Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[GBRforWDW]

You’re choosing FoP as your first LL which means you cannot book another LL until either you have used that one or, 2 hours after AK has opened.

Monday morning brain, I’m sure, FoP is ILL so they can choose Remy/frozen/tt at 7am as well. But, I also think the OP would likely only get 2 of the 3 of those.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Monday morning brain, I’m sure, FoP is ILL so they can choose Remy/frozen/tt at 7am as well. But, I also think the OP would likely only get 2 of the 3 of those.

Yes, you’re right! Monday morning fog! Thanks for catching that!

As you say though, based on average availability, I feel they would only get 2.

 

[katyringo]

Day 1:

Our flight left Omaha at 550am. I used southwest WiFi to buy guardians ILL and I booked Remy.

We arrived to Orlando by 930 and we ubered to Shades of Green, dropped stuff and headed for Epcot. We really underestimated the humidity. We get hot like this in Iowa in July but it took us a bit to adjust. We enjoyed walking around and eating all the booth food from flower and garden. At 11 I was able to book test track. We had a nice stack going. We didn't ride anything for awhile- we just took in the sites, shopped and ate. I got my spaceship earth cookie jar that I have been after! Shipped it home. At 1pm we did the VQ for guardians and got group 124.

We took an Uber back to shades once we got the message our room ready and honesty we didn't want to do the monorail to bus thing. Side note: this is our first stay at shades and it hasn't been a great first impression. The elevator situation left us waiting a long while with our bags and on our way back to Epcot we waited too long for a bus because they were changing shifts.

Anyway- once we got back to Epcot we started using our stack. Remy, guardians ILL, test track. We ate some more. I wanted to join the VQ for EEH but because our guardians VQ it wouldn't let me. This was annoying. When they did call it we waited in line for 90 minutes. The ride is awesome and a new favorite. Honestly after that we ate more .. lol. And watched Epcot forever. We decided we were beat after being at the airport at 3am so we are calling it a night.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

We’re at Epcot extended evening hours now and I’m not impressed. Test Track is down, the line for Frozen was out of the building, it’s really congested over near Guardians as everyone basically sits around waiting for their boarding group. A big chunk of the world showcase is closed and I can’t find food/drinks anywhere.

I’m so glad we didn’t pay for After Hours here (& we LOVE after hours events) because I can see how 1 ride going down can make a big impact here when there aren’t a ton of other rides.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Oh, and we ran into several cast members that didn’t know how the DAS worked during extended hours. We haven’t seen that much confusion with the DAS process in ages.

 

[PDXmouse]

So we did the Mama Melrose Fantasmic package last night.
Mama Melrose steak continues to be among the best on property and only costs one arm as opposed to other steaks which also cost a leg.
As for the show..we had second row from the water and let me tell you the impact of seeing Fantasmic up close...you get a mist of the fountains blowing on you the whole time...which after a day melting was pretty awesome.
Also Magic Band + changes colors with the lights of the show!
Amazing show...if you can get up close with the meal package or by waiting it is a completely unique perspective of the show.

We’re at Epcot extended evening hours now and I’m not impressed. Test Track is down, the line for Frozen was out of the building, it’s really congested over near Guardians as everyone basically sits around waiting for their boarding group. A big chunk of the world showcase is closed and I can’t find food/drinks anywhere.

I’m so glad we didn’t pay for After Hours here (& we LOVE after hours events) because I can see how 1 ride going down can make a big impact here when there aren’t a ton of other rides.

We’re here too (well, actually on a friendship boat in our way back.) We gave up. We did Soarin’ at 9:00, then our GotG boarding group. At that point it was 10:30 and the waits were so long we headed back. It’s still so stinking hot, even this late.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Update: Finally found a stand selling popcorn (the one that’s on the walkway as you walk towards test track) and because I arrived at exactly 11pm they wouldn’t let me buy popcorn.

My husband was like “You can’t just throw a scoop in our bucket then?” (Since we assumed the reason they couldn’t help is bc their registers were shut down) and they said no. I asked if there was anywhere else in the park to get food and they said no. So I guess when you pay $400+ a night for a hotel they’d rather throw out a scoop of popcorn than give you one or sell you one.

 

[lovethattink]

@NotTheBatesMotel Wow, one thing after the other.

How did DAS end up working for the evening hours? Were you able to do it yourself in MDE?

 

[Ricguz]

We’re at Epcot extended evening hours now and I’m not impressed. Test Track is down, the line for Frozen was out of the building, it’s really congested over near Guardians as everyone basically sits around waiting for their boarding group. A big chunk of the world showcase is closed and I can’t find food/drinks anywhere.

I’m so glad we didn’t pay for After Hours here (& we LOVE after hours events) because I can see how 1 ride going down can make a big impact here when there aren’t a ton of other rides.

That’s how I felt last December about the parks especially HS when I major ride is down and how everything gets effected.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

@NotTheBatesMotel Wow, one thing after the other.

How did DAS end up working for the evening hours? Were you able to do it yourself in MDE?

Yep luckily it ended up working in MDE but at first the person working Frozen wasn’t sure if it’d work. Then they tried not to let us use it on Guardians which was also a first. Luckily we found someone else that knew what they were doing but my son was super overstimulated at that point and losing it.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Yep luckily it ended up working in MDE but at first the person working Frozen wasn’t sure if it’d work. Then they tried not to let us use it on Guardians which was also a first. Luckily we found someone else that knew what they were doing but my son was super overstimulated at that point and losing it.

Not sure of your situation but just advising that in order to use DAS for attractions with a VQ, guests must have secured a VQ in order to use DAS. DAS alone does not qualify a guest to ride GotG or Tron.

It may be a good question to ask/look on the disABILITIES board as I'm not sure if it works the same at both AH and EEH events at Epcot and MK.

 

[SLThomas318]

Update: Finally found a stand selling popcorn (the one that’s on the walkway as you walk towards test track) and because I arrived at exactly 11pm they wouldn’t let me buy popcorn.

My husband was like “You can’t just throw a scoop in our bucket then?” (Since we assumed the reason they couldn’t help is bc their registers were shut down) and they said no. I asked if there was anywhere else in the park to get food and they said no. So I guess when you pay $400+ a night for a hotel they’d rather throw out a scoop of popcorn than give you one or sell you one.

We were there earlier this month and found this to be super annoying.... we were trying to get popcorn around 9:30 and those stands were already closed. The only thing we saw open was the drink stand outside Frozen and the fish & chips stand as we were heading back to the skyliner. We also didn't realize everything at Riviera was closed too. Magic Kingdom on the other hand seems to have tons of food/drink options during the extended hours.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

Not sure of your situation but just advising that in order to use DAS for attractions with a VQ, guests must have secured a VQ in order to use DAS. DAS alone does not qualify a guest to ride GotG or Tron.

It may be a good question to ask/look on the disABILITIES board as I'm not sure if it works the same at both AH and EEH events at Epcot and MK.

I should’ve clarified. We did have a boarding group using the virtual queue. Usually they convert your DAS once your boarding group is called and send you through the lightning lane. That’s what they ended up doing, the initial CM just wasn’t trained appropriately I guess. I flagged someone else down and they seemed perplexed that we were initially turned away. They followed the usual procedure, scanned our bands and sent them through the LL.

 

[brockash]

Update: Finally found a stand selling popcorn (the one that’s on the walkway as you walk towards test track) and because I arrived at exactly 11pm they wouldn’t let me buy popcorn.

My husband was like “You can’t just throw a scoop in our bucket then?” (Since we assumed the reason they couldn’t help is bc their registers were shut down) and they said no. I asked if there was anywhere else in the park to get food and they said no. So I guess when you pay $400+ a night for a hotel they’d rather throw out a scoop of popcorn than give you one or sell you one.

See this is where the customer service has really gone downhill. Previously that would've been a no-brainer for any cm without you even having to ask. They're just going to throw the popcorn away anyways and yoi asked to buy it. This is the type of thing that used to separate them from your run of the mill company but we've seen a sharp decline in that kind of taking care off a customer stuff in recent years.

 

[katyringo]

Morning day 2:

We got to HS around 730am. We rope dropped tower. RR was down so we went to MMRR. At 7am I booked a 1030am SDD and a 930am rise. At park open we walked over to Star Wars land. We mobile ordered ronto roasters and enjoyed a breakfast. We did some bounty hunting and the shops. We go into rise and it went down. They gave us a recovery pass. We took some pictures and rode smugglers single rider and headed to Toy Story land. We used our SDD LL and I booked an immediate time for midway mania. Watched the green men, for a root beer float at at woodys and then we went on midway. Rise was back up so we did that. It's very hot today! We are now heading to hotel for a break and the pool. We have a 6pm rocking roller coaster pass. That will be all the rides except aliens which we do not ride. When we come back we will be focusing on non ride things and seeing Fantasmic. Great day so far. I will say my husband and I have decided that shades of green isn't for us. It's fine for just us but we are missing Disney transportation..

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Update: Finally found a stand selling popcorn (the one that’s on the walkway as you walk towards test track) and because I arrived at exactly 11pm they wouldn’t let me buy popcorn.

My husband was like “You can’t just throw a scoop in our bucket then?” (Since we assumed the reason they couldn’t help is bc their registers were shut down) and they said no. I asked if there was anywhere else in the park to get food and they said no. So I guess when you pay $400+ a night for a hotel they’d rather throw out a scoop of popcorn than give you one or sell you one.

Based on small park I work at they would be fired for giving to you and not throwing out. Cameras everywhere would catch it

 

[scrappinginontario]

Based on small park I work at they would be fired for giving to you and not throwing out. Cameras everywhere would catch it

Disney gives things away every single day so I can’t see that being the issue.

 

[brockash]

Based on small park I work at they would be fired for giving to you and not throwing out. Cameras everywhere would catch it

Historically that is NOT how Disney handles things. - The opposite actually, which is an example of what used to separate them from your run of the mill aka small park company.

 

[katyringo]

Day 2: afternoon/evening.

After leaving the park we had lunch at shades of green by the pool and relaxed for a bit. We then decided to hop to Disney springs just to look. We took an Uber from springs back to HS.

You are gonna laugh- but when we walked back into HS I had a RR lightning lane and MMRR LL and a TT LL. We ended up not using a single one. Here's what went down:

We grabbed a bite at ABC commissary. My tacos were good but my husband's chicken sandwhich was really dry. I was bounding as sorcerer Mickey so we wanted to get a picture at red carpet dreams so we did that. We then headed toward RR and.. it was down. We then pivoted to go to MMRR and the lightning lane long was super out of the building. We were HOT. So it being close to 630 we did what any respecting Disney fan does who is really hot but wants to kill time-- we saw the frozen sing along. Which.. honestly was fun. After that RR still wasn't up so we decided to go to GE and eat. After that RR said it was up... and then as we got there it promptly went down again. So I was going to go use the TT fastpass but then it was 8ish and the LL looked long- probably because RR down pushed everyone to them. So at this point we just went ahead and got a seat for Fantasmic. We got snacks and lemonade and waited for the show. Man it was hot just sitting there. I really enjoyed the show.

Since we had a super productive morning we rode everything today except RR.

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

See this is where the customer service has really gone downhill. Previously that would've been a no-brainer for any cm without you even having to ask. They're just going to throw the popcorn away anyways and yoi asked to buy it. This is the type of thing that used to separate them from your run of the mill company but we've seen a sharp decline in that kind of taking care off a customer

Day 2: afternoon/evening.

After leaving the park we had lunch at shades of green by the pool and relaxed for a bit. We then decided to hop to Disney springs just to look. We took an Uber from springs back to HS.

You are gonna laugh- but when we walked back into HS I had a RR lightning lane and MMRR LL and a TT LL. We ended up not using a single one. Here's what went down:

We grabbed a bite at ABC commissary. My tacos were good but my husband's chicken sandwhich was really dry. I was bounding at sorcerer Mickey so we wanted to get a picture at red carpet dreams so we did that. We then heading toward RR and.. it was down. We then pivoted to go to MMRR and the lightning lane long was super out of the building. We were HOT. So it being close to 630 we did what any respecting Disney fan does who is really hot but wants to kill time-- we saw the frozen sing along. Which.. honestly was fun. After that RR still wasn't up so we decided to go to GE and eat. After that RR said it was up... and then as we got there it promptly went down again. So I was going to go use the TT fastpass but then it was 8ish and the LL looked long- probably because RR down pushed everyone to them. So at this point we just went ahead and got a seat for Fantasmic. We got snacks and lemonade and waited for the show. Man it was hot just sitting there. I really enjoyed the show.

Since we had a super productive morning we rode everything today except RR.

We’ve also noticed longer lightning lane lines this trip which really sucks for DAS users that already waited outside the line (usually longer than the traditional queue since Disney tends to overinflate wait times) and have difficulties in long lines.