Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Do they make you exit as soon as the show is over? or can you hang back a little and wait to exit? I have developed severe claustrophobia during the pandemic and being in a people pit will definitely induce a panic attack. We have booked a Fantasmic Dining Package and I know that has it's own entrance but I imagine everyone exits at the same place?!

You can hang back and wait! We would have, but I thought we were going to get more things done after the show.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Do they make you exit as soon as the show is over? or can you hang back a little and wait to exit? I have developed severe claustrophobia during the pandemic and being in a people pit will definitely induce a panic attack. We have booked a Fantasmic Dining Package and I know that has it's own entrance but I imagine everyone exits at the same place?!

PLEASE hit up the DISabilities board because F! might be a horrible decision for you. I have slight issues in crowds and I do F! but it is still extremely stressful for me. I would ask on that board for any experiences with F! and severe claustrophobia before you try it yourself.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Do they make you exit as soon as the show is over? or can you hang back a little and wait to exit? I have developed severe claustrophobia during the pandemic and being in a people pit will definitely induce a panic attack. We have booked a Fantasmic Dining Package and I know that has it's own entrance but I imagine everyone exits at the same place?!

You can hang back for sure. Just wait for some of the crowds to clear then exit when you’re comfortable.

 

[loandbeholdlauren]

Do they make you exit as soon as the show is over? or can you hang back a little and wait to exit? I have developed severe claustrophobia during the pandemic and being in a people pit will definitely induce a panic attack. We have booked a Fantasmic Dining Package and I know that has it's own entrance but I imagine everyone exits at the same place?!

This! I also have severe crowd anxiety (I skip MK fireworks altogether, or watch from the TTC). Fantasmic is a bit better for me, since everyone is seated. I have always waited at the end of the show to exit, since we usually end our day with the fireworks. It seems like most people who rush to get out are trying to ride or experience more. We also booked a F! dining package this year, which seems like it will help too.

 

[DisneyMama811]

PLEASE hit up the DISabilities board because F! might be a horrible decision for you. I have slight issues in crowds and I do F! but it is still extremely stressful for me. I would ask on that board for any experiences with F! and severe claustrophobia before you try it yourself.

thanks! will do

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Here now! We went to MK yesterday and had a fantastic day. I signed up for Genie+ At midnight and booked our first LL for Splash at 7AM. I modified it a few times because we didn’t get to the parks until 11.

We arrived at the hotel to Goofy and Donald roaming in front of Pop Century and hopped on a bus around 10:30 (line was quite backed up at Pop but they dispatched 3 busses so that took care of things) and were in the parks shortly after. We reactivated my son’s DAS pass and enjoyed riding the train for the first time since 2018! We headed to Splash for a farewell ride and kicked off the day.

I won’t go into time stamp detail, but by the time we ended our day around 8:30 by utilizing the DAS and Genie+ we went on: Splash Mountain x3, Pirates x2, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Dumbo, Buzz, The Little Mermaid, the People Mover, and watched Philharmagic. We also had a fantastic lunch at Skipper Canteen. Genie+ was much much more effective this trip than the last time I tried to use it shortly after it’s launch. Obviously MK is a better park for it than some of the others.

It was a fantastic day and I was shocked to see the crowd levels were much lower than our last trip here. I expected mobs due to the marathon but I could actually walk without much difficulty in places that are traditionally crowded like the area in front of Small World. We are heading to MK after hours tonight, EPCOT tomorrow, and HS after hours Wednesday so I will try to keep you updated!

 

[DisneyMama811]

Here now! We went to MK yesterday and had a fantastic day. I signed up for Genie+ At midnight and booked our first LL for Splash at 7AM. I modified it a few times because we didn’t get to the parks until 11.

We arrived at the hotel to Goofy and Donald roaming in front of Pop Century and hopped on a bus around 10:30 (line was quite backed up at Pop but they dispatched 3 busses so that took care of things) and were in the parks shortly after. We reactivated my son’s DAS pass and enjoyed riding the train for the first time since 2018! We headed to Splash for a farewell ride and kicked off the day.

I won’t go into time stamp detail, but by the time we ended our day around 8:30 by utilizing the DAS and Genie+ we went on: Splash Mountain x3, Pirates x2, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Dumbo, Buzz, The Little Mermaid, the People Mover, and watched Philharmagic. We also had a fantastic lunch at Skipper Canteen. Genie+ was much much more effective this trip than the last time I tried to use it shortly after it’s launch. Obviously MK is a better park for it than some of the others.

It was a fantastic day and I was shocked to see the crowd levels were much lower than our last trip here. I expected mobs due to the marathon but I could actually walk without much difficulty in places that are traditionally crowded like the area in front of Small World. We are heading to MK after hours tonight, EPCOT tomorrow, and HS after hours Wednesday so I will try to keep you updated!

this sounds like a great day!! I'm really praying crowds are low for our trip next week

 

[wilkydelts]

Just back, from a 10 day trip (12/28-12/6) with a party of 10. Here are my overall thoughts. I will repost this in genie+ thread as well since most relates to genie+

1. Christmas crowds are high but with a good plan, genie+, and refresh method things work out fine and never felt swamped or overcrowded

2. Genie+ works and is necessary. I had it pre-paid at $15 so my feelings may be much different if I paid $29 a day

3. If you spend windows of time refreshing you will a high chance of getting what you want, I turned Star Tours into Slinky and Toy Story Mania. I will say there is one exception and that appears to be Frozen. (I did not try to refresh to Remy) I spent hours refreshing for Frozen with no success. This has led me to believe: SPECULATION ALERT!!, if you have a Remy in your account they are somehow blocking you from seeing Frozen availability pop up.

4. Zero need to wake up more than 5 minutes before the opening of Magic Kingdom to book genie+ if you intend to sleep in.

5. There is genie+ availability booking benefits to hoping to EPCOT since you will be ahead of EPCOT's two hour booking windows by starting your booking at a different location.

6. Got in line for RotR at 8:40 and took us 25 to get to Rey Room. Posted at 85 minutes.

7. Staying at Grand Floridian and regularly going to EPCOT is exhausting, I am not a fan of the EPCOT Monorail any longer. Give me a bus straight there instead.

8. Disney food has always been over priced unfortunately it is becoming even worse for the quality you get. Sebastian's Bistro was by far the best food we had all week and was ironically some of the cheapest and all you can eat.

 

[jods]

Just back, from a 10 day trip (12/28-12/6) with a party of 10. Here are my overall thoughts. I will repost this in genie+ thread as well since most relates to genie+

1. Christmas crowds are high but with a good plan, genie+, and refresh method things work out fine and never felt swamped or overcrowded

2. Genie+ works and is necessary. I had it pre-paid at $15 so my feelings may be much different if I paid $29 a day

3. If you spend windows of time refreshing you will a high chance of getting what you want, I turned Star Tours into Slinky and Toy Story Mania. I will say there is one exception and that appears to be Frozen. (I did not try to refresh to Remy) I spent hours refreshing for Frozen with no success. This has led me to believe: SPECULATION ALERT!!, if you have a Remy in your account they are somehow blocking you from seeing Frozen availability pop up.

4. Zero need to wake up more than 5 minutes before the opening of Magic Kingdom to book genie+ if you intend to sleep in.

5. There is genie+ availability booking benefits to hoping to EPCOT since you will be ahead of EPCOT's two hour booking windows by starting your booking at a different location.

6. Got in line for RotR at 8:40 and took us 25 to get to Rey Room. Posted at 85 minutes.

7. Staying at Grand Floridian and regularly going to EPCOT is exhausting, I am not a fan of the EPCOT Monorail any longer. Give me a bus straight there instead.

8. Disney food has always been over priced unfortunately it is becoming even worse for the quality you get. Sebastian's Bistro was by far the best food we had all week and was ironically some of the cheapest and all you can eat.

I will only stay at the Poly for the monorail line. I think switching is torture. I need to be able to walk to the ttc. We stayed at CR during covid and I loved the bus to epcot. It took me 80 minutes to get from epcot to CR last trip for a CM breakfast (1230 adr). That did me in lol.

 

[Castlequeen5]

Just reporting our experience from last month. We were at Disney from Dec 17 to Dec 21. Originally we had a 3 Day Park Hopper and MVMCP tickets. But we canceled the party tickets and used it to upgrade to a 4 Day Park Hopper in the middle of our trip.

We used Genie Plus for 3 out of 4 days. It was totally worth it to us. We were able to ride all the rides we wanted with very little wait. It worked really well to stack the rides for later in the day. We had no trouble getting top rides or modifying our times to later in the day. We used G+ for SDD, MMRR, RnR, PP, JC, Splash, BTMR, POTC, HM, Dinosaur, and Navi River. We also used $ILL for FOP, GOTG, and SDMT. I did not splurge for Rise of the Resistance. It was $25 a person and I didn’t want to fork over that much money, just to skip the line. We’ve ridden it several times at both WDW and DL with boarding groups. So it wasn’t a must do for us.

The park we didn’t use Genie Plus was at Epcot. So it ended up being the only park, that we actually took advantage of ETPE. We came in on the Skyliner, and were in the park by 8:30. We went straight to Remy and then to Frozen. And we were done with both by 9:45. We had also bought an $ILL for GOTG and had a virtual BG. I don’t believe G+ was even necessary at Epcot, especially if you rope drop.

We only had one ADR this trip. It was the Fantasmic Dining package at Hollywood and Vine. I thought it would be nice to see the characters in their Christmas gear. The food was fine, but nothing spectacular. It felt like the same experience pre-Covid. But they didn’t do the picture with Minnie at the front. I don’t know if this is the norm now, or if it was just an off day. Either way, I don’t think it was necessary for the Fantasmic viewing. We got there right before it started, and there seemed to be a few seats left for those without dining packages too.

We originally had Candlelight Processional dining packages too. But there was a threat of rain, the day we were going. I was afraid to pay extra for seats, and then be stuck out in the rain. So I canceled our ADR. However it didn’t rain, and we were able to stand in the back and watch. We eventually went over to Regal Eagle for supper and ate at their outside tables. It was perfect, because we were able to eat, sorta see, and listen to the show from there.

We stayed at All Star Music and used Disney transportation exclusively. We mainly used the buses, but we also used the Skyliner and the Monorail. This experience with the buses was the best we’ve ever had. The buses were quick and plentiful! We could have just been lucky with our timing, but we rarely waited more than 5-10 minutes the whole trip.

We did all 3 night shows…Enchantment, Fantasmic, and Harmonious. We ended up watching Enchantment twice, because the first time we had a terrible view. I underestimated the crowds the first night, and we had a terrible time getting around. So our second night at MK, we claimed a spot on Main Street about 30 minutes early. This time we had great views, and we were able to enjoy it. Honestly that was really the only time, I felt like Disney was overly crowded. The rest of our trip seemed like the crowds were normal or tolerable. But around the time for fireworks, MK was packed! I think everyone was hopping to MK on nights when there was no Christmas party.

Overall, we had a nice trip! I would definitely go back during the Christmas season. I enjoyed the atmosphere and all the holiday touches. This was our first experience using Genie +, and we saved a lot of time. But there ended up being just 2 of us on this trip. It would have been much harder to justify the extra expense, if I had my whole family along.

 

[gorkt]

Recap 1/8:

Arrived at the Beach Club Villas from Universal around 1:30pm. The plan was to store bags and just chill at Beach Club or Boardwalk. Lucky for us, our room was ready early so we just went up and relaxed for awhile. At around 5pm we headed to MK.

I had bought G+ while still at Universal and began stacking MK rides. By the time I arrived I had 4 that I was juggling around. The new modify ride options were key to this, and this would not have been doable for me otherwise. We arrived at the park and rode Pirates, then BTMRR (only day it was open during our trip), and Haunted Mansion. Then we went to the Dessert Party. I upgraded last minute to Treats and Seats and I am glad I did because everyone was super tired from our Universal days. But I don’t think I will do another dessert party until they upgrade the desserts. They were mostly meh. Too much money for too little benefit.

By then I had stacked a few more rides so it was off to ride Space Mountain, Peter Pan and Jungle cruise before heading back.

Verdict: G+ works great for MK stacking and a late park arrival.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Recap 1/9. Slept in and ended up getting to Animal Kingdom (from Legoland) at 12:30. It felt more crowded than expected in areas but lines didn’t seem too bad - at least for what I wanted to do.

I caught the Finding Nemo show and then rode dinosaur (20 min wait). Then lucked into a bar seat at Nomad Lounge for lunch. After I made my way to Lion King - it was nice to see the full production back. Then over to Everest where I rode twice via single rider line (7 min and 0 min wait). I was out of the park by 4ish headed to check into my offsite hotel and get ready for Disney springs and dinner at Morimotos. A short - but very fun park day.

 

[gorkt]

1/9 recap - I bought G+ for my HS to Epcot park hopping day and it was kind of a bust. I think it works better if you hop the other way around. The LLs at DHS went really quickly and most of the “good rides” at Epcot sold out of LL before we could book them.

I bought Rise (2:10pm) then booked Falcon for 10:40am and after that it was slim pickings to get anything that would come up before we had to park hop. I did get a Midway Mania for 2pm. Waits in HS were fairly long yesterday so we didn’t want to do standby.

After booking in the morning, we chilled at the resort, then took the Skyliner to HS, rode Millenium Falcon, saw Muppets, went to lunch at 50’s prime time, rode TSMM, then back to Rise. Amazing ride! Somewhere in there I picked up a lightning lane for Soarin’ for when we hopped to Epcot, but it wasn’t really necessary.

Then we had a nice long break at the hotel. I chilled out at Stormalong bay, and at 6pm got a EEH virtual queue for Guardians. Then we walked to Epcot, rode Soarin, then went to fireworks dinner at Spice Road table with a fantastic view of the Fireworks. I was iffy on this place, but my husband and daughter absolutely loved the food. Pro tip: This is better for tables of 4, since those tables are right up against the railing giving the best views. The 2 tops were set back.

Then we rode Guardians, my new favorite ride at Disney. I am going to have to try to ride it again. If you like RnRC, this is better.

All in all a great day, but LL was probably unnecessary. It may have saved us 1.5 hours of waiting max.

 

[gorkt]

1/10 - Since everyone was really tired out, I decided not to buy G+ on this day. We went To Kona for breakfast - good as usual although my Tonga Toast had less bananas and seemed a little dry, but enough Strawberry compote made up for it.

My husband and son tapped into our park reservation park, and then promptly went back to the resort to rest. They did this so they could join us at AK later. This is my biggest gripe with the park reservation system so far. There should be a way to opt out of the first park on the app so that they don’t physically have to go there.

My daughter and I proceeded to just have a very chill day at MK, which I recommend to everyone at some point. If it didn’t have a line, we rode it, if it did we skipped it. Hall of presidents, carousel of progress, the Railroad. We saw Tron testing cars. We ate some Dole Whips. We had our pictures taken in a few places. Basically we just soaked in the atmosphere.

Then we hopped to AK right at 2pm, and did the same thing, just walked around and went in all the paths that most people skipped, looked at animals of course. I put us on the wait list at Nomad Lounge when we got there and we got called at 3pm. The we spent a really great hour just sitting and drinking mocktails, eating the bread service and churros,
etc…. We met up with my husband and son around 5pm, and ate dinner at Satuli canteen, one of my favorites.

The park closed at 7pm and we returned to the resort for an early night. Spent some time at the hot tub.

Overall a very good rest day.

 

[gottalovepluto]

My husband and son tapped into our park reservation park, and then promptly went back to the resort to rest. They did this so they could join us at AK later. This is my biggest gripe with the park reservation system so far. There should be a way to opt out of the first park on the app so that they don’t physically have to go there.

I’d seen reports early on of people not being allowed to switch but when a member of my party accidentally did that at EP one night in Nov (park res for MK but she didn’t make it and we had dinner in EP), a CM with an iPad came over at the entry point and took care of it like it was nbd. Maybe it’s more of an issue if park reservations are sold out?

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Question:

If flying into Disney and expecting to get the hotel around 3:00pm, is there a way to get ILL or Genie + where I can get have rides pre-booked before getting on the plane? As in, can I pick later times?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Question:

If flying into Disney and expecting to get the hotel around 3:00pm, is there a way to get ILL or Genie + where I can get have rides pre-booked before getting on the plane? As in, can I pick later times?

Yes, please see the 'Everything Genie' thread. Posts on page 1 explain how Genie works and how you can use it.

My husband and son tapped into our park reservation park, and then promptly went back to the resort to rest. They did this so they could join us at AK later. This is my biggest gripe with the park reservation system so far. There should be a way to opt out of the first park on the app so that they don’t physically have to go there.

Am I correct that AK was full for park reservations on this day? If not, in future your husband and son can switch their park reservation to the new park and enjoy their time at the resort.

 

[dizneedoll]

Question:

If flying into Disney and expecting to get the hotel around 3:00pm, is there a way to get ILL or Genie + where I can get have rides pre-booked before getting on the plane? As in, can I pick later times?

Yes. You can start at 7am est no matter where you are. Many people have reported booking LL's from the airport.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Yes. You can start at 7am est no matter where you are. Many people have reported booking LL's from the airport.

Can I choose a later time though, and not just the first one that shows up?

 

[Jrb1979]

Can I choose a later time though, and not just the first one that shows up?

No you can't. Only the paid LLs give you the option to choose your return time