Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[CaliMickey]

Good to know. All of the parks are fully booked this week, so it seemed a bit risky to wait if using a hopper.

We went to DHS almost every day/night of our trip (walkable, so why not). Never had an issue park hopping.

 

[KuiilHasSpoken]

Good to know. All of the parks are fully booked this week, so it seemed a bit risky to wait if using a hopper.

Based on my experience from last week when there was no park availability, HS clears out significantly during the afternoon. We hopped to HS around 5:00 and it was nowhere near as busy as it is around lunch time. Wait times were all very reasonable. I think HS is a great park to hop to during the evening.

 

[lovethattink]

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[hereforthechurros]

Wait times looking lower today than I’ve seen in a while. Hopefully this mean they’re running additional ride lines/churning more riders per hour.

 

[aljack34]

Wait times looking lower today than I’ve seen in a while. Hopefully this mean they’re running additional ride lines/churning more riders per hour.

Weather may be keeping some away. Plus I didn’t think Saturday was sold out at all the parks this week.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Weather may be keeping some away. Plus I didn’t think Saturday was sold out at all the parks this week.

Today through next weekend is sold out at all parks. Next weekend only Epcot is available then back to sold out during the week.

 

[summerw]

We recently returned from our trip Home and I wanted to report in case anyone had any questions. We were there from 3/6 - 3/13 and stayed at the Riviera. Overall this was our best trip yet, even with the restrictions and the limited experiences.

I wasn't sure what to expect with crowds but we were pleasantly surprised how not crowded it was. Crowds did start to pick up towards the end of the week and I saw all the parks were completely booked. Mask compliance was around 95%. We saw a few noses here and there, but CMs usually asked nicely for them to pull it up. The biggest offense were guests walking and eating/drinking. It didn't terribly bother me because we were quickly walking by them, but it was annoying since we couldn't do it and yet others were. Also, my 3 year old fell asleep in the stroller and I guess he wiggled his mask off, he was covered by the canopy but a CM bent down to get a bag and noticed his mask was off and asked that I put it back on. We also encountered some unfriendly CMs, more than normal, but we tried to give them grace, it's been a tough year for everyone.

We visited the parks in the following order Epcot (3/6), MK, HS, Epcot, DS, MK and AK. We rope dropped them every morning (arriving an hour or so before official opening). We had the most success at HS, MK and AK doing this (makes sense). We were some of the first in HS and were done with Toy Story Land before the park even officially opened. Slinky was a walk-on and by the time we were talking out the line was all the way out of Toy Story Land. AK opened later than other parks (6:30 for a 7am opening) but we rode FOP with rider swap (the other parent would do Na'vi while waiting) and then we headed to Safari and had probably our best safari yet. The animals had just been let out and were running around everywhere. Everest didn't start running until 9am for whatever reason but we headed that direction. The line was back to Nemo but took maybe 20 minutes. In MK we headed to Frontierland on our first day and Tommorowland on our second MK day. We saved Mine Train for the evenings and that seemed to work for us. Most other Fantasyland rides were 10 minutes or less (with the exception of Peter Pan, Small World and Carousel) and we rode those multiple times.

We would stay in each park for 4ish hours before returning to the resort. Crowds were be heavy and wait times soared during this time. Then we would go back 2-3 hours before park closing. We hopped in line for several rides right before closing and experienced short waits. Our longest waits were for ToT (60 minutes, but the ride went down for a short time during that), and 60 for a bus after MK one evening.

For the most part people followed the social distancing guidelines. We encountered a few families that seemed to not pay attention to the markings but thankfully we weren't around them too long. Leaving rides was the worst when it came to social distancing but you're really just around those people for 30sec to a minute max. The Mexico area in Epcot was insane and I refused to walk through there. It was just shoulder to shoulder people some times.

For the Skyliner to HS we chose to walk to CBR instead of take the Skyliner from Riviera and have to get in the back of the line. I am glad we did because the Riviera line wasn't even running yet when we got on the Skyliner at CBR to head to HS. We wouldn't have been nearly successful that morning if we were that much later. Wait times are inflated, lines look long but generally move quickly. MMRR was posted at 60 and it took us 40 and we were constantly walking.

I am sure I am missing information so if you have any questions I am happy to answer. Again we had a great trip. I definitely recommend rope dropping and returning in the evening if you want to avoid crowds and the longest waits.

Thanks for the great report! What time do you recommend getting to the CBR station or the Riviera bus stop for the various openings?

 

[aljack34]

Buses have been terrible. I would not count on getting anywhere at a specific time. There has been a lot of complaints and Disney’s response is it’s because of lower capacity and rigorous new cleaning procedures, buses have been late or not coming for over 60 minutes. I don’t see a lower capacity. I just don’t. The parks are full. The bus stops are full. They need more buses for this type of capacity. We waited over 60 minutes for a bus to AK on Tuesday morning. So, you may get lucky. You may not. Just plan that you won’t and adjust your plans if need be.

 

[DMLAINI]

Buses have been terrible. I would not count on getting anywhere at a specific time. There has been a lot of complaints and Disney’s response is it’s because of lower capacity and rigorous new cleaning procedures, buses have been late or not coming for over 60 minutes. I don’t see a lower capacity. I just don’t. The parks are full. The bus stops are full. They need more buses for this type of capacity. We waited over 60 minutes for a bus to AK on Tuesday morning. So, you may get lucky. You may not. Just plan that you won’t and adjust your plans if need be.

Wow! What times were you waiting for buses? I hope they get this fixed.

 

[aljack34]

Wow! What times were you waiting for buses? I hope they get this fixed.

Tuesday morning was a little before 8a.m. Monday night from Disney springs at about 10 pm was an hour. Friday at 4 p.m. from Epcot to the contemporary was over an hour and we just decided to stay at Epcot at that point. We were going to go to MK from the contemporary put we were just too frustrated with buses at that point. Tonight to Disney springs from boardwalk was a 42 minute wait. Then returning from Disney springs to boardwalk was 45 minutes. One time there was a change in drivers for a bus and the new driver didn’t have the key for the bus. We waited 20 minutes on the bus after waitin 45 minutes for the bus, we just got off. I have no clue how long that bus sat there waiting for keys.

 

[lnR_Texas]

I think the bus issue is quite variable. We just returned from Wilderness Lodge and never waited for more than 20 minutes. But I saw some long lines at park close for larger resorts like CBR.

What I did hear from 3 separate bus drivers is that they have a new bus routing system that is not working well. It’s built for a city bus system and should improve efficiency, but it is not flexible for the issues at a theme park. We saw a lot of idle buses parked at the bus depots at each park, so I think they have enough buses but they’re not in the right places. Let’s hope the kinks get ironed out soon...

 

[lnR_Texas]

Tuesday morning was a little before 8a.m. Monday night from Disney springs at about 10 pm was an hour. Friday at 4 p.m. from Epcot to the contemporary was over an hour and we just decided to stay at Epcot at that point. We were going to go to MK from the contemporary put we were just too frustrated with buses at that point. Tonight to Disney springs from boardwalk was a 42 minute wait. Then returning from Disney springs to boardwalk was 45 minutes. One time there was a change in drivers for a bus and the new driver didn’t have the key for the bus. We waited 20 minutes on the bus after waitin 45 minutes for the bus, we just got off. I have no clue how long that bus sat there waiting for keys.

Argh, what a terrible experience! I would never want to see another Disney bus after those wait times...

 

[brockash]

Wow! What times were you waiting for buses? I hope they get this fixed.

When we were there last week; we took a midday break and waited over an hr for a bus back to MK...it was really ridiculous and such a waste of our time. There was 1 other family there before us (and many more who joined us after) and we just all kept saying it's gotta be right around tge corner...well right around the corner ended up being about 65 mins. for us and closer to 75 for the family in front of us.

 

[MomOTwins]

Hi all! Arrived yesterday and waking up in Boulder Ridge for my ROTR attempt in 15 mins.

Flight got in at noon and we waited an hour for ME—would have done uber but foolishly hoped the enormous line would move faster.

Ate a late lunch at Geyser Point. LOVED it. Charcuterie, brisket dip, and an amber beer, yum yum.

Went to AKL, waits very manageable but accurate. 1 hr for both pandora rides, 44 mins for dinosaur, 15 mins for safari. EE was down most of the afternoon but we didn’t give up and kept checking ip and disney magic came through for us at 7:25. Was a walk on for the rest of the evening—people were just looping it until the 8pm close but I’m a chicken so once is enough for me! We all thought it was the best day we’ve had at AK, though I think we got lucky going in on a cold day, but I suspect it helps to go in the afternoon when people hop elsewhere.

P.S. the discovey traders gift shop has Raya merch. If you jave a kid who loves that movie they will be in heaven. DS wanted ALL the toys but settled for a glowing Sisu.

 

[MomOTwins]

Rats, BG fail. Did phone speed test to find best signal, used time.gov, clicked at 6:59:59. Practiced so clicked through super fast. No luck! Full. Will try again at 1pm. Kid looking at me like “yeesh mom”.

 

[staceymarie]

I’m here now (march 20, 21st) and I’ve been to WDW around 20 times. A lot of that was during spring break times. I was expecting long lines and huge crowds. I have been pleasantly surprised!! It has been great so far-lines look long but seem to move quickly. Have not waited in 1 line to get into parks, bag check, etc. Staying at AoA. The skyliner is quick and efficient. EP was literally empty until noon yesterday. We we almost the only ones roaming around. Soarin was walk on at 9pm after we hopped back. We hopped with no problem to AK yesterday. The bus for AK was almost no line and not crowded there or back. FOP was approximately a 55 min wait. Social distancing is happening (someone asked us to keep our distance as we got a little close in line -oops-so people are wanting this and trying) and mask compliance was great(saw a couple of noses but whatever!)
Other than freezing our butts off(LOL)-this trip has been great!!! Off to home park of EP then hop to MK today-hope it continues to be as easy!

 

[MomOTwins]

Had a 7:35 breakfast at trattoria. Food was quick snd got on the first friendship boat to HS at 8:15. Posting because I had wondered how early the boats were running and was pleasantly surprised. We don’t feel the need to be first in the park but didn’t want to arrive after opening either.

 

[lovethattink]

Rats, BG fail. Did phone speed test to find best signal, used time.gov, clicked at 6:59:59. Practiced so clicked through super fast. No luck! Full. Will try again at 1pm. Kid looking at me like “yeesh mom”.

That’s exactly what I did on Tuesday and same outcome. That was the first time it didn’t work for me. It took a little time for the party to show up and that time was too much. Good luck at 1!

 

[lovethattink]

Has anyone been at Epcot when it’s has an 11pm closing time? Is everything still open and attractions still running at 11pm? I know butterfly garden closes at dusk. And the live entertainment would be finished earlier.

 

[DMLAINI]

Had a 7:35 breakfast at trattoria. Food was quick snd got on the first friendship boat to HS at 8:15. Posting because I had wondered how early the boats were running and was pleasantly surprised. We don’t feel the need to be first in the park but didn’t want to arrive after opening either.

Where did you catch the friendship boat? We're also eating at Trattoria on our trip & we're unfamiliar with the Boardwalk area