I preface this article realizing that we are super privileged that we were able to take a vacation during the pandemic without too many worries (health-wise, financially, and taking time off work), but I thought you may want to read about our experience! Plus if you are reading this you may be like my family and I, SUPER Disney fans!
What’s crazy is Michael had never been to Disney World until May 2019 (he was 34 years old!). We spent a couple (very long) days there after my brother’s graduation. It was super crowded and we went to all 4 parks in 2 days… with matching shirts and all! …. I had to give him the real experience for his first time!
I keep up with Disney by reading/watching the Disney Food Blog and after working from home for about 4 months, I frequented the site just to feel like I was on vacation. They posted the ride wait times everyday and I was SHOOK. When I showed Michael, he said “dang, we should go!!” Which was pretty awesome because you may not be surprised when I say, my husband, “Murphy On Money”, can be a bit of a miser! But we did it… we booked time to visit Disney!
I booked us for a week later to stay at a hotel walking distance to Disney Springs (restaurants and shops on Disney property but outside the parks). I bought our park passes and made park reservations (during this time, they require you to reserve which park you want to visit with your ticket so they can meet capacity requirements). I also made dining reservations, knowing that we would want at least one sit-down meal per day inside (it was August, so it was HOT), and with limited capacity we may not be able to get a walk up reservation. We went for three days and visited Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom.
Here are our favorite and least favorite things about Disney during a pandemic!
The Best Things
No Crowds!
With the limited park capacity and most people not traveling during this time (especially in August) we really hit a sweet spot. On average we waited about 15 minutes or less for the rides! The longest we waited for a ride was about 40 minutes and that was for two super popular rides: Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios.
When we went, they were still not allowing any park hopping which could sound like a negative, BUT it meant that you didn’t have people switching parks in the afternoon. After finishing all they wanted to do for the day, people couldn’t go to another park (like they normally would with a park hopper) and they just left. This meant that the parks were even less crowded in the afternoons!
The Physical Distancing!
It was SO NICE to not be packed in like sardines in the Florida summer heat. They had dots on the floor to indicate where you and your party should stand while waiting in line so no one was breathing down your neck and the kids aren’t accidentally swinging into you which is nice regardless of germs.
Felt Like Vacation After Being Locked In At Home!
After working from home, eating in, and working out in the driveway all spring and summer, it really felt like a vacation! We did feel very safe with masks being enforced, capacity limitations at the parks and restaurants, and all the extra cleaning procedures. Although we did have to wear masks all day, we had such an amazing time and it was so nice to be out of the house and feel the Disney magic!
The “Worst” Things
No Fireworks or Parades
This one is a bit of a double-edged sword. To maintain physical distancing, the big parades and evening fireworks shows were canceled (and most parks closed earlier than normal. Even though these events weren’t happening, Disney was still magical, and honestly maybe even more so! There were spontaneous character cavalcades throughout the day (one where we got an AWESOME picture with Mickey from a distance).
They also had other special character experiences, for example, the two ugly stepsisters from Cinderella were out on the balcony of Cinderella’s castle heckling people as they walked around. At the beginning and end of each day, most parks had characters to welcome you or bid you goodbye.
Difficult to Eat Delicious Disney Snacks
Since you had to be stationary to remove your mask (even to eat or drink) it was harder to get snacks! You had to plan out your snack to spend some time sitting or standing off to the side, since you couldn’t eat or drink waiting in line (drinking water was generally ok, but planning to eat a pretzel with cheese sauce would not be allowed). Luckily, since the park wasn’t busy you had time to just sit and relax vs. trying to eat snacks while you wait in line, but it was a little annoying because Disney has SO MANY good snacks!!
Additionally, although plenty of restaurants were open, many of the little snack stands and some of the restaurants were closed so you really had to plan out your food. It wasn’t as easy to just stop over and grab something.
Getting Our Pictures at Iconic Park Spots
Since we were keeping our distance from everyone, we didn’t want to ask anyone to touch our phone to take a photo of us. Instead, we used the app StitchPic to take a photo of each other and then patch it together! We actually loved this, and it was a fun thing we have continued to do when we are traveling just the two of us and don’t want a close-up selfie.
We’re currently planning our next Disney trip for November this year (2021)! This one will be with the whole family; I can’t wait!
