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

[skeettafic]

I really appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts!

We're definitely early birds/rope drop people and our plan is essentially parks an hour prior to opening, do everything we can until it gets too busy for us to be comfortable and then hit the pool. Maybe back to the parks in the evening based on what park hours get extended.

I keep going back and forth but I really really really want to go. lol

 

[BigOHawk]

I'll be there early March, should I expect operating hours to hopefully get extended this weekend when it hits two weeks out? Hardly believe MK would close at 6, however I can't complain with limited CM's and staffing.

 

[Naomeri]

I'll be there early March, should I expect operating hours to hopefully get extended this weekend when it hits two weeks out? Hardly believe MK would close at 6, however I can't complain with limited CM's and staffing.

The first week of March got extended last Friday (I think it was Friday—the days blend together) so hopefully this week will bring extensions for the second week.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Has anybody had problems hopping to your park of choice the past few days?

We just got back yesterday - 2/15
Thursday 2/11 - Hopped from HS to Epcot @ 5:30 PM
Saturday 2/13 - AK in the morning, pool in the afternoon, headed to Epcot @ 6:00 pm
Sunday 2/14 - HS in the morning, back to resort, headed to MK @ 6:00 pm
No trouble at all hopping. Buses and lines for Skyliner, is a different topic.

 

[blrem]

Wed 2/10 Magic Kingdom, park hours 9-7
OKW Bus stop at 7:30, bus arrived 8:10. Into park at 8:46, SDMT line all the way around to Gaston’s and trains were not running yet so we punted ad headed to Peter Pan and walked on. Over to Space Mountian, posted 15 min, acutally on in 10, most of that walking through the queue. Kids walked on to Astro Orbiters at 9:40. Coffee/snack break at Joffreys. Pooh with a 10 minute wait (posted 15), HM walk on at 10:30, Splash at 10:50, posted 30, on in 20. Popcorn break then got return time for BTMM. Since my mom was in a scooter and couldn’t use the normal queue they gave us a return time. We only had this happen at MK on BTMM, Small World, and Jungle Cruise. Definitely worked to our advantage but won’t be available if you don’t have a wheelchair/scooter user in your riding party.
Lunch at Tony’s (first time there, surprisingly good). Pirates next, posted 35 and on in exactly 35. Got return passes for Jungle Cruise, 20 minutes out. Rode JC, got Kakamora Floats (so good!!!). Hubby and kids back to Space Mountain, mom and I rode Little Mermaid with a 10 minute wait. Middle daughter’s phone fell out of her pocket on Space and was on the floor of the ride car. They wouldn’t let her get back in the car to get it and so began a 20 minute adventure to get her phone back complicated by a shift change. While the big kids were getting her phone, hubby, Natalie and I rode the Speedway at 5:00 with a 5 minute wait. Big girls headed out to walk to Contemporary to catch a bus to Disney Springs to shop before our dinner reservations. The rest of us did Barnstormer and Dumbo, both a walk on.
The girls reported the bus line DS was outrageous so they hopped on a monorail over to the TTC and walked to the Poly to catch a bus. They said they were the only ones on the bus so a good call. Based on their experience, we got on a monorail and planned to head to the GF to catch a bus. Got to the TTC and the monorail went dead. The whole line lost power. Our door was open but it was starting to get hot and since there was no estimate as to when it would be back up, we hopped off and went to the Poly busstop. Trains were stuck in the middle, I’m glad we were at a station! It was 30 minutes or so from the TTC until we got on a bus at the Poly and during that time, no monorails came through so it was a long outage! DS was packed again but we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Jaleo. Had to wait for a second bus before making back to the resort.
As many have said, the pinch points in Fantastyland and Adventureland make distancing tough. We were frustrated in both DS and MK with the lack of places to actually sit down and eat/drink. So much outdoor space is taken up with the extended/spaced queues that there just isn’t that much “off to the side” space. We made due but it was a constant issue

Love how you gave park hours right at the top of post - often I read a post about when someone leaves hotel, got bus, got to park, etc. but can't put it in reference since the park hours are unknown - makes it hard to figure out trying to rope drop, for example. Great account - TY!!!

 

[kathi]

I really appreciate everyone sharing their thoughts!

We're definitely early birds/rope drop people and our plan is essentially parks an hour prior to opening, do everything we can until it gets too busy for us to be comfortable and then hit the pool. Maybe back to the parks in the evening based on what park hours get extended.

I keep going back and forth but I really really really want to go. lol

That is exactly the strategy I was discussing with my daughter an hour ago. My husband is still dubious. I'll continue to read replies and collect information. Thanks to everyone who has shared their perspective. Very helpful.

 

[blrem]

I didn’t even think of people getting stuck here because of the storm. That could have let a lot people stranded here. Well you can certainly pick a lot worse places to be stranded than Disney.

But still, the park "capacity" remains the same - that is, the number of park pass reservations Disney allows for each park is static - so how could Disney be unprepared for the number of people in MK? Unless it was after 2pm and it was a case of everyone hopping over there. Still, they could have put a stop to hopping to MK if it was beyond capacity, no? This is what's upsetting about Disney right now - they do indeed know how many people are going into each park on any given day - we are forced to tell them through the park ressie system. So they should know they need MORE attractions open, more restaurants open, more places to divert the very crowds they are allowing to enter that day. I love Disney but their handling of this and their lack of planning to allow guests to be able to physically distance, have enough to do and to eat without an hour or more wait is concerning - their priorities don't seem to be on the guest experience at this point.

 

[blrem]

Except there is a set capacity and you have to have a park reservation, so, one would hope, Disney would prepare to manage the crowd flow they, themselves have set. Because of the park reservation system, even if people are stuck there, Disney knows exactly how many people are showing up at the park based on the reservations. If Disney isn't staffing up to handle the reserved park guests, that's on them. Disney has been in this business long enough to know how many CMs they need on hand to handle the exact number of people who have made reservations for a park on any given day and should expect to reach their set capacity over a holiday weekend. If it's the case that they set park capacity for 35% and then didn't staff accordingly on a holiday weekend, that's just bad management on their part.

oops - I just wrote a reply saying almost the exact same thing. Guess I should read to the end before replying when I'm catching up on a few pages

 

[Evita_W]

But still, the park "capacity" remains the same - that is, the number of park pass reservations Disney allows for each park is static - so how could Disney be unprepared for the number of people in MK? Unless it was after 2pm and it was a case of everyone hopping over there. Still, they could have put a stop to hopping to MK if it was beyond capacity, no? This is what's upsetting about Disney right now - they do indeed know how many people are going into each park on any given day - we are forced to tell them through the park ressie system. So they should know they need MORE attractions open, more restaurants open, more places to divert the very crowds they are allowing to enter that day. I love Disney but their handling of this and their lack of planning to allow guests to be able to physically distance, have enough to do and to eat without an hour or more wait is concerning - their priorities don't seem to be on the guest experience at this point.

Except there is still the ability to make same day reservations, which means Disney could have been prepared for a park where only 10% of the reservations were taken at the point schedules were made, but then the other 25% also showed up, which does show the biggest flaw in the reservation system

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Back yesterday from our extended weekend stay at CBR 2/11 - 2/15
I know transportation is always a big question. So here is the run down from the President's Day / Valentine's Day / Mardi Gras perfect storm of holidays!
2/11 - we rented a car (normally we would Uber), felt the Uber was one of our biggest risks we couldn't control. Arrived at CBR @12:50 pm, room was not ready. And we knew we couldn't make it to HS for the 1:00 RotR virtual Queue. Ordered lunch via MDE, waited almost 30 minutes for food to be ready at a non-busy time. Our room was ready by the time we were done eating. Moved the car, dropped our stuff in our room Aruba 55. Took the Riviera Hub over to the main Hub, transferred and then into HS. Left HS about 5:45, took the Skyliner to Epcot. When we were ready to leave Epcot it was pouring down rain (I mean buckets and buckets). Skyliner shut down. We had to walk from the back of the park to the front, to then stand in an endless line. Disney is unable to pivot quickly when the weather hits and now every person from CBR, AoA, Pop and Riviera now need to get on a bus. It took us more than hour to get back to our resort.
2/12 - MK day - park was open 9:00 a - 10:00 p - about 7:20 am we went to Riviera mobile ordered coffee from Primo, walked out the Riviera bus stop. Waited about 20 minutes for the bus to arrive, we were in the park super quick, park was open by the time we arrived about 8:05 am, walked to Space Mountain. They started the rides about 8:30. Stayed ALL DAY, walked out to the buses at park closing or just after. The line for CBR was huge. We took the Riviera bus. But we were in Aruba 55, so a super close walk.
2/13 - AK day - park was open 8:00 a - 8:00 pm - we used the Aruba bus stop. We arrived at our bus stop about 7:15. We waited about 10 minutes for the bus. We were in the park and in line for FOP by 7:50 am. Mid-day, took the bus back to CBR. About 5:30 we walked over to the Riviera Skyliner station to head to Epcot. We were about the 5th grouping back waiting. It took a while and the line behind us was building quickly. I joked with the Cast Member that they needed to send more empty cars from the main Hub. He said the ratio is 1 empty car every 12. My son was counting, it was about 15 - 17 cars before an empty one arrived. Epcot closed at 11:00. We left about 10:30. The line for the Skyliner was wrapped down towards Boardwalk. It took about 35 minutes for us to get on the Skyliner.
2/14 - HS then MK - HS opened at 9. MK closed at 11:00 pm - we walked down to the Skyliner Hub, not the Riviera Station. We were in line about 7:20 and about the 10th grouping back. They opened the gates to the Skyliner at 7:30. They moved some of us up into 2 queue lines right by where the cars would load. They were controlling the number of CBR people coming in from the line. The AoA line was running and they moved some of that line into the center of the Hub lines. None of the AoA line were in the super close queue lines. They started loading the cars at 7:50 am and we were in line being held outside of the temperature check tent until 8:15 am. Once inside we walked to Rockin Roller Coaster. Left HS about 5:15. There was a big line for the Skyliner, it was back towards the bus station. It moved quick. We were back at CBR by about 5:50. We had 7:45 dinner reservations at MK, so we were at the Aruba bus station by 6:50 pm. With me questioning if we would make it. The posted bus time on the boards and in the apps are not right, so you really don't know when a bus is coming. Bus arrived about 7:10. Driver dropped us off right by the temperature check tent. We didn't have to walk from the actual bus stop. We were inside and checked in for dinner by 7:30 pm . We closed down the park, walked out to huge lines at CBR and we took the Riviera bus.

Generally not huge issues using the buses. I don't think any of us think Disney does a great job of sending buses often enough. Be creative. If there are 4 of you but only 3 seats, tell the driver one of your kids can sit on your lap the entire time. There is no standing, no over crowding of buses. But I think they should be running more frequently especially at the end of the night.

I know I was anxious about making it to the park opening, generally we did without issue. AK we got a late start, I didn't set the alarm on my phone correctly. At least we didn't over sleep on our HS day!

 

[brockash]

Back yesterday from our extended weekend stay at CBR 2/11 - 2/15
I know transportation is always a big question. So here is the run down from the President's Day / Valentine's Day / Mardi Gras perfect storm of holidays!
2/11 - we rented a car (normally we would Uber), felt the Uber was one of our biggest risks we couldn't control. Arrived at CBR @12:50 pm, room was not ready. And we knew we couldn't make it to HS for the 1:00 RotR virtual Queue. Ordered lunch via MDE, waited almost 30 minutes for food to be ready at a non-busy time. Our room was ready by the time we were done eating. Moved the car, dropped our stuff in our room Aruba 55. Took the Riviera Hub over to the main Hub, transferred and then into HS. Left HS about 5:45, took the Skyliner to Epcot. When we were ready to leave Epcot it was pouring down rain (I mean buckets and buckets). Skyliner shut down. We had to walk from the back of the park to the front, to then stand in an endless line. Disney is unable to pivot quickly when the weather hits and now every person from CBR, AoA, Pop and Riviera now need to get on a bus. It took us more than hour to get back to our resort.
2/12 - MK day - park was open 9:00 a - 10:00 p - about 7:20 am we went to Riviera mobile ordered coffee from Primo, walked out the Riviera bus stop. Waited about 20 minutes for the bus to arrive, we were in the park super quick, park was open by the time we arrived about 8:05 am, walked to Space Mountain. They started the rides about 8:30. Stayed ALL DAY, walked out to the buses at park closing or just after. The line for CBR was huge. We took the Riviera bus. But we were in Aruba 55, so a super close walk.
2/13 - AK day - park was open 8:00 a - 8:00 pm - we used the Aruba bus stop. We arrived at our bus stop about 7:15. We waited about 10 minutes for the bus. We were in the park and in line for FOP by 7:50 am. Mid-day, took the bus back to CBR. About 5:30 we walked over to the Riviera Skyliner station to head to Epcot. We were about the 5th grouping back waiting. It took a while and the line behind us was building quickly. I joked with the Cast Member that they needed to send more empty cars from the main Hub. He said the ratio is 1 empty car every 12. My son was counting, it was about 15 - 17 cars before an empty one arrived. Epcot closed at 11:00. We left about 10:30. The line for the Skyliner was wrapped down towards Boardwalk. It took about 35 minutes for us to get on the Skyliner.
2/14 - HS then MK - HS opened at 9. MK closed at 11:00 pm - we walked down to the Skyliner Hub, not the Riviera Station. We were in line about 7:20 and about the 10th grouping back. They opened the gates to the Skyliner at 7:30. They moved some of us up into 2 queue lines right by where the cars would load. They were controlling the number of CBR people coming in from the line. The AoA line was running and they moved some of that line into the center of the Hub lines. None of the AoA line were in the super close queue lines. They started loading the cars at 7:50 am and we were in line being held outside of the temperature check tent until 8:15 am. Once inside we walked to Rockin Roller Coaster. Left HS about 5:15. There was a big line for the Skyliner, it was back towards the bus station. It moved quick. We were back at CBR by about 5:50. We had 7:45 dinner reservations at MK, so we were at the Aruba bus station by 6:50 pm. With me questioning if we would make it. The posted bus time on the boards and in the apps are not right, so you really don't know when a bus is coming. Bus arrived about 7:10. Driver dropped us off right by the temperature check tent. We didn't have to walk from the actual bus stop. We were inside and checked in for dinner by 7:30 pm . We closed down the park, walked out to huge lines at CBR and we took the Riviera bus.

Generally not huge issues using the buses. I don't think any of us think Disney does a great job of sending buses often enough. Be creative. If there are 4 of you but only 3 seats, tell the driver one of your kids can sit on your lap the entire time. There is no standing, no over crowding of buses. But I think they should be running more frequently especially at the end of the night.

I know I was anxious about making it to the park opening, generally we did without issue. AK we got a late start, I didn't set the alarm on my phone correctly. At least we didn't over sleep on our HS day!

Thx...we're staying at CBR in a few weeks and transportation is my biggest concern... Your post really helped get a good idea of what to expect.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Thx...we're staying at CBR in a few weeks and transportation is my biggest concern... Your post really helped get a good idea of what to expect.

Skyliner from CBR is great. Bus to AK was busy most of the day, even hours after park opening there were people still not about to get on at some of the stops. Bus to MK, especially for rope drop, is a complete zoo. After seeing lines of people not move we eventually Ubered to TTC. We had just missed a ferry and it was a good 20 minutes before the other one was there, loaded and moving which derailed plans to hit 7DMT and sort of sent the morning off on a bad note.

Not sure what better way to go about it although I’m sure there is one. Morning reservation at one of the walkable to MK resorts?

 

[hereforthechurros]

We took four Ubers this past weekend and each driver said they were amazed by the amount of requests this weekend. They haven’t seen it that busy in a year according to them. One lady said she hasn’t even been to Poly in almost a year and was surprised to see the construction. I’m sure things will die back down but they were excited about more business being back in the area.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Transportation post is above

Info here: what we accomplished by not sleeping in! 2/11 - 2/14
2/11 - arrival day, so we didn't get to HS until about 2:40 pm - but we did a lot! TSM, Aliens, Smugglers, Blue Milk break (loved it!), Star Tours, MMRR, then headed to Epcot (open until 8:00), we did Test Track and Frozen.
2/12 - MK - open 9:00 am - 10:00 pm - we were in the park by 8:05 am (it was open when we got there!) We walked to Space Mountain and were in line by 8:15 am. We were about 20 groupings back. They started the ride about 8:27. We did walk on to the ride. We weren't the first of the day, but close. We looped the ride and got in 3 rides on Space Mountain from 8:27 - 9:04 (my phone pics are time stamped!) We moved to Astro Orbiter, Buzz, Speedway, Tea Cups, Dumbo, Haunted Mansion and then it was time for lunch at the Plaza. Our reservation was 11:50 am. We checked in about 11:40 as we walked through the Hub.
2/13 - AK - open 8:00 am - 8:00 pm - we were in the park and in line for FOP by 7:50 am. We were not towards the front of the line, but it was slowly moving. We were off the ride and walking to Everest by 8:40 am. Everest wasn't busy, we rode twice. We decided we need coffee and to eat our granola bars. Plus rain was coming. We managed to find covered seating and had to stay put for a while, as massive thunder storms moved through. Once the rain was mostly done and the lightening was done, we went to the Safari, we stopped in a couple of shops and it was time for lunch at Yak and Yeti. The storm threw us off our game, but safety and keeping our feet dry was important.
2/14 - HS - open 9:00 am - 7:00 pm - Boarding Group 2 for RotR, yes, you read that correctly. Now that we had a BG, my day was much more relaxed! We were in the park by about 8:20. After being held outside the temperature check tents. We were about 20 Groups back. Most people were heading to Slinky / Smugglers or MMRR. We went to Rockin' Roller Coaster. We looped the ride 4 times before a line was actually building outside the queue area. Moved onto TSM, and at this point our BG had been called. We didn't want to risk missing the window, so we headed over. Then Star Tours, another round on TSM. Then we hit the point where we had lunch reservations at SciFi and not quite enough time to ride anything. We took a break and then had lunch.

We had relaxing afternoons of riding each day, but took advantage of the low wait times every morning.

 

[brockash]

Skyliner from CBR is great. Bus to AK was busy most of the day, even hours after park opening there were people still not about to get on at some of the stops. Bus to MK, especially for rope drop, is a complete zoo. After seeing lines of people not move we eventually Ubered to TTC. We had just missed a ferry and it was a good 20 minutes before the other one was there, loaded and moving which derailed plans to hit 7DMT and sort of sent the morning off on a bad note.

Not sure what better way to go about it although I’m sure there is one. Morning reservation at one of the walkable to MK resorts?

That's what I meant to ask...so for buses; do we know what order they come in and stop at at CBR? Also, if the fill the bus completely at tye 1st/2nd stop, will they send the next bus to the 3rd stop first? Trying to make early rope drop and the multiple bus stops stresses me out. Trying to decide if it'd be best to head to the 1st stop (is it like the main stop in front of the lobby) - I'm assuming it's busier, but maybe a bettee chance of getting on the bus or would it be better to wait at the bus stop closest to us (most likely will be Jamaica or Aruba?)

 

[kathi]

Can anyone comment on the outdoor kitchens at Epcot? When was it sane and when was it just too crowded? We want to include that in our touring strategies. I only have one Epcot park reservation and planned to walk over from Boardwalk in the afternoons on most days.

 

[hereforthechurros]

That's what I meant to ask...so for buses; do we know what order they come in and stop at at CBR? Also, if the fill the bus completely at tye 1st/2nd stop, will they send the next bus to the 3rd stop first? Trying to make early rope drop and the multiple bus stops stresses me out. Trying to decide if it'd be best to head to the 1st stop (is it like the main stop in front of the lobby) - I'm assuming it's busier, but maybe a bettee chance of getting on the bus or would it be better to wait at the bus stop closest to us (most likely will be Jamaica or Aruba?)

In our experience I believe they stop at Martinique first for pick up as the bus arrived empty and waited a while before heading to the next stop. By the time we made it to fourth bus stop it filled up and left people standing. And this was at 10:30 am when AK opened at 8 am. Even well before 8 am there were lines many people deep at every bus stop for MK, which opened at 9 am. Once the bus was full it left and did not continue to the other stops in our experience.

 

[jenmsmith]

Can anyone comment on the outdoor kitchens at Epcot? When was it sane and when was it just too crowded? We want to include that in our touring strategies. I only have one Epcot park reservation and planned to walk over from Boardwalk in the afternoons on most days.

In our experience, Epcot from 11 am until 2 pm is wonderful. On our late January trip it was the quietest I think I’ve ever seen Epcot. However, after 2 pm, because of park hopping, it can get much, much busier.

 

[brockash]

In our experience I believe they stop at Martinique first for pick up as the bus arrived empty and waited a while before heading to the next stop. By the time we made it to fourth bus stop it filled up and left people standing. And this was at 10:30 am when AK opened at 8 am. Even well before 8 am there were lines many people deep at every bus stop for MK, which opened at 9 am. Once the bus was full it left and did not continue to the other stops in our experience.

Thank you!

 

[Sbunit81]

Slinky dog already 70 min wait this morning