Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Lsdolphin]

Good day yesterday. Saw Happily Ever After on a non-Boo Bash night and it was packed. Curbs and spots already taken an hour before showtime. Our plan to go to the garden area in front of Casey’s was almost thwarted because one grass plot was roped off as reserved and another was roped off for active filming.

Leaving was crazy, not only because of the crowds, but because they roped off all the left-side exits, so you had to exit to Main Street. However, even though filming had ended, they left the ropes up, so we were also blocked from exiting to the right. It was very confusing, but we eventually made it out and jumped on Jungle Cruise before closing.

So much for low crowds this week...

 

[Leigh L]

Just got back last night from a quick Friday-Monday trip.

Friday: DHS and Epcot
I didn't do my research before RoTR, so missed a BG when I wasn't familiar with the new screen/confirm party step. Practice is definitely worth the effort! (Although I guess that is soon going to be a moot point with standby starting...). Surprisingly I got a lot done on Friday, DD went to Epcot while I went alone to DHS. Did Slinky at rope drop, then headed to Mania (no wait, just a temporary delay as the ride must have gone down and the people on it were allowed to reenter first).

Then I went to Tower, which we were asked to leave the line after a 20-minute wait since it was down. Then did MMRR, maybe a 30-minute wait. Missed the Frozen show by 1 minute, so headed to Star Tours (walk-on) and then I went into GE and hopped on the single rider line for Smugglers. I wasn't interested in Aliens, Muppets, or the movies for this trip. Made the 11:30 Frozen show and then the 1 p.m. Beauty and the Beast where I got a BG while waiting at 1 pm drop.

After that, I headed to Epcot to catch up with DD. It was more crowded there. Food lines in World Showcase were kinda long, at least for my patience (lol). We did Spaceship Earth, Frozen, and Caballeros. I think we then did some walking around WS and then at 5 p.m. I went back to DHS for Rise. The virtual queue sped up and I was being called about an hour earlier than expected. After that, I hopped on ToT and it was running, I think I waited maybe 20 minutes. Then back to Epcot and watched 2 shows by The Hooligans, wandered around WS, and then Epcot Forever.

Saturday: MK, AK, and EP
MK was on Saturday and it was not crazy busy, but definitely busier than previous visits over the past year (June was the last one). We rode Pirates, JC, Tikis, HM, Liberty Belle, PP, and CoP before 1 pm. DD can't do coasters so didn't attempt to do those rides. I hopped over to AK for EE, Lion King Show, and potentially FoP. FoP was consistently 65-75 minutes and it was raining, so never got to that. EE was awesome, I hit it before the rain and then booked it over to Lion King. Sadly, they were having technical difficulties so canceled the final 2 shows of the day. So I headed over to Epcot to ride Soarin' since I'd missed it the day before, and then catch another Hooligans performance since it was so awesome. That's the one thing Disney is truly lacking right now is entertainment and this gave the park the "Epcot vibe" I used to love so much. After that, I went back to MK to see Happily Ever After. Hub was pretty crowded and finding a spot where you were allowed to stand was tough. I should have branched out to the sides to look (as DD learned the next night!) but I was tired and was trying to meet up with DD.

Sunday: Boo Bash
Boo Bash was fun, but I wouldn't do it again, at least not at the price they're charging. Nowhere near as cool as MNSSHP and too short of time for the price point. I would have rather done a day ticket instead. I'd never done an after-hours, but this felt busier than it should have been from what I've read previously. Wait times for rides were relatively low though, 7DMT was posted 45 minutes, I don't think I waited for 15. Splash went down when we were on it, so that wasted a lot of time. We sat in one spot for about 15 minutes. Cavalcades were neat, I love these. but a parade for this type of event, along with entertainment (characters were sparse) would have made it worth the price IMO.

I think rope drop is still totally worth it. On Saturday, we were switching from ASMO to Contemporary and I didn't set my alarm correctly haha (pm instead of am) so we walked into MK maybe shortly after 9 a.m. We were still able to get stuff done (but weren't going for the most popular rides either), but had we been in front of the line, I think we would have gotten way more done earlier. DHS rope drop was definitely what got me on Slinky relatively quickly. I usually head to Tower for rope drop, but wanted to do this one first and decided where to go at rope drop on a whim once I was in the park.

Also, a CM at Chef Mickey told us that while some restaurant social distancing was still happening, all that is going to end on October 1st.

 

[Leigh L]

So much for low crowds this week...

This is blowing my mind. Just read a report from someone on the party thread from last night saying SDMT seemed packed all night and the party was so crowded they felt it was very Covid unsafe. (And this is not the first time we’ve had reviews from the same night that are polar opposite on this party!)

Is it possible there are two Magic Kingdoms hosting this party? Like an alternate universe situation?

They may have felt Covid unsafe thanks to the woman that was fake coughing to attempt to keep everyone away from her for the fireworks. :::eyeroll. Oh wait, that was the night before Boo Bash. lol

We did Boo Bash that same night, and I felt the snack lines were too long for the first half. BUT CMs both times we got on a line came down and were desperately trying to hand out ice cream (I think it might have been melting lol). So we didn't have any wait at all! Later in the night, lines were much shorter.

I did get on line for 7DMT shortly before 8 p.m. and it was posted 45 minutes. It took about 15. I saw fireworks while getting off and watched them from the back. DD found a great spot in the hub with plenty of space around her. Very different from the previous night's experience. That was the opposite of what I would have expected which was why I opted to go ride instead of standing in what I thought would be an insanely crowded hub.

After fireworks, everyone swarmed to 7DMT since it wasn't 8:30 yet. I was texting DD to just "keep swimming" upstream to get into Fantasyland lol. I imagine that ride was packed at least for the first hour after closing. But before that, it was easy peasy. There was an issue with a woman not having masks for herself and her family and they were kicked out of the queue. I guess witnessing something like that would make someone feel unsafe maybe? Otherwise though, I felt pretty safe and mask mandates indoors were being enforced for sure.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Good day yesterday. Saw Happily Ever After on a non-Boo Bash night and it was packed. Curbs and spots already taken an hour before showtime. Our plan to go to the garden area in front of Casey’s was almost thwarted because one grass plot was roped off as reserved and another was roped off for active filming.

Leaving was crazy, not only because of the crowds, but because they roped off all the left-side exits, so you had to exit to Main Street. However, even though filming had ended, they left the ropes up, so we were also blocked from exiting to the right. It was very confusing, but we eventually made it out and jumped on Jungle Cruise before closing.

So much for low crowds this week...

I'm guessing some of the Happily Every After crowds have to do with this being almost the end of Happily Ever After so people are hopping to MK/locals coming to watch, to take it in one final time before it ends next week.

 

[SCDisneyfanatic]

I start coughing when people I don’t know get too close to me
Edit to add no really I do tend to cough when I get dry from wearing the mask. I have to wear it at work so I always have some sort of lozenge to keep my throat moist. It’s especially noticeable when it’s hot.

I use throat lozenges as well to keep my throat lubricated so I don't get the urge to cough when wearing the mask for extended times.

 

[VAtink]

So quick update, I arrived home on Sunday and was fine all day, however I woke up in the middle of night feeling awful, like I was hit by a bus. So yesterday I went and got a Covid test just to be safe, and I'm happy to say the results just came back and it's negative! I kinda figured it would be, this feels a lot like strep which I get every year, but I wanted to be sure.

I am surprised I caught something this trip, I've never caught anything in Disney before and I was soooo much more careful this trip than ever before. We even wore masks outside where it was crowded and were constantly sanitizing. Oh well, just happy that so far my mom is perfectly fine, and at least this is something I'm used to dealing with!

 

[jameybano]

Quick 9/15-9/17 SIL trip

Let me preface this by saying that I was at Disney World and stayed in the Tower at Coronado Springs in late February back/early March. The difference in the experience now versus then is literally night and day. The cast members were so much more friendly, bus driver singing on the bus and the overall “feel“ of the experience was much more of a Disney experience. I do not know what to attribute this feeling to, other than masks were not required to be worn outside?

9/15 I arrived separate from my traveling party at noon at the Beach Club resort. Room was not yet ready so I checked my bags and walked to the International Gateway Guest Services to purchase my annual pass! The cast member was extremely helpful and was able to convert previously purchased park hopper passes to the annual pass. I did elect to buy the memory maker feature, but will not buy that for the rest of members of my family. I will just use my magicband. The cast member was able to get me a park reservation and I just walked right into Epcot with my new annual pass. I got some poutine foodfrom the Canada food and wine booth and walked over to the Land pavilion to eat it in the air conditioning – – it was blazing hot outside! After that I walked on to both Soarin and LWL. as I was exiting LWL, I received a text from my traveling party that they had arrived at the beach club. So I walked back to the beach club to meet them! Our room was still not ready, it was about 2:30 PM, so they check their bags and we went for a ride on the Skyliner. So much fun!. No wait and there was a nice little breeze and it was a good way to see some of the other resorts from up high! We received a text that our room was ready. I just love the way the beach club smells! After that we quickly changed took the bus with no wait to Disney Springs. We had an ADR for Wine Bar George, again so good. Afterwords we did some shopping, saw the SpaceX launch, and into the evening with cocktails at the boat house the dock watching the fireworks.

9/16: Epcot day! We rope dropped at 10:30 am and rode everything at Epcot with the exception of test track which was closed down due to rain, and we all took a hard pass on mission to Mars. We walked onto everything except for frozen which was a 40 minute wait\actual 30 minute wait. We sampled many foods and drinks, my favorite was the mimosas at Sparking Sips and the bao bun at the China booth, I also sampled everything from the Greece booth and loved it. For dinner we had an ADR at Chefs de France which was awesome! Afterwards, we got ice cream and watch the fireworks and then fell into our beds after our showers exhausted!

9/17: we slept in and spent the afternoon at stormalong bay in the lazy river soaking our feet.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

So much for low crowds this week...

Yeah, I would say the crowds are low to moderate, but all bets are off for Happily Ever After!

 

[Dakota731]

My rapid test came back negative today so it seems that I'm just dealing with a bad cold. I definitely noticed a lot of coughing toddlers on this trip as a previous poster mentioned as well as some adults with bad coughs, including one in the restroom stall next to me on the last day hacking away and blowing her nose like crazy. Sigh. Why do people go to the parks sick? And during a pandemic to boot.

My husband coughs from allergies and my sister coughs from reflux so not everyone who coughs is sick. Plus people might not have had a cold when they got to Disney and instead picked it up there. Even if they did, most people wouldn’t cancel an expensive trip at the last minute for a cold. They wouldn’t even get their money bank.

 

[Dakota731]

So quick update, I arrived home on Sunday and was fine all day, however I woke up in the middle of night feeling awful, like I was hit by a bus. So yesterday I went and got a rapid Covid test just to be safe, and I'm happy to say the results just came back and it's negative! I kinda figured it would be, this feels a lot like strep which I get every year, but I wanted to be sure.

I am surprised I caught something this trip, I've never caught anything in Disney before and I was soooo much more careful this trip than ever before. We even wore masks outside where it was crowded and were constantly sanitizing. Oh well, just happy that so far my mom is perfectly fine, and at least this is something I'm used to dealing with!

My nephew’s rapid test came back negative, but luckily the doctor performed a regular test as well which came back positive. He said with symptoms he always does both tests just to be safe

 

[scrappinginontario]

My nephew’s rapid test came back negative, but luckily the doctor performed a regular test as well which came back positive. He said with symptoms he always does both tests just to be safe

I'm sorry your nephew is positive but I'm so thankful the doctor performed the regular test so that he can care for himself as well as take the necessary precautions to keep others safe too. Hopefully he's better soon!

 

[bastraker]

Leaving tomorrow for Beach Club. Does anyone know if the Brown Derby Lounge is open for food now? I know you can get drinks out there but this past year I haven't seen any food being served.

 

[VAtink]

My nephew’s rapid test came back negative, but luckily the doctor performed a regular test as well which came back positive. He said with symptoms he always does both tests just to be safe

Ah yes, I’ve heard the antigen test isn’t as accurate. To clarify, I did get the PCR test, for some reason my city calls it the “rapid testing center” even though it’s the PCR so totally wrong word usage on my part. I feel pretty confident about the results, especially since I was diagnosed with strep this afternoon.

 

[armerida]

Leaving tomorrow for Beach Club. Does anyone know if the Brown Derby Lounge is open for food now? I know you can get drinks out there but this past year I haven't seen any food being served.

Yes! They recently reopened with a small food menu. I’m so happy, it’s one of my favorite places to relax and people watch

 

[bastraker]

Yes! They recently reopened with a small food menu. I’m so happy, it’s one of my favorite places to relax and people watch

Thanks!! I love my Cobb salad!! I'm so excited!

 

[kmrobins03]

Just back from our trip Sept 11 - 19th.

Heat and humidity was intense most days though we expected that. Crowds were not what I would consider light and were pretty seriously heavy on our Epcot days (especially this Sat). We rode a lot less than we normally would, my husband knew how to really use the previous FP system and we rarely waited in lines but with that gone plus the heat, covid and crowds we just didn't really want to stand and wait too much. Ended up masking more than I expected to outside because of the crowd levels. Not many other people were masked outdoors, maaaaaybe 10%. People did pretty well inside apart from the occasional nose out. There were a ton of toddlers and quite a few of them were clearly sick, coughing continuously, runny noses etc.

We had a lyft driver who was a retired Disney employee who was incredibly enthused about Genie. He'd been in the test group since April and is either in love with it or getting some promo $$$ to hype it I guess we'll see. He did mention that the initial rollout is more for information gathering and not the 'end product' and that after the new year is when we'll get to see what they are really planning. The things he mentioned sounded intriguing but yeah... we'll see.

We just got back from our trip- the same dates as you. Agree that it was HOT and HUMID! We also did not wait in any long lines and avoided the heat as much as possible. My daughter and I attended 2 boo bashes (Tuesday & Friday) and had a blast! At Friday's boo bash, we rode space mountain 10 times in a row with no wait!

 

[Dentam]

My husband coughs from allergies and my sister coughs from reflux so not everyone who coughs is sick. Plus people might not have had a cold when they got to Disney and instead picked it up there. Even if they did, most people wouldn’t cancel an expensive trip at the last minute for a cold. They wouldn’t even get their money bank.

Sigh. I've already explained more than once what I observed which does not fall into either of these categories. The coughs I heard were very productive and sounded coincidentally identical to the cough I developed. And the same old pre-covid excuses for infecting others during a trip are coming back I see. Super. By the way, I am going on day four of sick time used since I'm not allowed to go back to work with symptoms and I wouldn't anyway since I have consideration for others. I've also had two tests done. But by all means, if people have paid money than they should absolutely be entitled to go to the parks sick. Sorry, but I am just fed up with humanity lately. Don't mind me.

ETA: And now I'm wondering if I actually do have Covid and because I did rapid tests they were inaccurate. I did lose my sense of smell for two days and it's just coming back now.

 

[SkyGuy]

Quick 9/15-9/17 SIL trip

Let me preface this by saying that I was at Disney World and stayed in the Tower at Coronado Springs in late February back/early March. The difference in the experience now versus then is literally night and day. The cast members were so much more friendly, bus driver singing on the bus and the overall “feel“ of the experience was much more of a Disney experience. I do not know what to attribute this feeling to, other than masks were not required to be worn outside?

9/15 I arrived separate from my traveling party at noon at the Beach Club resort. Room was not yet ready so I checked my bags and walked to the International Gateway Guest Services to purchase my annual pass! The cast member was extremely helpful and was able to convert previously purchased park hopper passes to the annual pass. I did elect to buy the memory maker feature, but will not buy that for the rest of members of my family. I will just use my magicband. The cast member was able to get me a park reservation and I just walked right into Epcot with my new annual pass. I got some poutine foodfrom the Canada food and wine booth and walked over to the Land pavilion to eat it in the air conditioning – – it was blazing hot outside! After that I walked on to both Soarin and LWL. as I was exiting LWL, I received a text from my traveling party that they had arrived at the beach club. So I walked back to the beach club to meet them! Our room was still not ready, it was about 2:30 PM, so they check their bags and we went for a ride on the Skyliner. So much fun!. No wait and there was a nice little breeze and it was a good way to see some of the other resorts from up high! We received a text that our room was ready. I just love the way the beach club smells! After that we quickly changed took the bus with no wait to Disney Springs. We had an ADR for Wine Bar George, again so good. Afterwords we did some shopping, saw the SpaceX launch, and into the evening with cocktails at the boat house the dock watching the fireworks.

9/16: Epcot day! We rope dropped at 10:30 am and rode everything at Epcot with the exception of test track which was closed down due to rain, and we all took a hard pass on mission to Mars. We walked onto everything except for frozen which was a 40 minute wait\actual 30 minute wait. We sampled many foods and drinks, my favorite was the mimosas at Sparking Sips and the bao bun at the China booth, I also sampled everything from the Greece booth and loved it. For dinner we had an ADR at Chefs de France which was awesome! Afterwards, we got ice cream and watch the fireworks and then fell into our beds after our showers exhausted!

9/17: we slept in and spent the afternoon at stormalong bay in the lazy river soaking our feet.

View attachment 606424View attachment 606425View attachment 606426

We ate at Wine Bar George on the 15th then watched SpaceX - small world. It’s always so good.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Sigh. I've already explained more than once what I observed which does not fall into either of these categories. The coughs I heard were very productive and sounded coincidentally identical to the cough I developed. And the same old pre-covid excuses for infecting others during a trip are coming back I see. Super. By the way, I am going on day four of sick time used since I'm not allowed to go back to work with symptoms and I wouldn't anyway since I have consideration for others. I've also had two tests done. But by all means, if people have paid money than they should absolutely be entitled to go to the parks sick. Sorry, but I am just fed up with humanity lately. Don't mind me.

ETA: And now I'm wondering if I actually do have Covid and because I did rapid tests they were inaccurate. I did lose my sense of smell for two days and it's just coming back now.

Hoping it’s not COVID! Feel better soon.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Ah yes, I’ve heard the antigen test isn’t as accurate. To clarify, I did get the PCR test, for some reason my city calls it the “rapid testing center” even though it’s the PCR so totally wrong word usage on my part. I feel pretty confident about the results, especially since I was diagnosed with strep this afternoon.

Ack, strep is no fun! Wishes for you to feel better soon!