My mom and I decided to visit Walt Disney World during the pandemic on a whim. This is what it looked like, and some things you should know along the way.
I know, I know you aren’t supposed to be traveling right now. Stay home. Don’t go anywhere other than work and home. Well, guess what, I am out of work because of this pandemic and shutdowns. Besides, Disney is my second home. Not to be overly harsh, but I do believe we should be able to make our own decisions. Being as I only had so much time to visit Walt Disney World (my favorite place and my home for so many years) I had to go. Plus I needed to go for some work things. Not to mention my favorite time to take a trip to Disney World is during the winter.
Walt Disney World in Florida has been reopened since July. Since they decided to reopen they put many restrictions in place. They have made the parks as safe as possible, while also giving people the opportunity to visit. Being as it is Disney and they do tend to do most things quite well, I trusted their efforts. Plus in my heart, I needed to go.
If you didn’t already know I had been a seasonal employee for Disney since the spring of 2013. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, Disney has released all of the seasonal cast. Because I knew my time with my favorite place was coming to an end I had to do a trip to say goodbye, and visit while I could still use my employee pass. If your interested in reading more about being a seasonal cast member, and what it was like to say farewell to my favorite job you can read about that here. Otherwise, lets move on. My mother and I decided that we were going to take a long weekend in the beginning of this month.
Let’s Start From the Beginning. Friday.
We flew in early Friday morning, checked into Pop Century Resort, and headed to the room to unpack and get settled. We decided to spend the afternoon in Disney Springs. Keep in mind everywhere you go you are reminded to leave your mask on. The only place on property you are allowed to be without a proper mask is your personal room. Disney Springs was still quite busy, but due to limited capacity in the shops and restaurants, it was very hard to get into some places. We waited in line to get into the Christmas store, and never made it into World of Disney, the line for that was almost 45 minutes. We decided to skip it.
Every year Disney Springs does a Christmas Tree Trail that I absolutely love, this year they did it quite different. Since the usual Christmas Tree trail brings in many people in such a small space, they decided to place all the trees sporadically throughout Disney Springs. This way the trees are spaced out, and you get to do a scavenger hunt to find them all! Just grab a map with some stickers from one of the shops and go on your merry way. As the night went it started to get busier, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the room early.
Saturday, Day Numero Dos.
Saturday we decided to sleep in a little bit. Once we got ready we decided to resort hop to see the Christmas decorations. Usually, Disney resorts are filled with Christmas spirit. This year the decorations were much more minimal. We started at the Contemporary, then the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian. Every year the Grand Floridian typically has a giant gingerbread house right in the middle of the lobby, not this year, unfortunately. Although the resorts were still just as beautiful and the décor was as perfect as ever, it was a little sad to see the less decorated resorts.
Next we went to the Wilderness lodge, and ended at the campground. Walking around the campground every year at Christmas time is one of my favorite traditions. So many of the campers decorate their RVs for Christmas and its always so much fun to see all the wild décor. It was still early in December, but I do feel like not near as many people decorated as usual.
Throughout the whole day, we used the ferry system and the monorail system. Both of which were limiting passengers, so waits were a little longer than usual for transportation. When on the monorail, you will either have the whole car to yourself. One time we had a family sitting across from us, but for the most part, the monorail is a very peaceful ride. The ferry’s and boat systems are also keeping people fairly spaced apart by seating every other seat and not allowing standing room either. The busses are also different, Disney is not allowing standing room, and between each grouping of seats is a separator to keep people as spaced out as possible.
All in all is was another great day in the wonderful world of Disney.
Sunday. Our First Official Day in the Parks. Epcot.
Sunday we had a reservation to head to Epcot for the day. I was thoroughly excited for this day, being as it was going to be my very first time riding the Disney Skyliner. The Skyliner was a great experience, again we got the entire car to ourselves which was really cool. I will say I did not like that we had to transfer and wait in line a second time during our trip from Pop Century to Epcot, but other than that I really enjoyed the trip. Being able to float above everything is really cool, and the views are spectacular.
Once we got to Epcot we were greeted with temperature checks and metal detectors. They check everyone’s temperature before entering each park. They also make you walk through metal detectors that way they don’t have to search every bag. Epcot was another great day, the park wasn’t too busy, and lines weren’t super long. I will say that this was when we realized how hard it was to eat some real food. All the little snack locations are open and some of the quick service locations, but finding a dining reservation was almost impossible, so I would advise booking those ahead of time.
My mom wanted to ride Soarin, one of her favorites so of course it made sense. The app said the line was 45 minutes, naturally we were going no matter what. We managed to get through the line is less than 20 minutes. All of the lines seemed to state that they were longer than they actually were. They also all looked long, because of the social distancing. Disney has 6 foot markers on the ground telling you where to stand. It makes the line super spacious but also makes it seem very long.
Second Day in the Parks, Animal Kingdom. My Favorite.
Monday we spent in Animal Kingdom, and I must say it was the least busy park. We managed to ride every ride in record time. Avatar Flight of Passage we waited less than 20 minutes, and we even rode the Kilimanjaro safari twice. Once early in the day and once before dark! The beautiful winter weather allowed for us to see just about every animal on Kilimanjaro Safaris, which rarely happens during our typical trips to Disney. We even got to see the lion up and moving around, which in my 8 years of riding the attraction has not happened often. Also this was when I realized that the parades, CHARACTER MEET AND GREETS, and nighttime shows were mostly canceled. Fortunately, they had characters on floats, along with Santa going through all the water ways multiple times a day which gave people a chance to see some of the characters.
Last Full Day, Magic Kingdom. My home.
Our last full day was spent in Magic Kingdom, the busiest park by far. Which was just like usual and to be expected. I will say we got there nice and early and keep in mind there is almost no where to get breakfast. We searched for breakfast sandwhiches for almost an hour only to find out that the Launching Pad wasn’t going to start having breakfast until the following week. Atleast Disney realized that they needed more places serving breakfast haha. Pirates of the Carribbean line was long. Almost an hour. Assuming it is because of the limited amount of people you can put on the boats at one time. At the same time, Thunder Mountain was only 15 minutes or less, which was great!
Things to Keep in Mind When Visiting Disney World Right Now
- Masks are to be worn everywhere. Disney will ask you to leave if you are not wearing your mask properly. Also make sure your wearing an approved mask. Bandanas and neck gaiters are not allowed.
- Eating in Disney can be tough. Dining can be very complicated. Because of the restrictions on how far apart tables must be and the number of customers a restaurant can have, sitting down in a restaurant is very hard. Finding reservations for somewhere is almost impossible. Unfortunately we learned that the hard way. Book your dining reservations ahead of time. Quick service restaurants are must easier, but there are less of them open, and you have to order your food on the my Disney Experience app for some locations.
- There is no park hopping. Disney is only allowing people to visit one park per day. In order to visit that park you also need to be sure to make a reservation that way they can keep track of how many people are planning to visit on a particular day.
- Daily Temperature Checks. Every day before entering each park you will have your temperature checked just to make sure you don’t have a fever of any kind.
If you’re looking for a more detailed version of all the things you can do to prepare for a trip to Disney right now, I will be posting a specific post on how to prepare so stay tuned for that. Also, before planning your trip I highly recommend checking the Walt Disney World website for more information.
Also if your interested, read about all the other Disney things I have written about here.
- Must Dos When Visiting Animal Kingdom
- 7 Great Tips For Saving Money When Planning a Vacation to Walt Disney World.
