Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Neverbeast]

My SIL and her kids already have lanyards to pin trade so they just have their cards in a little pouch and have been really happy with it

 

[Boopuff]

today at HS -focus on all things Star wars- rode ROTR it was great, I get motion sickness, so during one portion I had to stare at my feet, but loved it otherwise. Crowds weren’t bad, but the rain came, and never left. Got our reservations for Ogas, server was quick to mention 2drinks, 45min, you‘re out! Droid build was too much fun, lightsaber was great. Other than the endless rain, a fun day

 

[Neverbeast]

Boo puff are you living my same life? We did all the same. Got so wet but had a lot of fun. Oga’s was pretty backed up by the time we got there- 20’min wait even with our reservation and we just couldn’t stand in the rain a single minute more so we bailed. Other than that it was a great day!

 

[Leigh L]

I was there with you guys! We only did Rise though and walked around GE a bit. We spent most of the day in front of the park.

We were in galaxys edge and bailed around 2 to 3 pm right before the downpour. Omg that was a storm!

Went back out and landed at epcot around 5, then hopped to mk.

I don't know if it was the earlier rains or what but I did 5 rides at mk in about 2 hours (splash, big thunder. HM, buzz, and 45 min of that 2 hrs was 7dmt.) Also no problem getting a VQ for Guardians at 5 pm.

Could have done more to close out MK but was wiped so left around 10:20. I outlasted my adult DD she went back to the resort after epcot.

Wait times so far are unlike any I've ever seen. Yesterday we did a ton too between MK and epcot.

 

[sweetyk83]

I think we were all at Hollywood studios yesterday! That rain was a pain but that cloud cover all day was so nice!

 

[Alex Baker]

any reports/ breakdown/tips from anyone traveling with a toddler recently? Wouldnt be riding the headliners.

Top genie plus options currently for each park for rides with no height requirements and where to start in each park?

 

[scrappinginontario]

any reports/ breakdown/tips from anyone traveling with a toddler recently? Wouldnt be riding the headliners.

Top genie plus options currently for each park for rides with no height requirements and where to start in each park?

Another good place to look for this information is on the Disney for Families board. A lot of information there re: Disney with children.

 

[Boopuff]

Started today at MK (we knew about the party). Low waits across the board (minus headliners) we have a one-year-old in tow. Did jungle, tiki (loved it!) pirates, HM, and small world. We left at 1for our Space reservation. Greeted by the crazy crowds at EPCOT. Busiest day of our week. Around 5 it was almost uncomfortable. We snacked a bit then headed out to beat the fireworks insanity. Sadly we leave tomorrow. Overall a great trip, the guys love the golfing, next time I’ll be sure to add in REST days!

 

[canyoncam]

Started today at MK (we knew about the party). Low waits across the board (minus headliners) we have a one-year-old in tow. Did jungle, tiki (loved it!) pirates, HM, and small world. We left at 1for our Space reservation. Greeted by the crazy crowds at EPCOT. Busiest day of our week. Around 5 it was almost uncomfortable. We snacked a bit then headed out to beat the fireworks insanity. Sadly we leave tomorrow. Overall a great trip, the guys love the golfing, next time I’ll be sure to add in REST days!

I was at MK until 1:30 and finished at Epcot too. I was solo, however I’ve been here all week and my feet are starting to hold me up! Both Monday and today I started at MK with Early Entry and accomplished everything I desired (all the headliners and some) by 1pm. Got to stay on Splash for two rides, then over to Thunder were I was brought back to reality when the cast member loading at Thunder would not let me wait for back row. Also disappointed People mover was down this morning while I was in Tomorrowland and even though I watched Laugh Floor and rode Space Mountain twice waiting for it to come up it, I left the park, hopped on the monorail to Epcot and saw it was up. Disney problems!! But I did manage a boarding group for guardians of the Galaxy as I’ve been able to all week. Rode all attractions except Figment and Frozen waiting for my group. I’d done the eating Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was so slow at Epcot I pulled a GotG BG at 4:30pm and got called at 7pm. Best week ever!!!!!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I just got back from a great trip we spent four days in the parks one in Universal we went to the Halloween party and overall had a fantastic time!

However, I will say and I will say… I will never ever ever ever ever go in August again or early September it was hotter than the sun outside at points and worst of all I was staying at Universal‘s cabana bay there was heat lightning every night which close the pool for hours!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I just got back from a great trip we spent four days in the parks one in Universal we went to the Halloween party and overall had a fantastic time!

However, I will say and I will say… I will never ever ever ever ever go in August again or early September it was hotter than the sun outside at points and worst of all I was staying at Universal‘s cabana bay there was heat lightning every night which close the pool for hours!

Sad on the weather but your pics are still ADORBS!

 

[Neverbeast]

Finishing a great week and flying home tomorrow. A few overview thoughts:

Mostly an incredible trip. Thanks to everyone who shared tips and experiences because I felt like all the planning made things so smooth- any time our plans had to change on the fly I had three other good options in my pocket ready to deploy!

Weather was tough. It was either super hot or rain/lightning was changing the plan. Overall I’m really happy with the way we did late lunch TS and got out of the sun or storms during the most brutal hours each day.

G+ worked great for us, yes it was expensive and yes it was low crowds most days and we maybe didn’t “need” it but it made our trip really easy. Everything worked fine for a party of 11, we didn’t have to split anything up for booking. I didn’t love waking up at 6:50 on our G+ days but I was able to go back to sleep most days and my family got to sleep in, ride everything they wanted, and be in great moods all week so worth it to me.

Cast members- we had some really incredible magic moments, mostly from older looking folks I assume have been with Disney a long time… we had some not great moments too, and a LOT of having to wait and eventually interrupt clusters of CMs ignoring us and chatting together. I don’t begrudge anyone having fun work banter but by the end of the week I was finding it annoying. Still better than our universal day, and overall still left a good impression for their customer service. Lots more good than bad. ToT CMs were on fire yesterday with the jokes and hamming it up. We loved them.

We enjoyed MK the least, HS the most. Fireworks treats and seats party was worth it for a break from the rain and heat and to get an evening drink. desserts were meh except the crepe was delicious. Kids loved the whole thing. We got in line to check in way too early, and they let everyone bring the chairs over to the rail to see fireworks anyway so I didn’t need to be so worried about checking in for a good seat. Lovely to watch fireworks with a chair and no one touching me

Ohana food was pretty meh for me, that was our worst meal. Tusker house was the best. We also liked a lot of the items from Sci Fi. Those wings are insanely expensive but the sauce was so good. Woody’s lunch box was also kind of disappointing, I thought I’d like the lunch box tarts more. Caseys corner was also a miss for us. None of us liked anything but the fries. HS carrot cake cookie was delicious and we also loved the Wookie cookie.

Missed a few snacks I wanted, had to bail on Gideons, which I’m still so bummed about, and didn’t find any must have souvenirs, but overall amazing experience!

 

[Jennasis]

We are here now...

Arrived yesterday a day our room at BLT was ready by 2pm. Fabulous "lake view" room on the Mk side with a perfect view of the castle, fireworks and space mountain.

We Mosied into MK around 4:30 and rode (without G+), pirates (walk on), BTMRR 30 min wait), Space Mountain (20 min wait), TTA (5 min wait), Buzz (15 min wait), Carousel of Progress (walk on), Haunted Mansion (walk on), Monsters Inc (walk on), ate an ice cream cookie sandwich from the plaza ice cream shop, a spicy chicken waffle sandwich, and a brownie sundae and chocolate shake from Auntie Gravity's while Watching Enchantment with no crowds in Fantasyland. A delightful evening!

This morning we slept in until 8:30am and then went to AK. Got in around 10:30 and did (with no G+), Dinosaur (15 min wait), FotLK (20 min wait while theater was loading), Gorilla Falls trail, ate at Satuli, did Everest (12 min wait), Safari (10 min wait), ITtBaB (walk on), Finding Nemo show (walked up 5 min prior to show and got great seats) and then went to dinner at Boma. Am currently in a food coma.

Tomorrow we Epcot!

 

[cdurham1]

We are here now...

Arrived yesterday a day our room at BLT was ready by 2pm. Fabulous "lake view" room on the Mk side with a perfect view of the castle, fireworks and space mountain.

We Mosied into MK around 4:30 and rode (without G+), pirates (walk on), BTMRR 30 min wait), Space Mountain (20 min wait), TTA (5 min wait), Buzz (15 min wait), Carousel of Progress (walk on), Haunted Mansion (walk on), Monsters Inc (walk on), ate an ice cream cookie sandwich from the plaza ice cream shop, a spicy chicken waffle sandwich, and a brownie sundae and chocolate shake from Auntie Gravity's while Watching Enchantment with no crowds in Fantasyland. A delightful evening!

This morning we slept in until 8:30am and then went to AK. Got in around 10:30 and did (with no G+), Dinosaur (15 min wait), FotLK (20 min wait while theater was loading), Gorilla Falls trail, ate at Satuli, did Everest (12 min wait), Safari (10 min wait), ITtBaB (walk on), Finding Nemo show (walked up 5 min prior to show and got great seats) and then went to dinner at Boma. Am currently in a food coma.

Tomorrow we Epcot!

Sounds like a great first 2 days!

 

[cdurham1]

Finishing a great week and flying home tomorrow. A few overview thoughts:

Mostly an incredible trip. Thanks to everyone who shared tips and experiences because I felt like all the planning made things so smooth- any time our plans had to change on the fly I had three other good options in my pocket ready to deploy!

Weather was tough. It was either super hot or rain/lightning was changing the plan. Overall I’m really happy with the way we did late lunch TS and got out of the sun or storms during the most brutal hours each day.

G+ worked great for us, yes it was expensive and yes it was low crowds most days and we maybe didn’t “need” it but it made our trip really easy. Everything worked fine for a party of 11, we didn’t have to split anything up for booking. I didn’t love waking up at 6:50 on our G+ days but I was able to go back to sleep most days and my family got to sleep in, ride everything they wanted, and be in great moods all week so worth it to me.

Cast members- we had some really incredible magic moments, mostly from older looking folks I assume have been with Disney a long time… we had some not great moments too, and a LOT of having to wait and eventually interrupt clusters of CMs ignoring us and chatting together. I don’t begrudge anyone having fun work banter but by the end of the week I was finding it annoying. Still better than our universal day, and overall still left a good impression for their customer service. Lots more good than bad. ToT CMs were on fire yesterday with the jokes and hamming it up. We loved them.

We enjoyed MK the least, HS the most. Fireworks treats and seats party was worth it for a break from the rain and heat and to get an evening drink. desserts were meh except the crepe was delicious. Kids loved the whole thing. We got in line to check in way too early, and they let everyone bring the chairs over to the rail to see fireworks anyway so I didn’t need to be so worried about checking in for a good seat. Lovely to watch fireworks with a chair and no one touching me

Ohana food was pretty meh for me, that was our worst meal. Tusker house was the best. We also liked a lot of the items from Sci Fi. Those wings are insanely expensive but the sauce was so good. Woody’s lunch box was also kind of disappointing, I thought I’d like the lunch box tarts more. Caseys corner was also a miss for us. None of us liked anything but the fries. HS carrot cake cookie was delicious and we also loved the Wookie cookie.

Missed a few snacks I wanted, had to bail on Gideons, which I’m still so bummed about, and didn’t find any must have souvenirs, but overall amazing experience!

Wookie cookie is one of the best snacks at WDW, imo. And I feel like we are really taking a break away from the park there.

Sounds like your family is lucky to have you as their planner and keep everything smooth!

 

[Jennasis]

Heading to Epcot shortly...got VQ and iLL$ for GotG easily right at 7am. Our boarding group is 14 and our iLL$ is for 10am. On to a great day!

 

[kmrobins03]

It’s 4pm and the Guardians VQ is still open, if anyone wants to know how today is going.

This is a great reminder. We park hopped to Epcot last week and got there early evening, around 5pm. I thought for sure the 1pm VQ would be full- to our surprise.. we got it! So awesome!

 

[butterscotchcollins]

This is a great reminder. We park hopped to Epcot last week and got there early evening, around 5pm. I thought for sure the 1pm VQ would be full- to our surprise.. we got it! So awesome!

It is SUCH a fun ride! Props to my husband for figuring out that you can do both VQ and $ILL on the same day lol. Can’t wait to go back but I know November race weekend is going to be a VERY different trip.

 

[IluvMGM]

We are back from a 2-week trip at Pop Century. We rope dropped every day, usually got in line for the bus or skyliner around 6:15 and didn't have any issues being up front to enter the parks. It was smooth sailing going through security this year, we never got stopped. It was also smooth sailing entering the parks. It seemed like last year there was always a fingerprint issue. We did MK on party days and had no issue walking right on almost everything. We always started with mine train and then did peter pan, jungle cruise, pirates, splash and big thunder and then made our way through fantasyland and tomorrowland. Genie Plus was not needed at all for any of the parks, we had no problem doing everything with low waits. Fireworks were tough because it stormed many of the nights we were there, but we managed to see both shows. Guardians virtual queue was no problem getting. My head didn't feel great after riding it, so it kind of set me back for a few hours. I wanted to try again our 2nd Epcot day, but didn't want to take a chance, so I sat it out. We ate a lot of good food, though some of our usual favorites seemed not quite as good as it normally is. Overall it was a great trip. I did notice more things not working or damaged than I usually do, and more trash laying around. There were cigarette butts in ride queues and all around the resort, which was new to me.

 

[GBRforWDW]

skyliner around 6:15 and didn't have any issues being up front to enter the parks.

What time would you say a line started forming for the skyliner? What was the line like over at CBR to either of the parks? We're Staying at Pop in a couple weeks, so curious what I'll have to do