Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Aimeedyan]

I wouldn't make your vacation decision just based on my one data point. I could have just somehow happened to be in spots where certain CMs weren't following the rules they are supposed to impose. That's why I wanted to see if others have noticed a similar relaxing of enforcement or if it's been this way the whole time. I just came in with the expectation that even if a nose is hanging out that a CM is there right away to correct them based on posts I saw here and from some podcasts. That just wasn't the case in my experience, but could be different for you.

We were blocked out during the peak of spring break but went back last weekend, to both Epcot and HS, and I noticed a marked difference in mark adherence and reminders. While prior to blockouts, I would see/hear multiple CM's reminding people about their mask, this time we didn't see a single reminder. I didn't see any CM's standing on mask patrol with the little sign like usual. I noticed lots and lots of drinking/eating while walking without a word said.

I do wonder if they have been instructed to scale back some.

My DH is one of the least observant people in the world and even he made a remark a few hours into our visit.

We will be back this week for another staycation, and hitting AK and MK this time, so I wonder if I'll see some of the same there.

 

[cindianne320]

We went to WDW and Universal a month ago. I had been at WDW in October, so was nervous for Universal. I was completely wrong- Universal was MUCH more strict on mask compliance and social distancing. I was one step over the line at Hogwarts Express, and was asked to stand back, to distance from the party next to us. I appreciated their reminders. Disney, not so much this trip, especially when it came to social distancing.

 

[lelew]

I wouldn't make your vacation decision just based on my one data point. I could have just somehow happened to be in spots where certain CMs weren't following the rules they are supposed to impose. That's why I wanted to see if others have noticed a similar relaxing of enforcement or if it's been this way the whole time. I just came in with the expectation that even if a nose is hanging out that a CM is there right away to correct them based on posts I saw here and from some podcasts. That just wasn't the case in my experience, but could be different for you.

Thanks, my eyes will be super glued to this thread now that I have a up coming trip again and appreciate all the feedback so that I can know what to expect. The reason I decided to visit last August was because of the feedback from from here.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Disney has not changed any of their masking or distancing requirements at this time with the exception of masks may be removed when taking a picture.

 

[b2k1121]

We went to WDW and Universal a month ago. I had been at WDW in October, so was nervous for Universal. I was completely wrong- Universal was MUCH more strict on mask compliance and social distancing. I was one step over the line at Hogwarts Express, and was asked to stand back, to distance from the party next to us. I appreciated their reminders. Disney, not so much this trip, especially when it came to social distancing.

My mask post sounded a lot like complaining, but didn't bother me too much because I could just avoid those people. But your post reminded me to complain for real about the distancing because I couldn't avoid those people and it was very annoying. More often than not, in any queue last week, the people behind us completely ignored the markers on the ground. I just don't get, even in normal times, why you would want to be so close to strangers. You aren't going to get to the end of the queue any faster. There were times when the kids of the family behind us were next to or even in front of us for awhile in line and the parents said nothing to them because they were standing right on our heels too.

An example of how much people either don't care or are not paying attention to the world around them was at the skyliner transfer station. We got off the pop century line to transfer to the Epcot line close to Epcot opening so it was pretty busy. They had everything roped off and were directing everyone where to go when it was their turn to merge to the new queue. We were the first to be held back with ropes on either side of us as people crossed past us to get to the HS queue. Within seconds a family behind us attempted to push passed us with their stroller and go around to the line we were waiting for as if we weren't even there. The CM thankfully told them to get behind us and that they were holding us there for a reason. Of course they didn't go behind us and just kept their stroller next to us instead of backing up.

But the crazy part is, the next family behind them did the same thing and tried to pass us on the other side immediately after that. The CM stopped them too and they also just stayed next to us instead of backing up. It wasn't a wide open space around us, it was like a normal queue with ropes on either side and both families somehow thought they should try to squeeze around us while a CM was standing there holding up the line. That's just general weird behavior from people, but even more annoying at this time.

 

[jlundeen]

Not intended to start a mask debate, just my observations and wondering if others have noticed this on recent trips or if it's always been this way.

We just got back from 17-22. Heard a lot leading up to the trip about how strict the CMs were with proper mask wearing but never saw even one instance of a CM asking someone to put their mask on correctly or not walking around eating/drinking. Didn't bother me much as we are vaccinated but was just interesting that they no longer care or are getting sick of correcting people or were never strict to begin with. I would also get sick of doing it if I worked there.

There were multiple occasions of people in front of us in the skyliner queues with the chin strap mask eating/drinking all the way through the queue and to the cast member who assigned them a skyliner and didn't say anything to them. There was a clearly very drunk couple at the end of the night at Epcot without a mask visible anywhere on them that walked out of International Gateway and into the skyliner queue behind us for about a half hour without a word from anyone. Earlier that night we were waiting for a mobile order outside the BBQ quick service and a group of 3 came up to the CM all with the chin strap mask and he just looked at their mobile order and let them inside without saying anything and then they stood inside waiting the same way. There were plenty of people in kiosk lines eating/drinking all the way through ordering. Also saw multiple people get their food from the window, pull their mask down and start eating right at the window while they waited for the rest of their order.

We spent 1 night at Disney Springs and 2 at Epcot and I'd say about 25% or more of the people there were walking around with the chin strap mask. Even in the Magic Kingdom during the middle of the day we saw a lot of families walking around eating or some not even eating, just masks pulled down. Wonder if they got a message recently to not bother correcting people anymore.

We were there last week, and they are announcing very often that masks are to be worn covering nose and mouth by everyone, and distancing is required. There are signs up all over saying anyone not complying will be asked to leave. We did have one hot shot on Jungle Cruse that had to be "reminded" about three times - as soon as he would put it up, he'd pull it down again. He finally did get the idea and left it up. Also in the overhead announcement is reminders that eating and drinking are only allowed when you are stationary and to the side.

Of course, there are some folks who either don't understand (non-English speaking, perhaps?) or just assume it doesn't apply to them, but while we were there, they were the exception. Most tried to keep distance also, but excited families sometimes just "missed" the distance, but it wasn't terrible. There is plexiglass up between many of the queues, but not all, so it's hard to maintain distance in some cases (thinking about Na'vi River Journey for one when the queues are full).

 

[jlundeen]

Sorry - duplicate post

 

[DisneyFive]

While there is no way to be certain, a lot of times it isn't marijuana. It's CBD vapes. Many people use them for pain and stress. Most strands have a strong odor that smells the same as marijuana.

Not to sound like a jerk or anything but it’s a moot point. Neither smoking nor vaping is allowed inside the parks.

Dan

 

[b2k1121]

We were there last week, and they are announcing very often that masks are to be worn covering nose and mouth by everyone, and distancing is required. There are signs up all over saying anyone not complying will be asked to leave. We did have one hot shot on Jungle Cruse that had to be "reminded" about three times as as soon as he would put it up, he's pull it down again. He finally did get the idea and left it up. Also in the overhead announcement is reminders that eating and drinking are only allowed when you are stationary and to the side.

Of course, there are some folks who either don't understand (non-English speaking, perhaps?) or just assume it doesn't apply to them, but while we were there, they were the exception. Most tried to keep distance also, but excited families sometimes just "missed" the distance, but it wasn't terrible. There is plexiglass up between many of the queues, but not all, so it's hard to maintain distance in some cases (thinking about Na'vi River Journey for one when the queues are full).

Yeah I'm definitely not questioning the official policy just wondering if it was possible that word was passed to CMs to start letting it go.

 

[brockash]

Thank you!! This is great news. We can probably get in Frozen & Nemo

As long as there are no issues with the ride; then yes you should definitely be able to do this.

In our experience Frozen has always been open right away, while rides like Soarin and Test track didn't open until around 1045.

Obviously this can change any day, but you should have a good shot.

 

[jo-jo]

Not intended to start a mask debate, just my observations and wondering if others have noticed this on recent trips or if it's always been this way.

We just got back from 17-22. Heard a lot leading up to the trip about how strict the CMs were with proper mask wearing but never saw even one instance of a CM asking someone to put their mask on correctly or not walking around eating/drinking. Didn't bother me much as we are vaccinated but was just interesting that they no longer care or are getting sick of correcting people or were never strict to begin with. I would also get sick of doing it if I worked there.

There were multiple occasions of people in front of us in the skyliner queues with the chin strap mask eating/drinking all the way through the queue and to the cast member who assigned them a skyliner and didn't say anything to them. There was a clearly very drunk couple at the end of the night at Epcot without a mask visible anywhere on them that walked out of International Gateway and into the skyliner queue behind us for about a half hour without a word from anyone. Earlier that night we were waiting for a mobile order outside the BBQ quick service and a group of 3 came up to the CM all with the chin strap mask and he just looked at their mobile order and let them inside without saying anything and then they stood inside waiting the same way. There were plenty of people in kiosk lines eating/drinking all the way through ordering. Also saw multiple people get their food from the window, pull their mask down and start eating right at the window while they waited for the rest of their order.

We spent 1 night at Disney Springs and 2 at Epcot and I'd say about 25% or more of the people there were walking around with the chin strap mask. Even in the Magic Kingdom during the middle of the day we saw a lot of families walking around eating or some not even eating, just masks pulled down. Wonder if they got a message recently to not bother correcting people anymore.

We were there April 10-20. I noticed at least 3 or 4 CM telling people to adjust/put on mask. Once guest coming out of HM and CM sort of chased woman down and told her a few times to put mask on. Another time CM told two people who were walking and eating, they should be in one spot for eating. Another time was my DH, coming out of DVC lounge, where we ate and drank, CM told DH "I love your smile, but you need to pull up your mask". In our resort, housekeeping knocked on door to replace towels, DH opened door, CM stepped back and asked him to put on mask.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Yes even us adults need a break! Any tips to make it better? I was going to go straight to Frozen ever after (her max wait time in a line is about 15 min before meltdown), then to Nemo, then maybe let her just look at everything and run around... then back to room for nap.

just remember the down travel time back to resort. will she fall back to sleep if falls asleep on the way and wakes up before you get to your room? had a very bad time with a grandson who fell asleep for like 10 minutes but woke up as we stopped to get off and walk to room. after 3 hours of screaming he fall asleep as we walk to dinner and sleeps thru. what would happen if you took a drive or walk just before naptime and she falls asleep. I am guessing you will want to rethink your before nap plans

 

[cjlong88]

I've noticed that most of the park passes on the weekends in May are all full. My husband and I were thinking about doing a quick weekend trip May 22-23. May 23rd has availability at EPCOT (which is one of the parks we want to visit) but there is no availability on May 22nd. Any chance park passes will open up if I check religiously or am I out of luck? We were hoping to do AK if we choose to visit. TIA!

 

[Nabas]

I've noticed that most of the park passes on the weekends in May are all full. My husband and I were thinking about doing a quick weekend trip May 22-23. May 23rd has availability at EPCOT (which is one of the parks we want to visit) but there is no availability on May 22nd. Any chance park passes will open up if I check religiously or am I out of luck? We were hoping to do AK if we choose to visit. TIA!

I believe they released more Park Passes for June a week or so ago. The rumor is that they plan to increase theme park capacity soon. Maybe they will decide to do that sooner.

If the past, I've seen a park be not available, and then open up for just a bit before it became unavailable again.

I suggest you keep checking several times each day. Someone might cancel.

If you are really desperate, you could always buy a park hopper ticket.

Good luck!

 

[scrappinginontario]

I've noticed that most of the park passes on the weekends in May are all full. My husband and I were thinking about doing a quick weekend trip May 22-23. May 23rd has availability at EPCOT (which is one of the parks we want to visit) but there is no availability on May 22nd. Any chance park passes will open up if I check religiously or am I out of luck? We were hoping to do AK if we choose to visit. TIA!

Availability may or may not open. Unfortunately it's impossible to know. The best we can suggest is to keep trying many times daily to book a reservation. It's recommended that you actually try to book rather than go by the park availability calendar as it is not updated real-time.

Hope you can find something.

 

[bdiddy]

just remember the down travel time back to resort. will she fall back to sleep if falls asleep on the way and wakes up before you get to your room? had a very bad time with a grandson who fell asleep for like 10 minutes but woke up as we stopped to get off and walk to room. after 3 hours of screaming he fall asleep as we walk to dinner and sleeps thru. what would happen if you took a drive or walk just before naptime and she falls asleep. I am guessing you will want to rethink your before nap plans

Our first trip was when our kids were 2 and 4 and everything I had read said to go back to the resort for naps. Which at that point our 4 yr old daughter wasn’t napping much but our 2 yr old son still was. HUGE mistake! He fell asleep on the bus on the way to the resort and then woke up when we were carrying him in and of course he was wide awake and wouldn’t go back to sleep. It was a huge waste of time. The rest of the days we just stayed in the parks and let him nap in the stroller. He’d nap like clockwork every day from about 1-3 and DH and I would take turns taking DD on stuff she was tall enough for but he wasn’t.

 

[KayKayJS]

Our first trip was when our kids were 2 and 4 and everything I had read said to go back to the resort for naps. Which at that point our 4 yr old daughter wasn’t napping much but our 2 yr old son still was. HUGE mistake! He fell asleep on the bus on the way to the resort and then woke up when we were carrying him in and of course he was wide awake and wouldn’t go back to sleep. It was a huge waste of time. The rest of the days we just stayed in the parks and let him nap in the stroller. He’d nap like clockwork every day from about 1-3 and DH and I would take turns taking DD on stuff she was tall enough for but he wasn’t.

I think we may need to try the stroller nap lol

 

[focusondisney]

We just got back from 17-22. Heard a lot leading up to the trip about how strict the CMs were with proper mask wearing but never saw even one instance of a CM asking someone to put their mask on correctly or not walking around eating/drinking. Didn't bother me much as we are vaccinated but was just interesting that they no longer care or are getting sick of correcting people or were never strict to begin with. I would also get sick of doing it if I worked there.

While prior to blockouts, I would see/hear multiple CM's reminding people about their mask, this time we didn't see a single reminder. I didn't see any CM's standing on mask patrol with the little sign like usual. I noticed lots and lots of drinking/eating while walking without a word said.

We were there the 15-22 too. I agree, many people were walking & drinking or eating & many improperly worn masks. The whole week, I only saw 1 CM attempt to say something to a woman at Epcot, but the woman was walking too fast & she never got to her. I never saw any CM holding wear your mask signs & forgot all about that til I read your post.

Disney has not changed any of their masking or distancing requirements at this time with the exception of masks may be removed when taking a picture.

Not that they’ve officially announced anyway. But enforcement was certainly lacking this past week.

We were there last week, and they are announcing very often that masks are to be worn covering nose and mouth by everyone, and distancing is required. There are signs up all over saying anyone not complying will be asked to leave.

Yes, there are signs & I did hear the announcements occasionally. But no one seemed to do anything about enforcement. And there were lots of uncovered noses all over with no one saying a word.

Yeah I'm definitely not questioning the official policy just wondering if it was possible that word was passed to CMs to start letting it go.

I wouldn‘t be surprised. I noticed the same things you did.

 

[Akck]

I've noticed that most of the park passes on the weekends in May are all full. My husband and I were thinking about doing a quick weekend trip May 22-23. May 23rd has availability at EPCOT (which is one of the parks we want to visit) but there is no availability on May 22nd. Any chance park passes will open up if I check religiously or am I out of luck? We were hoping to do AK if we choose to visit. TIA!

The availability calendar isn’t necessarily updated with the latest availability. We decided to change one of our park passes for next week. The only one available was Epcot, which was the one we wanted. After I canceled our AK pass, all parks were available when I made our Epcot reservation. Your only danger is if you cancel a full park reservation and the calendar is up to date so you lose both.

 

[b2k1121]

We were there the 15-22 too. I agree, many people were walking & drinking or eating & many improperly worn masks. The whole week, I only saw 1 CM attempt to say something to a woman at Epcot, but the woman was walking too fast & she never got to her. I never saw any CM holding wear your mask signs & forgot all about that til I read your post.

Not that they’ve officially announced anyway. But enforcement was certainly lacking this past week.

Yes, there are signs & I did hear the announcements occasionally. But no one seemed to do anything about enforcement. And there were lots of uncovered noses all over with no one saying a word.

I wouldn‘t be surprised. I noticed the same things you did.

Yeah I didn't see a wear your mask sign either, I didn't know that was even a thing.

I didn't even mention the noses in my post because there were way too many of those. If they weren't calling out the chin straps they definitely weren't doing anything about noses hanging out.