Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[monstermash23]

I'm curious about this too. It re-opened a week ago but then was closed on the Tuesday and the MDE app still shows it as closed. Can anyone report if the Epcot monorail is currently running?

It is open. Wdwnt reported it was closed one day which wasn’t true. I was standing under it watching people load as their “breaking news” posted on their insta story that it was suddenly closed for some reason.

It is open.

 

[KrazeeK120]

So sorry for your diagnosis and wishing you a speedy recovery! I know you aren't positive as to where you might have contracted the illness but I'm wondering if this is something Disney should be aware of.

I hope this doesn’t sound snarky and I do not mean it as such, but it’s a theme park full of thousands of people not socially distancing and not wearing masks in the middle of a pandemic. Statistically speaking, of course there is going to be some level of Covid spread at Disney. I’m not sure the executives really care at this point.

 

[Meglen]

I hope this doesn’t sound snarky and I do not mean it as such, but it’s a theme park full of thousands of people not socially distancing and not wearing masks in the middle of a pandemic. Statistically speaking, of course there is going to be some level of Covid spread at Disney. I’m not sure the executives really care at this point.

I think they care... but not enough to do anything nor do I think at this point it is even possible for them to add it back. Park reservations are already out and pretty full. They would need to tell folks they couldnt come to bring it back to lower crowd lvls. Imo they opened up way to fast trying to get things ready for the 50th.

 

[Gary Stocker]

I hope this doesn’t sound snarky and I do not mean it as such, but it’s a theme park full of thousands of people not socially distancing and not wearing masks in the middle of a pandemic. Statistically speaking, of course there is going to be some level of Covid spread at Disney. I’m not sure the executives really care at this point.

If there are more than a few documented cases of Covid for anyone who was at Disney this would start as poor PR and could result in people cancelling their trips. If I could cancel mine in 11 days (rented DVC points from a family member at the "bank" deadline) I would. My wife and I are both vaccinated however my 5 and 9 year old can not be as of yet and this variant is reportedly negatively impacting children more than the initial strain. I guess DIsney is waiting on the CDC but if the news starts to report "Covid at Disney" those executives will need to get their heads out of the sand. My $.02. Sorry I diverged from the thread topic.

edit...I think the mask policy for indoors will be changed soon; whether Disney waits for CDC guidance or not. I feel really bad for Cast Members, who reportedly are already under a good deal of stress, who would need to enforce this once again.

 

[monstermash23]

If there are more than a few documented cases of Covid for anyone who was at Disney this would start as poor PR and could result in people cancelling their trips. If I could cancel mine in 11 days (rented DVC points from a family member at the "bank" deadline) I would. My wife and I are both vaccinated however my 5 and 9 year old can not be as of yet and this variant is reportedly negatively impacting children more than the initial strain. I guess DIsney is waiting on the CDC but if the news starts to report "Covid at Disney" those executives will need to get their heads out of the sand. My $.02. Sorry I diverged from the thread topic.

Documented cases will mean nothing. I’m here now. Maybe 10% of the people wear masks here. And anyone that cares about social distancing, shouldn’t even be here imo. But that 10% of people that wears masks, those are the people that care about avoiding Covid for whatever their reasons are. The other 90%, including myself, fall under the category of not caring (either due to vaccination, already having covid, whatever those reasons are). To think that Disney will change course because of the 10% of their guests that do care, I think is completely missing Disney’s priority here. If people cancel their vacation due to Covid, Disney will mort likely never know why and can replace you with someone who doesn’t care (which again constitutes probably 90% of the guests here). So, imo, the only feedback loop Disney has is those who wear masks here vs those who don’t wear masks here. By that alone, they are probably not going to reverse course at all.

Also, a new federal ruling for Disney Cruise Lines states that the CDC can only set guideliens but not enforce restrictions regarding their cruises setting sail from Florida. Why would Disney even be involved in a lawsuit like that if they want to somehow consider reversing course regarding Covid restrictions?

Being here now, I think it is obvious that there is no going back. They can’t trace an outbreak to Disney World. Disney world is massive. There are so many points of contact that it could be an Uver driver in Disney that spread it to a guest. Or maybe the airport. Or maybe someone visited a family member in Orlando. Again, Disney World is just too massive and too porous for that kind of meticulous tracing. People just aren’t here long enough to certify that any spread can actually be traced to here for all the reasons I stated and probably more (also considering the long incubation period with this virus).

Sorry for anyone that cares about Covid (whatever your reasons are, I’m not judging so please don’t mistake my tone here) but if you do care and a mask isn’t the only form of protection you want or a vaccine isn’t enough for anyone, then you really should stay home.

 

[aliceg]

I'm dying at the bolded part! So true!

How was BB?

It was great! We didn’t do Summit Plummit or the other big ones. But roaring rapids and the toboggans and other stuff was only 15 mins or less. Lazy river was not super packed. Honestly, it felt way less crowded than the parks.

 

[DPgrlz]

Documented cases will mean nothing. I’m here now. Maybe 10% of the people wear masks here. And anyone that cares about social distancing, shouldn’t even be here imo. But that 10% of people that wears masks, those are the people that care about avoiding Covid for whatever their reasons are. The other 90%, including myself, fall under the category of not caring (either due to vaccination, already having covid, whatever those reasons are). To think that Disney will change course because of the 10% of their guests that do care, I think is completely missing Disney’s priority here. If people cancel their vacation due to Covid, Disney will mort likely never know why and can replace you with someone who doesn’t care (which again constitutes probably 90% of the guests here). So, imo, the only feedback loop Disney has is those who wear masks here vs those who don’t wear masks here. By that alone, they are probably not going to reverse course at all.

Also, a new federal ruling for Disney Cruise Lines states that the CDC can only set guideliens but not enforce restrictions regarding their cruises setting sail from Florida. Why would Disney even be involved in a lawsuit like that if they want to somehow consider reversing course regarding Covid restrictions?

Being here now, I think it is obvious that there is no going back. They can’t trace an outbreak to Disney World. Disney world is massive. There are so many points of contact that it could be an Uver driver in Disney that spread it to a guest. Or maybe the airport. Or maybe someone visited a family member in Orlando. Again, Disney World is just too massive for that kind of meticulous tracing. People just aren’t here long enough to certify that any spread can actually be traced to here for all the reasons I stated and probably more (also considering the long incubation period with this virus).

Sorry for anyone that cares about Covid (whatever your reasons are, I’m not judging so please don’t mistake my tone here) but if you do care and a mask isn’t the only form of protection you want or a vaccine isn’t enough for anyone, then you really should stay home.

I agree that they can't trace it back. I went to Disney during Spring Break this year. My kid had required "re-entry to school" testing the day after we got back. Positive. She was asymptomatic. Then the whole family had it. Did we get it at Disney? Either at Disney or at the airport/airplane. Truth is that we will never know which and there is no way to prove it one way or the other. Super slight chance that she got it before we left and no-one showed symptoms until we got back? Again, there is no way to know.

 

[Belle1962]

You would do better to notify the FL Department of Health

I actually thought about emailing guest services just to let them know.

 

[harleyquinn]

It was great! We didn’t do Summit Plummit or the other big ones. But roaring rapids and the toboggans and other stuff was only 15 mins or less. Lazy river was not super packed. Honestly, it felt way less crowded than the parks.

Yay! Man I hope this keeps up! We're excited to try BB for the first time!

 

[mom2rtk]

I actually thought about emailing guest services just to let them know.

I'm so sorry that's how your trip ended! I know you said you were vaccinated. How have your symptoms been?

 

[LSUmiss]

I'm so sorry that's how your trip ended! I know you said you were vaccinated. How have your symptoms been?

Mild in that we aren’t hospitalized or dead but very unpleasant. DH has been sick over a week. Mine had hasn’t been as long. But fever, congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath….

 

[mom2rtk]

Mild in that we aren’t hospitalized or dead but very unpleasant. DH has been sick over a week. Mine had hasn’t been as long. But fever, congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath….

I'm so sorry. I sure hope you're all feeling better soon.

 

[LSUmiss]

I'm so sorry. I sure hope you're all feeling better soon.

Thank you!

 

[rlk]

Just back to our room from HS this morning. We didn't get a ROTR boarding group this morning, but we did do it a few days ago. ROTR was down when we left the park at 12:30. Lines are even more out of control this week compared to last week. Star Tours had a posted wait of 90 minutes! The two other times we were at HS, Star tours was never more than 25 minutes.

 

[Meglen]

Just back to our room from HS this morning. We didn't get a ROTR boarding group this morning, but we did do it a few days ago. ROTR was down when we left the park at 12:30. Lines are even more out of control this week compared to last week. Star Tours had a posted wait of 90 minutes! The two other times we were at HS, Star tours was never more than 25 minutes.

Yikes.. I know many folks wanna say these are normal summer lines but its really not. I have gone a few times in the last 5-6 years durring june/july and it was never 50-120 min for non headliners..

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Yikes.. I know many folks wanna say these are normal summer lines but its really not. I have gone a few times in the last 5-6 years durring june/july and it was never 50-120 min for non headliners..

Looking at the park res calendar the days go from yellow to green starting from Friday - I wonder what it is about this week that’s attracting so many visitors? We’re not going until mid-Sept so I can only assume it will be slightly less crowded (but prepared if not).

 

[Naomeri]

Looking at the park res calendar the days go from yellow to green starting from Friday - I wonder what it is about this week that’s attracting so many visitors? We’re not going until mid-Sept so I can only assume it will be slightly less crowded (but prepared if not).

Some schools start in early August, so this may be families/teachers getting in that last vacation before then

 

[rlk]

Yikes.. I know many folks wanna say these are normal summer lines but its really not. I have gone a few times in the last 5-6 years durring june/july and it was never 50-120 min for non headliners..

I had to go to Guest Relations at HS today to fix a mobile order mixup (Disney's fault). They charged my credit card at 10:30 am and said I was a No Show for our 11:50 am mobile order. Anyway, the Guest Service CM said she was off last week and was "vacationing" as a Disney guest. She agreed that the lines are out of control and without FP or any other entertainment, it is not a pleasant experience.

 

[sjrec]

We took the first bus to AK from the Grand Floridian yesterday-we were the only family on the bus. I believe it came at 6:40 and we probably waited a few minutes before it left. Arrived about 7:00.We were the first group at a tapstile, but crowds built fairly quickly. I can’t remember what time they walked people to FOP but we were done by 8:10. Walk on to Navi, then 20 minute waits for KS, Kali and Dinosaur. We also walked Gorilla Falls. Then lunch and our kids rode Everest after about 30 minutes.
Have another day planned for shows and a repeat of everything except FOP. We really had a great day, but it is so hot! We bring water-even a 20 minute line in 90+ heat is brutal!
Went to MK rope drop today and off Mine Train by 9:15. We found line times inflated-Pirates at 50, but 25, HM 40 but 20, etc.
We miss FP, but we’re here 10 days and can pace ourselves.
Oh, and no issues with mobile ordering-we order in a ride line and hit we’re here as we get off. It’s been ready when we arrive. I wouldn’t get there and order, though.
We’re here til next Monday, so happy to answer any questions.

 

[CustodialQueen]

We returned from a trip July 20-24 at AoA. Like others' experiences here, ours was a mixed bag. Part of this experience was skewed by the fact that we had just come from Universal July 18-19, staying at HRH and utilizing Express Pass. We went into it knowing that our Universal trip would most likely be much better than our Disney trip (and it was), however, it is hard to maintain that view once you arrive and the excitement of WDW is upon you.

Some issues for us (YMMV):
1) The lines for attractions bothered us on a psychological level - I know it's July, and it's hot and crowded. But lack of FP+ created long looking standby lines that we struggled with mentally. As much as we would tell ourselves that the standby line alone moves faster than if it had FP+ and that wait times were often lower than posted, we also struggled with the general look of chaos (lines in the streets, paths, etc, with crowds everywhere, people holding the line and allowing family members to walk right up etc). This, along with lack of shade and waiting on the hot pavement, made us go "ehhhh" and pass on several big ticket attractions. In another thread I mentioned we ended up settling for things such as Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy just because we couldn't wrap our heads around the physically long looking lines in the sun at 10am. We rope dropped and would get on 2-3 attractions, however it also seemed like these physically long lines began almost immediately after park opening for us.

2) Rides kept shutting down - This may have just been a case of bad luck, but we found about 75% of the attractions we rode (or attempted to ride) had some sort of malfunction or went down while we were in the queue or on the attraction itself. We saw one scene of Carousel of Progress 1.5 times because it couldn't make it to the next scene! Additionally, when loading wheelchair transfers, I would expect a slight occasional lag, especially in omnimover attractions, but we found that rides just seemed to lag for several minutes longer than usual. Perhaps this is due to lack of staffing?

3) QS and TS issues and mobile ordering - We chose to eat QS meals at off-times so we did not have a huge issue with crowds there. However, I struggled with mobile ordering a few times. One day it was down from around 11am-1pm. Another time I couldn't check in to my reservation. I felt as though I was doing more work placing orders for my family, while having to stand outside in the heat again. I know some people like the ease of mobile ordering, but I'd rather go stand inside an air conditioned QS queue and have a CM take my order for my family. Many places had CMs only allowing guests to enter once they verified that the order was actually ready to pick up. It just cheapens the experience that you have to stand outside in the heat for even longer. There is a lack of staffing, yet at the same time there isn't. At off-times, I placed my order, had them prep it, and it would then notify me that it was ready immediately. So I would go into pick it up and would see several CMs standing around visiting, ignoring me, while my order was obviously sitting on the counter behind them ready to go. Someone walked off with our drinks at MK Starbucks and it took the CMs 10 min to figure it out. We had two servers at Biergarten (maybe one was training the other?) But there seemed to be an excess of CMs there. It was also a bit jarring to not see any international CPs/CMs at World Showcase. TS restaurant experiences were fine for the most part. Our best experience was Garden Grill! However, Trail's End was so far behind on seating people. We arrived too early so I asked if I could check in early (arrived at 8:55am for a 9:20am res). The CM told me to return to the desk in 6 minutes to check in. I have never been told that before...? I decided to use the mobile app in 6 min instead. Took us 45 min to get seated and other parties were walking up and wondering if they were even still on the list. It was clear that servers were not properly trained at Trails End in particular. The CM who seated us straight up stated that he normally doesn't work there. Our server struggled to understand what vegetarian meant for one member of our party, and even though we said they eat eggs and dairy and just want meats on the side and not mixed in, she kept insisting that they have the entire plant-based menu and brought that out to us. We didn't want fake pastries and fake eggs. It got resolved, but was annoying.

We also had non-Disney buses and non-CMs picking us up for the parks from AoA. A CM buddy of mine told me that the bus drivers are severely understaffed, which is why park hours have not opened up more.

Overall, we still enjoyed ourselves, but it was clear that Disney had increased capacity too quickly and was unprepared. CM experiences were generally positive and some were fun and magical, but it felt like I paid more to do a lot less and do more work (check myself in, take my own food orders, housekeeping, etc). CMs seemed out of place and untrained especially at QS. Families seemed more entitled and unaware than ever before (pandemic cabin fever I suppose). It kind of changed my opinion on Disney and I felt bad for the CMs and also for the families who were possibly there for the first time and don't know that this isn't normal.