Well hellooooo - we landed back home last night - I'm officially back to work today - work is lame and I would rather be in Disney.
I intended to post occasional updates that I noticed from the trip while on the trip but I ended up making an intentional decision to totally unplug from internet and emails and etc minus
MDE and related activities.
I wanted to touch on a few points that had been discussed here as it relates to operational procedures and our actual experience. I'll be posting a full trip report at some point.
Before the trip I had read many times that hearing the
health and safety messages blared over intercom about masks and distancing "took the magic out" of the experience - we did not find this to be true. Barely noticed it.
For the most part,
mask compliance was excellent in the parks. I didn't notice people taking them off on rides? But sometimes it was hard to see and I wasn't actively looking. I also did hear CM's reminding people to pull them up - including kids. Which I appreciated.
Spacing in lines was the biggest issue as far as inconsistency and more words than actions. People just ignored the Please Stand Here markers and there was no CM to police that - which I don't know how they can unless someone is dedicated to stay in certain parts of the line.
Wait times were 99% overstated. I timed them because I couldn't believe the discrepancy between the touring plan estimates and the WDW listed times. The ONLY ride line time that was accurate was FOP. And my god you felt every single minute of that line. Average time we waited in lines was 30 minutes at any point in the day.
Food options from my perspective were perfectly fine,
mobile order was extremely smooth we had no issues and I almost preferred it. The options were paired down significantly at the resorts.
From the perspective of an almost 6 year old, he didn't notice the
lack of entertainment options. My son loved waving to the cavalcades but he is a ride kid, he just wanted to go go go so he didn't care or notice no parades or fireworks. I missed the EWP but hearing the news of the barges makes me so happy (and sad that I might have missed it by a few days/weeks).
Transportation wasn't an issue, Magical Express from the Airport to the Resort was fine - we had no line whatsoever and we were three of a total of 8 people on the whole bus and we were all spaced out and assigned seats. Magical Express from resort to airport wasn't assigned but people spaced out and no one was near us. We took the
Skyliner without issue, and the
boat from WL to MK,
Bus from WL to DS and AK. No issues with spacing or feeling crowded. My only complaint is that I wish we had the resort to resort option on the table. It would have increased our food options. I get it, but that was something we all felt the absence of - we typically take the boat to Contemporary and then monorail around for foods and decoration viewing.
Holiday decorations were AMAZING. Wilderness lodge was breathtaking. I feel like they put MORE out than they normally do and that was across the board - at parks AND resorts.
The
crowds were actually not bad for Thanksgiving week.
The only exception being Disney Springs. We went on a Monday and it was JAMMED. I felt uncomfortable while outside. We went to the
LEGO store where capacity indoors was sufficiently managed, and we went to the
Disney store (same with capacity indoors) but outside was kind of shocking.
Stores in the parks were being monitored for capacity (at least on Main Street) and in HS.
Things that were annoying related to COVID operational changes:
*elevators in the resorts (we didn't want to ride with anyone else and the rules were, either one party or no more than four people) but because of that - we had to wait sometimes four or five elevators worth before we could get to our room in the Riviera
*Please Stand Here in the lines appeared to be more of a suggestion according to the majority of guests we encountered (some parks were better than others)
*no resort to resort transportation coupled with minimal/reduced food offerings at resorts
*a lot of water fountains were disabled/not working. We use them to refill bottles so that was a bit of a stinker
*There were times where there was NO WHERE to sit or even stand with your food in Epcot.
*Photo pass - i read a lot about it before hand, I knew that things were different but this is the one thing where I really don't think there is any value in it right now. I know that we don't get pics if not everyone has their masks on, but we were on rides alone and still don't have pics. We were searching for photopass photographers in some parks without finding anyone. I will say that the BEST photographer we found was at the entrance of Galaxy's Edge - she did the special Magic Shot with The Child as well, she took her time and was awesome. However - it was for the most part a bust.
Things that were awesome despite COVID operational changes:
*the cavalcades
*the spacing in lines - when it worked and everyone paid attention - i love not having people trying to get piggy back rides on me while waiting in line.
*the interaction with CM's. I can't say that enough.
*the abundance of hand sanitizer stations - there were only THREE hand sanitizer machines out of 8 days of a stay 6 days in the parks, that did not work/ran out by the time we got there - i think these machines should stick around.
*Mobile Order - it was easy breezy but we also don't have food allergies or other issues
*7am Boarding Group drop for RotR - got it both times and I loved not having to yell at my family in the morning to get to the parks at a certain time and potentially not get a group
Overall - we felt that this was one of the best vacations we had in a long time. It was easy, it was fun, and it was still WDW. We enjoyed the resorts almost as much as we enjoyed the parks. We would go back again as it is now.
.
Otherwise there's just really not a big benefit at this time.
, but I see public "demand" for easing of mask restrictions sky-rocketing once vaccinations really get going.
