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

[cdh]

The recommendation many use is to arrive at the transportation stop of your resort 90 mins before park opening. Transportation won't be running then but it gets you closer to the front of the line once it does start running.

. Thank you

 

[Mr. X]

The recommendation many use is to arrive at the transportation stop of your resort 90 mins before park opening. Transportation won't be running then but it gets you closer to the front of the line once it does start running.

Assuming it also depends on what resort you’re leaving and what resort you are heading too. If I were going to HS from the Polynesian I think my best bet would be to skip bus and get uber to swan/dolphin?

Also, touring plans is estimating a 5 rating for Epcot the week of 5/16 which has me scratching my head a bit. Other parks are 3.

 

[RhodyKP]

I would say that Disney is expecting some large Spring Break crowds beginning the week of March 14-20 (probably to the surprise of nobody here).

Disney World Adds Nearly 100 More Operating Hours for Spring Break (blogmickey.com)

For those going then and in the weeks after through 4/10- or even 4/17 (as I'd assume more hours extensions are coming), I would continue to follow the best practices that many of us have outlined in this thread including:

• Plan to arrive at the parks an hour before their posted opening - be at the bus stop as much as 90 minutes before posted park opening to ensure you're on the first bus. Regardless of how busy the mid-day will be, with Disney's current "rope drop" procedure, you can have a very successful first 2 hours IF you are among the first to enter the parks.
• For early morning touring, consider limiting your walking. Chasing "short wait times" by walking back and forth across the park or traversing numerous lands might not be in your best interests. Make sure you know from recent DPs which rides operate before the park opens - some do not and you don't want to waste precious morning time waiting for a ride to open.
• You also might factor in "attraction length" when charting your plan. Rides like Soarin', Splash Mtn, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, iasw, MFSR, FoP, Safari, all take a longer time to experience. While they might be good "morning" priorities - they might not be your best first priorities due to how much of the "low crowd" window they eat up. Alternatively, things like 7DMT, PP, BTMRR, SDD, MMRR, Navi, and EE all have a relatively short overall experience time allowing you to move quickly to your next attraction in those precious morning hours. Basically, have a plan and balance these factors!
• For a better mobile order experience, snag your lunch window early (we ordered as early as 7am while waiting for the bus) and hit "I'm Here" as much as 15-30 minutes before you are actually there. Eating at off times also might improve your experience.
• With extended hours again available, consider the afternoon break to escape the heat and the busiest portion of the day (noon-4pm). Keep in mind that many extended lines are exposed to the sun and could be uncomfortable as temps in Florida get warmer in the next month.
• Wait times might show some relief as it gets later in the day BUT reports coming out of President's Day were that at times the relief never came (i.e. wait times remained "high-ish" all the way until park close). IF your family can't stay late AND make a next day rope drop, it might be in your best interest to prioritize tomorrow's rope drop.
• Saturday is almost guaranteed to be the heaviest crowd level day out of any 7 day span. Personally, I found Animal Kingdom to be a great Saturday park since we arrived early and were able to hit the 4 major rides (Navi, FoP, EE, Safari) before crowds built. Magic Kingdom is likely your worst bet on a Saturday. Epcot has a similar Saturday reputation but with far fewer things to do in Epcot, it seems easier to just hit some things and duck out of there too (similar to AK).

This is great advice, thanks! I'm unexpectedly in trip planning mode for a 5/1-5/8 trip so it will be interesting to see what changes between now and then. I thought I had heard that lines for boat rides (Jungle Cruise, Pirates, etc.) are some of the longest and that it makes sense to rope drop those. Your thoughts?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Assuming it also depends on what resort you’re leaving and what resort you are heading too. If I were going to HS from the Polynesian I think my best bet would be to skip bus and get uber to swan/dolphin?

Also, touring plans is estimating a 5 rating for Epcot the week of 5/16 which has me scratching my head a bit. Other parks are 3.

Taking an Uber is personal choice. Many people find Disney transportation to work just fine to get them to the parks for park opening. I've never used a paid transportation to take me to a park but many have.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

This is great advice, thanks! I'm unexpectedly in trip planning mode for a 5/1-5/8 trip so it will be interesting to see what changes between now and then. I thought I had heard that lines for boat rides (Jungle Cruise, Pirates, etc.) are some of the longest and that it makes sense to rope drop those. Your thoughts?

Note the nuance to that advice... I'm not suggesting you don't rope drop them. Just that they might not be the best use of your first rope drop slot... If you're among the first into MK on a 9am open (tapstiles actually open at 8:30) and all goes well and you do 7DMT, PP, BTMRR, Pirates, Jungle Cruise in that order you might get them all done by 10:00.

If you did those same attractions in the exact reverse order, you might not get all of that done until 11am. By factoring total experience time into your thought process you can pick up little pockets of 3-5 minutes, and that can pay an exponential dividend in terms of time early in the morning.

This advice could also potentially argue Test Track before Soarin' (maybe - I don't have firsthand experience on that one post-COVID), SDD (and all of TSL) before MFSR, and even crazy enough possibly Navi before FoP.

 

[wilkydelts]

Wait times on apps like TP are estimations based upon historical data, at individual points in time during a day they can be inaccurate. The morning is probably the hardest to gauge on the apps which has been stated previously in this thread.

Towards the end of the afternoon they tend to be a little more accurate.

This is partially true. The TP App relies mainly on crowd sourced data. They ask you to start and end a timer for each line you get into. That is why it is so much more accurate.

 

[dez1978]

I would say that Disney is expecting some large Spring Break crowds beginning the week of March 14-20 (probably to the surprise of nobody here).

Disney World Adds Nearly 100 More Operating Hours for Spring Break (blogmickey.com)

For those going then and in the weeks after through 4/10- or even 4/17 (as I'd assume more hours extensions are coming), I would continue to follow the best practices that many of us have outlined in this thread including:

• Plan to arrive at the parks an hour before their posted opening - be at the bus stop as much as 90 minutes before posted park opening to ensure you're on the first bus. Regardless of how busy the mid-day will be, with Disney's current "rope drop" procedure, you can have a very successful first 2 hours IF you are among the first to enter the parks.
• For early morning touring, consider limiting your walking. Chasing "short wait times" by walking back and forth across the park or traversing numerous lands might not be in your best interests. Make sure you know from recent DPs which rides operate before the park opens - some do not and you don't want to waste precious morning time waiting for a ride to open.
• You also might factor in "attraction length" when charting your plan. Rides like Soarin', Splash Mtn, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, iasw, MFSR, FoP, Safari, all take a longer time to experience. While they might be good "morning" priorities - they might not be your best first priorities due to how much of the "low crowd" window they eat up. Alternatively, things like 7DMT, PP, BTMRR, SDD, MMRR, Navi, and EE all have a relatively short overall experience time allowing you to move quickly to your next attraction in those precious morning hours. Basically, have a plan and balance these factors!
• For a better mobile order experience, snag your lunch window early (we ordered as early as 7am while waiting for the bus) and hit "I'm Here" as much as 15-30 minutes before you are actually there. Eating at off times also might improve your experience.
• With extended hours again available, consider the afternoon break to escape the heat and the busiest portion of the day (noon-4pm). Keep in mind that many extended lines are exposed to the sun and could be uncomfortable as temps in Florida get warmer in the next month.
• Wait times might show some relief as it gets later in the day BUT reports coming out of President's Day were that at times the relief never came (i.e. wait times remained "high-ish" all the way until park close). IF your family can't stay late AND make a next day rope drop, it might be in your best interest to prioritize tomorrow's rope drop.
• Saturday is almost guaranteed to be the heaviest crowd level day out of any 7 day span. Personally, I found Animal Kingdom to be a great Saturday park since we arrived early and were able to hit the 4 major rides (Navi, FoP, EE, Safari) before crowds built. Magic Kingdom is likely your worst bet on a Saturday. Epcot has a similar Saturday reputation but with far fewer things to do in Epcot, it seems easier to just hit some things and duck out of there too (similar to AK).

But I don’t want to be at the bus stop at 630 to get to Mk no one in my part (except me) will want to do that.ugh.
Ok, I’m done whining now. I’ll need to figure out a way to be successful later in the day

 

[Ash1988]

I'm here now. I never post much, but I figured I could let everyone know my experience. I've had a good time, but it's much more crowded than I expected. I will say I'm used to September trips, and crowds for past trips have always been really low. I'll start with the positives. The bus situation has been fine. We've waited in some long lines, but they seem to send way more buses than in the past, so it moves quickly. We loved that there is no standing or crowding like past times. It's so nice to always have a seat. Love the skyliner too. We are staying at pop, and it has been great even when lines are long. The mobile food order has been no problem for us. We have never had to wait long for our food and no problem finding a seat. So much easier than waiting in lines. We do normally eat around eleven though before the busiest times. We have eaten at table services places every night. Nice break from the crowds, and we have had really good food everywhere. Disney has definitely done a good job in lines with keeping people six feet apart. Hand sanitizer is everywhere too and mask compliance seems fine to me. The worst part of the trip has been the crowds. I guess we just didn't research enough. I honestly thought it would be busy but not like this. We have stood in more hour long lines than we ever have. We have done a couple of rope drops or should I say getting there before the park even opens, so if you can do that every day that's your best bet. The first couple of hours you can get a good bit done. If you get there at ten for a nine opening like we did one morning you're going to just have to wait on the main rides all day. Don't get me wrong you can find some twenty or thirty minutes waits. But we have waited close to an hour for tower of terror, avatar, splash mountain, Mickey and Minnie ride etc. Just be prepared for that when you come. We've still had a good time though, so you just need to come in with those expectations. Oh and we did get a boarding group for the new star wars ride. It was awesome so that's a plus too.

 

[Brittany Fata]

I'm here now. I never post much, but I figured I could let everyone know my experience. I've had a good time, but it's much more crowded than I expected. I will say I'm used to September trips, and crowds for past trips have always been really low. I'll start with the positives. The bus situation has been fine. We've waited in some long lines, but they seem to send way more buses than in the past, so it moves quickly. We loved that there is no standing or crowding like past times. It's so nice to always have a seat. Love the skyliner too. We are staying at pop, and it has been great even when lines are long. The mobile food order has been no problem for us. We have never had to wait long for our food and no problem finding a seat. So much easier than waiting in lines. We do normally eat around eleven though before the busiest times. We have eaten at table services places every night. Nice break from the crowds, and we have had really good food everywhere. Disney has definitely done a good job in lines with keeping people six feet apart. Hand sanitizer is everywhere too and mask compliance seems fine to me. The worst part of the trip has been the crowds. I guess we just didn't research enough. I honestly thought it would be busy but not like this. We have stood in more hour long lines than we ever have. We have done a couple of rope drops or should I say getting there before the park even opens, so if you can do that every day that's your best bet. The first couple of hours you can get a good bit done. If you get there at ten for a nine opening like we did one morning you're going to just have to wait on the main rides all day. Don't get me wrong you can find some twenty or thirty minutes waits. But we have waited close to an hour for tower of terror, avatar, splash mountain, Mickey and Minnie ride etc. Just be prepared for that when you come. We've still had a good time though, so you just need to come in with those expectations. Oh and we did get a boarding group for the new star wars ride. It was awesome so that's a plus too.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I was wondering if you can touch more on the crowds. I know you said the 6 feet distance in lines was good, but what about walking around the park? Did you feel that you were constantly standing in crowds of people and couldn't distance from others on walkways, picking up mobile order, etc?

Or were the crowds mostly related to the wait times you experienced.

 

[Kaelorian]

Eh, I think it's useful to hear everyone thoughts. "Complaints" help shape expectations. There were a lot of positives from our trip and I'm a pretty positive person, but I do think the sudden shift in crowd levels is something to be noted.

IMO, It would be useful for those who are unsure of how they feel about the risk/reward to know ahead of time if this is something you are trying to avoid in some capacity. You cannot control other people, even with the best 'guidelines' in place ...

This! I want to hear both the positive and negative. It helps shape a complete picture of what to reasonably expect. I can be grateful for the positive and prepared (mentally and strategically) for the negative. This way I won't go in with unrealistic expectations.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

That‘s a good point. I hadn’t really thought about it but Disney and Universal may feel safer than other vacation destinations because masks are required.

It could be the end of a lot of use year points for DVC folks, too

 

[Ash1988]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I was wondering if you can touch more on the crowds. I know you said the 6 feet distance in lines was good, but what about walking around the park? Did you feel that you were constantly standing in crowds of people and couldn't distance from others on walkways, picking up mobile order, etc?

Or were the crowds mostly related to the wait times you experienced.

You could distance okay, but in certain places, it's been hard to stay six feet from people. Fantasyland around small world and Peter pan was awful one day. Certain places in hollywood studios felt packed. It was hard to avoid all together in my opinion. It's not like we were ever just stuck though. We were able to get out of it fairly quickly, but if you want to completely avoid people, now may not be the time to come. In my experience, people do try to get out of your way, but when there's hundreds of people in an area it's hard to avoid all together. I don't want to sound negative though cause overall it's been okay on distancing but there are times we haven't been able to avoid it.

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

I would say that Disney is expecting some large Spring Break crowds beginning the week of March 14-20 (probably to the surprise of nobody here).

Disney World Adds Nearly 100 More Operating Hours for Spring Break (blogmickey.com)

When a park has an opening time at 8am these days do they really open more like 7:15/7:30?

 

[Kaelorian]

I'm here now. I never post much, but I figured I could let everyone know my experience. I've had a good time, but it's much more crowded than I expected. I will say I'm used to September trips, and crowds for past trips have always been really low. I'll start with the positives. The bus situation has been fine. We've waited in some long lines, but they seem to send way more buses than in the past, so it moves quickly. We loved that there is no standing or crowding like past times. It's so nice to always have a seat. Love the skyliner too. We are staying at pop, and it has been great even when lines are long. The mobile food order has been no problem for us. We have never had to wait long for our food and no problem finding a seat. So much easier than waiting in lines. We do normally eat around eleven though before the busiest times. We have eaten at table services places every night. Nice break from the crowds, and we have had really good food everywhere. Disney has definitely done a good job in lines with keeping people six feet apart. Hand sanitizer is everywhere too and mask compliance seems fine to me. The worst part of the trip has been the crowds. I guess we just didn't research enough. I honestly thought it would be busy but not like this. We have stood in more hour long lines than we ever have. We have done a couple of rope drops or should I say getting there before the park even opens, so if you can do that every day that's your best bet. The first couple of hours you can get a good bit done. If you get there at ten for a nine opening like we did one morning you're going to just have to wait on the main rides all day. Don't get me wrong you can find some twenty or thirty minutes waits. But we have waited close to an hour for tower of terror, avatar, splash mountain, Mickey and Minnie ride etc. Just be prepared for that when you come. We've still had a good time though, so you just need to come in with those expectations. Oh and we did get a boarding group for the new star wars ride. It was awesome so that's a plus too.

I was wondering on if you could share a bit more on the morning transportation from Pop to make rope drop.
How has the skyliner and bus situation going? Would it be better to skip the skyliner to make it to rope drop?

 

[Brittany Fata]

You could distance okay, but in certain places, it's been hard to stay six feet from people. Fantasyland around small world and Peter pan was awful one day. Certain places in hollywood studios felt packed. It was hard to avoid all together in my opinion. It's not like we were ever just stuck though. We were able to get out of it fairly quickly, but if you want to completely avoid people, now may not be the time to come. In my experience, people do try to get out of your way, but when there's hundreds of people in an area it's hard to avoid all together. I don't want to sound negative though cause overall it's been okay on distancing but there are times we haven't been able to avoid it.

Thank you, that’s super helpful. I just don’t want to feel “stuck” in crowds all day, so it’s good to know you can at least get out of the busier parts quickly. I’ll keep watching this board though to see how crowds progress closer to my date.

 

[Ash1988]

I was wondering on if you could share a bit more on the morning transportation from Pop to make rope drop.
How has the skyliner and bus situation going? Would it be better to skip the skyliner to make it to rope drop?

We had no problem with Epcot using the skyliner. We went there on Tuesday, but I honestly can't remember what time we left the hotel. I'm thinking it was after nine for the eleven opening. I do remember that we were in the park by 10:15. They let us on in, and we were on soarin around 1030 with no wait. Epcot was the least crowded day we had though. For hollywood studios, we left the hotel at 745 and barely got there before nine. We should have left earlier really. It just takes a while to do two stations in the mornings. It might actually be easier to drive there. And it would probably be quicker to drive over the buses to animal kingdom too; we just prefer not having to drive, but it would just likely save time if we did.

 

[MIndy S]

Today was our last park day. We were in HS on Sunday and today, MK on Monday, AK on Tuesday, and Epcot yesterday. I will agree with many others on most points, but here are my takeaways:

We loved online check in and mobile ordering. It was excellent to order our food from the opposite end of the park and have it ready when we arrived. We ordered Satuli Canteen from Rafiki's Planet Watch. Clicked "I'm Here" when we arrived, waited 5 minutes, then were able to enter, get the food, and sit right down. Easy Peasy. We also used Mobile Ordering at Ronto Roasters, Docking Bay 7, Aloha Isle, the Milk Stand, and Pecos Bills with no quarrels.

Social distancing in queues, dining areas, and shops was as good as can be expected. Disney really couldn't do any better in those areas. There were some rare moments of discomfort, but always due to non-compliance from someone who thinks the lines on the ground are some kind of clown car challenge.

The crowding throughout the walkways and bathrooms are a whole different story. Social distancing was simply non-existent this week in the main areas of all the parks. It was uncomfortably busy. Someone here asked if there were moments where it was not possible to keep social distance, and I would say that it is rare to have 6 feet of distance unless you are in a queue, dining location, shop, less traveled route, or a bathroom stall, or if it is within the first hour or two of park open.

Lines were pretty long after the first couple hours in the parks. They did not seem to die down anywhere throughout the day, except maybe Epcot. Epcot was pretty slow yesterday, Wednesday. Even though it was slow, though, we had issues with crowding around test track and in multiple walkways in the WS.

Drivers are at a disadvantage getting to every park. I am wondering if that will be how they implement the 30 minute early entry to resort guests. We were turned away at the gate at Epcot yesterday for being 75 minutes early, and we were turned away at HS today and we were only an hour early. We had to drive in circles for a few minutes and try again later. In Epcot, we still made rope drop, but in HS they didn't even let us drive into the parking lot until after 8:15.

Despite the uncomfortable crowds and long lines, we still had a great time. We waited in many more lines this trip than we did in our past trips with FP+, but we still rode everything we wanted to. It was not the experience we were hoping for, but still enjoyable and magical.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I was wondering on if you could share a bit more on the morning transportation from Pop to make rope drop.
How has the skyliner and bus situation going? Would it be better to skip the skyliner to make it to rope drop?

If you go to the Pop thread on the Resorts board I just wrote details about transportation as the same question was asked there.

 

[DMLAINI]

How are the bathrooms? Long lines? Do people try to social distance? Are they clean?

 

[MIndy S]

How are the bathrooms? Long lines? Do people try to social distance? Are they clean?

No lines, clean and stocked, social distancing is hit or miss. There was commonly some crowding at the entrance and exit.