Upcoming trip questions

[Jrits]

Are you allowed to visit a hotel if you don’t have a dining reservation at the hotel?

Any update on when the monorail will be running to Epcot again?

 

[loves to dive]

Yes, you can visit as long as you are using Disney transportation and not driving. Some are not allowing people to park if they aren't staying there or have an ADR.

Not sure about the monorail.

 

[Jrits]

If Disney transportation is not running bc too early, can I Uber to contemporary at 7am and they’ll let us in without ADR?

 

[Ross Kratter]

If Disney transportation is not running bc too early, can I Uber to contemporary at 7am and they’ll let us in without ADR?

Highly unlikely. Your best bet is to make a reservation at the Wave. They have a very good breakfast menu.

 

[Jrits]

Highly unlikely. Your best bet is to make a reservation at the Wave. They have a very good breakfast menu.

I tried, but nothing is available

 

[Ross Kratter]

I tried, but nothing is available

Keep checking, and maybe put in a Reservation Finder request over on TouringPlans for either there or Chef Mickey's.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

If Disney transportation is not running bc too early, can I Uber to contemporary at 7am and they’ll let us in without ADR?

Nope. They have cracked down on this.

 

[Jrits]

Nope. They have cracked down on this.

Thanks I will!

 

[MomOTwins]

Thanks I will!

Also consider Grand Floridian Cafe. The walkway from GF to MK is now open. Agree they have cracked down and have been turning away guests who attempt to uber in to a resort for rope drop without a breakfast reservation. And it has to to be table service--placing a mobile order at quick service used to be allowed but it too has been cracked down on as it was getting really out of hand with people ordering a coffee just to get in the gate.

No opening announced for monorail to epcot. Would assume that remains closed until they loosen restrictions on park hopping and fully open all monorail resorts (Contemporary and Poly are undergoing a major refurbishment and most rooms are unavailable to book).

 

[Jrits]

Also consider Grand Floridian Cafe. The walkway from GF to MK is now open. Agree they have cracked down and have been turning away guests who attempt to uber in to a resort for rope drop without a breakfast reservation. And it has to to be table service--placing a mobile order at quick service used to be allowed but it too has been cracked down on as it was getting really out of hand with people ordering a coffee just to get in the gate.

No opening announced for monorail to epcot. Would assume that remains closed until they loosen restrictions on park hopping and fully open all monorail resorts (Contemporary and Poly are undergoing a major refurbishment and most rooms are unavailable to book).

GF Café is booked unfortunately. If I do a mobile order, they still won’t let us in? I want to get to MK for opening but also have a family tradition of taking a pic each trip on the Mickey ears behind contemporary

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

GF Café is booked unfortunately. If I do a mobile order, they still won’t let us in? I want to get to MK for opening but also have a family tradition of taking a pic each trip on the Mickey ears behind contemporary

Reports have been mixed. Some people have been allowed in with a mobile orders, others have been denied.

 

[pascalspal]

If your main purpose for going to another resort is to rope drop MK, then my advice is to just get in line for the bus extra early at your resort if you are staying on property. I wanted to do mobile order at the contemporary for the same reason, but decided not to risk wasting money on uber and food if they didnt let me in.

Got up extra early and grabbed breakfast at our resort. Goin the in the bus line about an hour early to ensure that we would be the first ones on the bus and got to MK, through temp check and got in a line about 5 parties deep to be let into MK an hour before posted opening time.

Not to say it was all for nothing, but they didn't start operating the rides until 9:00 at the posted opening time anyway.

 

[Jrits]

If your main purpose for going to another resort is to rope drop MK, then my advice is to just get in line for the bus extra early at your resort if you are staying on property. I wanted to do mobile order at the contemporary for the same reason, but decided not to risk wasting money on uber and food if they didnt let me in.

Got up extra early and grabbed breakfast at our resort. Goin the in the bus line about an hour early to ensure that we would be the first ones on the bus and got to MK, through temp check and got in a line about 5 parties deep to be let into MK an hour before posted opening time.

Not to say it was all for nothing, but they didn't start operating the rides until 9:00 at the posted opening time anyway.

Our day has a 8am park opening so thinking opens 7/7:15? Do they usually not operate rides until official time? In past that hasn’t been the case

 

[pascalspal]

Our day has a 8am park opening so thinking opens 7/7:15? Do they usually not operate rides until official time? In past that hasn’t been the case

This was our experience on our trip:

HS
Posted opening - 9:00
Actual opening - 8:20
Select rides operating early. Ones we got on before official open MMRR and ToT

MK
Posted opening - 9:00
Actual opening - 8:00
No rides operating early (on adventureland side of park, not sure about other areas), but could stand in a line for when they did open. Got in line for BTM and it started operating around 8:50

AK
Posted opening - 8:00
Gates open before our bus got there around 7:15
Walked on FoP around 7:20 and Navi River Journey immediately after.


They were opening extra early due to social distancing requirements when I went. When the lines outside the park got too long and a large crowd was gathering they opened. They will only start operating rides once the safety inspections for the morning have been completed which means they could open on time or they might not be ready until official park open. I always rope drop, but on our recent trip found that taking the Disney transportation worked quite well for us if we were close to first in line!

 

[wfjny]

Disney is about to change things (if not already):

"As part of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration, Disney Resort hotel guests and guests of other select hotels will be able to enjoy 30-minute early entry to any theme park, every day."

Quote from: BREAKING: "Early Theme Park Entry" Replacing Extra Magic Hours at Walt Disney World - WDW News Today (wdwnt.com)

 

[MomOTwins]

Disney is about to change things (if not already):

"As part of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration, Disney Resort hotel guests and guests of other select hotels will be able to enjoy 30-minute early entry to any theme park, every day."

Quote from: BREAKING: "Early Theme Park Entry" Replacing Extra Magic Hours at Walt Disney World - WDW News Today (*****.com)

Has not happened yet, no word on will it happen except on or by the 50th anniversary (Oct 1)

 

[Katie1174]

From our experience from our just returned 10 day trip:
We went to HS, AK, MK three times each and Epcot once and just hopped to Epcot other times.
We were at the Grand Floridian. We arrived at the bus stop for HS and AK 90 minutes before opening. We got on the first bus each time.
AK was no problem, there werent many people on our bus each morning and the driver arrived around 6:50am for a 8am open,got us there by about 7:05 maybe and out of the 3 times we went 2 of them we were the 3rd and 4th people in the entire park. They just let us in early, didnt even wait until 7:15. A cast member escorted us to FOP. The third time we got there about 7:15am and we still walked the entire FOP queue and ended up being loaded on the first ride of the day.
HS we were soooo glad we arrived 90 minutes early, 7:30 for a 9 opening. We were about the 3rd couple at the bus stop each time and got on the first bus each time but by about 7:50 the line was so long i have no idea how long they had to wait for other busses. 1 out of the 3 times we were at the front of the pack and rode Slinky Dog, TOT twice, RNRC and Millenium Falcon before the crowd started to increase. The other two times we were in the opening fray but got in quickly and could still ride TOT twice and RNRC and MMRR and Toy Story Mania before it started to build.
As for MK that was easy, we walked once and took the boat twice, got there around 7:00 for an 8 am official opening and were the first people to be held at the front of the walkway or dock and they let us all in around 7:15 and before any TTC boat even was in sight or had arrived yet. Since they held us much closer to the entrance then the bus people, we were thru and some of the first in line at SDMT or BTM or Splash, but they didnt let us start riding until 7:45-7:50am. The only rides i saw operating before then was the Carousel and the Magic Carpets. After our first ride, BTM was literally walk on for the first couple of hours, same with Haunted Mansion and Pirates only had a small wait. The lines that started to build were of course SDMT, SM, Splash and Jungle Cruise.
We usually left around 1pm and returned around 4pm and either went back to the same park or a different park because the wait times went down and lots of people were leaving.
So long winded post, but our best advice, if you can get up early, is to be there before opening, you can ride quite a bit for the first 2-3 hours or so with smaller lines, then leave when it gets crazy and go back for the evening.