A Touch of Disney 2021 Experience - Superthread - Read First Post for Updates - Updated with Full Menus

[The Expert]

The 90 minute wait to get in was a bummer, but once we were in everything went smoothly for us. We spent about 4.5 hours in the park and felt like we did everything we wanted to do. I will add that after around 3:00 ish the park seemed to clear out a bit. At least it seemed that way. I will say that the mobile order queue for Smokejumpers really filled up quickly. I guess a lot of folks REALLY wanted a Monte Christo.

One item that others may know, that I did not, is that to use your $25 food card your order can't include alcohol. If there is any alcohol on your mobile order then you won't even have the option to use the card. The solution is to make two mobile orders, one with alcohol, one without. Just a small piece of info that may save somebody some time.

This is really helpful information! When you say the Smokejumpers mobile order queue filled up, does that mean after a certain point nobody was able to place an order there? Or you just had to wait until it cleared out? On average, how long did you have to wait between placing a mobile order and picking up?

 

[JWelch62]

This is really helpful information! When you say the Smokejumpers mobile order queue filled up, does that mean after a certain point nobody was able to place an order there? Or you just had to wait until it cleared out? On average, how long did you have to wait between placing a mobile order and picking up?

At smokejumpers the pick up window got much later in the day. Think of it like a fast pass that books up quickly. We decided to just wait in the regular line there. At other places we didn't have too much of a wait for mobile order.

 

[Astylla]

Just a quick update after the TOD opening day yesterday.

I got there ar 11:15am , inside by 12noon exactly and left by 3pm.
I definitely loved being home , mobile order went great and ended up skipping carthay circle because honestly had done enough/seen enough.

I'll write a review later but yes absolutely worth doing for me , just being back home made me happy. I coukd have returned later but didn't feel the need to. If anything maybe woukd have arrived later and slept in bit still exciting to be a part of the opening I wouldn't change for the world.

At Knotts Boysenberry festival today and loving it though sunburned lol.

 

[JWelch62]

Just a quick update after the TOD opening day yesterday.

I got there ar 11:15am , inside by 12noon exactly and left by 3pm.
I definitely loved being home , mobile order went great and ended up skipping carthay circle because honestly had done enough/seen enough.

I'll write a review later but yes absolutely worth doing for me , just being back home made me happy. I coukd have returned later but didn't feel the need to. If anything maybe woukd have arrived later and slept in bit still exciting to be a part of the opening I wouldn't change for the world.

At Knotts Boysenberry festival today and loving it though sunburned lol.

Did you park at M&F, or somewhere else? A gal that was in line behind us (at the DCA entrance) parked at a nearby hotel for $15 and basically eliminated an hour of wait time by entering on the far side (relative to DTD).

 

[Astylla]

Did you park at M&F, or somewhere else? A gal that was in line behind us (at the DCA entrance) parked at a nearby hotel for $15 and basically eliminated an hour of wait time by entering on the far side (relative to DTD).

I am staying at Hyatt House on harbor so walked over and used the harbor entrance.

 

[DizneyMommy]

I think she means before the event even starts. They let people into DCA by like 11:30; I saw people on IG inside at 11:34. The esplanade was full by 11:17, per one person’s comments (due to all the distancing space needed), so they opened the gates.

We’re planning on going early on Saturday to do the egg hunt at DTD before TOD, so we will probably head over to the gates around 11, based on info from today. That’s before Mickey and Friends opens, so no “cutting” of that line is even possible...

Yeah, but the instructions said to park in M&F. People who park in Simba just to get in earlier when those who follow the instructions have no chance in heck of getting in before 12:30 are not cool. It’s one thing if you came from Harbour and walked from a hotel, but to park in the DTD lot and take up those spaces from people who just want to go to DTD and then get in early is just rude IMO

 

[DizneyMommy]

Is this the case if you've added the tickets to your app, too?

Yup! It’s bananas

 

[DizneyMommy]

So recap for the day...
After finally getting inside (about 12:50 ) we headed straight for Mickey waffles as I had a very hungry 5 year old. Mobile order took 30 minutes once checked in (this would be the theme of the day). Then the waffles were frozen in the middle. Oy. The CM’s were struggling to work the ordering system there and were late getting up and running, managers everywhere, so I give them a pass there. While we ate we planned our next mobile order for cozy cone. Churros and Mac n cheese cones. We had no problems finding a table there or anywhere all day really, I was impressed with that for sure. Wait was only about 15 minutes there.
Next headed to the wharf, someone wanted skewers. This mobile order wait was upwards of 40 minutes for 2 skewers, and then they were tiny. Like 2 tiny pieces of beef. Not really impressed with that. From there we walked over the pier for a Dole Whip, then we saw the line - yikes! Add to that nowhere to sit up there, right in the sun, and you cannot eat and walk. Not sure they would have made to a seat somewhere without totally melting so we skipped it. :-(
Games were not working, but we saw Minnie and Pluto up on the swing platform. The AP corner line looks crazy but moves really fast. One thing that irked me, photo pass was supposed to be a perk of the ticket but the one spot (at AP corner) that we wanted a group photo there was no photog. They called it a selfie station but it had an awesome set for a photo. Sheesh lol. We never did use the photopass because we never saw a photog somewhere we wanted a photo. We took our own. I’m sure they were there somewhere.
After we walked the pier we headed past Grizzly River (love that walk - that one was just good for the soul) and back to Smoke Jumpers. The next mobile window was already 2 hours out when we were at the pier so we walked up. Line seemed short enough... got inside finally and they had ONE register. A second one was broken down but still. One register?? It took about 45 minutes to stand in line and then wait for milkshakes and a soda.
After that someone had to have a corn dog and the carrot cake funnel fries thing so we headed over to Hollywood and mobile ordered. That one was ready in only about 10 minutes.

All in all the wait times were just crazy. We couldn’t order everything we wanted because after 5 hours the kids were getting tired of standing around and waiting for things, and mobile order windows were pretty long by then. Bummed the midway games were closed as we thought we read they were open at some point. The food we did eat was ok, but I felt it wasn’t on par with what we normally experience at F&W or even just lunch in the parks.
I will say it never felt crowded at all. We were always able to find a table in the shade. And it just generally felt so good to just walk through the park, listen to the music, watch CM’s literally dancing in the street at times because they were so happy to be there. Minus the food, it felt just like my Disney
One other hiccup, on the way out we wanted to shop in DTD and asked if the bridge was open. We asked 4 people and got 4 answers. We ended up turning around and going all the way back to the tram path only to see people on the bridge. I found a manager on the path and told him there was some confusion about the bridge and he seemed confused because everyone should know it is open. Oh well! We survived the walk! Lol

 

[DizneyMommy]

OH, and the most important part.... the Baby Care Center was open!! If you use it be sure to give a big thank you to the CM’s, the manager in there told me that they weren’t sure they were going to open it and I made a big deal about how big of a deal it was to us to have little potties!

 

[ParkHopper1]

So sounds like they duped a bunch of people to pay for privilege of their staff to work out the kinks and retraining for the real opening...got it.

 

[Mathmagicland]

I don’t think perfectly smooth operations could be expected for the first day open for a lot of the places & first day back for many CMs. I expect Disney will adjust as needed and continue to do over the course of the event. It is also good experience for when e parks open.

 

[aymiewilson]

All in all the wait times were just crazy. We couldn’t order everything we wanted because after 5 hours the kids were getting tired of standing around and waiting for things, and mobile order windows were pretty long by then. Bummed the midway games were closed as we thought we read they were open at some point. The food we did eat was ok, but I felt it wasn’t on par with what we normally experience at F&W or even just lunch in the parks.
I will say it never felt crowded at all. We were always able to find a table in the shade. And it just generally felt so good to just walk through the park, listen to the music, watch CM’s literally dancing in the street at times because they were so happy to be there. Minus the food, it felt just like my Disney ❤

Did you feel like wait times peaked at certain times of day? Or that crowds did? Just curious...

 

[DizneyMommy]

Did you feel like wait times peaked at certain times of day? Or that crowds did? Just curious...

Not really. It was really consistent throughout the day. It seemed to us like most people came in at the beginning and stayed as long as they could hang. For us that was about 5:30ish. Wait times were still long, mobile windows were getting later and later. When we left, no one was coming in at all. We didn’t pass a single person heading in, all the way back to the car.
We did the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival on Sunday, and we didn’t go until about 4pm. We had lots of company entering at that time there.

If I had to compare the two... we ate WAY more food at Knott’s, left so stuffed. There was entertainment, the egg hunt, things to do.
Disney, we were just happy to be there, but the event itself wasn’t my fav.

 

[DizneyMommy]

So sounds like they duped a bunch of people to pay for privilege of their staff to work out the kinks and retraining for the real opening...got it.

I wouldn’t say that. It was day one back after a year, and with new protocols in place. A lot of the CM’s are probably new because people found other jobs during the closure. I think a couple of days and they will find their groove. I definitely don’t feel duped, I feel like they have a few opening day kinks to work out but we didn’t have a bad time not do we regret going.

 

[DizneyMommy]

One thing that did really annoy me was the bloggers who would camp out at a big table by themselves and sit there to live stream or record or wherever they were doing. One sat at a table next to us for the whole 45 minutes it took us to get food and eat it and never had food. That’s just rude. I may or may not have used my outside voice while we sat there. On accident. We didn’t have trouble finding a table but there were people who were waiting and couldn’t sit at that spot. Go live stream from a bench or a wall or somewhere that a family of 4 isn’t waiting to eat at that huge table you are camped out at forever.

 

[Mathmagicland]

We did the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival on Sunday, and we didn’t go until about 4pm. We had lots of company entering at that time there.

If I had to compare the two... we ate WAY more food at Knott’s, left so stuffed. There was entertainment, the egg hunt, things to do.

Could you buy additional foods from the tastings booths or were you limited to the five with entrance pass. Also, Knotts has an egg hunt too?

 

[Kender]

Yeah, but the instructions said to park in M&F. People who park in Simba just to get in earlier when those who follow the instructions have no chance in heck of getting in before 12:30 are not cool. It’s one thing if you came from Harbour and walked from a hotel, but to park in the DTD lot and take up those spaces from people who just want to go to DTD and then get in early is just rude IMO

I think it's fine if someone wants to park at Simba. Disney didn't say we have to park at M&F. Just that our parking voucher only works for M&F and we'll need to pay to park in any other lot:

"The Mickey & Friends Parking Structure will open for parking for the experience beginning at 11:30 AM. The parking credit included with the admission ticket will not be valid at any other resort parking location and a separate fee will apply if A Touch of Disney guests park in any such lots or structures."

I did see at least one vlogger ask a CM and they confirmed Simba is okay to park in for the event. I understand your concerns, but I get the feeling Disney doesn't mind the extra $10. There have been people parking at various hotels and Gardenwalk to get ahead of those parking in Simba for DTD for months so it's not without precedent people finding parking that opens sooner/has potentially less foot traffic (many have used the Harbor entrance to avoid the line coming from Simba and it's allowed).

My personal thought is that the blame lies with Disney. No one is breaking any rules because Disney didn't make it against the rules to do. They made a mistake having the two lots open at very different times. If they opened M&F at least closer to DTD opening, I think more would be inclined to use it. I know I looked at that 11:30 opening time and cringed weeks ago knowing a half hour was likely not nearly enough time and might cause problems.

Really hoping the kinks are worked out quickly . I am sorry to hear you had to suffer through the growing pains.

As a side thought, I do feel like this is giving Disney valuable information for reopening. For those able to go to the parks when they do reopen, I really hope these annoyances now for people lead to improvements for those who come later.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Esplanade at 11.

We got to Simba at about 9:45 and there was no wait to park. Did the egg hunt, got Starbucks, and did some shopping at DTD.

Came over here about 10:50 and they had people lined up in the ticket booth area. At 11, they moved us to lines at the gates.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

They opened the gates about 10 minutes ago to cheers. Our gate is barely moving - the three rows next to us have all gotten people who were behind us through, but we’re still 7-8 groups back. Not a big deal since we’ll be in well before 12 anyway (and aren’t in a rush to get to a ride or something), but line inconsistency is alive and well.

We already put in some mobile orders.

 

[Iceman93]

So sounds like they duped a bunch of people to pay for privilege of their staff to work out the kinks and retraining for the real opening...got it.

Does anyone else remember when Disney had a reputation as perhaps the best company in the world when it came to things like crowd control and customer service? It was no accident that this reputation coincided with them using "soft openings" to work out the kinks, first with their own employees (who got the benefit of early access but knew everything wouldn't be smooth) and then with guests (either special categories like AP holders, or just lucky guests who were in the right place at the right time). To me, there is no excuse other than blatant greed and the fact the paying public is letting them get away with it, to charge such a high price for basically nothing except the opportunity to spend more money--then to not deliver the most amazing, smooth, and seamless experience beyond anyone's expectations. COVID is not an excuse (at least not a good one)--we should expect more, and so should Disney.