Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[JediMaster19]

We have been here since Monday afternoon. Yesterday did AK in the morning and Epcot in the evening. AK was pretty much a walk on for everything except FoP and Navi. We didn't do Navi because the timing wasn't right for us (we have a baby with us and it was getting hot) but the wait times were listed higher than FoP so I'm guessing it was having issued. Around 10:45 FoP was listed as a 45 min. wait. Son and his SO got in line while I took the baby to wait for an opening at Nomad Lounge. They got on with a 40 min. wait but said most of it was inside. By the time they got off there was still no wait list at Nomad Lounge and I got us a good sized table outside. We rode Safari right when we got there around 9:30 with no wait. Didn't ride anything else but walked the trails. It didn't seem very busy and we did check the wait times and everything was listed at 5 to 10 min. We went to Epcot around 5:30 or 6, snack around F&W and walked on the Mexico ride. Walked over to FW and walked on Figment (which the baby loved as well as Mexico) and walked on SSE. We left the park around 8:30 and WS seemed a little crowded but not bad and there was plenty of room to walk around. There was a decent rain shower around 6 or so and a few booths closed down but they re-opened later.

I was able to get BG 29 this morning for ROTR with no problems. I just put my phone on data instead of internet and when it flipped over to 7 am hit join. No problems at all. Later I will update as to how HS is. Since we have a baby with us we aren't riding a lot of rides, although we will do child swap at HS for ROTR and ToT maybe Slinky dog. We have to leave and come back to the room around 1 because it just gets too hot for her even with a fan blowing on her.

Thank you for your post I will be there this coming week.. very informative! I have heard people joining the RoTR BG by either scrolling down on the front page of the My Disney Experience app and clicking Join , or by going to Virtual Queues and joining that way? How did you go about it? Trying to decide which way to do it when I get there

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thank you for your post I will be there this coming week.. very informative! I have heard people joining the RoTR BG by either scrolling down on the front page of the My Disney Experience app and clicking Join , or by going to Virtual Queues and joining that way? How did you go about it? Trying to decide which way to do it when I get there

Post 1 of this thread has a lot of helpful information re: obtaining a Boarding Group for Rise of the Resistance.

Most people find trying from the front page is a good choice although they updated the process just this week and both may go from the same location now.

 

[queenadnama]

Just returned from a 6 day trip at Yacht Club (mother/daughter trip)!! Our room was great, housekeeping showed up every other day so we always had a huge supply of towels. I took notes of posted wait times vs. actual wait times... we never waited to the posted time. For example: Haunted Mansion on Labor Day Saturday was 60 min; we waited 20. Basically every ride was like this. Longest we waited was 45 min for Flight of Passage around 10am on a Monday.

Mask compliant is about 50/50 outdoors, and 90/10 indoors. I wore my medical mask outdoors minus when there were not crowds, and it was very do-able. Just bring a napkin or something to dab your face if you get a sweaty lip (like me!). You will get called out if you can't handle chin/nose/mouth protocol, which I was happy to see. I wore an N95 and medical during Happily Ever After because it was super-packed and felt safe. My tip is to bring a portable hand sanitizer clip so you can clip it to a belt loop -- the park sanitizer is kinda slimy.

Park hopping is a breeze! Cast Members are very sweet if you are sweet to them and comply with the rules; we had no crabby CMs at all. Not a lot of older guests, and not as much younger children for obvious reasons, but weirdly a ton of newborns/under 1 year olds however were there? I found that to be the most surprising factor of all. Very sad to have our possible last Magical Express trip We had no wait for both to and from the airport! I was dreading that the most given I'd seen so many posts about 2 hour waits, but we were pleasantly surprised. Mobile ordering is the BEST.

Overall this was one of our best trips, and I understand now why everyone wants no more fastpasses -- I'm a believer of it! I go back end of October with my SO for a week (planned eons ago before 50th announcements and Genie+ travesties) so I am worried that trip will be stressful, but at least this trip was great and relatively easy-going in every single way.

 

[pinkxray]

@Dugette- do you recall which KN95 you had for your DD? I would like some for my kids but it’s so hard to tell which ones are really small enough for kids.

 

[Dugette]

@Dugette- do you recall which KN95 you had for your DD? I would like some for my kids but it’s so hard to tell which ones are really small enough for kids.

Yep, we got a big pack of the Vida kids ones. She’s almost 9 and they fit her well and are easy for her to put on and take off.

 

[AndreaDM]

I don't understand why people are talking about outdoor mask "compliance", there is nothing to comply with outdoors am I correct? We are going in 2 weeks and just making sure masks are NOT required outside.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I don't understand why people are talking about outdoor mask "compliance", there is nothing to comply with outdoors am I correct? We are going in 2 weeks and just making sure masks are NOT required outside.

This is Disney's official statement: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/experience-updates/#drawer-card-faceCoverings

My understanding is that many queues are a combination of indoors and outdoors, crossing back and forth from one to the other. Rides like Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, etc may be examples of this. From what we've heard here, once guests pass under the 'Standby Time' sign they are being advised to put on their masks and leave them on for the duration of the line and ride, regardless of when they are standing inside or outside.

This being said, we've also heard here that this messaging is not always consistent so not everyone's experiences will be the same. If I were going to the park I would be prepared to do the above re: putting it on when I go under the Stand By Time sign.

 

[IluvMGM]

We just got done our 12 day trip at Pop. We had low wait times most of the trip. We thought mask compliance was pretty good, but you could always spot someone on a bus or in a queue, or even on a ride that takes it off. Not sure why it's so tough to understand. Love that you can walk into the food court to order now. There are so many more options than are listed on mobile order. We got lucky with not too much rain, but of course it was super hot. We were glad to be able to take masks off outdoors this trip and wondered how we made it through last year with them on the whole time. Lining up for the skyliner was totally different than last year. Last trip we would line up hours early and the line would stretch back to the bowling pins. This year, barely any line at all. I think HS was the toughest opening, just because they held you back at the gate. Would have been nice to at least be able to go into Starbucks before opening. Security was a breeze this trip, didn't need to have our bags checked. The finger scans though, were a pain. I never remember having trouble in years past, but just about everytime this trip one of us would have to make multiple attempts before it turned green. Also, we got boarding groups for Rise all 3 days again, so super happy about that. Touring Plans was usually much more accurate with wait times.

 

[ST1TCH]

This is Disney's official statement: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/experience-updates/#drawer-card-faceCoverings

My understanding is that many queues are a combination of indoors and outdoors, crossing back and forth from one to the other. Rides like Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, etc may be examples of this. From what we've heard here, once guests pass under the 'Standby Time' sign they are being advised to put on their masks and leave them on for the duration of the line and ride, regardless of when they are standing inside or outside.

This being said, we've also heard here that this messaging is not always consistent so not everyone's experiences will be the same. If I were going to the park I would be prepared to do the above re: putting it on when I go under the Stand By Time sign.

Our experience last week was that if you enter a queue that was initially outside, just about every CM would say something similar to "Please make sure you have your masks, you don't have to put them on now, but make sure you have them on when you go inside." Then there was usually another CM where you entered the indoors part and they would make sure everyone had their mask on at that point.

 

[Sarahslay]

Of course, they bring out the statues in MK after we've just left....

It's like the Poly monorail station opening the day after I check out lol

 

[IluvMGM]

This is Disney's official statement: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/experience-updates/#drawer-card-faceCoverings

My understanding is that many queues are a combination of indoors and outdoors, crossing back and forth from one to the other. Rides like Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, etc may be examples of this. From what we've heard here, once guests pass under the 'Standby Time' sign they are being advised to put on their masks and leave them on for the duration of the line and ride, regardless of when they are standing inside or outside.

This being said, we've also heard here that this messaging is not always consistent so not everyone's experiences will be the same. If I were going to the park I would be prepared to do the above re: putting it on when I go under the Stand By Time sign.

The rides have signs at the point where masks are required, stating no food or drink beyond that point and masks required. A lot of the time there is also a cast member to tell you.

 

[kboo]

but weirdly a ton of newborns/under 1 year olds however were there? I found that to be the most surprising factor of all.

I traveled to Paris with a newborn in the midst of a measles outbreak years ago ... I think it's 2-fold:
1. little babies aren't mobile and touching things, so they're easily contained in a stroller or carrier which you, the parent, can manage, and
2. some studies show that if the mom got vaccinated while pregnant, their baby has antibodies after being born, so arguably they're more covid safe than kids under 12.

My understanding is that many queues are a combination of indoors and outdoors, crossing back and forth from one to the other. Rides like Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, etc may be examples of this. From what we've heard here, once guests pass under the 'Standby Time' sign they are being advised to put on their masks and leave them on for the duration of the line and ride, regardless of when they are standing inside or outside.

This being said, we've also heard here that this messaging is not always consistent so not everyone's experiences will be the same. If I were going to the park I would be prepared to do the above re: putting it on when I go under the Stand By Time sign.

^^^ this, with some variation in the ride lines. At the 7DMT queue entrance last week, everyone had to show that they had a mask but didn't have to put it on until we went into the "vault". At ROTR we were told to put them on as soon as we started the "tunnel" section, even though it was largely open to outside. Signs are pretty clear and there's a CM who usually tells you the first time. we just put them on and kept them on after the first sign rather than engage in any drama/debate.

 

[Leigh L]

It's like the Poly monorail station opening the day after I check out lol

And Space 220 opens the day we leave! lol

 

[queenadnama]

I traveled to Paris with a newborn in the midst of a measles outbreak years ago ... I think it's 2-fold:
1. little babies aren't mobile and touching things, so they're easily contained in a stroller or carrier which you, the parent, can manage, and
2. some studies show that if the mom got vaccinated while pregnant, their baby has antibodies after being born, so arguably they're more covid safe than kids under 12.

Thank you so much for the insight! That would make sense. It was baby-carrier city at MK yesterday, lol

 

[kboo]

Got back from a 9-night trip, 8/28-9/6. We have been spoiled by lines shorter than I remember in my lifetime, which includes the days of the paper A-B-C-D-E tickets. We went two other times earlier in the pandemic when masks were required indoors and out. I almost canceled this trip because our kids are under 12, but I'm so glad we didn't. Here are some highlights:

1. Masks/mask compliance, distancing: as others have said, pretty good in queues and on indoor rides, except - we had several instances of people taking off their masks once the ride left, or for ride photos. This happened 2x on RnRC, 2x on ToT, at least once on Space. We have photopass, and so we didn't get our photos from those rides. If that happens to you because it's someone not in your group, go to the photopass counter after the ride. One time we got a printed photo, most other times we were offered a re-ride. I did have a few people bump into me from behind, in line, but they apologized and backed up as soon as I looked back at them. About 50% or so of people also wore masks in crowds outdoors; in line, there are still plexiglas panels up in the switchbacks (even outside) and I felt ok keeping some distance.

2. Crowds/Lines: Touring plans had most days at a 1, and I think that was accurate. The TP Lines app was also more accurate than MDE. Virtually everything was a walk on, and we did not rope drop a single day (and we are usually rope droppers). The largest crowds I saw were in the evenings at EP during Labor Day weekend, and those were lines at the food booths, which sadly we didn't try. Even so, most rides were still short/no waits and it was very easy to distance while outside and not in a line. We rode FOP 2x in a row: first time was a slow walk that took maybe 10 minutes in the late morning, then as we were exiting a CM offered everyone getting off a "re-ride" to go directly to the room right before they send you to the pre-show. We only did one weekday at AK because we rode everything we wanted to (except Safari), multiple times, in about a 3-hour period between 10-3 (we also had a 2 hour lunch at Nomad Lounge). Everest was a walk on, Navi was a 20-min wait. ROTR: 7am BGs filled up within minutes rather than milliseconds, and the 1pm BGs stayed open until close, *except* for Labor Day weekend, when 7am filled in seconds and 1pm filled in minutes. ToT, RnRC, TSMM, MFSR - were walk-ons at all times of day *except* Labor Day weekend, when they were ~20-30 min waits. MMRR, SDD were about a 20-30 minute wait at all times. At Epcot, we didn't get to FEA because we were squeezing in rides around ADRs - TT was a 20-min wait during Labor Day weekend, everything else, including Soarin, was a walk on.

MK: we didn't do Jungle Cruise because we haven't seen the movie yet and it always seemed to be 20-30 minutes of a wait. We did 7DMT multiple times, not at rope drop or close, with a 10-20 minute wait. Peter Pan was about 10 min, everything else (including BTMRR, Splash, Space, Buzz, Small World ... ) We didn't do HM or PotC because .... (oy) ... my kids are scared of them.

3. Indoor dining: IT WAS HOT WHILE WE WERE THERE. REALLY REALLY HOT. HOT HOT HOT!!! We were touring with another family that was much more covid-risk-averse than we were, and they decided before our trip not to do any indoor dining. We kept 1-2 ADRs a day to get a break from the heat and also because we really love some of the restaurants at WDW. No one stated this specifically, but many of the restaurants appear to be running at slightly reduced capacity (and thus more spaced) but because of staffing issues. California Grill still had partitions up between booths near the kitchens, and we were probably 10 feet away from the nearest table; same at Topolino's. Skipper Canteen. Garden Grill also seemed pretty spaced. Chef Mickey's was generally pretty good, too, we were 6-8' from the next table, but we ended up being seated in the lower-ceilinged area, which was fine with us but might not feel comfortable for others. Teppan Edo - we were seated with another group but there was a partition between us, and I sat on that end (vaxed), so we felt comfortable there as well. We originally planned to have the whole table with the other family, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. We also did Sci Fi and Brown Derby, and Tutto Italia. We were a little closer to neighboring tables than I would have liked at Brown Derby and Tutto Italia, but they staggered seating a little so there weren't people next to us for our whole meal.

4. Covid risk assessments: I thought we were pretty risk averse, but the family we ended up traveling with was far more careful/anxious. We ended up going with the flow with them, building in more pool time midday for a heat break and not always doing everything together. Our lunch at Nomad Lounge was another accommodation; we had a Tiffins lunch planned that the CMs were very kind in allowing us to cancel when it became clear that our friends wouldn't feel comfortable. (I peeked, the tables were well-spaced, but we also ate there on all of our previous trips... oh well. Next time...). We go often, so we were okay with adjusting our plans on the fly to let our friends feel more comfortable. I think that was a point well-taken for this trip overall - we adjusted plans on the fly and didn't get too invested in having to do something and it all went really well. We rode things multiple times if the line was short, and didn't feel like we *had* to do everything. Because crowds were so low, it was overall a very low stress, relaxed trip.

(ETA: we wore disposable KN95s; our friends sometimes wore N95s and N95+cloth.)

5. Fireworks: we watched HEA from the hub and while it wasn't quite as packed as days past, we kept our masks on and if I could do it over again I would have watched from farther back on Main St. or staked out a better space more time in advance. But, we enjoyed it nonetheless and I'll miss that show. Epcot Forever was easy to space. We had an amazing view almost right up at the lagoon, and the nearest groups were 20+ feet away.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Our experience last week was that if you enter a queue that was initially outside, just about every CM would say something similar to "Please make sure you have your masks, you don't have to put them on now, but make sure you have them on when you go inside." Then there was usually another CM where you entered the indoors part and they would make sure everyone had their mask on at that point.

Sounds like for those of us not planning on outside masks it’s best to be ready to put it on in ride/ ride lines whenever asked, that CMs aren’t keeping it a secret when we need to wear one. That’s my plan anyway!

 

[mfly]

We were last at WDW in April.

Are the parks still opening/running rides a half-hour early, or is it back to a more normal rope-drop?

Trying to decide how early we should get to MK tomorrow AM + HS on Sunday AM.

 

[loves to dive]

Thank you for your post I will be there this coming week.. very informative! I have heard people joining the RoTR BG by either scrolling down on the front page of the My Disney Experience app and clicking Join , or by going to Virtual Queues and joining that way? How did you go about it? Trying to decide which way to do it when I get there

I'm afraid I'm very lazy so I don't do all the tricks and tips. I turned off wi-fi and turned on my data. I had MDE open and had scrolled down to the virtual que section. When my phone turned over to 7 am I hit join and then hit join through the next screens. I did the same thing this morning and didn't get it but since we had already ridden it, I wasn't really waiting to hit join exactly when my phone turned.

 

[loves to dive]

HS on Wens, BG 29. We got to HS around 9:30 or 10 am went to ToT, which was listed 1/2 hour. We did child swap, my son wasn't really paying attention but he said it didn't take them 1/2 hour to get in. I went through the FP line for child swap but the regular line was going as fast as I was so there wasn't really a need for it. After that we walked through TS Land just so my son's SO could see it and by the time we got ROTR, our boarding group had been called. Again, we did child swap and they waited maybe 15 min. to get on. It was a walk on for me for Child Swap. After that we ate at Brown Derby outside lounge and went to Mickey & Minnie. The baby could ride that, the wait was posted 30 min. and we waited that long but most of it was inside. We left after that for some down time in the room. My son and I walked over to Epcot and got stuck in one of the worst rain storms I've ever been in. We had a huge two person umbrella and we still got soaked. I wanted to go to the lobster booth so we booked it over there and got there about 2 min. before they shut it down. We go the lobster tail and the dip, they were more important to us to keep dry then keeping ourselves dry so we held the umbrella over the food while we ate. We booked it back to the Dolphin after that.

Thurs. was MK day. We got there around 9:30 or 10 again and right when we got up to the photo pass photographer to get a picture it started raining. We were able to the picture before the sky opened up. We walked over and rode Pirates as pretty much a walk on, the baby was able to ride that. Then we went to Haunted Mansion and it was about a 30 min. wait but most of it was under cover. After that we grabbed some ice cream and went and did COP, the baby loved that. We went back over for my son and his SO to ride Jungle Cruise and since the baby was sleeping I just got under some cover and waited. I didn't need to ride it so no child swap. We left after that and rode the monorail over to Epcot. We walked through eating at some booths and back to the room to rest. The baby was pretty much done so Mama and she stayed in the room and my son and I went back to Epcot for some booths.

Today was another HS day. I didn't get a BG but didn't really try too hard. We got to HS earlier than we have any of the parks this trip, a little after 9. We walked to Toy Story and my son and his SO rode Mid Way Mania while I walked the baby around, the wait was about 20 min. There was a 60 min. wait for Slinky Dog and it was hot so we skipped that. We went to Galaxy's Edge and fed the baby then they went and rode MF. It was listed a 45 min. wait and was about that. We walked over to the brew pub place and sat outside for a little bit then back to the room. I went to the pool and the baby napped a little. Back to Epcot which was showing it was Friday. It was around 4 pm and getting a bit more crowded then it had been. We shopped a little, ate at some booths. Since the baby loved Figment so much the first time we rode that again, walk on. They wanted to ride Soarin so we went over there and it was listed a 10 min. wait but they walked on while I sat and played with the baby. Then we walked around Epcot some and ate at some more booths. By 8 it was getting way too crowded for our comfort so we left.

All in all a pretty good trip. I didn't think the crowds were too bad, we rode pretty much all we wanted to given we had the baby with us and were taking it easy. We didn't really notice much problems with people not wearing their masks where they were supposed to, we did notice a few CM's gently reminding people to pull them up.

 

[Deeleebaker]

We were at a studio in Villas at Grand Floridian for our first dVC trip August 31- September 6. Cast members were so warm and welcoming (except one older gentleman outside MMRR who snarked after we got on the wrong side of a rope line (which led nowhere) after tying my daughters shoes.) Parks were like a ghost town and around 1230 on Tuesday the 31 we went to FantasyLand and just rode rides as walking as we approached them. Mad Tea Party, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Casey’s to cool off, Little Mermaid, Carousel, and when we got to Pooh she was exhausted to back to the Villas Around 2. The manager found us a room as my daughter napped on a wing chair, and a cast member brought some towels as a pillow and blanket for her. We lost the extra shower as what they got us was a hearing accessible room, but we managed fine without it most of the week. They offered to move us the next day, but I didn’t want to be roomless again just in case we needed a nap mid day again.

We did almost all the rides at all 4 parks over 5 days. Never rope dropped, napped most days midday. Really appreciate mobile ordering now that you can use gift cards, but really wish you could save a gift card on file, I hated having to drag it out every time. Most restaurants let us find a eat once they were filling the order for us, only ABC commissary wanted to make us wait until it was ready, but then the cast member let us in for the air conditioning when my 6 year old started slumping in the hot sun.

It got busy over the weekend, but we were able to manage with masks on indoors and outdoors. Only had to avoid 2-3 families that insisted on noses out inside and on transport. We have been fairly isolated at home/work/school for the entire pandemic and this was a big leap for us. We are home and all well (Except for our asthma which is an August/September challenge anyway)

Im already planning our February trip to a 1BR value in Jambo house. I keep thinking about going somewhere one park is walkable, but the points keep me taking buses. I have two major take aways. I don’t think Ill ever go back in September unless it’s mostly resort only, and I’m not going to try and get all the rides done again.