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

[dropzone9]

Yesterday (Sunday) was our first park, we hit MK. Got there about 8, crowds were very manageable. After a quick stop at Guest Services, we headed for Tomorrowland. Knocked out People Mover, Buzz, and CoP with no more than 15 minute waits. Headed over to Fantasyland and was much of the same, Small World, Under the Sea, Pooh, and Dumbo had short waits. In fact the longest wait was for 7DMT, which we used the DAS and got a return time. We hit the Carousel, Pirates and Aladdin as well, checked out the Swiss Family Treehouse and hit several of the Tomorrowland rides several times. It was a great day with the only issue being food options. Even with Mobile order, we had to wait a long time for the food (We ate at Pinocchio Haus, DS is very picky).

 

[oktxregulators2020]

Are they still distancing in FOTLK show? If not, are wait times any better?

Nope, we were there last Wednesday and ended up sitting in the very back and we were crammed in their like sardines.

 

[oktxregulators2020]

Last I heard they were letting more people in but still distanced. Wait times I have heard mixed

No distancing in that show anymore!!

 

[LSUmiss]

Nope, we were there last Wednesday and ended up sitting in the very back and we were crammed in their like sardines.

So did that help the lines to get in?

 

[oktxregulators2020]

So did that help the lines to get in?

They were trying to get everyone in there that they could.

 

[Ariel620]

Also interested in FotLK updates! Is the 10:30am show still the one to try to get into with lower waits? Anyone there this week who can share?

I was in line at 10 am for the 10:30 show on 6/20. Too early. It didn’t fill. People walked in and got decent seats at 10:29

 

[oktxregulators2020]

Day 8 Hollywood Studios (2nd Day)

Wife got to go this time as she was wore out and tired back when me and daughter and daughter friend went back on Friday.

Got up at 6:45 to get a ROTR boarding pass to no avail. Once again I decided to let everyone sleep in. We finally decided to head into the park around 12. Parked in almost the the same exact spot as on Friday.

HS appeared to be very busy, appeared to be the busiest we have seen in the 8 days we have been in a park. Started out with Tower was 45 and got off in 40. I then camped out in the Tower gift shop due to having a good signal and was able to snatch Boarding Group 132 for ROTF (had 135 on Friday). The estimated arrival time for Group 132 was 6PM (park closes at 8PM).

We then went to RRC 50 min but took 60. Then everyone decided to go to MMRW and the wait was a hot and very miserable one. They had umbrellas open but didn't have them out on Friday. The wait posted was 45 but after 30 minutes the sun was getting to a lot of people and the ride broke down. The heat was getting to me as well and this was the first afternoon where I started struggling with the heat. I checked the temp and it said HS was 95 and the Heat Index was 105. We waited for 20 more mins for MMRW and decided to bail due to the heat.

It was time for me and my daughter to go to Droid Depot to build Droids. We built an R-Unit and a BB-Unit. My wife and daughter friend went to see the MM Movie and then went back to ride MMRR as it was back open. We went to back lot to order some food. I highly recommend the "Wookie Cookie". As we were leaving the sun disappeared and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and it became quite windy.

The family went to go ride SD and I decided to take the robots to the car in case it rains. As I walked to my car (around 5) a good majority of the park emptied out in a rush as the tops of the palm trees were bent over as the wind howled. I finally made it to my car and dropped off the droids and started walking back where the clouds opened up as more and more people scampered out of the park.

Family rode Aliens and Toy Story as I tried to make my way back through the shops and covered places to not get completely drenched. The rain finally stopped around 5:45 and my #132 Boarding Group was called (15 min early). I met the family at TS around 6 and we walked to RotR. We made it around 6:10 and we went through the que and off the ride by 6:40. This was by far light years faster then it was on Friday when we were in the que for 45 minutes and the ride broke down for 20. We then walked on MFSR 6:50, Walked on Alien.

Next we did mobile order at Woody's Lunchbox. The bbq grilled sandwich was pretty good. The tater tots are terrible as they taste like they have been baked in an oven and not cooked in a fryer. 7:25 went back to RRC and got off at 7:50. Finally made it back to MMRW right at park close to walk on.

Closing Thoughts: The crowd was a lot bigger then the crowd that I saw on Friday. Wait times during the afternoons were longer then Friday. Once again in the evenings the wait times are shredded. They are gonna have to invest in some better shade for MMRW the line was massive and the heat was intense in that queue. When we were buying some extra things for our Droids there was a guy who bought $1500 worth of stuff and was having it all shipped to his home in Montana. I'm curious how much Disney makes a day just off Droid sales. The places was packed and was that way all day long.

Tomorrow is our last day in HS with some snacks/dinner around Disney Springs.

 

[Gitelfor]

Has FotLK added back any portions of the full show that were cut, since reopening?

 

[Mollymum]

Magic Kingdom though was having some real problems. We had reservations at Jungle Skipper both days to avoid the problem, but options are very slim there.

Is the current Skipper menu smaller than it usually is? Or are they only offering a fraction of what is on the menu? Several posters have mentioned the slim offerings, so I wondered if they normally have a much bigger menu?

 

[Sarahslay]

Is the current Skipper menu smaller than it usually is? Or are they only offering a fraction of what is on the menu? Several posters have mentioned the slim offerings, so I wondered if they normally have a much bigger menu?

It is bigger than it was for a while right after opening, but it is still a lot smaller than it used to be. We still haven't been back because they took a few things off that we really liked.

 

[oktxregulators2020]

Has FotLK added back any portions of the full show that were cut, since reopening?

There are no aerials.

 

[notatallmagic]

Is the current Skipper menu smaller than it usually is? Or are they only offering a fraction of what is on the menu? Several posters have mentioned the slim offerings, so I wondered if they normally have a much bigger menu?

I believe the normal menu is a little larger, but our favorites were all still there. We love the atmosphere, and our service has always been great.

Given that there are so few options at MK, I'll take even a limited menu at Skipper any day!!

 

[LSUmiss]

There are no aerials.

Did they still have the Be Prepared fire part?

 

[jbish]

Is the current Skipper menu smaller than it usually is? Or are they only offering a fraction of what is on the menu? Several posters have mentioned the slim offerings, so I wondered if they normally have a much bigger menu?

I tried searching for the pre-Covid menu but can’t seem to find it easily. But currently, there are only six entrees. I feel like there were a lot more options before but can’t say for certain. I’ve only been twice before - just “felt” like less.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

This is a specific question but maybe someone has had experience: I know when you cancel a mobile order before pickup with a debit/credit the pending charge drops off. What happens when you use a Disney gift card? Does it refund the card?

 

[Tigerlulu]

So quick service at MK is still not great? We are going in a week and debating tomorrow whether to keep our table service reservations or cancel. I was thinking it had improved a lot.

 

[oktxregulators2020]

So quick service at MK is still not great? We are going in a week and debating tomorrow whether to keep our table service reservations or cancel. I was thinking it had improved a lot.

Basically for most QS Meals, there is only one entrance and exit. You are not allowed to sit unless you have food/drink. Disney basically is trying to force everyone to Mobile Order. If you choose not to Mobile Order for a certain place you will be stuck in a line to go into the place as they only have 1 or 2 places you can order inside and most of the other part of the room is being used for mobile ordering pickup.

 

[bdiddy]

Day 7: Epcot & MK - last day!

Today was quite the adventure which I’ll get to in a bit. DH woke up with a raging head cold out of nowhere. Mostly head congestion, a slightly scratchy throat and a little coughing. We’ve been vaccinated for months so we weren’t worried about covid or anything bit figured colds were coming after this trip. We haven’t been sick with our usual colds since a few months before covid hit and this is the first place we’ve really been with no masks like this. Our state just dropped the mask mandate a week before we left but we were still wearing ours so we didn’t pick up any normal sicknesses before our trip.

Anyway, I told him he should stay back and rest and meet us at MK later. I did put an order with door dash to bring some cold meds from Walgreens and that got delivered at about 9. We had a noon reservation for Coral Reef that was his pick but I said I would just see if I could cancel and they’d waive the fee. I also wasn’t sure how it worked if he didn’t tap in at the first park and met us at the 2nd once we hopped. I stopped down at the desk at our resort and talked to concierge and he told me to just take his magic band and tap him in real quick but I was really hesitant about that since they watch you so close when you tap in but the guy acted like it would be fine. He also said that I should just stop on Coral Reef and see if I could cancel.

So I went back up to the room and DH said he was feeling a little better since he took the meds and had showered and just wanted to push through. He didn’t have a fever or aches or anything, it was just all in his head and I said maybe the humidity and heat will help clear it up. So he got dressed quick and we hurried down and just took the bus to Epcot since there was one about to arrive.


Got to Epcot at around 10:30 and they held us to the right of spaceship earth until about 10:45 and then it was a mad dash to Soarin. We walked on and then immediately rode Living with the Land again and everyone on the ride was laughing about the cucumbers when we passed them. We then walked on Nemo and by then it was almost time for our lunch reservation. This was our 2nd time eating here, the first time was in 2009 when the kids were little so they don’t really remember. But it was fun and the food was good. I don’t eat seafood or even chicken like they had on the menu so I just got a salad and the lava cake which was SO good! DH got shrimp and grits, DD the mahi mahi which both said were excellent and DS got the kids grilled shrimp meal with the cookie inside a brownie dessert and cheesy mashed potatoes.

After lunch, DD really wanted to go back to the ice cream place in France because she wanted some kind of macaroon ice cream sandwich she saw on a blog and when we tried to get it a few days ago, we stopped too late and it was closed. Well today it was closed too! A CM nearby said they were closed all day today. She was so disappointed. We them went back upfront and road Spaceship Earth and then caught the bus to MK which we didn’t have a wait at all, there was a bus waiting.
Got to MK and we had decided we were going to do each persons favorite and then go from there. DD picked Splash and we rode that first since that’s the one that will shut down if it rains. We waited about 40 min and it was SO hot in that line!! So here is where people start losing their darn minds! Haha…

We get off the ride and I had purchased the memory maker so I would usually just walk up to the photos and tap quick and leave. The rest of my family doesn’t even mess with walking up because it’s always crowded and it will pop up on our phones soon after. So I go up and see our photo and reach out and tap it and this woman standing there says “Guess we can’t see our picture now since they scanned it” all nasty to whoever she was with while looking at me. I said “excuse me” and she says “thanks to you scanning it, now we can’t see our photo now” I pointed to the screen and said the photo is right there, did you scan it” and she said “no, we just want to look at it and you cut us and scanned it and now it’s going to disappear, you have to let us look at it first” I was thinking what on earth is this woman talking about!? And she was being so nasty with her attitude and tone. Like yelling at me like I did something wrong. I said “I don’t think you understand how this works. You get off the ride, see your picture and then scan it with your band if you have one.” And she says “well we don’t have bands and I just want to look at it”. I’m dumbfounded at this point and say “so you expect me to know that walking up here and just stand here and wait until you are done looking at it and then scan it?” And she said “yes we were here first” and I said well that’s not exactly how it works and good luck with that and walked away. Ugh…and the funny thing is we are forever stuck with her in our picture since she was in the same boat as us! I told DH that we need to photoshop emojis or something over her face!

Anyway….I had picked Haunted Mansion but it was offline and ended up being down for hours! So we went to DH’s pick which was Small World and had about a 10 min wait. Then we went to DS’s pick which was Space Mountain and waited about 15-20 min. When we got out it had started pouring and we waited in the gift shop for about 10 min and then it stopped. Mansion was still down so we rode Buzz then with a 15 min wait. DD has been reading all kinds of tips and wants to keep practicing and got 600k+ pts this time!
After Buzz, I ordered some food from Cosmic Ray’s. DS got a burger but three of us got the foot longs and then were cracking up at how big they were! They were like giant oversized foot longs. We should have split them - there was more than enough to share. I also ordered the Cheshire Cat tail for the first time and it was really good!

After we ate, Haunted Mansion was finally back up so we went right there. It said 30 min but we were inside in about 10 min. Which they did NOT have the stretching room going - we were so bummed! We were standing in there for a bit though because I guess the ride went down again but came back up in 5 min or so. One of the CM’s said the ghosts and the building have been naughty today and they’ve been giving them a lot of trouble. I asked about the stretching room and she said that they are doing it again but not consistently as it will depend on the situation and the line so be prepared for that I guess.

After HM, Pirates was walk-on so we did that. I then mobile ordered my last dole whip and ate it as we walked out taking more pics. DD needed to run to the Winnie the Pooh gift shop for something so DH took her and I took DS and went to the photo center up front to check about a few pics that never showed up. Which this took forever as it was park close and it was busy in there.
And while we were in there it starting pouring again. DH and DD barely made it in to us in time so we waited to see if it would stop for about 10-15 min and it wasn’t letting up much. We weren’t sure if the boat was running to WL in the rain and the CM we asked wasn’t sure. The rain seemed to be pouring slightly less so we decided to make a run for it. The ironic part is we are usually really prepared with ponchos and umbrellas but since it was our last day and DH wasn’t feeling good, he didn’t want to carry the big bag so we just put one umbrella in my small loungefly.

So here we are running in the pouring rain towards the exit. DH and DD with nothing and then DS and I squished under the one umbrella. (our kids are 17 and 15 - not sure if I’ve mentioned that). We ask another CM at the exit and they said the boats are running which was good because they are much closer than the buses. But when we run down there - it is so flooded! I’m talking water pouring up over the dock from the lake. A boat was there but there is no way anyone was getting on them. Which they said they were closed anyway. So we had to run back up and to the buses then. We made it to the WL queue and its about 10 min until a bus pulls up and we just miss getting on. Which was ok at the time because we were soaked and I really didn’t want to stand being all wet and dripping like that.
So we waited and the queue filled up again. We ended up waiting another 45 minutes for our bus!! Which at this point I was like whatever because it was our last night and we had had amazing luck with the buses for the entire week. And we also started talking with a nice couple behind us in line so it made the time go faster.

So this is where it gets even more crazy is there was also a huge line to Epcot near us that had also been waiting forever, even longer than us. At one point we hear a woman screaming. And I’m talking screaming at the top of her lungs. At first everyone thought somethings was wrong and she was calling for help but then we realized she was screaming at a CM we think. We couldn’t exactly see but we think that’s what happened. She kept calling them f’ing r word (that I’m not going to type). Ugh…as soon as people heard her say that they started raising their voices at her telling her to calm down etc…and she was still screaming you better call someone. Well I think someone did because not even 5 min later two police officers show up. I’m not sure where the woman went at this point but they were there walking around for a bit.
So then a bus finally pulls up and we get on it and the driver takes us to Ft Wilderness instead of Wilderness Lodge! He stops and turns the lights on for us to get off and no one moves! Lol…and then he acted like we were all on the wrong bus and we’re like nope, we are going to Wilderness Lodge which is the queue we were at and what his bus said when he pulled up! So he drove us over.

I think it’s after 10:30 at this point and we have to be down for the Magical Express tomorrow at 7am and we still have to pack and now we all have wet shoes. So I hurry and grab two dryers to dry everything.

So yeah it was a long day with a little craziness but still fun.

Some of my main overall thoughts on the trip are that the magic was definitely still there for us. It’s been just over 2 yrs since we’ve been here and it was long overdue! I think staying at a deluxe for the first time made it even more magical too.

I didn’t mind not having FP for the most part. I think the time we waited for the few headliners was more than made up for by the very short walk-ons for so many other rides that aren’t usually like that. I’ll be real curious to see what they end up doing.

We also did not mind not having normal parades. We’ve been never big parade people and went less and less as the kids got older. I always hated the whole staking out a spot for an hour and waiting forever and it was so hot and they lasted a long time. And then getting blocked in or having to find another way around when a parade was going on. What was nice about the calvacades is they just popped up all of a sudden, we’re super short and over quick. And didn’t really interrupt your path on the way somewhere.

I did miss the shows, especially at HS. They really need some there ASAP to help deal with the crowds at that park.

I have mixed feelings about mobile ordering. Overall I liked it. Not fighting crowds to order food or find tables etc…it’s easier to see the menu and all the options when you mobile order and easier to pay. I don’t like it in cases where you want something specific quickly but can’t get it as quick as you’d like. I’ll be curious to see how much of it they keep around in its current form.

We love, loved Wilderness Lodge! I seriously don’t know how we’ll ever stay anywhere again. Other than the theming and location, one thing I really loved was how the resort feels so huge but it was so easy to get everywhere. No long hikes to the lobby or pool. Some resorts are all spread out but this one you can get everywhere in 5 min or less. Food, gift shop, lobby, restaurants, buses, pool - it’s all right there. But it’s doesn’t feel small or cramped in anyway. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. And the lobby - I could seriously just sit in there all day. I think I may miss this resort more than the parks when we get home!!

The parks all felt very busy and very much pre-covid normal. Both Universal and Disney. So few people have masks - they are so rare. There is absolutely no social distancing. Barely any markers anywhere anymore. So many of the hand sanitizer machines were out. If any of this concerns you, then I would not go until you are comfortable with things being normal because other than the masks on the buses, it felt very normal to us.

I’m sure I’ll think of more later but that’s it for now. It’s late and I have to be up in less than 5 hrs!

 

[yorkieteacher]

We are here now and after being held in “cattle pens” at HS and Epcot, I am trying to convince my adult son we still need to get to AK and MK early. The 4 and 8 yr old grands don’t hold up well in no lines and heat. Crowds do spread out quickly after they let us in and ride times did fluctuate. SDD was at 40 minutes posted once after opening at 90. Epco World Showcase last night felt the most crowded, and it had stormed earlier. Food booth lines at France had about 30 people! Frozen was posted 40 minutes and it took 50 minutes. This was at 7pm.

 

[Tigerlulu]

Basically for most QS Meals, there is only one entrance and exit. You are not allowed to sit unless you have food/drink. Disney basically is trying to force everyone to Mobile Order. If you choose not to Mobile Order for a certain place you will be stuck in a line to go into the place as they only have 1 or 2 places you can order inside and most of the other part of the room is being used for mobile ordering pickup.

I know. I just read the couple bad reports posted yesterday and had thought it had gotten better overall—but reading of long lines and cold food doesn’t sound like it’s running smoother at all. That’s what I’m asking about. Just if QS situation at MK is really running better or not. We are deciding later today whether to keep our TS or not. Seems like a gamble.