diff --git a/src/PantheonShell.vala b/src/PantheonShell.vala
index 1e0f173ff..0dabcb683 100644
--- a/src/PantheonShell.vala
+++ b/src/PantheonShell.vala
@@ -243,25 +243,7 @@ namespace Gala {
             return;
         }
 
-        Meta.Side side = TOP;
-        switch (anchor) {
-            case TOP:
-                break;
-
-            case BOTTOM:
-                side = BOTTOM;
-                break;
-
-            case LEFT:
-                side = LEFT;
-                break;
-
-            case RIGHT:
-                side = RIGHT;
-                break;
-        }
-
-        ShellClientsManager.get_instance ().set_anchor (window, side);
+        ShellClientsManager.get_instance ().set_anchor (window, anchor);
     }
 
     internal static void focus_panel (Wl.Client client, Wl.Resource resource) {
diff --git a/src/ShellClients/HideTracker.vala b/src/ShellClients/HideTracker.vala
index 35ed7a0d4..0d0d367fc 100644
--- a/src/ShellClients/HideTracker.vala
+++ b/src/ShellClients/HideTracker.vala
@@ -16,17 +16,7 @@ public class Gala.HideTracker : Object {
     public Meta.Display display { get; construct; }
     public unowned PanelWindow panel { get; construct; }
 
-    private Pantheon.Desktop.HideMode _hide_mode = NEVER;
-    public Pantheon.Desktop.HideMode hide_mode {
-        get {
-            return _hide_mode;
-        }
-        set {
-            _hide_mode = value;
-
-            setup_barrier ();
-        }
-    }
+    public Pantheon.Desktop.HideMode hide_mode { get; set; }
 
     private Clutter.PanAction pan_action;
 
@@ -97,6 +87,16 @@ public class Gala.HideTracker : Object {
         pan_action.pan.connect (on_pan);
 
         display.get_stage ().add_action_full ("panel-swipe-gesture", CAPTURE, pan_action);
+
+        panel.notify["anchor"].connect (setup_barrier);
+
+        var monitor_manager = display.get_context ().get_backend ().get_monitor_manager ();
+        monitor_manager.monitors_changed.connect (() => {
+            setup_barrier (); //Make sure barriers are still on the primary monitor
+            schedule_update ();
+        });
+
+        setup_barrier ();
     }
 
 #if !HAS_MUTTER45
@@ -152,7 +152,13 @@ public class Gala.HideTracker : Object {
         });
     }
 
-    private void update_overlap () {
+    /**
+     * Immediately updates the overlap. Usually {@link schedule_update} should be used instead which
+     * internally calls this but throttles it since it's a somewhat expensive operation.
+     * On very rare use cases however it is required to update immediately. In that case you can call
+     * this directly.
+     */
+    public void update_overlap () {
         overlap = false;
         focus_overlap = false;
         focus_maximized_overlap = false;
@@ -171,7 +177,7 @@ public class Gala.HideTracker : Object {
                 continue;
             }
 
-            if (!panel.get_custom_window_rect ().overlap (window.get_frame_rect ())) {
+            if (!panel.window.get_frame_rect ().overlap (window.get_frame_rect ())) {
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/ShellClients/PanelClone.vala b/src/ShellClients/PanelClone.vala
index 15fc8d23f..fa42574ad 100644
--- a/src/ShellClients/PanelClone.vala
+++ b/src/ShellClients/PanelClone.vala
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ public class Gala.PanelClone : Object {
     private const int ANIMATION_DURATION = 250;
 
     public WindowManager wm { get; construct; }
-    public unowned PanelWindow panel { get; construct; }
+    public unowned PanelWindow? panel { get; construct; }
 
     public Pantheon.Desktop.HideMode hide_mode {
         get {
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ public class Gala.PanelClone : Object {
     private SafeWindowClone clone;
     private Meta.WindowActor actor;
 
+    private bool window_ready = false;
+
     private HideTracker? hide_tracker;
 
     public PanelClone (WindowManager wm, PanelWindow panel) {
@@ -67,16 +69,38 @@ public class Gala.PanelClone : Object {
         // https://github.com/elementary/gala/issues/2080
         panel.window.focused.connect (update_visible);
 
+        panel.window.unmanaging.connect (() => panel = null);
+
         update_visible ();
         update_clone_position ();
 
-        Idle.add_once (() => {
-            if (hide_mode == NEVER) {
-                show ();
-            } else {
-                hide_tracker.schedule_update ();
-            }
-        });
+        if (Meta.Util.is_wayland_compositor ()) {
+            // We want to wait for the window to be actually shown before revealing and then still a bit
+            // more since at the beginning it might be doing some relayouting (e.g. the dock only knows
+            // its size after it got a dbus connection to gala) which disrupts the animation.
+            panel.window.shown.connect (() => Timeout.add (100, () => {
+                if (panel == null) {
+                    return Source.REMOVE; // The window was unmanaged while we were waiting
+                }
+
+                window_ready = true;
+                // In the best case we are ready before the manager stops waiting so the on_ready usually
+                // doesn't do anything. However if the client stalls for some reason or it crashed and has now
+                // been restarted it will show immediately.
+                on_ready ();
+
+                ShellClientsManager.get_instance ().notify_client_ready ();
+
+                return Source.REMOVE;
+            }));
+        } else {
+            // On X the window was already shown when it requests being a panel so just mark it ready
+            window_ready = true;
+            on_ready ();
+            ShellClientsManager.get_instance ().notify_client_ready ();
+        }
+
+        ShellClientsManager.get_instance ().notify["is-waiting"].connect (on_ready);
     }
 
     private void update_visible () {
@@ -146,7 +170,7 @@ public class Gala.PanelClone : Object {
     }
 
     private void show () {
-        if (!panel_hidden) {
+        if (!panel_hidden || !window_ready || ShellClientsManager.get_instance ().is_waiting) {
             return;
         }
 
@@ -171,4 +195,12 @@ public class Gala.PanelClone : Object {
             panel_hidden = false;
         }
     }
+
+    private void on_ready () {
+        if (hide_mode == NEVER) {
+            show ();
+        } else {
+            hide_tracker.update_overlap ();
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/ShellClients/PanelWindow.vala b/src/ShellClients/PanelWindow.vala
index 107218e11..1d53d4e12 100644
--- a/src/ShellClients/PanelWindow.vala
+++ b/src/ShellClients/PanelWindow.vala
@@ -11,34 +11,22 @@ public class Gala.PanelWindow : Object {
     public WindowManager wm { get; construct; }
     public Meta.Window window { get; construct; }
 
-    public bool hidden { get; private set; default = false; }
+    public Pantheon.Desktop.Anchor anchor { get; construct set; }
 
-    public Meta.Side anchor;
+    private WindowPositioner window_positioner;
 
     public DelegateActor delegate_actor;
     private PanelClone clone;
 
-    private uint idle_move_id = 0;
-
     private int width = -1;
     private int height = -1;
 
-    public PanelWindow (WindowManager wm, Meta.Window window, Meta.Side anchor) {
-        Object (wm: wm, window: window);
-
-        // Meta.Side seems to be currently not supported as GLib.Object property ...?
-        // At least it always crashed for me with some paramspec, g_type_fundamental backtrace
-        this.anchor = anchor;
+    public PanelWindow (WindowManager wm, Meta.Window window, Pantheon.Desktop.Anchor anchor) {
+        Object (wm: wm, window: window, anchor: anchor);
     }
 
     construct {
-        window.size_changed.connect (position_window);
-
         window.unmanaging.connect (() => {
-            if (idle_move_id != 0) {
-                Source.remove (idle_move_id);
-            }
-
             if (window_struts.remove (window)) {
                 update_struts ();
             }
@@ -49,13 +37,18 @@ public class Gala.PanelWindow : Object {
         delegate_actor = new DelegateActor ((Meta.WindowActor) window.get_compositor_private ());
         clone = new PanelClone (wm, this);
 
-        var monitor_manager = wm.get_display ().get_context ().get_backend ().get_monitor_manager ();
-        monitor_manager.monitors_changed.connect (() => update_anchor (anchor));
-        monitor_manager.monitors_changed_internal.connect (() => update_anchor (anchor));
+        var display = wm.get_display ();
 
-        var workspace_manager = wm.get_display ().get_workspace_manager ();
+        var workspace_manager = display.get_workspace_manager ();
         workspace_manager.workspace_added.connect (update_strut);
         workspace_manager.workspace_removed.connect (update_strut);
+
+        window.size_changed.connect (update_strut);
+        window.position_changed.connect (update_strut);
+
+        window_positioner = new WindowPositioner (display, window, WindowPositioner.Position.from_anchor (anchor));
+
+        notify["anchor"].connect (() => window_positioner.position = WindowPositioner.Position.from_anchor (anchor));
     }
 
 #if HAS_MUTTER45
@@ -87,73 +80,9 @@ public class Gala.PanelWindow : Object {
         this.width = width;
         this.height = height;
 
-        position_window ();
-        set_hide_mode (clone.hide_mode); // Resetup barriers etc.
-    }
-
-    public void update_anchor (Meta.Side anchor) {
-        this.anchor = anchor;
-
-        position_window ();
-        set_hide_mode (clone.hide_mode); // Resetup barriers etc.
-    }
-
-    private void position_window () {
-        var display = wm.get_display ();
-        var monitor_geom = display.get_monitor_geometry (display.get_primary_monitor ());
-        var window_rect = window.get_frame_rect ();
-
-        switch (anchor) {
-            case TOP:
-                position_window_top (monitor_geom, window_rect);
-                break;
-
-            case BOTTOM:
-                position_window_bottom (monitor_geom, window_rect);
-                break;
-
-            default:
-                warning ("Side not supported yet");
-                break;
-        }
-
         update_strut ();
     }
 
-#if HAS_MUTTER45
-    private void position_window_top (Mtk.Rectangle monitor_geom, Mtk.Rectangle window_rect) {
-#else
-    private void position_window_top (Meta.Rectangle monitor_geom, Meta.Rectangle window_rect) {
-#endif
-        var x = monitor_geom.x + (monitor_geom.width - window_rect.width) / 2;
-
-        move_window_idle (x, monitor_geom.y);
-    }
-
-#if HAS_MUTTER45
-    private void position_window_bottom (Mtk.Rectangle monitor_geom, Mtk.Rectangle window_rect) {
-#else
-    private void position_window_bottom (Meta.Rectangle monitor_geom, Meta.Rectangle window_rect) {
-#endif
-        var x = monitor_geom.x + (monitor_geom.width - window_rect.width) / 2;
-        var y = monitor_geom.y + monitor_geom.height - window_rect.height;
-
-        move_window_idle (x, y);
-    }
-
-    private void move_window_idle (int x, int y) {
-        if (idle_move_id != 0) {
-            Source.remove (idle_move_id);
-        }
-
-        idle_move_id = Idle.add (() => {
-            window.move_frame (false, x, y);
-
-            idle_move_id = 0;
-            return Source.REMOVE;
-        });
-    }
-
     public void set_hide_mode (Pantheon.Desktop.HideMode hide_mode) {
         clone.hide_mode = hide_mode;
 
@@ -177,7 +106,7 @@ public class Gala.PanelWindow : Object {
 
         Meta.Strut strut = {
             rect,
-            anchor
+            side_from_anchor (anchor)
         };
 
         window_struts[window] = strut;
@@ -203,4 +132,20 @@ public class Gala.PanelWindow : Object {
             update_struts ();
         }
     }
+
+    private Meta.Side side_from_anchor (Pantheon.Desktop.Anchor anchor) {
+        switch (anchor) {
+            case BOTTOM:
+                return BOTTOM;
+
+            case LEFT:
+                return LEFT;
+
+            case RIGHT:
+                return RIGHT;
+
+            default:
+                return TOP;
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/ShellClients/ShellClientsManager.vala b/src/ShellClients/ShellClientsManager.vala
index 757b1f08f..1af4e481e 100644
--- a/src/ShellClients/ShellClientsManager.vala
+++ b/src/ShellClients/ShellClientsManager.vala
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ public class Gala.ShellClientsManager : Object {
         return instance;
     }
 
+    public bool is_waiting { get; private set; default = true; } // On session start wait a bit for a synchronized and smooth reveal
+
     public WindowManager wm { get; construct; }
 
     private NotificationsClient notifications_client;
@@ -28,6 +30,8 @@ public class Gala.ShellClientsManager : Object {
     private GLib.HashTable<Meta.Window, PanelWindow> panel_windows = new GLib.HashTable<Meta.Window, PanelWindow> (null, null);
     private GLib.HashTable<Meta.Window, WindowPositioner> positioned_windows = new GLib.HashTable<Meta.Window, WindowPositioner> (null, null);
 
+    private uint currently_starting_panels = 0;
+
     private ShellClientsManager (WindowManager wm) {
         Object (wm: wm);
     }
@@ -143,16 +147,18 @@ public class Gala.ShellClientsManager : Object {
         xdisplay.change_property (x_window, atom, (X.Atom) 4, 32, 0, (uchar[]) dock_atom, 1);
     }
 
-    public void set_anchor (Meta.Window window, Meta.Side side) {
+    public void set_anchor (Meta.Window window, Pantheon.Desktop.Anchor anchor) {
         if (window in panel_windows) {
-            panel_windows[window].update_anchor (side);
+            panel_windows[window].anchor = anchor;
             return;
         }
 
+        currently_starting_panels++;
+
         make_dock (window);
         // TODO: Return if requested by window that's not a trusted client?
 
-        panel_windows[window] = new PanelWindow (wm, window, side);
+        panel_windows[window] = new PanelWindow (wm, window, anchor);
 
         // connect_after so we make sure the PanelWindow can destroy its barriers and struts
         window.unmanaging.connect_after ((_window) => panel_windows.remove (_window));
@@ -207,6 +213,18 @@ public class Gala.ShellClientsManager : Object {
         return positioned;
     }
 
+    //Called by the WM once it has initialized
+    public void notify_stage_ready () {
+        Timeout.add_seconds_once (5, () => is_waiting = false); // Failsafe if a client stalls to still show the others
+    }
+
+    // Called by the {@link PanelClone} when the window it manages is ready.
+    public void notify_client_ready () {
+        currently_starting_panels--;
+
+        is_waiting &= currently_starting_panels > 0;
+    }
+
     //X11 only
     private void parse_mutter_hints (Meta.Window window) requires (!Meta.Util.is_wayland_compositor ()) {
         if (window.mutter_hints == null) {
@@ -226,8 +244,30 @@ public class Gala.ShellClientsManager : Object {
 
             switch (key) {
                 case "anchor":
-                    int parsed; // Will be used as Meta.Side which is a 4 value bitfield so check bounds for that
-                    if (int.try_parse (val, out parsed) && 0 <= parsed && parsed <= 15) {
+                    int meta_side_parsed; // Will be used as Meta.Side which is a 4 value bitfield so check bounds for that
+                    if (int.try_parse (val, out meta_side_parsed) && 0 <= meta_side_parsed && meta_side_parsed <= 15) {
+                        //FIXME: Next major release change dock and wingpanel calls to get rid of this
+                        Pantheon.Desktop.Anchor parsed = TOP;
+                        switch ((Meta.Side) meta_side_parsed) {
+                            case BOTTOM:
+                                parsed = BOTTOM;
+                                break;
+
+                            case LEFT:
+                                parsed = LEFT;
+                                break;
+
+                            case RIGHT:
+                                parsed = RIGHT;
+                                break;
+
+                            default:
+                                break;
+                        }
+
+                        set_anchor (window, parsed);
+                        // We need to set a second time because the intention is to call this before the window is shown which it is on wayland
+                        // but on X the window was already shown when we get here so we have to call again to instantly apply it.
                         set_anchor (window, parsed);
                     } else {
                         warning ("Failed to parse %s as anchor", val);
diff --git a/src/ShellClients/WindowPositioner.vala b/src/ShellClients/WindowPositioner.vala
index 62b7928d7..daf838f14 100644
--- a/src/ShellClients/WindowPositioner.vala
+++ b/src/ShellClients/WindowPositioner.vala
@@ -7,13 +7,28 @@
 
 public class Gala.WindowPositioner : Object {
     public enum Position {
-        CENTER
+        TOP,
+        BOTTOM,
+        CENTER;
+
+        public static Position from_anchor (Pantheon.Desktop.Anchor anchor) {
+            if (anchor > 1) {
+                warning ("Position %s not supported yet", anchor.to_string ());
+                return CENTER;
+            }
+
+            return (Position) anchor;
+        }
     }
 
     public Meta.Display display { get; construct; }
     public Meta.Window window { get; construct; }
-    public Position position { get; private set; }
-    public Variant? position_data { get; private set; }
+    /**
+     * This may only be set after the window was shown.
+     * The initial position should only be given in the constructor.
+     */
+    public Position position { get; construct set; }
+    public Variant? position_data { get; construct set; }
 
     public WindowPositioner (Meta.Display display, Meta.Window window, Position position, Variant? position_data = null) {
         Object (display: display, window: window, position: position, position_data: position_data);
@@ -29,29 +44,34 @@ public class Gala.WindowPositioner : Object {
         unowned var monitor_manager = display.get_context ().get_backend ().get_monitor_manager ();
         monitor_manager.monitors_changed.connect (position_window);
         monitor_manager.monitors_changed_internal.connect (position_window);
-    }
 
-    /**
-     * This may only be called after the window was shown.
-     */
-    public void update_position (Position new_position, Variant? new_position_data = null) {
-        position = new_position;
-        position_data = new_position_data;
-
-        position_window ();
+        notify["position"].connect (position_window);
+        notify["position-data"].connect (position_window);
     }
 
     private void position_window () {
         int x = 0, y = 0;
 
+        var window_rect = window.get_frame_rect ();
+
         switch (position) {
             case CENTER:
                 var monitor_geom = display.get_monitor_geometry (display.get_primary_monitor ());
-                var window_rect = window.get_frame_rect ();
-
                 x = monitor_geom.x + (monitor_geom.width - window_rect.width) / 2;
                 y = monitor_geom.y + (monitor_geom.height - window_rect.height) / 2;
                 break;
+
+            case TOP:
+                var monitor_geom = display.get_monitor_geometry (display.get_primary_monitor ());
+                x = monitor_geom.x + (monitor_geom.width - window_rect.width) / 2;
+                y = monitor_geom.y;
+                break;
+
+            case BOTTOM:
+                var monitor_geom = display.get_monitor_geometry (display.get_primary_monitor ());
+                x = monitor_geom.x + (monitor_geom.width - window_rect.width) / 2;
+                y = monitor_geom.y + monitor_geom.height - window_rect.height;
+                break;
         }
 
         window.move_frame (false, x, y);
diff --git a/src/WindowManager.vala b/src/WindowManager.vala
index 3b2d08ef3..8bec73f63 100644
--- a/src/WindowManager.vala
+++ b/src/WindowManager.vala
@@ -398,13 +398,13 @@ namespace Gala {
 
             stage.show ();
 
-            Idle.add (() => {
+            Idle.add_once (() => {
                 // let the session manager move to the next phase
 #if WITH_SYSTEMD
                 Systemd.Daemon.notify (true, "READY=1");
 #endif
-                display.get_context ().notify_ready ();
-                return GLib.Source.REMOVE;
+                get_display ().get_context ().notify_ready ();
+                ShellClientsManager.get_instance ().notify_stage_ready ();
             });
         }