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I completely echo this. We have a son with autism and always used to use fastpass for everything with him pre-Covid. We used DAS for the first time this trip with encouragement from these boards (for which I am super grateful, as we were nervous about using it) and we were so glad we did. Even with the shorter DAS line, the line experience overwhelms him and he had to be carried the whole way with his face buried in my chest or use his stroller in line (with the DAS stroller tag) for a sense of security. And even then we still had to leave one line (MMRR) and try again later. It is not as though we were using DAS for skipping lines to do headliners either. Aside from the one attempt to ride MMRR, we mostly just used DAS to ride TSMM, AS2 with him all day, and did Frozen show or Mickey cartoons to while waiting for his DAS return times. Meanwhile, DH and I took turns waiting in the regular hour-plus standby queues for everything else with our older kids. I really doubt we were meaningfully impacting waits for anyone else, unless they really like swirling saucers!

I second echo this and also have kids with ASD. I get also where the original OP is coming from and I have no doubt that DAS system is abused. But sometimes it is very difficult to tell unless you observe or speak with people / kids who have autism. Funny enough I always thought if people took issue with it and ended up near my son in line or on a plane they would regret it. As I am sure your well aware once the stemming takes off it can really bother other people. His bouncing in the plane in particular, we flew SW and obviously they don't have assigned seats so we were a bit concerned. The entire row was shaking for the duration of the flight.
 
3/17 - We were at the Grotto pool on 3/17. I agree with a PP that it was super busy! We walked through a little after 10 and scored the last set of chairs that had an umbrella but they were all the way over at the Dolphin side pool next to the Cabana restaurant. It was so windy and crowded. Not the ideal pool day we dream of but the water was warm and the poolside food was good. Order EARLY because it takes an hour for food to be delivered to your chair.

3/18 - Our first parks day. We had an 8 am Trattorio breakfast al fresco. Felt safe eating outside with an empty table between each occupied table. Someone tried to sit at the empty one - just walked up expecting service - I directed her inside and she came out and thanked me, saying the wait for a table was 75 minutes! We then walked to the WS entrance of Epcot around 9.:15. There were 4 people already in line for temp screening. We sat on the bench right by the skyliner and waited until we saw bunches of folks coming and joined the crowd. The temp screeners opened at 10 and we were let into the park at 10:15. We walked at a casual pace to Frozen - walked right on. Just a quick note to show you how quickly the lines build. At 10:40, the line for Test Track was 60 minutes. We didn't wait.

3/19 - Magic Kingdom. We walked to Yacht Club to catch the MK bus. At 6:30, the line went almost all the way back into the hotel. We waited about 20 minutes before two busses to MK and one to AK pulled up and we were lucky enough to get on the second MK bus. The groupings and no standing pax really impact how few people can get on the park buses so plan accordingly. We made it to MK and through the screeners by 7:17. 7D was down, Small World down, Pooh down. We walked through Pan line all alone. I think folks were all waiting for 7D to open??

3/20 and 3/21 - We were so so so lucky to get boarding groups both days for ROTR. We used the atomic clock to count down the seconds and jammed on JOIN right at 7:00.00. Tip - do NOT rely on the time on your TV. It's off by 30 seconds or so. Use the atomic clock to get it down to the second it flips from 6:59.59 to 7:00.00. We had boarding groups 89 and 18. Husband loved it so we did it both days. I would have been fine doing something else yesterday but he wanted to do it again.

We were bored though halfway through the second day at Studios. Really this is just a one day park for us, especially without any shows. We went back to the room to relax before getting our take out from Ale and Compass and read on here that someone was successfully able to add a park hopper to existing tickets this week, despite blocked out parks. So we squished our swollen feet back into sneakers and walked to Epcot to inquire. Success!! No issues at all. $90 later and we were having Regal Eagle dinner and date night at Epcot! We watched the Motown Band at the amphitheater and had a much better night than takeout in our room.

3/22 - We are checking out of Dolphin and moving to Movies. We just got a text (it's not even 9am) that our room is ready so we are grabbing an Uber and heading over there.

So far, yes, it is crowded with people coming at you from all directions. NO social distancing for the most part when walking. People do get right up next to you and pass right by your face. If I had not had vax, I would be VERY uncomfortable. And so many people have tried to get into the elevator at Dolphin to share with us. There are signs inside and outside the elevators limiting it to one family (or two people). I think people just don't look at things or choose not to read them.
 
Maybe it's just me but DHS seemed insanely crowded today, way more than yesterday. We're staying at POP and got in the skyliner line at 7:10. When we got to the transfer station at CBR it was packed! It did move quickly and we were off at DHS at 8:00 and through screening and tapstile at 8:15. Went to RnRC and walked on. By the time we were off our BG was called for RotR at 8:30.

By the time we got off that there were huge lines everywhere. I went to have a smoke in the designated area at 9:30 and people were streaming in in droves. Did TSMM, 35 minute wait, posted 45.

At 11 we got a couple of drinks at the Market stand and found a spot to stand & hydrate. Line for SDD was past Walt Disney Presents.

Went out & had another smoke & checked in at 11:30 for 11:45 Brown Derby reservation.

We decided to head out & rest in our room before hopping to MK for an early dinner reservation this afternoon. This was the skyliner station at CBR at 7:51.20210322_075131_HDR.jpg
 
Recently returned from a 3 day trip with my wife. It was our first trip with just the two of us, and we wanted to focus on World Showcase which is hard to do with kids. We had an incredible trip! Even though there were plenty of people there, we really never felt like the crowds were too bad. Wait times weren't that bad either given that the parks were at their current capacity limits. The Touring Plans posted wait times were spot on, and were usually much lower than the official posted times. We had no issues with park hopping despite there being no park passes available.

We stayed at the Dolphin, which we loved because we were able to walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. They are no longer using Disney buses there, and using the early buses to MK and AK didn't get us there in time for an optimal rope drop experience.

3/11 - Epcot
We spent a full day at Epcot our first day. We went to Test Track and Frozen quickly at park opening and then slowed the pace down from there to enjoy the Flower and Garden Festival. We loved the topiaries, the gardens, and all the amazing food booths! We spent most of the day in World Showcase, though did make it to Soarin' and Spaceship Earth after dinner.

3/12 - MK / Epcot
We weren't able to make it MK as early as we would have liked (8:45 for a 9:00 opening). The line for 7DMT was already quite long, so we went to Splash Mountain first instead. It was probably close to a 30 minute wait. We then went to Haunted Mansion which was a walk on followed by Flight, before slowing down for soaking in the scenery, taking pictures, and shopping before lunch. We ate at Cinderella's Royal Table which was a treat! Afterwards we went to 7DMT and the line wasn't too bad at all (30-40 minutes).

We then returned to the hotel to rest up for the evening in World Showcase. Strolling around World Showcase in the evening was delightful! France was our favorite.

3/13 - AK / HS / Epcot
We wanted to get a taste of AK since we had never been before, so we went for a few hours in the morning. It wasn't our favorite park (Dinoland USA?), but it was good to spend some time there and FOP was incredibly impressive.

After resting for the early afternoon, we went to HS around 5:00. The park had cleared out significantly by then. You can really get a lot done there in the evenings. Mickey/Minnie's was only a 15 minute wait, and we followed that with SDD which was only 25 minutes. We stayed away from Galaxy's Edge since we had just been there with our kids a couple of month's ago, but we really love it there!

Afterwards we took the Skyliner to Epcot around sunset which was incredible -- definitely one of the biggest highlights of the trip! Finished up with another wonderful evening in World Showcase including some live music (Vintage Vinyl) which was nice.

Overall, it was a great trip! We weren't sure what to expect being at Disney without the kids but we loved it!
We are headed to disney in two weeks. How did you like the Dolphin? Have never stayed there. Were the pools crowded? It is just me and my 23 year old DD. Maybe a quiet/lap pool for us?
 


read on here that someone was successfully able to add a park hopper to existing tickets this week, despite blocked out parks. So we squished our swollen feet back into sneakers and walked to Epcot to inquire. Success!! No issues at all. $90 later and we were having Regal Eagle dinner and date night at Epcot!

Thank you for this. I have a military ticket I have to upgrade at Disney to hoppers and had heard there had been a bit of an issue adding a hopper if the parks were at capacity. This makes me feel much better.
 
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...

I heard the same thing from a bus driver last August. We ended up on a bus that broke down on the way from WL to DHS and it took a full 90 minutes for them to send someone out with alternate transportation for us and one other family on the bus. The driver explained that they are no longer able to connect directly with dispatch or other drivers via their radio. They have to press a button to request assistance and wait for dispatch to call them. In our case, someone at dispatch opened our driver's request but didn't respond to it (for whatever reason) so it looked like it had been taken care of (but our driver had no visibility of that on his end to indicate that he should send an additional request). Our driver ended up using his personal phone to make a call to his supervisor after a while (which he explained he could actually get in trouble for doing), at which time they realized no one had actually responded to his earlier call. We ended up getting a ride to DHS in the supervisor's work vehicle (finally arriving at the park at 7:30 for an 8:00pm close, before park-hopping came back) along with a few paper recovery FPs from the supervisor for MK and EPCOT (he had no DHS ones on hand, so he recommended we go to GR once inside the park to explain what happened, and there we ended up getting a recovery FP for MMRR). We were told the reason they updated the system was to reduce the "chatter" between drivers and dispatch, but I really think they need to bring back the old system!
 
We are headed to disney in two weeks. How did you like the Dolphin? Have never stayed there. Were the pools crowded? It is just me and my 23 year old DD. Maybe a quiet/lap pool for us?

We loved the Dolphin. Mainly for the location (ability to walk to Epcot/DHS) at rates that were affordable. The room was nice and suited our needs. We definitely plan on staying at the Dolphin (or Swan) again.

We didn't spend time at the pools, but I did walk by to check them out on Saturday afternoon. They were very crowded. I'm not sure if this is just a weekend thing, or if they are always that crowded?
 


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”.
How fast does the phone speed need to be?
 
How fast does the phone speed need to be?

I saw a vlog where he said to get a ping app. He said to look for times under 50 ms when pinging vqguest-svc-wdw.wdprapps.disney.com and api.wdpro.disney.go.com.
 
I saw a vlog where he said to get a ping app. He said to look for times under 50 ms when pinging vqguest-svc-wdw.wdprapps.disney.com and api.wdpro.disney.go.com.
I’m obviously looking at the wrong thing lol. I’m looking at download speed?
 
I sort of don't like to do 'crowd experience' posts since it's so subjective and we all interpret what we see in the parks very differently, but was there last week and frankly didn't think things were all that bad from a general crowd perspective. We were last at WDW between Christmas and New Years and overall it felt about the same/identical, if not better in some cases where increased ride capacity/plexiglass usage is preventing some lines from spilling out into crazy places (which was more of the norm Christmas to New Years). We probably travel at more high crowd times a year than low crowd times, so on that scale we're relatively used to heavier times so have a certain degree of tolerance with it.

The whole thing still feels really 'lumpy' to me at times. There are situations where we were saying "no doubt spring break crowds are here" and others where we were like "where is everybody?"

Haven't really been following posts so not sure if I'm on island with this observation, but I had sort of bought into a lot of the "full park reservations" hype beforehand, so we were pleasantly surprised with the week.

Having gone a few times now since reopening, I'm personally in the "time to get some more things open" phase of my relationship with the park experience right now, but overall we thought it was a good week.
 
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We were at Epcot today. Will name this post “a tale of two Epcots.” Ghost town the first couple of hours. Crowds and long waits after hopping begins in the afternoon and evening. We did really enjoy exploring the empty WS upon arrival. I recommend if you have hoppers still choosing one day to make your park reservation at Epcot to enjoy it before the crowds descend.

Still, even when crowded, we enjoyed it. WS is still beautiful even with the weird giant Harmonious structures in the lagoon. There were good-size lines at all the food booths all afternoon but they moved quick. Wait times for rides were pretty long and we definitely did not do as much as we hoped. We did Frozen, Caballeros (no animatronics in the final scene still... booo), Spaceship Earth, Nemo and Mission space green using DAS pass, snacked at a few food booths (love thay orange bird sipper!) and had dinner at Teppan Edo. Test track, Soarin, and Mission Space Orange were just too long waits for us to fit in before we tuckered out at 9pm, especially because we couldn’t use DAS pass (those are too intense for our DS who has the pass).

I haven’t seen too many reviews for the frozen meet and greet outside the summer house but we saw Anna and she made my kiddos’s day and really talked to all the kids in the audience—really a well done character interaction.
 
We were at Epcot today. Will name this post “a tale of two Epcots.” Ghost town the first couple of hours. Crowds and long waits after hopping begins in the afternoon and evening. We did really enjoy exploring the empty WS upon arrival. I recommend if you have hoppers still choosing one day to make your park reservation at Epcot to enjoy it before the crowds descend.

Still, even when crowded, we enjoyed it. WS is still beautiful even with the weird giant Harmonious structures in the lagoon. There were good-size lines at all the food booths all afternoon but they moved quick. Wait times for rides were pretty long and we definitely did not do as much as we hoped. We did Frozen, Caballeros (no animatronics in the final scene still... booo), Spaceship Earth, Nemo and Mission space green using DAS pass, snacked at a few food booths (love thay orange bird sipper!) and had dinner at Teppan Edo. Test track, Soarin, and Mission Space Orange were just too long waits for us to fit in before we tuckered out at 9pm, especially because we couldn’t use DAS pass (those are too intense for our DS who has the pass).

I haven’t seen too many reviews for the frozen meet and greet outside the summer house but we saw Anna and she made my kiddos’s day and really talked to all the kids in the audience—really a well done character interaction.

Sounds like a fun day, looking at TP for Epcot right now and every ride has under a 15min wait time posted since about 9pm. It seems the late evening is the best time for rides at Epcot.
 
We started our trip at Animal Kingdom on Saturday March 20. The hours were 8 to 8. We’re staying at Pop Century, but drove straight to the park without checking in to the resort.

We arrived around 6:50, but the gates weren’t opened yet. We went to a gas station and came back around 7:20 and parked. There we’re 10 of us, and we had just arrived from a long overnight drive. So it took us some time to unload and get our stuff together.

The temperature check and security was quick and easy. There was no bag check, which made it much faster. However we got stopped at the ticket gate because our tickets wouldn’t work. We were sent over to guest service, because we hadn’t checked into our hotel yet. I still don’t really understand why it was a problem, but apparently the tickets need to be “activated” by the hotel before we could use them. I had to force myself to stay positive, since we wasted about 20-25 minutes waiting in line.

By the time we made it through the gate, it was around 8:20. By that point FOP was a 60 minute wait, so we headed to Navi River instead. We were on the ride by 9:00. Then we went to Asia to ride Everest and it was pretty much a walk on. After that we walked over to Dinosaur with a posted wait time of 35 minutes. But it actually only took us 20 minutes. When that was finished, we went to It’s Tough To Be a Bug. That was a 15 minute wait, even though MDE said 25 minutes.

At this point it was 11:00, and everyone was hungry. We found a spot to eat, and took a break. Afterwards we headed over to Safari, but most of our group was uninterested in waiting the 35 minutes. So we bypassed that line and went to FOP. The wait time was listed at 75 minutes. We got in line at 11:34 and got on the ride 12:27. So we really only waited for 53 minutes. And the line was constantly moving.

We left the park at 1:00 having done everything we wanted to do. There was plenty of time to do more rides or repeat our favorites, but we were tired and it was quite chilly. So we decided to leave. This is a recap:

Navi River: 30-35 minute wait
Everest: 5 minute wait
Dinosaur: 20 minute wait
Tough To Be A Bug: 15 minute wait
FOP: 53 minute wait

Even though we got a later start than we intended, it still worked out fine. We had no sense of urgency and stopped to take photos as we walked around. The crowds seemed normal...not overly crowded or especially low. There were some busier areas than others, but totally manageable. Nothing stood out to me as far mask issues or personal space. We had a good first day at the parks.
 
We started our trip at Animal Kingdom on Saturday March 20. The hours were 8 to 8. We’re staying at Pop Century, but drove straight to the park without checking in to the resort.

We arrived around 6:50, but the gates weren’t opened yet. We went to a gas station and came back around 7:20 and parked. There we’re 10 of us, and we had just arrived from a long overnight drive. So it took us some time to unload and get our stuff together.

The temperature check and security was quick and easy. There was no bag check, which made it much faster. However we got stopped at the ticket gate because our tickets wouldn’t work. We were sent over to guest service, because we hadn’t checked into our hotel yet. I still don’t really understand why it was a problem, but apparently the tickets need to be “activated” by the hotel before we could use them. I had to force myself to stay positive, since we wasted about 20-25 minutes waiting in line.

By the time we made it through the gate, it was around 8:20. By that point FOP was a 60 minute wait, so we headed to Navi River instead. We were on the ride by 9:00. Then we went to Asia to ride Everest and it was pretty much a walk on. After that we walked over to Dinosaur with a posted wait time of 35 minutes. But it actually only took us 20 minutes. When that was finished, we went to It’s Tough To Be a Bug. That was a 15 minute wait, even though MDE said 25 minutes.

At this point it was 11:00, and everyone was hungry. We found a spot to eat, and took a break. Afterwards we headed over to Safari, but most of our group was uninterested in waiting the 35 minutes. So we bypassed that line and went to FOP. The wait time was listed at 75 minutes. We got in line at 11:34 and got on the ride 12:27. So we really only waited for 53 minutes. And the line was constantly moving.

We left the park at 1:00 having done everything we wanted to do. There was plenty of time to do more rides or repeat our favorites, but we were tired and it was quite chilly. So we decided to leave. This is a recap:

Navi River: 30-35 minute wait
Everest: 5 minute wait
Dinosaur: 20 minute wait
Tough To Be A Bug: 15 minute wait
FOP: 53 minute wait

Even though we got a later start than we intended, it still worked out fine. We had no sense of urgency and stopped to take photos as we walked around. The crowds seemed normal...not overly crowded or especially low. There were some busier areas than others, but totally manageable. Nothing stood out to me as far mask issues or personal space. We had a good first day at the parks.

Thank you so much for the report! We are actually going to AK on our first day early before checking into hotel. Going to call ahead and see how we can avoid the situation you all encountered (so sorry to hear about it!). Glad you stayed positive and had a good parks day!
 
3/17 - We were at the Grotto pool on 3/17. I agree with a PP that it was super busy! We walked through a little after 10 and scored the last set of chairs that had an umbrella but they were all the way over at the Dolphin side pool next to the Cabana restaurant. It was so windy and crowded. Not the ideal pool day we dream of but the water was warm and the poolside food was good. Order EARLY because it takes an hour for food to be delivered to your chair.

3/18 - Our first parks day. We had an 8 am Trattorio breakfast al fresco. Felt safe eating outside with an empty table between each occupied table. Someone tried to sit at the empty one - just walked up expecting service - I directed her inside and she came out and thanked me, saying the wait for a table was 75 minutes! We then walked to the WS entrance of Epcot around 9.:15. There were 4 people already in line for temp screening. We sat on the bench right by the skyliner and waited until we saw bunches of folks coming and joined the crowd. The temp screeners opened at 10 and we were let into the park at 10:15. We walked at a casual pace to Frozen - walked right on. Just a quick note to show you how quickly the lines build. At 10:40, the line for Test Track was 60 minutes. We didn't wait.

3/19 - Magic Kingdom. We walked to Yacht Club to catch the MK bus. At 6:30, the line went almost all the way back into the hotel. We waited about 20 minutes before two busses to MK and one to AK pulled up and we were lucky enough to get on the second MK bus. The groupings and no standing pax really impact how few people can get on the park buses so plan accordingly. We made it to MK and through the screeners by 7:17. 7D was down, Small World down, Pooh down. We walked through Pan line all alone. I think folks were all waiting for 7D to open??

3/20 and 3/21 - We were so so so lucky to get boarding groups both days for ROTR. We used the atomic clock to count down the seconds and jammed on JOIN right at 7:00.00. Tip - do NOT rely on the time on your TV. It's off by 30 seconds or so. Use the atomic clock to get it down to the second it flips from 6:59.59 to 7:00.00. We had boarding groups 89 and 18. Husband loved it so we did it both days. I would have been fine doing something else yesterday but he wanted to do it again.

We were bored though halfway through the second day at Studios. Really this is just a one day park for us, especially without any shows. We went back to the room to relax before getting our take out from Ale and Compass and read on here that someone was successfully able to add a park hopper to existing tickets this week, despite blocked out parks. So we squished our swollen feet back into sneakers and walked to Epcot to inquire. Success!! No issues at all. $90 later and we were having Regal Eagle dinner and date night at Epcot! We watched the Motown Band at the amphitheater and had a much better night than takeout in our room.

3/22 - We are checking out of Dolphin and moving to Movies. We just got a text (it's not even 9am) that our room is ready so we are grabbing an Uber and heading over there.

So far, yes, it is crowded with people coming at you from all directions. NO social distancing for the most part when walking. People do get right up next to you and pass right by your face. If I had not had vax, I would be VERY uncomfortable. And so many people have tried to get into the elevator at Dolphin to share with us. There are signs inside and outside the elevators limiting it to one family (or two people). I think people just don't look at things or choose not to read them.
What’s the atomic clock?
 
Thank you so much for the report! We are actually going to AK on our first day early before checking into hotel. Going to call ahead and see how we can avoid the situation you all encountered (so sorry to hear about it!). Glad you stayed positive and had a good parks day!
Just do the online check in in your MDE account and you should be fine. We have always done this and never had to physically go to the hotel before going to a park.
 
Sounds like a fun day, looking at TP for Epcot right now and every ride has under a 15min wait time posted since about 9pm. It seems the late evening is the best time for rides at Epcot.
That’s probably true, but our kiddos really can’t make it much later than 9, and with the earlier opens at all the other parks, we had to get up early the next day. Suppose there are lots of people like us and that’s why after 9 the crowds thin out!
 
Continued from post #8,400
3/22 - we were so productive in the last few hours hopping to magic kingdom the night before, I let everyone sleep in. We grabbed the bus from BW to MK at 8:15. As an aside, there appeared to be several frustrated groups that were waiting for buses to other parks. We’ve been pretty lucky with transportation so far, but that will likely run out based upon some anecdotal complaints I’ve overheard. Anyway, we were in line at pirates at 8:45 and waited 25. It was cold and misty, so we took advantage and rode splash, which was a walk on. TP had everything with at least 20 minutes, so we hit the shops on Main Street and headed to the boats. Went to WL and had a late breakfast at Whispering Canyon. The wait staff “schtick” is falling a bit flat right now, not sure if it was the time (they were switching from breakfast to lunch toward the end of our meal), or the half full restaurant due to social distancing or what. Could have just been unlucky. It was a decent breakfast and we’d never been so it was fun. Popped back over to MK and rode BTMRR (10 min), buzz (32 min), and dumbo (18 min). We split, as lines were building and walkways were becoming crowded. With the sun finally out for a bit, the girls hit the pool and I got some work done. At around 6:30 we decided to hop over to HS to ride MMRR. That line was a bit long (TP said 18, but it was longer than when we waited 20). Hit SDD with a posted 60 and waited 27. TSMM was a walk on, then jumped in line for MMRR at 7:40 with no line out of the building. Virtually walked on, but the ride glitched about halfway through and we ended up stuck at the 2nd to last scene. Waited about 10 minutes for a CM to free us and walk us out of the ride. Pretty cool really, as all of the lights were up and you could see lots of details. They gave us a free FP to most any ride in any park to be used today, so worth the inconvenience. Skyliner was packed, the line was quite a ways down the walking path, so we walked to Epcot. We ate a late dinner around half the world at the booths. Some good, some smeh, and the soy glazed pork shank from Hanami in Japan was killer. DD6 and DW walked back to the room while DD9 and I hit test track. Waited about 15 and then bailed. HS today, snagged BG7 a minute ago, then we’ll hop to AK. Having a great time!
 

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