SOLO TRIP REPORT: W 7/14 & TH 7/15

[Gaub]

I got back yesterday from a quick 2-day Solo Trip Park Hopper to bother parks. Day One I started at DL and Day Two I started at CA. I made reservations about 10 days earlier as reports of lower park attendance appealed to me. In the meantime, I read many reviews of rising attendance but was hoping that taking advantage of Single Rider Lines (SRL) would work to my advantage. More on that later...

On Wed. 7/14, I walked across the street to the Harbor Entrance at 6:35AM and estimated about 200 people in front of me. I got Rise BG 106 @ 7AM and security opened up at 7:15AM. At 7:30AM, I was about halfway down Mainstreet for Rope Drop. (Rope Drop was at the end of Mainstreet.)

I walked on to Star Tours and did SR on Space Mountain (first time and I highly recommend it as I don’t know how many hundreds of people I passed! Matterhorn was still closed so I went to Galaxy’s Edge for the first time. The queue for Smuggler’s Run was 10 min and I went through SRL immediately afterwards. From there, I headed over to Haunted Mansion with about a 15 min wait. From there I met up with some friends that were coincidentally at the parks for their first time back in 19 months @ Olga’s Cantina. I was allowed in once my friend was able to come out and get me; otherwise there was a quite a standby wait.

From there, I headed back over to SLR Matterhorn and about a 10 min wait. Then, over to Jungle Cruise and about a 25 min wait. After that, I had my first Dole Whip ever (after 6 previous visits to the park) and watched a show at the Tiki Room (also a first for me) as it was getting hotter and the AC and a chance to rest were in order.

By that time it was Noon and I mobile ordered from Plaza Inn. From there, I went over to Big Thunder that posted a 30 min wait, but was only actually 18 min. Then, it was getting closer to my BG being called for Rise, so I did SRL at Smuggler’s Run again. About 20 min later, @ 2:30PM, BG 106 was called (Rise went down several times in the morning) to give you an idea of the BG number and how long it took to get called. I entered the SRL for Splash Man @ 3:15PM. Posted time was 75 min, but it took me a full 40 min before I could board the ride.

Indy was my next stop but it was down so I went on Snow White for the first time. Posted time was 30 min, actual 20 min. Indy was still down (and not accepting Single Riders at any point during my two days as they said it was “too busy” for single riders which I thought was odd) so I waited for the DL Railroad. I waited over 40 min to board as it was very busy.

At that point, it was after 6PM and I went over to CA and Radiator Springs Racers which was posted as a 90 min wait, but single rider was 30 min wait. Incredicoaster was next on my list and I joined the SRL which was easily over 100 people long and went all the way back to the ice cream stand. The line for ice cream and Incredicoaster conjoined! After about 5 minutes, a CM informed us that the line was really not moving and it would be best to join standby with the 45 min wait, which I did. Actual wait time was 30 min. All wait times were super long for everything else and I wanted to make it back over to DL or fireworks. I got a root beer float from Ghiridelli’s and headed back over and rode Big Thunder 2x in a row. Posted wait time was 25 min but only actually a 5 min wait.

Finally after Mix Magic Fireworks, a nighttime ride on Matterhorn. Posted time was 35 minutes, SR was 15.


DAY TWO: CA

I arrived at the same point on Harbor as previous day and ended up with BG 66 for Webslingers (more on that later). First stop was Guardians and they were only running 2 gantry lifts out of 6! <I find that inexcusable and don’t know if it was as a staffing issue or something else. They kept admonishing the line to move along.>. It took me 50 min to get through the queue on the first ride of the day! A quick breakfast at Pym’s and then on to Toy Story, posted wait time of 40 min, but actual was 20.

Then over to Soaring with a posted wait time of 45 min, but actual was 25.

Then back to RSR with a 105 min wait time and the longest SRL I’ve ever seen: all the way back to the entrance of the standby queue! Actual wait time was 45 in SRL.

Ordered lunch and visited Ariel’s Undersea Adventure to pass the time. Posted and actual was 15 min. After lunch and with WS still down (it was 11:40AM and they were still stuck at BG29 which is where they were at 9AM, I opted to throw away that pass and hope for the Rise Noon pass. I was successful with BG 171 (which ended up being called at 4PM for reference). CA was packed and many rides were down so I opted to go back to my hotel for a break.

I returned at 4PM for Rise and then HM with posted and actual wait time of 25min. Indy was posted at 30 and would have been actual, but a 15 min ride shut down while I was in the queue made it 45 min overall. Then Jungle Cruise (with a much better skipper than the day before) and a 15 min actual wait time. Finally, a 15 min wait at Star Tours and then Fireworks and back to my hotel.


Overall General Thoughts: Glad I went, but was a little underwhelmed by the whole visit. Both parks were very busy.


Originally, I wasn't too concerned as I thought I could knock out many single-rider line rides, multiple times. Instead, the parks were so packed or understaffed, that I was only able to get in a single ride once on several attractions! Speaking of Guardians, it never got any better the rest of the day (or the day before that based upon checking wait times on the app)! When I got off the ride @ 9AM, they had closed the gates and were no longer allowing any more guests to queue up and had a 2 hour wait time posted. The parks are crowded enough as it is. They weren't even allowing Single Riders on Indy because "it was too busy" (which is what several CM's told me throughout the day whenever I checked). Galaxy's Edge is a wide open space dedicated more to selling overpriced merchandise than anything else. Avenger's Campus is the same. There was one garbage can literally overflowing with trash and a bunch of trash piled up around it in the queue for Incredicoaster. Something just felt off about this visit. The MixMagic Fireworks show was cool. The character interactions that I observed were lame. Not sure there is much risk of contamination being protected by full costuming in most cases (not counting any character not already wearing a mask such as princesses, etc). I felt bad for the little kids that had to have their picture taken with characters 20 feet away and in the background. Not sure I feel the need to go back to DL anytime soon. I cannot imagine the experience will get any better.

 

[avalon451]

Thanks for your honest and thorough report! I am hoping that staffing issues will improve slowly but steadily, and maybe some of those issues you experienced will be resolved. As it stands, it seems like DLR is in need of completing a lot of neglected upkeep and repair, and needs to increase hiring and training as best they can. It's tough all over to get enough help.

 

[fly girl]

Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like the cat is out of the bag with SRL. When we were there July 1-3 our waits were so minimal using it. However, we had the same thing on Saturday with Indiana Jones not allowing single riders. Holy cow, Incredicoaster to the ice cream line!?! That's just insane!!

My family loves DLR and WDW but have decided until they open MaxPass, FP+, or whatever new name they call it we are holding off on another visit. We don't like the guessing game of how long is the line actually going to be?

 

[dragonflymom]

I were there on a solo trip also and on the exact same two days you were there, except I did not have park hoppers. I too was surprised at how crowded both parks were and how long the queues were, even single rider lines. ROTR broke down in the morning while I was on the ride already and they kept us there for about 10 minutes before they decided to evacuate us. They did give us a return scan good for any time that day. I was surprised that there is no capability for the app to notify us when the ride is up again. You have to either come back to the ride to check or talk to one of the cast members dressed in plaid and they will look it up for you. As for WS, I was stuck in line forever when I entered the queue at 9:20 am with Boarding Group #14 and waited for an hour. I don't know if I'm lucky or not when the cast member closed the virtual queue right after me.

I enjoyed the fireworks and the new snacks (lemon soft-serve swirled with Dole Whip) the most. I was unhappy with the trimmed down menus at a few counter service places, especially at Award Weiners after waiting in line for 20 minutes only to find out they don't have my favorite spicy hot dog. It was my fault... I should have looked up and read the menu before standing in line but I was just so used to ordering this favorite menu item that I just assumed they would have it.

I really miss FastPass and waiting in line would have been okay had Park wifi worked for me or my cellular provider had better coverage inside the Park. Next time I would bring my Kindle or AirPods. I also don't understand why the characters need to be so far away. They don't need to hug or interact but 3 - 6 feet apart would be reasonable outdoors, especially when there were so many cast members not wearing masks indoors. In fact, guests were packed into the Haunted Mansion boarding area and in the elevator with zero social distancing. I would say about 90% of park visitors were not wearing masks either outdoors or indoors.

That said, I still love Disney enough to come back in November for a mother-daughter trip. We will just tamper our expectations and be prepared for unpredictible wait times.