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

[kdonnel]

Had a slow easy day. Made it to Epcot about 11:30. Waited on TT, took 40 minutes compared to the posted 65 minutes. We then ate our way over to the Frozen ride. Waited 25 minutes there, exactly the same as the posted 25 minutes wait. We then ate our way around to the International Gateway exit. Rode the Skyliner to RR where we caught an Uber to the Animal Kingdom.

At the Animal Kingdom we went straight to Expedition Everest. The posted time was 45 minutes, we waited 30 minutes. Next we road the Safari with a wait time listed at 25 mins but a wait of 15. Then off to Flight of Passage with a posted wait of 65 and an actual wait of 40. After dinner we went back to Everest as it was a walk on.

We took the bus back to the hotel and baked in the hot tub with 22 of our newest friends.

It was a nice slow easy day on our first trip to WDW without our kids. We did so many fewer rides but that was because of our purposefully slow style. Crowds and lines seem more or less the same as our last visit in November when we had no problem riding rides at a break neck speed with the kids.

 

[olafgypsy]

04/01 EPCOT - 3rd park day, our second day at EPCOT. We decided to embrace our night owl tendencies and not attempt rope drop at EPCOT; we would simply hold off on doing any rides until late evening when the lines went down. We woke around 10am and then headed to Disney Springs for "breakfast" around 12pm because I wanted to try Everglazed. I immediately regretted this choice when we were routed through the parking garage cattle chute style back-and-forth, back-and-forth that immediately adds half a mile to your walk before the day even starts. It took about 30 minutes just to get IN to Disney Springs around noon. On a Thursday. Ugh. Everglazed, however, was amazing. The donuts tasted SO fresh! My husband had a burger that was really good also. But Disney Springs was an absolute zoo with horrific crowds and long lines to get into every store, so this day had me regretting I had booked so many dinner reservations for our non-park days here.....I knew it wasn't going to be very restful.

Headed to EPCOT around 2:30 and were scanning into the parks about 3. We spent 4+ hours in World Showcase just grazing the F&G festival booths, admiring the floral displays, and hunting for Spike. Crowds were manageable in World Showcase: we never had more than a 5-minute wait for food booths and many areas of the pavilions were totally empty once you got off the main walkways.

We finally headed to Future World around 7:20 for Test Track. This was my son's "try ride" for EPCOT (a new-to-him ride he agrees to try to force him out of his comfort zone). I have been wanting him to try this ride forever because he has been obsessed with wheeled machines pretty much since birth, but he was always too scared to try TT because he thought it looked "too fast." Well........he loved it!! (I knew he would.) He got off the ride and did this little jump he always does when he's excited and said, "I guess I have a new favorite ride" (so cute). Our wait on this would have been about 35 minutes except they did a 15 minute cleaning cycle RIGHT before we got to the front of the line, so it was 50 minutes -- longest wait of the trip so far. Worth it for my son's reaction

At this point we paused to eat at Sunshine Griddle food booth. This was the BEST food booth of the festival hands down. Everything we had -- shrimp and grits, corned beef hash, avocado toast, Froot Loops shake, cinnamon bites--was SO, SO good. Run, don't walk, to this booth next time you are at EPCOT!

About 9:00 we were in line for Spaceship Earth. It was about 15 minutes to front of line. After SE we headed to Soarin'. For this one we waited about 30 minutes and had a great ride. It was getting close to park close at this point, but I had promised my son I would take him to the WDI Presents the EPCOT Experience exhibit in the festival center so we did that for about 10 minutes before hopping in line at 10:45pm for FEA. I have not been on this ride since it was Maelstrom and this is a fun re-make, but some of it seems kind of low-budget. There are whole parts of the ride that are just black wall on one side, which seems very.....not Disney-like. The line theming, however, is adorable. The ride has a drop in it, therefore my son hated it.

Overall I think that in non-FP times late evening touring at EPCOT is the way to go if you can swing it with your family's preferences. The crowds are so light and the lines as short as they're going to get. I know that's probably difficult for folks with little ones, but happily our son is a night owl just like mom and dad and he is rarin' to go and happy as a clam about 7pm, so this worked well for us. The relaxed touring in WS and (relatively) short lines in FW made this our best park day so far.

 

[olafgypsy]

I just got to say that I loved all of your trip report. Your 7 y/o son's comments about the rides were so fun to hear; they reminded me of the unique view kids have of disney. I always hated the race cars, but each child and grandchild loved, loved them. Sounds like you had a great day, making lots of great memories, and Dasani too, LOL. Your TR is my favorite so far

Awww, thank you! Yes, it's such a different experience doing Disney with a kid! My 20-something-self would shudder at the thought of Rope-Dropping the Speedway. My mom self just shrugs and goes with it

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I love these updates from you all. Great tips, whether it’s rope dropping or to bring your own sunscreen. Thank you all so much!

 

[DCLMP]

Guests may not be dropped off at any resorts without an Advanced Dining Reservation to dine at a table service restaurant. The resorts are not available for guest drop-off. Guests are to be dropped at the TTC when going to the Magic Kingdom..

If they would improve their bus service or only allow resort guests in an hour early they could alleviate these problems.

 

[DCLMP]

If you Lyft to AK what time do they let ride shares in?

 

[GBRforWDW]

If you Lyft to AK what time do they let ride shares in?

They usually let cars start lining up an hour before posted opening, then hold you at the toll booths until 45 minutes before posted opening.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Did any park close for hopping at any point all weekend or yesterday?

 

[TheMick424]

Thanks to everyone for reporting back on their trips! So helpful! Anyone recently stay at Riviera or Beach Club? Would love to hear about your experiences with the buses and food at the resort.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Thanks to everyone for reporting back on their trips! So helpful! Anyone recently stay at Riviera or Beach Club? Would love to hear about your experiences with the buses and food at the resort.

We have stayed at the Yacht Club and have gone to the BC Marketplace for breakfast almost every day during our last three trips. The villas building is open but the resort rooms are closed. The BC marketplace has been empty or had very few guests every time we went there. We really liked having the place to ourselves.

We have done the bus stop at the BC and it has been fine. The MK bus is the busiest, as usual, and the AK bus has been fine, too. The only other bus is for Disney Springs, since you can walk, take a boat or a Skyliner for the other two parks. They don't have a formal line for the buses and social distancing for the bus lines doesn't exist. But otherwise, it is fine. I prefer taking the bus from the YC because they have clearly marked lines with social distancing stickers on the ground.

 

[subtchr]

Did any park close for hopping at any point all weekend or yesterday?

No.

Every park has been available for hopping every day since it was reinstated on 1/1/21.

 

[DisneyFive]

No.

Every park has been available for hopping every day since it was reinstated on 1/1/21.

Gosh I hope they open the Epcot monorail loop soon. It's one of the perks of staying at the monorail resorts (I'm looking at you Polynesian August of this year).

Dan

 

[subtchr]

Gosh I hope they open the Epcot monorail loop soon. It's one of the perks of staying at the monorail resorts (I'm looking at you Polynesian August of this year).

Dan

Eh, I wouldn't expect that anytime soon. They seem to be doing fine with the direct buses between MK & Epcot after 2, (and between Poly and Epcot all day).

I hope they do, too, though!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

When I was there in January, I checked at the front desk. Hotels are not shipping home. Only Disney stores are right now. If you buy something at a Disney owned shop, you can ship it at any other Disney owned shop - I had 2 custom built droids from droid depot that I shipped from AoA gift shop. However, if you have something not purchased onsite, there's not really a way to ship it from Disney property.

Ok so this is confusing-Disney Stores mean anywhere on property yes? So if we go to our hotel store we could ship it form there yes?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Ok so this is confusing-Disney Stores mean anywhere on property yes? So if we go to our hotel store we could ship it form there yes?

Yes, I'm not sure if all Disney Springs shops fall into this category, but should include all shops in the parks and resorts.

 

[Ejw5]

Disney has updated their mask policy with a change that starts April 8! You will be able to take massless photos while outdoors, stationary, and socially distanced! I am so excited to be able to see my kids faces in our vacation photos!

 

[travellovingirl]

Disney has updated their mask policy with a change that starts April 8! You will be able to take massless photos while outdoors, stationary, and socially distanced! I am so excited to be able to see my kids faces in our vacation photos!

Where did you see this change?

 

[Ejw5]

Where did you see this change?

It’s on the Disney website. Here is a screenshot from the official announcement.

 

[Rarity]

Where did you see this change?

It's on the WDW website. Click on "Face Coverings (link)."

 

[chad_1138]

I am now officially keeping Memory Maker for our July Trip!!!