Here Now & Just Back - A Place To Share Your Recent Experiences

[Victoria3]

What’s the elevator ride like for Haunted Mansion? (I guess my question is, what are they doing for social distancing?)

There's no elevator in the FL version of HM. They keep both sets of doors open and you walk through the stretching room.

 

[Turk February]

Finally built up the courage to take my teens to Epcot (Wednesday) & MK (Thursday). Has there been any cases reported after visiting Disney? Do you all feel safe sleeping in a hotel? Just trying to get a feel. I usually travel 75+ nights a year for work and stay in hotels. It feels so odd to me. It's been 7 months. Any tips for hotels? Any tips for Epcot & MK? Thanks in advance.

There have been no outbreaks that link back to theme parks. I am sure there have been cases after visiting Disney/Florida but it's almost impossible to pinpoint where someone contracted it (park? hotel? grocery store? airport? bus? etc). IMO, if you are questioning whether sleeping in a hotel is safe this might not be the best time to take a trip to Disney.

 

[Nightshiftplanner]

When we rode, they put one large family (6 people I think) across the whole back row and my whole family (5 of us) across the front row.

I'm so sorry, when I read your question I had TOT on my brain and that's how I answered LOL!

 

[NokOnHarts]

Just back, we were there Sept. 20-27th. Overall, we had a great trip and we were really glad we went. Couple things we noted: Get there as early as possible, that is still the name of the game. We arrived about 30-40 min before park opening each day and it was the best hour.

Our first day was Monday at MK and I have to say this day was the one that felt the most crowded to us of the whole week, which was surprising. The morning was amazing though, we did 7DMT twice in a row without any wait, hit PP, then Big Thunder and Splash. Pirates is definitely a long wait now so we tried to ride this next but after not moving for 15 minutes near the entrance we left the line. The afternoon got to where it was difficult to avoid running into people in the more narrow areas of MK and I honestly was surprised at the amount of people that were there. But probably our longest waits were around 30 minutes, so we got to ride almost everything we wanted and felt it was a really successful day.

Tuesday was HS and again - it felt like a lot of people to try to walk around especially in Toy Story land / Star Wars land. We got in line for MMRR about 9:30, waited probably 15-20 min., by the time we got over to Slinky Dog, the line was a good 40 min wait. Most waits this day were 45+, but lower than what was posted. We still got to ride everything we wanted, got boarding group 24, and didn't have any issues with ride breakdowns this day so we were really happy with how the day went, regardless of the crowded feeling.

AK was Wed - this was our first day of feeling like crowds were low, you could walk through the park without congestion and the wait times were really reasonable! It was one of our favorite park days.

MK on Thursday felt less crowded than on Monday. It picked up as expected in the afternoon but never got to a "crowded" feel and wait times were again around 15-30 min, depending on the ride. Wait times were overstated, some more than others but felt very reasonable.

EP on Friday was great, it never got crowded and the morning (10:30am) was empty. We walked onto TT and then waited about 15 min. for frozen (I think the wait time was posted at 45-50 at this point). Ride times were good all day and even though the WS picked up more in the evening there was plenty of space to walk and the waits at the booths were reasonable. One tip I had forgotten is that the skyliner will drop you off in France and it was a walk from there to TT, which was fine, I just wish I had remembered that! AK and EP were our favorite parks for a more relaxing day where we felt we could slow down and and still get things done.

HS again on Saturday and surprisingly, this felt less crowded than Tuesday! I would highly recommend HS on Saturday for those wondering which park to do. Yes there were people there, but all day it felt like less than Tuesday had, and wait times were around 30-50 minutes, similar to Tuesday but I'd say improved. We did have more ride breakdowns this day (got stuck boarding ROTR for 1.5+ hours when the ride broke down, which truly did feel like a hostage situation at that point) but still managed to ride everything we had wanted.

Mobile ordering worked well for us, but order early as the waits and available windows go fast as it gets close to the lunch and dinner hours. We usually would order about an hour or so before we thought we'd want to eat and never had an issue with a long wait.

I thought Disney did a good job with the social distancing markers and we made a new game out of "Whose line is it anyway" as you find yourself staring at the ground the whole wait to find your marker spot. Hand sanitizer was everywhere, I think I used more in this week than in my whole life.

Masks were good, I felt most people followed the rules but it honestly doesn't bother me to see someone's nose out, which happened more at the resort than in the parks, but overall this wasn't an issue.

Our weather was great this week, but on the hottest day, I switched to the paper disposable mask and was MUCH more comfortable than in my cloth one that had worked fine before in the 85 degree weather.

Overall, it felt like a new learning experience compared to our previous trips, but we had a great time and were really glad we went. We tried some new shows and rides we hadn't made time for before. It did feel like crowds had definitely increased from what we read about in August but it was manageable and still worth the trip for us, but I fully agree that whatever crowd level they are at now, it needs to stay there and not keep increasing. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[GBRforWDW]

How does one not get on in order if people are lined up at the bus stop? Was there no queue? We always queue at CBR, so not sure what the issue was?

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Are people finding it easy to get a reservation into the parks, restaurants, etc? Toying with the idea of making a quick trip down before we go to visit family in the tamp area, but not willing to spend $$$ if we can't go where we want to?

Might depend on which building you're staying in/bus stop you go to, but the one we had was very small and people would just show up and stand around, not really in a line.

But this is off topic for the thread. Was just hoping it was getting more organized, but again, probably depends on resort and individual bus stops.

 

[PrincessV]

Do you all feel safe sleeping in a hotel? Just trying to get a feel. I usually travel 75+ nights a year for work and stay in hotels. It feels so odd to me. It's been 7 months. Any tips for hotels?

I get it. I was nervous about staying in a hotel the first time during the pandemic, too. My room was ready when I arrived around 11am, which was great, but... when I walked in I could tell it had just been cleaned. In my mind, that meant it was possible the previous Guests had only departed an hour or so earlier, and housekeeping had definitely been in there shortly before. I opted to leave my mask on, drop my things, and go get lunch and spend some time at the pool - by the time I went back to the room, it had been a couple hours and I felt like that was good enough to let any virus in the air disperse. I've always wiped down touch areas of a hotel room before using the room, and this trip was no different. The only addition was that I did so again each time I returned to the room, in case anyone had been in there and touched light switches, etc. It may have been overkill, but it made me feel comfortable in there.

 

[NokOnHarts]

Might depend on which building you're staying in/bus stop you go to, but the one we had was very small and people would just show up and stand around, not really in a line.

But this is off topic for the thread. Was just hoping it was getting more organized, but again, probably depends on resort and individual bus stops.

We just got back from CBR and used the first stop in Martinique. We were always the first party each day (arrived around 7:20 am). There was no one there asking who had been first but a few of the bus drivers did ask for the "first 6 families" or something to that affect. For the most part, other guests were good about letting those who were first go on but we did have to speak up a few times that we had arrived at 7:20 am and should be able to board before those who arrived at 7:50. I agree with another poster that it is awkward and I wish they would just make a real line for people to use.

 

[Befferk]

IMO, if you are questioning whether sleeping in a hotel is safe this might not be the best time to take a trip to Disney.

Very well put!!

 

[Debbru]

Orange County as of now is still mandating mask wearing, although the state guideline removed that restriction on Friday. Hope that going forward through fall with Covid and flu season, that mask wearing in public places continues to be mandated in Orange County.

Actually, Florida removed the penalties imposed by any county/city for not wearing masks. They didn't remove the recommendations of mask wearing, social distancing etc.

 

[Naomeri]

Actually, Florida removed the penalties imposed by any county/city for not wearing masks. They didn't remove the recommendations of mask wearing, social distancing etc.

Which only means that the local government can’t punish anyone for not wearing masks, but they can still tell people they have to. And private companies, like Disney, can mandate as they please, and deny entry to guests who refuse.

 

[DisHeels]

We went this past weekend, Sept 25-28. We stayed at AK Kidani with a savannah view. We just wanted to get away from sitting at home. Our mindset was we didn’t care if all we did was sit in the room, watch Mickey Cartoons and order takeout from Sanaa all weekend. But we did manage three parks and had a great trip.

Friday: Magic Kingdom
Got there around 3pm. Crowded in a few spots but most of the time everyone was spread out comfortably. Only at bottleneck points and when the cavalcades came by did if feel crowded. I did not see anyone not following mask policy. We did happen to always get someone in front of us in lines that did not stop at their marker on the ground. Other than that everyone followed rules around us. We loved the cavalcades and random characters.
Left around 6pm to get takeout from Sanaa. No issues and the food was great. My wife and I even got to get a to-go drink from the bar while we waited.

Saturday: Hollywood Studios/Disney Springs
I shared this update on the RotR thread but we took the bus from Kidani to HS. Got to the bus stop at 8:30. There were about 4 or 5 groups ahead of us. 1st bus came around 8:48am. We got on the 2nd bus just after 9am. The security guard at HS checking my wife and daughter’s bags was terrible. He would point at stuff in their bag and say “did you bring this”? Huh? That was for each..and…every…item. Then after that he wanted to tell us how we should have walked through the metal detectors. Anyhoo, we went straight to MMRR. While in line we hit 10am and got boarding group 3 for RotR! It is funny how quiet it is up until everyone either lucks out or not. We rode MMRR and RotR by 11am. Not bad. And that is all we wanted to do so I don’t have much in the way of touring for HS. We ate at the Brown Derby for the first time. Loved it. Only saw one person walking with their mask down. A castmember asked him to put on his mask but he walked past without acknowledging her. He was a young guy so he was probably too cool for rules. The castmember didn’t press it either. Lines were long everywhere but the crowds didn’t seem too bad.
Disney Springs on a Saturday night was a whole other beast. It was crowded. I mean it’s obvious it would be but we definitely didn’t think anything about it. That’s on us. World of Disney was a 30-45 minute wait. All other stores we wanted to check out wasn’t too bad of a wait if any. We ate at Boathouse for dinner. Food was great. Every table was used. Not sure if this was part of the state of Florida lifting restrictions. Since we were on the other side from the buses we grabbed a Lyft back to the resort. It did say there weren’t many Lyft drivers and would be 40 minutes. Ended up being about 20 minutes.

Sunday: Epcot
Epcot was not crowded for the most part. We were the only one’s on the bus to Epcot. Got to security around 1pm. No wait. Figment had a posted time of 30 minutes but was more like 20. Then we did the Pixar Shorts next door. Maybe a 5 minute wait. Food booths up until France were little to no lines. France booth was busy. Maybe 20-25 groups long. I think that might have been the longest food booth line all day we saw. We had a 5pm Rose & Crown reservation so we didn’t want to hit too many food booths. We tried to get into Tutto Gusto but it was at capacity. The castmember was not a fan of me asking questions. Is there a waitlist? No. Can we wait on the bench inside? No. How do we know if a spot opens up? Come back. I will give her the benefit of the doubt since I’m sure everyone was asking the same thing over and over. Came back about an hour later and the place was virtually empty. They are using the same menu as Tutto Italia so don’t expect the smaller plates they normally have. Left there for Rose & Crown. I got my Half and Half and a scotch egg. We got other food but those two are what I want every trip. Went to Spaceship Earth with a 20 minute wait time posted. Was maybe 5 minutes. We walked World Showcase for the shops then headed back to the resort. I will say the Japan store was packed at the back where the snacks are. My wife didn’t like it and zoomed out of there. Me and the kid were in line. After we checked out there was no one in there. Funny how the crowds can change within minutes.

Overall it was a great trip. The masks suck as I sweat like an unsavory person in church. But never at any point did I feel like I couldn’t wear them in the heat. Actually we never needed the cool off areas. Disney owned stores had 30% for DVC members so I got the Lego Disneyland Train Station for $100 off at HS. If you go now with the plan of doing whatever is available/low lines then you will have fun. If you go thinking you are going to ride everything then you will be frustrated with some of the longer lines. That’s my random thoughts.

 

[AKVFamily]

For those who have been recently, are any of the EPCOT rides operating before the park opens?

 

[yulilin3]

For those who have been recently, are any of the EPCOT rides operating before the park opens?

merged you to the existing thread. The 2 times I have been there SE and FEA opened with the park official hour

 

[wilkydelts]

Those who have recently attended F&W at EPCOT, do they give you a master menu (like a park map) when you enter or should I print a listing off ahead of time?

 

[yulilin3]

Those who have recently attended F&W at EPCOT, do they give you a master menu (like a park map) when you enter or should I print a listing off ahead of time?

No paper map, you only find the info on mde

 

[brockash]

There was an alert that was pushed out within the APP that it’s a known issue at the moment that gift cards are not taking as payment.

Yikes...is that still happening?

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I don't think this is the norm. We just returned from a 10 day trip at Poly and there was NEVER a CM at the bus stop or anyone taking names...there were times it got pretty confusing and awkward

There isn't an actual elevator on the one in WDW (unlike at DL), so they just have both doors open and you walk right through.

There's no elevator in the FL version of HM. They keep both sets of doors open and you walk through the stretching room.

Omitting one of the best moments (not to mention ruining some of the magic!)



And consider this dismaying observation... this chamber has no windows and two doors… which offers you this chilling challenge: nevermind, there's the way out!

 

[disneygirlsng]

View attachment 528756



Omitting one of the best moments (not to mention ruining some of the magic!)

View attachment 528759 View attachment 528760

Haha when I posted that I was like dang, I hope I didn't just spoil that for somebody.

 

[only hope]

I wish they’d open up the graveyard as a queue for those who want to wait for the stretching room. Keep the walkthrough one and run the show with distancing in the other. The lack of preshows at parks right now stinks. I don’t see why most of them can’t be done with distancing, or as a combo walk throug/show for the ones with two sides.

 

[yulilin3]

I wish they’d open up the graveyard as a queue for those who want to wait for the stretching room. Keep the walkthrough one and run the show with distancing in the other. The lack of preshows at parks right now stinks. I don’t see why most of them can’t be done with distancing, or as a combo walk throug/show for the ones with two sides.

When you say graveyard you mean the interactive queue? That's open now
They don't have the physical space to do one Room with pre show and the other as a walk through