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

[NC State Tigger]

Our family will probably make our Covid postponed extended family trip Veterans Day week 2023. I understand this week is also referred to as Jersey Week. So, I’m trying to get some first hand info about this time period 2022.

I would appreciate any reports from this week.

The MK should be decorated because MVMCP begin this week. Correct?

Are Christmas Decorations going up in the resorts? I believe the “gingerbread” displays are. I understand resorts get decorated on different days—-any happen this week?
Particularly interested in Wilderness Lodge and monorail resorts as we should be staying at Boulder Ridge.

Lastly, any information on crowds in each park by day would be wonderful. I understand it gets busier the closer to Veterans Day you get and that Fridays and weekends are very busy at Epcot.

Thanks for any information you can share.

 

[maggnanimouse]

Trying to enter Epcot right now (5:30 PM), and the line to get in stretches back to the Beach Club, and is getting longer

 

[scrappinginontario]

Trying to enter Epcot right now (5:30 PM), and the line to get in stretches back to the Beach Club, and is getting longer

Hope it didn’t take too long. Please update later if you’re able. This is the first I’ve heard of this happening.

Unusual night for this to happen without a party in the MK or EEH at Epcot.

Hope for your sake you just happened to hit IG at a busy time.

 

[maggnanimouse]

I hope we just arrived at an unfortunate time. From some conversations I heard around me, it seemed like there was a marathon post-party or something. So I think we arrived around the time those folks started to enter. Could be wrong, though!

That said, the line moved fairly steadily and took around 20 minutes.

 

[CarolynFH]

I hope we just arrived at an unfortunate time. From some conversations I heard around me, it seemed like there was a marathon post-party or something. So I think we arrived around the time those folks started to enter. Could be wrong, though!

That said, the line moved fairly steadily and took around 20 minutes.

Yes, today was the Wine & Dine Half-Marathon, and tonight is the after-party. Another reason that this week at WDW is so busy!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I’m on my first vacay in WDW since November 2019…. What happened — rhetorical. But seriously, it’s not just the locals. I’ve never been one to find things to complain about at WDW - but at this point, I’m struggling to find things that DON’T warrant a complaint.

Let me start with the lack of aircon… literally everywhere, including busses. I used to do full days at the parks, it was easy to duck into a ride, show, or shop and get a refreshing blast of chilly air.

Now I get to stand in a line and “experience” the pleasant sensation of sweat dripping down my back.

My park days this trip have resulted in 4-5 hours in the parks, at most, mainly due to not being able to find relief from the heat. Incase you’re reading this Bob/Josh: you know what I’m not doing while I’m over heating on my way back to the resort hotel on a hot bus? I’m not spending money on merch and extortionately priced snacks. Think about that for a moment.

There’s a bunch of other things I could complain about as I sit here overheating in the AKL Jambo House laundry room. I’ll wait until I get home to do a full write up though.

Going to brave HS for Fantasmic tonight. Will see how it goes

Can you tell this is going to be my last trip after visiting for 14 days every year for the last decade?

The lack of AC is very odd. On my May & Sept trips I had to keep a jacket in my backpack because I frozen on buses and in restaurants so often.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Our family will probably make our Covid postponed extended family trip Veterans Day week 2023. I understand this week is also referred to as Jersey Week. So, I’m trying to get some first hand info about this time period 2022.

I would appreciate any reports from this week.

The MK should be decorated because MVMCP begin this week. Correct?

Are Christmas Decorations going up in the resorts? I believe the “gingerbread” displays are. I understand resorts get decorated on different days—-any happen this week?
Particularly interested in Wilderness Lodge and monorail resorts as we should be staying at Boulder Ridge.

Lastly, any information on crowds in each park by day would be wonderful. I understand it gets busier the closer to Veterans Day you get and that Fridays and weekends are very busy at Epcot.

Thanks for any information you can share.

The ‘Here Now and Just Back’ thread was created as many have questions like yours and, many want to share their experiences to help others.

You will find lots of information here.

 

[DisneyFive]

We were there from 10/30-11/3 and stayed at Pop Century. The Skyliner was so easy to use (less than a 5 minute wait when we rope dropped Epcot and DHS) and the buses ran frequently. We did not purchase Genie+ or ILL. Utilized early entry for most of our park days. I found the crowds not to be bad at all this week. Below are some of the notes I remembered to take.

Airport Transportation: We booked the Sunshine Flyer.....the staff was nice, buses were clean but boy do I miss Magical Express. We checked-in at 10:15am and didn't get to Pop until 11:35. In all my trips with ME it never took more than 45 mins door to door. Going back to MCO the bus was right on time and it took an hour to get to the airport. But for the next trip I might try Mears Connect or just take an Uber because the 90 minutes to get to the hotel was kind of excruciating.

10/30: Arrival and Epcot day. Entered the GoG virtual queue at 7am and got boarding group 32. Our plane was a little delayed so instead of doing this from my seat like I had thought I ended up having to enter while we were standing in the jet bridge so I was freaking out a bit. It is a miracle I had no issues with cell service. Boarding Group got called at 9:35am but we entered the line at 2:45pm and it was about a 30 min wait. Saw the Hanson concert and that was the highlight of the day.

10/31: AK. We were a little late this day (got to the park just before 9am) so we decided to not go to Pandora and instead went to EE, rode that twice in a row since it was a walk-on. Dinosaur was a walk-on. KS was an accurate posted wait time of 35 minutes (this was at 10am). At 3pm the wait was down to 5 minutes. By then FoP and Navi were both an hour wait. We probably would have waited for FoP but after seeing FOTLK we had to head to DS for our Wine Bar George reservation. At 9pm Gideon's was not doing a virtual queue and it was only a 5 minute wait. Nomad Lounge had a 30 min wait when we went at noon which ended up being accurate.

11/1: Epcot. Got boarding group 83 for GoG, this was called at around 1:15pm. When we checked-in at 2:30pm it was only a 10 minute wait. At 9am Remy was a posted wait of 25 minutes but it was more around 15 minutes. Soarin' was a low wait time all day, 15 minutes. TT we could have done single rider but we were too busy with Food & Wine. After 9am Frozen went up from 25 minutes to 55 minutes and stayed at a high wait time all day. There were barely any lines for the F&W booths.

11/2: MK. This was a non-party day so I was wondering how bad the crowds would be. The Christmas decorations were up! We went straight to Peter Pan at 8:30am and it was a 20 minute wait (posted wait time was 60 mins). Then headed to HM which was a walk-on. BTMRR was a 5 min wait (15 min posted). Pirates was a 20 minute posted wait time and we waited about 10 minutes. It was raining that evening so Splash and BTMRR (rode 2x in a row) were walk-ons. Waited 20 minutes for Space Mountain (around 9pm); this wait time was accurate. For lunch we ate at Steakhouse 71 and it was so. good. We were too full for dessert but will definitely split the burger or something next time so we can have some more room; I want to try that chocolate cake.

11/3: DHS. I was worried about this one because the reopening of Fantasmic was that day and I was anticipating insane crowds. Our priority was Slinky. We went straight there and it was only a 15 minute wait. When we got off we could have rode it again but we decided to move on. TSM was a 5 minute wait. RnR was a literal walk-on so we rode that twice in a row. Rode ToT twice in a row, wait time was 10 mins each. Star Tours was a walk on. We are not Star Wars fans and we have been on those rides last year so we decided to skip them.

Overall thoughts: I am satisfied with how we were able to navigate the parks without Genie+. It wasn't stressful and we had a fun time. I thought the Food and Wine booths this year were really good as well as all our TS and QS meals. And a big shout-out to all the cast members we encountered. They were absolutely wonderful. I can't wait to go back.

Sounds like you picked a prime week to visit

 

[Isabelle12345]

Has anyone received their ride pictures this week?
My phone has Bluetooth turned on, my magic band is recent (June) but yet we have not received any ride pictures that didn’t have a tap at the end (no guardians, tower of terror, slinky or frozen)
Am I the only one?

 

[snikki]

Has anyone received their ride pictures this week?
My phone has Bluetooth turned on, my magic band is recent (June) but yet we have not received any ride pictures that didn’t have a tap at the end (no guardians, tower of terror, slinky or frozen)
Am I the only one?

We did slinky on Saturday and received that one but not guardians or tower.

 

[2vets]

Just a warning for those planning to enter Epcot for resort early entry (at least right now). I arrived here a few minutes before the half hour started, and there was a massive line. I doubt I’ll get more than a 10 min advantage, if any. My own fault for dallying, and for assuming this entrance was set up to handle the capacity entering. Don’t make this mistake - this entrance is simply unable to handle the current crowd congestion.

I have to be back at the resort at 10 since we are leaving at noon, so right now, just hoping to get in one ride!!

 

[lovethattink]

Heads up for those that are here this week. There is another tropical system growing. The Euro and GFS are not in agreement again. But they both do agree it will be an east coast and central Florida weather maker. Be sure to pay attention to the weather forecasts as they often change. For now plan for rain mid week to the weekend. Of course, this could change a bit depending on what Nicole does.

 

[Boardwalk III]

Has anyone received their ride pictures this week?
My phone has Bluetooth turned on, my magic band is recent (June) but yet we have not received any ride pictures that didn’t have a tap at the end (no guardians, tower of terror, slinky or frozen)
Am I the only one?

I had this problem third week of October! Only received one of them automatically I think. Stopped by the photo pass place at DHS one day and was able to recover a couple of them but I gave up after that. Too time consuming. May not add photo pass to my next AP renewal due to this. What the heck?!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Just a warning for those planning to enter Epcot for resort early entry (at least right now). I arrived here a few minutes before the half hour started, and there was a massive line. I doubt I’ll get more than a 10 min advantage, if any. My own fault for dallying, and for assuming this entrance was set up to handle the capacity entering. Don’t make this mistake - this entrance is simply unable to handle the current crowd congestion.

I have to be back at the resort at 10 since we are leaving at noon, so right now, just hoping to get in one ride!!

Sorry this happened. As a rule of thumb, for those going in the future, to take the best advantage of Early Theme Park Entry hours, arrive at transportation 90 minutes prior to the start of ETPE. For those at resorts close to IG, I would recommend arriving at the IG approx 45 mins prior to ETPE beginning to allow for crowds to enter and get to the attractions, which may open prior to the official 30 mins early.

 

[Leigh L]

Has anyone received their ride pictures this week?
My phone has Bluetooth turned on, my magic band is recent (June) but yet we have not received any ride pictures that didn’t have a tap at the end (no guardians, tower of terror, slinky or frozen)
Am I the only one?

That happened to us in both June and September.
I thought in June it was our Magic Bands since we used 2019 and 2020 ones (different people), but in September I brought bands from 2021, and still nothing.

 

[MrWreckless]

Any reason why ride wait times are so high this morning. Even Dumbo and Barnstormer are showing 30-40 minute waits and LL return times of well past an hour. Those have been walk on for weeks.

Are kids outbid school today?

 

[NJlauren]

Any reason why ride wait times are so high this morning. Even Dumbo and Barnstormer are showing 30-40 minute waits and LL return times of well past an hour. Those have been walk on for weeks.

Are kids outbid school today?

It’s Jersey week, all of NJ is off from school Thursday and Friday, but some school the whole week, some parents pull kids for the week.

The whole state doesn’t go but a lot of people do, I personally know at least 5 family’s that I can think of off the top of my head traveling to Orlando this week.

 

[Leigh L]

Any reason why ride wait times are so high this morning. Even Dumbo and Barnstormer are showing 30-40 minute waits and LL return times of well past an hour. Those have been walk on for weeks.

Are kids outbid school today?

A lot of regions in the US are off this week. It's known as "Jersey week" for WDW.

It's not just NJ schools off though, so that between that and other regions with days off this week probably boosts attendance. (we have 2-3 days off this week every year in Va and it used to be my top week for travel before my youngest started doing sports. In 2011, it was an awesome week for WDW, but I hear a lot busier now).

 

[Leigh L]

It’s Jersey week, all of NJ is off from school Thursday and Friday, but some school the whole week, some parents pull kids for the week.

The whole state doesn’t go but a lot of people do, I personally know at least 5 family’s that I can think of off the top of my head traveling to Orlando this week.

It's a great week to go to see the parks.
Some years the days fell when we saw the last day or two of Halloween and then woke up and it was Christmas in the parks, that was pretty cool.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Any reason why ride wait times are so high this morning. Even Dumbo and Barnstormer are showing 30-40 minute waits and LL return times of well past an hour. Those have been walk on for weeks.

Are kids outbid school today?

F&W Marathon leftovers, Jersey Week now, Veterans Day later this week. This week is known for being crazy.