Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[lilmc]

I understand the resentment towards Genie, let me ask this: if there is no version of FP returning, would you rather have some form of Genie, or have everything be standby lines? Honest question.

100% standby. We love the equality of it and lines moved! That was the best part! However long you wait is not nearly so bad mentally and physically when the line is moving.

 

[TandT]

It’s been such a long week for us at the parks. We managed the HUGE crowds quite well. We had Genie + and used it to the best of our ability. We paid extra for the Lightening Lanes and we rode everything we wanted to ride with a 6 year old ….. a thrill seeking 6 year old . So we got to do some of the big popular rides although we did go at rope drop and paid extra $$ .

I got on Genie + at 7am every single day.
We made our dining reservations 11 months ago so that was at least a blessing.

We did notice some issues in the park. Granted I don’t think anyone could of predicted these crowds. We have been coming here since 2007 at this time of the year and it has always been manageable with lower crowd levels. It was obvious the parks were short staffed and not prepared for the volume of people that were here this week. The bathrooms were not well maintained, we were cleaning our own table if we wanted a table , trash was littered throughout the parks and we barely seen any cast members cleaning up. We did see a group in training .. so fingers crossed lol.

Despite all that, we did experience some magic from the cast members. You could tell they were just as frustrated and overwhelmed as ever but some went above and beyond. They made our vacation with some extra pixie dust . There are still cast members that really care about the magic of Disney despite the craziness . And for that we are grateful. In my opinion, vacation is what you make of it. You can choose to complain and be miserable or you can just go with the flow. But I do get spending that much money on a vacation, it should be enjoyable and seamless.

We may decide to bank our points next year and do another Disney Cruise until the parks settle down a bit. Or they get a better handle on the crowds . But all in all it was a magical week .

Pixie Dust:
We paid for a LL for Space Mountain. As soon as we got off the ride , my daughter yelled “I wanna do that again, it was soo fun!” The cast member heard her and routed us to a secret entrance to get on it again !!!!!

The cast member in Epcot slipped in a note that said “ here’s some extra magic “ We had bought our daughter the Aurora collection of Precious Moments Disney Dolls because they were sold out of the Rapunzal collection-her favorite Princess. When we got home we discovered that the cast member had pixie dusted us with 4 extra dolls!!!

Uncle Dale at 50’s Prime Time was AMAZING!!!! And the food was very good!

The Princess Aurora in the MK parade actually listened and talked to my daughter as they were going by.

Santa in the HS parade was talking to my daughter after she got his attention lol and the snow was magical (we are from Louisiana

Just experiencing the new Remy ride was WOW!!!

 

[RoyandWalt]

Just returned from our first trip since March 2020. To all the other families who are eligible to use the new DAS app, it is wonderful. Genie + was only needed in MK thanks to DAS. Our son was so happy. The whole trip was a positive for us, WDW still had the magic for him and us.

 

[Boopuff]

I got on Genie + at 7am every single day.
We made our dining reservations 11 months ago so that was at least a blessing.

curious... how the heck were you able to make dining reservations 11months out??? I know it’s a mere 60 days... do tell, how does one manage to get that lucky/blessed?

 

[TandT]

curious... how the heck were you able to make dining reservations 11months out??? I know it’s a mere 60 days... do tell, how does one manage to get that lucky/blessed?

Sorry I misspoke We were able to book our home resort as DVC members 11 months out. Not dining. It was 60 days out I need more sleep

 

[emmabelle]

Flight cancelled. Bummer. Good thing we have a trip planned in January!

that happened to us in 2006 without snow in our area. Got to the airport on Christmas Day to a bleep show, the planes were stranded out in Illinois. We got booked for two days later. Then of course when we were suppose to fly two days later we now had a snow storm. Missed our connection in Atlanta, got rebooked with my husband on one plane and me and the kids on a different plane. I've always got my wheels turning for a solution.

I now have a trip in six days and the weather looks fine, but now my big fear is Covid. We've been vaccinated and have our boosters, but still I don't want to leave the house until I drive to the airport. I haven't been at Christmas in 3 years and I'm dying to get there!

 

[EEva]

Sounds like you had a great time! I am going to expect huge crowds next week and try to remain positive.

It was obvious the parks were short staffed and not prepared for the volume of people that were here this week.

However,
I do understand staff shortages are an issue everywhere. But Disney knows pretty much exactly how many people are going to be at each park each day. AND they now have the ability to control that.

I would think if they don't have the staff to support that number, then they should limit the ARPs. I've noticed previously "sold out" parks getting more reservations added. Sounds like they don't have the staff to support that. Which is really upsetting.

 

[jlundeen]

By the way, if any day guests are in MK and also have Christmas AH tickets, you can pick up your wrist band in Tomorrowland with little to no line (between the bridge to hub and Stitch building), rather than the LONG line in Town Square.

 

[Jennasis]

We got home from our trip last night and have had some time now to digest everything and try to make sense of it all. We stayed at BLT from 12/4-12/10 on our DVC points. The hotel was wonderful and we had a spectacular view with fireworks right outside our balcony every night. Staff was wonderful all around. We did all 4 parks, and this is not our first time staying this time of year. We've been doing this week in December yearly since 2014 though we skipped 2020.

I do not recognize the hot mess WDW has become. I've never felt so lost and disconnected. It made me so incredibly sad. We had been so looking forward to this trip...2 years since our last visit (same week in 2019).

The crowds are mind boggling. I felt like salmon swimming upstream every single day. Main Street was always a log jam of humanity all day every day. I gather there is pent up demand driving people (like me) to the parks, but these crowds were off the chain. People are not paying attention, just stopping dead in their tracks causing a pile up behind them and angry (someone thought I cut them in line at one point and I though fists were going to fly) There are people who are clearly SICK, hacking, coughing, sneezing everywhere. There was literally nowhere to go in the parks to escape the crush.

EPCOT is a shell of itself. Construction-wall land. I felt like a rat in a maze. It's a total joke...an unfunny and mean joke.

Early park entry was a mean joke too. CM's and park literature telling everyone the park opens 30 min prior to official opening and you get there to find out the park actually opened an HOUR before.

The parks were filthy. The bathrooms a nightmare. The streets covered with dirty masks, bits of trash and leaves. I didn't see a single custodial CM all week sweeping or picking up trash or even drawing a Mickey head on the cement.

Genie+ is an absolute shame. SHAME on Disney for foisting this disaster on us. If I may borrow a line from Mushu...DISHONOR! DISHONOR ON YOU...DISHONOR ON YOUR COW! What a bloated, buggy, bait-and-switchy pile of garbage. Having to wake up before 7am every single day of your vacation is ridiculous. Then having to hope you have the fastest fingers right at 7am to even GET a LL (regular or individual) for the popular attractions is ridiculous. The app crashes, it logs you out, it sends error codes, and my favorite, it switches the time you think you're booking right when you click to finalize the transaction EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Every LL I booked, the time changed after I clicked the finalize the choice. Sometimes by 20 min...often by hours. And there was so precious little to choose from. With FP+ I was able to get 8-10 FP a day and reride favorites. I literally grabbed a LL for BARNSTORMER because it was all that was available, one evening. And part of me died inside because of it.

Enchantment broke while we were there. Yep...the nighttime "spectacular" broke. No projections on Main Street. Just a bright white spot light above the confectionary blaring down on us. The only reason we watched from a dangerously packed Main Street was because we wanted to see the projections, otherwise we would have watched from the safety of our balcony at BLT. I don't think projections would have saved this show...its nowhere near what HEA was.

We did enjoy Harmonious. It was very vibrant and kinetic. And we had wonderful meals (Steakhouse 71 was fabulous).

I actually started to have a panic attack one night at MK when we went to ride Astro-Orbiter during the fireworks and the CM insisted DH and I ride in 1 rocket. He's 6' (and had a total knee replacement so can't bend his one knee very well) and I'm 5'8"....had we tried to cram us both into the one rocket they would have had to cut us out. I finally walked away and let DH ride while the CM's offered to let me ride by myself on the next ride, but at that point I was so disgusted with everything...the crowds, Genie+, LL, I just wanted to go back to our room.

I will adjust our expectations (i.e..lower them) immensely for our upcoming 2022 trips. We used our DVC points so they are already booked and we have AP's, otherwise we'd be considering Universal. But I don't recognize this version of WDW and I don't like it at all.

 

[disneyseniors]

We got home from our trip last night and have had some time now to digest everything and try to make sense of it all. We stayed at BLT from 12/4-12/10 on our DVC points. The hotel was wonderful and we had a spectacular view with fireworks right outside our balcony every night. Staff was wonderful all around. We did all 4 parks, and this is not our first time staying this time of year. We've been doing this week in December yearly since 2014 though we skipped 2020.

I do not recognize the hot mess WDW has become. I've never felt so lost and disconnected. It made me so incredibly sad. We had been so looking forward to this trip...2 years since our last visit (same week in 2019).

The crowds are mind boggling. I felt like salmon swimming upstream every single day. Main Street was always a log jam of humanity all day every day. I gather there is pent up demand driving people (like me) to the parks, but these crowds were off the chain. People are not paying attention, just stopping dead in their tracks causing a pile up behind them and angry (someone thought I cut them in line at one point and I though fists were going to fly) There are people who are clearly SICK, hacking, coughing, sneezing everywhere. There was literally nowhere to go in the parks to escape the crush.

EPCOT is a shell of itself. Construction-wall land. I felt like a rat in a maze. It's a total joke...an unfunny and mean joke.

Early park entry was a mean joke too. CM's and park literature telling everyone the park opens 30 min prior to official opening and you get there to find out the park actually opened an HOUR before.

The parks were filthy. The bathrooms a nightmare. The streets covered with dirty masks, bits of trash and leaves. I didn't see a single custodial CM all week sweeping or picking up trash or even drawing a Mickey head on the cement.

Genie+ is an absolute shame. SHAME on Disney for foisting this disaster on us. If I may borrow a line from Mushu...DISHONOR! DISHONOR ON YOU...DISHONOR ON YOUR COW! What a bloated, buggy, bait-and-switchy pile of garbage. Having to wake up before 7am every single day of your vacation is ridiculous. Then having to hope you have the fastest fingers right at 7am to even GET a LL (regular or individual) for the popular attractions is ridiculous. The app crashes, it logs you out, it sends error codes, and my favorite, it switches the time you think you're booking right when you click to finalize the transaction EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Every LL I booked, the time changed after I clicked the finalize the choice. Sometimes by 20 min...often by hours. And there was so precious little to choose from. With FP+ I was able to get 8-10 FP a day and reride favorites. I literally grabbed a LL for BARNSTORMER because it was all that was available, one evening. And part of me died inside because of it.

Enchanted broke while we were there. Yep...the nighttime "spectacular" broke. No projections on Main Street. Just a bright white spot light above the confectionary blaring down on us. The show is nowhere near what HEA was.

We did enjoy Harmonious. It was very vibrant and kinetic. And we had wonderful meals (Steakhouse 71 was fabulous).

I actually started to have a panic attack one night at MK when we went to ride Astro-Orbiter during the fireworks and the CM insisted DH and I ride in 1 rocket. He's 6' (and had a total knee replacement so can't bend his one knee very well) and I'm 5'8"....had we tried to cram us both into the one rocket they would have had to cut us out. I finally walked away and let DH ride while the CM's offered to let me ride by myself on the next ride, but at that point I was so disgusted with everything...the crowds, Genie+, LL, I just wanted to go back to our room.

I will adjust our expectations (i.e..lower them) immensely for our upcoming 2022 trips. We used our DVC points so they are already booked and we have AP's, otherwise we'd be considering Universal. But I don't recognize this version of WDW and I don't like it at all.

Jennasis, I have been following your posts for a while now, and your love of disney always comes through. However, I feel exactly the same way as you do.
It's all very disappointing if you have been going to WDW for years and KNOW how it should be. It was always our magical place to visit for years.
However, now, with all the changes and money grabs, we have decided that WDW is not on our list of vacation spots anymore. And this makes me sad, and angry at them for what they are doing to the parks! all in the name of money. I hope someone else steps up soon in management before the disney we knew isn't anymore. We are going to miss the old disney, but we are looking forward to new places and experiences.

 

[Elle23]

There are people who are clearly SICK, hacking, coughing, sneezing everywhere.

I wrote about this when we came back from the parks a week ago. My daughter ended up bringing home a nasty respiratory infection she is still fighting. Not the souvenir I had in mind!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Snow Storm Extravaganza Update:

We now have an 8pm flight scheduled. They are keeping us on the plane. We will be missing the after hours party, which is a huge bummer. I foresee a long phone call asking nicely for a refund or a credit or something. Not expecting anything from it, but will try regardless. At this point we are just grateful to still get out of here (hopefully) in an hour. We are sitting on the plane adjusting tomorrow’s plans.

Seriously we have had little to no snow all fall, one of the warmest Novembers and Decembers since I can remember and the one day we fly out a giant snow storm decides to hit.

Staying positive. Just excited to still visit for the weekend.

Just go to guest services and explain your situation...don’t panic when you no longer see the party tickets showing up on your MDE they automatically disappear after the party date but guest services can see on their computer that you had and didn’t use your tickets for the party...probably won’t given an actual refund but will give you a gift card with total amount you spent on tickets that doesn’t expire hope you have a safe flight and a great time once you get there.

 

[cjlong88]

Just go to guest services and explain your situation...don’t panic when you no longer see the party tickets showing up on your MDE they automatically disappear after the party date but guest services can see on their computer that you had and didn’t use your tickets for the party...probably won’t given an actual refund but will give you a gift card with total amount you spent on tickets that doesn’t expire hope you have a safe flight and a great time once you get there.

Thank you. It was only a weekend visit so we decided to cancel the entire trip. Disney was kind enough to move our hotel reservation to May (no change fee) and they credited me the difference since it was a lower price. Not sure if those dates will work, but the CM said we will be able to change the reservation on our end since we are once again outside the 30-day window. So that’s nice.

They also told me the value unused tickets can be applied towards another ticketed event. I asked if it could be used when I’m ready to renew our AP’s and he said yes, so that definitely makes us feel better. Flight was completely refunded. In the end we didn’t lose any money. Now we just need to sit down and figure out our make-up trip.

We are visiting WDW with three close friends MLK weekend so at least we won’t be waiting too long to return!

 

[pigletto]

Flight cancelled. Bummer. Good thing we have a trip planned in January!

I’m to hear that ! I know that must have been really disappointing. I’m glad you have another trip so soon to take the sting out of it.

 

[SkyGuy]

I wrote about this when we came back from the parks a week ago. My daughter ended up bringing home a nasty respiratory infection she is still fighting. Not the souvenir I had in mind!

We went the week of Veteran’s Day. We wore masks more than they were required because there were so many people coughing, sneezing, and blowing noses. My son and I both came home with respiratory infections as well. Mine was so nasty, I took a Covid test, which was negative. My son snapped back fairly quickly, but I still have lingering effects.

 

[pigletto]

We went the week of Veteran’s Day. We wore masks more than they were required because there were so many people coughing, sneezing, and blowing noses. My son and I both came home with respiratory infections as well. Mine was so nasty, I took a Covid test, which was negative. My son snapped back fairly quickly, but I still have lingering effects.

Worth mentioning that at least where I am in Canada we are having an awful year for RSV which is a respiratory virus. In our public health unit cases are up 65% over the previous year. I do daycare and it absolutely wiped us out over the last two weeks and I was sicker than I can remember in at least a decade. We Covid tested as well. If it’s not one thing it’s another it seems .

 

[Jennasis]

We went the week of Veteran’s Day. We wore masks more than they were required because there were so many people coughing, sneezing, and blowing noses. My son and I both came home with respiratory infections as well. Mine was so nasty, I took a Covid test, which was negative. My son snapped back fairly quickly, but I still have lingering effects.

We also wore our masks most of the time. Anytime we were in line indoors or outdoors, stuck in a crowd, any shows etc.

 

[ThistleMae]

Here now, first morning. Got on the app at 7 a.m. to book Remi...did it! I was so worried I wouldn't get a boarding group, I even dreamt about it. Got 94 with return time of 1 p.m. subject to change. We are going to do early hours at Epcot, eat lunch there, go back to our room for an afternoon swim and then go to Hollywood Studios tonight. We are not purchasing LL$ or Genie+ for the first few days to see how it goes. Will post back tonight.

 

[armerida]

We went the week of Veteran’s Day. We wore masks more than they were required because there were so many people coughing, sneezing, and blowing noses. My son and I both came home with respiratory infections as well. Mine was so nasty, I took a Covid test, which was negative. My son snapped back fairly quickly, but I still have lingering effects.

Same! We were there Veterans weekend too, wore masks in the crowds, yet I still brought home an awful respiratory virus that kept me out of work for days. We noticed so many sick people coughing, sneezing, etc.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Here now, first morning. Got on the app at 7 a.m. to book Remi...did it! I was so worried I wouldn't get a boarding group, I even dreamt about it. Got 94 with return time of 1 p.m. subject to change. We are going to do early hours at Epcot, eat lunch there, go back to our room for an afternoon swim and then go to Hollywood Studios tonight. We are not purchasing LL$ or Genie+ for the first few days to see how it goes. Will post back tonight.

I’m confused. I thought you had to wait until 2:00 to park hop. If you are doing early hours at Epcot, don’t you have to wait until 2:00 to enter HS? Never mind. You were talking about a boarding group for Remi at 1:00!

TC