Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[titaniumfemme]

Me tooooooooo! 4 days!

We'll be there in 7 days! (Just added 2 days to the trip this past weekend! )

 

[VAtink]

On the bus back from AK. The park had amazing low crowds this morning, was able to ride FoP, safari, EE x3, and dinosaur by 9:30. Then had time to walk the gorilla trail and watch the 10:30 bird show before lunch at Tiffins. Tiffins was great as always, but surprisingly crowded, never saw all the tables full for lunch before.

Park opened at 7:21 this morning, we got stuck in line behind a family who couldn't get their fingers to scan and instead of having them move aside while waiting for a CM to come help as we've seen in the past, they had them stand there and block the tapstiles for 7 minutes. Even with that delay getting in, FoP was only a 18 minute wait.

Taking a quick break at the hotel before heading to Epcot this afternoon. Fantastic start to the day, hope Epcot also has low crowds!

 

[underthesea412]

We went to AK today, arriving right at 8 AM. Since we have a toddler, we did the safari first which was incredible: the animals are so active at that time. I think we saw every single animal, including getting stuck for several minutes waiting for the baby giraffes to cross the street and having to stop again later for ostriches.

After that, we did the Navi River Ride. The posted wait time was 25 minutes but we were on a boat in 15.

I will say, the amount of things Disney has stopped or paused felt much more noticeable at AK compared to our day at MK. I missed so much of the atmospheric entertainment around the park (especially in Africa & Discovery Island) that help make AK such an incredible experience. Now it just feels like a lot of long, hot walks between rides and animal exhibits.

With the closure of Nemo and a dialed back version of Festival of the Lion King, and the impending long-term refurbishment of EE and KRR, I don’t see us making many trips back to AK until things change. Which is sad because it used to be my favorite park.

That said, we enjoyed watching our little one light up at all the animals. He’s 18 months and truly loved the safari, river ride, and train to the Affection Section.

 

[SCDisneyfanatic]

We went to AK today, arriving right at 8 AM. Since we have a toddler, we did the safari first which was incredible: the animals are so active at that time. I think we saw every single animal, including getting stuck for several minutes waiting for the baby giraffes to cross the street and having to stop again later for ostriches.

After that, we did the Navi River Ride. The posted wait time was 25 minutes but we were on a boat in 15.

I will say, the amount of things Disney has stopped or paused felt much more noticeable at AK compared to our day at MK. I missed so much of the atmospheric entertainment around the park (especially in Africa & Discovery Island) that help make AK such an incredible experience. Now it just feels like a lot of long, hot walks between rides and animal exhibits.

With the closure of Nemo and a dialed back version of Festival of the Lion King, and the impending long-term refurbishment of EE and KRR, I don’t see us making many trips back to AK until things change. Which is sad because it used to be my favorite park.

That said, we enjoyed watching our little one light up at all the animals. He’s 18 months and truly loved the safari, river ride, and train to the Affection Section.

Glad to hear your 18 month is enjoying it. We are bringing our 4 and 2 year old granddaughters there in October and hope they are overly excited.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Glad to hear your 18 month is enjoying it. We are bringing our 4 and 2 year old granddaughters there in October and hope they are overly excited.

Now we are frequent passholders and aren't trying to do a bunch of attractions when we go but we took our almost 2 year old to AK last weekend and literally all we did was the Boneyard play area. It's by far his favorite thing at AK (I wish every park had something similar!). Be sure and check it out!

 

[Best Aunt]

I took a picture of a Mears cab this past April. That's still the number on the side of the cab.

View attachment 604512

At the end of a crazy busy night at Disney Springs, our Lyft driver cancelled on us. I ended up getting another Lyft, but took a pic of a Mears taxi in case I needed to call them

Before I started using Uber/Lyft, I added the Mears taxi phone number to the contacts in my cell phone, in case I needed it.

 

[VAtink]

Just got back from some more Food and Wine fun at Epcot. It was pretty crowded in WS again this afternoon, so we made our way to the front of the park where the crowds were much lower. SE was a walk-on, and we did it twice since it started to pour right after we got off the first time. By the time we got off the second time the rain had mostly stopped so we went to try more food booths in that area. The truffle Mac n cheese is so good! Also recommend the cheesecake at the Hawaii booth.

So far this trip Epcot has been the worst for crowds, but only in WS. Lots of large groups eating and drinking around the world and so many bridal parties, must be a big wedding week! We haven't had a chance to get to Epcot before noon yet, so hoping when we go at opening it'll be easier to navigate WS.

Also noticing a ton of first timers, lots of first time buttons and so many people stopping in the middle of the paths to look at maps. Never noticed this many before, but there's a solid chance I was oblivious!

 

[Helvetica]

I got my evac credit on Rise today. It was interesting to see what the ride looked like backstage from what I could see. The ride re-opened, so now I’m trying again. I got to go through the Lightning Lane que, which is just a shorter que.

Overall, the park has been pretty crowded, but all of the lines have been manageable. Genie Plus is probably going to change that.

 

[DisneyByMarriage]

Now we are frequent passholders and aren't trying to do a bunch of attractions when we go but we took our almost 2 year old to AK last weekend and literally all we did was the Boneyard play area. It's by far his favorite thing at AK (I wish every park had something similar!). Be sure and check it out!

My 9 yo is overjoyed because he can still get into boneyard and will be able to do the scarier things. It was going to be a downer if his younger brothers could go but not him. It’s one of their favorite things, and I like that they can get some of their energy out as opposed to flinging about in the lines.

 

[Eye2Eye]

Here now, at Epcot waiting for firework show. Started today at DHS and rope drop crowds were more than manageable. We rode ToT and RR 15 minutes into the park. Literal walk-ons. After about an hour into park opening the crowds really picked up. Snagged a BG for rise at 7 but it continued to go down, so we dropped our group and opted for a pool day at the Riviera. Back to Epcot this evening for F&W, a little more crowded than we liked/ hoped but nothing like Sunday. Tomorrow, on to the Poly and Boo Bash.
See ya real soon!

 

[Helvetica]

So the rain/thunder shut down the Skyliner and they got us a chartered bus to get back to the Riviera. I never had that happen before.

 

[Jazcat]

Here at DHS. It's way more crowded today than on Saturday. Waits are already longer right now (10 am local time) than they were at any point on Tuesday. Anybody know why? Just surprised Tuesday would be worse than Saturday.

 

[gottalovepluto]

So the rain/thunder shut down the Skyliner and they got us a chartered bus to get back to the Riviera. I never had that happen before.

Disney has had to supplement their Disney Bus fleet with charter buses since close to reopening due to staffing problems.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Here at DHS. It's way more crowded today than on Saturday. Waits are already longer right now (10 am local time) than they were at any point on Tuesday. Anybody know why? Just surprised Tuesday would be worse than Saturday.

I can’t help but wonder if it’s a locals bump since APs went on sale last week…

 

[VAtink]

Here at DHS. It's way more crowded today than on Saturday. Waits are already longer right now (10 am local time) than they were at any point on Tuesday. Anybody know why? Just surprised Tuesday would be worse than Saturday.

MK also seemed a lot more crowded today than on Saturday. Not sure why, was expecting the crowds to drop during the week.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Last week (the week that includes Labour Day Monday) is traditionally one of the lowest (if not lowest) crowd weeks of the year. Higher amounts of guests arrive over the weekend following Labour Day which increases crowds this week.

For a number of years this week was our week and crowd levels were always higher than they were the week that started on Labour Day Monday.

 

[masupo]

There is also a holiday this week, although not everyone has it off. Thursday is Yom Kippur and the school I work for has a day off, so I scheduled a quick weekend trip for this Thurs - Sun.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I took a picture of a Mears cab this past April. That's still the number on the side of the cab.

View attachment 604512

At the end of a crazy busy night at Disney Springs, our Lyft driver cancelled on us. I ended up getting another Lyft, but took a pic of a Mears taxi in case I needed to call them

Great thank you so much!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Before I started using Uber/Lyft, I added the Mears taxi phone number to the contacts in my cell phone, in case I needed it.

That what I did after our 2017 trip when we needed them as uber was not cutting it at one point.

 

[Helvetica]

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but the App has been really buggy for me this trip. I have to regularly reset the App because something isn’t working properly. I just really worry what the added layer is going to do whenever they launch the new paid que system.