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

[soniam]

Just encountered the worst bus driver ever picking up for AL at BRV. Line was AK and HS. He pulls up, opens sores, waits 2 secs, then starts closing doors to pull off. Someone flagged him down, then the END of the very well labeled line starting rushing on the bus. Was a dang free for all! And there are so many people on the bus, since he didn’t assign seats, that several are STANDING. no social distancing whatsoever.

Yikes! Maybe I should wear my N95 mask on the 2 days that I have to ride the bus. I plan to wear it on the plane and ME. Husband and son show up eventually with the rental car.

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.

Did AK officially open at 8am that day? Wow! So the park opened about 45 minutes early, even on an earlier opening day?

Walking to DHS is pretty great. We did that in July with a lot of success.

 

[HollyMD]

Yikes! Maybe I should wear my N95 mask on the 2 days that I have to ride the bus. I plan to wear it on the plane and ME. Husband and son show up eventually with the rental car.

Every other bus we have been on has been great. It was just this particular bus/driver that was such an issue. But a very BIG issue.

 

[wilkydelts]

@ellbell just looking to clarify, you ended up eating next to WWE John Cena at BOG?

 

[ellbell]

@ellbell just looking to clarify, you ended up eating next to WWE John Cena at BOG?

Yep. I mean the tables were socially distanced and I'm not a fan so I had to have my 15 year old son confirm but it was definitely him.

 

[AmishGuy91]

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.

Yep. I mean the tables were socially distanced and I'm not a fan so I had to have my 15 year old son confirm but it was definitely him.

I thought nobody could see him

 

[ellbell]

I thought nobody could see him

My son said the same thing. Like I said not a fan so he had to explain the joke lol.

 

[brockash]

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

Yes, with the 11am opening, but it was on the weekend. On the weekdays it seemed to be more of 50ish mins before park opening.

 

[lmbcdb]

I did this when I was wondering the same thing - we're staying offsite and wanted to know the cost to get to the Speedway outside of HS (staying at Windsor Hills so about 5~ish miles). It was $16 and some change (note that this is for an Lyft XL, since there will be 4 of us. I did not check Uber).

We hardly ever use these types of services - what is the standard tip? (I’m probably getting off topic, here, sorry!)

 

[hmkenn0]

We hardly ever use these types of services - what is the standard tip? (I’m probably getting off topic, here, sorry!)

You use an app that links your credit card (or PayPal, which I recommend), at the end of the trip it will pop up with a way to rate the trip in stars and then asks if you want to add a tip, I think the choices are usually $1, $5, and maybe just do your own. I usually tip about 10% or round up, or just do the middle option. While I have only tipped in cash a couple of times (my San Fransisco driver took me on a whole tour of the town so I gave him a $20), they really aren't supposed to take cash, but you can do it.

 

[jrsharp21]

We are in Ft. Myers for two baseball tournaments over 10 days. We have a 2 day break between tournaments so we decided to drive up to WDW today. We had no park reservations so we headed over to Disney Springs. We walked around DS for awhile. Then we took a bus over to Boardwalk and walked around. Had a drink at Hurricane Hanna's at the Yacht Club. Then took the Skyliner for a full round trip. Then took the bus back to DS. Had dinner at T-Rex. Shopped for a little bit longer and then made the drive back to Ft. Myers.

We got to DS around 12:30pm. It was pretty much a ghost town. Lots of free space to move around. You really didn't need to come close to anyone if you didn't want to. The WOD store was pretty empty also. But people I was even remotely near were trying to keep their space from me as I was to them.

The busses had hardly anyone on them. We were the only people on the bus from DS to Boardwalk. On the way back, it was us and two other people. They do have a good layout to keep everyone spaced out on the bus.

The Boardwalk is in a sad state. The last time I stayed at Yacht Club last year, it was full of life, people, performers, etc. Now I was half expecting a tumble weed to blow by. No snack or drink stands are open. The only thing that was open was the little pizza place and the restaurant next door. I saw one family at the restaurant and that's it. It looks like they were just there for the drinks. It was really disappointing.

The pool at Yacht Club was happening. Lots of families enjoying the pool. We stopped and got a drink at Hurricane Hanna's so we could hang out at a table and take our masks off. It was hot today, so that rest was needed.

The Skyliner had hardly anyone getting on it. We actually got off and on 4 times. Twice we were the only ones getting on. The other two times there was one person and then a small family.

The crowds at DS picked up into the evening. My guess is as the parks were getting closer to closing and the sun was going down. Still not really crowded. At dinner time I was able to walk up to T-Rex and get a table for us with no wait. That is even with half the tables at the restaurant not being used to keep people spaced out.

As far as masks go, I would say 98% of the people I saw today were wearing their masks when they should have been and properly. Every now and then you saw someone with it below their nose. But I think people realize Disney isn't playing when it comes to that policy and are following rules. But in the heat today, it was definitely needed to stop and catch a breather every now and then. We would duck behind a closed booth, or somewhere way off where no one was to take our masks off to catch a breath or two and then put them back on.

I have been one that has played this whole virus very conservatively and really stayed away from everyone and places for a long time. Today I felt very comfortable at DS. I never got that uncomfortable feeling that I have at places like Home Depot. If the inside of the parks is the same feel, then I think I would definitely be fine heading into a park for the day.

Also to add, all the CM's were fantastic. Great attitudes from them and you could tell they were smiling behind the masks. It almost felt like they were truly happy for you to be there and for there to actually be guests enjoying WDW.

It was definitely a pick me up that was needed for me and the family. I caught myself while inside WOD just standing and staring at the people walking around, the CM's talking to guests, and just taking it all in. Got kind of choked up. It was one of those moments where all the crap from these year melted away and Disney was there.

 

[PrincessV]

For those who've been recently and/or are going to DHS soon, how much time are you spending in queues indoors on MF:SR, MMRR, ROTR, TOT? I have no problem waiting long times outdoors, but really do not want to be indoors longer than about 15 minutes. Is that at all realistic? I know the queues for TOT and MMRR well, but haven't been since SD was added, so I'm not sure how much of the indoor portions of queues are being used. Thanks!

 

[MomOTwins]

For those who've been recently and/or are going to DHS soon, how much time are you spending in queues indoors on MF:SR, MMRR, ROTR, TOT? I have no problem waiting long times outdoors, but really do not want to be indoors longer than about 15 minutes. Is that at all realistic? I know the queues for TOT and MMRR well, but haven't been since SD was added, so I'm not sure how much of the indoor portions of queues are being used. Thanks!

Not realistic, sorry. The only thing they are reducing indoor time on are the pre-shows, which are now skipped at (applies to TOT and MMRR), but we waited more than 15 mins indoors at all those queues--and you'll wait considerably more if you get stuck on a cleaning cycle. The indoor queues are being fully utilized.

 

[kittylady1972]

For those who've been recently and/or are going to DHS soon, how much time are you spending in queues indoors on MF:SR, MMRR, ROTR, TOT? I have no problem waiting long times outdoors, but really do not want to be indoors longer than about 15 minutes. Is that at all realistic? I know the queues for TOT and MMRR well, but haven't been since SD was added, so I'm not sure how much of the indoor portions of queues are being used. Thanks!

You will definitely spend some time in indoor queues. At least for TOT you do walk right through the library now from what I recall and follow social distance markers up the ramps to the ride. MMRR is also a lot of indoor time, but there is plexiglass in the areas where you are doing switchbacks so you aren't breathing on the people next to you...but you are still SD spaced front and back and inside a room. I would say MF: SR is going to have the LONGEST amount of indoor queue time because that's just how it was designed. When we went in August, that was probably our longest indoor wait. For the most part you do seem to be continuously moving, but not always. For rides like TSM at least I found we almost walked right onto the ride since that entire queue was really indoors. And of course once you are ON the rides (like ToT, RoTR) you are in a much smaller space with a few people not in your party.

 

[Khobbs18]

Anyone has experience post-covid with changing party reservations for dining? Hubby did our dining when it opened 60 days out and I just realized he forgot to add our kids for our BOG and Sci Fi Reservations (+2). I know all we can do is ask when we get there aside from checking the app like crazy. Just wondering if anyone has had to do this post-covid yet.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Anyone has experience post-covid with changing party reservations for dining? Hubby did our dining when it opened 60 days out and I just realized he forgot to add our kids for our BOG and Sci Fi Reservations (+2). I know all we can do is ask when we get there aside from checking the app like crazy. Just wondering if anyone has had to do this post-covid yet.

Upon mobile check-in lately, we have had the option of adding 1 additional person to our reservation. It says on the check-in screen that we could but we were a party of 3 and they allow us to add 1 (on the screen where you input how many adults/kids/infants are present). I'm doubtful the option to move from a party of 2 (assuming those reservations are just for 2?) to a party of 4 would be there since your table is probably a 2 topper. Since we're a party of 3, we are always at a 4 topper anyways.

Since you have time, you should be able to modify to the right party size. Set up a reservation finder + check often (esp in the day or two before your reservation). They may let you approach the stand once there but they really discourage it.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Anyone have a solid recommendation of what time is the best to line up at your bus stop or skyliner stop to get to the parks early? We're rope drop folks by nature so we'd want to be in that 'first group in' so to speak. Especially at MK and HS. We're staying at the Caribbean Resort hotel. Thanks everyone!

 

[Pens Fan]

We were at DHS yesterday and had a great time. As it's been widely noted everyone tries to be in the park before 10 to get a Rise BG, so yes there are crowds. But (for us at least) it all seemed manageable. After seeing the bus lines for DHS on previous days, we decided to drive. We left WL a few minutes before 9 and were through the turnstiles by 9:30. The line of cars to get in the park at first looked daunting, but it moved steadily and security was a breeze with the new scanners.

Yes, there is large crowd that time of morning, but most people were heading towards MMRR and GE. We scooted down Sunset and it was not crowded at all. We decided not to try to get on any rides at that point, not wanting to risk our 10 AM BG try. In hindsight, that was a mistake as BG's were gone in less than 10 seconds (didn't get one) and by 10:00 wait times were already climbing. TT and RNRC were only 15 and 20 minutes, but my husband was having back issues, so we decided to head to MFSR which was listed at 20 minutes. By the time we got there it had increased to 45 and that's about what it took. TSMM was listed at 35, took about 25. After that all the headliners had a listed time of 45 minutes or more (MMRR waffled between 75 and 90 most of the day). But what was interesting was that other than the posted wait times, the park really did not seem that crowded. There was plenty of space to walk around and we had no issues finding places to sit and space ourselves if we needed a drink or just a break. We saw several of the character cavalcades - so much fun!

We managed to get BG 89 at the 2 PM chance. We got in line for MMRR around 2:30 when it was posted at 60 minutes. It only took about 45 minutes, though. Totally worth it!!! By then the park was clearing out, for sure. My son said it reminded him of how it was when he was there in early August. We were called for Rise a little after 5 PM (so much fun!), but decided to call it a day after riding as we wanted a chance to go back and shower before our Raglan Road reservation.

Leaving a little before 6 PM, the wait times were definitely coming down and the walkways were thinning out considerably. Overall, we had a great day. I was worried about DHS ahead of time after hearing about the crowds. While I agree the crowds are there, it's still pretty easy to avoid them if you really want to. If you find yourself in an uncomfortable position - MOVE. We had no difficulty finding space for ourselves - even at that crazy pre-10 AM arrival time. As everyone has already mentioned - arrive early and take advantage of the first hour or so for rides. If you can't do that - stay late. The park does clear out in the afternoon. Make an ADR if you want a TS experience - walk ups were pretty much a no go. We had just planned on a CS meal anyway and had no issues mobile ordering at Backlot Express and finding a nice table in the shade. We are going back tomorrow and plan on hanging around the resort until the afternoon before heading over to the park to take advantage of the low late day crowds and ride the few things we missed today.

Have fun, everyone. The magic is still there, you just have to adjust your plans a bit from pre-covid times.

 

[SuJo]

Anyone has experience post-covid with changing party reservations for dining? Hubby did our dining when it opened 60 days out and I just realized he forgot to add our kids for our BOG and Sci Fi Reservations (+2). I know all we can do is ask when we get there aside from checking the app like crazy. Just wondering if anyone has had to do this post-covid yet.

We did this last year when our daughter decided to join at the last minute (there 4 of us going and she made us 5). I went to each podium and told them our count was up 1 with my daughter. They said no problem, it is only a problem when you go beyond 6 people in your party. Now with online checkin I don't know how that will work.

 

[coolbrook]

At that point we had a giant cinnamon roll from Gaston’s. It was 1020 and then we moved on to Tomorrowland.

I think I read someone say that there was a long line at Gaston's. Did you have to wait long? Has anyone else heard of long waits here or if a certain time of day is less busy than others? This cinnamon roll is our favorite thing to eat at MK and we are looking forward to it in November. Thank you

 

[emsstacey]

what time did you arrive at DHS? Thanks!

We were there Monday. Breakfast at Trattoria at 7:30, started walking to DHS at 8:15, arrived by 8:30 and we were probably 30-40 back in line. We got in the left line, went to the left tents and that is where the head lady was who gave the go ahead to move through temp check. That was key to us getting through first.