It’s been one huge week as we’ve been back in Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios!

While we knew Disney World would look different, there were still a lot of changes we weren’t expecting to see around the parks. From Cinderella Castle’s “Pretty in Pink” make-over to characters riding boats around Animal Kingdom’s waterways, we’ve seen plenty of new things that guests and Cast Members haven’t spotted in the parks before.

Our Biggest Surprises from Disney World’s Reopening!

Wait Times

Disney originally stated that the parks would reopen with smaller wait times, even though there would only be Stand By available. Although we expected some of the normal waits that we’ve usually seen in the parks, we were shocked to see 5 to 15 minute waits on some of the most popular rides in the parks.

Although Flight of Passage has usually been over 2 hours on a regular basis, we were able to hop on the ride multiple times with consistent 5 minute waits.

And, the smaller wait times continued with short wait times at Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run…

…Space Mountain…

…Soarin’ Around the World, and attractions around all four parks!

Although the lines appeared to be long, this was due to the use of distancing measures with markers and smaller ride capacities. For example, while Frozen Ever After‘s line stretched around the entire Norway Pavilion at one point, the actual wait for the queue was far smaller than it appeared.

However, after experiencing short wait times consistently, we were surprised to then see some of the longest wait times again in Hollywood Studios. The park opened with a 120 minute wait for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, but the high wait remained steady (only dropping to around 60 minutes at the shortest).

Other attractions like the Tower of Terror would jump up to 70 minutes, along with Slinky Dog Dash’s climb to 65 minutes. While we found these sometimes moved quicker than their set wait time, they still were not the shorter times we came to expect from the other parks.

One of the other issues with attractions that we saw in Hollywood Studios was over at Rise of the Resistance. The attraction is using a modified system with Boarding Passes distributed at 10AM, 1PM, and 4PM windows. But, it was definitely difficult to get them since they disappeared in minutes or less and the return window was shorter.

This is what you NEED to know about a reopened Rise of the Resistance!

Plus, we also experienced glitches within the My Disney Experience app that made it difficult for us to join the ride’s Virtual Queue (even though we got it solved afterwards).

Take a look at all the wait times we saw in Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom!

How Much We Loved the New Character Experiences

While you won’t be able to hug your favorite characters in the parks, you will still get to see plenty of characters in Disney World right now.

Although guests can’t be close up to the Disney Princess or Mickey and his pals, they can still be spotted all around the parks! Character Cavalcades are happening throughout the day so guests can wave to the princesses…

…greet their besties all dressed in dinosaur suits…

…and even see the Mouse with Most in his hot new ride!

We also thought it was so much fun to see the characters out and about in places they usually don’t appear! We couldn’t help but smile seeing Anastasia and Drizella have a little tiff on top of Cinderella Castle…

…Pooh chase after some butterflies in EPCOT’s courtyard…

…and Joy frolick through the grass like it was the best day ever!

Here’s every spot you can find characters in Disney World now!

Character dining is also still available at Topolino’s Terrace and Garden Grill in the resorts and parks. While the experiences are modified to promote distancing (so no autographs), they are still a great time for the whole family!

Read more about the modified character dining experience here!

Ride Health and Safety

Although we knew Disney would be using new health and safety measures in the parks, we still saw some new distancing protocols we weren’t expecting on the attractions.

While we expected hand-sanitizing stations, distancing markers, and staggered seating, the plexiglass rows we found on Star Tours, Soarin’ Around the World, and Dinosaur were definitely something new. Since we had never encountered anything like that before on a ride, it was an interesting sight to see glass barriers all around us during the ride-through.

However, we also thought that some of the cleaning procedures were odd. Although Disney is making sure to routinely clean their attractions every two hours, we were surprised that a ride Toy Story Mania wasn’t cleaned between each guest, since it’s such a high-touch area.

But, that doesn’t mean that Disney isn’t keeping things sanitary during the attractions. Hand sanitizing stations are still stationed all throughout the ride areas to ensure that guests are keeping their hands clean before and after attractions.

Although we weren’t expecting some of the new features in the parks, there were a lot of different things that we really enjoyed at reopened Disney World! As Disney continues its phased opening, we’ll be keeping an eye for even more surprises along the way!

We have all the answers to your biggest Disney World re-opening questions here!

Were you at the Disney Parks during the re-openings throughout the week? Let us know in the comments below!