25% capacity - what does that actually feel like?

The key to it all will be to rope drop. Only there won't be a rope drop because they won't want people conglomerating in the Esplanade. They'll probably open up the parks about 45 min before actual park opening like they're doing right now at WDW.

This means that if DL opens at, let's say, 9 am, then you'll want to be at the Esplanade at 8:15. Work backwards from there to allot time to walk from the Mickey & Friends parking structure to the Esplanade.

Do NOT plan on there being any parking tram. Plan on having to hoof it.

Rides like POTC will probably not be able to fully fill the boat, so waits will be a tad longer than normal there. Probably reduced capacity at first (i.e., loading every other row) on Space Mtn and BTMRR, for example.

Frankly, I'd hit up Fantasyland first since those rides even in normal times are slow loaders. They'll probably start the rides up around 8:30 am (for regular 9 am park opening). So if you show up AT 9:00 am, you're already 'late' and behind the other park guests.
 
The key to it all will be to rope drop. Only there won't be a rope drop because they won't want people conglomerating in the Esplanade. They'll probably open up the parks about 45 min before actual park opening like they're doing right now at WDW.

This means that if DL opens at, let's say, 9 am, then you'll want to be at the Esplanade at 8:15. Work backwards from there to allot time to walk from the Mickey & Friends parking structure to the Esplanade.

Do NOT plan on there being any parking tram. Plan on having to hoof it.

Rides like POTC will probably not be able to fully fill the boat, so waits will be a tad longer than normal there. Probably reduced capacity at first (i.e., loading every other row) on Space Mtn and BTMRR, for example.

Frankly, I'd hit up Fantasyland first since those rides even in normal times are slow loaders. They'll probably start the rides up around 8:30 am (for regular 9 am park opening). So if you show up AT 9:00 am, you're already 'late' and behind the other park guests.
Ive been wondering how some rides would work. I can see them giving each party their own boat or putting smaller groups in the front and back of the boats on POTC. Would defintely slow things down if they have to do that.
 
Any word on how RotR will work? Or if it’s even going to be open? (Edit: I just read it will be open)

I assume it’ll be operating at reduced capacity for distancing. (It would actually be pretty great if each group gets its own ride vehicle).

But if the park crowd is limited to 25%, does that mean that most everyone that wants to ride will be able to ride?
 
Any word on how RotR will work? Or if it’s even going to be open? (Edit: I just read it will be open)

I assume it’ll be operating at reduced capacity for distancing. (It would actually be pretty great if each group gets its own ride vehicle).

But if the park crowd is limited to 25%, does that mean that most everyone that wants to ride will be able to ride?
No idea how they will handle the vehicles. But they are still doing the boarding groups to get on it. Now there will be two time each day to try for a boarding group. Once in the morning after the park opens and again later in the day so guests who park hop from DCA can also try for a pass. So if you are in DL all day you can possibly get on it twice in a day. At least thats how I understand it
 


I've dabbled in the WDW side of the boards enough over the past year to know that even 25% would not feel as light as we might hope. However, DLR has a couple things going for it that WDW doesn't. First of all, the weather is much better. I can't imagine standing in those long outdoor queues in FL summer heat and humidity, especially wearing a mask. Also, there are lots of rides in each park, especially in DL. WDW has a couple parks with a low number of rides, and without the shows, there's just not much else for people to do. DL has a lot of rides, even with the closures they've announced, so hopefully that will help. The thing WDW has going for it is that the walkways are much wider, so it probably feels less crowded in general than DLR will, especially DL.

When we went to WDW in summer 2019, we basically could not ride a single thing standby because the standby waits were just out of control. (Having FP+ available for almost every single ride of course made this much worse.) We've never had that experience at DLR, even during very crowded times. There's always something we can ride standby - Small World or Little Mermaid or Goofy's Sky School or something like that. Because of that, I'm not too worried.

DLR has been so consistently horribly crowded over the past few years that I think just about anything is going to feel like a relief in comparison.
 
Ive been wondering how some rides would work. I can see them giving each party their own boat or putting smaller groups in the front and back of the boats on POTC. Would defintely slow things down if they have to do that.

DH & I went to WDW in January. On POTC and IASW, they skipped 2 rows between us and the other party in the boat.
 
Any word on how RotR will work? Or if it’s even going to be open? (Edit: I just read it will be open)

I assume it’ll be operating at reduced capacity for distancing. (It would actually be pretty great if each group gets its own ride vehicle).

But if the park crowd is limited to 25%, does that mean that most everyone that wants to ride will be able to ride?

At WDW, ROTR is definitely operating and it's now running at pretty much full capacity because they added plexiglass dividers between the front and back row of the ride vehicles. DH & I went on it in January and we sat in the back row...the plexiglass divider did NOT interfere in any way with the ride experience.

Even with 25% park capacity, not everyone will be able to ride it. Your ability to ride it will be based on whether or not you can get a Boarding Group for it.

At WDW, the Boarding Groups are issued at 7:00 am and 1:00 pm. Here's how it works:
  1. You need a park pass/park reservation for that park first (i.e., HS for WDW).
  2. At 7:00 am right on the dot, you go into your WDW app on your smart phone and request a boarding group. There's a whole thread about this with screen shots and such on the WDW side of the boards.
  3. Everyone who's linked beforehand in your "group" to your ID in the WDW app who ALSO has a pass pass/park reservation for HS for that day will automatically be selected (i.e., green check mark selected next to their name) for a boarding group.
  4. If you win the Star Wars lottery, then you're told on the app what your boarding group # is.
  5. the app will send a 'push' message to your phone when your allotted hour comes up to go on the ride.
  6. At 1:00 pm, there's a 2nd chance to get a boarding group. So if you didn't get a BG earlier in the day, you have a 2nd chance to do so.
  7. You CANNOT get 2 separate boarding groups in 1 day.
  8. At WDW, park hopping starts at 2:00 pm, so if you don't have a park pass/park reservation for HS that day, there's no way you're getting a BG for ROTR that day.
  9. There is NO GUARANTEE on how many BG's will be issued at the 1:00 pm release time.
 


Just another quick FYI - for anyone who uses DAS when they've gone to the parks in the past, you should expect that to operate just as it did before. It's operating at WDW. You get a return time for a specific ride.
 
We were at WDW in November and one thing I learned is the way a ride loads and capacity on rides will affect the wait times more than ever right now. Since CA won't allow DL to board groups near each other that will just naturally slow down the lines. Be curious to see if they can use plexiglass as a work around. When rides at WDW were given plexiglass it cut the waits in half... but ugh, plexiglass.

Rides that take longer to load will also take ten times longer in line now. Pirates at WDW easily has become the most miserable line because of that plus they only board two rows. We waited in line for it about 80 minutes our first day. After that, we rope dropped it to avoid going through that again! I'd imagine DL will have a similar Pirates problem so I'd recommend going there first if you're a Pirates fan. (And if you're not, we're not friends 😂) Smugglers Run will also have a super long wait if they're giving groups their own pod- that was another line that was always long. So think along those lines too when planning on what rides to hit first!
 
We were at WDW in mid December and the parks LOOKED more crowded than I'd even seen. People and lines everywhere. Like many others in this thread I'm a FastPass lover and we never wait more than 20 minutes for a ride. Not so this trip! After I waited in a 50 minute line for Jungle Cruise I wasn't too pleased. But it was like bizarro world because the resorts were like ghost towns! We left the MK midday because we couldn't take the crowds and headed to the GFlo on a completely empty monorail, chilled in one of those round beds on the beach, hung out in a empty lobby and then walked to the Poly which was even more empty. It was so peaceful and rejuvenating. I will note that we didn't rope drop, so if we did that I'm sure we could have gone on many more rides. But it was definitely a much, much different WDW than I am used to. The socially distant lines take over the walkways and make it claustrophobic for me.
 
At WDW, park hopping starts at 2:00 pm, so if you don't have a park pass/park reservation for HS that day, there's no way you're getting a BG for ROTR that day.
Per Disney, DCA folks with parkhoppers will be eligible for the afternoon reservation opportunity.

Broadly speaking - I think there's a chance that ROTR at DL might skip the first part of the ride, given the state restrictions. (No spoilers - skipping the first part of the ride is a known B mode when there are technical difficulties.)
 
Per Disney, DCA folks with parkhoppers will be eligible for the afternoon reservation opportunity.

Broadly speaking - I think there's a chance that ROTR at DL might skip the first part of the ride, given the state restrictions. (No spoilers - skipping the first part of the ride is a known B mode when there are technical difficulties.)

At WDW, when you go into one of the first parts of ROTR, you're given big dots on the floor to stand on. And each of those are separated from the other dots/standing spots with plexiglass. There's a ton of Youtube videos that show it in case anybody's interested.
 
Also, there are lots of rides in each park, especially in DL. WDW has a couple parks with a low number of rides, and without the shows, there's just not much else for people to do.

This ^^^^

I think this will be a huge help. I'm sure lines will be longer than many expect but probably won't be on the same level of crazy we've seen at WDW. I'd still recommend rope dropping Pirates haha.
 
At WDW, when you go into one of the first parts of ROTR, you're given big dots on the floor to stand on. And each of those are separated from the other dots/standing spots with plexiglass. There's a ton of Youtube videos that show it in case anybody's interested.
Originally, we were wondering if the first "major" part of the ride might be closed - whether they could get enough people in it to be worth running it. (And CA seems a lot more rule-oriented than FL.) But, if they're opening Star Tours and MFSR, what you're describing might be enough.
 
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We were at WDW opening week. It was like a dream come true (aside from the COVID part). I mean, that will never happen again. We really didn't wait for much and if we did, it was a very short wait. Peter pan was walk on.

I don't think DL and WDW after September are really a fair comparison. WDW has gotten much busier with increased capacity.

IMO DL May/June and WDW July/August will be pretty similar.
 
We had the same experience. We also had no expectation and were just happy to be there whatever we accomplished that day. We're going in with the same mind set for Disneyland on the 30th. If it's cray cray, fine with us. If it's a ghost town, awesome.
Agree 100%! Prepping our kids for the same. We went to WDW in December and they handled it just fine.

We are going with the flow and will be happy to just be there! Also making back up plans for food if need be. So many options on harbor of it comes to that. So excited to walk in the gates!
 
I just got back from WDW over spring break. It was rough but we just did the best we could. As a legacy passholder who has been to DL many times I too have gotten spoiled and don't like to wait more than 30 mins for any ride. You have no choices at WDW and I am guessing it will be the same at DL. Be prepared for lines to look ridiculous. Almost every single ride that we rode had at least an hour wait and with the social distancing the lines looked a mile long. For example we went on Frozen and the line stretched all through china and wound around Norway. For TOT it went back to the parking lot and we were in a backstage area. Also most of the rides either left open rows or had barriers. That reduced the capacity as well when they can't fill the ride vehicles. Things like haunted that had indiv cars they left every other one empty so just and FYI. We aren't trying to go till Sept and I will be curious if things are different by then but I am not anticipating normal touring. Not having Maxpass is going to be rough too. You pretty much are touring like we did before FP. Waiting in long lines for every ride. One thing they haven't mentioned is food. All non-table service places you HAD to mobile order and you pretty much had to do it when you first got in the park. You picked your place and then picked a "pick up time". So for example we got into the parks at 8 and ordered and selected like an 11 or 11:30 pick up time. Then when it gets close to that time you show up and say you are there and they prepare the food. If you wait till closer till the time sometimes all the windows are taken and you can't get a window till much later. So I will def be interested to see if they do the same at DL. Also they didn't have as many table service open and those that were were at low capacity if they were indoors so pretty much everything booked up right at the 60 day mark.

Wow I only went a few weeks before you did and had a totally different experience. That spring break crowd may be what's making all the difference because sure the lines look ridiculous but the longest wait time I had clocked at 60 min for TOT. The normally long lines pre-covid (FOP, SDMT, Slinky, etc) were all under 60 min for me. This allowed me to go on rides more than once whereas before with FP I would just use my FP once and that's it since I wasn't going to wait 3 hours in any line. So for that reason I didn't miss FP. Also most lines were constantly moving. The lines that moved slower are the ones in boats or small vehicles that are harder to social distance people. I had mostly table service meals so can't comment on mobile orders but I suspect it will probably be similar since TOD mobile order was a bit of a pain to use. Anyway, like you as a legacy pass holder, I wonder if I will have a different feel with dland just because I pretty much never wait in line with MaxPass. It was always I can come back another day to ride it. And I never stay for more than a few hours each visit but probably will feel I need to since we're all paying for tickets and parking now. If it ends up similar to my experience in March at WDW, I'll be totally cool with that.
 
Keep in mind that 25% capacity is combined with no annual passes or fastpasses and lower capacity on many rides. I think wait times are going to be close to what it normally is on a weekday but if almost everyone is staying all day instead of hopping in just for a few hours with an annual pass, the morning and evening wait times may be higher than usual.
 
I think it will feel packed! We went to WDW first week of December and it was 30%. MK at opening was great but by noon was packed. And Epcot...forget it! It was insane!
 

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