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

[SJSloan]

Question about Epcot and the Skyliner.

We are staying at the Riviera. I know the Skyliner is the most convenient way of getting to Epcot but the website says the Epcot line will not start running until 30 minutes before park open. Has this been everyone's experience? Would it be better for us to drive to Epcot and get there an hour early to take advantage of the low waits if they open early?

 

[wilkydelts]

Slinky dog already 70 min wait this morning

it is that way every morning which is why you must be early and one of the first through the gate.

Also Touringplans expects it to only be 40

 

[Chris Ehlers]

it is that way every morning which is why you must be early and one of the first through the gate.

Also Touringplans expects it to only be 40

We gave up on Slinky after our August Trip, the line is continually out past the Walt exhibit, plus it is the shortest duration ride in all of Disney World

 

[BigOHawk]

Only way to do Slinky without a huge wait is Rope Drop if you can and for a 9 am. open you'd probably better be there by 8 so you are at the front of the line!

 

[emilymad]

So prioritize Slinky over MMRR?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So prioritize Slinky over MMRR?

It depends on how close to the front of the pack you are. We were the first people (literally) to walk into DHS back on our day there and we did MMRR first, then Slinky, TSMM, Aliens, MFSR, and were walking into RotR to use our BG at 10am. We were likely off of MMRR before most people even made it into the park that morning though...

 

[sara_s]

How often did you find yourself shoulder to shoulder with people? Can it be avoided? Tickets are crazy expensive (we usually have APs) and lines are long. The social distancing thing may be the final straw that makes us cancel (which I really don't want to do).

I'm an AP who took trips in August and November last year (returning next week).

As a general rule, I avoid weekends as much as possible (especially holiday weekends), but otherwise, I didn't find any issue being able to dodge people and crowds by zig zagging and keeping up a good pace. When it comes to bottlenecks, I just say go-go-go and walk with purpose. Those things will happen, but as someone who is pretty conscious and anxious about social distancing, I felt good while on property. From what I experienced, people are mostly well behaved in the queues, and I always slow roll my way up behind someone just in case they have to stop short. I set the pace.

I'll be happy to report back while I'm there next week post-President's Day week!

 

[Andrwh1]

I'm an AP who took trips in August and November last year (returning next week).

As a general rule, I avoid weekends as much as possible (especially holiday weekends), but otherwise, I didn't find any issue being able to dodge people and crowds by zig zagging and keeping up a good pace. When it comes to bottlenecks, I just say go-go-go and walk with purpose. Those things will happen, but as someone who is pretty conscious and anxious about social distancing, I felt good while on property. From what I experienced, people are mostly well behaved in the queues, and I always slow roll my way up behind someone just in case they have to stop short. I set the pace.

I'll be happy to report back while I'm there next week post-President's Day week!

Yes, I’m interested to see how it is next week as we’re supposed to be there in two weeks!

 

[rockpiece]

Anyone know if one of the sides of Tower is down? Has been a triple digit wait pretty much all day and by far the longest in HS.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Yeah, I saw those. I saw a blog post about stuff for sale at what I thought was Disney Springs just last month but I was mistaken and it was Downtown Disney. Well, I guess that’s a double bummer for me. Even if I get one last ride in, I can’t get any merchandise to remember it by. As you can probably tell from my username, I’m a little sad by this haha.

I found my son the Brer Bear plush on Mecari for a more reasonable price- $50 with shipping. The best part though is that Mecari
gives you coupons once you've made your first purchase. I had bought something small (Funko pop) and then they sent me a coupon for $20 off a $50 purchase so then I bought the plush- was only $30 after the coupon which is what they'd cost brand new.

Still sucks to give money to those jerks but I've found you can get more reasonable prices if you hunt around.

When we were there in November we looked for any Splash merch but like others said it's long gone.

 

[Haley R]

Anyone been to beaches and cream lately? Are they doing outdoor service at tables? We’re thinking about going in April for our son’s first birthday but we don’t want to eat inside

 

[rileyz]

Question about Epcot and the Skyliner.

We are staying at the Riviera. I know the Skyliner is the most convenient way of getting to Epcot but the website says the Epcot line will not start running until 30 minutes before park open. Has this been everyone's experience? Would it be better for us to drive to Epcot and get there an hour early to take advantage of the low waits if they open early?

Yup. Here now and the skyliner lines are also long in morning.

 

[Leigh L]

Anyone been to beaches and cream lately? Are they doing outdoor service at tables? We’re thinking about going in April for our son’s first birthday but we don’t want to eat inside

Ate here tonight, it's indoor as far as I can tell. I didn't see any tables set up outside. The outdoors area was filled (spaced out) with people waiting for tables.

 

[Leigh L]

Has anyone taken a bus from POP to MK for rope drop recently? What time should we plan to be at the bus stop?

 

[Haley R]

Ate here tonight, it's indoor as far as I can tell. I didn't see any tables set up outside. The outdoors area was filled (spaced out) with people waiting for tables.

Darn okay thank you. I’m surprised there weren’t any tables outside. I guess we might need to consider eating somewhere else

 

[hereforthechurros]

Darn okay thank you. I’m surprised there weren’t any tables outside. I guess we might need to consider eating somewhere else

Over Christmas they were serving the outdoor tables from the restaurant but that was 6+ weeks ago now so it sounds like things may have changed.

 

[Haley R]

Over Christmas they were serving the outdoor tables from the restaurant but that was 6+ weeks ago now so it sounds like things may have changed.

Do you have any suggestions for anywhere quick and easy to get food on the boardwalk?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ate here tonight, it's indoor as far as I can tell. I didn't see any tables set up outside. The outdoors area was filled (spaced out) with people waiting for tables.

Are you sure? I know of 3 DPs in the past 4 weeks saying otherwise. Personally they were serving at the tables 19 days ago when we ate there.

I believe they specifically closed the walk-up window temporarily to expand to outdoor seating based on the way they had things staged in an area by the (now closed) walk-up window.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Do you have any suggestions for anywhere quick and easy to get food on the boardwalk?

Sadly the boardwalk is a ghost town still but Trattoria al Forno has a few outdoor tables and isn’t overly busy. I’m sure you could get in and out quickly. The wood fired pizza there is surprisingly great.

 

[Haley R]

Sadly the boardwalk is a ghost town still but Trattoria al Forno has a few outdoor tables and isn’t overly busy. I’m sure you could get in and out quickly. The wood fired pizza there is surprisingly great.

Someone else did mention trattoria to me so I’ll keep that as an option. Thanks!