Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[nkereina]

If you are a resort guest you do not pay for parking at the parks

Right, but its the parking at the resort that adds up!

 

[rj9555]

We even waited 30 min for the internal CBR bus. Makes no sense. That bus just drives around the resort in a circle. Disney’s cost saves are apparent in the transportation.

I stayed at CBR a few years ago, and the way I remember it was that the internal bus didn't just drive around the resort. I believe it came from Disney Springs, then did the internal route, and then went on to a theme park.

 

[sagosto]

There's something VERY WRONG if you need to take non-WDW transportation because they can't seem to figure out how to transport guests to a park that's been open for like 5 decades... Just sayin' the obvious.

 

[yulilin3]

There's something VERY WRONG if you need to take non-WDW transportation because they can't seem to figure out how to transport guests to a park that's been open for like 5 decades... Just sayin' the obvious.

Yes, it's called COVID.
the issue is social distancing and an extreme reduction of bus capacity. Before they would pack them full with people sitting and standing. Now only 6 groups can ride at the most.

 

[koquinn]

EPCOT has been delightful today. Crowds are super low, CMs are super friendly. We've found a few surprises we didn't know existed (Beauty singalong, Epcot experience, and a food pavilion with yummy stuff and a/c). Been a great day!

 

[yulilin3]

EPCOT has been delightful today. Crowds are super low, CMs are super friendly. We've found a few surprises we didn't know existed (Beauty singalong, Epcot experience, and a food pavilion with yummy stuff and a/c). Been a great day!

I wish the entire festival was inside world showplace, its so nice. Obviously in can't cause of size

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I stayed at CBR a few years ago, and the way I remember it was that the internal bus didn't just drive around the resort. I believe it came from Disney Springs, then did the internal route, and then went on to a theme park.

Correct. We had a nice chat with the bus driver of the internal bus and he said he makes several loops and then goes to parks as needed. He said there should be an internal bus no more than every 20-25 min and that’s what Disney transportation said too. The Disney transportation team definitely has no clue how bad it is right now. I though at first the bus arrival times were no longer posted in MDE or at the bus stop monitors to avoid crowds, it’s because they are dealing with a mess and they really don’t know which end is up right now.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Yes, it's called COVID.
the issue is social distancing and an extreme reduction of bus capacity. Before they would pack them full with people sitting and standing. Now only 6 groups can ride at the most.

I know that and had low expectations. However the busiest resorts should have had more buses knowing that a line of 100+ ppl would be leaving the parks upon close and/or trying to go to Epcot and DHS when the skyliner was down. Hard for anyone to social distance when a bus only comes once per hour. Covid or not, they’re open and guests are paying and they need to provide better service.

 

[yulilin3]

I know that and had low expectations. However the busiest resorts should have had more buses knowing that a line of 100+ ppl would be leaving the parks upon close and/or trying to go to Epcot and DHS when the skyliner was down. Hard for anyone to social distance when a bus only comes once per hour. Covid or not, they’re open and guests are paying and they need to provide better service.

Valid point. I hope you emailed them to let them know. What was the answer they gave you at the front desk? Im wondering if they called more buses

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Valid point. I hope you emailed them to let them know. What was the answer they gave you at the front desk? Im wondering if they called more buses

Thank you. Yes I did. I emailed them Sunday and got this response below back. I thought the comment about their response time was fitting. Goes with the territory our issues extended beyond bad transport too. We had a sewage smelling room at CBR and no housekeeping. None of it was a big deal and CBR corrected it promptly but you could see it on the resort CM faces that they were struggling. I felt bad for the front desk CMs. They really got beat up for all that was wrong with online check in, the buses and mobile ordering.

Thank you for writing to us. We sincerely appreciate your loyalty to Disney and value the time you took to share your thoughts. We do have Cast Members available to assist urgent matters during this time, however, you may experience a longer than normal wait time for a response. Thank you so much for your understanding. We look forward to assisting you. Sincerely, Rose Guest Experience Services

 

[sagosto]

I think I know the answer but given FP is dead -- What about rider swap? There's a .01% chance we'd go this year given the madness but this might seal the deal

 

[koquinn]

I think I know the answer but given FP is dead -- What about rider swap? There's a .01% chance we'd go this year given the madness but this might seal the deal

You can still rider swap.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I think I know the answer but given FP is dead -- What about rider swap? There's a .01% chance we'd go this year given the madness but this might seal the deal

As of last week you could still do rider swap. They had CM outfront for the more popular rides and you can ask them. We almost did it for Everest but it was no wait so I just got back in line.

 

[yulilin3]

Alright, let's please keep this focused on just back experiences

 

[Lumpy1106]

Yes, it's called COVID.
the issue is social distancing and an extreme reduction of bus capacity. Before they would pack them full with people sitting and standing. Now only 6 groups can ride at the most.

That's true, but they also aren't stationing supervisors to send additional buses when people get left at the bus stop. In fact, there aren't any "additional" buses. That's the problem.

 

[lovethattink]

I’m here now for a 3 night stay.

I know that and had low expectations. However the busiest resorts should have had more buses knowing that a line of 100+ ppl would be leaving the parks upon close and/or trying to go to Epcot and DHS when the skyliner was down. Hard for anyone to social distance when a bus only comes once per hour. Covid or not, they’re open and guests are paying and they need to provide better service.

We took the Skyliner once to DHS, but due to weather (which didn’t arrive til a couple hours after the Skyliner was closed), they switched to bus. We were the 2nd name for DHS on the cm’s list. We waited 55 minutes at the CBR Skyliner station for a bus to arrive.

We spent a short time at the park. No rain or anything. DHS was like a ghost town. Which definitely isn’t the case at park opening.

Pop is listed as #2 at the buses, but the bus actually stopped at 1. Thankfully not many people were there and we all fit on the bus.

The rain started and the bus has its emergency hatch open for air circulation. All of us in the back of the bus got wet from the rain. So we’ve used our car instead of Disney transportation since.

I used Sprint’s cellular to make our boarding group. I had best reception just inside the park. Sat on the stone wall. Got boarding group 16 on Monday and 18 today. Rode yesterday, but today the attraction was shut down.

So glad we got to ride it yesterday for the first time. Mind blowing attraction!!

Launch Bay has both indoor and outdoor seating for the Relaxation Station. You can still see most of the Star Wars stuff inside. The outside seating area is to the left of the cm greeting you.

Has anyone seen the Disney orchestra playing at the theater that houses Beauty and the Beast? I wanted to but we didn’t.

 

[SamFaniam]

We took the Skyliner once to DHS, but due to weather (which didn’t arrive til a couple hours after the Skyliner was closed),

I remember speaking to one of the transportation CMs about something like this last year, and the radius for lightning and shutting down the Skyliner is relatively wide. If I recall correctly any lightning within 30 miles and they close the Skyliner. So it may not always be evident locally. Does anyone know if they are running relief buses from the Boardwalk? That was something they did last year so that people who came in through the IG didn’t have to go to the front of the park to take a bus back to a skyliner resort.

 

[hereforthechurros]

I reallllly want to say that I’m so happy we went but just not sure that’s true. We had our usual fun and moments of magic. But the flight down was a full flight, mostly younger people taking advantage of cheap airfare I’m sure, who were not taking masks seriously. Flight back was the same. We had issues with comfort levels, at time, at both S&D and Epcot. Masks get old. Cleaning and sanitizing gets old. We got home today and showered, did laundry, and wiped everything down. Disney will always be there, there really isn’t any reason to push it and go right now.

 

[Aishaahm]

Just touched down in good old Missouri! We did two days at the Poly on rented points, and two days at the parks, AK and MK. We did AK yesterday (Monday), hit all headliners there by 1:30 and even came back in the evening for a walk on FOP repeat! Here’s what that looked like....

AK day
FOP
NAV
ate at Satu’li Canteen
Character Boat-Chip, Dale, Goofy
Kilamanjaro Safari
Gorilla Falls Trail-saw baby Grace
Dinosaur
Triceratops spin
Expedition Everest
Met Tim Tracker
Swam
FOP again

Went to MK this morning (Tuesday) from Poly and they wouldn’t let us out of the monorail until after 8:30. So we passed MK station at 8:24 and had to go all the way around again before they let us disembark and it was 8:42 by then. We were still able to accomplish the following on our departure day by 11:15 am in time to catch the monorail back to Poly to make our Magical Express Bus.....

MK DAY
Characters at the Main Street Train Station
7DMT
Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain x 2
Character Cavalcade- Pooh Friends
POTC
ate at Pecos Bills
Under the Sea
Barnstormer
Caught Move it Shake it leaving

Transportation and COVID changes
Poly resort was very easy to socially distance, other than maybe between 2:30-5 at the Lava Pool. Monorail was one family per partition, and the only time we needed the bus it was right there for AK and we were the ONLY people waiting/riding both to and from the park. DS was busy, but we just popped in for some Chicken Guy and left when a storm blew in.

**** I took multiple videos throughout the park just out of amazement for lack of crowds and the ability to socially distance. Of course we went on a Monday and Tuesday so there’s that!

If you are wondering whether or not it’s still magical, I believe it was one of the most relaxing Disney trips we have ever taken, so much so that we switched parks day of with no fret or fuss!

 

[LaDonna]

That’s interesting so Let’s say you have a reservation for mk but that morning you want to go to ak u can just go into mde and change it