Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[KandyM]

glad I did the quote correct
This just seems really 'new' to me. We've taken part in the idea of jumping in line before park close several times over the years and I have never heard of being denied entry to the queue.

 

[CarolynFH]

Wow, so this feels like huge WDW news doesn't it? Not being allowed to get into a queue before park closes? Or am I wrong? Have folks seen this before?
-Apologies if I am using Quote wrong

When FoP was new and routinely pulling in hours-long standby lines, they routinely closed the standby line early. Like RotR, the inside part of the queue is huge, can hold many people, so IMHO it’s not feasible to judge the length of the standby line from the outside.

PS when DVC had its special members-only events at DHS this summer, it was announced in advance that the RotR line would close an hour before the event ended.

 

[DisneyFive]

glad I did the quote correct
This just seems really 'new' to me. We've taken part in the idea of jumping in line before park close several times over the years and I have never heard of being denied entry to the queue.

As far as I know, at this time, it is only Rise that has a possibility of closing prior to park close. I haven’t seen other rides stopping the queues early

Dan

 

[NavyDad]

Wow, so this feels like huge WDW news doesn't it? Not being allowed to get into a queue before park closes? Or am I wrong? Have folks seen this before?
-Apologies if I am using Quote wrong

I have never seen that myself but I do remember seeing reports of that happening on RotR and maybe FoP when they first opened because the lines were so very long it would be very late if they let everyone get in line up to park close. so basically it's super rare.

 

[Fishteacher]

Ready for another great Epcot day today! Our second and final Epcot date of the trip

Forecast is 90° and sunny, with a chance of rain as usual

Park hours are 8:30 AM to 9 PM with EEH for an additional two hours for deluxe resort guests. We plan to make use of that primarily for the special EEH Guardians boarding groups, and hopefully to do Remy again.

At 7 AM I got boarding group 26 which, has already been called.(it’s 9:18am right now) We are still getting ready at the Poly (things move a little slower by your seventh park day ) and I expect to get to Epcot around 10:30am and we will tap in then.

By the time I got done getting our boarding group, I got us an 11:45am to 12:45PM Remy which works out well with our 12:25 ADR at Beaches and cream nearby at the Beach club. We’ll probably tap in around 11:40 and will finish Remy and walk out the international gateway to the Beach club

At 10:30 AM I tried to be a little strategic with our G+ selection. Test track was sitting out at 8:30 PM and Frozen jumped to around 5 PM which is good for us. So I snagged a 5:15 - 6:15 PM Frozen and later will use the 4:47 PM drop to snag a Test track for about an hour later. At least that’s the plan. At 12:30 PM I plan to start using a number of G+ selections, with close return times, like Spaceship earth, and just keep rolling for a bit until we head back to the resort for an afternoon break.

10:47 AM and at Epcot! Heading to Guardians.

10:58am and tapped into Guardians. I do recommend asking to wait for the very front vehicle, row 1. They will accommodate you.
View attachment 687785
Dang that’s an awesome ride!!!

11:59 and tapping into Remy. Posted 65. On in 7 minutes
View attachment 687798

12:13 PM now and heading to lunch at Beaches and Cream
View attachment 687851
Yup, we’re pigs.

At 12:30pm I could book another G+. Was looking for Soarin but it was out to 2:30pm and I didn’t want to wait that long because I want to go back and relax. So I was refreshing for a little while, maybe 10 minutes and all of a sudden a Test track for 1:10 PM popped up!(it was showing sold out prior) That will be perfect on our way back from lunch. We will do that and then head back to the room.

2:17 now and worked our way back to Test track. Tapped in 7 minutes into the late grace period. Posted 75 minutes. On in 10. We got lucky and made it through the ride just before rain shut it down temporarily

3 PM now and heading back to the resort to relax

Here we go!…

Hello, we will be heading to the World next month! Do we have to have a reservation for Epcot to take advantage of the evening extra hours (EEH) boarding group for Guardians or can we have a reservation for another park and then use our park hopper and still gain a boarding group for the night time Deluxe hours?
Thank you

 

[Leigh L]

Hello, we will be heading to the World next month! Do we have to have a reservation for Epcot to take advantage of the evening extra hours (EEH) boarding group for Guardians or can we have a reservation for another park and then use our park hopper and still gain a boarding group for the night time Deluxe hours?
Thank you

You do not need a reservation - we were booked at DHS that day and hopped over in the afternoon. We were in the park at the time we got the VQ (but I don't think you need to be as long as you're eligible for the extra hours and have a hopper)

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

I have never seen that myself but I do remember seeing reports of that happening on RotR and maybe FoP when they first opened because the lines were so very long it would be very late if they let everyone get in line up to park close. so basically it's super rare.

DCA did this during Villains Nite with RSR. Like a half hour before the event ended they just stopped letting people in line.

 

[DisneyFive]

You do not need a reservation - we were booked at DHS that day and hopped over in the afternoon. We were in the park at the time we got the VQ (but I don't think you need to be as long as you're eligible for the extra hours and have a hopper)

Correct, you do not need to be in the park to book your boarding group at 6pm. I got it from our resort. You either need a reservation for Epcot or Park Hoppers.

 

[donaldanddaisy]

Was there a time for your Slinky Drop? Been reading and doing parks (also at the Poly) and today is our only HS day. Would love to get a Slinky later. Used 2:47 at Epcot and it worked like a dream!

 

[bastraker]

For anyone here now - I'm at HS and the extra pay lighting lane is down. No one can purchase unless you see a cast member at one of the blue umbrellas.

They were able to purchase guardians for us manually.

 

[cakebaker]

Hello, we will be heading to the World next month! Do we have to have a reservation for Epcot to take advantage of the evening extra hours (EEH) boarding group for Guardians or can we have a reservation for another park and then use our park hopper and still gain a boarding group for the night time Deluxe hours?
Thank you

You don't have to be at Epcot or any other park to join the VQ for Guardians - just be eligible to attend the evening hours. I've been told it's hardest one to join, but we had no trouble getting in when we went last week.

 

[DisneyFive]

Was there a time for your Slinky Drop? Been reading and doing parks (also at the Poly) and today is our only HS day. Would love to get a Slinky later. Used 2:47 at Epcot and it worked like a dream!

If I recall, they just popped up. No specific drop time . I think if you refresh long enough you will find one. We were able to snag one both days

Edit: if you are only trying for Slinky, then I would suggest editing your selections in the tip board to only include that ride. That way it will stay at the very top of your list and it is much easier to see if a time slot for Slinky pops up, and you can snag it quickly. Just keep refreshing…

 

[DisneyFive]

Well, the day is here. Our final full day of the trip. . We’ll make the most of it though.

Magic Kingdom today. Hours are 9 AM through 11 PM. Forecast is sunny and 93°

With such a late night last night with Epcot EEH, getting to sleep around 1am, we needed our morning to just chill and sleep in. We have a Kona café reservation starting at 12:10 PM and then we are heading to the park for the start of our day!

Here’s where is some of the difficulties of G+ come in,. At 7 AM the return windows for the rides we wanted like Space, were not anywhere close to the time window after lunch. I needed to wait a full 2 hours until 9:03 AM before I could book a G+ for Space in the right timeframe, which for us was targeting 12:45 PM to 1:45 PM. So I was pretty much awake that whole time because I did not know how fast it would get to our desired timeframe.

Luckily, while I was waiting I noticed that Mickey Philharmagic was temporarily closed and there was a return very close to the current time so I booked a G+ for that, and sure enough within five minutes it turned into an anytime G+. So now we have Space from 12:50-1:50 and an anytime G+ that we plan to use for Splash or BTMRR.

At 11:03 I booked us a 2:45-3:45 PM Peter Pan

12:10 PM and lunch at Kona Café.


At 1:06pm and booked a 2:50 to 3:50 PM Pirates. We will keep an eye on the BTMRR and Splash windows so that one of them doesn’t run out before we can grab our next G+

I will say, it is so nice having time to browse the shops and enjoy the atmosphere of the parks rather than standing in line most of the day. It’s nice knowing that you have those rides set aside in the future with low waits. Feels more like years past versus last year when it was standby only.

1:55 PM now and we are waiting outside in the lightning lane for Space mountain. The scanners aren’t working for some reason so there is a delay getting into the ride for those with lightning lane reserved, like us.

2 PM to checked into Space. Posted 65 minutes. On in 15 minutes. They were manually looking at each persons “My day”screen on the MDE app verifying that you had G+ reserved. Fortunately I had taken a screenshot of that page while we were waiting in line because by the time we got to the entrance of space the reservation disappeared because we were far enough past our original window because we waited in line outside too long.


2:30 PM and doing Carousel of progress


3:15 PM and tapped into Peter Pan. Posted 90 minutes. Waited 5 minutes

3:25 and tapped into Pirates. Posted 55 minutes . On in 12 minutes.


3:50 PM and snagged a 4:00 PM BTMRR expecting it to be an anytime G+ soon. Sure enough, around 3:55 PM it turned into another anytime G+ so now we have two!

4:02 now. Trying again for a Barnstormer anytime G+. Have it booked from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM and I think there is a decent chance I will get one for that as well. That will set up well for the evening Update: got an anytime for this one as well.

4:16pm and waiting for the Tiki room. I don’t think we’ve done this one since our very first visit in 2010!

4:30pm and Trying for a 5pm Aladdin G+. Will see what happens. Update: Anytime G+

4:40 and we’re ducking into Country bear jamboree because believe it or not we have never done this one. Can’t say that anymore. Well, the show is done. Not sure what I just watched, but it was a hoot. Great crowd too.


By the way, you probably guessed it but all these outdoor ride closures are due to weather in the area. It should clear up by the evening. This is one of the reasons I really love when parks have later hours like they used to. Having Magic Kingdom open till 11 PM allows for us to still use these anytime passes as needed

5:15 PM and heading back to the resort to chill for a bit and let this weather clear as well as the crowds on the inside rides.

5:35pm and booked a 7:10-8:10pm BTMRR G+

7:15 PM now and ready to finish strong! Just about to leave the Poly for MK. We have 4 anytime G+’s and the BTMRR G+ mentioned above.

7:49PM and just booked a 8:25 PM to 9:25 PM Buzz G+. Edit, we ended up canceling this G+ and moving it to 9:20 to 10:20 PM since we did Space at 9:16 standby.

7:50pm tapped into BTMRR (not with anytime G+). Posted 60 minutes. On in 12 minutes


8:16 PM and just tapped into Splash with anytime G+. Posted 60 minutes. On in 7 minutes.


8:47 PM and tapped into Haunted mansion with anytime G+. Posted 60 minutes. In stretching room in 4


9:16pm now. Wanted to do Space one more time (standby) and figured the best option would be right before and during the 9:20 fireworks. Posted 40 minutes. On in 20 minutes! Amazing. Just to note, as we are exiting Space the fireworks had just got done and the standby line was very long at that point. We timed it just right.

9:48 PM now and tapping into Buzz with a booked G+. Posted 15 minutes. On in 4 minutes

Booked an IASW G+ for 9:55. Probably unnecessary. We still have two anytime G+ left as well but are running out of attractions.

10:05 PM and tapped into IASW. Posted 10 minutes. On in 4 minutes

10:35 PM and decided to end our rides with the classic, Teacups.

10:45 PM. Ending the night with some tradition, grabbing ice cream from the plaza ice cream parlor and watching the castle.

Another amazing day and trip overall.

So long Magic Kingdom. Until next time… Thanks for the memories.

-Dan

 

[Marionnette]

Luckily, while I was waiting I noticed that Mickey Philharmagic was temporarily closed and there was a return very close to the current time so I booked a G+ for that, and sure enough within five minutes and turned into an anytime G+. So now we have Space from 12:50-1:50 and for anytime G+ that we plan to use for Splash or BTMRR.

This is an excellent tip that worked for me back in December. Buzz went down during our return time and we got a multi-experience pass that we used on JC. I snagged another Buzz G+ for the near future and even before we got off our boat, we had another multi-experience pass. If it hadn't been for the fact that we were pretty much done with the MK for the day, I would have tried it again since Buzz was still down.

 

[DisneyFive]

This is an excellent tip that worked for me back in December. Buzz went down during our return time and we got a multi-experience pass that we used on JC. I snagged another Buzz G+ for the near future and even before we got off our boat, we had another multi-experience pass. If it hadn't been for the fact that we were pretty much done with the MK for the day, I would have tried it again since Buzz was still down.

I wondered about this because Philharmagic was down for a LONG time this morning and I could’ve done it again but I wasn’t sure if you could do it twice for the same attraction. Does anyone know?

 

[mikalkwin]

I wondered about this because Philharmagic was down for a LONG time this morning and I could’ve done it again but I wasn’t sure if you could do it twice for the same attraction. Does anyone know?

You can book g+ only once per attraction but if your g+ booking transforms to an multiexperience, then it is as if you'd never booked it with g+.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I wondered about this because Philharmagic was down for a LONG time this morning and I could’ve done it again but I wasn’t sure if you could do it twice for the same attraction. Does anyone know?

I don't know about WDW but have heard you can in DL so it might be worth a try.

 

[Erica Ladd]

might be worth it to tap in early to PP and see if it lets you....

 

[jods]

..I don't know if there is another set epcot drop, but there are currently an immediately return time for Remy and test track. Frozen was available a few minutes ago. Hours ago they were consistently sold out. Wonder if there is a 147 or this was a unicorn. I hope I find these unicorns next month when I go.

 

[Leigh L]

Well, the day is here. Our final full day of the trip. . We’ll make the most of it though.

Magic Kingdom today. Hours are 9 AM through 11 PM. Forecast is sunny and 93°

With such a late night last night with Epcot EEH, getting to sleep around 1am, we needed our morning to just chill and sleep in. We have a Kona café reservation starting at 12:10 PM and then we are heading to the park for the start of our day!

Here’s where is some of the difficulties of G+ come in,. At 7 AM the return windows for the rides we wanted like Space, were not anywhere close to the time window after lunch. I needed to wait a full 2 hours until 9:03 AM before I could book a G+ for Space in the right timeframe, which for us was targeting 12:45 PM to 1:45 PM. So I was pretty much awake that whole time because I did not know how fast it would get to our desired timeframe.

Luckily, while I was waiting I noticed that Mickey Philharmagic was temporarily closed and there was a return very close to the current time so I booked a G+ for that, and sure enough within five minutes it turned into an anytime G+. So now we have Space from 12:50-1:50 and an anytime G+ that we plan to use for Splash or BTMRR.

At 11:03 I booked us a 2:45-3:45 PM Peter Pan

12:10 PM and lunch at Kona Café.
View attachment 688265

At 1:06pm and booked a 2:50 to 3:50 PM Pirates. We will keep an eye on the BTMRR and Splash windows so that one of them doesn’t run out before we can grab our next G+

I will say, it is so nice having time to browse the shops and enjoy the atmosphere of the parks rather than standing in line most of the day. It’s nice knowing that you have those rides set aside in the future with low waits. Feels more like years past versus last year when it was standby only.

1:55 PM now and we are waiting outside in the lightning lane for Space mountain. The scanners aren’t working for some reason so there is a delay getting into the ride for those with lightning lane reserved, like us.

2 PM to checked into Space. They were manually looking at each persons “My day”screen on the MDE app verifying that you had G+ reserved. Fortunately I had taken a screenshot of that page while we were waiting in line because by the time we got to the entrance of space the reservation disappeared because we were far enough past our original window because we waited in line outside too long.

Here we go!…

-Dan

Have a great day!! This week has been fun reading about your trip