Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[cam8n]

those pictures don’t look crowded to me at all

We're making out fine but the "empty parks" "low crowds" is not what we've been experiencing at HS and MK. We rope drop every morning and leave by noon then come back in the evening. Did 5 days universal and were doing 7 at Disney. It's much busier than are usual August trips but not unmanageable. I could never come at a busy time we're spoiled. Were having tons of fun but reading empty parks the last couple weeks I think we were expecting much less. I will say evenings at HS seem much better. We're staying at Boardwalk and F/W has been pretty busy every night we've been unless it rains then it kinda thins out. Heading over again tonight I'll post an update.
Future world was really quiet compared to the countries in the evening.

 

[cam8n]

I gave some updates during our trip last week, but decided to wait a week after our 8/14-8/18 trip to give some overall impressions. On the whole, it was a good trip, and I am glad we went (especially now that I know our next trip will be a lot pricier with paid fastpass), but it is still not fully back to the park’s former glory.

Crowds: We found crowd levels and wait times were low at AK and EP (including during fireworks at EP), higher but tolerable at HS and MK during the day, and awful to the point of being unbearable and nearly ruining the entire vacation at MK during fireworks. We had two nights at MK and I wished we had just planned to be elsewhere instead. Crowds actually seemed worse than pre-Covid, and I wonder if it is a combination of hoppers from HS due to no fantasmic, and people wanting to watch HEA as much as possible before it goes away next month. I cannot emphasize how much more I would have enjoyed our trip if we had just avoided MK in evenings. Also, I did cave and buy TP but did not feel it was worth it, as we ended up waiting double sometimes what TP said and it was frustrating.

Covid safety: We felt mask compliance on the whole was very good indoors and on transportation— much better than on prior Covid trips. Tables in QS are right next to each other — TS restaurants still seemed to have tables close to 6 feet apart. We are a week later have not gotten sick yet, knock on wood.

Resort: I cannot sing Riviera resort’s praises enough. Our room was gorgeous and spotlessly clean. The food was outstanding. The staff went above and beyond on everything. Pools and recreation were great and transportation was very efficient even when skyliner was down.

Characters: We saw cavalcades and pop up characters a lot this trip. The interactions were great and I actually preferred just being able to walk up and talk to Anna and Elsa in Epcot or Kylo Ren in HS for example without having to wait in a line and pose for a bunch of photopass shots that I then feel pressured to buy memory maker for. Hope it stays like this.

Dining: Our meals were all very good and we felt food quality and variety was much better than prior trips. My only complaint is I do feel the “Family Style” meals are wayyy overpriced. At least when there was a buffet the food variety justified the cost. But I paid the same for our family to have an (outstanding) dinner at Citricos as I paid for Tusker House, and it confirmed to me we aren’t going back at these prices until the full buffet returns.

This is exactly what we've been experiencing at HS and MK

 

[slyster]

Characters: We saw cavalcades and pop up characters a lot this trip. The interactions were great and I actually preferred just being able to walk up and talk to Anna and Elsa in Epcot or Kylo Ren in HS for example without having to wait in a line and pose for a bunch of photopass shots that I then feel pressured to buy memory maker for. Hope it stays like this.

Thank you for your comments. I posted a new thread about characters because I'm not really sure where to find them. Are they just scattered around the parks? Can you do selfies or photos next them and if yes, do you have to be masked? Thank you!

 

[MomOTwins]

Thank you for your comments. I posted a new thread about characters because I'm not really sure where to find them. Are they just scattered around the parks? Can you do selfies or photos next them and if yes, do you have to be masked? Thank you!

Cavalcade times are posted in the app under “entertainment”. I am not sure if there is a list of characters, but we saw a ton of them on or near the MK train station, captain jack in adventureland, various star wars characters in Galaxy’s Edge, Anna and Elsa in Norway, Mary Poppins in England, Mickey and Minnie outside spaceship earth and a few others I am forgetting. No masks needed for photos outdoors (I did ask) but you are always six feet away because they stand on a stage of some kind.

 

[The13thLetter]

We come the last week of august every year and except for last year (which was completely dead) the wait times so far this week are equal to or lower than we have ever had. Now as I said before, the crowds seem bigger walking around but not for rides.

 

[md1982]

I don't know what some people are expecting, but wow, currently midday the longest wait at Epcot is 35 minutes. FOP is 20 minutes!!! Space is 10! I think some need to manage expectations, low crowds don't mean you have the parks to yourselves. Wait times are insanely low right now. There are still some closed things, like shows and character meet and greets which might make the park's walkways busier, and I also think after 18 months of the new quarantine we are used to more spacial awareness, so things might "feel" more crowded than they are. Let me say that again, FOP is 20 minutes.

 

[mantysk8coach]

Just left Hollywood Studios for a pool break. Not sure if we’ll go back later or not, but I’d love to see Toy Story land at night. I thought it was crowded there today and so, so hot!

 

[Devil13]

Was at AK this morning. Fingerprints and FoP walk on.
That is my update.

 

[PamNC]

WOW - I thought I'd never see the term FOP along with "walk on." I'm there 9/7-9/13 .. for the reunion and some park time. I hope the crowds remain low.

 

[OhBother1984]

We're making out fine but the "empty parks" "low crowds" is not what we've been experiencing at HS and MK. We rope drop every morning and leave by noon then come back in the evening. Did 5 days universal and were doing 7 at Disney. It's much busier than are usual August trips but not unmanageable. I could never come at a busy time we're spoiled. Were having tons of fun but reading empty parks the last couple weeks I think we were expecting much less. I will say evenings at HS seem much better. We're staying at Boardwalk and F/W has been pretty busy every night we've been unless it rains then it kinda thins out. Heading over again tonight I'll post an update.
Future world was really quiet compared to the countries in the evening.

We have done mid to late august many times and the current wait time are still overall lower, it does appear the waits drop a lot now as the day goes on.

 

[William B]

Was at AK this morning. Fingerprints and FoP walk on.
That is my update.

I just want to admit my jealousy of all those in the parks right now with the reports of almost no crowds! I am doing all I can to convince my wife to grab the little one and lets go just so we can be there for walk-on FOP!

 

[honeymo78]

I don't know what some people are expecting, but wow, currently midday the longest wait at Epcot is 35 minutes. FOP is 20 minutes!!! Space is 10! I think some need to manage expectations, low crowds don't mean you have the parks to yourselves. Wait times are insanely low right now. There are still some closed things, like shows and character meet and greets which might make the park's walkways busier, and I also think after 18 months of the new quarantine we are used to more spacial awareness, so things might "feel" more crowded than they are. Let me say that again, FOP is 20 minutes.

Wait times are definitely short, even for this time of year. FOP is still less than a half hour. Mine Train is posted at 45min (less on TP). BGs are also still available for RotR and Slinky Dog's official wait time is only 35min (less on TP). I agree that walkways and park opening can make things look busy but those wait times are the true indicator.

 

[Marvin1968]

At HS today again much busier than expected and much busier than any of our previous August trips. We have touring plans and all parks at rated 1's. Never waited in a line outside TT in August. Galaxy edge especially busy but it always is. We're finding evenings less crowded. I think the talk of low crowds has brought more people in. Just my observation

Doesn’t look half as bad as 2 weeks ago.

 

[Disney Fool]

"Characters: We saw cavalcades and pop up characters a lot this trip. The interactions were great and I actually preferred just being able to walk up and talk to Anna and Elsa in Epcot or Kylo Ren in HS for example without having to wait in a line and pose for a bunch of photopass shots that I then feel pressured to buy memory maker for. Hope it stays like this."

funny you say this! Am I really old enough to remember when the characters used to just roam around WDW without a handler? I really miss those days!

 

[orangecuse]

Crowds are so low, not full on wmpty, but great overall.

It was a three park day for us.

MK morning from 9-11 we did Pooh, Buzz, Astro, Speedwayx2 (10 min), dumbo, and LM.

AK at 2 we did a Capture Your Moment session- happy to answer any Qs if anyone is interested. No rides here as the kids wanted to swim.

Epcot from 6-8:30 we did test track (10 min), nemo, figment, and gran fiesta x2, along with some snack stops at a few booths.

Everything except test track and speedway (times above) was a walk on.

 

[Geomom]

Forgot to mention a couple of our character sightings 8/20 at Hollywood studios.
Donald above front entry bathrooms:


Goofy fishing near Hollywood and Vine--it was hilarious. He used a rubber chicken for bait!

 

[DeeBee3]

Going back to those who felt there were some crowds - was it mainly in mornings? We didn't rope drop anything, but 1 day at Epcot. Found it all manageable, but I think that's a personal preference thing.

 

[The13thLetter]

Another day in the books. Toppolino breakfast was really awesome imo. Steak and eggs and polenta were great. Characters interacted with ds wonderfully even from a distance.
Skyliner to epcot. Today was mostly f&w focused but we did nemo, soarin x2, and 3 cabs all walk ons. Watching epcot forever from balcony now. Tomorrow pool day and mk for our last HEA.

 

[pangyal]

We are here now and started with Blizzard Beach yesterday where there were no lines for anything. We arrived at Epcot today around noon and walked straight onto SSE, Mission Space (green), the boat ride in Mexico (with all three animatronics finally working, RIP potted plant Donald), Soarin’ (they loaded the B section first, which I thought was cool), and I walked directly into a vehicle as a single rider on TT. We waited 21 minutes for Frozen around 12:30, posted wait time 35 and TP estimated wait 18 minutes.

Compared to our last trip in late June/ early July where we pretty much got to do zilch because of the crowds, this has been a real treat today. Tomorrow is DHS so I might change my tune .

 

[Aimeedyan]

AK at 2 we did a Capture Your Moment session- happy to answer any Qs if anyone is interested. No rides here as the kids wanted to swim.

I'd love to hear more about your AK session! We've done the MK version and they had pretty specific areas we needed to stay in. Same for AK? Which areas were you able to snag pics in and was the photographer pretty creative (esp with kids)?