Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[IluvMGM]

What time would you say a line started forming for the skyliner? What was the line like over at CBR to either of the parks? We're Staying at Pop in a couple weeks, so curious what I'll have to do

I would say between 6 and 6:15 the line began. There was no line ever at CBR when we got there. We were able to get right on the skyliner to HS or Epcot. I guess they either send all the CBR people off before we arrive or they don't like to get up early. LOL

 

[Jennasis]

Our day at Epcot today was a rousing success once again with NO Genie+. We got up at 6:50 just to purchase an iLL$ for GotG and grab a VQ and got both with no problems. BG 14 and iLL$ for 10am. Took it easy getting ready and walked in the park a little after 8am. Rode Sparin' twice in a row with no wait...row B1 and then B2. Our first ride it was literally just us and one other family on the ENTIRE ride. Second ride it was just a couple of families in the B section and everything else empty.

Then we got called for our Guardians BG and rode that (got "I Ran"), and despite having taken meizine last night the ride made me pretty queasy during the last 1/4 of the ride. It passed pretty quick once we got out of there and I sat for a moment.

Then we hopped on Test Track single rider and walked right on.

After that we grabbed a soda and pretzel to help the queasiness before going back on GotG for our iLL$. We walked right on and got "I Ran" again...and got SUPER queasy again. So bad I literally had to cover my mouth as I was about to hurl, but the ride ended. 10 more seconds and the ride would have gone offline because of me lol. I had to sit on the bench at the exit of the unload station with my head between my knees. A kind CM asked.me if I needed help and offered to get me water. But sitting helped enough where I could get on my feet and walk out. We then decided to go back to BLT to swim and have lunch.

We wanted to mobile order Steakhouse 71 but DH wanted the grilled cheese which us no longer on the mobile order menu. So we did a walk up and just ate in the restaurant right when they opened. It was delicious and I was feeling better. A couple Tylenol for the nausea induced headache helped too.

Then we napped for an hour and then swam for an hour before heading back to Epcot and walking aaaaalllll the way tonthe Dolphin for dinner at Shulas (delicious!). Then we walked through the Y&BC to stay out of the rain as we walked back to Epcot. A gorgeous rainbow formed over the park! We grabbed some desserts from Kringla to take back to the hotel. And hopped on SSE walk on as we exited.

Just got back to our room in time to enjoy watching Enchantment from our balcony. It was like they were exploding in our faces!!

Now we are relaxing before bed. Early night because tomorrow will be an early day at DHS!

 

[DisneyFive]

We are back from a 2-week trip at Pop Century. We rope dropped every day, usually got in line for the bus or skyliner around 6:15 and didn't have any issues being up front to enter the parks. It was smooth sailing going through security this year, we never got stopped. It was also smooth sailing entering the parks. It seemed like last year there was always a fingerprint issue. We did MK on party days and had no issue walking right on almost everything. We always started with mine train and then did peter pan, jungle cruise, pirates, splash and big thunder and then made our way through fantasyland and tomorrowland. Genie Plus was not needed at all for any of the parks, we had no problem doing everything with low waits. Fireworks were tough because it stormed many of the nights we were there, but we managed to see both shows. Guardians virtual queue was no problem getting. My head didn't feel great after riding it, so it kind of set me back for a few hours. I wanted to try again our 2nd Epcot day, but didn't want to take a chance, so I sat it out. We ate a lot of good food, though some of our usual favorites seemed not quite as good as it normally is. Overall it was a great trip. I did notice more things not working or damaged than I usually do, and more trash laying around. There were cigarette butts in ride queues and all around the resort, which was new to me.

Our day at Epcot today was a rousing success once again with NO Genie+. We got up at 6:50 just to purchase an iLL$ for GotG and grab a VQ and got both with no problems. BG 14 and iLL$ for 10am. Took it easy getting ready and walked in the park a little after 8am. Rode Sparin' twice in a row with no wait...row B1 and then B2. Our first ride it was literally just us and one other family on the ENTIRE ride. Second ride it was just a couple of families in the B section and everything else empty.

Then we got called for our Guardians BG and rode that (got "I Ran"), and despite having taken meizine last night the ride made me pretty queasy during the last 1/4 of the ride. It passed pretty quick once we got out of there and I sat for a moment.

Then we hopped on Test Track single rider and walked right on.

After that we grabbed a soda and pretzel to help the queasiness before going back on GotG for our iLL$. We walked right on and got "I Ran" again...and got SUPER queasy again. So bad I literally had to cover my mouth as I was about to hurl, but the ride ended. 10 more seconds and the ride would have gone offline because of me lol. I had to sit on the bench at the exit of the unload station with my head between my knees. A kind CM asked.me if I needed help and offered to get me water. But sitting helped enough where I could get on my feet and walk out. We then decided to go back to BLT to swim and have lunch.

We wanted to mobile order Steakhouse 71 but DH wanted the grilled cheese which us no longer on the mobile order menu. So we did a walk up and just ate in the restaurant right when they opened. It was delicious and I was feeling better. A couple Tylenol for the nausea induced headache helped too.

Then we napped for an hour and then swam for an hour before heading back to Epcot and walking aaaaalllll the way tonthe Dolphin for dinner at Shulas (delicious!). Then we walked through the Y&BC to stay out of the rain as we walked back to Epcot. A gorgeous rainbow formed over the park! We grabbed some desserts from Kringla to take back to the hotel. And hopped on SSE walk on as we exited.

Just got back to our room in time to enjoy watching Enchantment from our balcony. It was like they were exploding in our faces!!

Now we are relaxing before bed. Early night because tomorrow will be an early day at DHS!

Oh how I miss being able to visit during the slow September timeframes. Touringplans is showing 2-3's overall. Glad you both are able to fully enjoy it.

Dan

 

[jimmymc]

What time would you say a line started forming for the skyliner? What was the line like over at CBR to either of the parks? We're Staying at Pop in a couple weeks, so curious what I'll have to do

When I stayed at Caribbean Beach, the line would form around 7:30 for a 9 am opening time. The Skyliner would start running around 7:45, and the line would take 5 to 10 minutes to get through. I can't comment on when the Pop station opens.

 

[leeniewdw]

When I stayed at Caribbean Beach, the line would form around 7:30 for a 9 am opening time. The Skyliner would start running around 7:45, and the line would take 5 to 10 minutes to get through. I can't comment on when the Pop station opens.

When we were last there (Pop) in March, we made our 7am choices in our room, then left and walked to the food court for a Diet Coke, then walked to the Skyliner. I'm not sure exactly sure what time it was (I'd guess 7:15am or so) and the line was gone and there may have been ~10 people in front of us stepping on. YMMV. The transfer at CBR was more crowded, but it might have been 5-10 mins MAX to get on the HS skyliner.

 

[GBRforWDW]

When I stayed at Caribbean Beach, the line would form around 7:30 for a 9 am opening time. The Skyliner would start running around 7:45, and the line would take 5 to 10 minutes to get through. I can't comment on when the Pop station opens.

When we were last there (Pop) in March, we made our 7am choices in our room, then left and walked to the food court for a Diet Coke, then walked to the Skyliner. I'm not sure exactly sure what time it was (I'd guess 7:15am or so) and the line was gone and there may have been ~10 people in front of us stepping on. YMMV. The transfer at CBR was more crowded, but it might have been 5-10 mins MAX to get on the HS skyliner.

Thanks all! We'll be flying in late the night before and I'll be going to HS solo, but wanting to try to go through TSL before Early Entry is over. Probably a long shot, but this info should give me a chance! Lol.

 

[IluvMGM]

When I stayed at Caribbean Beach, the line would form around 7:30 for a 9 am opening time. The Skyliner would start running around 7:45, and the line would take 5 to 10 minutes to get through. I can't comment on when the Pop station opens.

From Pop the skyliner started running between 6:50-6:55. The ride to Caribbean Beach was usually spent refreshing for the virtual queue on Epcot days. Then as soon as we got to Caribbean Beach we would get right on to the next skyliner to the park.

 

[jimmymc]

From Pop the skyliner started running between 6:50-6:55. The ride to Caribbean Beach was usually spent refreshing for the virtual queue on Epcot days. Then as soon as we got to Caribbean Beach we would get right on to the next skyliner to the park.

Makes sense. My info was from early 2021, when Epcot still wasn't opening until 10 and early hours weren't back yet, so I assume everything is shifted up by 30 minutes.

 

[Boopuff]

We were lucky that we were able to purchase Genie with our tickets before Disney stopped it. We loved Genie. My DD knew all the ins and outs. We rode everything we wanted She was clever and stacked several rides each day. Not too much running around. If we had some free time, she'd even use it for things like Tiki Room. (LOL) best airconditioning around! I found crowds manageable, except for Friday afternoon/evening at EPcot. I think locals swarm in for FW. It wasn't fun.

 

[Leigh L]

Just got back last night and had a fun trip!
Guardians is now absolutely one of myh favorites. Disney hit it out of the park with this one. Ended up riding it 4 times in 5 days (2 VQ afternoons after a hop and 1 for the am VQ; 1 $ILL). When I arrived on Friday I was unable to get the 1 p.m. drop after 2 p.m.. As noted above Epcot was pretty packed on this day. It was still available when I was on the monorail coming from MK but by the time I tapped around 2-2:30 p.m. (IIRC), the 1 p.m. VQ was finished.

If you get an early boarding group and you're an early riser, it seems WDW consistently starts the ride roughly 20 minutes before Early Entry even begins. In June I had group 2 and was called at 8:10 and I was still at the TTC coming off the Shades of Green bus. On this Sept trip, I got group 6 and headed straight to the bus. Group 6 was called at 8:10 when I was walking into the ride area.

There was NO ONE there at 8:10, like anywhere. That felt wild. Numerous CMs were at the ride entry but that's it. So I scanned in - walked through the queue completely alone. Preshows I was by myself which was also weird but also cool since I noticed so many more things I hadn't previously (since I'm short and a crowd towers over me lol.)

Walked down to the coaster part, alone. CM told me to pick any seat I wanted. I only saw one other person that wasn't a CM during the entire ride experience and that was walking up the stairs after I exited the ride.

I went back around 2 p.m. for my $ILL and it was as crowded as it normally would be. Such a contrast!

 

[Jennasis]

DHS was a little wonky today. Due to bith Rise and RnRC being down at park open and for a good chunk of the day, wait times at the other rides we're crazy. We got there at early entry and the queue for ToT was 75 min (but we were near the front of the Line at rope drop and waited 20). Then we got on Slinky with a 40 minute wait. Grabbed a ronto wrap and then managed to get on Rise with our iLL$ at 10am before it went down again. Ate lunch at Sci Fi (yum!) And We hit Star Tours with a short 10 min wait, then walked through Launch Bay and the shops on Hollywood Blvd before heading out for a loooong midday nap and late swim. Finishing the night now exploring the monorail loop. And grabbed dinner at Tambu Lounge (pot stickers, noodles and ribs...quite good!). Will wrap up with the water pageant at some point and watch the Halloween fireworks from our room at BLT again.

 

[Jennasis]

Today was our second MK day. We slept in to the decadent hour of 8:30am and then walked over to MK from BLT. The wait times looked super low, but then i realized park opening was 9am and we were getting In Around 9:30ish. It was forecasted to be a lower crowd Dat but times grew quickly.

We got on the standby line for Splash which was posted a 45 min wait but said 27 min on LINES. While in line I begrudgingly checked the various LL return times in the park and found that there were actually quite a few still available for things we wanted to ride all around the time we would be getting off Splash ..so I bought it...and then worked the heck out of it lol. Got off Splash at 10:45 and rode the following in order with G+:

Pirates
Space
Buzz
Little Mermaid
IASW
Dumbo
BtMRR

We ate lunch after Pirates at Pecos Bill's and got the walking taco which was fantastic!

We also did Country Bears.

We also continued our "scavenger hunt" of trying to find all the Golden statues in each park. We found all statues in every park except Tinkerbelle. We will attempt to locate her Friday before leave...don't tell me where she is!!

We also stopped to see Wendell waving at the crowd in Frontierland, saw Mickeys Magical Friendship Faire stage show (literally walked up as it was starting and was right up against the stage), and happened to be right at the parade start point at the exact moment Mickeys cavalcade stepped off so had front row spots to watch that.

We left the park at 3pm and went to our room to freshen up for an evening at Disney Springs and dinner at Morimoto Asia (which was magnificent). It started raining like crazy while we were eating dinner but we had ponchos and umbrellas so just rocked on. We shopped at WoD a bit doing mobile checkout (love it) and then got in lone for Gideons...

While in line the CM walked out from the kitchen with a tray of hot cookies and shouted it was hit cookie hour. Of course we had to try it. .and OMG it was life changing! DOOOOOO IIIITTTT!! We got the hot cookie and ice cream as well as a few cookies to take home and a cake slice.

Now we are relaxing in our room while Enchantment explodes outside and we massage each others tired feet. A great day!

 

[wabbott]

What is the crowd level this week? Above normal for this time of year? Below? Average? Trying to get a feel for whether economic conditions are affecting attendance, and by extension, DIS' economic health.

 

[scrappinginontario]

What is the crowd level this week? Above normal for this time of year? Below? Average? Trying to get a feel for whether economic conditions are affecting attendance, and by extension, DIS' economic health.

I've heard the crowds are low but this is one of the quietest weeks normally so not sure if it's a good indication of current crowds or what things will be like between now and Christmas.

I know many resorts have been full between now and Christmas for many months.

 

[Jennasis]

Crowds have been manageable. Lower than other times of Years as this week usually is but not as low as it was pre covid. We got a LOT accomplished this week.

 

[juuuliebeth]

I just came back from a trip from September 8-16. While the crowd levels were great (going to MK on a party day is a game changer) the weather was not fun to manage. The sun was fierce and the rain came almost every day. Luckily, I was prepared with a UV umbrella, a personal fan, and water gear. I can't imagine not having any of those items.

I also used DAS for the first time. Due to a chronic illness, I don't deal well with extreme temperatures. I've learned that Epcot isn't bad because most queues are indoors, but Hollywood Studios has a lot of outdoor ones. My plan was to use DAS for attractions with large parts of the line outdoors (Tower of Terror, Rock n Roller Coaster, Spaceship Earth, Thunder Mountain) while waiting for lines that are primarily indoors (Soarin', Space Mountain, Toy Story Mania). Anyway, there were times I didn't even have to bother making DAS reservations because the wait times were low anyway. It was amazing. It definitely made it easier to deal with the heat when I didn't have to be out in it for long periods of time.

If you can withstand heat better than I can, I highly recommend going this time of year. We got everything done we wanted and more.

 

[boogienights]

Where to begin? Well I guess I should get the worst over with...the crowds. They are truly awful. There are just way too many people. Early entry, Genie+ and ILL have been awesome. We've ridden everything we've wanted to (sometimes more than once) without waiting for more than 20 minutes. But once the crowds pick up, the fun ends. The throngs are overwhelming and all we want to do is ESCAPE to somewhere quiet where we can move around without having to dodge a sea of strollers. I love Animal Kingdom and World Showcase but it was impossible to explore and enjoy the atmosphere. Then there is the expense. I was prepared for and resigned to the expense but it is difficult to justify spending so much and needing to leave after a few hours because of how crowded it is. If it weren't for Genie+ and ILL, we'd be truly miserable. Do I regret coming? Mostly no. There have been many fun moments and it's been a decade since my family and I vacationed together. But I can promise you all this...I won't be coming back to Disney. They would have to seriously cap attendance or build a couple more parks or dozens more attractions to spread out the crowds to tempt me to return. We're off to USO tomorrow and I'd be happy to post an update of our experience for comparison there if anyone is interested.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

yes, please update. We are heading that way in 10 days.

 

[jimim]

wait didn't Disney start a park reservation system some time ago to control the amount of people in the park? isn't it suppose to allow for a more enjoyable experience? were you maybe in the park on a day they weren't using the reservation system? cause if they were everything should have been very manageable cause the reservation system should control the amount of people allowed in the parks?

 

[craedaisy12]

Thank you for your post. I will be going down on the 22nd and i plan to just take my time and enjoy myself. We are there for two weeks with our 1 year old with some family also joining.

I’m in the mindset that this is all because of ‘revenge vacationing’ and people who had trips in 2020 are making up for it now or have credits to use. I’m thankful for my trip in March 2020 that ended a day before everything shut down!

We try to go every other year and hoping in 2024 things are closer to normal.