Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

For those who bus to AK. What time do you need to be at bus pick up to make the early RD?
We will be at YC, and depending on how our BG goes for HS Tuesday, we may change our park day Wed to AK. AK opens at 8am. I am thinking 1st bus is 7am then-? Does that mean 6 am line up?

 

[figmentfinesse]

Would love to know if there are any dining experiences that have outdoor seating at any of the parks or resorts that you recommend. Looking for a meal or two that aren't counter service - but we aren't willing to eat indoors. thanks!

Wine Bar George is pretty amazing and has a balcony I felt very safe on. I am trying Boathouse this next time, apparently they have a lot of seating on the water.

 

[dachsie]

On MMRR and it just shut down. We are right at exit so I did get to see it. But I have a question. Does it pause for a bit at Daisy before you start dancing? It was a really long pause

 

[Tess]

For those who bus to AK. What time do you need to be at bus pick up to make the early RD?
We will be at YC, and depending on how our BG goes for HS Tuesday, we may change our park day Wed to AK. AK opens at 8am. I am thinking 1st bus is 7am then-? Does that mean 6 am line up?

When we were there in October, we queued for the first bus 1.5 hours prior to park opening (9:00 a.m.) on this occasion BUT the park actually opened at 8:00 a.m. ish. The bus at YC was scheduled to arrive at 8:00 a.m. but did not arrive until 8:20 a.m. ish. We were technically on the first YC bus but unfortunately other resorts were on their first bus of the morning and were already in the park and queued for FoP and the other attractions by the time we cleared security and screening. Based upon the size of the humongous crowd when we arrived, a good many resorts had their "first bus" held until after 8:00 a.m. even though AK actually opened at 8:00 a.m. or so. We also noted that when we arrived that the parking gates were open and the queue to enter the lot was also extremely large. Our FoP wait was 120 minutes when we hit the queue prior to 9:00 a.m. We were not happy campers nor were all the folks who were at YC that morning. I lost count of those who bailed the queue and Ubered/Lyfted to AK that morning.

The MK queue was similar and when we were finally on our way--MK had still not arrived.

While you may be queued and on the first bus, the first bus may not be one of the first to arrive. Be prepared to change your ride strategy.

 

[yulilin3]

On MMRR and it just shut down. We are right at exit so I did get to see it. But I have a question. Does it pause for a bit at Daisy before you start dancing? It was a really long pause

no, the ride should be fluid. After they added the plexiglass I have noticed it stopping in some sections, I was stopped at the end scene for about 2 to 3 minutes

 

[figmentfinesse]

On MMRR and it just shut down. We are right at exit so I did get to see it. But I have a question. Does it pause for a bit at Daisy before you start dancing? It was a really long pause

I experienced a few minute long stop in that room right in August.

 

[hertamaniac]

On MMRR and it just shut down. We are right at exit so I did get to see it. But I have a question. Does it pause for a bit at Daisy before you start dancing? It was a really long pause

Spoiler: MMRR Daisy

She waits until all 4 cars are in the room before starting the waltz.

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

When we were there in October, we queued for the first bus 1.5 hours prior to park opening (9:00 a.m.) on this occasion BUT the park actually opened at 8:00 a.m. ish. The bus at YC was scheduled to arrive at 8:00 a.m. but did not arrive until 8:20 a.m. ish. We were technically on the first YC bus but unfortunately other resorts were on their first bus of the morning and were already in the park and queued for FoP and the other attractions by the time we cleared security and screening. Based upon the size of the humongous crowd when we arrived, a good many resorts had their "first bus" held until after 8:00 a.m. even though AK actually opened at 8:00 a.m. or so. We also noted that when we arrived that the parking gates were open and the queue to enter the lot was also extremely large. Our FoP wait was 120 minutes when we hit the queue prior to 9:00 a.m. We were not happy campers nor were all the folks who were at YC that morning. I lost count of those who bailed the queue and Ubered/Lyfted to AK that morning.

The MK queue was similar and when we were finally on our way--MK had still not arrived.

While you may be queued and on the first bus, the first bus may not be one of the first to arrive. Be prepared to change your ride strategy.

Thanks. That is disappointing. Maybe we skip AK this trip.

 

[dachsie]

Spoiler: MMRR Daisy

She waits until all 4 cars are in the room before starting the waltz.

Oh we were all there. It was awkward

 

[yulilin3]

Oh we were all there. It was awkward

Yeah, it's just stopping now, i think they just have extra cars on the track and it takes time to unload and load

 

[dachsie]

Well, I am having a banner day so far. Now SDd went down. Am in line and pretty close to front so not getting out. That’s 2 rides down for me this am. Hopefully it won’t be a third

 

[boop0524]

Amazing day at MK 11/30. First time being here for the holidays and it was so beautiful. We got a bit of a later start than we hoped and didn’t get to the park until 9. Luckily the am rain worked in our favor. The first three rides were walk ons, barely a wait for Big Thunder. Everyone’s trip plans were super helpful to me in planning, so passing it on!

Space Mountain
Carousel of Progress
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Quick snack: Mickey pretzel and Let it Snow taco. I found this delightful but also really enjoy gingerbread
Enchanted Tiki Room
1 pm: chai tea float (yum!), Orange bird Christmas, probably the best of the three treats we tried
Left park from 2-4. Everything was pretty long waits when we got back so we mostly shopped and did a few rides that had shorter waits
Barnstormer
Dumbo
Teacups
Under the Sea
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (50 mins we sucked it up)
Cinderella’s Royal Table at 7:55 pm!

 

[winnieofpooh]

Amazing day at MK 11/30. First time being here for the holidays and it was so beautiful. We got a bit of a later start than we hoped and didn’t get to the park until 9. Luckily the am rain worked in our favor. The first three rides were walk ons, barely a wait for Big Thunder. Everyone’s trip plans were super helpful to me in planning, so passing it on!

Space Mountain
Carousel of Progress
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Quick snack: Mickey pretzel and Let it Snow taco. I found this delightful but also really enjoy gingerbread
Enchanted Tiki Room
1 pm: chai tea float (yum!), Orange bird Christmas, probably the best of the three treats we tried
Left park from 2-4. Everything was pretty long waits when we got back so we mostly shopped and did a few rides that had shorter waits
Barnstormer
Dumbo
Teacups
Under the Sea
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (50 mins we sucked it up)
Cinderella’s Royal Table at 7:55 pm!

How have the crowds been? Mostly concerned about being able to social distance when not in the queues.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

With all of the discussions on uber/lyft and early morning bus issues I guess I'm confused as to how we should approach rope drop for our trip starting Friday. We are old pros at WDW and have never had an issue getting to rd on time with the bus system, so is it just that the bus can't hold as many people now with the restrictions?

We normally RD, take a break and then return in the evening. Since hours have been added we will be trying this strategy for this trip as well, but only if we can make it there on time in the mornings.

 

[jmoak]

We were there yesterday at AK as well and felt the same way. It was dead!! At Epcot today and first in line for TT. Hoping that it will be slow here today as well.

 

[disney16]

We are looking forward to seeing the cavalcades but I’ve seen video and photos of many characters out greeting visitors in MK at the railroad station and Crystal Palace patio, particularly in the morning. Is this usually at official park opening or are they out earlier? We plan to try to get there a bit before official opening to try and get in a few attractions, if available.

 

[boop0524]

How have the crowds been? Mostly concerned about being able to social distance when not in the queues.

It was busier than our trip in mid-August, but we had no issues or concerns. People were generally respectful of distance out of queue, honestly can’t think of any issues there. We had one in line issue but corrected it quickly no problem. I didn’t know what to expect crowd-wise, but thought it was overall lower than I anticipated. It was definitely lighter in the morning due to the rain, I would say in the late afternoon and evening most rides had anywhere from a 30-50 minute wait. The less popular ones were quick 5-15 minutes. Not sure if that helps at all.

 

[teach22180]

When we were there in October, we queued for the first bus 1.5 hours prior to park opening (9:00 a.m.) on this occasion BUT the park actually opened at 8:00 a.m. ish. The bus at YC was scheduled to arrive at 8:00 a.m. but did not arrive until 8:20 a.m. ish. We were technically on the first YC bus but unfortunately other resorts were on their first bus of the morning and were already in the park and queued for FoP and the other attractions by the time we cleared security and screening. Based upon the size of the humongous crowd when we arrived, a good many resorts had their "first bus" held until after 8:00 a.m. even though AK actually opened at 8:00 a.m. or so. We also noted that when we arrived that the parking gates were open and the queue to enter the lot was also extremely large. Our FoP wait was 120 minutes when we hit the queue prior to 9:00 a.m. We were not happy campers nor were all the folks who were at YC that morning. I lost count of those who bailed the queue and Ubered/Lyfted to AK that morning.

The MK queue was similar and when we were finally on our way--MK had still not arrived.

While you may be queued and on the first bus, the first bus may not be one of the first to arrive. Be prepared to change your ride strategy.

I would say folks, try to be there an hour before official opening, but unless you can walk or drive, please don't stress yourself out over opening. You can do everything right and still not be front of a line. I used to always be there early, but in October I just had to "let it go". Lol sorry. Disney does not want an opening crowd and works hard to stagger the people arriving. Being at the pop skyliner at 7 got me consistantly in the front of that line at HS, but that was the only park I felt I could control.

 

[yulilin3]

We are looking forward to seeing the cavalcades but I’ve seen video and photos of many characters out greeting visitors in MK at the railroad station and Crystal Place patio, particularly in the morning. Is this usually at official park opening or are they out earlier? We plan to try to get there a bit before official opening to try and get in a few attractions, if available.

Thr characters are at the train station through out the day, definitely in the morning, about 15 min before official park opening and then 15 min before park close as a "kiss goodnight"

 

[Sarahslay]

Clarify that blaze and earl are not table services
There's outdoor dining for Ragland
And to add
Brown Derby
House of Blues
Splitsville
Rose and Crown

Brown Derby does not have their outdoor dining available for eating, it is only for those getting drinks at the outside bar (not currently serving food out there, which makes me sad)