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

[NanetteG]

My family and I are going 10/16-10/19, and are very safety conscientious. Those who have been recently, how have the health precautions seemed to you? Are people wearing their masks for the most part, and are they social distancing? Did you feel safe? Any feedback is appreciated.

From our perspective - yes, we felt very safe and people were wearing their masks. In fact, I do not recall seeing anyone walking around without a mask properly worn except for around the pool which was permitted.

 

[melmel]

Been here since late Friday night. Overall we have felt safe in line and walking around. I agree with the 90-95% number on masks being worn correctly. The biggest distancing issue in lines we've encountered has been people who aren't keeping their groups together, a family of 4 will take 6-12 feet of space (or more) in a line, which slows everything down and extends the length of the line overall, which when it is in direct sunlight is extra exhausting. Wait times seem to be correct on big rides (both Pandoras, Mickey and Minnie, 7D, and Smugglers) however everything else has been inflated anywhere from 10-30 mins. The only real issues we've had were yesterday at HS, between the heat with little to no shade, and all the lines posted at over an hour all day it was very draining. The crowds seemed high all day even after the magical 2:30 people mention. We did luck out and get Rise so we decided to cancel our second day at HS (and give someone else a chance), it just wasn't enjoyable enough to deal with the crowds and the even hotter weather again on this trip.

 

[Ecomommy09]

We left Bay Lake Tower at 0755 and made it to temp check at MK at 0807. We were through and at the tapstiles at 0820. We grabbed a stroller and then I hoofed it to 7DMT. We road twice walking through the queue both times. Next was PP which was another stroll through the queue. It took about 5 minutes. We road the carousel (crying boy ruined it for me...poor little dude). Then we walked back to Ariel (5 minute wait) Dumbo (walked through the line) and Barnstormer (Twice). At that point we had a giant cinnamon roll from Gaston’s. It was 1020 and then we moved on to Tomorrowland. Got in line for Astro orbiter which was long (25 min) and hot! Saw Buzz and Stitch on the stage there! We hung out in the shade for a while eating cotton candy and drinking water. It was 91F. I was melting.

After snack, it was 1215 and we got in line for Winnie. We got off and reached BOG by 1240. They let us go on in. Lunch was lovely and cool. The tortellini was yum! Our waitress was so nice. Shellie!

Next we walked to Haunted Mansion. Celery had never ridden it and was excited. It was a REALLY long looking line and they said 45 minutes but we were loading in 25. It was mostly just SD. Really kind family in front of us. They were nice to hang out with. Finally headed for Frontierland. We caught the Mickey and Friends Cavalcade and later the Princess Cavalcade. We just walked around a bit. It was hot. Final ride was Big Thunder which she’d been too short for before! This was tough. The line was long, but mostly the guy in front of us was grumpier than my hot 5-yr-old at Disney. He snapped at her for ‘touching’ him. She might have, I don’t know, but I didn’t see her get close enough and I’m pretty good at monitoring. I apologized and decided to chalk it up to heat. He should get a misting fan. That said, we took the other line as soon as we could to get away from him. She loves the ride, but she was ready to head out. It was hot.

Of course, there was a lot of shopping mixed in here. We needed a lot of water and I forgot our sunscreen. Celery is also the slowest eater you’ve ever met. It took 45 min to eat that cinnamon roll and lunch was just her speed.

I had to carry her back to the hotel. Now we’re watching Disney Jr. I wish we could have gotten on Splash, but she was too tired. C’est la vie! I think it was a great morning for us!

Tomorrow is AK. It’ll be less ride focused. More sitting and being cool!

 

[Ecomommy09]

 

[motherof5]

We felt very safe and our already planning another vacation.

 

[Ecomommy09]

Ok...as far as safety, I felt fine. It got crowded, but we had our masks on as did most people. SD wasn’t perfect, but I made sure we were distanced if we had our masks off. We used up 1.5 bottles of hand sanitizer throughout the day. We also used their sanitizing stations sometimes. I sanitized anytime we touched anything. . Kids were having some issues, but it was super hot. Bless them. I had a sweat mustache most of the day. Thankfully, no one can tell!

 

[Ecomommy09]

Now...do I drive or ride the bus to AK tomorrow? And what time do I leave for either option? We’re at Bay Lake Tower. I’m hoping to get Celery on FOP.

 

[emsstacey]

In regards to safety, I felt extremely safe. Anyone complaining about crowds must not remember what fall break had become. Busses have assigned seating areas- very low capacity. Ride queues are all spaced and indoor areas with a lot of switchbacks are not being utilized- that is why the outdoor lines seem so long- that’s the majority of the lines. Yes, DHS is crowded but before there were 3-4 hour waits before- so in comparison- still better. I saw tables being watched and cleaned after every single person left. I have never witnessed the level of cleaning- even saw bus drivers wiping down everything. Also- 98% of people are wearing masks correctly which is better than I have witnessed anywhere.

I’m still not sure I would want to bring small children, though. Masks are hot and miserable in the heat and sun. My kids are teens, though... so someone else may very well disagree. I saw lots of families spanking and yelling at their kids. Oops!

 

[yulilin3]

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ill-reopen-nov-6-at-walt-disney-world-resort/

 

[disneygirlsng]

That seems completely unfair to make people go to the back of the line at CBR who had already waited in line once at Pop. They need to figure out a solution to that.

I'm wondering if the length of line/how many people there are makes a difference. When I was there at the end of August there were separate lines. They sent you to a different line if you were getting off the Pop side. But there may be too many people to have the separate line off to the side now.

 

[yulilin3]

Just got back from DS, live streamed from 4pm to 6pm and the West Side, The Landing was pretty empty, crowds picked up a bit at Marketplace, WoD was fine, no need to wait to go in., room to spread out. The DJ was playing this evening too at the main stage

 

[ellbell]

Today was Magic Kingdom day. It was another great day but there were some hiccups.

We started the day by taking an Uber at 7am to The Wave for breakfast at 7:30. It was an excellent breakfast but the main reason we booked it was to walk over to Magic Kingdom. By walking over to MK we were there by 8:21, the buses started showing up at 8:27 and the monorail a few minutes after that.

Because of our earlier arrival we were first in line for splash mountain at 8:40 and they started loading at 8:49. We were also able to walk on thunder mountain, pirates of the Caribbean and got in line for Jungle cruise by 9:36. The ETA was 50 minutes and we were on by 10. Next we walked over to Haunted Mansion. The ETA for HM was 25 minutes we were on by 10:33.

After HM we took a little break for a drink at Pinocchio Village Haus. With masks we have found they weren't as bad as we thougt because you get use to having them on and we brought rechargeable electric fans that are total game changers. You will still need more breaks than normal though.

We then went to It's a Small World and this is where the hiccups started. MK has many switchbacks in the queue and to account for these the markings on the ground are up to 4 meters apart to male sure you don't stand next to people in the queue. People didn't pay attention to this. They only ever cared if the person in front of them was 2 meters away and would ignore the ground markings. Thankfully this was most prevalent in outdoor queues but it can be concerning. Also while the majority of people were mask compliant there were many more people wearing masks incorrectly than yesterday at epcot.

Back to it's a small world. At rhis point posted wait times were pretty accurate. We rode in about 25 minutes and then went to philharmagic and winnie the pooh which was also 25 minutes.

At this point it was 1:30 and we needed another break. We had a lunch reservation at BOG for 3:15 so didn't want to eat so we headed to storyboom circus to sit in the relaxation station. I highly recommend. The tables and places to sit arw well spaced and it's air conditioned. We found a spot on the floor up against a wall and sat with masks off for a half hour. We are use to midday breaks but because of shortened hours won't do it so this was a nice refresher.

Then we rode dumbo and little mermaid and checked in for lunch which was delicious and we were seated next to John Cena and his family.

We got out of there at about 4 and headed over to space mountain and carousel of progress. We then decided we were going to shop a bit on main street beforw heading out. The lines to get into the emporium and confectionery were to much to bother with so we headed to the bus to get back to our resort.

We got in a huge line for our resort but the buses were coming one right after the other so it only took about 15 minutes to get one one. That's about it for today. Tomorrow is a chill day with a trip to Disney springs amd a sleep in. I'll probably have far less to report.

 

[larsonb74]

Question, are you able to enter IG before 11am to get to France pavilion for early breakfast currently?

 

[MomOTwins]

Question, are you able to enter IG before 11am to get to France pavilion for early breakfast currently?

No--Les Halles doesn't open any earlier than the rest of the park. Crescent lake resort guests are really losing a lot due to the inability to park hop for breakfast/dinner at Epcot and extremely limited QS offerings at those resorts. We just switched from YC to GF after I honestly couldn't figure out what we would eat at YC!

 

[hmkenn0]

Okay we were at HS today- WHAT a difference- it was HOT and CROWDED! We got to the park about 1 intending to stay until close and do the 2pm drop. Everything was long so we went on TSM it said 15, was probably 10 so we rode twice. We walked to galaxy’s edge and waited for 2pm- I got 109 so yay! We have a DAS so our experience is somewhat different but we had gotten a return for MMRR- so super cute. After that we got a return for rockin roller (posted 50) and waited for TT (posted 35 waited maybe 20), then went on RR. Got another return for TT and did the lightening McQueen show (it was fun even for my 15 year old who has long ago outgrown his car’s OBSESSION). We went and got a return for MFSR and went on Star Tours (posted 20, waited maybe 10). Then we went on MFSR and by then our ROTR was ready and did that with maybe a 15 min walk. (Pretty sure Josh Di’Amaro was right ahead of us on ROTR he was added to our group from a side door for the preshow.) I think virtually everything was working for ROTR, and our second ride was even better than the first (in January). It was 6:55 when we came out so we dashed to Slinky Dog and did it (posted 30, really 10). Now we are eating at sci-fi- overall it was a good day, but if you can’t handle crowds and or heat I’d say a definite NO to HS right now. It was cooler and much emptier after 5pm- but if you’ve never been, now is not the time for a first visit. Without the DAS and a good knowledge of park layout and attractions, I know we would have done like half as much. The lines are at least 60% in the blazing sun- so either wait until it’s cooler or until FP+ opens back up.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Been here since late Friday night. Overall we have felt safe in line and walking around. I agree with the 90-95% number on masks being worn correctly. The biggest distancing issue in lines we've encountered has been people who aren't keeping their groups together, a family of 4 will take 6-12 feet of space (or more) in a line, which slows everything down and extends the length of the line overall, which when it is in direct sunlight is extra exhausting. Wait times seem to be correct on big rides (both Pandoras, Mickey and Minnie, 7D, and Smugglers) however everything else has been inflated anywhere from 10-30 mins. The only real issues we've had were yesterday at HS, between the heat with little to no shade, and all the lines posted at over an hour all day it was very draining. The crowds seemed high all day even after the magical 2:30 people mention. We did luck out and get Rise so we decided to cancel our second day at HS (and give someone else a chance), it just wasn't enjoyable enough to deal with the crowds and the even hotter weather again on this trip.

We were at HS yesterday too and I agree 100% with all of this. We canceled our second day at HS too.

 

[HelloTheDrakes]

Hollywood Studios 10/6/20

Gondola at: 2nd in line at POP (got there at 7:03 AM to make this happen)

8:45 got on gondola to CRB

Waited a while: 9:05 AM from CRB to HS- we did go after the first CRB group in line and it seemed like they went back and forth between the two resorts, rather than letting us go through first. They said we needed to wait on HS to tell them when to start.

In park by 9:15- the line to get in was impressive. Overall, today felt like a “normal” Day and we typically travel in May for our anniversary. I was shocked by the amount of people. I’d say 98% compliance for masks and 90% distance compliance. It’s hard to do in some places where it bottle necks. I’d say I assume we had an epic day because we planned well and we’re able to get in so early. I’m grateful to this thread and info...it’s the reason I made the decisions that I did! In fact, we met 2 groups in line who had no idea how to get BG’s for ROTR. This is also why I’m posting with these breakdowns. I want people to be equipped with times. I truly hope this helps.

Below is a break down of our ride times. Not shown: Droid building reservation at 3:15, dinner at Sci-Fi at 4:25, and Light Saber build at 7:05

Ride	Listed time	Time entered	Time on ride
Smugglers	None	9:25	9:28
TSMM	30 mins	9:47	9:56
ToT	60	10:13	10:57
RNR	55	11:05	11:32
Star Tours	15, then jumped to 60	11:48	12:03
ROTR	BG 37	12:42	12:50 front of que
Smugglers	40, then jumped to 80	1:56	2:54
Slinky	60	5:40	6:25
Star Tours	20	6:35	6:42
MMRR	60	6:33 (friend split off)	7:17

 

[pal6860]

I really think it depends, but when we went a cpl weeks ago and staying at Poly; we got a bus around 940 and we could see all the stopped cars as we went through the gates a little before 10. Having said that they seem to start buses earlier on the weekends, so who knows.

Thanks for the info! Was this with an 11:00 Epcot opening? The bus started roughly 80 min prior to park opening?

 

[Coppercoal]

I’m leaving today. We have had a great trip despite the crowds. We were at the bus stop at 6:45 on our animal kingdom morning. On flight of passage by 7:15. The first hour was amazing- almost empty park. We had breakfast at the boardwalk early on our DHS morning, walked to park and were first on MMRR- we got several big rides out of the way in the first hour. It made a huge difference. We napped every day from 12:30-2:00 ish to make up for the early starts.

what time did you arrive at DHS? Thanks!

 

[MomOTwins]

Okay we were at HS today- WHAT a difference- it was HOT and CROWDED! We got to the park about 1 intending to stay until close and do the 2pm drop. Everything was long so we went on TSM it said 15, was probably 10 so we rode twice. We walked to galaxy’s edge and waited for 2pm- I got 109 so yay! We have a DAS so our experience is somewhat different but we had gotten a return for MMRR- so super cute. After that we got a return for rockin roller (posted 50) and waited for TT (posted 35 waited maybe 20), then went on RR. Got another return for TT and did the lightening McQueen show (it was fun even for my 15 year old who has long ago outgrown his car’s OBSESSION). We went and got a return for MFSR and went on Star Tours (posted 20, waited maybe 10). Then we went on MFSR and by then our ROTR was ready and did that with maybe a 15 min walk. (Pretty sure Josh Di’Amaro was right ahead of us on ROTR he was added to our group from a side door for the preshow.) I think virtually everything was working for ROTR, and our second ride was even better than the first (in January). It was 6:55 when we came out so we dashed to Slinky Dog and did it (posted 30, really 10). Now we are eating at sci-fi- overall it was a good day, but if you can’t handle crowds and or heat I’d say a definite NO to HS right now. It was cooler and much emptier after 5pm- but if you’ve never been, now is not the time for a first visit. Without the DAS and a good knowledge of park layout and attractions, I know we would have done like half as much. The lines are at least 60% in the blazing sun- so either wait until it’s cooler or until FP+ opens back up.

Thank you for the detailed report. Cool disney celebrity sighting! I sure with they would make him try getting from a resort to DHS on disney transportation and then tey ti get a BG at 10am so he could see how broken the system is (just my opinion—it’s crummy how many people have their hopes dashed by a slow-to-arrive bus, slow fingers, a glitchy app or old phones—if they let some subset of people reserve a queue spot in advance and the rest do virtual queue on the day it would make the morning so much leas chaotic).