Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Turksmom]

100% agree! I can’t believe people are giving Disney a pass, no wonder they continue to underserve and continue to increase prices.

I don't see it as giving Disney a pass. They should be handling it, but the reality is that right now they are not. That doesn't make it acceptable to subject other guests to your trash and dirty linens.

 

[cakebaker]

I don't see it as giving Disney a pass. They should be handling it, but the reality is that right now they are not. That doesn't make it acceptable to subject other guests to your trash and dirty linens.

Disney is responsible for guests being subject to seeing piles of trash. I agree, it’s not acceptable and they should fix it.

Eta- Guests are reporting they’re being told by their resorts to put the trash outside.

 

[petunia]

Is there a standard rule for which rides you can have drink/snack in line with, or does it differ depending on the attraction, or whether its an inside queue, we havent ever found a rule either way. With the current long waits Id like to plan for some drink/snack times in lines where allowed?

 

[LSUmiss]

I’m so sorry you got sick and hope the symptoms aren’t too bad and you feel better soon. If I’m remembering correct, you have a toddler? How is he/she so far? The reason I ask is because we also have a toddler and we have a trip next week.

Thank you. He is fine. I didn’t traumatize him with testing him b/c pediatrician said we are all quarantined together now so it doesn’t really matter.

 

[LSUmiss]

I agree. We’re going later this week (only to AK) and don’t plan on eating indoors anywhere. We’re coming from a place that’s worse COVID-wise than Florida, so that hasn’t concerned me. We’re vaccinated but our kids are not. We’ve been twice already during COVID and have felt relatively safe in our previous trips, but it seems like post-Memorial Day is a different animal.

Yes I have been 5 times since Covid started, but this trip we ate indoors much more & it was waay more crowded & no masks or social distancing. And I was one who was happy about that change until now . Not sure when we will go back now.

 

[brockash]

But why make other Guests look at this out of frustration with Disney?

A call(s) to Housekeeping "should" result in someone picking it up.

If no response from Housekeeping there are Trash cans at All-Star Music this trash could have been taken to,either in the building sections themselves or in World Premiere Food Court.

No matter how poor a job Disney may be currently doing,to leave trash like this for other Guests to have to see speaks more of laziness by the Guest than frustration with Disney.

Not cool at all IMHO.

All are entitled to their own opinion. I personally don't share yours. I'm on vacation and paying to stay at a hotel; I fully expect that I won't be taking the trash out for the week - if I was renting a house, which we often do, then absolutely; but if I'm paying for a hotel; then no, that's part of what I'm paying for. Disney should've never opened up more than they can appropriately service...Disney is who created these frustrating situations and I don't feel it's appropriate to place the blame on the paying customers who are unfortunately not getting the service they've paid for.

 

[brockash]

Is there a standard rule for which rides you can have drink/snack in line with, or does it differ depending on the attraction, or whether its an inside queue, we havent ever found a rule either way. With the current long waits Id like to plan for some drink/snack times in lines where allowed?

Unless something has changed; there shouldn't be a debate any longer since masks aren't required. I can't imagine any line that you aren't supposed to eat/drink in any outdoor part of the que...honestly I'm not even sure there's any issue with it being in the indoor part as long as you're done or it can safely and securely be put away before you load.

 

[scrappinginontario]

There are two different thoughts about guests taking out towels and garbage. Each person is allowed to have their own opinion about the topic but from past debates we know that it we won't ever feel the same.

Let's please move to sharing experiences at WDW.

Thanks.

 

[WEDWDW]

Big Gert has reopened!

HUGE STEP in the right direction!lol

 

[Lupin]

I just got back from WDW yesterday and stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort for the first time. We had two youngsters in tow (7 and 8) and 4 adults. Overall we had a great trip but like many others have pointed out the parks are insanely crowded and as expected the weather is very hot. We actually had to wait 15 minutes for Imagination and there was a wait-list to go to the DVC lounge at the Imagination pavilion. In years past Imagination has always been a walk-on and the one time we did visit the DVC lounge in the afternoon it was completely empty. So it was a very stark contrast.

Highlights:

• The Skyliner was an awesome method for getting around the resort area. It was a huge time saver for us and a much more preferred method of travel during COVID.
  
  
• CMs were super helpful and friendly as always. A shout out to Brogan, the photographer at the entrance to Epcot who insisted on lying down on the 100+ degree ground to get a shot of my son's Wampa plush in front of the Spaceship Earth ball.
  
  
• All I wanted to do on this entire trip was see Galaxy's Edge and ride Rise of the Resistance. We managed to snag boarding group 6 and had practically the whole ride to ourselves when it opened first thing in the morning. Both the land and the ride were spectacular. I was never able to get on Smuggler's run because the line was consistently 90-130 minutes every day all day.
  
  
• Mobile Order worked really well for us, though we almost always planned/ordered our meals about an hour before when we expected to eat.
  
  
• Food at the Caribbean Beach quick service was surprisingly great
  
  
• Wait times tended to be bloated compared to actual wait times. For instance, the queue for Mickey's Runaway Railway said 60 minutes but the actual wait time was more like 35 minutes
  
  
• The pastry at Riviera's Le Petit Cafe - so good!

Lowlights:

• Crowds and wait times. As I mentioned earlier, the crowds were a huge annoyance. The lack of people-eater shows in Hollywood Studios means that after 10 am, every ride has an insane wait time. With Buzz Lightyear and Splash Mountain down most of the week, the PeopleMover rarely had a wait time less than 25 minutes. This made our trip pretty disappointing in a lot of ways. With the Fast Pass system we would be able to do lots of rides in a single day while also having leisure time to shop and eat. With the current system, you're constantly always scouting ride wait times and standing in line. If you decide that you don't want to stand in line, then the only things to do are limited shows (like Carousel of Progress) or shopping.
  
  
• The queues for Mickey's Runaway Railway and the People Mover were brutally hot. The random umbrellas placed throughout the MRR line weren't very helpful. If Disney is going to continue this system of no or limited fast-pass with really long lines, then they should have a cooling area to let people/families hang out in while a representative from their family waits in line.
  
  
• Dinoland USA. I like the idea of the land itself, though I absolutely HATE the carnival games and the way Disney monetizes the system there. I saw one kid who was having an absolute meltdown because he really wanted the lizard stuffy and his parents were frantically trying to win him one. Disney as usual won't let you buy them - you can only win them - they eventually won one after spending god knows how much money. We let our 7 year old son play the ball toss game (the one where you have to throw the ball and let it land on a colored hole to win). His ball bounced out of the area twice and the CM would only let him re-do it once (because those are the rules). They wouldn't make an exception for a 7 year old kid at $5/play. It's a very seedy element to the park and it brings out a lot of negative emotions in people - I really wish they would just get rid of it.
  
  
• Mask enforcement on Disney transportation was very inconsistent. One of our poor bus drivers had to repeat himself 6 times to get a family in the back of the bus to mask up. They all had masks on when entering the bus and decided to take them all off when they got to the back. The bus driver wasn't having any of it and refused to move the bus until they all masked up. The dude deserves a medal for having to put up with that all day. The Skyliner was really good about mask enforcement too, though it was less of a worry given most people were in their own gondola. The monorail was a complete free-for-all - no mask enforcement at all. We rode it once and decided never to ride it again the rest of the trip.

 

[interstate70s]

Just finished our family's trip to Disney World. It was sort of a mixed bag. But here is some of our experiences.

Yacht Club- Beautiful location. Loved the storage and room set up there. The first room we were assigned was in really poor shape, including mold in the shower. The front desk reassigned us and the second room was fine. Housekeeping is what it is. Our room was refreshed once in 6 days. Housekeeping told us to call with what we needed and to leave trash and towels in the hall. It was typically picked up quickly. It was annoying and tiresome to have to continue to call for things that should be taken care of. The limited menu options at the restaurants were also disappointing. I was glad we had groceries delivered and requested a microwave. Made eating less inconvenient.

Bus service- Abysmal for Magic Kingdom. First day , first bus didn't show until 8:15 for a 9am opening. We didn't get through the turnstiles until 8:40. 2nd day at MK, same thing, ditched the line at 7:40. Made it to the castle at 8:20. Busses for AK were normal.

Wait times- App couldn't be trusted. It seems its used to shift crowds around in afternoon and evening. Sometimes its accurate with headliners, but you're better off trusting your eyes. Pirates line would often be walk on while the wait time was listed as 40 minutes. Also saw this on Splash, Small World, and Barnstormer. Maybe its to try to encourage people to shop instead of getting in line? Who knows.. I definitely spent less time shopping, just generally felt like there was less browsing time, trying to make sure the kids rode everything they wanted with higher waits.

Overall there were highs and lows, this trip seemed less personal, less service than past trips. Partly due to covid staffing, but partly due to everything being done on your phone. Its started to feel like we were vacationing in a crowded airport. Not sure if it is something we will repeat.

 

[erin1715]

Thank you. He is fine. I didn’t traumatize him with testing him b/c pediatrician said we are all quarantined together now so it doesn’t really matter.

I’m glad he’s okay. My husband and I already had covid and obviously we live closely with our toddler so assume she had it too, but like you we didn’t subject her to testing.

 

[Mango7100]

Thank you. He is fine. I didn’t traumatize him with testing him b/c pediatrician said we are all quarantined together now so it doesn’t really matter.

Hope you all are on the mend and thank you for your post. It serves as a reminder for all of us

 

[Marvin1968]

I just got back from WDW yesterday and stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort for the first time. We had two youngsters in tow (7 and 8) and 4 adults. Overall we had a great trip but like many others have pointed out the parks are insanely crowded and as expected the weather is very hot. We actually had to wait 15 minutes for Imagination and there was a wait-list to go to the DVC lounge at the Imagination pavilion. In years past Imagination has always been a walk-on and the one time we did visit the DVC lounge in the afternoon it was completely empty. So it was a very stark contrast.

Highlights:

• The Skyliner was an awesome method for getting around the resort area. It was a huge time saver for us and a much more preferred method of travel during COVID.
  
  
• CMs were super helpful and friendly as always. A shout out to Brogan, the photographer at the entrance to Epcot who insisted on lying down on the 100+ degree ground to get a shot of my son's Wampa plush in front of the Spaceship Earth ball.
  
  
• All I wanted to do on this entire trip was see Galaxy's Edge and ride Rise of the Resistance. We managed to snag boarding group 6 and had practically the whole ride to ourselves when it opened first thing in the morning. Both the land and the ride were spectacular. I was never able to get on Smuggler's run because the line was consistently 90-130 minutes every day all day.
  
  
• Mobile Order worked really well for us, though we almost always planned/ordered our meals about an hour before when we expected to eat.
  
  
• Food at the Caribbean Beach quick service was surprisingly great
  
  
• Wait times tended to be bloated compared to actual wait times. For instance, the queue for Mickey's Runaway Railway said 60 minutes but the actual wait time was more like 35 minutes
  
  
• The pastry at Riviera's Le Petit Cafe - so good!

Lowlights:

• Crowds and wait times. As I mentioned earlier, the crowds were a huge annoyance. The lack of people-eater shows in Hollywood Studios means that after 10 am, every ride has an insane wait time. With Buzz Lightyear and Splash Mountain down most of the week, the PeopleMover rarely had a wait time less than 25 minutes. This made our trip pretty disappointing in a lot of ways. With the Fast Pass system we would be able to do lots of rides in a single day while also having leisure time to shop and eat. With the current system, you're constantly always scouting ride wait times and standing in line. If you decide that you don't want to stand in line, then the only things to do are limited shows (like Carousel of Progress) or shopping.
  
  
• The queues for Mickey's Runaway Railway and the People Mover were brutally hot. The random umbrellas placed throughout the MRR line weren't very helpful. If Disney is going to continue this system of no or limited fast-pass with really long lines, then they should have a cooling area to let people/families hang out in while a representative from their family waits in line.
  
  
• Dinoland USA. I like the idea of the land itself, though I absolutely HATE the carnival games and the way Disney monetizes the system there. I saw one kid who was having an absolute meltdown because he really wanted the lizard stuffy and his parents were frantically trying to win him one. Disney as usual won't let you buy them - you can only win them - they eventually won one after spending god knows how much money. We let our 7 year old son play the ball toss game (the one where you have to throw the ball and let it land on a colored hole to win). His ball bounced out of the area twice and the CM would only let him re-do it once (because those are the rules). They wouldn't make an exception for a 7 year old kid at $5/play. It's a very seedy element to the park and it brings out a lot of negative emotions in people - I really wish they would just get rid of it.
  
  
• Mask enforcement on Disney transportation was very inconsistent. One of our poor bus drivers had to repeat himself 6 times to get a family in the back of the bus to mask up. They all had masks on when entering the bus and decided to take them all off when they got to the back. The bus driver wasn't having any of it and refused to move the bus until they all masked up. The dude deserves a medal for having to put up with that all day. The Skyliner was really good about mask enforcement too, though it was less of a worry given most people were in their own gondola. The monorail was a complete free-for-all - no mask enforcement at all. We rode it once and decided never to ride it again the rest of the trip.

No rope drop for Smugglers Run? I’m going to try in a couple of weeks. Also, It looks like it’s been 60 min at night. Let’s hope. We’re staying at CB also. Thanks for the tips.

 

[preemiemama]

No rope drop for Smugglers Run? I’m going to try in a couple of weeks. Also, It looks like it’s been 60 min at night. Let’s hope. We’re staying at CB also. Thanks for the tips.

We did it one day at rope drop and were off by 9:30- and the wait was already wrapped around the MF outside and up to about 90 minutes. You are held by Indy until 8:30, then the crowd walks with CMs down through the Grand Ave entrance and they wrap the line around in GE until they form the actual queue. So it takes longer to get on to the ride than something like TOT. But you get a pretty scenic tour of GE while walking! My son also did it as a single rider a few times, but he said you don't get to pilot it that way.

 

[Marvin1968]

We did it one day at rope drop and were off by 9:30- and the wait was already wrapped around the MF outside and up to about 90 minutes. You are held by Indy until 8:30, then the crowd walks with CMs down through the Grand Ave entrance and they wrap the line around in GE until they form the actual queue. So it takes longer to get on to the ride than something like TOT. But you get a pretty scenic tour of GE while walking! My son also did it as a single rider a few times, but he said you don't get to pilot it that way.

Thank you!

 

[BK2014]

Reasonable or non-reasonable people can disagree equally. Or agree? Not really sure the sentiment behind the word choice there.

All I meant by saying "reasonable people can certainly disagree" in response to your post was that, while I didn't agree with the entirety of your post, I did not think it was unreasonable. That should go without saying. But often times on message boards, when you openly disagree with someone they may interpret it as being attacked or being told that their opinion is wrong or their experience is invalid. I just wanted to make it clear that, while I was responding to your post, I neither disregarded your opinion nor felt that your experience was invalid.

 

[bastraker]

It has nothing to do with laziness. I’m not hauling trash out when I’m paying over $600 for a resort. If I see trash piled around, I’m blaming the one responsible-Disney. I’m not going to mask their problems by doing their work.

Luckily we’re in the cabins. I’ll call for trash pickup and be frustrated that I have to, but that’s as far as I go. If Disney doesn’t mind trash bags piled up on our deck, neither do I. We’ll rush like crazy getting around and out in the mornings trying to be early to avoid the horrible lines. I don’t have time to hunt for places to dump trash.

If they’d like to cut the price of my resort for me doing their job, we’ll talk. I’m amazed this can be twisted to blame guests.

I agree!! We stayed at the Grand Floridian in May and our garbage was not picked up. I have dirty diapers and I'm not leaving them in my room!

For the amount of money spent per night, I except my garbage to be picked up!!

I agree that this falls on Disney!!

 

[Lupin]

No rope drop for Smugglers Run? I’m going to try in a couple of weeks. Also, It looks like it’s been 60 min at night. Let’s hope. We’re staying at CB also. Thanks for the tips.

We would have done Smugglers Run at rope drop but we had no idea how long it would take to ride it and we had RotR at 9:10 and droid depot reservation at 9:50. I will say though that the rope drop line for Smugglers Run was so long that the actual Galaxy's Edge area was nearly empty. Everyone within Galaxy's Edge for the first hour was in that line so we had a great opportunity to explore the empty area for a bit.

 

[Marvin1968]

Thanks for info!! I may try and ride at night. We are going to Park hop from Epcot on our first day. I have Savis and Ogas reservations at night.