Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[GBRforWDW]

Interesting! Thank you, I didn't realize because it looked fine on my end. Trying an experiment and saving it after reading it to look upside down on my end. And note to self to try to remember to take pictures with the camera facing the right way.

When I did a recent trip report, I would go into each picture I wanted to upload, crop it and make a slight change, then save. After that, the picture uploaded just fine on the site.

Before editing, the pictures would display in any random direction.

 

[The13thLetter]

just got back last night from the long drive. will write up a full thoughts post later this week but wanted to mention our last 2 days were awesome.

thursday did breakfast from ale&compass market and ate it by the pool. did full pool morning. DS3 went on the big pirate ship slide like a champ. he wanted to go on it, and he did it all by himself. we had to do it about 6 times in a row lol. aftewards we went to epcot for a quick bite from a few remaining booths, then monorail to TTC, ferry to MK. went in and did all the rides DS wanted to do again with little to no wait. did monsters inc laugh floor for the first time ever and it was pretty great. took him on barnstormer and dumbo again while DW got pceos bill. DW took him on small world while i ate chicken and waffle sandwich. DS got to see HEA for the first and last time. Since he is 3 we found a spot sort of up front to the left of the castle where no one was. he could see most of the castle projections through the trees. even with the partial view i still teared up in the normal 3 or 4 places lol. did a longggg loop around the park after so we could skip out on the immediate crowds and it worked out well as we got on the first bus to YC once we finished.

friday did tusker house breakfast. food was good but character experience was sort of lackluster. toppolino was much better. then did safari, navo, FOP, EE, triceratops, all walk ons. finished the night with pizza from the boardwalk window and swimming (more pirate slide lol)

 

[brockash]

compared to the pre-pandemic days? I'm a DL vet and have only been to WDW once, back in 2017. Have parades and shows returned? I want to go back, but am willing to wait a couple of years until it "gets back to normal" if it ever does. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Wait...no parades are not back and not all shows either...I'd just wait.

 

[manicstreet]

I was curious with the BG availability for Rise being wide open through the day, if there were opportunities for multiple rides. Typically it’s one boarding group per person, per day. How were you able to ride 3 times in a day? We’re there this weekend and would love to ride it more than once if possible.

we went to Hollywood studios 3 different days.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Yes just indoors. If you can feel AC, masks are required.

That is actually a really great reference point thank you.

 

[Haley R]

For anyone there now, are there a lot of small children or are most folks coming with older children that can be vaccinated? I guess that's 12 years old or older.

We’re here now and there are lots of small children and babies. We’re here with our 16 month old

 

[emily nicole]

We arrived yesterday 8/29 at about 7pm. There were only two other parties at DME. We were immediately placed on a Mears van, by ourselves and taken to All Star Movies. I missed the DME little movies but it was nice going directly to our resort.

We got to Magic Kingdom today around 10:30am. Everything we did was a walk-on except for Splash (posted 40, actual 20). We didn’t try 7DMT, we will hit that during Boo Bash. Ate at Skipper Canteen and it was delicious.

 

[tripplanner]

Just came back today. There was a float with characters led by dancers and music. One float. It was cute, but nothing like their parades. We also saw the Jaminators in Epcot. It was the only other show we came across with 3 days in the parks. I’d wait if you want those experiences.

 

[MarkS2112]

It’s very very different and not in a good way. Lots less to do, higher prices. Wait until it all comes back.

 

[EpcotPhoenician]

There's another thread with a ton of useful information. It helped me plan my May 2021 trip. Link below.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...g-experiences-including-park-hopping.3807247/

 

[burberryplaid]

Good first day…

Despite the scary looking line at ME it moved quick. We waited about 15 minutes for a bus. There were 5 stops and we were stop 1.Got the text our room was ready on the bus and went straight in - no issues.

I was full on prepared to Lysol the room but when we opened it, we could tell it had just been cleaned. Both remotes were sealed in plastic with a “Cleaned”sticker.

We had a 12:20 reservation at Beaches N Cream for lunch. We were called at 12:25

Seating: We were a party of 2 seated next to another table with plexi glass in between. There was another table behind us which was a little close but not too bad and another table on the other side of us that was about 6 feet away. We were comfortable and kept masks on while waiting for food. Our server Roger was excellent.

We went back to the room and napped and got our grocery delivery then over to Epcot around 5:45. It was HOT as blazes! Walked on to Soarin and got drinks at Sunshine Seasons (I needed water) then Spaceship Earth. Walked back to Mexico and got chiliquiles and taco al pastor. Walked on to Grand Fiesta. Got food at Kenya and Germany booths. Germany was the longest line..about 5 minutes. Got the 8:45 showing of The American Adventure then walked to our room.

Walkways are busy as mentioned but we still felt comfortable outdoors without a mask. If we can into very close contact with someone like ordering food we put the mask on. No issues with compliance indoors that we could see.

I was extremely nervous before we arrived but feel really good now. We are vaccinated and being careful (2 adults) I’m happy we came so far.

This thread was very helpful to me so I will continue to report back. If you have any questions let me know!

 

[The13thLetter]

We’re here now and there are lots of small children and babies. We’re here with our 16 month old

its funny, we did notice there seemed to be less little ones than normal but they were definitely still there like you said.

 

[smitty0705]

Curious to hear from someone just back - how much are masks required at the theme parks currently? Are they now required for all rides again if the ride does indoors? We were at US/IOA in March and they were required everywhere, including outdoors and it was unseasonably hot. Curious what the current protocol is - I just see they are required indoors on the WDW website. Thanks!!

They are required everywhere indoors including rides. At restaurants you are asked to mask if not actively eating/ drinking but that’s not really enforced. Lines that are covered or part inside and part outside also require masking. CMs will remind you if you forgot and don’t have your mask on. I feel like thr masking is taken seriously. Today we saw a family removed from Mickey & Minnie Runaway Railway because they didn’t all have masks. I have no idea how they got all the way to the ride vehicle without all being masked but the CMs would definitely not allow them to ride unmasked. Hope this helps.

 

[slyster]

Rope dropping AK. We are being held at ticket entry point. Rope drop thread may need to be updated.

 

[PamNC]

Everyone who is there and reporting - thank you for the reports on the crowds! I'll be there next week and hoping that the crowds remain low... keeping a close eye on the situation.

 

[rmclain73]

A friend of mine just returned. She is not a member of this board so I figured I would share her story. They traveled from 8/23-8/27. She like me works in healthcare and was worried prior to the trip about the increase in Covid cases in the Florida area. She traveled with her 2 under 12 yrs old children.

Like most have said crowds were low and wait times were great. She found mask compliance to be very high when indoors. CM's did a great job reminding people. She also felt safe from the Plexiglass dividers that were up in line queues where distancing was not possible. Dinning was better than she anticipated. All severs kept masks on, and tables were spaced enough part. She really thought Disney did a great job at making them feel safe. She was glad she went, and would do it again.

 

[Dentam]

Everyone who is there and reporting - thank you for the reports on the crowds! I'll be there next week and hoping that the crowds remain low... keeping a close eye on the situation.

Same here - we arrive next Wednesday and will be there a week. Hoping for these super low crowds to continue!

 

[Haley R]

We went to AK this morning. Showed up around 7:50 and walked onto safari, Everest, and triceratops spin. Safari was great because all of the lions were out. Then our Ds played in the boneyard before we left for his nap. We’ll be back later tonight to ride Navi and probably Everest and the triceratops ride again. I’ve been very pleased with mask wearing inside. We occasionally wear ours outside if we’re in a crowd

 

[MrWreckless]

its funny, we did notice there seemed to be less little ones than normal but they were definitely still there like you said.
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Where did you find that Cars poncho?

 

[The13thLetter]

Where did you find that Cars poncho?

its like a poncho/raincoat hybrid. a bit big but did the job.

https://www.amazon.com/Disney-Pixar...&keywords=cars+raincoat&qid=1630422122&sr=8-6