at CBR and were in-line for the skyliner immediately after making our RoR reservation; 7:10am. Social Distancing means buses quickly fill to capacity. If you don’t arrive to the bus stop early, full buses will pass you by. It happened to us. We still got to DAK before official opening but we missed rope drop. At 8am, Avatar wait was 85 minutes. Glad we park hopped and rode Avatar the night before!

Disney is too expensive to sleep in!!

That being said, everyone is HAPPY! Not many frowny faces At WDW!

 

[jlstwinmommy]

How crowded was Blizzard Beach?

Blizzard beach was not crowded at all. Crowded enough to sell out patios but lines were very reasonable for water slides. We enjoyed it there quite a bit, especially in the heat

 

[jbrinkm]

It is interesting to see how many people experienced long lines for jungle cruise. Since we have been bringing our daughter we have yet to get on that ride because it is either closed or the line is 45 minutes plus wait after we have rope dropped and used fast passes. Maybe this year I should just go on it first thing! Haha.

We had problems with Jungle Cruise back during our first trip in 2015. Always down or really long waits, as you said. Not planning to do it this time.

 

[jlstwinmommy]

So are people finding that if they get there at rope drop they're getting on a decent amount of rides? We have a 2-day, 1 park/day quickie trip coming up and I'd like to set expectations for our small group if I can.

I found we could ride 2-3 rides in the morning before the heat and crowds got too much. We were more successful in the evenings. The last hour we could squeeze in 4 rides or more depending on our priorities.
As an example, we closed MK last night after a fabulous dinner at Narcoosies. We got to MK at 8:15. We rode haunted mansion, little mermaid, buzz, and space mountain. Walked off space at 9:05.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Thank you so much for the very kind response to my report. I appreciate your gentleness and even level of response. I, too, hope I never need a scooter someday, and definitely realize touring Disney (or any place, or just everyday living) is infinitely harder and less enjoyable with mobility issues, and the crowds at Disney make this incredibly difficult and dangerous. It was definitely frustrating to be in line for an hour though and watch as scooters and their family would walk up 45 minutes after us, and get on the next bus while we again waited, shut out. I thought this was odd because I had a scooter behind me in the Slinky Dog ride, so they did not get head of the line privileges for that attraction, so why buses? (Not the same, but I watched a nearly blind woman stagger all through the looooong Soarin' line with her husband holding her elbow and her white cane sweeping the area before she took a step and wondered why on earth that poor lady had to deal with that line and crowd so I find how Disney treats guests with various health issues all rather inconsistent, personally.) Then VandV'sMama just posted that while waiting for her Pop bus to return them to Pop the scooters were NOT going in front of everyone so again there's inconsistency. Plus, with a resort with multiple stops, like SSR, you CAN'T load a scooter into an empty bus because the scooter could be at the last stop and by then the bus already had people on it. So they do indeed load scooters into buses that guests are already on. So I'm not sure what the actual rules are and they definitely don't apply them consistently across the board.
And you're probably right about not enough bus drivers, but SSR was consistently the stop with hoards of people while other resort lines were empty, yet buses still kept pulling up to those empty lines! I've never stayed at SSR before this trip but later someone told me it's the largest hotel on property (as far as how many guests it holds) so a place like that obviously needs more buses than a smaller resort does. I also don't know why there aren't transportation people at the stops radioing in which buses to send and not send, they are on the ground and can see which lines are long and which are empty. I mean there WERE transportation people there because on several different nights they would walk over and apologize to the line for wait and lack of buses, but they didn't seem to be able to DO anything about it. We had a good time overall, we were grateful to be there, but we did miss FP and we missed the larger variety of food options, and the buses were a consistent issue. Also, the inability to load the buses fully played an enormous role in the bus issue. The scooters truly only take up two extra seats (they use three, and if the person was not in a scooter they would be in a seat, so it's only two seats that you lose for others when loading a scooter) however, as you said, if they load first no matter when they hit the line, and they are allowed six family members, then with the vastly decreased capacity of buses it does mean people who have been waiting forever continue to wait. I've never had an issue with buses or scooters before this covid, socially distanced trip so things simply aren't ideal for anyone, le sigh.

another thing which happened to me leaving MK one night precovid, I walk with a cane had a mother pull her young daughter up so close to me that I could not put my cane down. she looks at me and says dont put that down on her daughter. I looked at mom and answered her would you prefer me to fall on your daughter as that would be the direction I would fall. should have seen how fast she moved her daughter so I could put the cane down. she was not happy with me but what I told her was the truth