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

[capegirl]

Considering the crowds heading to TT, we hope to be on the first bus out. Would anyone know when the EPCOT busses begin to arrive?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Considering the crowds heading to TT, we hope to be on the first bus out. Would anyone know when the EPCOT busses begin to arrive?

For any park opening it is recommended you arrive at your resort transportation no less than 90 mins before posted park opening.

 

[Eeyore1220]

Hi all. Just got here today. Spent the afternoon at AK - I really appreciated everyone’s posts so I tried to keep track of wait times. We got to the park around 12. No wait to get in. Felt pretty quiet. We dawdled a bit and got in line for rapids at 12:30. Posted 25 minute wait, waited 15. Then we did safari. Posted 35, waited 35. Then Everest, posted 20, waited 20. Mobile ordered restaurantasaurus (butchered that name sorry). Then dinosaur, posted 25 at 3:25. In preshow in ten minutes, off ride in 20. We were hot and tired and it was getting more crowded. Went to check in To our hotel and nervously prepping for boarding group try tomorrow and Hollywood studios rope drop. I know I’ve seen this here, but would really appreciate help:
- what time do parking lots open for HS?
- what time should we try to get to the gates to have half a chance of slinky at rope drop?
thank you! I’ll keep posted on the park success tomorrow.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I think someone else already answered, but we got ours in a flat envelope (no magic bands) with luggage tags about three weeks before our check-in day.

Thank you!

 

[capegirl]

For any park opening it is recommended you arrive at your resort transportation no less than 90 mins before posted park opening.

Thank you!

 

[Southernmiss]

Hi all. Just got here today. Spent the afternoon at AK - I really appreciated everyone’s posts so I tried to keep track of wait times. We got to the park around 12. No wait to get in. Felt pretty quiet. We dawdled a bit and got in line for rapids at 12:30. Posted 25 minute wait, waited 15. Then we did safari. Posted 35, waited 35. Then Everest, posted 20, waited 20. Mobile ordered restaurantasaurus (butchered that name sorry). Then dinosaur, posted 25 at 3:25. In preshow in ten minutes, off ride in 20. We were hot and tired and it was getting more crowded. Went to check in To our hotel and nervously prepping for boarding group try tomorrow and Hollywood studios rope drop. I know I’ve seen this here, but would really appreciate help:
- what time do parking lots open for HS?
- what time should we try to get to the gates to have half a chance of slinky at rope drop?
thank you! I’ll keep posted on the park success tomorrow.

We did DHS today. We were at the gates 45 minutes before park opening. 4th car in our bay. 2nd row in the non preferred parking lot.

We got into the park shortly after. Park turnstiles were open and there was a steady stream of people coming in, but no line. The crowd was held at the Chinese theater for just a few minutes until an "opening announcement". Cast members helped divert the crowds to Star Wars and Toy Story areas. Our group was in the middle of main street just past Tower of Terror intersection. We were in the middle of the crowd. Not first near the rope and not last.

DIL is a power walker and our party with the crowd were led by cast members who formed a line in front of the crowds to Slinky Dog. They had ropes set up to keep us somewhat single file as we got into that part of the park. Our party were about the 12th people in line.

Sounds great so far.

However, SDD did not open at rope drop as it had mechanical difficulties. But, it got better. We got electronic fast passes to come back any time today.

At lunch we saw that SDD was now open and we went there immediately after our lunch (Docking Bay 7 counter service order at 11:30).

Fun ride and the Toy Story area was full. We then went to TS Mania and rode back to back with 25 minute waits.

 

[Eeyore1220]

We did DHS today. We were at the gates 45 minutes before park opening. 4th car in our bay. 2nd row in the non preferred parking lot.

We got into the park shortly after. Park turnstiles were open and there was a steady stream of people coming in, but no line. The crowd was held at the Chinese theater for just a few minutes until an "opening announcement". Cast members helped divert the crowds to Star Wars and Toy Story areas. Our group was in the middle of main street just past Tower of Terror intersection. We were in the middle of the crowd. Not first near the rope and not last.

DIL is a power walker and our party with the crowd were led by cast members who formed a line in front of the crowds to Slinky Dog. They had ropes set up to keep us somewhat single file as we got into that part of the park. Our party were about the 12th people in line.

Sounds great so far.

However, SDD did not open at rope drop as it had mechanical difficulties. But, it got better. We got electronic fast passes to come back any time today.

At lunch we saw that SDD was now open and we went there immediately after our lunch (Docking Bay 7 counter service order at 11:30).

Fun ride and the Toy Story area was full. We then went to TS Mania and rode back to back with 25 minute waits.

This is so helpful thank you!

 

[Southernmiss]

This is so helpful thank you!

You are most welcome. Hope you have a magical trip. Our last day is tomorrow and it has been wonderful, but our feet feel like they could fall off! LOL

We will be at DHS again tomorrow. But taking it easier than today. We did all the headliners today (even got ROTR group 27 this morning) and will do what we want and then hop to another park or 2.

 

[Eeyore1220]

You are most welcome. Hope you have a magical trip. Our last day is tomorrow and it has been wonderful, but our feet feel like they could fall off! LOL

We will be at DHS again tomorrow. But taking it easier than today. We did all the headliners today (even got ROTR group 27 this morning) and will do what we want and then hop to another park or 2.

We’ll see you there, lol! We just did two days at universal and my feet are falling off as well. I also didn’t know I could sweat so much!

 

[Southernmiss]

We’ll see you there, lol! We just did two days at universal and my feet are falling off as well. I also didn’t know I could sweat so much!

Yes! We did Universal Sunday and Monday and had 4 Disney Park days with hoppers. We rope dropped and completely did AK yesterday and hopped to Epcot from 2 until 9:30 last night- so it was like 2 full park days in 1. I've got 95,000 steps on my Fitbit for the week. Dh says he's got more and that my watch doesn't catch all my steps!

 

[bdiddy]

Day 4: MK

We started our day with a 10:15 ressie at Topolino’s and it was amazing! We took an Uber over there. It was also our only character meal this trip.We don’t usually do them much anymore since the kids are teens now but it was cute and the artist theme was fun. We couldn’t get enough of the endless pastries they brought out and all our food was excellent. DH got the gruyere quiche, DD got the sour cream waffles, DS (our picky one) got eggs, potatoes & grapes. He also ate a ton of the mini chocolate chip muffins our server kept bringing out. I got eggs, potatoes, bacon and a side of Mickey waffle dippers which were so cute and good! We also loved the view from the terrace outside I’d the restaurant. Riviera was very nice and my BFF had been raving about it since they got their DVC there….but while I thought it was very nice, it’s not as impressive as WL which just blew me away. I guess it just depends on what kind of vibe you are going for.

After breakfast we had to head to MK but since we have never ridden the Skyliner before, we decided to take it to the Caribbean Beach stop and then take a bus from there. It all went very quick. We got to MK right about noon.

Since we had spent a big chunk of the day at MK on Tuesday, our mission was to start with the rides we didn’t get to on Tuesday. We did Thunder, Mine Train, Jungle, Philharmagic, Mermaid, Peter Pan, Pooh and DH’s favorite - Carousel of Progress. The longest wait we had was 42 min for Mine Train. The next longest waits were 28 for Jungle and 32 for Thunder and then Peter Pan at 20 min. Everything else was 15 or under and even walk-on for a couple. We were there from 12-7 so a big chunk of that time was the usual “busy time” in the park. It felt less crowded today than it did on Tuesday for some reason. We left at 7 and caught the boat back to WL to drop off some stuff and change into fresh shirts and we caught a bus to Disney Springs to run to a few stores.

As for food, other than Topolino’s, we just snacked the rest of the day. Mickey Pretzels, Mickey bars, Dole whips - DD got the strawberry Fanta one with strawberry dole whip and it was really good! That was from Sunshine Tree. DD also insisted on trying a turkey leg which I told her she’s going to eat 3 bites and then not want anymore and sure enough that’s what happened. DH and DS are the rest. I barely eat meat so I could barely look at it, much less smell it - they are so disgusting to me! Lol…We also got some poutine at DS and DD tried the s’mores cupcake from Roaring Fork when we got back - which was super cute and really good! (Included a picture)

We got back to WL a little after 10. Tomorrow is our AK day and maybe swimming after at our resort since we haven’t had a chance yet.

 

[oktxregulators2020]

We did DHS today. We were at the gates 45 minutes before park opening. 4th car in our bay. 2nd row in the non preferred parking lot.

We got into the park shortly after. Park turnstiles were open and there was a steady stream of people coming in, but no line. The crowd was held at the Chinese theater for just a few minutes until an "opening announcement". Cast members helped divert the crowds to Star Wars and Toy Story areas. Our group was in the middle of main street just past Tower of Terror intersection. We were in the middle of the crowd. Not first near the rope and not last.

DIL is a power walker and our party with the crowd were led by cast members who formed a line in front of the crowds to Slinky Dog. They had ropes set up to keep us somewhat single file as we got into that part of the park. Our party were about the 12th people in line.

Sounds great so far.

However, SDD did not open at rope drop as it had mechanical difficulties. But, it got better. We got electronic fast passes to come back any time today.

At lunch we saw that SDD was now open and we went there immediately after our lunch (Docking Bay 7 counter service order at 11:30).

Fun ride and the Toy Story area was full. We then went to TS Mania and rode back to back with 25 minute waits.

I was at SD this afternoon and that explains the massive amount of people who were showing up with a FP to get into the ride.

 

[lovethattink]

Hey everyone! Just a friendly reminder not to drop any info about attractions that could be seen as a spoiler for someone who hasn’t gone on that attraction yet.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Has the Wilderness Explorer's badge challenge come back yet to AK? We are huge Up fans and have always wanted to do it and it was available when we went in 2019.

 

[oktxregulators2020]

Has the Wilderness Explorer's badge challenge come back yet to AK? We are huge Up fans and have always wanted to do it and it was available when we went in 2019.

Yes it has, we were in AK this past Wed.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Yes it has, we were in AK this past Wed.

Excellent Thank You!

 

[yorkieteacher]

Sitting in the floor inside Test Track currently- was let in IG at 1015, held near Canada til 1035- in line for TT at 1050. 10 minutes ago at 1150 was
About to get to the design area and the broken down announcement came and now we are trapped!

 

[oktxregulators2020]

Sitting in the floor inside Test Track currently- was let in IG at 1015, held near Canada til 1035- in line for TT at 1050. 10 minutes ago at 1150 was
About to get to the design area and the broken down announcement came and now we are trapped!

Yikes, I heard other people having issues with TT in the mornings. We did it this week toward park closing and had 45-60 min waits with no issue. We came to EPCOT on Monday for opening and the line for TT was 2 hours and was almost all the way down to where World Showcase begins.

 

[Eeyore1220]

Day 2 DHS. We got up early and synchronized our phones - two in hotel WiFi, one on data, one on time.gov. The insanity paid off and we got boarding group 56. We drove over and the entrance to the parking gates was blocked off and they told us we were a full half hour too early to park (7:45). We were going to circle around but we ended up pulling off, parking at the swan and walking. It was quite easy and we walked up to DHS at 8:15, right when we could have started parking there. No line for security or to enter the park, but we were held in a giant crowd outside of Chinese Theatre. They separated the crowd waiting by where they were going. My DH, DD, and DD went towards SDD and my friend and I waited for MMRR. They let us go around 8:45 and it was a walk on for MMRR. DH and the kids found that SDD wasn’t running, no eta given. They decided to stick around toy story land and did the alien swirl and midway mania. When they got on line for midway mania SDD opened with a 90 minute wait. My friend and I got on line for the kids and they caught up with us (We didn’t ride so we weren’t putting more people on by holding the spot). The 90 minute wait was actually only 25! We then went over to Star Wars and did millennium falcon with a true 45 minute wait. It was fun. We had an 11:10 droid appointment. Honestly it was a long wait and a lot of money - I’d say if your kids don’t know it’s there, don’t tell them! We missed our woody’s lunch pickup time because droids took so long so we had to go to pizze Rizzo (the vegan sausage sandwich was actually not terrible). While we ate our boarding group was called so we finished and headed over. Wow. That was a really cool ride. I had avoided spoilers and won’t post any here, but wow. My DD wanted to do MMRR so we waited 35 minutes of a posted 45. We were exhausted and hot so we took the skyliner to cbr and then to Epcot with no waits. We walked to our car at the swan from the Epcot stop. We expected to pay 29 for the daily non guest parking fee but they just opened the gates and had no attendant and everyone was just driving out so we went with it! We are back at hotel resting and swimming, planning a short Epcot evening for dinner tonight.

 

[d0naldduck123]

Just curious, I was leaving HS today at closing and saw a bunch of people coming in for some event - they all had the same lanyards/name tags. Does anyone know what the event is?