Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[erinch]

It is in the lobby, so you can watch the class!

they really have upgraded this from the old animation class, I love the animal facts that goes into it as well

 

[tussking]

Thanks for all the info...

I am in South Florida. It just seems smartest for me to stay away on Saturday or Sunday? It seems to be the busiest. Epcot specifically because of Food & Wine. Need some opinions, please. I am going for two days. Either getting there tomorrow around noon checking into Marriott off-site and going to Epcot say 1-7 and MK Monday or going up Monday very early and doing MK Monday and Epcot Tuesday. Should I avoid Epcot Sunday?

 

[Best Aunt]

We are DVC and Annual Passholders. Can we park at Boardwalk and walk over?

When it comes to parking at a resort where you are not staying, I don't think being a DVC owner or Annual Passholder helps; I think the rules are the same as if you were not a DVC owner or Annual Passholder. I assume someone will correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Helvetica]

Thanks for all the info...

I am in South Florida. It just seems smartest for me to stay away on Saturday or Sunday? It seems to be the busiest. Epcot specifically because of Food & Wine. Need some opinions, please. I am going for two days. Either getting there tomorrow around noon checking into Marriott off-site and going to Epcot say 1-7 and MK Monday or going up Monday very early and doing MK Monday and Epcot Tuesday. Should I avoid Epcot Sunday?

There are no park passes available tomorrow for any of the parks, so unless if you have a park pass already it’s probably not a great idea. I’d do MK Monday and Epcot Tuesday.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/a...urchasing your ticket, Annual Pass or package.

 

[erinch]

We were at Epcot last Sunday. If you can avoid, I would. The F &W lines are all in the sun. And very long.

Thanks for all the info...

I am in South Florida. It just seems smartest for me to stay away on Saturday or Sunday? It seems to be the busiest. Epcot specifically because of Food & Wine. Need some opinions, please. I am going for two days. Either getting there tomorrow around noon checking into Marriott off-site and going to Epcot say 1-7 and MK Monday or going up Monday very early and doing MK Monday and Epcot Tuesday. Should I avoid Epcot Sunday?

 

[Jen0107c]

I’m here now... staying at boardwalk villas. Crowds are definitely higher then when I was here the first week in August. Wait times are higher today (Saturday) then on the weekdays as well.

 

[tussking]

I didn't even realize Sunday was not available. That changes my plan. Now it says 70% rain Mon and Tues. UGH.

 

[jvalic33]

Can anyone give me input on transportation from the Poly or Contemporary to MK? I am trying to figure out where I should eat breakfast to get over to MK the quickest. Is it true the monorail is not running from the POLY in which case I would have to take the boat? Also if the monorail is running from the Contemporary, which is faster, walking to MK or hopping on the monorail? Or boat?

 

[djmeredith]

I feel strongly they need to open more food options, even if it is only during peak times. As things get busier in the parks, it does feel harder to justify that kind of $ for a trip with reduced offerings. On the other hand, you offer more things, people crowd even more. I also wish there was SOME way to offer a limited park hopping, maybe just for the last few hours. But that has the potential to screw over someone returning to the park. I don't have the answers, that's for sure. But had I realized things would pick up like this after labor day I would have scheduled things differently.

Thanks for the report! We are headed down in a couple weeks and Disney has increased capacity yet again for the upcoming school fall break weeks. What specifically would you have planned differently? Did you mean postpone the trip? Any tips appreciated.

 

[IluvMGM]

Can anyone give me input on transportation from the Poly or Contemporary to MK? I am trying to figure out where I should eat breakfast to get over to MK the quickest. Is it true the monorail is not running from the POLY in which case I would have to take the boat? Also if the monorail is running from the Contemporary, which is faster, walking to MK or hopping on the monorail? Or boat?

We ubered to Chef Mickey's for breakfast and walked over to Magic Kingdom. The Monorail didn't start running until 8:30 they told us, so walking got us there a lot faster. We were one of the first people let inside the park.

 

[yulilin3]

Can anyone give me input on transportation from the Poly or Contemporary to MK? I am trying to figure out where I should eat breakfast to get over to MK the quickest. Is it true the monorail is not running from the POLY in which case I would have to take the boat? Also if the monorail is running from the Contemporary, which is faster, walking to MK or hopping on the monorail? Or boat?

Are you starting at the poly or contemporary? You cannot park and leave your car if you're just having breakfast
Walking from contempo is faster than monorail. And poly monorail service ends next week until next year

 

[jvalic33]

Are you starting at the poly or contemporary? You cannot park and leave your car if you're just having breakfast
Walking from contempo is faster than monorail. And poly monorail service ends next week until next year

I could do either or, I want to cancel either Kona's breakfast or the Wave so I'm trying to decide which would be better factoring in shorter time vs. shorter walk. I won't be there until October 10th so it sounds like the monorail will definitely be down.

 

[vital]

I’m here now... staying at boardwalk villas. Crowds are definitely higher then when I was here the first week in August. Wait times are higher today (Saturday) then on the weekdays as well.

What food options are there at the Boardwalk right now? I know things will change by the time we come in December, but I'm curious. Thanks!

 

[Greta]

Thanks for the report! We are headed down in a couple weeks and Disney has increased capacity yet again for the upcoming school fall break weeks. What specifically would you have planned differently? Did you mean postpone the trip? Any tips appreciated.

Did Disney announce that they have increased capacity or is their capacity limit the same as July and there are simply more people visiting now?

 

[Jen0107c]

What food options are there at the Boardwalk right now? I know things will change by the time we come in December, but I'm curious. Thanks!

For food and drinks Trattoria al forno, the pizza window, boardwalk bakery, leaping horse libations, and abracada bar are all open. None of the little boardwalk stands are open yet.

 

[yulilin3]

Did Disney announce that they have increased capacity or is their capacity limit the same as July and there are simply more people visiting now?

Disney won't announce numbers of any kind or when they increase

 

[NanetteG]

Just Back Mon 21-Fri 25 Visit: Relaxation was the point of this visit so we didn't plan much time in the parks or restrict ourselves to too many ADRs that we would have to plan around. In fact, we would have spent all of our time at Typhoon Lagoon had it been open. We chose the YC for its small lazy river and it's proximity to the WS which is the one park we planned to visit and we planned to split that across two days. I've made some notes below from our stay which we enjoyed very much.

* Monday - We arrived at MCO at 11:30 and was onboard our DME bus and on the road within 10 minutes of arriving at the DME station. We were spaced every other row with no one sitting across the isle from other passengers. The journey to YC took apx. 45 minutes with prior stops at a couple of other resorts. Using the MDE app (love it btw) I requested a King room noting that early room availability was our greater priority. Both requests were accommodated soon after arriving at the YC. We had lunch reservations at B&C and then hit the pool for the afternoon. We had 8:30 dinner reservations at The Boat House on DS and was at the YC bus stop at 7:30 with only 2 or 3 other couples on the bus with us. DS was pretty crowded and entrance into World of Disney was monitored. After dinner and a bit of browsing we made our way to the bus stop for the trip back to the resort. Because of distancing we had to wait for the 3rd resort bus even though there were only 20ish people in front of us, so it took a very long time to get back to the resort. As a result of that experience we decided to cancel our dinner reservation on DS for Wednesday evening.
* Tuesday - We were able to make last minute breakfast reservations at A&C after which we walked over to International Gateway. Since there was a large crowd waiting to get into the park we decided to take a ride on the skyliner. Again, they are limiting passengers to family groups which was not a problem on our trip away from Int'l Gateway but became an issue when we got off at The RR and had to wait our turn for the few empty gondolas coming from CBR. Three ladies in front of us invited us to be their family and we got on the gondola together and rode back to Int'l Gateway and entered WS. Masks are required while in the park and it was a very hot day so we only got as far as Germany when he decided to call it a day. Many of the shops in the pavilions are still closed which we really missed. We were able to be seated at Spice Road Table without a reservation and after a great lunch on the water we made our way back to the YC and back to the pool.
* Wednesday - We stayed at the resort all day Wednesday and enjoyed the pool. There are limited food options for take out at the resort. It's either bagged sandwiches at the pool bar or bagged sandwiches from the market so we made do since we didn't want to leave the pool to change for dinner. It was a wonderfully relaxing day.
* Thursday - Back to WS. We were actually in the park at about 10:30. It was another hot day so I am glad we split the park between 2 days. The line for Frozen was wrapped around to China when we entered the Chinese pavilion but was only half as long when we exited. We enjoyed margaritas and air conditioning inside the Mexican pavilion which is my favorite at WS. We then headed to Soarin' which had about a 15 minute wait and were seated with two seats between us and another couple. After Soarin' we headed to Canada for our reservation (made earlier that morning) at La Cellier. Our ADR was at 2:10 but we were seated as soon as we arrived at 1:30. The steaks were delicious! Most everything seemed closed at England pavilion so we did not spend much time there as we headed back to the YC and back to the pool.
* Friday - We had a late afternoon flight with DME scheduled to pick us up at 1:55. We were able to get a table at A&C for breakfast without an ADR after which we brought our bags down to bell services and enjoyed the pool until it was time to change for DME. Interestingly, there was no spacing on the bus for the trip back to the airport. We had a full bus by the time we picked up the last passengers with all the rows occupied. We were dropped off at the DME point of pick up, but it seems like they used to bring us to our airline ticketing entrance.

It was a great trip and gave us exactly what we were looking for in a vacation - relaxation. We certainly understand the necessity for masks for safety purposes at this time (we both have to wear them all day every day), but we have made the decision to wait until masks are no longer required before we make another trip. It was just oppressively hot wearing them in the park. Perhaps cooler weather will make the masks more bearable.

We always love our trips to The World!

 

[lynch34]

They have reached the tipping point. They need to open more things up.

 

[Greta]

They have reached the tipping point. They need to open more things up.

I read that the bakery in Norway and the Fish& Chips shoppe in UK opened today.

also saw a rumor that the egg roll cart in MK Adventure land is preparing to reopen

I think they are opening things 1 by 1 from what I’ve seen

 

[Helvetica]

Epcot was pretty nuts today. I was able to get a lot done in the morning, but by around 2-2:30 I started to feel unsafe. I probably should have left sooner, but that’s on me.

I guess we’ll see what the evening brings, but for now it’s back to the resort for some pool time.