Just returned from an 11 day trip last night. Stayed the first 3 days at RP at Universal and the remainder of the time at Disney. 2 days YC then moved over to SSR for the remainder of the trip, This was my 5th trip since they reopened last July. Most recently I was there in June and week before Easter. Crowd level was much more like the Easter crowd level. Busy!! I visited all 4 parks at least twice. My DD is a CM so I tended to go back to the parks in the evenings when she was working after a mid day break.
HS - Seemed to be the busiest park by far. I use the Lines App and rides were still showing close to an hour wait. Did manage to get on Rise both times. Once at the 7am drop the other at 1pm. Went on a few more rides both visits but was really only there 1/2 days due to heat (most days with heat index were over 100), storms and wait times.
MK - Had better luck here. Rope dropped one of the days and had Dwarves, Splash, POC, HM, PP, BTMR and Philharmagic done within the first few hours. Met my DD for lunch at Caseys then went on Buzz and headed out as it was getting busier. Went a couple of nights, one to watch HEA which was wonderful to see again. I had seen the fireworks many times but I always watch away from the crowds. I was in the hub this time to see the projections which were beautiful but man were there a lot of people. Went on BTMRR after the fireworks then headed to the bus stop around 10:15 and didn't have to wait too long but did have to stand. Second evening I was there we just went on rides and watched the fireworks while on BTMRR. We had stood in line for Space for way longer than I would normally wait but I was with DD and some of her friends and one of the friends mom so at least had some fun conversation.
AK - Went twice. Once to rope drop FOP. Caught the 6:30 bus from SSR and arrived just before 7. One of the first at the turnstile and they let us in at 7. Walked to the bridge going into Pandora and had to wait there. Quite a few people passed me up which isn't surprising since I'm kind of a slow walker, but still not far from the rope. At 7:30 the CM's started slow walking us back to the area to get in line. Not long after that the line started moving and filling in the stand by queue. This was the first day for masks to have to be worn again. We had to put our masks on as we entered the main queue area. Was off FOP at 8:15 and headed to Safari. Had about a 10 minute wait and saw the baby giraffe and hippopotamus. After the Safari DD and I had breakfast at Tusker House which was good. I just enjoyed walking the trails and went to see the bird show (1st time and really enjoyed it) the Lion King and caught the train to the Conservation Station (1st time for this too). Headed out around 2. I rode Everest and Dinosaur on a previous day so didn't
wait for them this time.
Epcot - Spent a few evenings here. Wait times were definitely lower here. One evening I walked on Soarin, Figment, Nemo, and Spaceship Earth. I walked over to Test Track which had been down for storms and must have just reopened. I went through the single rider line and there was literally no one in line. I could see people from the regular stand by line in the room where you make your car, but no one was beyond that. When I turned the corner at the top where the cast members were there were two standing there just waiting. There was a couple behind me and we each got our own car and off we went. That will never happen again. I did a lot of tasting at the Food & Wine booths and finally had school bread for the first time. It was yummy! The only ride I did not get on was Frozen which seemed to consistently have a 45 minute wait and I just couldn't be bothered to wait so gave it a pass.
All in all, it was a great trip. Got to spend time with my DD and got to go to the parks solo which I enjoyed too. I did a few things that I have never done before and am really glad that I did. This trip was more about relaxing and taking things as they come. I am lucky to be an AP holder and have already been a few times and have another 3 trips planned before the end of the year, so I don't need to do everything. I work in education so going late July/early August is the norm for me. I did find that it seemed much hotter this time and also seemed to rain more than in the past years. It also seemed more crowded.
One thing that I did notice that is happening again and didn't like, was that you don't have to use the mobile order for quick service. All of the past visits in the last year we have used the mobile order and have not been able to get seated until our order was ready. We always got a table without a problem. Now that you can also stand in line again to order, it is very difficult to get a table. People go in and order while the rest of their group go and get tables. Those of us with food are wandering around aimlessly trying to find somewhere to eat. This was very noticeable at Woody's lunch box where probably a good third or more of the tables had people sitting and not eating while those with food were trying to find somewhere to eat.
