Each visit to the parks since reopening in July has been a VERY different experience. This week (October 6-7, 2020) I had the chance to visit Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios for a quick trip, so here are the major takeaways and updates!
Magic Kingdom Halloween Fun!
Despite not having Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party this year, the holiday magic is still very much alive at Magic Kingdom! The Halloween cavalcades were incredible (way better than watching the YouTube videos of them!). It was as close as you’ll get to seeing the full Boo to You parade, without paying extra to see it at the Halloween Party. Even though I arrived to the park at 2pm, I was able to see the majority of the cavalcades. They run frequently, and if you know where to wait, you’ll be able to catch them AND have a great view of Vampire Mickey. In addition to the cavalcades, the park is covered in fall decor and festive treats are abundant!
I hope that Disney treats Christmas the same way and am confident even more will be offered by that time! Fingers crossed 🙂
My Experience Visiting Magic Kingdom Solo
I’ve always heard such great things from people about visiting the parks by yourself but I had never actually done it myself. I can honestly say now I understand why people love it so much! I had the best time at Magic Kingdom flying solo. While I love going with Ben and with my family, it was a different but enjoyable experience being by yourself. I even enjoyed lunch at Tony’s Town Square alone – a much needed break from the heat that day!
I was able to go at my own pace and just take in all of the things that I love so much about the park. I enjoyed all of the cavalcades from the hub in front of the Castle and just walked around every land soaking in the magic. I did ride a few attractions, but I was mostly focused on seeing the parades and characters and getting great content! It also helped that I didn’t post at all to social media while I was there. It was a nice break and allowed me to really be present. I highly recommend a solo day to anyone who is able to do it!
Hollywood Studios Crowd Updates
Arriving to the Park
Since we were staying at the Dolphin hotel, we were able to walk to Hollywood Studios. We arrived by 9:30, which has been the same time we’ve arrived the last few visits since reopening (the park opens at 10). As we got closer, we saw massive lines ahead – I couldn’t believe my eyes! The line to get through the temperature check was so far back past the Skyliner and towards the parking lot. Luckily, the line moved very quickly and we were in the park in 15 minutes. Tip: the line on the far left (as you’re facing the park) coming from the parking lot seemed much shorter, so it might be worth it for us to walk to that side to save a few minutes.
Joining the Virtual Queue
Once we got in, we headed straight for Rock n Roller Coaster. Since we were waiting for the virtual queue for Rise of the Resistance at 10am, the Cast Members have a certain line to wait in within the queue (if you’re not doing the virtual queue, you can walk right on the ride!).
We waited for the countdown to 10am and then as I clicked through to join the virtual queue, it did NOT automatically select all members of our group. I had to manually select my husband (it must have glitched) and then when I clicked ahead to join, it bounced me back to the beginning. I went through the steps again only for it to tell me I had already joined (PHEW).
We got boarding group 34 which was great, but the last two times we were groups 4 and 5. I’m not sure why it didn’t auto-select our party, but I was just relieved we got a group (the family behind us did not – it’s devastating!).
Overall Crowds
This was by far the busiest day we’ve seen at Hollywood Studios or any of the parks! It felt like pre-COVID visits, except without FastPasses. After this day at the park, I really hope they bring them back soon. I can’t imagine how the holidays will be without them.
If you’re considering visiting the parks during this time but concerned about social distancing, this would be the park to avoid. It’s small and congested, and even though the number of guests is lower than at the other parks, it feels SO much busier. There just isn’t a ton of space, and with a lot of the shows and “extras” still unavailable, people are forced to go to the same attractions. This causes wait times to shoot up and stay pretty high throughout the day.
Overall, it was a great two days, but the crowds are definitely creeping up! While you can still “walk on” most attractions with minimum waits compared to pre-COVID times, I think Disney will need to bring back FastPasses sooner rather than later. We’ll see how the rest of 2020 goes!
On our last Disney World trip, we had the opportunity to stay off property in nearby Reunion, FL. Reunion is a luxury rental area that’s about 15-20 minutes from all of the Disney parks. The area boasts several beautiful golf courses, restaurants and pools – allowing for a little break from the Disney bubble.
This was our first time staying off property, and I honestly wasn’t sure how I would feel about it. We LOVE staying on property (we’re Disney Vacation Club Members, so we must love it!). I always tell my clients how great it is to stay in the Disney bubble because you feel the magic every step of the way on your trip.
That being said, I was pleasantly surprised about our off property experience. We were in a two-bedroom condo in the Reunion Grand, which is the large tower (and the only tower) in the area. All around the tower are luxury homes and condos, so this had more of a hotel feel upon entering. We went straight up to our condo on the third floor, facing out onto a beautiful golf course and best of all, facing the DISNEY PARKS! It was easy to spot a few popular landmarks on the horizon: Spaceship Earth at Epcot, Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios, Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom, and the hot air balloon at Disney Springs. If the fireworks were running, we would have been able to see ALL of them from our balcony. Pretty magical if you ask me!
My two biggest concerns were 1) missing the Disney magic and 2) driving to the parks. Re: missing the magic, it was different, but given the parks close so early right now, it was nice to have somewhere spacious that felt more “homey” to come back to in the evening. My second concern, driving to the parks, was pretty nonexistent! I think part of it being so easy was due to the low crowds, but driving took the same amount of time as Disney transportation. It was nice having our own car (a little extra mask-free time!) and we definitely took advantage of having one – we went to the grocery store to get some more basics for the condo and explored a little more outside the Disney bubble (we visited Celebration!).
I love a good pro/con list, so I came up with our top 3 in each category that we felt would be best for clients (they don’t necessarily apply to us!)…
Pros
The value! It’s a fraction of what you’d pay to stay on property – especially for large groups.
Extra amenities! Who doesn’t want their own private pool, Star Wars movie theater, Cars Land arcade or Frozen bunk beds?!
Safety and health during COVID! If you’re uncomfortable with taking Disney transportation or staying on property, this is a great way to maintain your social distance. Having your own vehicles and space is a huge perk.
Cons
Extra costs for rental car & parking at the parks. It’s $25/day to park for non Annual Passholders and DVC Members (we had free rental car days to use and are Annual Passholders, so we were very lucky with this!)
Having to drive everywhere yourself. There is something to be said for the convenience of Disney transportation, and I feel like we have a love/hate relationship with it – we love being able to walk to Epcot from the Beach Club but hate waiting for the bus home after the Magic Kingdom fireworks! On the flip side, with the low capacity and shortened park hours, it was easy and convenient driving everywhere.
Different feel from staying on property in the Disney magic. All of the little things that make up your Disney experience (i.e. for me it’s the Must Do Disney show with Stacey and for Ben it’s the Disney shampoos…lol) feel like they’re missing if you stay on property frequently. BUT, there are different magical touches to the rentals with the themed rooms and movie theaters 🙂
One other Con *IF* FastPasses come back. If you stay off property, you are able to book them 30 days out instead of 60 days (if you were to stay on property). If you have an expert planner helping you though, this isn’t a problem!
So the million dollar question: would we stay off property again?
The answer is YES. We are lucky enough to travel down to Disney frequently, but we would definitely mix up our stays with some off property rentals (or when we run out of DVC points!).
Is off property the right option for your vacation?
Send us a message and we’d love to help figure out the best option for YOUR family and YOUR vacation!
A few days after the parks reopened after months of being closed due to COVID-19, we spent a week down in Orlando at the Walt Disney World Resort. We knew our experience would be unlike any other trip to Disney but were unsure of what to fully expect. Would the magic still be there? Read below to hear what it was really like!
Cinderella Castle got a new paint job during the closure! What do you think?
WHAT WAS GREAT
No crowds or long wait times! While Disney has not released any percentages or numbers for park capacity, it felt very quiet and empty most of the time. Being able to walk right on all of the “big” attractions with little to no wait was the best! We got to ride our favorite attractions multiple times (front row with an entire car to ourselves on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Flight of Passage twice in a row, Soarin’ FOUR times – yes please!). After how busy and crowded the parks have been the last few years, it was a nice break from the craziness and felt less stressful being there.
Character experiences in the parks! The character experiences blew us away at the parks. Given that you can’t meet the characters up close or get autographs, Disney did a phenomenal job working around this. Having Mickey and the whole gang there to greet you from the Main Street Train Station was just pure magic! We saw Mickey more on this trip and at more parks than we ever have before 🙂 Disney also knocked it out of the park with the character cavalcades (mini parades). Each park had different “mini parades” with characters on floats, in cars or walking. They did not have schedules for these, so the spontaneity added a bit of magic as well! It was so much more exciting to just stumble across Anna and Elsa or Tinkerbell than to stand waiting in the crowds for the parade to go by. Even better, the characters engaged with guests like I’ve never seen before! Having every single princess and the Fairy Godmother wish me a happy birthday from their float – that has NEVER happened to me before! I really hope these spontaneous character cavalcades continue in the future.
Cast Members! I cannot say enough good things about the Cast Members on this trip. Aside from being genuinely happy and excited to see the guests (every time I received a “Welcome back!” or a “We missed you!” I was instantly in tears), they did an INCREDIBLE job enforcing the new rules. They were polite but firm when asking guests to adjust their mask, keep their distance, etc. which was much appreciated by us! We want the parks to stay open (and so do the Cast Members!), so if that means wearing a mask and following the rules, then it’s a no brainer!
This was the Mickey cavalcade through Hollywood Studios – so fun!
WHAT WAS AN ADJUSTMENT
Masks. This was an obvious adjustment but not as difficult as we expected it to be. Honestly, it’s all about your attitude. We told ourselves we weren’t going to complain about it or make it a big deal, so it wasn’t! While yes, it was hot and humid, and yes, it was a long day in the masks – the trade off was that we got to walk on ALL of the attractions at the parks! Also, being from Illinois, we’re pretty used to wearing masks all the time, but for families who are not used to wearing masks frequently I could see this being difficult. I felt badly for the young kids having to wear masks all day – we were so impressed by them keeping their masks on! The key to making masks bearable was to TAKE FREQUENT BREAKS. Having a sit down lunch almost every day and a sit down dinner every night gave us an hour+ of mask-free AC time.
Pre-Shows Missing in Attractions. This was one of the only times I was a *little* sad while we were down there. Disney is different from other theme parks because of the immersive experience they provide on each and every attraction. They tell a story to their guests as they wind through the queues, and a lot of the attractions include some sort of pre-show video. Walking through the empty pre-show room on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with no Aerosmith to greet us was bizarre. I love the ride, but the pre-show is what we really love (and quote!). Some of the attractions had modified versions of the pre-show (i.e. Flight of Passage combined the two pre-show videos, so we still got a taste of it). Others had the video playing, but you weren’t supposed to stop in the room to watch it (i.e. Dinosaur, another favorite pre-show of ours!). Having been to Disney so many times and knowing the story each attraction is telling, it was okay for us (other than making me a little sad!). But for guests who had never been before, I feel like they missed out on a big part of the Disney magic.
Stopping to Eat and Drink. Disney announced anew rule right before we arrived that guests had to be stationary and distanced while eating or drinking. That means no walking with a drink in your hand around World Showcase with your mask down. For us, that part of the rule did not bother us – we didn’t want guests to use that as an excuse to walk around and have their masks down! The adjustment for us was honestly just stopping to take water breaks. In the July heat and humidity that is Florida, we wanted to make sure we stayed hydrated. We usually just drink water on the go as we’re walking, but on this trip, we had to find space away from guests, stop for a few minutes, and drink our water. It really wasn’t a big deal, just a weird adjustment from what we were used to! We also snacked noticeable less because of this rule.
No Park Hopping. As someone who LOVES to go to multiple parks in a day (one in the morning for Rope Drop, break in the afternoon, and then a different park in the evening), it was weird not being able to park hop. Since we were staying at the Beach Club for most of the week, I did miss being able to just walk over the bridge to Epcot whenever we wanted. That being said, because we only were allowed to go to one park per day, I felt less rushed and stressed trying to get everything in. If we didn’t make it on a ride in the morning, we could just do it when we came back later that evening. I have tons of clients who only want to do one park per day normally, but for me personally, I love park hopping!
Having a comfortable mask made it much more bearable in the Florida heat!
DID WE FEEL “SAFE?”
Overall, YES, we felt very safe at the parks. Disney has done everything right to create a socially distanced, safe experience for guests. It’s up to guests to follow the rules – which was done most of the time. We had very few instances of other guests getting too close to us in queues (and when they did, the Cast Members were quick to ask them to step back). We definitely saw guests wearing their mask below their nose, but again, Cast Members almost always immediately asked them to cover their nose and face. A huge thank you to all of the Cast Members who helped to enforce the new rules so we could enjoy the magic!
If you’re going to be visiting the parks soon, one piece of advice is to just be aware of your surroundings. I’ll be honest, I was not perfect at this. There were plenty of times that Ben would have to remind me to keep my distance from guests – it’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement and fun of it all that you don’t realize how close you are to people! We noticed crowds the most when getting off of attractions or when picking up mobile orders. Getting off of rides was when the crowds tended to bottleneck, so we either jumped off first or waited for the crowds to pass before exiting! When guests were picking up mobile orders, they tended to gather around in one area waiting for their order. We opted out of the mobile ordering because no one was in the regular quick service line! We walked right up and ordered through the plexiglass window 🙂 Overall, if there was ever a time when we felt uncomfortable with the crowds, we just removed ourselves from the situation.
Quiet afternoon on Main Street USA!
OUR EXPERIENCE AT EACH PARK
MAGIC KINGDOM. This park felt the most magical to me. From being greeted by Mickey and friends when we entered the park (Disney, please make this a permanent thing!) to the frequent but spontaneous character cavalcades down Main Street, we were SO happy being at this park. Almost all of the rides and attractions were open, so it really felt almost “normal.” Going on a Monday vs a Saturday were very different – the crowds on Saturday were noticeably more, but wait times were still very short.
EPCOT. On the contrary, this park felt the most different to me, and I can’t quite put my finger on why exactly. I will say, our second day at this park was much better than our first (it rained a ton the first day). Many of our favorite spots in World Showcase were closed, and it just felt like the “buzz” of the park was missing. However, we loved being able to ride Soarin’, Test Track AND Frozen Ever After so many times though – we usually only do each once (if that!).
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS. This was the day I was most anxious about (the Rise of the Resistance virtual boarding queue is stressful!) but ended up being one of my favorite days! Being able to ride EVERYTHING with little to no wait was surreal – especially given how crowded this park has been in the last year with Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge opening. We loved the new Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride and only waited 30 minutes for it (one of the only waits we had all week, and normally this line was 90+ minutes). We had a reservation at Oga’s Cantina, and because of social distancing, it felt like we had the Cantina to ourselves! Overall, it was a really fun day.
ANIMAL KINGDOM. This park experience was great! The wait times have been consistently nonexistent here, and that held true on our park day. We got to ride Flight of Passage twice in a row (my all time favorite ride – which usually has a 2+ hour wait!) and walked on every single ride with no wait. We got to this park around 9am (an hour after park open) and still hit everything we wanted before lunch. We got stuck in a storm while at my favorite restaurant, Nomad Lounge, and it was actually very relaxing to just sit and let the rain pass. Short day, but it was good!
DISNEY SPRINGS. I was the most uncomfortable with the crowds when we went to Disney Springs. We went to Wine Bar George for dinner on a weeknight, and it was very busy. We also noticed the most people not complying with mask rules (lots of below the nose wearers!). It’s harder to distance at Disney Springs because there’s not a ton of space, but once we got to the restaurant we were fine. We also made a stop in the World of Disney and Cast Members monitor the number of guests in the store, so it was pretty wide open!
One of my favorite things to photograph at the parks – the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom.
IS 2020 THE RIGHT TIME FOR YOU?
My motto these last few months has been “To each his own.” Traveling to Disney is a personal decision, as is everything right now in the midst of a pandemic. Everyone handles things differently, and that is OKAY. I know there is a lot to think about when making this decision, so I’m happy to talk with you and help bring some clarity to your questions and concerns 🙂
IS 2021 A BETTER OPTION?
If you know that traveling is not an option this year, don’t miss out on booking a trip for 2021! We all need something to look forward to in these crazy times, so why not have it be a magical vacation to Disney World?!
Things are changing so quickly at the parks and resorts, so now more than ever it is SO important to work with an expert! I would love to take the stress of planning away and help make your vacation extra magical 🙂
Magic Kingdom Halloween Fun!
My Experience Visiting Magic Kingdom Solo
Hollywood Studios Crowd Updates
