The Magic is Back - Share your Experience! Superthread

[Galun]

The wait times on the app had not been accurate. They felt shorter than posted times. In DCA yesterday we did Toy Story 5 times and Incredicoaster 3 times in 2 hours. App said wait time of 20 - 30 minutes for both rides. Radiator Springs said 60 minutes but it ended up taking around 30. Guardian said 20 and was basically walk on the second time we did it. DL does seem a little more crowded.

I suppose it’s possible that the parks were not even at 25% capacity during the first week or two so they could work out potential operating issues. If Orange County drop to yellow and allow 35% capacity then it’s almost 50% more capacity increase compared to now. After June 15th it seems like the floodgates will open. I think the time to visit is now before they raise capacity to 35%. After that, we won’t be back until fast passes are available again.

 

[DLgal]

The wait times have me so nervous for our visit next week. I didn’t mind paying full price for a lesser experience (meaning no shows, no in-park entertainment, no fireworks, limited food options, no Tom Sawyer’s island, train closed after 1pm, have to wear masks all day) but I thought the trade off would be low wait times for the rides. At the moment (a Wednesday) almost nothing in DL is under 20 minutes and many rides are in the 30-45 minute range. It’s so disappointing to see especially after the low wait times of the first few weeks after reopening. I am honestly considered canceling our visit and holding the tickets for next year or some time after new APs are offered.

If I were you, I'd wait until after June 15. I have a feeling a LOT of things will change at that point.

 

[Panthols]

Does anyone have any experience with the park hopper while staying at the Grand Californian? I'm going tomorrow and currently have 3 days starting at Disneyland to make certain we get on Rise of the Resistance, I don't like getting a 1pm start in California Adventure since there is a lot to see. Are the hotel guests still bound to the 1pm entry or is the exclusive entrance into California Adventure a little more lenient?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Does anyone have any experience with the park hopper while staying at the Grand Californian? I'm going tomorrow and currently have 3 days starting at Disneyland to make certain we get on Rise of the Resistance, I don't like getting a 1pm start in California Adventure since there is a lot to see. Are the hotel guests still bound to the 1pm entry or is the exclusive entrance into California Adventure a little more lenient?

You can’t hop until 1pm. Maybe switch one of your days to start in DCA?

 

[MamaKC]

The wait times have me so nervous for our visit next week. I didn’t mind paying full price for a lesser experience (meaning no shows, no in-park entertainment, no fireworks, limited food options, no Tom Sawyer’s island, train closed after 1pm, have to wear masks all day) but I thought the trade off would be low wait times for the rides. At the moment (a Wednesday) almost nothing in DL is under 20 minutes and many rides are in the 30-45 minute range. It’s so disappointing to see especially after the low wait times of the first few weeks after reopening. I am honestly considered canceling our visit and holding the tickets for next year or some time after new APs are offered.

Don’t be discouraged! When we went the wait times were always less than posted. A few times some lines got long (around 40min) but we just checked the app frequently and waited until the wait time went down.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Does anyone have any experience with the park hopper while staying at the Grand Californian? I'm going tomorrow and currently have 3 days starting at Disneyland to make certain we get on Rise of the Resistance, I don't like getting a 1pm start in California Adventure since there is a lot to see. Are the hotel guests still bound to the 1pm entry or is the exclusive entrance into California Adventure a little more lenient?

Yeah, I'd switch a day to start at CA. You can still try for a boarding pass at noon, so you'd have 5 opportunities. With as long as they've been available on recent weekdays at the noon drop, you shouldn't have an issue getting a boarding group at least once, but you'd probably be able to get one all 3 days.

 

[Galun]

Does anyone have any experience with the park hopper while staying at the Grand Californian? I'm going tomorrow and currently have 3 days starting at Disneyland to make certain we get on Rise of the Resistance, I don't like getting a 1pm start in California Adventure since there is a lot to see. Are the hotel guests still bound to the 1pm entry or is the exclusive entrance into California Adventure a little more lenient?

The exclusive entrance is currently closed. It can only be used as an exit from DCA into GCH.

By the way, you can mobile order from a bunch of restaurants in downtown disney, and they will deliver it to the GCH concierge desk. We didn’t know this until the second or third day in. Look for a QR code by the elevators. It’s not a searchable public link.

Getting boarding pass for Rise should be easy as long as you click right at 7am.

 

[audrey2580]

Does anyone have any experience with the park hopper while staying at the Grand Californian? I'm going tomorrow and currently have 3 days starting at Disneyland to make certain we get on Rise of the Resistance, I don't like getting a 1pm start in California Adventure since there is a lot to see. Are the hotel guests still bound to the 1pm entry or is the exclusive entrance into California Adventure a little more lenient?

I've been watching the app the last week and it looks like the waits at DCA are lower in the afternoon. I would leave my start at Disneyland and then spend the afternoon in a lightly attended DCA.

 

[cuteinnocent]

The exclusive entrance is currently closed. It can only be used as an exit from DCA into GCH.

By the way, you can mobile order from a bunch of restaurants in downtown disney, and they will deliver it to the GCH concierge desk. We didn’t know this until the second or third day in. Look for a QR code by the elevators. It’s not a searchable public link.

Getting boarding pass for Rise should be easy as long as you click right at 7am.

Thanks about the mobile order tip! Are the counter service restaurants included in this?

 

[Galun]

Thanks about the mobile order tip! Are the counter service restaurants included in this?

some are. From memory - ballast point, Naples, uva, la brea bakery. There are a few more.

sometimes mobile order does not work. I skipped the line and walked up to tell them I am ordering to go for grand Californian. They let me wait at the bar for the food.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Some observations from today (Wed 5/12) -

The Railroad was only boarding at the Toontown station. You could still disembark at any of the other stations.

CM at RR said last ride would be at 2:30 so be in line by then…unless the line got too long before then; if that happened, they’d stop the lineups earlier

someone was asking about fruit - the stand across from Big Thunder next to Mark Twain has Cuties, pickles, and pineapple spears. I didn’t notice any other stands selling fruits.

The mobile order queue for Tropical Hideaway was completely booked up before 5pm (park closed at 7pm today). I noticed return times getting later & later so booked for the last 30 minutes around 3:30. I saw CMs turn away at least four parties who walked up wanting an end of day Dole Whip & were turned away because they had not done mobile order & all spots were filled. If that is something you want, keep an eye on the return times or order early to not miss out. Red Rose Tavern also seemed to have later return times than the other food places, by an hour or more.

Noticed in the app that Jolly Holiday and Gibson Girl accept mobile order for 30 minutes after park closing time.

App wait times - seemed to be a bit on the high side for many things, except Haunted Mansion & Pirates in the afternoon. Ie it said Peter Pan was 30 min when the end of the line was at Snow White Grotto so I knew it was off, because earlier the line had been back to the Alice restrooms. I was on in less than 15 minutes. Mid afternoon the Mansion had been 45 min or more when the line was across the walkway and back to the Columbia. I walked over there at 6:15; app said 45 & the line was just at the fast pass machines. I got to use the servants entrance, was on in less than 5 minutes. It still said 45 after I exited the ride & did not update until about 5 min later.

Adventureland Bazaar has all of the park buttons, and CM will also personalize them for you. I picked one up -



Did not search out characters but happened to see Ariel outside of the usual princess meet & greet area. Also saw Tiana on a balcony in New Orleans Square-



And while I can’t top @WonkaKid ‘s ducklings, I did see a goose family across from Haunted Mansion; the babies were picking up dropped popcorn -

 

[Whistlebee]

Does anyone have any experience with the park hopper while staying at the Grand Californian? I'm going tomorrow and currently have 3 days starting at Disneyland to make certain we get on Rise of the Resistance, I don't like getting a 1pm start in California Adventure since there is a lot to see. Are the hotel guests still bound to the 1pm entry or is the exclusive entrance into California Adventure a little more lenient?

I think you’ll be fine. We’re here now and I find lines in DCA to be shorter in the afternoons compared to the afternoon lines in Disneyland.

 

[Mathmagicland]

A couple more things from yesterday-

Indy was down most if not all of the day - it was never running when I walked by or when I was checking ride times. As with any park day, a major attraction being down impacts ride times on other rides because all those peeps who would be in the Indy line have to be somewhere else.

Re the Indy virtual queue - I chatted with a CM at the ride entrance. He said intention is to activate it when the standby line gets too long, but he didn’t know if I there would be an alert from the app when that happened. And, he also mentioned they had some issues with it on its first day, Tuesday, and reverted back to the standby queue a couple of times.

And a pro tip - if you have an iPhone and an Apple Watch, be sure to install the latest updates to both before you head to the parks. If you change the settings to allow this (the phone will give you a prompt to do so) it will unlock the phone by confirming your identity with the paired Apple watch when facial recognition doesn’t work due to the masks. This saved me so much time and dozens of keystrokes yesterday by not having to type in my access codes multiple times!!!

 

[Mathmagicland]

Magic is Back merch update-

Disneyland both Emporium and the Frontierland store have only small & medium adult T-shirts in both styles. No tumblers or masks.

DCA - Five & Dime has masks and both styles of adult T-shirts in larger sizes up to at least L & XL. No tumblers there either.

All locations have kids T-shirts in various sizes.

 

[Mar Mar Binks]

Does anyone have any experience with the park hopper while staying at the Grand Californian? I'm going tomorrow and currently have 3 days starting at Disneyland to make certain we get on Rise of the Resistance, I don't like getting a 1pm start in California Adventure since there is a lot to see. Are the hotel guests still bound to the 1pm entry or is the exclusive entrance into California Adventure a little more lenient?

Thanks for your post! I am heading there tomorrow and the replies to you helped me also! Have fun at the parks. We are starting at Disneyland for the 2 days due to ROTR and I noted the wait times for California adventure vary a lot and afternoon looks good. Looking forward to the 9 pm close!

 

[bwvBound]

Magic is Back merch update-

Disneyland both Emporium and the Frontierland store have only small & medium adult T-shirts in both styles. No tumblers or masks.

DCA - Five & Dime has masks and both styles of adult T-shirts in larger sizes up to at least L & XL. No tumblers there either.

All locations have kids T-shirts in various sizes.

And, last I checked on Sunday ... the pins have yet to arrive! We asked everywhere during our two visits (4/30 at DL, the following weekend at the Grand Cal and DCA). Ordered ... never arrived.

Perhaps, someday, I'll find them on Woot as I did various 65th Anniversary Merch. (insert: sad laugh ... )

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Can anyone report if the Mark Twain Riverboat has been running?

also, is there a tip to using the service entrance for haunted mansion to bypass the longer line?

 

[Kender]

And, last I checked on Sunday ... the pins have yet to arrive! We asked everywhere during our two visits (4/30 at DL, the following weekend at the Grand Cal and DCA). Ordered ... never arrived.

Perhaps, someday, I'll find them on Woot as I did various 65th Anniversary Merch. (insert: sad laugh ... )

Sadly not the in park stuff. The 65th stuff that popped up on Woot were things Amazon had been selling anyways from the start. Not park merch. Park merch can show up at the outlets, though!

I really hope the pins show up in park soon . I'm there in a week!

 

[Whistlebee]

Can anyone report if the Mark Twain Riverboat has been running?

also, is there a tip to using the service entrance for haunted mansion to bypass the longer line?

The Mark Twain was running this week.

 

[midnight star]

Can anyone report if the Mark Twain Riverboat has been running?

also, is there a tip to using the service entrance for haunted mansion to bypass the longer line?

Mark Twain was running last week when I was there.

I asked about the service entrance for HM, and they said it’s random. So I never got a chance to try it.