Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Dotluvsdisney]

I’d love to hear your GOTG strategy! We have not used Genie+ or LL yet and have lots to learn.

 

[Mango7100]

I’d love to hear your GOTG strategy! We have not used Genie+ or LL yet and have lots to learn.

We were at Epcot Friday and got a Guardians virtual queue and did the ILL since we love it that much. Before 7 am we confirmed our group for the virtual queue. Closed all our open apps. Used cellular data instead of Siri. Opened My Disney experience app and was on the virtual queue page waiting. At 6:59 started my one minute timer on my Fitbit—right at 659 and 58 seconds pulled down on the screento refresh, hit the join queue button, and got boarding group 60.

 

[jkw4afh]

I’d love to hear your GOTG strategy! We have not used Genie+ or LL yet and have lots to learn.

I saw this trick posted somewhere and it worked for us. When it comes time to tap “refresh” in the virtual queue when it opens, you want to hit refresh the second before it opens.

Example: if you are trying to secure a Boarding Group at 7:00am, make sure to refresh at 6:59:59.

But here’s the thing: our devices are usually not exactly synced with Disney’s clock. SO…have someone else’s device opened up to time.gov and use the official world clock. When you see the time.gov clock hit 6:59:59, that’s when you want to hit “refresh” and then “join virtual queue” immediately. Don’t wait until 7:00am.

Others may have different experiences, but that worked for us 4 out of 4 times on a very busy week. We tried twice at 7a, once at 1p, and once at 6p (on Monday night for Epcot extended deluxe hours).

Try searching YouTube for some videos that show you how the virtual queue works. They were so helpful too,

 

[scrappinginontario]

. At 6:59 started my one minute timer on my Fitbit—right at 659 and 58 seconds pulled down on the screento refresh, hit the join queue button, and got boarding group 60.

Such a great tip!! I’m going to use this at Disney but also when checking in with Southwest.

 

[SkyGuy]

Such a great tip!! I’m going to use this at Disney but also when checking in with Southwest.

Doesn’t work for SW; believe me, I try every time . There must be a lag on their end. I find you need to wait until exactly your time or exactly your time and a second or two even. Btw, I’m the queen of getting A1 when I’m traveling Business Select, and I almost always get A16 when traveling normal ticket . Let me know how it works out for you!

 

[Dotluvsdisney]

That is super fancy! Will definitely try this out. My son and I loved the Guardians ride at Disneyland . Hope we get in!

 

[NavyDad]

We love Universal too but, after going several times over an 18 month period, we got bored. The hotel prices are higher than what we have been able to get for DVC rentals and we love the DVC resorts. So much more to do and see. Back to Disney for us!

We love Universal (especially WWoHP) but we just can't seem to make an entire week-long vacation out of it. We love adding 2 nights at a Universal Resort with 2-3 days of visiting the UO parks to the end of a WDW trip. One year we rented a 2 bedroom condo on I-Drive and did UO, Aquatica and Sea World. It was a lot of fun but didn't quite have the magic of a WDW vacation for our family.

 

[lugnut33]

I saw this trick posted somewhere and it worked for us. When it comes time to tap “refresh” in the virtual queue when it opens, you want to hit refresh the second before it opens.

Example: if you are trying to secure a Boarding Group at 7:00am, make sure to refresh at 6:59:59.

But here’s the thing: our devices are usually not exactly synced with Disney’s clock. SO…have someone else’s device opened up to time.gov and use the official world clock. When you see the time.gov clock hit 6:59:59, that’s when you want to hit “refresh” and then “join virtual queue” immediately. Don’t wait until 7:00am.

Others may have different experiences, but that worked for us 4 out of 4 times on a very busy week. We tried twice at 7a, once at 1p, and once at 6p (on Monday night for Epcot extended deluxe hours).

Try searching YouTube for some videos that show you how the virtual queue works. They were so helpful too,

I can't believe the ridiculous things we do for Disney. Oh L'amour

 

[jkw4afh]

I can't believe the ridiculous things we do for Disney. Oh L'amour

Guardians is that good!

 

[Morgol]

We went to Disney in September and had a lot of luck getting on rides at the end of the night with little to no wait, despite the posted wait times.

We're thinking about going back in a couple years in mid October, but noticed the crowds were significantly greater last week.

Can anyone comment on their experience last week on or around the park closing time and how long they actually had to wait? Thanks

 

[Morgol]

Guardians is that good!

Was there in September and rode Guardians 4 times - definitely my favorite ride. We were looking at going mid October in a couple years - sounds like the crowds were pretty crazy last week. We usually try to get our rides in at night and get in line for headliners at park close - did you have any experience with how long waits were at park close last week? When we were there rides like RotR and Seven Dwarfs would drop to 0-20 minutes at park close.

 

[Mango7100]

We went to Disney in September and had a lot of luck getting on rides at the end of the night with little to no wait, despite the posted wait times.

We're thinking about going back in a couple years in mid October, but noticed the crowds were significantly greater last week.

Can anyone comment on their experience last week on or around the park closing time and how long they actually had to wait? Thanks

We were there 2 days last week and did Rise at the end of the night on Friday the 14th. Posted wait time was 70 minutes at 840. Actual waited about 30 minutes to the first preshow

 

[Morgol]

We were there 2 days last week and did Rise at the end of the night on Friday the 14th. Posted wait time was 70 minutes at 840. Actual waited about 30 minutes to the first preshow

Good to know, thanks for the info - did you do any other rides at park close last week?

 

[Mango7100]

Good to know, thanks for the info - did you do any other rides at park close last week?

Not this time. Tacked on 2 days at WDW after the beach-we did the Halloween party and then one day after (Epcot Am/HS PM). We did do Test Track as our first Epcot ride during Early Entry. Waited about 15 minutes (including the time to design)

 

[GBRforWDW]

Just finishing up our short 2 day trip with me, wife, kid and mil. Nothing too eye opening to share, except I loved Rope dropping Hollywood Studios from Pop Century. You can see my full video from 645am to 9am here if you're interested in how best to rope drop early entry from the skyliner resorts:

All of toy story land and in line for MMRR before regular park opening.

My daughter, with as much trouble as she was causing us by not listening and trying to wander off on her own, became a bit of a minor Disney World celebrity this weekend. We went to the first Monster's Inc show at the party Sunday night and she got to talk to the monster about trick or treating. She had several people the same night recognize her and even once or twice the next day. Then at Epcot, got to talk to crush, but then he ended up asking me more questions . Then at the Newsboys concert in the American pavilion, we were at the last show and when the lead singer came off stage while singing the last song, she got to do a little dance with him. So pretty successful night for her

Tip for any non deluxe staying in a skyliner hotel on an Extra Evening Hours night, if you're in Epcot until after 1030 or so, the skyliner does shut down at Riviera, ie, they only allow you on if you're staying at Riviera. I was walking the park taking videos and pictures until 11. I Couldn't get on the skyliner (didn't realize until I left the park), so scheduled an Uber for the boardwalk entrance. then not knowing the boardwalk area well enough, I guess, I couldn't find a way to get through the hotel from the boardwalk and ended up walking all the way around to the front. It was a very long walk at 11pm, lol . The car arrived a couple minutes before I did, so at least I didn't have to wait

We stayed at Pop for the first time, was going to stay in 2020. Everyone loved the oversized decorations. As 80s babies staying in the 80s building, that was definitely exciting for my wife and I.

For anyone going soon, enjoy your trip!

 

[ValpoCory]

Any recent reports of how many minutes before the 30-minute guaranteed entry that resort guests are being let in to the attractions?

Which parks and how much earlier than 30 minutes?

Thank you!

 

[ValpoCory]

Just finishing up our short 2 day trip with me, wife, kid and mil. Nothing too eye opening to share, except I loved Rope dropping Hollywood Studios from Pop Century. You can see my full video from 645am to 9am here if you're interested in how best to rope drop early entry from the skyliner resorts:

All of toy story land and in line for MMRR before regular park opening.

My daughter, with as much trouble as she was causing us by not listening and trying to wander off on her own, became a bit of a minor Disney World celebrity this weekend. We went to the first Monster's Inc show at the party Sunday night and she got to talk to the monster about trick or treating. She had several people the same night recognize her and even once or twice the next day. Then at Epcot, got to talk to crush, but then he ended up asking me more questions . Then at the Newsboys concert in the American pavilion, we were at the last show and when the lead singer came off stage while singing the last song, she got to do a little dance with him. So pretty successful night for her

Tip for any non deluxe staying in a skyliner hotel on an Extra Evening Hours night, if you're in Epcot until after 1030 or so, the skyliner does shut down at Riviera, ie, they only allow you on if you're staying at Riviera. I was walking the park taking videos and pictures until 11. I Couldn't get on the skyliner (didn't realize until I left the park), so scheduled an Uber for the boardwalk entrance. then not knowing the boardwalk area well enough, I guess, I couldn't find a way to get through the hotel from the boardwalk and ended up walking all the way around to the front. It was a very long walk at 11pm, lol . The car arrived a couple minutes before I did, so at least I didn't have to wait

We stayed at Pop for the first time, was going to stay in 2020. Everyone loved the oversized decorations. As 80s babies staying in the 80s building, that was definitely exciting for my wife and I.

For anyone going soon, enjoy your trip!

Nice! It looks like they let resort guests in 54 minutes before the park opened to all guests at 8:30am, and the attractions (Slinky Dog at least) opened about 35 minutes before 8:30am.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Nice! It looks like they let resort guests in 54 minutes before the park opened to all guests at 8:30am, and the attractions (Slinky Dog at least) opened about 35 minutes before 8:30am.

Yes, it worked out great for me just staying in TSL and having no lines for any of the rides compared to the wait times at noon that day

After the video, I also did tot and rnrr and was done with 6 rides by 11. Had I been trying to stay all day, could have easily hit a lot of the shows and star wars later in the day, but I had other plans, and left by 1230 or 1

 

[jkw4afh]

Any recent reports of how many minutes before the 30-minute guaranteed entry that resort guests are being let in to the attractions?

Which parks and how much earlier than 30 minutes?

Thank you!

We only rope dropped AK and HS. At AK, they waited until exactly 30 minutes before regular park opening to allow resort guests to enter.

At HS it was the opposite. They let us in early, we went immediately to RotR, rode it and were off the ride before early entry even began.

 

[MEC004]

We only rope dropped AK and HS. At AK, they waited until exactly 30 minutes before regular park opening to allow resort guests to enter.

At HS it was the opposite. They let us in early, we went immediately to RotR, rode it and were off the ride before early entry even began.

What time is resort transportation going? In 2020 when we went we had a hard time getting to the parks. Staying at BWI starting next week.