Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[iheartglaciers]

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)?

What are the areas you need to stay in for MK? We’re thinking of doing a session in November.

 

[Boardwalk III]

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)?

Can anyone point me to a link with some general information on this? Tks!

 

[slyster]

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.

Thank you for that! One more question. I am not finding "Entertainment" in the app? I do see bottom, far right a menu that takes me to my plans and along the top there is "Entertainment" but all it says is "Lets keep moving! Disney's Boardwalk Inn does not currently feature any entertainment".

Can you tell me where I can it for the parks? Thanks again!

 

[Tigjam630]

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.

We were at HS yesterday and found crowds pretty manageable compared to previous visits. We did Rise right away in the morning (boarding group 7, called at 8:45am), Smugglers Run x2, TSMM, lunch at Docking Bay 7, then took a pool break from 1-4pm. Came back around 5pm and did MMRR, TSMM, Alien Saucers x2, took a break at Baseline Taphouse, then Star Tours, Sumgglers Run, Alien Saucers and TSMM again, and MMRR again right at close. My kids aren’t fans of thrill rides- so we felt like we were able to ride everything we wanted multiple times. It did look like RR and ToT waits were pretty low in evening- 15-20 min and we could have gone on Slinky right before close with a short wait if the kids wanted to.

The walk ways felt busy in the morning and early afternoon, but were much better when we came back in the evening. The Toy Story area, which I feel is always pretty packed was relatively empty when we came back in the evening.

 

[Turksmom]

Thank you for that! One more question. I am not finding "Entertainment" in the app? I do see bottom, far right a menu that takes me to my plans and along the top there is "Entertainment" but all it says is "Lets keep moving! Disney's Boardwalk Inn does not currently feature any entertainment".

Can you tell me where I can it for the parks? Thanks again!

Tap on the location symbol, tap near "Wait Times" to open the drop down and you will see "Entertainment" listed

 

[Best Aunt]

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!

You might find this website helpful:
https://wdwent.com/

 

[Steve678]

Did MK and Epcot yesterday. Got to MK at about 10, stayed until about 5, lots of people walking around but the only real wait was at Splash Mountain, about 30 minutes of a real wait, standing in line wait. The rest of the rides are what I would call walk on as you moved freely through the ropes and by the time you actually got to the ride, you either got right on or had to wait for one group for a few minutes is all. Had a 1:15 reservation at Be My Guest but we ended up there right at noon and asked if we could get in early, they checked us in and we go seated right away. When we left though, lots of people waiting for tables. Beast came out twice while we were there.

Hopped over to Epcot to hit the food we didn't do yesterday. The wait for food at France was the longest wait we had for anything all week. Wasn't too impressed with the Creme Brule but oh well. Did test track twice and hit most of the rides because it was hot and we wanted AC. Stayed for the fireworks show.

I haven't been in August before so nothing to really compare to for normal August crowds. Our last trip was a May trip several years ago and that time it was overcast or drizzling pretty much all week and we waited for nothing all week and there didn't seem like there were many people there at all. This time it felt busy but lines were probably 95% walk-ons. From years past reports where most waits this time of year were well over an hour, I would say that crowds are low to nothing if you compare that.

 

[penel3]

I am at Disney!!! We arrived last night, landed at MCO half hour early and our Florida Tour Car Service reservation was right on top of it! He arrived to pick us up as we walked out of the doors of MCO. We had our grocery stop and off to Contemporary. My only request (and first request I have made in 15 years) was a room on the first floor. Our room ready confirmation came through on our way to Publix……3rd floor. So we got to the Contemporary, dropped our luggage and groceries with bell services so we could go and ask to get a first floor room. Rafael was the CM at the front desk and was awesome!! It took him a few minutes, but we are on the first floor, so we have the little porch area…..love it!!!! Attempted to call bell services, no luck….called 4 times. I finally called the front desk, they were Disney magical as usual!! I received a call back within 5 minutes and they brought up our luggage. We then headed off to Disney Springs. Walked directly to Gideons, saw what seemed like a long line, asked the line attendant and he said it’s about a 10 minute wait, joined right in the line and we were in and out in under 30 minutes. We bought all 7 varieties they offered but haven’t done a taste test yet. Came back to the room (waited for the Contemporary Bust for 10 minutes, others in line said they had been waiting 30 minutes) Came back to the room and found that our refrigerator was not working. Called the front desk, a new fridge was brought to our room and installed…under 30 minutes. Woke myself up at 7:56 am to get our BG for ROtR….I practiced at home many times, this morning my fingers were jumpy and I clicked too soon….went back and clicked and we got BG 63. We plan to head into the park around 10am. Now we are sitting out on our porch watching boat traffic go through the canal on Bay Lake. I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy to be here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[slyster]

For those of you there this week and reporting lower crowds, did you rope drop? Wondering if it's still as necessary. Would be nice to sleep in an extra hour LOL!

 

[emmabelle]

we'll be there on Monday! Still trying to decide if I should keep our indoor ADR's? We are vaccinated so maybe we'll just keep our masks on until the food comes. I really don't want to drop any of them, it took me so long to get them!

I had a garden view booked for the Boardwalk and just saw this morning a standard view finally pop up. Saving $115, that's a dent in the parking cost for the rental.

 

[NuJoy]

()

 

[Steve678]

For those of you there this week and reporting lower crowds, did you rope drop? Wondering if it's still as necessary. Would be nice to sleep in an extra hour LOL!

We only "rope dropped" at Universal because they don't have a park reservation system and tickets are not refundable or changeable. We got early entrance there and that was helpful. For the Disney parks, we arrived about an hour after opening and walked right through security and the entrances. The longest wait to tap in was 2 people but only because they couldn't figure out how to tap their bands. Buses from the resort going to the parks were about 1/2 to 3/4ths full, no one standing at all.

 

[orangecuse]

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)?

They said we could go wherever we wanted! We chose the oasis exhibits because I wanted something naturey and not necessarily ANIMAL KINGDOM. The photog was good with kids and also flexible in that he tried some shots my almost 2 did not wanna do without mom, so he rolled with it. He also snapped some candids of the kids oooing at the birds. At the end he insisted we do some shots at Tree of Life so he must like that spot haha My goal was a few nice shots of each kid for their bday pics and we got that! They gave us a cute mickey board w/ the # of their ages to hold as well once I said what my goal for the session was.

We got over 50 pictures from our 20 min session!

 

[slyster]

We only "rope dropped" at Universal because they don't have a park reservation system and tickets are not refundable or changeable. We got early entrance there and that was helpful. For the Disney parks, we arrived about an hour after opening and walked right through security and the entrances. The longest wait to tap in was 2 people but only because they couldn't figure out how to tap their bands. Buses from the resort going to the parks were about 1/2 to 3/4ths full, no one standing at all.

I appreciate that. We are visiting 3 parks, twice while we are here so maybe we can rope drop one of those days and take things a little easier on the other days. Thanks!

 

[The13thLetter]

For those of you there this week and reporting lower crowds, did you rope drop? Wondering if it's still as necessary. Would be nice to sleep in an extra hour LOL!

we have yet to rope drop any day here so far and have been able to do all the rides we wanted. i will say though that ds is only 37” tall and dw is pregnant so we have not done 7dmt, space, btmr, sdd, rnrr or tot but wait times while we were in the parks were only listed over 20 mins for 7dmt and sdd and even those at some times were listed that low as well.

 

[lmantry]

Just got home from our 6 day vacation. Our experiences are both positive and negative. On the positive, the lines were great. Other than Slinky Dog Dash and Jungle Cruise, we waited no longer than 30 minutes for anything. We also loved the Mobile Order option for our lunches. We would get off of the previous ride, order our food, walk to the restaurant, and when we were about 30 seconds from getting there we'd click "We're here". Usually within 2 minutes our food was ready. And, most places didn't let you in the restaurant until your food was ready - so there was always a table available. On the negative, Magical express to our resort took very long. Our bus made 7 stops and we were 2nd from last. We had a dinner reservation 4 hours after our flight landed and just barely made it there.

 

[DeeBee3]

we'll be there on Monday! Still trying to decide if I should keep our indoor ADR's? We are vaccinated so maybe we'll just keep our masks on until the food comes. I really don't want to drop any of them, it took me so long to get them!

I had a garden view booked for the Boardwalk and just saw this morning a standard view finally pop up. Saving $115, that's a dent in the parking cost for the rental.

If you decide not to eat inside, you can mobile order at the table service restaurants. Not all but they all show up on the app - just so you know you can get actual food!

 

[DeeBee3]

On the negative, Magical express to our resort took very long. Our bus made 7 stops and we were 2nd from last. We had a dinner reservation 4 hours after our flight landed and just barely made it there.

I really do think it's luck of the draw. We arrived 8/12 and there was no line for the bus and they took off within 15 minutes. There were less than 10 of us on the bus! I was surprised.

I expected more waiting based on pictures of lines from earlier this summer.

 

[Sarahslay]

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.

I mean, I still can't wrap my brain around anyone complaining about wait times and crowds right now, but that's me being in a place where I've been to the parks many times since reopening and experienced really high wait times and crowds. I saw SDD at 40 minutes midday yesterday, where it would have normally been 120 minutes on any of my other trips, and I was like "wow! I'd totally get in that line" lol, and the only time I've seen FOP with waits as low as I've seen them are at closing but they're that way all day now with no need to bust your butt to get there an hour before RD. I remember on our trips Thanksgiving week and Christmas week sitting at the Starbucks at AK (which soon after we got our drinks itself had a 45 minute wait) and having the FOP line wrap passed us, down by Tusker house, and over to FOTLK theater with over a 2 hour wait. We had already ridden it getting there well before RD, and when we got off it was 120 minutes and building steadily, we sat drinking our coffee watching the line grow and grow. So, I think it's just perspective, I'm used to those crowds now since I've had those kinds of crowds on 5 of my 6 trips (my first trip was last August which was only slightly more crowded than what there is right now) so the crowds now are like a dream, but for those that haven't been I'm sure they're like "why the heck are there all these people?!"

 

[Sarahslay]

For those of you there this week and reporting lower crowds, did you rope drop? Wondering if it's still as necessary. Would be nice to sleep in an extra hour LOL!

I'm not there this week, but go often in August for solo trips, and even with lower crowds it's often nice to go early so you can get things done and beat the heat. I live in an area where the heat and humidity is comparable (sometimes slightly worse) than Disney and know that 12-4 are the worst times to be out. I will be there next week and will only RD for the fact that I want to be out after I eat lunch, take a break during that high heat time, and go back once the sun starts sliding down again. I'll probably take a shower and a nap during that time, no use being miserable just to sleep in an extra hour or two.