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

[jrsharp21]

Here is what the seating looks like in the back of the bus. The very back is "Section 6". Your party can sit the entire back row. That is where we sat each time on the bus.

 

[jrsharp21]

One thing I encountered also was that how they directed you to the back was different the two times were rode the bus. The first time we went to the normal entry door near the driver. When he opened the door he told us to go through the red doors (the side doors where wheelchairs and scooters load) and go to the back to section 6. The second bus, the driver told us to come right on in through the normal entry door and make our way to the back of the bus to section 6.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We always keep our Do Not Disturb sign on our door. In the past, they would call us on our cell phone to schedule a time. Maybe they aren’t calling anymore?

The security check is not planned so it's rare to hear of them calling to schedule a time. I've heard of it happening occasionally but believe the majority of time it's unplanned.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

The security check is not planned so it's rare to hear of them calling to schedule a time. I've heard of it happening occasionally but believe the majority of time it's unplanned.

That’s weird because we’ve been called every time that we’ve stayed since 2017. My husband and I always thought that a planned security check kinda defeats the purpose......

 

[Turk February]

That’s weird because we’ve been called every time that we’ve stayed since 2017. My husband and I always thought that a planned security check kinda defeats the purpose......

That's exactly what I thought haha

 

[Tormania]

When we were there in Sept. we had a party of 11, and many times they would just tell us to go to the back of the bus and then would fill the rest of the sections.

That is our hope, we can all take the back of the bus and still have the "required space" to any other groups on the bus. We're staying at AKL-Kidani and the two previous times we've stayed there during the same time of year and we never had crowded buses going to the parks anyway so I'm not imagining it should be a problem this time either.

 

[brockash]

That is our hope, we can all take the back of the bus and still have the "required space" to any other groups on the bus. We're staying at AKL-Kidani and the two previous times we've stayed there during the same time of year and we never had crowded buses going to the parks anyway so I'm not imagining it should be a problem this time either.

Funny, we'll be at Kidani for the 1st time next week. Only 6 of us for this trip though, so we'll see how it all goes.

 

[Tormania]

Funny, we'll be at Kidani for the 1st time next week. Only 6 of us for this trip though, so we'll see how it all goes.

It's quiet, which we like. AND for buses they are exclusive to AKL, but they pick up at Kidani BEFORE Jambo house so first dibs on seating, always a good way to start your mornings to the parks.

 

[AmishGuy91]

Funny, we'll be at Kidani for the 1st time next week. Only 6 of us for this trip though, so we'll see how it all goes.

We were at Kidani two weeks ago. If you wanted to be on the first bus, you need to be there about 80 minutes before the park's official opening (the bus came about 55-60 minutes before opening). If you were there 65ish minutes early, you likely would not make the first bus. My experience was primarily with MK and HS buses.

 

[ten6mom]

In the summer we had no issue having a quick sip of water while in line (standing on our social distancing markers) as long as we weren't walking. (Mask back up quickly.).

What do you all think about putting a straw under the mask (if I had a bendy straw)? Then I could drink without even taking the mask off?

I am not debating one way or the other. I want to see what people think about this idea and whether it'd be acceptable or not.

 

[NC State]

What do you all think about putting a straw under the mask (if I had a bendy straw)? Then I could drink without even taking the mask off?

I am not debating one way or the other. I want to see what people think about this idea and whether it'd be acceptable or not.

Disney Police may get your "bendy straw".

 

[april8986]

T

Where do you drink at? I know lines are a no no but for those of us who drink more with medication where should we look to navigate too? Thx

Sometimes we would find a table and chairs or bench. Other times we would see signs for “Relaxation Station“ with cast members cleaning and showing you available tables. There was one at MK at the dessert party location. The locations are on the printed maps. Relaxation Station Link

 

[yulilin3]

Where do you drink at? I know lines are a no no but for those of us who drink more with medication where should we look to navigate too? Thx

Just stepping to the side, away from people is fine, just take your drink, put mask back on and continue walking

 

[brockash]

We were at Kidani two weeks ago. If you wanted to be on the first bus, you need to be there about 80 minutes before the park's official opening (the bus came about 55-60 minutes before opening). If you were there 65ish minutes early, you likely would not make the first bus. My experience was primarily with MK and HS buses.

Thank you...that's very helpful

 

[ellbell]

Today was a really great day. I had been hearing nothing but bad things about Hollywood Studios lately but we did so much and had such a great time.

We started our day at 7am and called an Uber to take us to our 7:30 breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. They were seating late by a few minutes but we were still out by 8:06. I won't be eating there again food was mediocre and service wasn't great.

From there we walked to Hollywood Studios and got in one of 2 lines at 8:24. There was about 7 groups in front of us and the other line was the same. The line behind us started to get long really quick. We were moved forward to the temperature check lines at about 8:47 and people were getting off the skyliner at about 9:01. We were let through at 9:08.

We walked on Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway at 9:14 and were inline for Slinky Dog Dash at 9:31. The were running empty trains until 9:39 and we were on at 10:03. We did not get a boarding pass at 10am for Rise of the Resistance.

We got in line for the Frozen sing along at 10:15 and were out of there at 11 and headed to our 11:10 reservation for Oga's. After Oga's we went to Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run at 11:50. The ETA for it when we got in line was 60 but changed to 70. We were on the ride by 12:37.

We then went to Pizzarizzo for lunch. It wasn't great but we got to sit until 2pm when the next batch of boarding groups were issued. We grabbed BG 75 and they were on 56 at this time.

We went and rode star tours as a walk on and it had an ETA of 15 minutes. Then we still had some time but didn't want to leave thw area because it was close to our group so we watched muppets 3D. Eta was 35 and we were on in 17 minutes. Then we went and found a cool place to sit while we waited for our boarding group to be called. It was definitely worth the wait. I have been to Hollywood Studios 4 times since Rise has opened and this was my 3rd boarding group but the first time I actually rode. That ride left my 15 year old speechless.

We then went to finish the rides in Toy Story land. Aliens had an Eta of 20 minutes we got in line at 4:22 and rode at 4:28 and then walked on Midway Mania.

To finish off the day we walked over to Tower of Terror which had a wait of 35 minutes. We got in line at 5:10 and rode at 5:29. We then went to watch Lightening McQueen racing academy to catch the last show of the day. My son was going to ride Rockin Roller Coaster but decided to skip it because his knee was bothering him from a sports injury and he didn't want to stand in line anymore.

We would have been able to do everything in Hollywood Studios today with plenty of breaks. The posted wait times were often a lot longer than the actual times. The key is getting there early.

We had an amazing time. Crowds weren't bad and mask compliance was about 90%.

 

[Ahabart]

We just finished our fourth park for the week. The big takeaways for us:
-rope drop is an absolute must if you want to enjoy the more popular rides and avoid long lines. In our experience, the last hour or two had lesser lines, but still seemed high.
-app times are wonky. We joined lines with wait times of 15 minutes and waited 30 and we joined lines with wait times of 30 minutes and waited 10. The best we could do was guess by how long the line looked.
-we hate split stays on vacation, but are VERY glad we did it this time. We stayed in walking distance of MK, HS, and EP, but heard horror stories from friends and people we met while here who had horrible waits. At Swan there were probably 15 families waiting for the AK bus and 4 got on.

 

[ten6mom]

Disney Police may get your "bendy straw".

I am a WDW noob and I literally have no idea what this is about ... do you mean because a bendy straw would be plastic and they're not doing those?

 

[hmkenn0]

We did EPCOT yesterday- got to the park about 12:30pm and had done every ride except Frozen by 2pm. Only wait at any of the food booths was Canada right before closing. I would HIGHLY recommend Thursday for EPCOT- it was awesome and not at all crowded!!!

 

[Ecomommy09]

I am a WDW noob and I literally have no idea what this is about ... do you mean because a bendy straw would be plastic and they're not doing those?

Correct! But I have metal reusable bendy straws

 

[Ecomommy09]

AK on Wednesday was a complete flop but that was just my fault. I had forgotten to measure Celery again before leaving, and she was still too short for FOP or EE. She was super disappointed. We only rode Nav’i and KRR. Boring. We walked the trails and saw many beautiful animals. We ate a cinnamon roll at Starbuck’s for 45 minutes (per previous report, Celery likes to eat really really slowly). Then, we shopped. She picked out gifts for her sister and father. She loves to shop. Scared a man to death with her hyena and then we all laughed. We had late lunch at Rainforest Cafe which I knew would be bland, but Celery loved the ambience and I had two great Moscow Mules. After that we gave up and went to swim. We obviously could have done more, but we were not ambitious enough.