Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[DisneyJColeMom]

I think at this point Disney either needs to bring back all the shows or put in fast pass again. There were just way too many people trying to do the same thing.

From your mouth to Disney’s ears!!!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Four days at Disney World with a wheel chair



Monday, February 15, 2021 Animal Kingdom

As I learned from reading in this forum, we arrived at the parking lot at 7am- one hour prior to opening. Even being in the first rows of standard parking ($25) we still had quite a walk to the temperature check and then on to the gates. (Note: We planned to rent a scooter for my wife because of a bad knee. We saw some wheelchairs in the lot, but did not know what they were for until our second day. These are courtesy wheel chairs with a tall pole sticking up above one of the handles. Use it if you need it!) When we got to the rental location in the park I was sticker-shocked by the cost of an ECV. We were here in November, 2019 and I swear the cost was $60/day. It is now $70/day. My “cheap” kicked in and I rented a wheel chair for $12/day. (I learned on day 3 that I could have got a multi-day discount that knocks the price down to $10/day.)

So our first day was at Animal Kingdom. We went straight to Nav’i River, then to Expedition Everest (two rides), then to Flight of Passage. I was so happy that my wife was able to experience this with me this time! She has lost enough weight to fit in the banshee this year. I rode this again later in the day. To keep it short, we did everything we wanted to do during the day and were even able to do some of our favorites more than once. Most wait times were less than shown in the app. The challenge was finding the end of the lines, especially when pushing a wheel chair! Look for a cast member holding a sign showing the ride name saying “End of Line”. We were very pleased with mobile ordering from the quick service restaurants here. We chose Animal Kingdom for President’s Day because it is the least crowded of the four parks. Breezy, high of 87, lots of shade here. Most challenging day of the four to push a wheel chair.



Tuesday, February 16, 2021 Magic Kingdom

Arrived at Magic Kingdom parking lot one hour before 9am opening. Again a long walk to ticket and transportation center. (Still didn’t know about courtesy wheel chairs.) Looked like a long line for the monorail and a cast member said we had about the same wait to use the ferry, so we walked further to the ferry. At some point during the day, we began to wonder how people were using the fast pass entrance to rides. Finally, a cast member told us about a separate entrance for mobility access to one of the rides and we learned you could get one fast pass at a time for mobility access to many of the rides. This saved me a lot of time and energy when it was available. Just imagine how much time we could have saved had we known this from the beginning! Other groups or individuals with no visible mobility limitations were using the fast pass entrances everywhere, but I have no idea how or why. Still, we did everything we wanted to do during the day and wait times were at estimates or shorter than the times shown on the app. When returning the wheel chair at the end of the day we asked if there was a way to get to our car easier than walking. They told us to use the chair we already had and just leave it in the parking lot. That’s when we learned about the courtesy chairs.



Wednesday, February 17, 2021 Hollywood Studios

This was our Hollywood Studios day. It actually started with some education from Guest Services on Tuesday night. I had a cast member explain exactly how to use the virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance. We checked my cell carrier’s coverage map and found the strongest signal area. I didn’t rely on wi-fi, only on my data signal (As a matter of fact, I turned my wi-fi off. My phone often gets confused when there is a nearby wi-fi signal that I am not signed into, and it gets slower than molasses!) I started using the procedure the cast member showed me at 6:59am and got boarding group 74! I was so excited about this that I started reading this forum to see other queue experiences and lost track of time. We didn’t get to the parking lot an hour before park opening and had a considerable wait before getting to the booth. I had 3 priority rides here. We went for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway first. 45 minute wait was just a little shorter than the estimate. Next was Rockin Roller Coaster at 70 minute estimate. I think this one took a little longer. Then Tower of Terror at 70 minutes estimate. TOT was broke down last time we were here and it broke down again today after an hour of waiting. Total wait time was 2 hours plus. I rode these solo. We planned for lunch at Woody’s Lunch Box, but by the time I finished TOT there was no availability for this quick service restaurant for another 2 hours, so we settled for Rosie’s. Not really what we wanted. Our boarding group was called sometime between 1 and 2pm. If you get to ride this, have your camera ready for some good shots during the ride. It is awesome! I had not planned on Slinky Dog Dash, but we had time and I really enjoyed it! (70 minute wait as estimated) We did not do Smuggler’s Run. I don’t do well with extended motion simulators and I didn’t know how a single rider would fit in. I have heard that there are 4 people controlling the ride.



Thursday, February 18, 2021 Epcot

This was our Epcot day. We got to the parking lot too early and had to go around and come back later. We got back before they started letting cars in and were frustrated to be in a line that was not moving, but we were far enough forward that there was no way to change lanes. When we finally got moving they were having computer trouble and our parking was “On Mickey!” Once we got in and picked up our wheel chair we went straight for Test Track (35 minute wait) which we finished by 11:05am- 5 minutes after the posted park opening time! Next was Soarin. There has to be a better way for a wheel chair pusher to get into Soarin! That may have been the hardest push up a hill of all four days! Needless to say, we did everything, including lunch, in The Land before coming out. I was not going to push up that hill again, even for a no wait ride on Soarin. Then we did Spaceship Earth. A cast member informed me to go up the hill to the right of the stand by entrance where there is a handicap entrance. That saved us time again. We like Spaceship Earth, but I miss Walter Cronkite who narrated it on our first ever visit in 1991. Next was Frozen Ever After in Norway. The line was all the way into China, but the wait was about 45 minutes. After that was the boat ride in Mexico. The wait needs to be separated for this. We all had to wait just to get into the pyramid where the shops are. Then you have to wait in another line for the boat ride, even if you did not want to shop. By the time we finished our boat ride in Mexico we had less than 5 minutes to be on time for our dinner reservation in Italy. I learned that there is a 15 minute grace period for reservations, but I practically ran (pushing my wife in the wheel chair) all the way. It was a hot day in the upper 80’s and I was out of breath and sweating profusely, but we made it on time! I would say Epcot was my favorite day, because we were able to do everything we wanted to do and were together on every attraction. My wife doesn’t do roller coasters or drops anymore.



We spent the whole day, opening to closing, inside every park. It was rainy on Hollywood Studios day. Going back to the car when renting either the wheelchair or the scooter is not an option. You can’t take the scooter out of the park and pushing the wheelchair would have been too much work. Parking lot shuttles were not running at any of the parks. Be prepared and take in everything you will need for the day. Hope this helps someone. Have a great time at Disney World!

some of the other people in the line could be rider swap people who have someone too small to ride as they use the same line

 

[DisneyJColeMom]

We are probably going to drive the rest of the week honestly. I would rather not have to rely on Disney transport. Tried to do it yesterday and it just wasn't for us.

We will be first-timers in April, staying at Poly. We’re as of this moment not planning on renting a car, we actually were thinking to Uber/Lyft around the whole Disney trip. Is this feasible?

 

[dez1978]

No misunderstanding - I expected the CMs to do their job. EVERYTIME.

It would not go well if someone thinks they are going to speak to my children rudely.

 

[HokieRaven5]

I think at this point Disney either needs to bring back all the shows or put in fast pass again. There were just way too many people trying to do the same thing. I hate the feeling of waiting in line half the day.

From your mouth to Disney’s ears!!!

To achieve this it would either take an increase in park capacity allowances or an increase in park tickets given the current situation the company is in. The former doesn't really solve the problem, and the latter doesn't exactly promote enthusiasm either.

Edit: As far as FP is concerned it would actually make the crowding in the parks worse as the standby line would move even slower.

 

[Wosmama6]

I'm curious how crowd levels will be this week. Hoping back down from holiday levels. Our trip is March 4-10 and we expect crowds to increase as the week goes on

 

[hereforthechurros]

We will be first-timers in April, staying at Poly. We’re as of this moment not planning on renting a car, we actually were thinking to Uber/Lyft around the whole Disney trip. Is this feasible?

Not the person you asked but rideshares took a lot longer this visit than in normal times. Normally you'd call one and it would be 3-5 minutes away. It's now, or was for us, regularly 15+. We took four our last trip and a few told us they have been doing airport runs or working away from the parks because of the lack of business. One explained that before he could spend all day driving Disney people around but now it's just a few here and there and since many are going short distances it's hard to find drivers who believe it's worth it.

Hopefully your experience will be different but we waited almost as long for Uber as for the buses a couple of times.

 

[Chris Ehlers]

I've seen this reported elsewhere as well. It's always at the guards discretion. However, I like the report where the guard required the guest to click the here now button for the mobile order so they had to do what they said they were there for.

We did mobile order at CT Café and had to press the Im here now button at the gate house it was fine as we were going to eat it anyway.

 

[Mr. X]

Not the person you asked but rideshares took a lot longer this visit than in normal times. Normally you'd call one and it would be 3-5 minutes away. It's now, or was for us, regularly 15+. We took four our last trip and a few told us they have been doing airport runs or working away from the parks because of the lack of business. One explained that before he could spend all day driving Disney people around but now it's just a few here and there and since many are going short distances it's hard to find drivers who believe it's worth it.

Hopefully your experience will be different but we waited almost as long for Uber as for the buses a couple of times.

Are the buses that bad that you still have to Uber when staying onsite?

 

[dez1978]

If you purchase something in the parks are you able to get it sent to your resort yet? I know they stopped that for awhile, then brought it back around Christmas. Is having it shipped home still an option? Though I prefer to have it all sent to the resort and shipped home in one box if possible.

 

[HiStitch626]

We were there just before Christmas and there was no resort delivery, and it has not restarted. They will ship packages home for a fee, but I assume this would need to be done at each individual store.

 

[GBRforWDW]

We did mobile order at CT Café and had to press the Im here now button at the gate house it was fine as we were going to eat it anyway.

This, to me anyway, Is far better than being flat out denied entrance, which I believe is what others are saying Is happening. Would be terrible to head over expecting to eat and getting turned away with no options.

 

[Sarahslay]

If you purchase something in the parks are you able to get it sent to your resort yet? I know they stopped that for awhile, then brought it back around Christmas. Is having it shipped home still an option? Though I prefer to have it all sent to the resort and shipped home in one box if possible.

Nope, and they didn't bring that back at Christmas either. What you can do though, what they brought back around the holidays, was being able to send it to the front of the park to pick up later/on your way out. You can still have it shipped.

 

[mamaofsix]

To achieve this it would either take an increase in park capacity allowances or an increase in park tickets given the current situation the company is in. The former doesn't really solve the problem, and the latter doesn't exactly promote enthusiasm either.

Edit: As far as FP is concerned it would actually make the crowding in the parks worse as the standby line would move even slower.

Re: the current situation the company is in - if Disney can't afford to bring back their shows and open up restaurants without more ticket sales, then why in the world are their executives still receiving such crazy high bonuses? They don't need more ticket revenue to open more experiences up. They have the money to start them back up right now. They're choosing not to.

 

[Leigh L]

2.21 Sunday MK

Arrived at toll booth around 7:40, we were maybe 5th in line. Booth opened 8 on the button. Parked and monorail. Did BTMR and POTC before 9. At splash just after 9. Short wait.

Fairly easy until 11 am to navigate the park. Longer lines all day after that. Busiest I've seen but at one point PP, Pirates and HM all down at same time (we were almost to front of HM when they sent everyone away). Little while later all back up and we scooted back over and it was almost a walk on. POTC I think was down several hours though from mid-morning until afternoon.

We stayed until close and only missed a handful of attractions, some by kids' choice. Did have an incident when in a queue at closing. Agree with the no confrontation mentioned above. As soon as we saw a CM we let her what was happening, she got another CM, who got a few more. Didn't stick around to see what happened as we wanted to avoid potential confrontation, from what we could tell they were actively on it.

My two takeaways from yesterday -
If you see something, say something.
Getting pre-park opening is 110% the way to go. Doing this has always enabled us to get so much done, even on a busy holiday week. I didn't expect to get as much done as we did.

Other takeaway from this morning. If you want to do Rise, don't get distracted at 7 a.m. and make sure all phones trying are logged in. If either of these things happen, you will miss a boarding group lol. (gone in seconds this morning!) We decided to not go to the parks today and will try again during the week.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Are the buses that bad that you still have to Uber when staying onsite?

Depends really. Caribbean Beach where we stayed most recently is notoriously bad, especially to MK, so we used Uber a few times to get around.

 

[OKW Lover]

Re: the current situation the company is in - if Disney can't afford to bring back their shows and open up restaurants without more ticket sales, then why in the world are their executives still receiving such crazy high bonuses?

Because it takes real talent to run a huge company in demanding times. You don't find that talent everywhere.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Re: the current situation the company is in - if Disney can't afford to bring back their shows and open up restaurants without more ticket sales, then why in the world are their executives still receiving such crazy high bonuses? They don't need more ticket revenue to open more experiences up. They have the money to start them back up right now. They're choosing not to.

Bonuses were canceled for a majority of executives for FY20. FY19 bonuses were received and were the one's that got a lot of the attention in the early days of operation.

 

[lovethattink]

Please get back on topic of here now or just back.

 

[Jaina]

We did mobile order at CT Café and had to press the Im here now button at the gate house it was fine as we were going to eat it anyway.

I'm really hoping this is the case when we go in two weeks. We want to check out the Contemporary (because it's awesome) and would like to walk over to the MK after. We were planning to Lyft in with a mobile order at Contempo Cafe, and I have no problem pushing the "I'm here" button for the guard! I will be watching to see if anyone else has experience with this.