Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[HeiHei2018]

Day 2. Woke up before alarm and pulled first LL right at 7. Did not rush out the door for early entry.
After 8 took boat to HS
In park by 8:28
Alien saucers, 5 min wait
MMRR LL, 10-15 minute wait after the pre-show
TSMM LL, 5 minute wait, ride broke on second screen, evacuated
Meet Olaf LL (posted 30 min wait, there were three families in standby)
10:30 Frozen singalong
Muppets 3D LL (was walk on)
Before noon, Ate our lunch on a bench outside Muppets
Walked through Batuu, lack of shade made us way too hot
TSMM Recovery LL
Tired and overheated, so left
Skyliner to Epcot
Boat back to hotel
Hydrated and relaxed in hotel room
After 3 took boat to Epcot
Meet Aurora in France, 15 minute wait
Remy LL (lucky afternoon pull)
Boat from Morocco to Canada
Imagination LL (was walk on)
Meet Mickey, 20 minute wait (We wandered around looking for this a bit. He is right inside the Pixar theater entrance.)
Soarin LL
Dinner at Mexico TS
Soarin, walk on
Spaceship Earth LL (was walk on)
8:00 Snack while watching lights on SSE (It is much more impressive when it is completely dark, which was 8:15.)
Frozen LL (pulled in morning)
9 Harmonious
walked back to hotel
11.3 miles today. Forecast had 50% chance or rain from 2-9 pm, but only had heat lightning

 

[EddieValiant]

My first day was EPCOT on Monday, no Genie Plus. Got group #1 for GOTG. Went on Remy first since I'm at the Swan. That's got to be a tough rope drop if you are coming from the front of the park. Loved dropping my wait to see @PaddyWarbucks from a possible 45 to zero thanks to single rider. Didn't ride Test Track or Frozen due to lines, left at peak heat of day. Ended up going to MK fireworks because of storms closing boats. Got ice cream from Plaza, and got an extra ride on Buzz and Space due to a 30 min fireworks delay. I was over near the Tomorrowland bridge for a view. Had a better view yesterday.

 

[EddieValiant]

Tuesday was Hollywood Studios. Grabbed Slinky Dog at 7am drop for 120pm. Went on RnRC and TOT first during Early Entry. Then did Midway Mania standby, Star Tours. 2nd Genie for Midway Mania just before Slinky time. Looked at wait times and took a chance on Rise via standby after it was down and got it after almost 2 hour rate. Made Midway Mania in the 15 min late window and then did Slinky. Ate lunch at ABC Commissary and then back to the pool.
Dinner was at The Fountain due to storms. Stacked a Smugglers Run and Runaway Railway for late after dinner. So I got 4 rides with Genie Plus.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Everest and Soarin’ are two of our favorites, but I’m not sure we’d wait more than 20 minutes for either. I think once we hit 25 with Everest out of the five times we rode it. We rode Soarin’ four times, and it was a walk-on every time (in the evening).

Soarin' is funny now...they added a theater a few years back and so that's good waits really dropped. But they also changed the film and that's bad we miss the old one. I guess both those things really dropped the wait time. It used be one of the most demanded rides with the longest waits.

 

[itf]

Decided to believe the weather apps promises of doom and so did the morning at typhoon lagoon which we really enjoyed - hoping the party Saturday doesn’t get rained out. We’d planned to hop to Epcot from there but we snagged remy first thing then couldn’t get test track at all when our time was up and we decided to just not bother. Came to Disney springs instead and returned to Salt & Straw (the weird flavours actually all taste great) and went bowling in anticipation of the storm that never came!

 

[itf]

Looks like MK fireworks are at least delayed. Harmonious is going on right now though?

Fireworks over the lagoon near the Hyatt too but no sign of MK.

 

[2vets]

Looks like MK fireworks are at least delayed. Harmonious is going on right now though?

Fireworks over the lagoon near the Hyatt too but no sign of MK.

I was at CG tonight, rode monorail back and am in a TPV room at GF. No sign of fireworks.

 

[Texans_loyal]

Looks like MK fireworks are at least delayed. Harmonious is going on right now though?

Fireworks over the lagoon near the Hyatt too but no sign of MK.

11 PM and they are still announcing delays. Do they ever cancel them?

 

[MomOTwins]

Do they ever cancel them?

Sometimes, yes. They will do them in mild rain but not a huge storm.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Soarin' is funny now...they added a theater a few years back and so that's good waits really dropped. But they also changed the film and that's bad we miss the old one. I guess both those things really dropped the wait time. It used be one of the most demanded rides with the longest waits.

I got to see Soarin Over CA this Spring in Disneyland and it was such a breath of fresh air. Disney World is really missing out not switching between the two I think. At least that one doesn’t have a super leaning Taj Mahal and a super leaning Eiffel Tower

 

[scrappinginontario]

I got to see Soarin Over CA this Spring in Disneyland and it was such a breath of fresh air. Disney World is really missing out not switching between the two I think. At least that one doesn’t have a super leaning Taj Mahal and a super leaning Eiffel Tower

We were at DCA this week and I was so hoping it would be the original!! Sadly they were showing the new one too.

The emotional connection with the original is missing from the new one. I like it but nothing like I liked the original.

 

[HeiHei2018]

Day 3 was Thursday. It was check out day, so we knew we wouldn’t make rope drop.
after 8, bus to MK
~8:45 Entered MK, very clear signs for early entry scanning
Pooh, posted 20 minutes, waited about 20 minutes
Tea Cups, walk on
People Mover, walk on
Meet Mickey and Minnie LL (I used world clock to pull right at 7:00, and got 9:40)
Buzz LL
Laugh Floor, waited 15 minutes
Dumbo, 5 minutes
Little Mermaid, walk on
Carousel, 5 minutes
Before 12, Lunch at Pinocchio. Got in walk up line. Put in mobile order on phone. Got table. Order was ready with at least four parties still in line that had been in front of us.
Small World LL
Country Bears, just missed show start, so had to wait 10 minutes
Shopping
Bus to Hollywood Studios. Just missed one, so waited 20+ minutes.
3:30 Frozen sing along
TSMM LL
Aliens LL
5:00 Boat to hotel

 

[gottalovepluto]

Weather q for those there now/recently. Is it usually rather windy when the rain hits? I was gonna pack my travel umbrella but now seeing thunderstorms, not just rain, in the forecast has me wondering if an umbrella would be kinda useless right now?

 

[itf]

Weather q for those there now/recently. Is it usually rather windy when the rain hits? I was gonna pack my travel umbrella but now seeing thunderstorms, not just rain, in the forecast has me wondering if an umbrella would be kinda useless right now?

It’s not felt especially windy to me (here now) but apparently we’re due some wind around now.

 

[Mome Rath]

Weather q for those there now/recently. Is it usually rather windy when the rain hits? I was gonna pack my travel umbrella but now seeing thunderstorms, not just rain, in the forecast has me wondering if an umbrella would be kinda useless right now?

I've seen it both ways, but the umbrella is still handy to "sprint" to a drier location. lol

 

[NJlauren]

Did MK today, a party day, arrived a bit later then I wanted, around 8, did a few photo pass pictures, BBB for my girls at 840, sir mickeys for a photo shoot, meet Cinderella and Elena (LL), was about 10 when we finished here. From 10-4 we did the following, haunted mansion (stand by posted 10 minutes), pirates (SB posted 5 minutes), splash (LL), lunch Peco Bills, Big thunder (LL), caught the tail end of noon parade, country bears, small world (SB posted 10 minutes), Winnie the Pooh (LL), mine train, had ILL from the morning but ride was down so was able to use it now, did Barnstormer (LL, but SB was 5), then stopped for ice cream, then Buzz (LL), then we split up 3 to carousel of progress, 2 to space mountain (LL), our 4 year old fell asleep in CoP, so I put her in the stroller and hung out with a coffee, everyone else went to laugh floor. Then we got a pretzel, did some shopping and make your own popcorn. It started to rain so we left for our dinner. Could have easily done more. I stand behind and still believe party days at MK are great with low crowds.

 

[lovethesun12]

Just back from the most amazing trip ever. I wasn't sure how my kids would handle all the walking (just turned 7 year old and a 9 year old) but they had no issues at all and even did early entry, extended evening hours and watched both Halloween parades on our party day! Plus they loved all the rides!

I can't believe how much we did. It probably looks like a lot of it was due to genie+, but I think the major reason was lower crowds. My son and I were at Magic Kingdom at 2pm one day during our visit (it was a party day) and the cast member just kept us on to ride BTMRR because there was no line. We rode 6 times in a row (only kept us on once, the rest we had to get off and walk through again) and even though it said 15 minute wait it was a walk on IMO. I've never experienced anything like that at Magic Kingdom at 2pm before in my life. We also waited only 30 minutes for SDMT and maybe 20 minutes for Splash that same day.

Personally, I think the rope drop mornings we did were awesome, however genie+ didn't work that well in the morning other than for Magic Kingdom. The real benefit was rope drop IMO. We did get a lot of lightening lanes but the lines were pretty short anyway, maybe saved 5-10 minutes per line for the last 5 lightening lanes.

Day 1
MK (morning - ETPE)

Under the Sea
LL Peter Pan
Haunted Mansion
IASW
LL Winnie the Pooh
LL Barnstormer
LL Dumbo
ILL SDMT
LL Philharmagic (not necessary)
LL parade (LL was useless)

*resort from ~12-4pm for swim break

Epcot (extended evening hours)
ILL GOTG
LL Mission Space
LL Test Track
LL Remy
TS at Rose & Crown
FEA
Spaceship Earth

 

[lovethesun12]

Day 2 - MNSSHP. I would 100% recommend visiting MK on a party day. We were there at some point during two party days and each time the waits were beyond reasonable.

430-7pm
pirates
splash mountain
big thunder mountain railroad x2
SDMT (less than 30 minute wait, finished a couple minutes before the party started)

7pm-12am party
*trick or treated every station as we went through the park, pretty sure we didn't miss any
-mad tea party
-cosmic rays for dance party/food
-peoplemover
-buzz lightyear
-astro orbiter
-BTMRR (again, kids wanted to see it at night)
-pirates
-fireworks
-met mickey/minnie (spelltacular we planned to watch was cancelled, not a big deal for us)
-parade

 

[lovethesun12]

Day 3: AK/HS
AK (AM)
-Navi
-ILL FOP
-LL KS (made next LL for slinky@8:15pm)
-KRR
*2h window was up during TS so booked LL for dinosaur
-breakfast@Rainforest Cafe
-EE (posted wait was 45 min, we waited <30min)
-LL dinosaur (booked LL for MFSR at this point)
-triceratops spin

*Hotel for ~4h break

HS (PM)
-ILL ROTR
-LL MFSR
-LL MMRR
-dinner at ABC commissary
-LL TSMM
-AS2
-LL Slinky Dog
-ToT

 

[lovethesun12]

Day 4: This was the day we went the morning of the party. We didn't do early entry, the waits were much lower than the posted times. We arrived at about 9am.

MK (morning)
-LL Jungle Cruise
-BTMRR (~15 min wait)
-LL Splash
-country bears
-lunch@Pecos Bills
-LL meet Tiana
-ILL SDMT
-Barnstormer
-Splash
-LL BTMRR
-BTMRRx5 (this was where the castmember kept us on two rides in a row at one point the lines were so short..all were a walk on)
-pirates

We were suppose to go to HS on this day but there was a thunder/lightening storm. Our kids weren't use to that so they weren't interested in going and we decided to have a table service dinner at our hotel and relax instead.