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

[md1982]

President's Day, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, February Break and its a Saturday. This shouldn't be surprising. This weekend is traditionally one of the busiest of the year.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

No idea what it is now, but are we sure they hit max 35% every day? I know people question if they increased it, but I question if they were even hitting that high without holidays.

Even if they did hit 35%, that's not that bad considering they are running at 35% of max capacity. The parks run at 35-40% in normal times anyway and only get close to or hit capacity around the holidays. The wait times she posted are actually pretty good.

 

[mamaofsix]

It's more the shows with live actors that have been closed, there are plenty of shows that are and have been open.

I've said it a few times, but my trip that I did last year was pretty much completely normal for me, other than having to wear a mask. If I hadn't started a new job and had more PTO, I'd have been several more times by now and would have easily renewed my AP.

ETA: I'll say that I know that not everyone does the parks like me, but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who are similar.

Seems to me there's a lot more closed at MK right now than just shows with live actors. A few on the list include live actors, but not many:
-People Mover
-Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
-Railroad
-Enchanted Tales with Belle
-Festival of Fantasy Parade
-Hall of Presidents
-Happily Ever After
-Half the Restaurants
-All the Character Meet and Greets.

I mean, it's a lot closed. Many of these closed attractions, restaurants and experiences absorbed huge amounts of people. I don't buy the reasoning that Disney can't open more due to cost or safety at this point. If they can afford those huge CEO salaries, they can afford to open this stuff back up and disperse the crowds. If it's "safe" to have everyone crammed into walkways because nothing's open, surely it's "safe" to open things back up.

 

[MomOTwins]

That my my actual air temp this morning, I agree LOL.

Another midwesterner here. This freeze is nuts! ️

 

[WhitneyMB]

Not to negate anyone's experience, but the wait times seemed manageable last night (Friday). I say this as someone who is currently 600 miles away from the parks so, I'm interested to hear from others.

We were also at Epcot yesterday. The morning was great! We jumped on TT as soon as they let us into the park around 10:15, after just 5-10 minutes waiting for the ride to get started. By 10:45 we were walking on to Frozen with NO wait! I couldn’t believe how short the Frozen line was the first hour! We were also able to do Soarin, LWTL and Figment before lunch at 12:15. Looked at some art and headed out at 1:30pm.

When we came back at 5:30pm, it was MUCH busier. World Showcase was harder to walk around, Frozen line was down to China. It wasn’t really comfortable to be there, although the masking was better than we expected (having heard horror stories) about walking/drinking/eating.

We were at Epcot for MLK day weekend 2020 and it was so wall-to-wall people we literally couldn’t move. It was definitely not like that yesterday, but it also was very busy in the evening . We dealt with it by heading to the front of the park and doing more rides with pretty short waits, then circled back to buy something, and headed out.

 

[WhitneyMB]

The windchill here is -18. Torrential down pour sounds nice lol

Haha! As another midwesterner I appreciate this. I think today was the first time my family got so wet and cold at Disney, we gave up and headed back the resort early. It rained hard—from about 9-noon—and we were at Animal Kingdom with no cover. We even did the Safari in the thunder and lightening! (were surprised they didn’t stop it).

Having said all that, we ended the day at Disney, which makes it a good day

 

[gharter]

As others have noted, weekends tend to be busier. A holiday weekend just increases that even more. I expect Sunday and Monday to be similar.
Would not be surprised to see some of the parks at capacity limits.

 

[twodogs]

I think what throws me off is thinking it’s 35% of a “normal” park day crowd when we visit (usually summer break, school holidays like President’s day, but not “on’ Christmas or New Year’s days). So when we normally go, the parks have never closed for capacity, so I have no idea what 100% capacity (as they are using to then calculate down to 35% of a park that was closed for capacity pre-COVID) looks like. So if today is 35% of the park’s maximum when they close down MK for New Year’s eve or something, that is actually still a lot of people in the parks compared to what I am used to seeing. If today’s crowd was really capped at 35% of the normal capacity for President’s Day weekend (when to my memory, MK never has closed to capacity on this weekend), that would be a lot less people than 35% of maximum capacity of the parks ever, which is what they are capping it at today. I hope this makes sense.

 

[DavidNYC]

The times you’ve described are pretty standard holiday weekend times. 60-120 minutes for popular rides is not unusual.

 

[ttintagel]

Yeah, not having everything open is going to have an effect on lines. Before Fastpass, if a line was long you could just go to a minor attraction with a shorter line and come back later. But that really depends on having everything open for people to have somewhere to go.

 

[Victoria3]

We are here now in Magic Kingdom. What’s the point of masks this place is PACKED. Lines are crazy long and honestly, really putting a damper on our experience. We are thankful WDW is open, but will be rethinking booking any other trips on weekends until fast pass returns. We are in the HM q right now, almost at the front but line has stopped and pretty sure there is a mechanical issue.
Pirates is 90 min, splash 75. And even if times are actually less than posted, still not worth the wait. Especially since we go to Disney 1-2 times a year.

I’m trying not to be negative here, I don’t mind the masks- but the crowds are out of control and lines are terrible. Thank goodness we are APH and didn’t come fully out of pocket for our tickets.

This is pretty common for a holiday weekend.

 

[Olaf Myfrenzargay]

Crowds suck I know but think of the alternative. Sitting at home breathing in dirty stale air, and searching NFLX for an hour and a half before you even find anything you might want to watch.

 

[skuttle]

We were at MK yesterday, Saturday Feb 13th. Yes, I know, you’re not supposed to go on a Saturday, but it fit best with our short trip so we went and made the most of it!

We were on and off Space Mountain and Buzz by 830am when park wasn’t officially opening until 9am!

We grabbed breakfast a sleepy hallow right at 9am when it opened. Had planned on Joffreys in tomorrowland but didn’t open until 10am.

Huge thunderstorm rolled in shortly afterwards. We rode BTMR in the pouring rain. Got soaked, but laughed the entire time!

We waited for rain to slack after that because it was so heavy. Really ruined the whole “get lots done early” plan.

Pirates was down all morning, came back up later in day with hour plus waits, then went down again. We never rode it as both times we tried it was down.

Most waits were a bit less than posted. However, we jumped in like for 7DMT around 7pm. Listed time was 75min, hoping it’d be less like the others. Nope. Over 2 hours. Slowest moving line ever. Had we known that; we would have skipped it.

However, after that we did splash with 75min wait that took 20min. Kinda frustrating that the times are so off. Husband and oldest didn’t want to wait 75 min again so chose not to do it, and it took us 20. Sigh.

Dinner in castle was amazing! We weren’t expecting much after reading such terrible reviews, but it was SO good! We don’t care about characters, just wanted to bring our boys into castle. Yes expensive (family of 5), but we really enjoyed it! Food was great, kids liked being inside the castle. “Worth it” at Disney is all relative. We had an enjoyable, delicious dinner, which is all we were hoping for.

Fantasyland seemed packed all day, as normal. Mask compliance was great. Social distancing not so kich

Hardest part was trying to find the end of lines.

And I wish wait times were more accurate.

Mobile ordering is the best and I hope it’s here to stay!

We did studios the day before MK, today (sun feb 14) is AK, then back to studios tomorrow (mon feb 15). I’ll try to give reports on those too later.

 

[skuttle]

We were at MK yesterday (sat, feb 13). We expected crowds since a Saturday, but this fit best with our short trip so we decided to make the most of it. Husband is a teacher and oldest a HS senior so we’re always stuck with school holiday trips.

My biggest complaint is the wait times weren't accurate. We got in line for 7DMT with 75min listed, but took over 2 hours. We never would have gotten in line.

After that did splash with 75min listed wait. Some in our party skipped it because didn’t want to wait. Took 20 min. Ugh.

we were on and off space mountain and buzz by 830am when official opening was 9am.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Seems to me there's a lot more closed at MK right now than just shows with live actors. A few on the list include live actors, but not many:
-People Mover
-Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
-Railroad
-Enchanted Tales with Belle
-Festival of Fantasy Parade
-Hall of Presidents
-Happily Ever After
-Half the Restaurants
-All the Character Meet and Greets.

I mean, it's a lot closed. Many of these closed attractions, restaurants and experiences absorbed huge amounts of people. I don't buy the reasoning that Disney can't open more due to cost or safety at this point. If they can afford those huge CEO salaries, they can afford to open this stuff back up and disperse the crowds. If it's "safe" to have everyone crammed into walkways because nothing's open, surely it's "safe" to open things back up.

Well, 3 of those would be closed right now no matter what for refurbs, one being open until a couple weeks ago. "Half the restaurants" being closed is a bit of a stretch, plenty of places to eat IMO. Not sure what's going on with Monsters, so I'll give you that. HEA is doable, but I could see where they may want to hold off on it for now. And the rest have live people/actors, two of which have been replaced by (more Covid-friendly, though lesser) alternatives.

 

[mamaofsix]

Well, 3 of those would be closed right now no matter what for refurbs, one being open until a couple weeks ago. "Half the restaurants" being closed is a bit of a stretch, plenty of places to eat IMO. Not sure what's going on with Monsters, so I'll give you that. HEA is doable, but I could see where they may want to hold off on it for now. And the rest have live people/actors, two of which have been replaced by (more Covid-friendly, though lesser) alternatives.

I see what you're saying but...a quick screenshot of the number of dining experiences alone that are currently closed at MK. I count 18. Number listed as available: 20. Almost exactly half. As for replacing experiences with more COVID friendly alternatives - the alternatives aren't able to service nearly the same amount of guests. And a couple of the refurbs wouldn't be closed right now if Disney hadn't laid off so many construction workers. PeopleMover and the Railroad could have been up and running by now if construction hadn't ground to a halt for so long. That was my point. A whole lot of guests with no where to go. Not trying to start an argument, just looking at the realities of what it's like in the parks right now and what Disney needs to do to solve it.

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

We were also at Epcot yesterday. The morning was great! We jumped on TT as soon as they let us into the park around 10:15, after just 5-10 minutes waiting for the ride to get started. By 10:45 we were walking on to Frozen with NO wait! I couldn’t believe how short the Frozen line was the first hour! We were also able to do Soarin, LWTL and Figment before lunch at 12:15. Looked at some art and headed out at 1:30pm.

When we came back at 5:30pm, it was MUCH busier. World Showcase was harder to walk around, Frozen line was down to China. It wasn’t really comfortable to be there, although the masking was better than we expected (having heard horror stories) about walking/drinking/eating.

We were at Epcot for MLK day weekend 2020 and it was so wall-to-wall people we literally couldn’t move. It was definitely not like that yesterday, but it also was very busy in the evening . We dealt with it by heading to the front of the park and doing more rides with pretty short waits, then circled back to buy something, and headed out.

This hits the nail on the head for what I thought about Epcot on my last trip: early in the morning is great but by the time the afternoon rolls around, there are just SO MANY PEOPLE in the World Showcase and there isn't very many places for them to go but to stand in the walkways with their snacks.

Unfortunately, you can't use wait times at most of the attractions in Epcot to reflect how crowded it is in that park.

We were at MK yesterday, Saturday Feb 13th. Yes, I know, you’re not supposed to go on a Saturday, but it fit best with our short trip so we went and made the most of it!

We were on and off Space Mountain and Buzz by 830am when park wasn’t officially opening until 9am!

We grabbed breakfast a sleepy hallow right at 9am when it opened. Had planned on Joffreys in tomorrowland but didn’t open until 10am.

Huge thunderstorm rolled in shortly afterwards. We rode BTMR in the pouring rain. Got soaked, but laughed the entire time!

We waited for rain to slack after that because it was so heavy. Really ruined the whole “get lots done early” plan.

Pirates was down all morning, came back up later in day with hour plus waits, then went down again. We never rode it as both times we tried it was down.

Most waits were a bit less than posted. However, we jumped in like for 7DMT around 7pm. Listed time was 75min, hoping it’d be less like the others. Nope. Over 2 hours. Slowest moving line ever. Had we known that; we would have skipped it.

However, after that we did splash with 75min wait that took 20min. Kinda frustrating that the times are so off. Husband and oldest didn’t want to wait 75 min again so chose not to do it, and it took us 20. Sigh.

Dinner in castle was amazing! We weren’t expecting much after reading such terrible reviews, but it was SO good! We don’t care about characters, just wanted to bring our boys into castle. Yes expensive (family of 5), but we really enjoyed it! Food was great, kids liked being inside the castle. “Worth it” at Disney is all relative. We had an enjoyable, delicious dinner, which is all we were hoping for.

Fantasyland seemed packed all day, as normal. Mask compliance was great. Social distancing not so kich

Hardest part was trying to find the end of lines.

And I wish wait times were more accurate.

Mobile ordering is the best and I hope it’s here to stay!

We did studios the day before MK, today (sun feb 14) is AK, then back to studios tomorrow (mon feb 15). I’ll try to give reports on those too later.

I am so glad to hear about your meal in the Castle. I have been stalking reservations for it for my next trip when I saw it was the same price as BOG. I haven't eaten in the castle since 2000 - so on a solo trip, why not?.

 

[wilbret]

We are here now in Magic Kingdom. What’s the point of masks this place is PACKED. Lines are crazy long and honestly, really putting a damper on our experience. We are thankful WDW is open, but will be rethinking booking any other trips on weekends until fast pass returns. We are in the HM q right now, almost at the front but line has stopped and pretty sure there is a mechanical issue.
Pirates is 90 min, splash 75. And even if times are actually less than posted, still not worth the wait. Especially since we go to Disney 1-2 times a year.

I’m trying not to be negative here, I don’t mind the masks- but the crowds are out of control and lines are terrible. Thank goodness we are APH and didn’t come fully out of pocket for our tickets.

FYI, it’s a long 4-day weekend for many people. When planning, if possible, check school calendars for school systems in the area and in Georgia. We would be there this weekend typically, but had other things pop up.

 

[wdw&sonny]

Having read many of these posts, talking about reduced PARK capacities, I just want to remind that the RIDE capacities are also reduced. Long waits, but fewer people riding per hour. Fewer people standing in line, than normal. Fewer attractions, restaurants, shops open = crowded in the spaces that are open.

 

[MomOTwins]

I think what throws me off is thinking it’s 35% of a “normal” park day crowd when we visit (usually summer break, school holidays like President’s day, but not “on’ Christmas or New Year’s days). So when we normally go, the parks have never closed for capacity, so I have no idea what 100% capacity (as they are using to then calculate down to 35% of a park that was closed for capacity pre-COVID) looks like. So if today is 35% of the park’s maximum when they close down MK for New Year’s eve or something, that is actually still a lot of people in the parks compared to what I am used to seeing. If today’s crowd was really capped at 35% of the normal capacity for President’s Day weekend (when to my memory, MK never has closed to capacity on this weekend), that would be a lot less people than 35% of maximum capacity of the parks ever, which is what they are capping it at today. I hope this makes sense.

It is 35% of the maximum—that is why they use the word capacity rather than attendance. On a pre-Covid day, MK would typically range from 40-70%. So yes, a “sold out” park now is basically a regular day, once you factor in reduced ride seating.

Wait times have been unusually low in January and February because it is off season for travel and there are no special events like marathons or cheer to boost attendance like there were in prior years. They were not like that because of the 35% limit—you could easily see that parks were not reaching that threshold because park passes were not selling out. We were there in October and everything in MK was an hour wait with 35% capacity.

I see what you're saying but...a quick screenshot of the number of dining experiences alone that are currently closed at MK. I count 18. Number listed as available: 20. Almost exactly half. As for replacing experiences with more COVID friendly alternatives - the alternatives aren't able to service nearly the same amount of guests. And a couple of the refurbs wouldn't be closed right now if Disney hadn't laid off so many construction workers. PeopleMover and the Railroad could have been up and running by now if construction hadn't ground to a halt for so long. That was my point. A whole lot of guests with no where to go. Not trying to start an argument, just looking at the realities of what it's like in the parks right now and what Disney needs to do to solve it.

View attachment 556278

Most of those are fireworks parties of after hours events, not dining venues—they have no impact on crowds.