Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Shughart]

I was unaware of the change too, to the point that I thought I was dreaming that there used to be a $50 criteria! I loved this change when we were there last week.

I am watching to see if the Costco Disney gift cards come back in stock, if they do I will buy more because those are also 10% off (plus I use my Disney Chase and it will add to our redemption card PLUS we have the executive membership so we get the 2% at the end of the year). If not I will just wait and use our Disney Visa in the park and book eligible TS as well. I just like the ability to prebuy the gift cards and pay them off before we go. But we usuallllllllly go over. It will be nice to just have a discount without needing to spend $50+

 

[DisneyFive]

Overall it was a fun trip, although as someone who started visiting Disney after the pandemic, it was the first time I started missing things that used to be there.

Thanks for the good report. Interested to hear what things that you missed that were there before Covid?

Our biggest by far are FP+ and Magical Express, but FP+ is far and away what we miss most.

 

[Gabby01]

Thanks for the good report. Interested to hear what things that you missed that were there before Covid?

Our biggest by far are FP+ and Magical Express, but FP+ is far and away what we miss most.

Oh, sorry if I wasn't clear--my first (recent) trip was after the pandemic, so I don't know what things were like before. I was saying that, even within the few years that I've been going, there are already things that aren't there anymore, like the Wonderground Gallery.

 

[krismom345]

Just messes up some plans. Skyliner is only open on Monday so thunderstorms will knock that out and Tuesday is the 2nd day there trying to do MK but might end up switching so we don't go to a park with storms and rain all day

Curious what you mean by “skyliner only
Open on Monday” is it down for certain days or just due to weather?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Curious what you mean by “skyliner only
Open on Monday” is it down for certain days or just due to weather?

The Skyliner shuts down each January for its annual refurbishment. Some lines are down a full week, others for a portion of the week. Dates of this maintenance are announced a few months in advance and widely published.

All lines are now reopened.

 

[SL6827]

Had a great trip for the most part this past week. Crowds were high. Worst we even been in. But I managed. I'll elaborate lots more later on for the week of 1/28-2/2.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Had a great trip for the most part this past week. Crowds were high. Worst we even been in. But I managed. I'll elaborate lots more later on for the week of 1/28-2/2.

We were there then too. We also thought it was crowded. What did you think of the temperatures? We didn’t go out to all the night shows, we were cold!

 

[SL6827]

We were there then too. We also thought it was crowded. What did you think of the temperatures? We didn’t go out to all the night shows, we were cold!

We have never had such great weather where it didn't rain. A little too cool first part of week, then it warmed up some which was great. I never imagined we would luck out with no rain at all. But ya, first part was a bit too cold for me. But I'd do it again though.

 

[uandmfan]

I learned so much from all of you when preparing for our upcoming trip I wanted to share what our experiences were. We were at WDW from January 26-Feb 2.

We have been there a few times in late January/early Feb before and this was certainly busier than I've ever seen it. So, our experience lines up with others who have noted that this time of year isn't as quiet as it used to be.

We did a combination of on-site/off-site. We RD as both onsite and offsite guests. I was surprised at HS that we RD MF, ToT and Rise as off-site guests and it wasn't too bad. MF and ToT were both about 20 minute waits when we got there. MF may have been closer to 15. Rise was an hour - and they were on and off the ride in 60 minutes. We also got Rise ILL at 9 am park opening without a problem.

We went to MK on the short day (January 29 when it closed at 4:30). It was great. It was more crowded than I expected, but then when we saw the crowds on our second day, I realized it was really not busy at all. We didn't do anything with more than a 15 minute wait and managed a lot of rides. We were off-site so we did Jungle Cruise at RD and then worked our way through Adventure and Frontier Land. We did some rides in Fantasy Land as well. We didn't get G+ that day. We also managed SDMT with about a 45 minute wait and we got the VQ for Tron at 1 pm. We still waited for over an hour in line for that. I'm glad we didn't pay for it though, the ride itself is too short.

We did our second MK day as on-site guests on a Wednesday with an 11pm-1 am EMH. We arrived around 11 am and had G+. Again, we got a lot done - although everything took longer than I expected. We watched the parade from Liberty Square at 3 pm and did a pre-fireworks dessert party. I'm glad we did it - we had a baby with us and really needed the break, but we wouldn't do it again. The food wasn't great and it was really expensive. We went out to the fireworks viewing area at the last minute. We could have tried to find a better viewing spot but the kids liked where we were so we stayed put. Once they were over, we went to the Circus area in Fantasy land. There was a bit of congestion but it was really quite easy to get back to that area of the park - I thought it would be harder.

We managed to get a spot for TRON in the 6 pm drop and were called right at the beginning of EMH. The line was short and moved well. We did a bunch of rides during EMH and ended with SM about 4 times and then SDMT. SDMT said it was a 30 minute wait, I'd say it was about 10 minutes on and off. Those late hours were a ton of fun.

We didn't buy G+ for AK but did the 7:30 EE and hit Na'vi and then Safari (we were delayed due to a ticket issue). Then we went to EE. The wait was already 25 minutes by that point so we used our LL for it (we were given those due to the ticket issue delaying us in the morning). We bought ILL for FoP - which was fantastic. We took an afternoon break and went back in the evening for a bit.

HS was the park that worried me the most. We were supposed to RD as on-site guests but my daughter got sick so we had to rearrange our plans. In the end, we got everything done, but we went for 2 days and had G+ both days. The first day we were only there until about 4:30 pm or so. The second we went from open to close. We bought an ILL for Rise the first day. We also saw F! for the first time and we loved it!

Thank you to everyone for all your input into our plans here (and for all the info that was provided generally). I think that our experience would have been really different if we had gone in without all this info. As it was, we were able to do everything we wanted without excessive time waiting in line.

 

[lorileahb]

I legitimately feel bad for first time visitors. As deep as we are into knowing the acronyms, tricks, tips, timing, strategy, I can't imagine how they feel. Makes me sad for folks like my dad who loved Disney. If he were still here, he would be extremely frustrated with planning a trip. Seems like something is really going to have to give soon.

We are going for a wedding in March and doing a 4-parks-1-day with the larger, extended family... some of whom can't afford Genie+ and/or LL - the planning for that is making my eyes cross. I'm super glad we are limiting it to 1 day... more days would be exhausting... not to go for more days, but the planning!

I think I am going to be done unless it is a solo trip or one with just one other person. Makes me sad - I love Disney. But this has become too much - Disney expects too much work on the part of its guests.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I legitimately feel bad for first time visitors. As deep as we are into knowing the acronyms, tricks, tips, timing, strategy, I can't imagine how they feel. Makes me sad for folks like my dad who loved Disney. If he were still here, he would be extremely frustrated with planning a trip. Seems like something is really going to have to give soon.

We are going for a wedding in March and doing a 4-parks-1-day with the larger, extended family... some of whom can't afford Genie+ and/or LL - the planning for that is making my eyes cross. I'm super glad we are limiting it to 1 day... more days would be exhausting... not to go for more days, but the planning!

I think I am going to be done unless it is a solo trip or one with just one other person. Makes me sad - I love Disney. But this has become too much - Disney expects too much work on the part of its guests.

I understand you're not asking for feedback but I will share your sentence,

doing a 4-parks-1-day with the larger, extended family...

is concerning. 4 parks in 1 day is not for most people, let along a larger group. A one day ticket with park hopper is a huge expense in the first place. To spend time hopping to all 4 parks greatly diminishes the value of that ticket.

My (unsolicited) .02 is I would highly recommend you reconsider doing all 4 parks and make more of 2 or possibly 3 parks. Moving from park to park often takes an hour so 4 parks would mean a lot of time in transportation rather than enjoying the parks. I'd choose 2 and make the most of the 2 parks. But that's just me.

 

[lorileahb]

I understand you're not asking for feedback but I will share your sentence,

is concerning. 4 parks in 1 day is not for most people, let along a larger group. A one day ticket with park hopper is a huge expense in the first place. To spend time hopping to all 4 parks greatly diminishes the value of that ticket.

My (unsolicited) .02 is I would highly recommend you reconsider doing all 4 parks and make more of 2 or possibly 3 parks. Moving from park to park often takes an hour so 4 parks would mean a lot of time in transportation rather than enjoying the parks. I'd choose 2 and make the most of the 2 parks. But that's just me.

Appreciate the opinion for certain. My immediate family and/or I go a good bit, and are just planning to hit 1 or 2 highlights in each park.. roll with the punches and enjoy the day and a favorite snack (or three... LOL). We are only there for a short trip, mainly to attend a wedding.

My dh and I did the 4 parks-1 day little over a year ago, when times were still restricted and had a blast.

For our family, it is a good fit. We love constant motion... will definitely use the transport time to rest our feet, as they are getting older.

Just a bummer that so much front end planning is involved.

 

[eileen2664]

I legitimately feel bad for first time visitors. As deep as we are into knowing the acronyms, tricks, tips, timing, strategy, I can't imagine how they feel. Makes me sad for folks like my dad who loved Disney. If he were still here, he would be extremely frustrated with planning a trip. Seems like something is really going to have to give soon.

As a reader/member of this board for almost 2 decades I get what you’re saying I also can’t help but wonder if that holds true for the typical guest. I feel like most people aren’t in Disney FB groups/forums and truly don’t know what they don’t know. They reserve their hotel, buy their tickets and show up. They go where the moment takes them. They ride the rides that (in the moment) appeal to them, grab a burger when they’re hungry, hug Mickey and love every moment. Maybe they buy genie but they probably don’t reserve at 7am then stack all day, instead they ride a ride and choose another. I don’t necessarily feel bad for those people because they’re not really missing out, frankly they probably have a much more relaxed trip than the overplanners do.

 

[wabbott]

As a reader/member of this board for almost 2 decades I get what you’re saying I also can’t help but wonder if that holds true for the typical guest. I feel like most people aren’t in Disney FB groups/forums and truly don’t know what they don’t know. They reserve their hotel, buy their tickets and show up. They go where the moment takes them. They ride the rides that (in the moment) appeal to them, grab a burger when they’re hungry, hug Mickey and love every moment. Maybe they buy genie but they probably don’t reserve at 7am then stack all day, instead they ride a ride and choose another. I don’t necessarily feel bad for those people because they’re not really missing out, frankly they probably have a much more relaxed trip than the overplanners do.

LOL! Us OCD's gonna OCD. It's what we do, we were born that way. Someone has to make the trains run on time.

 

[itf]

As a reader/member of this board for almost 2 decades I get what you’re saying I also can’t help but wonder if that holds true for the typical guest. I feel like most people aren’t in Disney FB groups/forums and truly don’t know what they don’t know. They reserve their hotel, buy their tickets and show up. They go where the moment takes them. They ride the rides that (in the moment) appeal to them, grab a burger when they’re hungry, hug Mickey and love every moment. Maybe they buy genie but they probably don’t reserve at 7am then stack all day, instead they ride a ride and choose another. I don’t necessarily feel bad for those people because they’re not really missing out, frankly they probably have a much more relaxed trip than the overplanners do.

We went for one day in early 2020, having not visited for many years and hadn't done any planning beyond buying a very expensive single-day ticket, and it was frankly a horrendous waste of money and a miserable experience. Crowds were high and we couldn't get any of the rides we wanted, hadn't been aware of pre-booking etc...

All this would take is a few helpful emails from Disney a few weeks out, but this didn't (doesn't?) happen even though we'd booked those day tickets direct.

We had a much better time in Aug 2022 because we'd done our homework, understood Genie etc.

 

[parasail_of_congress]

Appreciate the opinion for certain. My immediate family and/or I go a good bit, and are just planning to hit 1 or 2 highlights in each park.. roll with the punches and enjoy the day and a favorite snack (or three... LOL). We are only there for a short trip, mainly to attend a wedding.

My dh and I did the 4 parks-1 day little over a year ago, when times were still restricted and had a blast.

For our family, it is a good fit. We love constant motion... will definitely use the transport time to rest our feet, as they are getting older.

Just a bummer that so much front end planning is involved.

I think what @scrappinginontario is getting at is that a first-time visitor likely is not going to four parks in a single day. Even if they don't know the lingo, a first-time visitor can tour a park or parks however they like. Yes, there is plenty of upfront planning that can be done, but it's not mandatory. I don't know too many people who go on vacation and don't do any upfront planning, regardless of the location.

What you seem to be describing is that you enjoy the fast-paced movement and scheduling, but not everyone wants to or can do that. And that's OK.

 

[RSHale]

Appreciate the opinion for certain. My immediate family and/or I go a good bit, and are just planning to hit 1 or 2 highlights in each park.. roll with the punches and enjoy the day and a favorite snack (or three... LOL). We are only there for a short trip, mainly to attend a wedding.

My dh and I did the 4 parks-1 day little over a year ago, when times were still restricted and had a blast.

For our family, it is a good fit. We love constant motion... will definitely use the transport time to rest our feet, as they are getting older.

Just a bummer that so much front end planning is involved.

This sounds kind of like the solo trip I took last week. It took me a little more than a day and a half to visit four parks (and Disney Springs). I was only able to get away for a couple of nights, and I went without much of a plan. I knew I wanted to ride TRON for the first time and Cosmic Rewind again, but other than that, I didn't have a "must do" list.

I flew down on Tuesday and got to Pop Century at about 12:30 p.m. My room wasn't ready, so I checked my luggage at the resort and took the Skyliner to EPCOT with my Annual Pass.

Before getting on the plane that morning, I joined the Virtual Queue for Cosmic Rewind and bought a 4:05 p.m. Individual Lightning Lane for TRON. My boarding group for Cosmic Rewind was called while I was still in the air, but the Cast Member waved me through when I got to the attraction that afternoon.

By the time I left EPCOT, my room was ready, so I took the Skyliner back to the resort and took my luggage to the room before getting on a bus to Magic Kingdom. I walked around a little bit and rode TRON. I had planned to go over to Disney Springs to eat. Since you can't take a bus direct from MK to Disney Springs, I stopped at Wilderness Lodge to transfer. When i got there, I decided to try Geyser Point for the first time. The bison burger was a good choice. I then went over to Disney Springs anyway for ice cream at Salt & Straw before heading back to EPCOT for the evening. I rode Soarin' Over California and walked around World Showcase. I thought about staying for Luminous, but I'd taken about 27,000 steps that day and by 8:45 p.m., I was ready to call it quits. I saw some of the fireworks from the Skyliner.

Wednesday was my only full Park day of the trip. I got another VQ for Cosmic Rewind. I started the day at EPCOT again and ate breakfast at the France pavilion. I had an early boarding group for Cosmic Rewind and rode Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. I also walked through Journey Of Water for the first time. I then took the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios and rode Smuggler's Run and Tower Of Terror.

After that, I decided to take a bus over to Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition Everest. I rode it twice in a row in less than half an hour. The single rider line for that attraction is great. I had originally planned to skip AK, but I'm glad I went. I took a bus from there and went back to Disney Springs for food (with a bus transfer at Pop Century). I had a slice of pizza at Pizza Ponte and had ice cream again at Salt & Straw. I didn't feel like I had a lot of time to shop this trip, but I did walk through World Of Disney before taking a bus to the Beach Club to go back to EPCOT through International Gateway. I spent the evening walking around and decided to skip Luminous again. 37,000 steps on Wednesday.

I had an early afternoon flight on Thursday but figured I had time to go back over to EPCOT for breakfast again that morning. I got there early enough that I felt like I could easily rope drop Remy again without a long wait. I also decided to buy an Individual Lightning Lane (9:05 a.m.) for Cosmic Rewind (for the third time of the trip). I nearly walked on both attractions. I went back to the bakery in France for breakfast, and made it back to Pop Century to get my luggage and request a Lyft by 10:30 a.m.

It was a short trip, but I had a great time. The Parks were more crowded than I had hoped, but it wasn't terrible. The weather was nice. I carried a jacket for the mornings and evenings (it was 48 degrees when I left the room on Wednesday morning), but the highs were in the upper 60s and it was sunny.

 

[Gary Stocker]

This sounds kind of like the solo trip I took last week. It took me a little more than a day and a half to visit four parks (and Disney Springs). I was only able to get away for a couple of nights, and I went without much of a plan. I knew I wanted to ride TRON for the first time and Cosmic Rewind again, but other than that, I didn't have a "must do" list.

I flew down on Tuesday and got to Pop Century at about 12:30 p.m. My room wasn't ready, so I checked my luggage at the resort and took the Skyliner to EPCOT with my Annual Pass.

Before getting on the plane that morning, I joined the Virtual Queue for Cosmic Rewind and bought a 4:05 p.m. Individual Lightning Lane for TRON. My boarding group for Cosmic Rewind was called while I was still in the air, but the Cast Member waved me through when I got to the attraction that afternoon.

By the time I left EPCOT, my room was ready, so I took the Skyliner back to the resort and took my luggage to the room before getting on a bus to Magic Kingdom. I walked around a little bit and rode TRON. I had planned to go over to Disney Springs to eat. Since you can't take a bus direct from MK to Disney Springs, I stopped at Wilderness Lodge to transfer. When i got there, I decided to try Geyser Point for the first time. The bison burger was a good choice. I then went over to Disney Springs anyway for ice cream at Salt & Straw before heading back to EPCOT for the evening. I rode Soarin' Over California and walked around World Showcase. I thought about staying for Luminous, but I'd taken about 27,000 steps that day and by 8:45 p.m., I was ready to call it quits. I saw some of the fireworks from the Skyliner.

Wednesday was my only full Park day of the trip. I got another VQ for Cosmic Rewind. I started the day at EPCOT again and ate breakfast at the France pavilion. I had an early boarding group for Cosmic Rewind and rode Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. I also walked through Journey Of Water for the first time. I then took the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios and rode Smuggler's Run and Tower Of Terror.

After that, I decided to take a bus over to Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition Everest. I rode it twice in a row in less than half an hour. The single rider line for that attraction is great. I had originally planned to skip AK, but I'm glad I went. I took a bus from there and went back to Disney Springs for food (with a bus transfer at Pop Century). I had a slice of pizza at Pizza Ponte and had ice cream again at Salt & Straw. I didn't feel like I had a lot of time to shop this trip, but I did walk through World Of Disney before taking a bus to the Beach Club to go back to EPCOT through International Gateway. I spent the evening walking around and decided to skip Luminous again. 37,000 steps on Wednesday.

I had an early afternoon flight on Thursday but figured I had time to go back over to EPCOT for breakfast again that morning. I got there early enough that I felt like I could easily rope drop Remy again without a long wait. I also decided to buy an Individual Lightning Lane (9:05 a.m.) for Cosmic Rewind (for the third time of the trip). I nearly walked on both attractions. I went back to the bakery in France for breakfast, and made it back to Pop Century to get my luggage and request a Lyft by 10:30 a.m.

It was a short trip, but I had a great time. The Parks were more crowded than I had hoped, but it wasn't terrible. The weather was nice. I carried a jacket for the mornings and evenings (it was 48 degrees when I left the room on Wednesday morning), but the highs were in the upper 60s and it was sunny.

I've taken 2 solo trips and while there were times I missed my kids they were so amazing...sounds like you had a great time. Tomorrow is my 60 day mark...the not solo trip...split stay with boardwalk and poly..thanks for the report!

 

[RSHale]

I've taken 2 solo trips and while there were times I missed my kids they were so amazing...sounds like you had a great time. Tomorrow is my 60 day mark...the not solo trip...split stay with boardwalk and poly..thanks for the report!

Solo trips can be a lot of fun. I like being there with friends and family too, but I do things differently when I’m there on my own. I was supposed to go with my niece and a friend of hers this April, but the friend had to back out for now. We might try again later if we can find a time that works for all of us, but I had some vacation days to burn now and wanted a little break from work. Boardwalk and Poly sounds like a great combo. Have a good time.

 

[Eastern]

37,000 steps on Wednesday.