Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[brockash]

Park hopped to Epcot today in the evening when we would have changed plans and gone back to the hotel because we were exhausted and one of our kids had been motion sick after FoP. But we had ILLs for Frozen that can’t be refunded, and the kids had been talking about it all day even though at that point they wanted to go back to the hotel.

So onward to Epcot… and of course Frozen broke down and stayed down the rest of the night.

That right there is the magic of ILLs: you can’t cancel and get a refund if your kid gets motion sick earlier in the day, but Disney has a ride malfunction and it’s just “ok here’s a refund thanks for planning your vacation day around our systems.”

Yes, we had an issue like this yesterday at MMRR at DHS. We're about to load and ride goes down. We then have to wait our turn for the CM to scan our band to give us a multiple experience pass that's good for anything BUT ToT and RotR at DHS....first of all, definitely not an even trade since I paid for MMRR, second everyone got it, so no difference between if you paid for it or were standby. I asked for a refund instead because again nowhere near an even trade and they tell me they can't do that, but if I go out of my way some more and go wait in line for guest services they might be able to help. So after a wasted almost 40 mins. I did get a refund. Customer service has definitely not been the past Disney customer service this trip.

I will say if you're willing to pay enough, you can get on most rides with little wait, but again you have to pay for genie+, pay for ILL, and pay to stay not just on property, but at a deluxe. We stacked MK fastpasses last night and did EMHs last night at MK and we basically walked onto any ride we wanted after watching fireworks- midnight.

We weren't even pushing it and did the following with very little to no wait starting around 820pm:

PP
Carousel
7DMT
BTM
HM
WtP
Cars
Buzz
snack
Carpets x2
Pirates
Tea Cups
SM
snack
shopped

It waa pretty great, but again VERY expensive.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Post 3: AK / EPCOT / MK - Saturday Feb 19 - NO PARK reservations available
Posts 1 and 2

Up early, early. AK opens for onsite guests at 7:30.
7am - buy FOP - get 10:00 am - WooHoo
Select Test Track at EPCOT, get 2:05 pm - also perfect
Arrive at AK - walk with a purpose to Na'vi - 5 minutes
COFFEE! and breakfast bars
Pictures by the Tree of Life
Stop and see my fav, the flamingos
Use our $LL for FOP
at 9:35 am we get in line for Jungle Safari, it says 65 minutes. They lied.
at 11:25 we exit Jungle Safari and we are now late for our Rainforest Cafe Lunch reservation which was 11:15!
Walk with a purpose to the front, check in, CM doesn't blink an eye that we are late. Most of the restaurant is empty.
Some time during our Safari wait, I book BTMRR for the evening. It was down Feb 14 - 18, so we couldn't ride it on our original MK day.
We eat lunch and decide that's it, we are done with AK. Lines are huge, Everest is under refurb and my son and I HATE the Dinosaur ride and even though my hubby likes it. Not at a 55 minute wait.
We head to our room so I can change. It is chilly, low 70's. But we won't go back to our room before being at MK during the evening.
Bus to CBR - change - Skyliner to EPCOT
Walk in right at 2:00. There was a short line for people rope dropping.
CROWDED!!
Go left past GB and Canada. Stop in Creations Shop. Picked up a couple items. Saw my friend (that I knew was a Disney).
Off to Test Track - used our LL
FINALLY - time for Remy's
Use our rescheduled $LL from Thursday night.
We have 5:30 dinner reservations at Ale and Compass. Decide to leave EPCOT, grab a drink at Big River Grill & Brewery. Son is getting hungry. I can't cancel Ale and Compass via the app. I sent a Chat Message after I tried to call. Ended up eating at Big River.
Took the bus from Boardwak Inn/Villas over to MK
During the day, I was booking LL for MK. My times to select were off because of AK being open, then to EPCOT then to MK. Basically about 30 minutes I would check to see if I was eligible to book.
Arrive at MK
6:20 - Buzz standby - posted 35 minutes, was about 25
6:55 - Peoplemover standby - posted 40, was about 20
Walked on Carrousel
LL 7:35 - 8:35 pm for Haunted Mansion - it's down
LL 7:35 - 8:35 BTMRR
We start walking towards our LL - Mansion is up, we go that way. In hind sight we should have waited. The line was long because it had been down.
We do Haunted Mansion, then BTMRR
Earlier in the day picked up a LL for Pirates, basically walked on.
At this point, the nighttime show is done, the big crowd surge to leave is gone. Choices, go now or wait until the park closes at 10. We leave.

1 paid LL - FOP
$LL- Remy's - this was rescheduled from Thursday after Remy's went down.
Genie+: Test Track / Haunted Mansion / BTMRR / Pirates
Food: Rainforest Cafe / Big River Grill and Brewery

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Post 4 - Day 4 Hollywood Studios - NO PARK reservations available. Sunday Feb 20
Posts 1, 2 and 3

What we thought would be a disaster turned into the best day!
We are at Hollywood Studios for my birthday. Not planned this way, we were supposed to have gone to Disney in January. The reschedule meant I got to spend my birthday at my favorite park!

7:00 am - Can't even get Genie+ to load to even attempt to get anything. We did not have this problem any of the other days.
My husband is also trying. He gets through, does his "job" get Smugglers Run
My job was ROTR. Of course they are gone by the time I get Genie to load.
And Smugglers Run is during our dining reservation.
We buy MMRR for 5:10, perfect
I know, because I researched, more slots drop at 7:10. I can see Smugglers has times showing for earlier. I roll the dice, cancel Smugglers. OMG, then I can't get one.
Calmly refresh a few times - BAM! more times, I get 10:40 am.
So I've resigned myself that we won't get on ROTR. We've ridden it before. I am getting ready, keep my phone by me, keep refreshing - BOOM! ROTR has more times, get 7:35 pm.

Head over to HS on the Skyliner, stop for COFFEE at Starbucks, sit and eat. The line for RnRC is building. We get in line before official park opening, but it is long. It starts at the upside down car and is half way down Sunset Blvd. But once the park opens, we walk almost all the way into the recording studio room. Basically, 15 minutes at Rope Drop. We decide to circle and ride again. We are off our second ride by 9:10. Head to TSMM, posted 45 minutes, takes about 30.

Walk through Batuu, head to Star Tours, posted 30 minutes, takes about 15. Time for Smugglers!
Use our LL.
As soon as we scan in, I book TSMM for 3:50 pm
Walk through Batuu, see Chewy walking around. Take some pictures. Decide on Muppets, which puts us right by Sci-Fi for our lunch reservation.
After lunch, back to StarTours, get a different "tour"
Walk through the shops on Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd.
Son wants a donut from Joffrey's - it is tucked back by the exit from ToT. Take some time to sit and relax. At some point I picked up LL for Star Tours
Head off for our back to back afternoon
Oga's 3:35
LL for TSMM 3:50 - 4:50
$LL MMRR 5:00 - 6:00
LL StarTours 5:10 - 6:10
Dinner at Mama Melrose's
$LL ROTR 7:35 - 8:35

$LL: ROTR and MMRR
Standby: RnRC - twice / TSMM / StarTours - twice / Muppets
LL: Smugglers / TSMM / Star Tours - We could have gotten Aliens as a LL, but we decided on a 3rd Star Tours
Food: Sci-Fi / Joffrey's Donut / Oga's / Mama Melrose's

We didn't MISS anything we wanted to ride. We have our favorites and we checked them all off the list. The lines for Photopass in Batuu were long, so I didn't get those. But I did get the Toy Story Land photo.

***Best Birthday EVER***

 

[JoJoGirl]

Post 4 - Day 4 Hollywood Studios - NO PARK reservations available. Sunday Feb 20
Posts 1, 2 and 3

What we thought would be a disaster turned into the best day!
We are at Hollywood Studios for my birthday. Not planned this way, we were supposed to have gone to Disney in January. The reschedule meant I got to spend my birthday at my favorite park!

7:00 am - Can't even get Genie+ to load to even attempt to get anything. We did not have this problem any of the other days.
My husband is also trying. He gets through, does his "job" get Smugglers Run
My job was ROTR. Of course they are gone by the time I get Genie to load.
And Smugglers Run is during our dining reservation.
We buy MMRR for 5:10, perfect
I know, because I researched, more slots drop at 7:10. I can see Smugglers has times showing for earlier. I roll the dice, cancel Smugglers. OMG, then I can't get one.
Calmly refresh a few times - BAM! more times, I get 10:40 am.
So I've resigned myself that we won't get on ROTR. We've ridden it before. I am getting ready, keep my phone by me, keep refreshing - BOOM! ROTR has more times, get 7:35 pm.

Head over to HS on the Skyliner, stop for COFFEE at Starbucks, sit and eat. The line for RnRC is building. We get in line before official park opening, but it is long. It starts at the upside down car and is half way down Sunset Blvd. But once the park opens, we walk almost all the way into the recording studio room. Basically, 15 minutes at Rope Drop. We decide to circle and ride again. We are off our second ride by 9:10. Head to TSMM, posted 45 minutes, takes about 30.

Walk through Batuu, head to Star Tours, posted 30 minutes, takes about 15. Time for Smugglers!
Use our LL.
As soon as we scan in, I book TSMM for 3:50 pm
Walk through Batuu, see Chewy walking around. Take some pictures. Decide on Muppets, which puts us right by Sci-Fi for our lunch reservation.
After lunch, back to StarTours, get a different "tour"
Walk through the shops on Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd.
Son wants a donut from Joffrey's - it is tucked back by the exit from ToT. Take some time to sit and relax. At some point I picked up LL for Star Tours
Head off for our back to back afternoon
Oga's 3:35
LL for TSMM 3:50 - 4:50
$LL MMRR 5:00 - 6:00
LL StarTours 5:10 - 6:10
Dinner at Mama Melrose's
$LL ROTR 7:35 - 8:35

$LL: ROTH and MMRR
Standby: RnRC - twice / TSMM / StarTours - twice / Muppets
LL: Smugglers / TSMM / Star Tours - We could have gotten Aliens as a LL, but we decided on a 3rd Star Tours
Food: Sci-Fi / Joffrey's Donut / Oga's / Mama Melrose's

We didn't MISS anything we wanted to ride. We have our favorites and we checked them all off the list. The lines for Photopass in Batuu were long, so I didn't get those. But I did get the Toy Story Land photo.

***Best Birthday EVER***

Thanks for the wonderfully detailed trip reports and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Hope the best of your trip is great!

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Thanks for the wonderfully detailed trip reports and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Hope the best of your trip is great!

Thank you. Home now. But it was a fabulous trip!

 

[Duck143]

Some quick feedback about park hopping. We arrived at the international gateway of Epcot in the pouring rain at 1:49 PM. Our trip on the skyliner went more quickly than we anticipated and this is how we were treated. We went thru security and then were told we could not enter the park and also could not wait under cover at guest relations. We were told we needed to go back out on the other side of security and wait by the bathrooms. We turned to see about a dozen other poor souls gathered there. I heard one cast member say "What part of 2 O'Clock don't they understand?". At 1:57 a cast member walked over to where we were all huddled and told us we could now go thru security (again). Of all the nonsense I put up with during our last trip, this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Not going back for a long long time.

This is insanity. There really is no reason why they made you go back through security!
We had a similar situation this past May. We had drinks at Oga's at HS and when we finished (under our allotted time limit), we walked out the front door only to find it completely downpouring. It was coming down like a waterfall. We stood with our two children under the overhang with 3 CM's right outside Oga's door. They told us that we couldn't remain there for even a few minutes and kicked us out into the torrential downpour. We had just spent $$$$ in their restaurant (and if it had windows, we would have stayed in and enjoyed another beverage). The CMs laughed as they made us walk away to get thoroughly soaked.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

Park hopped to Epcot today in the evening when we would have changed plans and gone back to the hotel because we were exhausted and one of our kids had been motion sick after FoP. But we had ILLs for Frozen that can’t be refunded, and the kids had been talking about it all day even though at that point they wanted to go back to the hotel.

So onward to Epcot… and of course Frozen broke down and stayed down the rest of the night.

That right there is the magic of ILLs: you can’t cancel and get a refund if your kid gets motion sick earlier in the day, but Disney has a ride malfunction and it’s just “ok here’s a refund thanks for planning your vacation day around our systems.”

We had $LL for Remy's last Thursday night. It was down for a while. We had been up since 3:00 am to get our flight. The cast member at Remy's entrance told us to go to Guest Services, even told us where it was located. They were very nice. Get to Guest Services (blue umbrella's). Calmly explain to the CM that Remy's and Test Track are both down, and those were our 2 remaining rides for the day. Politely told them, we still wanted to ride Remy's. The CM moved Remy's to Saturday at our request and moved our Test Track LL to MK for Jungle Cruise the next day.

Can't say that all CM would have done the moving of EPCOT to MK, but it can't hurt to ask NICELY. So often people are so frustrated that they take it out on the CM. Not their fault.

We didn't lose our money, and we even came out ahead with JC already set for Friday.

 

[brockash]

We had $LL for Remy's last Thursday night. It was down for a while. We had been up since 3:00 am to get our flight. The cast member at Remy's entrance told us to go to Guest Services, even told us where it was located. They were very nice. Get to Guest Services (blue umbrella's). Calmly explain to the CM that Remy's and Test Track are both down, and those were our 2 remaining rides for the day. Politely told them, we still wanted to ride Remy's. The CM moved Remy's to Saturday at our request and moved our Test Track LL to MK for Jungle Cruise the next day.

Can't say that all CM would have done the moving of EPCOT to MK, but it can't hurt to ask NICELY. So often people are so frustrated that they take it out on the CM. Not their fault.

We didn't lose our money, and we even came out ahead with JC already set for Friday.

I'm glad they moved it for you. They would NOT move our MMRR pass to today from yesterday when it went down as we were about to ride. They weren't rude or anything, but also weren't real helpful and didn't seem to care at all about all of our wasted time. I got refunded and was eventually able to book and get one today, but the service is not what we are used to coming from Disney...seems to be the theme lately for us.

 

[SwanVT2]

We are staying at SSR. Got there a little before 8 and booked it right to Safari and took maybe ten minutes at most to walk through line. Saw animals eating breakfast and it was great. Quick snack then walked the trail to see gorillas and birds etc. we had Genie plus and I got Dino for 9:50 but everything else we were interested in when it got to be 10 to book more was for later in the day and we are not full day park people. Went on Kali. Then went on Dino. Had lunch and it was 11 by then. Did quick service at Pizzafari and FYI kids pizza is the size of a woman’s hand. Small!! Got beautiful photos of animals by arriving early. Gorillas were eating breakfast. We came back to hotel after lunch to swim. Highlight of the day was seeing a boat of characters on the river at AK. The boat said 50th anniversary and we saw Mickey and Minnie and Pluto on it waving at everyone!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Be prepared. To Wait.

 

[Jules123]

We arrive next week. How early have they been letting on-site guests enter the parks lately?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Honestly it seems to change park to park and day to day. The rule of thumb is to arrive at your resort transportation at least 90 mins in advance of ETPE hours to be at the front of the group whenever they open attractions.

We were at Epcot a few weeks ago and they opened Remy exactly to the min but the week before people reported it opening over 30 mins earlier than ETPE started.

 

[brockash]

We arrive next week. How early have they been letting on-site guests enter the parks lately?

This week at MK it was 8, but not allowed to que for rides until 830.

DHS, we were let in earlier and could line for Slinky as soon as let in, but they didn't walk us through the que until 825.

Honestly I can't remember exact times for AK and Epcot. Basically we got to our mode of transportation 1.5 hrs prior to regular park open to be on first bus/monorail and we always got there in time to line up at tapstyles but didn't feel like we waited too long before they let us enter.

 

[Juventus]

How do they separate onsite and offsite guests in the morning at MK? If I'm offsite and want to ropedrop frontierland will I actually be in the park to the left of the hub lining up waiting for the 9:00 opening?

 

[scrappinginontario]

How do they separate onsite and offsite guests in the morning at MK? If I'm offsite and want to ropedrop frontierland will I actually be in the park to the left of the hub lining up waiting for the 9:00 opening?

Yes.

 

[Ohiostatefan606]

How do they separate onsite and offsite guests in the morning at MK? If I'm offsite and want to ropedrop frontierland will I actually be in the park to the left of the hub lining up waiting for the 9:00 opening?

Once inside the MK - they were scanning 1 person per party as we approached Tomorrowland. But they were also directing offsite guests to stay in the Hub. It actually moved pretty quick.

Same at AK - they scanned our magic band once inside the park. Onsite went to the left, offsite stayed to the right.

We didn't rope drop EPCOT.

HS - I feel like they were pushing onsite to the left turnstiles and offsite to the right. So they were controlling the flow of guests before you got into the park.

Keep your party together, be ready with magic band / card or phone. Tell the CM how many people in your party.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

How do they separate onsite and offsite guests in the morning at MK? If I'm offsite and want to ropedrop frontierland will I actually be in the park to the left of the hub lining up waiting for the 9:00 opening?

That's a great strategy. I was offsite over Thanksgiving and did the same, rope dropped Frontierland and was able to walk onto Pirates and Splash and ride HM with a short wait, all within the first hour of park opening.

 

[Juventus]

That's a great strategy. I was offsite over Thanksgiving and did the same, rope dropped Frontierland and was able to walk onto Pirates and Splash and ride HM with a short wait, all within the first hour of park opening.

Thanks, that was my next question because it seems like ropedropping may be a bit more popular than when we used to do it (March 2015-2020).

If near the front of the frontierland drop (again, offsite and driving), is it still possible to get in BTMRR, SPLASH, and HM or POTC in with less than 20-25 minute waits? (e.g, 3 decent rides)

I ask because with younger ones we would always ropedrop frontierland (I'm talking front of the line ropedrop) and get in 4 quick rides in with very little wait. We would go back to our resort around 1:00 and come back for the evening...which is a pain at MK given how long it takes.

If ropedrop is not what it used to be then we may just stack a few rides and show up around 1:00 and stay until close (11:00 close on the days I am looking at).

Thanks!

 

[M SH]

Thanks, that was my next question because it seems like ropedropping may be a bit more popular than when we used to do it (March 2015-2020).

If near the front of the frontierland drop (again, offsite and driving), is it still possible to get in BTMRR, SPLASH, and HM or POTC in with less than 20-25 minute waits? (e.g, 3 decent rides)

I ask because with younger ones we would always ropedrop frontierland (I'm talking front of the line ropedrop) and get in 4 quick rides in with very little wait. We would go back to our resort around 1:00 and come back for the evening...which is a pain at MK given how long it takes.

If ropedrop is not what it used to be then we may just stack a few rides and show up around 1:00 and stay until close (11:00 close on the days I am looking at).

Thanks!

this is what we did last December. it worked for BTMR and Splash, but after that pirates had more than 25 mins wait. but this was week of christmas so crowds were higher than usual. any other week and it should be doable. although i hear crowds these days are insane too.
anyway i think you can get at least 2 rides, maybe 3-4 on less crowded days.

 

[MainMom]

this is what we did last December. it worked for BTMR and Splash, but after that pirates had more than 25 mins wait. but this was week of christmas so crowds were higher than usual. any other week and it should be doable. although i hear crowds these days are insane too.
anyway i think you can get at least 2 rides, maybe 3-4 on less crowded days.

These days a 25 minute wait seems like nothing.