Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[TestingH2O]

it would be more economical to Uber each day to parks

This is the math I have found too. AK is the only park I'm "worried" about.

 

[lorileahb]

This is the math I have found too. AK is the only park I'm "worried" about.

From what I've read, I think we are going to Uber with goal to arrive at AK an hour before park opening - so 7 am for 8 am park opening. Unless the winds shift and they are no longer letting people in the park early.

 

[smelton521]

Has anyone recently returned from staying at Polynesian DVC? To get into MK as early as possible, would taking an Uber to Contemporary be our best plan or is there a way to walk there from Poly? Or is the monorail running early enough from TTC now (Edit to add that I realize monorail stop at Poly is closing. I’m referring to using the one at TTC which is near the DVC buildings at Poly)? We will be there the 1st week of December. We have never stayed at any of the monorail resorts so I have no idea how far apart they are, if there are walkways between them, etc. Just trying to figure out how to get into MK as early as possible after reading all of the recent trip reports, especially if the monorail will not be running early enough. Thanks!

 

[yulilin3]

Has anyone recently returned from staying at Polynesian DVC? To get into MK as early as possible, would taking an Uber to Contemporary be our best plan or is there a way to walk there from Poly? Or is the monorail running early enough from TTC now? We will be there the 1st week of December. We have never stayed at any of the monorail resorts so I have no idea how far apart they are, if there are walkways between them, etc. Just trying to figure out how to get into MK as early as possible after reading all of the recent trip reports, especially if the monorail will not be running early enough. Thanks!

The monorail stop at the poly will go off line November 2nd so you're only choice is bus , boat or uber ro contemporary

 

[smelton521]

The monorail stop at the poly will go off line November 2nd so you're only choice is bus , boat or uber ro contemporary

Yes but I was told the monorail at TTC will continue to run and that it is actually closer to the DVC buildings than the monorail stop at Poly’s main lobby. So that is the one I was thinking we would be using, unless they have changed things and will be closing that stop as well.

 

[yulilin3]

Yes but I was told the monorail at TTC will continue to run and that it is actually closer to the DVC buildings than the monorail stop at Poly’s main lobby. So that is the one I was thinking we would be using, unless they have changed things and will be closing that stop as well.

yes you can walk to the ttc and get the monorail there, sorry I forgot about that one. You'll have one stop at GF then MK, I would do bus tbh, they will probably have several running the route

 

[Tracey868]

This will be one of the points in my wrap up. If you can, drive drive drive! It was worth $25 a day to have total control of my own destiny.

We aren't getting a car. But I have no problem using Uber.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Yes but I was told the monorail at TTC will continue to run and that it is actually closer to the DVC buildings than the monorail stop at Poly’s main lobby. So that is the one I was thinking we would be using, unless they have changed things and will be closing that stop as well.

Our last stay in Pago Pago we never caught the monorail from Poly, we walked to the TTC every time.

 

[brockash]

Has anyone recently returned from staying at Polynesian DVC? To get into MK as early as possible, would taking an Uber to Contemporary be our best plan or is there a way to walk there from Poly? Or is the monorail running early enough from TTC now (Edit to add that I realize monorail stop at Poly is closing. I’m referring to using the one at TTC which is near the DVC buildings at Poly)? We will be there the 1st week of December. We have never stayed at any of the monorail resorts so I have no idea how far apart they are, if there are walkways between them, etc. Just trying to figure out how to get into MK as early as possible after reading all of the recent trip reports, especially if the monorail will not be running early enough. Thanks!

When we were there in Sept.; we actually chose to walk to the TTC and then take the express monorail to MK. The reason we did this was because there were reports and signs at the Polynesian that the monorail won't stop at MK until 8:30, so we walked over to the TTC at 8, the first day they had already started letting people in, the second day we had to wait until 8:15 and then were on the first express monorail over to MK. If you're wanting to walk from CR (we considered that as well) then no need to pay for an uber, walk to monorail and take the resort monorail to CR. - It starts a 7am.

 

[smelton521]

When we were there in Sept.; we actually chose to walk to the TTC and then take the express monorail to MK. The reason we did this was because there were reports and signs at the Polynesian that the monorail won't stop at MK until 8:30, so we walked over to the TTC at 8, the first day they had already started letting people in, the second day we had to wait until 8:15 and then were on the first express monorail over to MK. If you're wanting to walk from CR (we considered that as well) then no need to pay for an uber, walk to monorail and take the resort monorail to CR. - It starts a 7am.

What is the Express Monorail? Does that mean it doesn’t stop at GF? Was there a long line at TTC to get on the train?

 

[brockash]

What is the Express Monorail? Does that mean it doesn’t stop at GF? Was there a long line at TTC to get on the train?

That's the monorail that goes only to the MK/TTC. When we were there the first day we had maybe a 5 min. wait, and the 2nd day we got on the first one of the day (however we were also the first people at that particular temp. check as we had to wait about 15 mins. for them to open.

 

[katyringo]

I think the issue with this is you're relying on Disney's schedule/mindgames lol. We def. had a couple times that we beat cars during our Sept. trip, but we also had times that we didn't and then this past trip at AKL; we never beat anyone. I would say walking from CR would be more consistent of getting in earlish, but it's def. nice when it all works out on the bus. Unfortunately in all of the scenarios we're at the mercy of Disney's decisions on that given day.

I don’t disagree. We weren’t trying to be first in the park, but we’re trying to be early. We didn’t want to Uber so we just tried to grab the first bus and we’re just extra lucky this trip.

 

[js]

Has anyone recently returned from staying at Polynesian DVC? To get into MK as early as possible, would taking an Uber to Contemporary be our best plan or is there a way to walk there from Poly? Or is the monorail running early enough from TTC now (Edit to add that I realize monorail stop at Poly is closing. I’m referring to using the one at TTC which is near the DVC buildings at Poly)? We will be there the 1st week of December. We have never stayed at any of the monorail resorts so I have no idea how far apart they are, if there are walkways between them, etc. Just trying to figure out how to get into MK as early as possible after reading all of the recent trip reports, especially if the monorail will not be running early enough. Thanks!

If the walkway from GF to MK is open, I would walk to GF and then to the MK. I would do this if I was at Poly and will do in the future.

Good luck.

 

[smelton521]

I walked to the TTC from the Poly at 7:55 this morning. They opened the temp tents at 8:05 just as I saw people emerging from the parking lot walkway. I took the first monorail running on the non-resort loop and it left around 8:10. When I arrived that there was no backup on the walkway from BLT or at the turnstiles. 7DMT started running shortly after I got in line, probably around 8:30. After 7DMT, I rode BTMR twice, POC and JC by 9:45; all were basically walk-ons.

We are staying at Poly for the first time in Dec and have only been to WDW once, so I’m trying to better understand their system to know what to do to go to MK early. Are the temperature checks at TTC or after you get off the monorail at MK or both? Were the trains from TTC to Contemporary and Grand Floridian running earlier than the train to MK?

 

[Choirmom]

Just returned yesterday from 8 nights (4 BLT and 4 AKL). For reference, we are mid 50's marrieds who were celebrating 30 years of marriage. We are from WA state and had this trip planned for a couple of years. Rented DVC for this trip back in January, before COVID became a huge problem. This was our second trip to WDW (we went in 2015 for our 25th anniversary). I usually go to DL once a year.

We had planned 2 days each at MK, HS and EPCOT and 1 day at AK. This is not how it ended up though. We ended up spending 3 days at MK and 1 day each at HS, EPCOT and AK.

We thought mask and distance compliance was really good. Aside from a a few choke points, it was really easy to distance while walking through the parks. It was nice walking down Main Street with no crowding! The character cavalcades were great! They seemed to be happening every 15 to 20 minutes in MK. The lines (which appeared extremely long) moved continuously.

We were able to ride most everything we wanted in one day. Our first MK day was on Sunday the 18th. We were in line at the Contemporary sidewalk early. Once we got into the park we rode 7DMT. I don't remember wait times or the order, but we rode JC, POTC, BTM, HM, Splash, Buzz, CoP, Hall of Presidents, and PP. We skipped Space Mountain because it hurts my husband's back. We also had lunch at Skippers Canteen. The park hours were 9 to 8 and we took a break in the afternoon for a nap.

We went to HS on Monday. We did not get ROTR boarding group either time. We wanted to ride, but it wasn't a huge deal that we didn't. We rode MFSR, TSMM (twice), MMRR (so cute), Muppets and Star Tours. MFSR gave DH a bit of motion sickness, so we stayed away from the roller coasters and I don't like drops so we didn't go on ToT, but I'm pretty sure we would have had time to do at least one or two of these had we chosen to. We also walked through One Man's Dream and watched the film, shopped a bit and had dinner at Hollywood Brown Derby.

Tuesday we were back at MK. We slept in a bit and hit the park. We had some fun playing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, watched the Country Bears, rode Buzz, walked through Swiss Family Treehouse and had lunch at Liberty Tree.

Wednesday we were at EPCOT. We arrived at park opening and rode Soarin' (twice), Test Track (twice), SE, Nemo (and took our time at the aquarium), Living with the Land and Journey into Imagination. We then went to check out Food and Wine. I have Celiacs Disease and 5 years ago, nearly every booth had a gluten free option. Not the case this time, which was extremely disappointing. We roamed the countries and had dinner at Le Cellier.

We had planned on returning to HS on Thursday, but decided that the only reason for going would be to try for a boarding group. Since there are no guarantees, and we didn't feel that this park warranted another day, we changed our plans and went back to MK. We repeated a few rides and had lunch at Liberty Tree again (this was DH's favorite restaurant of the trip).

Friday was AK. We arrived at opening and rode FOP. Loved it. We then did KS, had lunch, rode Dinosaur, walked the trails and did KS again. EE was down most of the day and when it went back up, the wait times were long. We went back to AKL and had dinner at Sanaa.

Since our original plan was to go to EPCOT and eat our way around, due to the lack of gluten free options, we decided to skip the park and visit Disney Springs. We did some shopping, had lunch at Morimoto Asia, returned to AKL, swam, wandered the hotel and packed.

Like most everyone here, I would not recommend going right now for first timers. There was really a lack of things to do and the masks became very uncomfortable in the heat and humidity. One thing I would recommend: we normally visit the parks with no bags, just our phones, magic bands and a gift card. On our second day, we decided to take a backpack because we wanted to take an umbrella and ponchos. We took extra water and some snacks. This gave us a reason to sit down and take down our masks to have a drink and a snack. We always found a place to sit away from everyone, and as long as you are stationary, this is not a problem.

All in all, it was really nice just to get away for a week. We had a great time and will probably return once the mask requirement is gone.

 

[brockash]

We are staying at Poly for the first time in Dec and have only been to WDW once, so I’m trying to better understand their system to know what to do to go to MK early. Are the temperature checks at TTC or after you get off the monorail at MK or both? Were the trains from TTC to Contemporary and Grand Floridian running earlier than the train to MK?

Temp checks r before you'd get on monorail at ttc. Yes resort monorail starts at 7am goes ttc, grand (polys closed), mk (not til 830), contemporary, ttc. The 1 downfall of taking monorail to contemporary and walking over is you'd have to do temp and security twice.

 

[soniam]

It's not necessarily the waffle mix. There is a strawberry shortage due to climate changes (too much and too little rain in areas where berries are grown). A local restaurant here has taken things with strawberries off their menu, as did the local Steak n' Shake, and our grocery store has a sign stating the shortage (and what's there doesn't look good). They do still have the chicken waffle so it's obviously not the waffles.

That's a bummer. I don't need the darn strawberries. I would be fine with the fruit they have, if any, and Nutella. The spicy chicken and waffles just doesn't look appetizing and doesn't seem breakfasty to me, at least vacation breakfast.

 

[lilmc]

I wear Invisalign and am supposed to brush my teeth after eating before I put the trays back in.

I’m on kid #2 with Invisalign and we snack a lot and frequently while in the parks plus sugary drinks like a Night Blossom and such. I told my daughter just to leave them out while at the parks. Not ideal, I know, but really it’s only for a few days, she still wore them at night, and even with frequent hand washing, I didn’t want her hands in her mouth at restaurants or outside a food cart or mask down, brushing teeth in a public restroom, etc.

 

[lilmc]

duplicate post

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

How early did you get to the parks each day? So glad you all had a great trip.

Monday, Animal Kingdom - Drove. Arrived at toll booth at 7:15 for 8:00 am RD. There were a fair number of people already ahead of us and in the park as we made our way through temp check/security. But we were headed to the Safari first, not Pandora, so we didn't stress.

Tuesday, DHS - Drove. Arrived at the entrance at 8:30 for 10:00 am RD and they were still turning people around. We made one loop and got back around 9:45 and they were allowing cars to queue at the toll booths. We were about 8-10 cars back.

Wednesday, EPCOT - Took bus. We were a little late getting out of the room and it took a little while for the bus to arrive, so we made it to EPCOT at about 11:15 am. Line for Soarin' was a little more than we would have liked, but not terrible.

Friday, Magic Kingdom - Took bus. Arrived at the bus stop a little before 8 am for a 9 am RD. The bus got us to MK by 8:30 am. A little too late to beat the crowds to 7DMT, but had short waits on Adventureland and Frontierland rides in the morning.

Saturday, Animal Kingdom - Took bus. Arrived at bus stop at 7 am for 8 am RD. We weren't at the head of the pack going to Pandora, but arrived early enough for pretty short waits for both FoP and NRJ.

Sunday, DHS - Drove. Arrived at 8:45 am for 10:00 am RD. The cones were still out but they were getting ready to take them up and had started allowing cars to queue instead of turning them around. We were about 10 cars back, but when they removed the cones and the lanes spread out to the toll booths, we ended being only 3 cars back.