So this is all that is there currently:
Thurs 9/24, Day 5
Awoke today to find the dreaded envelope under the door. DD did her 8 am kinder zoom meeting and then we walked over to HS arriving at 9 am.
We had gotten to this point in the line…
…when we got this…
Stopped for snacks at Anaheim Produce and had a delicious frozen margarita. Usually I’m an on-the-rocks person but it was warmer today than it has been and this was refreshing. OK, I confess, it was two margaritas. By the end of snack time, the estimated return time for the BG was 120 minutes, all the waits were long and RnRC still had not opened. I banked on some down time for RotR and DH, the kids and I headed back to the hotel for a swim. Traded pins on the way out and took the Skyliner back at 11:30. Grammy stayed and hung out at HS.
We played at SAB for about an hour. DH got a beer from the pool bar. This was SAB at 12:20 sunny and 84 degrees:
Sounds like a great HS day!!
I like your style 
I think @Jeff_AZ posted something about Tuesday being a bad operations day for RoTR in that thread.
Yep. Tuesday 9/22 had downtime for about 40% of the day! The worst day in recent memory. It’s the spike on the right side of this chart.
Glad you got to ride RotR! Great photos!
Good to know. I’m guessing they only released a very small number of BG’s that morning because I was in the middle of TSL and heard no cheers at official park open time.
Awesome, thank you so much! I was mostly curious which nights and what time the movie is. Any idea how you are supposed to know what movie?
Have you been riding the Skyliner just to give your feet a break? I honestly hadn’t really even thought of using this method but I think DS would love it! But it’s so annoying that it closes so much in the afternoons.
Movie is starting at 8:30 pm currently. We have just been asking even though we never made it down. I know it was Mulan earlier in the week, I’m assuming the animated version and then last night it was something non-animated that I didn’t recognize.
We’ve been consistently riding the Skyliner back from HS but with when it starts running, the second line at the Caribbean Beach transfer, and the lines in the mornings at HS, for us it was definitely worth it to walk there in the morning do 1-3 rides and maybe get a BG and then head back to swim before returning in the afternoon.
Fri 9/25, Day 6.
Slept in a little and let DD skip her 8 am zoom meeting. SAB open 10 am to 10 pm so we got all packed up and took most of our luggage down to bell services and a subset with swimsuits/toys and dry airport clothes to SAB at 10 am and tossed this in a chair. We were almost immediately approached by cast members to ask if the kids wanted to help them on a scavenger hunt, but we were off to Epcot. There was a line outside of IG entrance but temp checks started at 10:10 and we were in the park by 10:15 and headed to FEA.
Thank you so much for the great intel! Mulan is one of my son’s favorites! Cannot wait!
Did EP open extra early today? 9:15? Or was it 10:15 since open was at 11?
Thanks. 10:15. I will correct
Dang, I was hoping the were opening early. Have a good day!
Just wanted to post some final thoughts but will say again that I agree with the recent wrap up thoughts posted by @TarHeelTiff and @DumboRunner, so I will try not to repeat too much.
The crowds are definately heavier than they were during our trip two months ago which we had planned last minute to take advantage of the low crowds. So for those of you who’d gone in July-early August and planning to return in the next month like @Julianne_fki and @Wahoohokie (might remember @DisneyDayDreamin mentioning a return trip too), just prepare for a more normal feeling crowd. (@vcka I did not include you above because I’m starting to think you might just live there.) We still had a great time despite the increased crowds but without FP+, being toward the front of the rope drop crowd is even more important than ever to be able to ride with lower wait times. Also, the last 1-2 hours of the day were pretty good for wait times/lower crowds. It also helped to have been in the socially distanced lines previously to make my own guesses about wait times because the lines app wait times were less useful/accurate than usual.
I will also agree that the reduced park hours are not so much an issue for those with small children. We’ve only made it park open to park close once and that was our AK day this trip.
Staying at BCV was lovely. It was our first DVC rental and we will be doing more. Pool time is a number one priority for my kids and I don’t think I will be able to top this resort for that reason. Also loved the easy access to EPCOT and HS. While it would have been even nicer for the adults if there were longer park hours and park hopping, we were all pretty worn out by the end of the day, so the absence of these things did not make much of a difference.
I agree with whoever had mentioned that this is the first time after a Disney trip that they did not feel the immediate need to return. I get funds and time off work for conferences as part of my compensation package for my job (CME money) and it is a “use it or lose it” per calendar year kind of benefit. I had originally been planning to attend a conference in WDW in June but this got cancelled. I toyed with the idea of going to a conference at the Contemporary at the end of next month but it is scheduled over a weekend and, even though we had a great time, the idea of repeating this all in a month, over a weekend, sounds completely exhausting. So this morning,I cancelled the reservation and flights that I had booked and will find a conference elsewhere so as not to lose this benefit for this year.
I need a little time away from Disney to be able to fully enjoy it again. But not too long…
I had gone a little crazy back in January after getting the annual passes and while perusing the dedicated reservations on David’s, had jumped on a BWV reservation for December for 200$/night, so I’ll be back then. I am excited to see what else opens up and how things change between now and then. (
for park hopping). Again thank you all for reading and sharing. I’ve learned so much from this forum and feel like you all are a pretty outstanding group of people.
I have been going a little crazy now, only I don’t have an annual pass! I’m going in October, short trip with a friend. And then I’ve booked late January for just me! Also, dedicated DVC rentals. AKL split with BWV. I need to stop looking at those listings …
Thanks for the recap. I will be there in 2.5 weeks and am preparing for a totally different trip than we had in late July/early August. I am sad the low/no wait lines seem to be gone, but happy to see that so many are comfortable with travel again (makes me not feel so weird for traveling this summer and wanting to travel again during a pandemic). Safe travels!
Yes. I feel you. I’ve been inspired by all the solo trip reports here and I am confident that I would love it but will probably wait until my kids are a little older to do so because I’d probably feel guilty leaving them behind. Honestly though, probably not more guilt than a single trip to La Cava or the sacred space could wash away.
I still have a partial credit from the DVC rental store from my cancelled June trip so I’m still stalking the dedicated reservations too. Also had worked the Southwest Visas back in January to earn a companion pass that is good through 12/2021 (thanks to info garnered on this forum)…so have been wanting to maximize that as well and have discovered the joy of booking with points. I love Southwest and their policies. Might have randomly booked some low fares to Orlando at the end of Feb-early March just to see what comes of it…
Half the time I feel crazy for the Disney obsession and the other half the time I just think, 
I work hard for my money, so hard for it honey. I work hard for my money so I’d better treat me right
…and then give it all to Disney.
