Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Tasmen]

Have TP wait times been accurate lately?

I found them relatively accurate. This was more true later in the day than early in the day.

 

[Rick195275]

Yes Disney still posts them on the app. Up at the top of the screen there is a category dropdown selection and "Wait Times' is the first option.

Ahhh got it! Not sure if it’s just me, and it likely is lol but I only see them when I go into the map. I thought last year when I was there it came up as the default and I was struggling to find it anywhere. Thank you!

 

[dizgirl74]

We are traveling in July (I know crazy sweltering heat) and I was curious how the crowds are now??? Did they lift the 35% capacity limits?? How were the lines, considering there are no FP?? Thanks for all of your feedback.

 

[Rick195275]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...g-experiences-including-park-hopping.3807247/
Read the last few pages of this thread. Should find most of if not all the info you’re looking for

 

[auntlynne]

^^ The “Here Now & Just Back...” thread. You don’t have to read all 450 pages . Lots of different takes on the current experience.

No one has reported a formal stated increase to the 35% capacity, But there Are a lot of days (most) where there was no availability for park reservations.

 

[Arianabtd]

Just back! Stayed at the Dolphin from April 8th-12th. First time staying there and absolutely loved it. Will definitely be back.

We had a 3 day ticket and park passes for MK on Friday, Epcot Saturday, and AK Sunday. On Saturday night (night before the big storm ) we noticed green availability on the park pass calendar, so we switched AK to HS for Sunday.

On the Sunday woke up early and got boarding group 7 for ROTR! We were let into the park about 8:10ish for a 9 am opening, rode slinky at 8:30, and had our boarding group called about 8:35!
We got totally soaked starting in the afternoon on Sunday, as did everybody else. We went back later that night right before closing after the storm stopped, and were able to get in some rides in with low waits. Very good day other than the rain


This being my first trip since panoramic, I wasn't really sure what to expect crowd wise. But for me, someone who is now nervous with big groups of people because of the circumstances had no problem at all. Very manageable.


I am a huge huge character person, and I very much felt their presence missing. But my ears were very adept at hearing the cavalcade music. Once It started I would sprint to the closest spot I knew they'd pass by

Overall a very fun trip. Was honestly worried about this trip, but I'm glad I went!

 

[Schneewittchen37]

But this is a fun topic. My family left WDW on Easter Sunday. It was not as knucking futz as a normal spring break/Easter week trip. And somewhat less magical.

Stayed in our RV at Ft. Wilderness. 5 days. Checked in on Tuesday. 4 day hoppers.

Tuesday - checked in super early, like maybe 11 am. Ate lunch in camp and attempted to go to the Meadow pool. Massive 2+ hour waiting list. Went to the Wilderness pool instead. No wait. Not crowded. Attempted to take the bus to Disney Springs <insert bad words here>, the bus driver blew by the bus shelter and didn't pick us up. Drove our truck instead. Easy peasy. Went to Lego store. Long line. Worth it. Got a free Easter egg Lego set. Went to Jaleo for dinner. Pretty awesome as usual.

Wednesday - AK day (also the world's hottest/stickiest theme park). So now we know buses are not reliable.... drove the truck. Did Navi River, Dinosaur (longest wait of the day at about 30 minutes), Triceratops, Wild Life Train, Affection Section (we pets the goats). Lunch at Satu'li. Used mobile ordering an hour or two in advance. Very awesome. But it's hot. No one wants to go on Everest. And the line for Kilimanjaro was long most of the day. And DH and I refuse to go on FoP ever again (motion sickness). So we head back to camp. Attempted to go to the Meadow pool. Another massive hour waiting list. Went to the Wilderness pool instead. No wait. Not crowded. Boat to MK. Walked to Contemporary. Dinner at California Grill. It was our first visit. It was amazing. Love it. Want to go again. Long wait for the boat back to camp. Oh well, MK had just closed.

Thursday - HS day (didn't get a RoR boarding group - dang it). Drove the truck. First ride of the day was Runaway Railway. Super quick line. Everyone loved it. Did Millenium Falcon (longest line at about 40 minutes), Swirling Saucers, Toy Story Mania. Lunch at PizzaRizzo. Used mobile ordering an hour or two in advance. Very awesome again. Did manage to get a backup boarding group at 1 pm - Like Group 304567. Long lines to get into the Star Wars marketplace area. Waited 30 minutes and gave up. The kids really wanted Star Wars toys, so we went to the Star Tours gift shop and got lots of Baby Yodas. Everybody is getting grouchy. So we head back to camp. It's cooler, so no pool today. Walked to the camp store and got ice cream. Took the boat to MK (remember we have hoppers). Entered the park easy peasy and did a few rides. Dinner at Skipper Canteen (pretty good, but the menu is limited and there was no steak salad ). While we're eating dinner, got the call back for RoR. Well that's not going to happen. Did more rides. This was awesome. Another long wait for the boat at the end of the night.

Friday - MK day. Boat ride to the park. All the rides. Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Pretty good. More all the rides. Walked to the Contemporary. Dinner at the Wave. Love that place. Amazing. Back to MK. Extra all the rides. Did Big Thunder, Splash, and Mine Train in the last hour of the day. Longest wait was maybe 30 minutes for Jungle Cruise in the afternoon. So worth it, right before they axed Sam. Har dee har har. Another epic long wait for the boat.

Saturday - Epcot day. Slept in. Breakfast at P&J's takeout. Not good. So sad because I loved the Trail's End breakfast buffet. Drove to Epcot. Late-ish lunch at Rose & Crown. Not as good as I remembered it. Sort of sad about that too. Tons of rides. Some shopping too. ORANGE BIRD!!!! Dinner at La Hacienda. Again, not as good as my last visit. So weird to have a bad food day. In the last hour or so we did Soarin and Test Track with quick waits. Longest wait of the day was Frozen at about 35 minutes. Lowest moment was realizing I didn't feel like waiting 45 minutes to get inside the Mexico building. I love the 3 Caballeros and that stunk.

To recap - 35% is not crowded. I had very few of those WDW-omg-I'm-drowning-in-a-sea-of-people moments. You know what I mean, that crush in Fantasyland between iasw and Peter Pan? Or when Indiana Jones and the Frozen show seem to simultaneously vomit large crowds from the theaters? The Mexico margarita stand pinch point? Never happened. It was weird sometimes.

The lines for rides were better than a regular day in my opinion. Fast passes make all the lines longer. And generally speaking, most of the posted wait times were exaggerated by at least 10 minutes. More so later in the evenings.

I missed the shows, but I'm not sure we would have gone to them anyway. We can do shows after DH is fully vaccinated.

I missed the full menus. Some of my favorite items were missing and one of the CMs I spoke with mentioned something about physical distancing in the kitchens meant that some menu items were cut and cooks laid off. That is terrible to me.

The first bus situation turned us off buses for the rest of the trip and the boat waits were horrible at the end of the night at MK, but that's not really unusual. Parking was a breeze.

The pool situation was annoying. But knowing about the quiet pool was a win. The CMs never actually told people about the other pool as far as I could see.....

The lines to get into some of the shopping areas was annoying too. So that turned us off from some showing.

The hoppers weren't worth as much as usual with the limits on hoping starting at 2. And the park hours weren't as late as they usually are around spring break. Lesson learned.

But, it was pretty cool to basically walk on a new ride. We did have some awesome meals. And we generally had good days at HS, MK and Epcot. All in all, the trip was worthwhile.

 

[dizgirl74]

But this is a fun topic. My family left WDW on Easter Sunday. It was not as knucking futz as a normal spring break/Easter week trip. And somewhat less magical.

Stayed in our RV at Ft. Wilderness. 5 days. Checked in on Tuesday. 4 day hoppers.

Tuesday - checked in super early, like maybe 11 am. Ate lunch in camp and attempted to go to the Meadow pool. Massive 2+ hour waiting list. Went to the Wilderness pool instead. No wait. Not crowded. Attempted to take the bus to Disney Springs <insert bad words here>, the bus driver blew by the bus shelter and didn't pick us up. Drove our truck instead. Easy peasy. Went to Lego store. Long line. Worth it. Got a free Easter egg Lego set. Went to Jaleo for dinner. Pretty awesome as usual.

Wednesday - AK day (also the world's hottest/stickiest theme park). So now we know buses are not reliable.... drove the truck. Did Navi River, Dinosaur (longest wait of the day at about 30 minutes), Triceratops, Wild Life Train, Affection Section (we pets the goats). Lunch at Satu'li. Used mobile ordering an hour or two in advance. Very awesome. But it's hot. No one wants to go on Everest. And the line for Kilimanjaro was long most of the day. And DH and I refuse to go on FoP ever again (motion sickness). So we head back to camp. Attempted to go to the Meadow pool. Another massive hour waiting list. Went to the Wilderness pool instead. No wait. Not crowded. Boat to MK. Walked to Contemporary. Dinner at California Grill. It was our first visit. It was amazing. Love it. Want to go again. Long wait for the boat back to camp. Oh well, MK had just closed.

Thursday - HS day (didn't get a RoR boarding group - dang it). Drove the truck. First ride of the day was Runaway Railway. Super quick line. Everyone loved it. Did Millenium Falcon (longest line at about 40 minutes), Swirling Saucers, Toy Story Mania. Lunch at PizzaRizzo. Used mobile ordering an hour or two in advance. Very awesome again. Did manage to get a backup boarding group at 1 pm - Like Group 304567. Long lines to get into the Star Wars marketplace area. Waited 30 minutes and gave up. The kids really wanted Star Wars toys, so we went to the Star Tours gift shop and got lots of Baby Yodas. Everybody is getting grouchy. So we head back to camp. It's cooler, so no pool today. Walked to the camp store and got ice cream. Took the boat to MK (remember we have hoppers). Entered the park easy peasy and did a few rides. Dinner at Skipper Canteen (pretty good, but the menu is limited and there was no steak salad ). While we're eating dinner, got the call back for RoR. Well that's not going to happen. Did more rides. This was awesome. Another long wait for the boat at the end of the night.

Friday - MK day. Boat ride to the park. All the rides. Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Pretty good. More all the rides. Walked to the Contemporary. Dinner at the Wave. Love that place. Amazing. Back to MK. Extra all the rides. Did Big Thunder, Splash, and Mine Train in the last hour of the day. Longest wait was maybe 30 minutes for Jungle Cruise in the afternoon. So worth it, right before they axed Sam. Har dee har har. Another epic long wait for the boat.

Saturday - Epcot day. Slept in. Breakfast at P&J's takeout. Not good. So sad because I loved the Trail's End breakfast buffet. Drove to Epcot. Late-ish lunch at Rose & Crown. Not as good as I remembered it. Sort of sad about that too. Tons of rides. Some shopping too. ORANGE BIRD!!!! Dinner at La Hacienda. Again, not as good as my last visit. So weird to have a bad food day. In the last hour or so we did Soarin and Test Track with quick waits. Longest wait of the day was Frozen at about 35 minutes. Lowest moment was realizing I didn't feel like waiting 45 minutes to get inside the Mexico building. I love the 3 Caballeros and that stunk.

To recap - 35% is not crowded. I had very few of those WDW-omg-I'm-drowning-in-a-sea-of-people moments. You know what I mean, that crush in Fantasyland between iasw and Peter Pan? Or when Indiana Jones and the Frozen show seem to simultaneously vomit large crowds from the theaters? The Mexico margarita stand pinch point? Never happened. It was weird sometimes.

The lines for rides were better than a regular day in my opinion. Fast passes make all the lines longer. And generally speaking, most of the posted wait times were exaggerated by at least 10 minutes. More so later in the evenings.

I missed the shows, but I'm not sure we would have gone to them anyway. We can do shows after DH is fully vaccinated.

I missed the full menus. Some of my favorite items were missing and one of the CMs I spoke with mentioned something about physical distancing in the kitchens meant that some menu items were cut and cooks laid off. That is terrible to me.

The first bus situation turned us off buses for the rest of the trip and the boat waits were horrible at the end of the night at MK, but that's not really unusual. Parking was a breeze.

The pool situation was annoying. But knowing about the quiet pool was a win. The CMs never actually told people about the other pool as far as I could see.....

The lines to get into some of the shopping areas was annoying too. So that turned us off from some showing.

The hoppers weren't worth as much as usual with the limits on hoping starting at 2. And the park hours weren't as late as they usually are around spring break. Lesson learned.

But, it was pretty cool to basically walk on a new ride. We did have some awesome meals. And we generally had good days at HS, MK and Epcot. All in all, the trip was worthwhile.

Ok, so let me start by saying...I LOVED this post and all of the info. I am actually smiling from ear to ear, so thank you a million times. I was living your trip, knew all the spots and exactly what you were
talking about. We did WDW Summer in 2019 and yes beyond sweltering, however this year we have no choice and have to return in summer again. Reading some other posts I was beginning to get worried about food and ride lines.

We are staying at Bay Lake and YES...we LOVE The Wave as well. Thank you so much again for leaving such details and resting my mind a bit. We drive from NJ, so we will have our car as well...I'm not much for DT anyway...except for the monorail. We don't have HP we just do base tickets. My fear was a lot of people were saying there were no reservations 60 days out, however I never knew about this mobile ordering. This is all new to me and I've been to Disney A LOT over the passed 47 years, however not COVID Disney.

Thanks again

 

[dizgirl74]

^^ The “Here Now & Just Back...” thread. You don’t have to read all 450 pages . Lots of different takes on the current experience.

No one has reported a formal stated increase to the 35% capacity, But there Are a lot of days (most) where there was no availability for park reservations.

Thank you

 

[starousse]

What was annoying about the Pool situation? We're staying at WL in August and would like some tips.

 

[LetsDoDisney!]

What was annoying about the Pool situation? We're staying at WL in August and would like some tips.

If you read the post, they found multi hour waits at the pool each time they went so they went to the quiet pool instead. It’s a bummer. I think we’re going to run into the same thing at CSR but we are prepared for it.

 

[LetsDoDisney!]

But this is a fun topic. My family left WDW on Easter Sunday. It was not as knucking futz as a normal spring break/Easter week trip. And somewhat less magical.

Stayed in our RV at Ft. Wilderness. 5 days. Checked in on Tuesday. 4 day hoppers.

Tuesday - checked in super early, like maybe 11 am. Ate lunch in camp and attempted to go to the Meadow pool. Massive 2+ hour waiting list. Went to the Wilderness pool instead. No wait. Not crowded. Attempted to take the bus to Disney Springs <insert bad words here>, the bus driver blew by the bus shelter and didn't pick us up. Drove our truck instead. Easy peasy. Went to Lego store. Long line. Worth it. Got a free Easter egg Lego set. Went to Jaleo for dinner. Pretty awesome as usual.

Wednesday - AK day (also the world's hottest/stickiest theme park). So now we know buses are not reliable.... drove the truck. Did Navi River, Dinosaur (longest wait of the day at about 30 minutes), Triceratops, Wild Life Train, Affection Section (we pets the goats). Lunch at Satu'li. Used mobile ordering an hour or two in advance. Very awesome. But it's hot. No one wants to go on Everest. And the line for Kilimanjaro was long most of the day. And DH and I refuse to go on FoP ever again (motion sickness). So we head back to camp. Attempted to go to the Meadow pool. Another massive hour waiting list. Went to the Wilderness pool instead. No wait. Not crowded. Boat to MK. Walked to Contemporary. Dinner at California Grill. It was our first visit. It was amazing. Love it. Want to go again. Long wait for the boat back to camp. Oh well, MK had just closed.

Thursday - HS day (didn't get a RoR boarding group - dang it). Drove the truck. First ride of the day was Runaway Railway. Super quick line. Everyone loved it. Did Millenium Falcon (longest line at about 40 minutes), Swirling Saucers, Toy Story Mania. Lunch at PizzaRizzo. Used mobile ordering an hour or two in advance. Very awesome again. Did manage to get a backup boarding group at 1 pm - Like Group 304567. Long lines to get into the Star Wars marketplace area. Waited 30 minutes and gave up. The kids really wanted Star Wars toys, so we went to the Star Tours gift shop and got lots of Baby Yodas. Everybody is getting grouchy. So we head back to camp. It's cooler, so no pool today. Walked to the camp store and got ice cream. Took the boat to MK (remember we have hoppers). Entered the park easy peasy and did a few rides. Dinner at Skipper Canteen (pretty good, but the menu is limited and there was no steak salad ). While we're eating dinner, got the call back for RoR. Well that's not going to happen. Did more rides. This was awesome. Another long wait for the boat at the end of the night.

Friday - MK day. Boat ride to the park. All the rides. Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Pretty good. More all the rides. Walked to the Contemporary. Dinner at the Wave. Love that place. Amazing. Back to MK. Extra all the rides. Did Big Thunder, Splash, and Mine Train in the last hour of the day. Longest wait was maybe 30 minutes for Jungle Cruise in the afternoon. So worth it, right before they axed Sam. Har dee har har. Another epic long wait for the boat.

Saturday - Epcot day. Slept in. Breakfast at P&J's takeout. Not good. So sad because I loved the Trail's End breakfast buffet. Drove to Epcot. Late-ish lunch at Rose & Crown. Not as good as I remembered it. Sort of sad about that too. Tons of rides. Some shopping too. ORANGE BIRD!!!! Dinner at La Hacienda. Again, not as good as my last visit. So weird to have a bad food day. In the last hour or so we did Soarin and Test Track with quick waits. Longest wait of the day was Frozen at about 35 minutes. Lowest moment was realizing I didn't feel like waiting 45 minutes to get inside the Mexico building. I love the 3 Caballeros and that stunk.

To recap - 35% is not crowded. I had very few of those WDW-omg-I'm-drowning-in-a-sea-of-people moments. You know what I mean, that crush in Fantasyland between iasw and Peter Pan? Or when Indiana Jones and the Frozen show seem to simultaneously vomit large crowds from the theaters? The Mexico margarita stand pinch point? Never happened. It was weird sometimes.

The lines for rides were better than a regular day in my opinion. Fast passes make all the lines longer. And generally speaking, most of the posted wait times were exaggerated by at least 10 minutes. More so later in the evenings.

I missed the shows, but I'm not sure we would have gone to them anyway. We can do shows after DH is fully vaccinated.

I missed the full menus. Some of my favorite items were missing and one of the CMs I spoke with mentioned something about physical distancing in the kitchens meant that some menu items were cut and cooks laid off. That is terrible to me.

The first bus situation turned us off buses for the rest of the trip and the boat waits were horrible at the end of the night at MK, but that's not really unusual. Parking was a breeze.

The pool situation was annoying. But knowing about the quiet pool was a win. The CMs never actually told people about the other pool as far as I could see.....

The lines to get into some of the shopping areas was annoying too. So that turned us off from some showing.

The hoppers weren't worth as much as usual with the limits on hoping starting at 2. And the park hours weren't as late as they usually are around spring break. Lesson learned.

But, it was pretty cool to basically walk on a new ride. We did have some awesome meals. And we generally had good days at HS, MK and Epcot. All in all, the trip was worthwhile.

We are going to P&J’s this trip, what wasn’t good about it? Although we are going for dinner not breakfast but I’d like to hear your thoughts about what wasn’t good. Service? Food? Thank you!

 

[Schneewittchen37]

What was annoying about the Pool situation? We're staying at WL in August and would like some tips.

Never in my life have I ever considered that I might have to wait to get into a hotel pool. Inconceivable!

Anyway, I guess my tip would be to make sure you know where the quiet pools are if the main pool is full.....

 

[Schneewittchen37]

We are going to P&J’s this trip, what wasn’t good about it? Although we are going for dinner not breakfast but I’d like to hear your thoughts about what wasn’t good. Service? Food? Thank you!

The food seemed not fresh and the options were very limited. The CMs were fine.

DH wanted a pastry. Literally all they had was a blueberry danish. Sadness.

The kids each got mickey waffles. One with bacon, one with sausage. Both seemed happy with their choice.

I got the Bounty Breakfast and ended up giving the kids my sausage and biscuit because they were still hungry after finishing their food. My eggs were a giant, cold, rubbery lump. The french toast sticks were shockingly weird and deep fried. Not what I was expecting. The bacon and tots were fine, though not so warm.

Everything is served up in weird paper to-go boxes and seemed not so warm. It's just a stark contrast to the piles of fresh hot food I'm used to seeing at Trail's End.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

The food seemed not fresh and the options were very limited. The CMs were fine.

DH wanted a pastry. Literally all they had was a blueberry danish. Sadness.

The kids each got mickey waffles. One with bacon, one with sausage. Both seemed happy with their choice.

I got the Bounty Breakfast and ended up giving the kids my sausage and biscuit because they were still hungry after finishing their food. My eggs were a giant, cold, rubbery lump. The french toast sticks were shockingly weird and deep fried. Not what I was expecting. The bacon and tots were fine, though not so warm.

Everything is served up in weird paper to-go boxes and seemed not so warm. It's just a stark contrast to the piles of fresh hot food I'm used to seeing at Trail's End.

Did you eat at there or take back to your RV? from what I have found cooked eggs do not travel well not just at Disney

 

[Triple A Mom]

I am so surprised to read this because we went in November and strollers were allowed in the outdoor portion of the MMRR queue. You just had to park the stroller before entering the building. Very sad to hear they have changed this :-\ Was banking on MMRR being an easy line to tolerate when we return (1 week!) because we could have DD in the stroller through most of it.

Maybe it was an off day but I asked specifically and was told we had to park the stroller. All the stroller parking is away from the entrance to the building and right by where the line started too so many that is a new change. It was a rough line with a little, but we got smart and put her up on my husbands shoulders and that helped keep her contained, just not fun for hubby.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I am so surprised to read this because we went in November and strollers were allowed in the outdoor portion of the MMRR queue. You just had to park the stroller before entering the building. Very sad to hear they have changed this :-\ Was banking on MMRR being an easy line to tolerate when we return (1 week!) because we could have DD in the stroller through most of it.

When I was there 2 weeks ago they were allowing strollers in line.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Did you eat at there or take back to your RV? from what I have found cooked eggs do not travel well not just at Disney

Ate it right there in the Trail's End dining room.

 

[loves to dive]

I love that you're doing a solo trip! I would absolutely do that. I like connecting/chatting with people, though, and it seems like that might be harder right now with the social distancing, masks, etc. What has your experience been?

I do a lot of solo trips here, you can still chat in line, just have to yell a bit. I love coming her solo.

 

[Linkura]

I love solo trips. Doing my third this June.