Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Best Aunt]

Day 7: Epcot & MK - last day!

Today was quite the adventure which I’ll get to in a bit....

Well, you win for best trip report I've read in awhile. It kept me on the edge of my seat!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Just returned from a wonderful 8 day trip - a few observations -

We stayed three days/two nights at Pop because we love it ( ) and for the Skyliner. We had originally booked the whole trip at Coronado (our first stay there) but had heard nightmare stories about the Coronado buses, so decided to use the first days to Skyliner to Epcot and Hollywood.

Pop is still fun for us; pools were busy but not crowded. We love the Skyliner, and only once was our party of 3 boarded with another group - which was fine - they were super nice. I find Pop to be very guest-focused - we called down for towels and garbage removal twice, and they came right away and were very pleasant. The only glitch we had was a MESS with Amazon Now delivering only about 20% of our order; and delivering the wrong things (instead of 5 Nutella To Go snacks, we got five JARS of Nutella). The folks at Bell Services at Pop were amazing. The quick service there is still Grab and Go, so we never ate there.

Our transfer to Coronado was pretty painless - we also did a split stay so we could get a clean room partway through our visit. Eight days without cleaning is too yucky for me. And that was a good thing, because there was NO cleaning at Coronado. That was my only negative observation; when we called down for towels and garbage, we were told that "they were coming to clean tomorrow"; but most people were just leaving garbage outside their doors, which is not particularly magical-looking. And we even got a text saying that a baby BEAR was spotted in the area (leaving garbage outside will get you that). Ugh. Other than our last day, there was NO pickup of garbage or towels during our stay, unless we called to request it.

Coronado itself was lovely; food at the Rix table service was good, and the buses worked well - but we did walk to the Casitas bus stop to be sure. There was some sort of large group, so we heard the Transporation Cast Member mention 2800 guests, so they were watching pretty closely. The hot tub was also closed for maintenance all but our last day, so that was a bummer, but the pool was beautiful; busy but not over-crowded.

LOTS and LOTS of training of new cast members going on - from wait staff in restaurants, to Skippers and Safari drivers; everywhere seemed to have new folks in training (a good sign I think). The crowds were manageable, and it was SO wonderful to see little kids and Cast Members smiling faces again!

I would caution that food service availabiltiy is still VERY sketchy, especially at Magic Kingdom. We carried lots of water and snacks with us. I didn't notice the issue at AK (Satuli and Flame Tree did a great job - we Mobile Ordered on our way to the parks in the morning) or Hollywood (we LOVE the new menu at ABC). Epcot is fine with the Flower and Garden booths; Sunshine Seasons menu is still kinda sad, so we skipped that. Magic Kingdom though was having some real problems. We had reservations at Jungle Skipper both days to avoid the problem, but options are very slim there.

We also had our first every LATE Magic Transport back to the airport, arriving only 50 minutes before our flight left. He was 25 minutes late arriving; made four stops...it was very nerve-wracking. If we didn't have TSA pre-check and a short line to check our bag, we would have missed our flight.

There are still lots of ongoing issues to iron out, but they are moving in the right direction. We always had A to A+ Disney trips; this was a solid B, but very pleasant and worthwhile.

Planning on one night at Pop before transferring over to CSR. Trying to decide whether to Uber over with luggage in morning before going to park or to ask for bell services to move luggage instead...How long did it take before your luggage was moved from Pop to CSR?

 

[goodeats]

Having been at Disney in November 2020 and now here at CBR this week is kind of a shock. So many more people everywhere and the social distancing is completely gone. There are a few places in queues that still have the “please wait here” stickers and nobody is paying any attention to them. I’m assuming they are only there because they haven’t gotten around to removing them yet.

So happy to have preshows back - loved MMRR. It wasn’t part of it in November and the story made a lot more sense this time! HM stretching room was a little tight, but not horrible. The point where you’re about to go into RNRC sound booth was too crowded for too long IMO.

Lines are definitely longer (time wise) now even though they are filling up every seat. Last trip I could ride Midway Mania over and over with little wait this time the wait was at least 30 min and not constantly moving.

Rope drop worked for us at MK but not HS. Slinky Dog was down, but we rode it at closing in 30 min. We were able to do all the rides at HS and went to the pool for a bit but it was a fairly miserable day and we didn’t get to do Frozen sing a long or One Mans Dream.

 

[deanly]

They were trying to get everyone in there that they could.

That’s how it was there last Sunday when we went to the 1130 show - packed in. My kids were surprised that they didn’t do the tumbling segment and the woman/bird didn’t fly up on the wire. Only the fire baton performer. Show was okay, but not as good as pre-Covid.

 

[disneyfan150]

FWIW, on Wednesday, the bus driver told me the capacity was 40.

Update:
It was back to jammed and standing on the bus from MK to Yacht and Beach yesterday afternoon.

 

[scrappinginontario]

All Covid discussions have been removed from this thread. Please keep the thread on topic as to 'Here Now and Just Back'.

 

[kylenne]

So happy to have preshows back - loved MMRR. It wasn’t part of it in November and the story made a lot more sense this time! HM stretching room was a little tight, but not horrible. The point where you’re about to go into RNRC sound booth was too crowded for too long IMO.

Just to be clear, they are doing the stretching room again? And the preshow for Tower of Terror? Those are my favorites and I really missed them the other week.

 

[disneyfan150]

Just to be clear, they are doing the stretching room again? And the preshow for Tower of Terror? Those are my favorites and I really missed them the other week.

We just got back. They are adding back the preshows, but maybe not all at once. We didn't see the preshow at TOT on Sunday, but they were showing the preshow at RnRc as you walked through the area. Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad had the total preshow experience. Wait times were up at HM yesterday as compared to earlier in the week. So it seems as if they are starting that one back up as well.

 

[bdiddy]

Just to be clear, they are doing the stretching room again? And the preshow for Tower of Terror? Those are my favorites and I really missed them the other week.

The stretching room was not happening last night when we rode.We were actually held in it for a few min though as the ride had been going down all day and was down for a few min again while we were waiting. I asked the CM standing there and she said they are doing it but it’s not consistent, it depends on the line and what is going on with the ride. It was down a lot yesterday. Several hours mid afternoon and then for a few minutes in the evening.

 

[notatallmagic]

Planning on one night at Pop before transferring over to CSR. Trying to decide whether to Uber over with luggage in morning before going to park or to ask for bell services to move luggage instead...How long did it take before your luggage was moved from Pop to CSR?

I don't know the timeline - we were at the parks all day, so the Pop folks picked up our bags (including some groceries) at our room at 7:15am, and then we got back from the parks at Coronado around 5pm and the bags were there. Sorry I can't be of more help!

 

[disneyfan150]

This may seem like a doom and gloom post which is not my intention. However, this was our experience.

Just returned from a 9 day stay. This is a transition time for WDW. Each day, we could see Covid protocols slipping away. Wearing masks on transportation is almost all that is left as far as protocols are concerned. Even this has been hit or miss. Rope drop returned, mask rules dropped, and "fill in all available space" returned. It was crowded and often people were shoulder to shoulder. The heat was intense and I am from Texas. It was crowded.

As mentioned up thread, the RD experience at Test Track was nuts. We also entered from IG and it was a big cluster as we approached TT. After waiting and waiting, the ride was down and it was closed. We had the same experience on SDMT. And once again, Slinky was down at RD. Three RDs wasted. Other rides went down during the day. Maybe my memory is failing me, but rides seemed to be down much more than usual. On the positive side, after the disappointing RD to SDMT, we had better luck later. We headed to PP and then Thunder Mountain. Pirates and JC were also down that day. As we passed Pirates, it had just opened and we popped into the ride. After exiting Pirates, JC opened up at that moment and we popped into that one.

We had fun. We are just not used to so many long lines in the hot sun.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

Did they still have the Be Prepared fire part?

yes - Fireknife is part of the show. Just no tumble monkeys or aerial birds. No longer give animal labels to each section, no pre-showy kind of stuff, no picking a crowd member to make the animal noise, no kids parade during finale.

 

[MinneTinK]

ToT pre-show was running yesterday (Monday) MK also returned to normal rope drop this morning, held until 8 on the dot, bus to MK was full with standing

 

[MomOTwins]

ToT pre-show was running yesterday (Monday) MK also returned to normal rope drop this morning, held until 8 on the dot, bus to MK was full with standing

Thanks! Had heard about rope drop at EP and HS but MK is new.

Would be interested to hear if the first buses are still showing up at resorts over an hour before park open or if that is inching later now that rope drop is being reinstated.

 

[redboat45]

Has the line for HM opened back up yet, the part where you can interact with all of the things?

 

[seb65]

I just got put on medicine that I need to keep out of the sun and of course leave in 4 days. I bought a uv umbrella, but are there still resting stations? I am ok with going back to the hotel, solo, if need be as well.

 

[MinneTinK]

Thanks! Had heard about rope drop at EP and HS but MK is new.

Would be interested to hear if the first buses are still showing up at resorts over an hour before park open or if that is inching later now that rope drop is being reinstated.

Yes, we were on a bus at 6:45, only to be held u til 8, my kids were not happy

 

[WEDWDW]

I just got put on medicine that I need to keep out of the sun and of course leave in 4 days. I bought a uv umbrella, but are there still resting stations? I am ok with going back to the hotel, solo, if need be as well.

No,all Relaxation Stations have been ended.

You could take a break at First Aid to save the trip back to the Hotel.

 

[MomOTwins]

Yes, we were on a bus at 6:45, only to be held u til 8, my kids were not happy

Thanks for the info! That sounds unpleasant, but helpful to know.

 

[capegirl]

Obviously this is crowded because of rope drop, but this looks pretty comparable to pre-pandemic rope drop levels to me. Full disclosure: not my picture-found on another group from the 6/18 rope drop.
View attachment 583890

Wow! I need to rethink RD.