They did this when we arrived too and I thought it was so cool! I am loving your report and want to go back 
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Kali river 5 times in a rowâŚno longer any way to tell which wet is sweat
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No more need for a shower!
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Because you would have gotten a call center that read off the rules about having to show the card. The âfront deskâ button does not connect to the front desk.
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Day 2, Sun 7/26
Had planned to get in line for Skyliner to Hollywood Studios around 8:45 for the 10 am open. However, the kids woke up raring to go and so we ended up about 100 parties back in line at 8:30. Skyliner started running right around nine and once the tests runs were done the line moved fast.
At CBR transfer station you were directed into another fast moving queue. Temp screens and new bag check process fast and we ended up in the park around 9:40 am. Headed back to SDD as the kids love this coaster.
Was about 4 parties back from being assigned a number to load when 10 oâclock rolled around. Stayed on LTE and did not use a countdown clock on my phone but started counting in my head when the clock rolled over to 9:59 and then at 57 seconds opened MDE and got BG 43 (had to unclick several people). The party in front of us got boarding group 3. Didnât really matter because it seemed to have a lot of down time that day. Rode SDD and the kids wanted to ride again immediately so hopped back in line for another <20 minute wait. DS3 kept proclaiming that he wanted to ride it 11 times
After those 2 rides we walked onto AS2 and TSM. Kids wanted burgers so we headed through GE to Backlot Express and coincidentally sat inside near the exit on the far right side of the restaurant if you are facing it. There is an access road there and it turns out that this is where the car cavalcades end their route and go backstage. So we ended up seeing the Disney Jr one when we first got there and the Mickey and friends one as we were leaving. The kids were hot, DS3 didnât want to ride anything except SDD which was now posting 40 minute waits and due to downtime our estimated return time for RotR was still 180 minutes (barring any more down time). So we headed back to Pop around noon and swam for a couple of hours, checking the phone every once in a while for estimated return time updates. Again, love the Skyliner. At 3:15 got the notification that boarding group had been called. The afternoon thundershowers were rolling in and we made it to the Skyliner just as it shut down so headed to the bus stop. Ten minutes later as the skies opened up, we got on the bus
Had picked up a tip here from a trip report sometime in the last 8 months or so about using a small binder clip to secure the hood of a disposable poncho to the bill of a baseball cap and that worked great!
Got back to RotR a little after 4 pm and it was down again. So, headed to MFSR which my DS3 did not want to ride so we just walked through the line with DH and DD5 and then took the chicken exit. I had been hoping that his new found fear of everything except roller coasters and ice cream had just been an artifact brought on by the surprise travel yesterday, alas, it was notâŚ
RotR was back up and running once they got off MFSR. I already got to ride this in January but DH was not on that trip. So DH and DD to rode this (successfully) while DS and I went to find him some ice cream. In normal times, I feel like you canât swing a dead cat in any Disney park without hitting a stand that sells Mickey Bars, but we were having a hard time finding any ice cream. One very helpful cast member standing in front of the shuttered soft serve place at the end of Sunset Blvd must have read between the lines of my question when she directed me to Anaheim Produce stating that they sometimes had Mickey Bars. They did notâŚbut they did have frozen margaritas and since Iâd already waited in line to ask about the ice creamâŚalso, the Anaheim Produce cast member knew where to find the Mickey Bars: one cart in front of Chinese Theater and one cart in TSL.
Next, we all rode MMRR with about a 30 minute wait including delay for cleaning. It was cute. Then headed back to TSL for 5 more rides on SDD, bringing the dayâs total to 7. DD wanted to ride ToT with DH so they split off after the first 2 SDD rides of the evening. I would be interested to hear other opinions, but, to me, SDD felt faster than it was before. DH thought so too and postulated the cause to be less weight due to the social distancing. The last two SDD rides were virtual walk ons as the park was closing. Skylinered it back to Pop and went to bed.
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Your DS3 is quite a character! I love that he almost made his 11 times on SDD!
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Weâll be back to HS tomorrow before the tragical express and so Iâm pretty sure he will.
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Day 3, Mon 7/27
We are rope droppers at heart (OK, I am and my family goes along with it)âŚbut with the current state of things, no timed FP+ or ADRs and with the trend of lessening crowds later in the day, Iâve been trying to let it ride a little bit more with timing. I figured that it didnât really matter what time we got to MK (9 am open) so we took our time in the morning and showed up to a long but properly socially distanced line at the Pop bus stop around 8:45 am. Five buses came in quick succession and we were on the fifth. Got into MK around 9:30 and headed for Dumbo as the kids wanted to ride this first.
Then headed to 7DMT as this was their next priority. Wait <20 minutes so we jumped in line again. By and large, mask compliance is great and the cast members are great at gently correcting those guests whose masks have slipped or who are not wearing their mask correctly. However, I would say that about 1 in 200 guests are deliberate nose peepers and when they are not in sight of a cast member, they will pull their mask below their nose. The second time in the 7DMT line, the adult female of the party in front of us in line was one of these people. After about 10 minutes of watching her deliberately wear her mask on her upper lip and as we were about to enter the indoor portion of the queue, I mustered my kindest voice and said âexcuse me but it looks like your mask has slipped.â She responded that she did not understand so I explained that it looked like her mask had slipped below her nose and that it was supposed to be covering her nose. The boyfriend/husband figure of that party then said, âthe nose doesnât matter, only the mouth matters.â To which I responded, that was incorrect. Then he said that it was too hot for her and that if I did not like it, I could just stand further back in line. I responded that those were the rules for everybody and dropped it. Then I just tried to stay further away because I canât fix entitled.
Then we rode Pooh, got a popcorn bucket, rode the carosel and figured we would take a quick AC break in Mickeyâs PhilharmagicâŚsomehow, this ended up being our longest wait of the day around 20 minutes or so. I think the heat and lack of nap the previous day caught up with everybody so we called it around 1 pm and headed back to the hotel. Caught a princess cavalcade on the way out. Though the following picture is not a good picture of me and the kids, I think it shows off the castleâs new paint job pretty well
It ended up raining a good bit of the afternoon anyway and the kids napped hard for >4 hours. Woke up from nap and did some evening swimming. Dinner from pop food courtâit has a very limited menu right now (or maybe it always does, not sure, this is my first stay here). Tried to go to bed early and failed. Today showed me that I prefer to rope drop even when it is not completely necessary.
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That was bold of you to talk to that woman in front of you! So disappointing that they responded that way. Everyone entering WDW knows that their mask must cover their nose and mouth - otherwise they wouldnât make it through the health screening. I wish such inconsiderate people didnât exist!
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Thanks. It is hard for me to understand people who feel they are above the rules that govern the rest of us.
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Day 4, Tues 7/28
So after our almost do nothing day at MK yesterday, I considered shuffling the remaining days APRs to give us a second day at MK, either dropping AK altogether for this trip or dropping the second HS day. Although HS is definitely the busiest of all the parks right now, I like the idea of the Skyliner ease of access on our last day before a late evening flight home. Historically, I have not been the biggest fan of AK and in the past have equated it to a nicely decorated zoo with a couple good rides. I came pretty close to dumping todayâs AK APR in lieu of a second day at MK. The idea of walk on FoP kept me true and when I surveyed the kids, DD did not want to return to MK the following day and DS just started talking about SDD again. Iâm glad I did not change the APR because today made me an AK convert. Normally, while there and trying to find a way through the sweaty mass of humanity, it feels more hot and humid and I do not appreciate the beauty that is all around in the richly themed details. Today, with the sparse crowds, I feel like I finally understand the draw of this park and it might just be my favorite park now.
Also learned my lesson yesterday about how I feel about getting to the park after the official opening time. So, up early, Tragical Express envelope on the door, made it to the park and through the gates by 8 am. Kids saw giant pink frosted donuts with sprinkles on the Joffreys cart outside the gate and at the beginning of all this, I had promised donuts soâŚ
We sat down by the water behind Flame Tree while they ate and then headed over to Triceratops Spin. No one was there so they just let us stay on until the kids were ready to move on, lost count, maybe 12 rides total. Then, took my coaster loving, freshly minted 44â tall DD5 to ride EE for the first time (walk on). When we got off, she said, âmommy I was a little bit scared on that rideâ but said that she wanted to ride it again âlaterâ with her dad. When I saw the ride photo, I almost felt bad
Then we went to Kali River and ended up waiting about 20 minutes because they paused for cleaning as soon as we got in the line. DS3 loved this and this became his obsession in AK. DD had gotten pretty wet and did not want to ride it any more so after the one ride that time, we went to watch the bird show. We, all four, thoroughly enjoyed this show.
My daughter has loved the Animation Experience in the past. So, after the bird show, I sent DH and DD to do this while my son and I headed back to Kali River. We rode it 5x in a row with no wait but still had to get out of the boat and go back through the line. Then we rode the Wildlife Express out to meet DH and DD who were just starting their second drawing tutorial. Did some of the Wilderness Explorers stops out at Conservation Station and then caught the train back.
We then headed to Pandora and I left DH with DS to mobile order lunch at Satuli Canteen while DD and I rode FoP (<20 minute wait). She was a little nervous going into it and not surprising given her feelings about EE from earlier today, but she is a trooper and ended up loving this ride. She wanted to go again with her dad as soon as we finished lunch. So while they did this, DS wanted to ride Kali River again. The afternoon storms were approaching and it seems that almost literally no one wanted to ride a water ride in the rain except my boy. As a result, the cast members just let us stay on the raft and so we rode it 7 times before the rain really started pouring down and he decided heâd gotten his fill. Waited a bit for the bus as expected given that we left in the middle of a down pour. Got back to Pop, went swimming, did some laundry (because apparently, even though we head home tomorrow, I was having DTs from not doing laundry for 4 days in a row) and got the kids some dinner from the Pop food court. Will pack up in the morning, drop luggage at bell services and head to HS.
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So you ended up riding Kali 13 times?! I am really enjoying your report!
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ââTwas the final count. To be fair though, most of the last 7 times it was just the two of us in the raft, so without much weight, unless we hit the big drop the wrong way, it was little more than a pleasant bumper raft ride. No worries though because we got completely drenched by the pouring rain on our last runâŚand every time we got to the logging part, I was greeted with: âWho cut all these trees down mommy?â Which, by the end had morphed to âWhich bad man cut all these trees down mommy?â They do learn through repetition. Who knows, maybe by the end of the next trip (hopefully still on in September), he will be asking: âWhy would (gender neutral) illegal loggers cut all these trees down mommy?â
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Welcome to the club 
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This (these people) are what I fear the most for our (maybe) upcoming trip. Still on the fence⌠trip is 10 days out. 
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They are a very small minority if that helps any.
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Up. Packed up and out of the room by 8:30 this morning. I sent husband with kids to queue for the Skyliner while I Sherpaâd the bags to bell services. Packed a separate bag with swim stuff and clean dry clothes as Tragical express not departing until 3:45. Skyliner started test runs at 8:45.
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No interest in RotR BG today so will be focusing on riding SDD repeatedly and maybe other TSL rides and trying MMRR again
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In park at 9:35 and in SDD queue at 9:43 and they started loading just now at 9:45. Noticed they are no longer making announcements on the Skyliner for people to keep their masks on as was posted by @DisneyDayDreamin last week.
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