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

[DavidNYC]

How has it been lately getting into Disney Springs around dinner time? Heading to S. Florida for a few weeks and considering driving up to Orlando one night (would be a Thursday).
Any recent reports on parking or going through whatever entrance lines they currently have?
Deciding if it’s worth it or if we’d get there and spend half our night in lines.

 

[closetmickey]

Question about park hopping: we are going the last week of March when most days one or more parks are full on the reservation calender. Does this mean we automatically will not be able to hop to those parks in the evening?

And to add a quick note to this...When talking to a front desk castmember at the CR, our park plans for that day came up in conversation and she told me that we would not be able to hop because the park was full for reservations for the day. So you may come across some incorrect information out there.

 

[mdgineok]

Just back from our 2/26-3/2 stay at OKW. We spent the 3/2-3/6 on the Gulf Coast. I want to thank everyone for their posts which helped us have a successful trip. Just a few quick observations, I can post detailed daily reports if people are interested.

As reported here, placing a mobile order early to secure your desired eating time is the best way to get food. Also eating at off times also helped getting a table inside.

Wait times were generally at or under posted wait times. We only experienced one wait time that was longer and it was SDMT in the middle of the day and it was just 2 minutes longer than posted.

We drove to AK and HS and were let into the parking lot approximately 45 minutes before park opening. We bussed to MK and were able to get in the park more than 45 minutes before opening.

I failed to get a ROR boarding group at 7 AM due to me missing the join button, UGH! We were able to get one at 1:00 by having three people all trying while standing near the Millennium Falcon with WiFi off and relying solely on data (ATT and T-Mobile). Got BG 97.

Weather was sunny, 80’s all five days we were there. Mask compliance was +95%. Teens seemed to be the biggest offenders at having noses exposed. Saw a PP Photographer aggressively confront an uncooperative male about his mask. The guest deserved to be kicked out, he was out of line, swearing at the CM.

CM’s were terrific other than the one swearing and complaining about another CM on front of a line of guests waiting in the extended queue for RRC. She went on and on for more than 5 minutes.

Got some pixie dust when I went to the front desk at OKW when we arrived at 12:30 to get a package we shipped to ourselves and the CM assigned us a 2 BR that was ready without me even asking. He gave me a choice of rooms and we chose 2nd floor, Bldg 41. This is our 3rd stay in this building and we like the location.

Let me know if you have any specific questions. Thanks again for all the help.

Mark in MN

 

[WawaCoffee]

Just back from our 2/26-3/2 stay at OKW.

How were the crowds at the OKW main pool, and the resort in general?

 

[mdgineok]

How were the crowds at the OKW main pool, and the resort in general?

We had no trouble getting drinks or food at Good's to Go or Gurgling Suitcase with short waits. We did not eat at Olivia's. We went to the main pool two days and the Turtle Pond pool the other days. We always found a table for 4 near the pool and were able to use the hot tubs when we wanted. We went to the pool early evening/late afternoon and seemed to get there as others were leaving. We had either eaten earlier or ate dinner poolside. I did not feel crowded when at HH or the pool areas.

 

[tjmw2727]

And to add a quick note to this...When talking to a front desk castmember at the CR, our park plans for that day came up in conversation and she told me that we would not be able to hop because the park was full for reservations for the day. So you may come across some incorrect information out there.

Sadly that CM is incorrect, friends were able to Park Hop to MK on a day when there were no Park Reservations available. They know this because their friends were not able to join them last minute as MK was sold out of park reservations and they had not been in a park prior to MK.

The only real way to know if you can PH to a specific park is to check after 2 and see

It seems like park hopping and park reservations are separate.

 

[hes122]

How long after Epcot close has the skyliner been running? I have an 8 pm Beaches & Cream res. on March 11, and Epcot closes at 8, and I’d like to be prepared if I’m going to have to bus from BC to DS to Pop afterward, instead of just hopping the Skyliner

We had a similar situation this week. We showed up to B&C before our reservation time and asked if there was any way we could get seated early. Our ADR was for 9:50 and we showed up around 7:30. They were only able to offer us outside seating but we took it so that we could hop back on the skyliner vs having to uber back to Pop.

 

[ckb_nc]

It will be interesting to go back after COVID. When lines that look long are well actually really long.

 

[WEDWDW]

It will be interesting to go back after COVID. When lines that look long are well actually really long.

But it could also be deceiving-after seeing Pan lines go through Columbia Harbour House,the "normal,non Social Distanced Pan line" will look SHORT!lol

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

But it could also be deceiving-after seeing Pan lines go through Columbia Harbour House,the "normal,non Social Distanced Pan line" will look SHORT!lol

It will look short, but take an hour.

 

[csmom]

How has it been lately getting into Disney Springs around dinner time? Heading to S. Florida for a few weeks and considering driving up to Orlando one night (would be a Thursday).
Any recent reports on parking or going through whatever entrance lines they currently have?
Deciding if it’s worth it or if we’d get there and spend half our night in lines.

We were at Disney 2/15 -2/19 (President's Day week). We had dinner reservations in Disney Springs each evening. We parked in the Lime Garage each day, plenty of parking spots available on the top 2 floors. The line for security/temp check went quickly and smoothly - never took us more than a couple minutes to get through, even though Disney Springs itself seemed very crowded each evening.

 

[bookgirl2632]

I have heard that they are letting people into the parks earlier than the posted time. For those that have been recently, what time were you let into each park?

 

[DavidNYC]

We were at Disney 2/15 -2/19 (President's Day week). We had dinner reservations in Disney Springs each evening. We parked in the Lime Garage each day, plenty of parking spots available on the top 2 floors. The line for security/temp check went quickly and smoothly - never took us more than a couple minutes to get through, even though Disney Springs itself seemed very crowded each evening.

Thanks - if that's what we hit that'll be fine!!! I'd suspect late March would be a little lighter as the spring breaks are spread out a bit more (and we've past almost all college breaks and it's not easter week yet). I mostly wanted to know people have been able to park and have tolerable lines to get in. Just going to have dinner and wander and eat and get a little bit of Disney until we feel ready to head to the parks again. (We may try Blizzard Beach on Friday - we have so many old non-expiring hopper tickets with tons of those plusses left on them which we literally won't use up in the next decade so figure even if we go for an hour or two it'll be fine).

 

[scrappinginontario]

I have heard that they are letting people into the parks earlier than the posted time. For those that have been recently, what time were you let into each park?

Approx. 45 mins before park opening.

 

[DisneyJade]

I have heard that they are letting people into the parks earlier than the posted time. For those that have been recently, what time were you let into each park?

Last week, we saw parks open 45 minutes early and an hour early. On the days it was an hour early, the rides did not open right away, but you could get in line.

 

[DisneyJade]

I tracked our daily accomplishments, transportation times and ride wait times last week, but it was too much for this thread, I think, so I made a mini trip report, all in one post, with time stamps. Hope it is helpful to someone!

 

[Stormtrooper mum]

Last week, we saw parks open 45 minutes early and an hour early. On the days it was an hour early, the rides did not open right away, but you could get in line.

Which parks? Thanks!

 

[DisneyJade]

Which parks? Thanks!

45 minutes early at DHS
60 minutes early at AK
45 min early at MK Monday
60 min early at MK Friday
Not sure about Epcot, because we missed opening. Still got in before 11:00 official time.

 

[Stormtrooper mum]

45 minutes early at DHS
60 minutes early at AK
45 min early at MK Monday
60 min early at MK Friday
Not sure about Epcot, because we missed opening. Still got in before 11:00 official time.

So helpful thank you!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I have heard that they are letting people into the parks earlier than the posted time. For those that have been recently, what time were you let into each park?

We entered both MK and AK more than 30 minutes early. Some rides were running already but some weren't open yet.