Just back 9/20- a few thoughts on the current status of the parks

ruthies12

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Went to Universal from 9/17 to 9/20 stayed at Hard Rock. Here are a few thoughts/opinions-

Hard Rock- They are only allowing entry into the hotel from the front entrance and the entrance by the water taxi. There is a person there taking your temp and giving you a wrist band. If you have a wrist band with that days color already you can just show it and walk past. You have to get a new wrist band every day. You can exit from any door, but you can't go back in those other doors so no more cutting through the pool or end of the hallway doors on the way back from the parks at night no matter where your room is. Pack a pair of scissors in your luggage so you can cut your wristbands off at night. They are the waxy paper type wristbands and will hold up to swimming and showering and are difficult to rip off.

Also no more housekeeping during your stay. I always find hotel room trashcans to be too small so brought a few regular sized trash bags and that helped contain the trash since they aren't picking up your trash. You can order more towels to your room and they leave them in a bag on your door, but you end up with a pile of towels in your bathroom since they aren't picking up the dirty ones.

Parks- were very crowded. Saturday and Sunday were packed, Thursday and Friday were moderate. Lines were very long, for rides and for food. Some of the restaurants aren't open and we had to wait between a half hour to an hour every time we wanted a drink or something to eat in the park. If you can grab food in City Walk or your hotel, do so. Don't wait until you get hungry to get in line for food! I got very dehydrated because water was so difficult to get, ended up with a horrible pounding headache that would not go away. I finally learned to grab a few of the free waters or buy a water bottle every time I saw a shorter line at a cart or stand cause they were few and far between.

Lockers- if you can avoid the lockers do so at all costs right now. They are trying to social distance people in the locker areas so you have to wait in a line to go to a locker, then wait in line for the ride, then wait in line again at the end to go back to your locker. At rip ride rocket and hulk, the lines for the lockers were longer than the lines for the rides. I will post some pics to show the lines for the lockers, it was crazy. We were a party of 2 adults so a couple times we just handed each other our stuff and rode separately since we had EP. There is no express line for the lockers lol.

Masks- there is no getting around it, the masks were awful. Our biggest issue was that it was just so dang hot, the realfeel one day was 101. If you can go in cooler temps you will be better off. There were workers standing on the sidewalks in some areas with bullhorns just yelling at people to wear their mask properly, we still saw several people trying to wear them pulled down, not covering their nose, etc. They will yell at you over the loudspeaker if you take your mask off on the rides, especially the train. they are warning everyone when they give their little spiel at the train that you are under surveillance and to keep your mask on. We still heard the loudspeaker several times with things like "Cabin G you must wear your mask while riding" so there were obviously still people who thought they could get away with it (insert eye roll). we found our masks fogged up our 3D glasses, the 3D rides were a huge pain to us with masks.

Also we both found that we got more motion sickness on this trip than we have in the past. Usually we both take meclizine and we are good to go, but this time we kept getting dizzy and nauseous. I'm not sure, but I think it was cause of the heat and hot air on our faces from the masks.

Social Distancing- is ridiculous. They yell at everyone to remain apart in the lines, they leave rows and seats empty on the rides to keep you apart, then they just let you exit all at once so you end up bunched together in the hallways/stairs/gift shops. There is no social distancing in the exits whatsoever so if you are concerned with keeping your distance, make sure you always exit last I guess.

Mobile Order- make sure you have the app, certain restaurants require mobile ordering. If you want to get your food faster, put your order in while you are standing in line and then tell the person seating you that you have already ordered. You need the number that pops up after placing your mobile order, make sure to screen shot it cause we had it disappear a few times and had difficulties. Some places have separate pickup spots for mobile orders but they are not marked in any way, you have to ask where it is. For example at the Hopping Pot the line to order was wrapped all the way around and backed up to the front of Weasley's Wizards Wheezes shop (no, sadly I'm not exaggerating), but if you mobile order you can just walk up to the cashier on the far left and tell them you have a mobile order and they will make it right then and you bypass the whole line.

Early Entry- was awesome and worth it. At US side on Friday we did early entry and used the time to browse the shops in diagon alley with hardly anyone around us. At IOA on Saturday and Sunday we rode Hagrid's twice before 9 o'clock and was able to snag virtual que times on the app while standing in the line before 9, so we got to ride again after virtual que started. All 3 days we arrived at the parks around 7:45ish and they were already scanning people in. The line for Hagrids started in the front of Suess landing which was a very nice way for them to get everyone organized so people weren't running/cutting. We did have a group of young guys push past us one morning and get in front of us in the line, but then they ended up on the back of their motorbike train and we got front row, so yeah karma!

That's all I can think of for now, I'll post more if I think of anything
 
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This was the line for the Hulk lockers, you can't see the beginning of the line in the first picture it goes back further, then it wrapped around to the left of the lockers in the second pic. you can see some people social distancing and some not so much. We found some people paid attention to the marks on the ground and some people just ignored them.
 
Thank you for the valuable feedback! Hope you had a great time despite the 'bumps in the road' you encountered!

I always try to go bagless at the parks. That seems more necessary right now.
Great tip about the food.....too bad they aren't able to open more options....hopefully soon!
Will add scissors to my packing list.
Even though I'm a little bummed about not experiencing the HHN houses, I think the Tues-Fri park days I chose will be a bit less busy.
 


And for anyone going soon there was still a huge selection of candy really cheap at the men in black store. I got love potion, nosebleed nougat, sugar quills and multiple different candy bars for 2 bucks each. They also had the candy bars on sale in the universal store at the airport
 
Thank you for the valuable feedback! Hope you had a great time despite the 'bumps in the road' you encountered!

I always try to go bagless at the parks. That seems more necessary right now.
Great tip about the food.....too bad they aren't able to open more options....hopefully soon!
Will add scissors to my packing list.
Even though I'm a little bummed about not experiencing the HHN houses, I think the Tues-Fri park days I chose will be a bit less busy.

Yes you will definitely be better off with weekdays, our thurs afternoon and Friday were much more pleasant overall. If I had to do it again, I would have only done week days right now. We always go bagless too and do a running belt for our phones, but one day took our wands to the park and it was just such a pain to try to ride anything. And of course hulk and RRR are a mess cause EVERYONE has to use a locker for their phones, even those who are bagless. Those 2 were the worst locker lines although forbidden journey was a close second with the tiny area and still using the fingerprint lockers (which are NOT being sanitized between people btw)
 
I forgot to mention the hand sanitizer. It did not aggravate my eczema like I was afraid it would so that was good. It is, however, very "slimy" feeling. We made a lot of trips into bathrooms just to wash our hands after rides cause the sanitizer just felt gross. Also if it rains like it did for us and you touch anything wet with the sanitizer on your hands it gets very very sticky feeling. They don't put it on your hands until right when you are at loading and sometimes they were squirting huge dollops of it on so we were trying to put on 3D glasses with our hands dripping, and you could see everyone trying to wipe their hands on their clothes or waving their hands around trying to dry them more quickly, it was a bit comical.
 
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I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining, I'm really not trying to, just trying to warn others who are going soon what they might encounter. We still had a good time and we're glad we went! I will say EP was definitely the way to go if you are there on the weekends. We didn't do as much on this trip overall as we have got to do in the past, if we hadn't had EP I don't think we would have done much of anything on the weekend days.
 
Thanks for reporting on your experiences. We are going in two weeks, a M-F trip, so I'm doubly glad that we aren't going during the weekend. I'm starting to get a little worried about eating or drinking in the park with the reports of lines, but we already planned on hitting CityWalk and our resort for what we could in terms of meals so hopefully that works out for us.
yuck, slimy hands. Something to look forward to-
 
I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining, I'm really not trying to, just trying to warn others who are going soon what they might encounter. We still had a good time and we're glad we went! I will say EP was definitely the way to go if you are there on the weekends. We didn't do as much on this trip overall as we have got to do in the past, if we hadn't had EP I don't think we would have done much of anything on the weekend days.

You`re not complaining at all Ruthie.....

Thank you!

You`ve given us some fabulous info from your trip, I know it is very much appreciated and glad to hear you had such a good trip overall :thumbsup2
 
Also we both found that we got more motion sickness on this trip than we have in the past. Usually we both take meclizine and we are good to go, but this time we kept getting dizzy and nauseous. I'm not sure, but I think it was cause of the heat and hot air on our faces from the masks.

I had the same thing happen to me. I wear a patch for motion sickness and became woozy after riding Forbidden Journey which I have not had a problem with before. The patch was slightly expired so I just chalked it up to that.

Thanks for the info on the crowds. We have a trip planned very soon and switched from RPR to an off-site condo (the savings allows us two days of Disney tickets and adds two nights to our stay) and then we have a 1 night stay at RPR on Friday after we check out from the condo. We're supposed to go the Sunday that we're staying in the condo (so no EP) and I'm honestly kind of dreading it. We'll most likely rope drop and then leave after we eat lunch. I think we'll be able to do most of what we want on the following Friday with EPs after check-in. Unless I can get a really good rate on a hotel room before February this is going to be our last trip with APs and I'm kind of sad that we're not doing more at UOR but I really don't feel like dealing with the weekend crowds.
 
Just thought of something else- the bar at the pool at Hard rock serves their mixed drinks in the souvenir glasses, it used to be that you could get a refill cheaper but they are no longer doing that. You don't have to get the souvenir glass, they will put it in a regular cup for you, but it is still $18 bucks per drink regardless. I would imagine the other hotel pool bars have the same policy right now.
 
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I also thought the souvenir glasses were kind of awkward to hold and not very big for 18 bucks. They are a hard plastic though, not glass, so we were able to get them home in our luggage
 
Also no more housekeeping during your stay. I always find hotel room trashcans to be too small so brought a few regular sized trash bags and that helped contain the trash since they aren't picking up your trash. You can order more towels to your room and they leave them in a bag on your door, but you end up with a pile of towels in your bathroom since they aren't picking up the dirty ones.

Just a quick tip about this in case anyone else is headed down during the "no housekeeping" era...when we ordered towels to our room, they put them inside a large plastic trash bag. We put our used towels in the empty bag and put it outside the door and they came and picked it up. Same with the trash, I just left the little trashcan outside the door every morning when we left and it was empty when we got back. Not ideal, but it works for now!

Also, I totally agree with you on that drink! 18 bucks for something that size is crazy!

I was torn between HRH and RPR for our trip, but ultimately thought that HRH wouldn't really be my vibe either so we are leaving for RPR on Thursday. So HRH remains the only resort I have not stayed in at all yet.
 
I had no idea they would pick up stuff outside our room! They never told us that and I did not see anything outside anyone else's room to clue me in. Good to know!
 
I'm presuming the answer is no, but does anyone know if it is permissible to visit other resorts at this time? We are also staying at Royal Pacific, but thought we might like to check out Hard Rock for a future stay.
 
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I also thought the souvenir glasses were kind of awkward to hold and not very big for 18 bucks. They are a hard plastic though, not glass, so we were able to get them home in our luggage

I don't have any old Hard Rock glasses, but I have several of the taller souvenir glasses from PBH, RPR, and Sapphire Falls. I wonder if they are all like that now? And regarding the quote below, did they check that you were staying at HRH each time you entered, or just did your temp?
I'm presuming the answer is no, but does anyone know if it is permissible to visit other resorts at this time? We are also staying at Royal Pacific, but thought we might like to check out Hard Rock for a future stay.
I was thinking of eating at other resorts, hmmm.
 
I had no idea they would pick up stuff outside our room! They never told us that and I did not see anything outside anyone else's room to clue me in. Good to know!

We had kind of the opposite experience last month. Our hallway was full of garbage - bags, food containers, dirty towels - the entire weekend we were there. I actually had to call and complain about it. It wasn't 'new' garbage either. Stuff that was there on Friday when we checked in was still there on Sunday when we checked out. It was gross. Hopefully they've gotten better about picking it up.
 
I always try to go bagless at the parks. That seems more necessary right now.
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But your can't take your phone on Hulk and Rip Ride Rocket, right? And you can't get a virtual line or make a mobile order without your phone. So how can you avoid those locker? I would love to figure out how to do it because that is the only thing I bring besides the lanyard with ticket, room key, credit card and ID.
 
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Hard Rock- They are only allowing entry into the hotel from the front entrance and the entrance by the water taxi.
Sigh, I request that section of resort closest to walking path

re towels.Via traveling this summer have been told to drop towels on floor outside door. Also, to call for the bagged towels to be deposited in the door handle.

Worst case...pool towels lol
Masks- there is no getting around it, the masks were awful. Our biggest issue was that it was just so dang hot, the realfeel one day was 101. If you can go in cooler temps you will be better off.
did I miss what type of mask you utilized...disposable or cloth?
There is no social distancing in the exits whatsoever so if you are concerned with keeping your distance, make sure you always exit last I guess.
Thanks for that hint!
Mobile Order- make sure you have the app, certain restaurants require mobile ordering. If you want to get your food faster, put your order in while you are standing in line and then tell the person seating you that you have already ordered. You need the number that pops up after placing your mobile order, make sure to screen shot it cause we had it disappear a few times and had difficulties. Some places have separate pickup spots for mobile orders but they are not marked in any way,
Wonder if there is a list somewhere? You’d think they’d have prominent signage
you mobile order you can just walk up to the cashier on the far left and tell them you have a mobile order and they will make it right then and you bypass the whole line.
It’s so nice to skip those longer lines
I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining, I'm really not trying to, just trying to warn others who are going soon what they might encounter. We still had a good time and we're glad we went! I will say EP was definitely the way to go if you are there on the weekends. We didn't do as much on this trip overall as we have got to do in the past, if we hadn't had EP I don't think we would have done much of anything on the weekend days.
I’m so glad to have found this thread!
Just thought of something else- the bar at the pool at Hard rock serves their mixed drinks in the souvenir glasses, it used to be that you could get a refill cheaper but they are no longer doing that. You don't have to get the souvenir glass, they will put it in a regular cup for you, but it is still $18 bucks per drink regardless. I would imagine the other hotel pool bars have the same policy right now.
Ok, now things have gone too far...said half in jest.
 

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