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Animal Kingdom has now officially reopened to guests!

And we’re here to see what it’s like to spend a day inside the reopened park! Now that we’ve gotten a peek at the crowds in Animal Kingdom, let’s see how the attraction wait times stack up throughout the day!

Animal Kingdom opened its gates at 8AM today. So, let’s start by taking a look at the wait times an hour after guests began entering the park!

July 11th, 9AM

On a typical park day, wait times have generally started to climb when the park has been open for an hour, as guests have had time to start filing in. But at 9AM today, most of the attractions in Animal Kingdom still had a 5-minute wait — including popular rides like Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris!

The attractions located in Pandora only had slightly longer lines — both Na’vi River Journey and Avatar Flight of Passage had a wait time of only 10-minutes!

Here’s a look at a nearly empty Pandora around 9AM– which is definitely an unusual sight!

We’ll continue to keep an eye on the wait times throughout the day to see if they stay super low!

Check out our live coverage from reopening day at Animal Kingdom!

July 11th, 10AM

Okay, now that the park has been open for two hours, how are the wait times looking? Well, here’s something you don’t see every day — the wait time for Flight of Passage is just 5-minutes!

At this time, the two attractions with the longest wait are Na’vi River Journey and Kali River Rapids, which both have a 10-minute wait!

And there aren’t a ton of guests wandering around the park either! Here’s a look at the crowd level in the Discovery Island area.

We’ll see if the wait times start to climb later in the day!

Click here to see what the wait times are like in Magic Kingdom on reopening day!

July 11th, 11AM

Now that the park has been open for three hours, the wait time for nearly every attraction (including Flight of Passage!) is still just 5-minutes!

Check out that 5-minute wait for Kilimanjaro Safaris!

Kali River Rapids currently has the longest wait in the park of 15-minutes!

We’ll check back at noon to see how the wait times are looking!

Check out the “Welcome Back” merch we spotted for sale in Disney World!

July 11th, 12PM

It’s noon in Animal Kingdom, and the wait times are still super low! In fact, there are almost no changes since we last checked at 11AM — and yes, Flight of Passage still has a 5-minute wait!

Kali River Rapids still has the longest wait of 15-minutes, and it looks like the only change is Na’vi River Journey, which is temporarily closed.

We’ll see if there are any shake-ups in the wait times when we check-in later this afternoon!

July 11th, 4PM

Wait times have stayed steadily low throughout the afternoon, but let’s check back in for an official 4PM update! Once again, almost all of the available attractions have a 5-minute wait — and we still can’t get over how wild it is to see Flight of Passage included in that group!

The only attraction with a longer wait is Na’vi River Journey, at 10-minutes!

The park is open until 6PM tonight, so we’ll see if anything changes in the last few hours!

July 11th, 5PM

It’s one hour until park close and the wait for every open attraction in Animal Kingdom is 5-minutes! 

Now that’s a sign of some light crowds!

The wait times will fluctuate daily, but on reopening day, Animal Kingdom was definitely the park to visit for walk-on attractions!

Follow along with our live coverage from reopening day at Animal Kingdom!

Which of these wait times are you the most surprised by? Let us know in the comments!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Animal Kingdom, disney parks, Featured, Walt Disney World, Animal Kingdom reopening, Avatar Flight of Passage, Disney World Reopen, Disney World reopening, Disney World reopening day, kali river rapids, Na’vi River Journey, Wait Times

It’s reopening day in Animal Kingdom! 

We’ve reported in from the Annual Passholder preview in Disney World’s wildest park, but today we’re here as the general public is welcomed back for the first time. All guests attending need a Disney Park Pass reservation so that capacity is limited. We’re wondering, what does that limited capacity mean for Animal Kingdom crowds? Let’s take a look!

As we entered the park, we noticed that there were a good number of folks headed in through Discovery Island and past the Tree of Life — but still, no more than you would see on a relatively slow day in the parks. Of course, we followed most of the other guests over at Pandora to see if the most popular land would warrant any congestion.

Pandora was no ghost town, but it was pretty sparse. Looking around, we saw a lot of other guests but it was oddly few and far between. Typically, Pandora sees a wave of people first thing in the morning. It was easy for us to social distance ourselves.

Sometimes, you could even find some areas of Pandora where there wasn’t another soul in sight! Maybe that’s because they’re all on Flight of Passage — except for it only had a 10-minute wait when we rode it!

Exploring the rest of the park, we definitely found some areas that were pretty deserted.

That’s not to say there’s NOBODY here. The park has enough guests that you’re not alone for too long. Animal Kingdom is HUGE and guests tend to head to more popular attractions and areas so we did see some queues lined up. We spotted a social distancing queue in use for a PhotoPass photographer!

But we’re not kidding when we say you CAN find some alone time so far this morning. Now, Dinoland U.S.A. tends to have lighter crowds than other areas of the park on a normal day, but we’re not sure we’ve EVER seen it this empty during normal park hours.

And the crowds continued to stay super light throughout the afternoon! Here’s a look at the entrance to Expedition Everest — which has steadily hovered around a 5-minute wait all day.

There wasn’t much action around the dining locations either! Here’s a look at the line for the Yak and Yeti quick service around mid-day.

Crowd levels throughout the park have been noticeably light throughout the afternoon!

And this trend continued all the way through park close at 6PM! Now that reopening day is under our belt, take a look back at what we experienced in Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom — oh, AND keep an eye on DFB for additional coverage in a REOPENED DISNEY WORLD.

We’re LIVE from the reopening day of Animal Kingdom. Click here to follow along!

What do you think of the crowd levels in Animal Kingdom? Tell us in the comments! 

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Animal Kingdom, Disney News, disney parks, Featured, Walt Disney World, Animal Kingdom crowds, Animal Kingdom reopening, limited capacity, Pandora Crowds

Today’s the big day — Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are now officially reopened to guests!

We headed out to see what it’s like to spend a day in the reopened parks! Prior to the reopening, many guests were wondering what wait times to expect for attractions. The parks are operating at a reduced capacity, and guests must have a Disney Park Pass reservation in order to enter. BUT, social distancing measures also mean that attractions aren’t operating at full capacity, and rides must be regularly sanitized.

So, with all of the factors in play, how will the wait times be impacted for Magic Kingdom attractions? Let’s take a look!

July 11th, 9:30AM

Magic Kingdom opened its gates at 9AM on July 11th. So, what did the wait times look a half-hour after guests began entering the park?

Well, there were a TON of attractions with only a 5-minute wait! Some of these were rides that typically have a shorter line, like Mickey’s PhilharMagic and Under the Sea — Journey of the Little Mermaid. But check out that 5-minute wait for Peter Pan’s Flight!

And these weren’t the only attractions with a 5-minute wait!

Yup, there were still more 5-minute waits!

The low wait times weren’t the only evidence of the low crowds at Magic Kingdom this morning. Here’s a pic we snapped in Adventureland with only a few other guests in sight!

There were some rides with a slightly longer wait at 9:30AM — the longest was Splash Mountain at 45-minutes.

We’ll see if Splash Mountain continues to have the longest wait times throughout the day!

Click here to check out our live coverage of reopening day at Magic Kingdom!

July 11th, 10:15AM

Okay, Magic Kingdom has been opened for a little over an hour, so how are the wait times looking now?? Well, there’s still a long list of attractions with a 5-minute wait!

And Peter Pan’s Flight is still a 5-minute wait!

The wait times on a few attractions like Astro Orbitor and Jungle Cruise did increase slightly.

And while the wait for Splash Mountain stayed steady at 45-minutes, there’s a different attraction that now has the longest wait in the park — Pirates of the Caribbean has a 50-minute wait!

Pirates of the Caribbean does have social distancing markers in place so guests can maintain proper spacing between parties.

We’ll see if the long wait for Pirates of the Caribbean holds steady throughout the day!

Here’s what the Magic Kingdom crowds looked like on opening day!

July 11th, 11:10AM

Magic Kingdom has been open for just over two hours and it’s time for our next look at the wait times! There’s still a fairly long list of attractions with a 5-minute wait.

Here are more attractions with a 5-minute wait!

When we last checked in, Pirates of the Caribbean had the longest wait in the park — but since then, the wait time has dropped to 15-minutes!

And it looks like a different attraction now has the longest wait in the park — Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has a wait time of 40-minutes. 

Here’s a peek at the social distancing in the Jungle Cruise queue.

Take a look at the “Welcome Back” merch Disney World is selling!

July 11th, 3:15PM

Okay, now that lunchtime has passed let’s take a look at the afternoon wait times in the park! There are still a handful of rides with a 5-minute wait.

And there are several rides with a wait time of 10 to 15-minutes.

And even though the virtual queue for Splash Mountain merch is at capacity for the day, the wait for the ride is down to 20-minutes!

A few rides are temporarily closed — including Seven Dwarfs Mine Train — which means that the longest wait time is currently Jungle Cruise, at 30-minutes!

July 11th, 6:30PM

With Magic Kingdom set to close at 7PM this evening, let’s see where the wait times stand now! There are a bunch of attractions sitting at a 5-minute wait.

And there are a number of attractions with a 10-minute wait as well!

And two of the most popular attractions in the park — Peter Pan’s Flight and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train — only have a 10-minute wait!

Both Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad had the longest waits in the park at 25-minutes!

So, while some rides did see a bit of a longer wait at various points, most of the attractions in Magic Kingdom had relatively short waits throughout opening day! Be sure to stay tuned for more coverage from the REOPENED Disney World parks!

Check out our LIVE coverage of the reopening of Magic Kingdom!

Which of these attraction wait times surprises you the most? Let us know in the comments!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: disney parks, Featured, magic kingdom, Walt Disney World, Disney World Reopen, disney world reopened, Disney World reopening day, jungle cruise, magic kingdom reopening, Pirates of the Caribbean, splash mountain, Wait Times

In celebration of the reopening of Walt Disney World, Disney is selling some super cute opening day t-shirts!

These Together Again shirts are being sold in both Disney’s Animal Kingdom & Magic Kingdom theme parks.

Pricing for the Opening Day shirts are:

• Kids $21.99
• Women’s $36.99
• Unisex $26.99

We found these shirts at Discovery Trading Company & Chester and Hester’s Gift Shop so far and have seen posts online that they are also available at the Emporium in the Magic Kingdom.

Did you see Josh D’Amaro & Bob Chapek are also on hand for the reopening of Walt Disney World? 

The post Disney World Celebrates the Reopening with specialty merchandise appeared first on Chip and Co..

From our friends at chipandco.com
Filed Under: News, Parks & Resorts, Shop, Souvenirs & Collectibles, Walt Disney World, animal kingdom, Disney World, Disney World Merchandise, Disney World Reopening, Magic Kingdom, Specialty Merchandise

Cinderella Castle Royal Makeover with Paint by Numbers

Cinderella Castle’s royal makeover at Walt Disney World has been in the works since March and the new paint job looks absolutely stunning! The magical makeover was in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the Disney princess classic, ‘Cinderella.’ The royal blue spires and rose gold paint on the inner curtain makes the castle look much more vibrant.

However, when you get a closer look at the castle, you can see that there is still painting in progress. There are even numbers on each of the bricks for the painters to know what shade of gray to use.

These numbers on the castle remind us of the interactive paint-by-number murals at Epcot’s Festival of the Arts earlier this year. But I guess we’ll leave the painting of Cinderella Castle to the professionals!

What do you think of the castle‘s new paint job? Let us know in the comments!

Check back here on Chip & Co. for the latest theme park & entertainment news updates.

Photos by Susan Maine Wilson.

The post Cinderella Castle Royal Makeover with Paint by Numbers appeared first on Chip and Co..

From our friends at chipandco.com
Filed Under: Attractions, Do and See, News, Parks & Resorts, Photos, Refurbishments, Walt Disney World, Cinderella Castle, Magic Kingdom, Refurbishment, Royal makeover, WDW