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

[NashvilleMama]

Rise was down in the morning and because we had done ToT and RR the other day we decided to do Smugglers(a first for us). We have always skipped this because we’re with our kids usually. We waited 70 mins (yuck). Got the pilot position and we did alright!

This reminds me - whoever gave the tip about doing single rider line on MFSR is a saint, as I wouldn't have even noticed they had this as an option. The wait time was 60 mins and we were going to do it as DH hadn't ridden it before so was a priority, but he and my oldest DD just did the single rider line instead and they were in and out in like 20 minutes. AND they both got pilot somehow, which was sheer luck. It sounds like they're filling in 2-3 people from single rider line in a pod together to fill in the gaps so there's a good chance you may be with your party if there's just 1-3 of you (obviously must be willing to split up.)

 

[krismom345]

This reminds me - whoever gave the tip about doing single rider line on MFSR is a saint, as I wouldn't have even noticed they had this as an option. The wait time was 60 mins and we were going to do it as DH hadn't ridden it before so was a priority, but he and my oldest DD just did the single rider line instead and they were in and out in like 20 minutes. AND they both got pilot somehow, which was sheer luck. It sounds like they're filling in 2-3 people from single rider line in a pod together to fill in the gaps so there's a good chance you may be with your party if there's just 1-3 of you (obviously must be willing to split up.)

Can you remind me how you do this? Do you just tell the CM at the entrance to the ride?

 

[lelew]

Has anyone been to Disney Springs recently? I'd like to do a little shopping on our arrival day, first Saturday in August. We like to go to World of Disney, the Christmas Shop, and a Star Wars store. However, if we have to wait outside a store in line, I'll head to Blizzard Beach instead.

Thanks for your help.

Was there last week no lines to shop however was shocked at how busy it was at noon I was expecting that type of crowd later in the evenings I personally never seen it that busy during the day

 

[WEDWDW]

The Highway in The Sky is back !

And the view of Future World in its current state is "interesting"!lol

 

[harleyquinn]

Was there last week no lines to shop however was shocked at how busy it was at noon I was expecting that type of crowd later in the evenings I personally never seen it that busy during the day

In my experience, Saturday’s are crazy busy except for the first hour or two tops. I’d never visit on a Saturday again.

 

[preemiemama]

Enjoying a bit of a break with time to write a bit about our trip so far. We had one night at CBR then three nights at Kidani.

Friday 7/16 CBR - HS - AKL - EPCOT
Boarding Group 35 (LTE)
Skyliner 720 third in line at gate
735 walk up to gondolas
752 in line HS
8:04 ToT line
830 welcome announcements
840off ToT
843 RR down, waiting
913 off RR
922 TSM
We then headed to galaxy’s edge for some ronto wraps and our Ogas reservation. As for Rise timing I have a picture in the stormtrooper room at 11:15am. All rides were listed as very high at this point. We got a text our room at AKL was ready so we headed there for a bit then off to Epcot. We mixed rides with food booths. Soarin was listed at 40 minutes and we waited 15 and 18. SE walk-on. Three caballeros was listed at 10 and we waited almost 20. The line is VERY tight. I assumed 10 meant walkon and I, very regrettably, was wrong. Husband is a vegetarian and he has been very pleased with the food offerings. It was surprisingly very easy to get around the WS, even on a Friday night of opening weekend. Lines for booths did get a bit long which I chose to skip. American pavilion is a great place to stop for air conditioning! We were tired so we found a spot for fire works around 815.

saturday 7/17 AK-MK
Got to the kidani bus stop just after 630. There was only a couple other people on the bus and a second one arriving as we left. Held at the bridge for FOP, not the tree. Unfortunately I do not remember exact times for when we were let back, but the shuffle to the actual queue is not fun. People behind you trying to maneuver their way forward to gain a few spots. It’s wild what some people do.

Sunday 7/18 HS - ????
BG 5!! (LTE)
Got to the Kidani bus stop around 730. It was us and two others.

It’s funny- sounds like you were a bus ahead of us yesterday at AKL. We’re at Jambo! And today we were at our stop before 7:30 for DHS and no bus arrived! We didn’t get one until 8:15. Wonder what happened! You’re right- the things people do at RD to get 3 spots ahead is something!

 

[tbelle3]

Has anyone been to Disney Springs recently? I'd like to do a little shopping on our arrival day, first Saturday in August. We like to go to World of Disney, the Christmas Shop, and a Star Wars store. However, if we have to wait outside a store in line, I'll head to Blizzard Beach instead.

Thanks for your help.

We just got back and didnt have to wait in any lines to get in. The only one that I saw had one was Lego but wasn't on our list anyways. We did go to Blizzard Beach and had a blast though, so I would choose that and maybe Springs at night for dinner and some shopping!

 

[harleyquinn]

We just got back and didnt have to wait in any lines to get in. The only one that I saw had one was Lego but wasn't on our list anyways. We did go to Blizzard Beach and had a blast though, so I would choose that and maybe Springs at night for dinner and some shopping!

How were the crowds at BB? We’re debating going there one day if the parks are too busy for us.

 

[lelew]

How were the crowds at BB? We’re debating going there one day if the parks are too busy for us.

We did BB Friday arrived at 11 and had very little waits we left around 3 as crowds were picking up but not bad at all it was a very fun time highly recommend

 

[RunWI1265]

It’s funny- sounds like you were a bus ahead of us yesterday at AKL. We’re at Jambo! And today we were at our stop before 7:30 for DHS and no bus arrived! We didn’t get one until 8:15. Wonder what happened! You’re right- the things people do at RD to get 3 spots ahead is something!

We went to HS today, too! We were on the first bus 730ish? And it was just us and one other couple. We stopped at Jambo and no one was there. I wonder if we just missed you?? Hope your trip is going well. It is SO HOT.

Finishing up our day…
We hopped over to Epcot and easily ate at several food booths. Again, super surprised how easy it is to manage getting around the world showcase this weekend. Was able to do Soarin under 15, Nemo walk on and SE walk on. Took the monorail to MK (YAY!!!) and stopped in the stand in Confectionary to load up on rice crispies to bring home. Has anyone else gotten them recently? They seem…thinner than usual?? We decided to grab a stop for the fireworks again. It was a little after 8:00 and we got the same spot as last night. Dead center, near the Walt statue. I just love Happily Ever After so much. I’m really going to miss it. I’m so glad I was able to see it before the new show comes. The energy of the crowd during the show is also great. It never gets old hearing the genuine joy and awe from people seeing it for the first time. We were able to do BTMR and Splash before close then headed out. Tried to mobile order Casey’s but at 10:29 they had closed it and were not letting anyone walk up. Nothing is open at the resort either so we grabbed some snacks from the emporium on the way out. Heading to MK in the morning for a couple hours before check out and our magical express pick up. Requested a late check out so we can shower. I just know we are going to be . (They said “it should be ok”).

 

[luv2cheer92]

Can you remind me how you do this? Do you just tell the CM at the entrance to the ride?

MFSR has a single rider line

 

[Disneygrl71]

More and more, reports I'm reading sound much like yours. It would seem if you were there even a week ago, things have changed completely and for the worse. I am not looking forward to our trip next week at all and our main goal was to see the fireworks. But we can't have my grandson in crowds like that so looks like that one goal is going to be too much. We'll have to just settle for seeing the fireworks from a distance I guess. I'm afraid going is a huge mistake and I'm going to leave WDW vowing to never return. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see much that tells me I am.

Disney was so careful in their original approach and I was very impressed, but something has changed and now it's just a free for all money grab with no concern for guests at all.

We will be arriving Sat and I'm also concerned and wondering if I should just reschedule our trip. I'm bringing my son for his 18th birthday and graduation, I really don't want to reschedule but these reports are really making me nervous, especially for the $$$ that's dropped.

 

[penel3]

 

[preemiemama]

We went to HS today, too! We were on the first bus 730ish? And it was just us and one other couple. We stopped at Jambo and no one was there. I wonder if we just missed you?? Hope your trip is going well. It is SO HOT.

The only thing we saw was a bus saying “refilling my pixie dust” that stopped at the wrong stop, wonder if that was the issue? And yes, it’s been HOT!!

 

[harleyquinn]

We did BB Friday arrived at 11 and had very little waits we left around 3 as crowds were picking up but not bad at all it was a very fun time highly recommend

Thank you so much!!

 

[ccianci85]

Just got back from a trip last week at the Beach Club and here are a few observations. We haven't stayed at the beach club in 10 years and while it is beautiful and close to Epcot I do like the Poly more. Didn't like walking wet thru the lobby and entire hotel (we were at a far end of the villas) to get back to your room after the pool. Although the Poly has multiple building is had a smaller feel to it which I liked. Also though that food was harder to come by at the beach club. Forget about trying to eat at Beaches and Cream or Cape May which leaves you with a slim menu at the marketplace. Bus service for the most part was terrible but might be everywhere. Waiting 45 mins on multiple occasions at the resort and at the parks for busses. Also having young kids with no fastpasses is tough. Trying to get them to wait 45 mins or more for multiple rides even close to rope drop wasn't fun. Definitely liked planning our day around fast passes with a break in the pool midday. First time riding the Skyliner was great and think it is a great transportation option. Overall a great trip with great weather but the parks are Extremely crowded, I would say our last trip in July of 2019 was less crowded than this trip.

 

[Palaura]

Just got home from a 10 day trip which is the longest trip we've done at a Disney park but boy we had fun. Here's some random but slightly organized thoughts!

Pop Century/Transportation

• I loved this hotel! I think this is definitely going to be our go to resort at Disney World from now on. I paid for the preferred pool view room and we were right next to the gate for the pool- loved the close proximity to everything. Everything about this hotel was great it just worked out so well for my family. I liked it better than CBR!
• Bus transportation was great- we only had to wait long once for a bus (and that's bc the Skyliner was down at Epcot) and every other time one showed up within minutes. Never waited long at all at open close or taking breaks.
• Skyliner isn't as convenient in rainy weather- we only got to use it in the mornings usually. Lines moved fast since they're seating groups together which we didn't mind. In fact, on our way to Epcot a storm was coming in and I was having a bit of a panic attack since the wind was making the gondola swing a bit (Im terrified of heights so I really shouldn't even be riding the Skyliner haha!) and the lady we were sharing with was so sweet and kept me talking to help me relax. So thank you, kind woman! I really don't mind sharing a gondola but I'm an extrovert by nature so I'm chatty. When we stepped off the Skyliner they shut it down so we just barely made it before they closed it! After that I wasn't too keen on riding it when the sky looked questionable. Something to keep in mind for the summer months!
• DME was great both there and back to the airport. Not sure if we got lucky but no stops made either way and was quick. Really going to miss it.

As for the parks, our experience was similar to other folks recently- here's some quick takeaways:

• The rain seems to pick up more in afternoon/evenings sometimes all night long. Personally, even with ponchos/umbrellas I found it miserable- I live in a dry climate so probably just a culture shock for me haha! In the future, we'd avoid this time of year or just do the park all day without a break and just leave for the day when the rain starts. But this is mainly a personal opinion for most when it comes to rain.
• The heat didn't bother me as much as I thought but the humidity makes it real rough in the afternoon. Cooling towels and fans were a big help- recommend bringing them! I'd take heat over rain any day but I'm sure I'm the minority on that!
• So many ride breakdowns! It happened to us constantly at all the parks. On our last night we were just about to board Seven Dwarfs and it went down so we couldn't ride which was really disappointing. Same thing happened with Frozen too. And many other days 2-4 rides wouldn't even be working at park open. Not sure what's going on with all that but if you have your heart set on riding something, ride it early! Luckily we had already done Frozen and Seven Dwarfs or I would have been so upset.
• Having a dining reservation each day was wonderful when we wanted a break from the weather. Highly recommend it when coming in the summer.
• Disney Springs was busy but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. None of the stores had a line except World of Disney and that seemed more of a way to just streamline guests in one door. I spent way too much moola in the Vera Bradley store when I saw the Disney prints- heads up ladies!
• Universal Orlando was a hot mess. They opened everything wide open without the staff to handle it. Many of the locations in Harry Potter only had one or maybe two people working! We waited about an hour for ice-cream because there was only one person making it and taking orders. We only stuck it out bc that place was one of our todo items. Most of the team members were miserable and rude (hard to blame them, I'd be miserable too!) and the food lines were long everywhere. I know this is likely temporary but really soured me on coming back anytime soon.
• Blizzard Beach was a great time. We got there at opening and found a spot with shade easily. In fact, there were many spots with shade all day. Lines for the two big slides for long but my son did them right at open and walked right on. Everything else was no wait or moved quickly. Those stairs though.... it's not much of a rest day when you factor the stairs in. We ended up skipping many things just because the stairs were so rough. Especially barefoot- if you have water shoes, bring them. I have ones for kayaking and was kicking myself for not bringing them!
• Everything is entirely back to normal with the 'fill the available space' - we are vaccinated so I was fine with it but I noticed a few folks that were clearly uncomfortable. If you feel that way, I would wait - it's really unavoidable now.

We are primarily Disneyland folks but had such a great time that I think WDW is now officially made its way into my trip rotation!

Mind sharing your room number? We are headed to a preferred pool room in a few weeks. Want to be as easy to get to the pool as possible for the kiddos.

 

[RunWI1265]

Just checked out of Kidani. We rope dropped MK this morning. Down at the bus stop at 7:28 and the first bus arrived at 7:50. We were able to accomplish Space, Buzz, people mover, BTMR, spring roll cart and Casey’s between 9:00-10:50.

Final Thoughts
I have been fortunate enough to have been to the parks Sept 2020, Jan 2021, May 2021. So I’ve seen the parks continuously evolve during these times. The experience from May to now is night and day. RD is absolutely vital to accomplishing headliners in each park. Or if head liners aren’t your thing, you need to get to the park before everyone who is RD the bigger rides get off because then they disperse into the normally people eater rides….making all lines longer. While we did find many rides at MK had inflated wait times the lines backed out into the sun. And it is just so, so hot. We also were disappointed in the lack of food availability near/after park close. Nothing is open so you need to plan ahead. The gift shop at our resort was never open by the time we got back at night nor was it open in the morning when we were going to the bus stops.

We will be taking a long break from the parks and wait for Disney to implement more changes to help with the crowding. We were able to ride everything, but we are two able-bodied, very knowledgeable WDW people. We can tolerate the heat but it still isn’t pleasant! We did midday breaks to shower. I was considering bringing my youngest before she turns 3 next month but I don’t think as the way things are now visiting the parks would be very enjoyable for her. I cannot ask her to stand in line after line in this heat. Hats Off to the parents who manage this well. You guys are amazing!

last note - We had a standard one bedroom (7957) and a nice view! We were able to see some animals every day. A “savannah” view without the savannah price tag. Oh and we only had one bus hiccup. We had been waiting over 10 minutes for an Epcot bus and the display and app (which never have the same times listed) kept pushing the bus arrival back (like 25+ minutes away). We saw a HS bus pull up so we hopped on and used the skyliner to get to Epcot. Worked out well since we wanted to be in the WS anyway. Overall we had a nice kid-free trip but we won’t be back until things have a little more order to them.

 

[krybandt]

Just got back from a trip last week at the Beach Club and here are a few observations. We haven't stayed at the beach club in 10 years and while it is beautiful and close to Epcot I do like the Poly more. Didn't like walking wet thru the lobby and entire hotel (we were at a far end of the villas) to get back to your room after the pool. Although the Poly has multiple building is had a smaller feel to it which I liked. Also though that food was harder to come by at the beach club. Forget about trying to eat at Beaches and Cream or Cape May which leaves you with a slim menu at the marketplace. Bus service for the most part was terrible but might be everywhere. Waiting 45 mins on multiple occasions at the resort and at the parks for busses. Also having young kids with no fastpasses is tough. Trying to get them to wait 45 mins or more for multiple rides even close to rope drop wasn't fun. Definitely liked planning our day around fast passes with a break in the pool midday. First time riding the Skyliner was great and think it is a great transportation option. Overall a great trip with great weather but the parks are Extremely crowded, I would say our last trip in July of 2019 was less crowded than this trip.

We last went in July 2019 too and I'm with you that the thing that made that trip work was knowing we could go to the pool midday because we had FPs for our favorite rides. I feel bad for all of the people going now with crowds and no FPs. Also thinking of staying at BC versus Poly or a couple other places next year - assuming FPs come back - and your thoughts were really helpful.

 

[jdorman]

That is unreal...for **** sake Disney, get your crap together. They are destroying everything that makes Disney, Disney. I seriously contemplate if my youngest will ever remember Disney as I don't see how we could continue to justify spending the kind of money it takes for Disney vacation if it's like this. It's so sad.

Quit whining - any experience is what you make of it and quit blaming Disney - we are still in the midst of a global pandemic, the world has changed, businesses had to change -we are not back to normal!!!! If you don't wish to go because you're nostalgic for you think it should be based on what you think it was - then don't go.