Disney During COVID

So we did it. I calculated the risks, reviewed videos, read blogs, and asked opinions from people/co-workers I respect and trust. And I took Paige to Disney World.

We had a cruise booked for October during Fall Break - Halloween on the High Seas. It would've been the first cruise for the girls and Jeremy and I's third cruise. I was so excited for them to experience it. When COVID started getting a lot of attention in the US in early March, Jeremy said 'what about our cruise'? And I was like - our cruise is in October, I'm sure they'll figure this out by then. I was crushed when we made the decision in early July to cancel (and Disney has since officially canceled that cruise as well). 

Paige was crushed when I told her, she was very much looking forward to the cruise. As an alternative, I had started looking at something fun Paige and I could do for her birthday. As Disney Vacation Club members, we have 'points' that we can use to stay at the resorts and since they were still taking resort reservations I thought, sure - let's just book a resort. Even if we can't go to Disney, we could do LegoLand or Universal or something. And flights were super cheap. And the day I went to book the resort and flights, Disney decided to re-open ticket sales! 

I waited until a week before we were leaving to tell Paige, I wanted to be pretty close to certain that it would happen. Holding it in for 5 weeks was not easy! 

Here are my thoughts on Disney During COVID:

1. WE HAD FUN. I want to start by saying we had fun - even though things are limited, there is still plenty to do.

2. We felt safe. Hand sanitizer stations everywhere you turn, at the entrance to ques, in the middle of ques, at the end of ques. For the most part, people followed the mask rules - Cast Members were checking constantly and I did hear a handful to times them asking people to pull their masks over their nose. What made me sad were the younger adults who would pull their mask off in the middle of a line when there were not Cast Members around - setting terrible examples for kids. Paige asked me at one time - 'why doesn't that person have their mask on' - and all I could say was they didn't want to follow the rules. I saw kids keeping their masks on better than adults. 

3. Food choices. My biggest disappointment was the food choices available (which yes, I knew going into the trip). We stayed at the Boardwalk Villas and our choices were either fancy sit-down or pizza or the Boardwalk Bakery. I do wish there was a quick service place that had better options. I also didn't expect that we were going to be eating dinner at our resort at 7/8 p.m. both nights, but we just didn't eat much during the day because it was so hot. And with Paige being a picky eater, we had chicken nuggets, french fries, and ice cream pretty much the whole time.

- Side note to that - we did go to Trattoria al Forno on the Boardwalk for breakfast the day we left and it was delicious! It was much better priced than I thought it would be! I was so excited for something other than chicken nuggets and fries - check out this breakfast!

4. The flights. We felt completely safe on the plane. Southwest was great about boarding and making sure everyone was wearing their masks. One person walked on with a mask that had a valve and the attendant politely asked if they had another mask to wear, and if not they would supply one. The individual quickly changed masks without any argument. 

5. The crowds. It was more crowded than  I expected it to be. I had been watching wait times for about two weeks leading into our trip and noticed that the popular rides would be around 45-60 minutes most of the day. If this were 'normal' times - then those times would easily be 90-120 minutes. We arrived at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom at opening on both days and were able to walk right in - no waiting at security or anything. We rode all the rides we (mostly Paige) wanted to do and even did some rides twice. If we had wanted to, we could've easily done everything in the park during the 10 hours it was open - with a little planning. But waiting about 15-20 minutes for most rides was pretty awesome.

6. PhotoPass. I did not purchase PhotoPass this time around because of a) no character greetings and b) Paige doesn't really like stopping to take all the pictures. I did see quite a few PhotoPass opportunities and I do wish we had done more because I found out after the fact that since my dad is an annual passholder and we are part of his friends/family, I was able to log in to his account and our pictures were available for downloading! Since the photographers are not able to take pictures with your phones anymore, if getting pictures is something you want, then go for it - just make sure to find the places to get your pictures taken!

Final thoughts:

This trip was perfect for Paige because she is definitely a 'ride girl'. She wanted to do as many rides as we could. She doesn't care as much about the fireworks, the parades, or the character meet & greet. Someone had posted in a group that I'm in that they had a trip planned with some friends and it would be the 1st visit for their friends and wanted opinions about it. Here's my response: 

If you have been planning/dreaming of your first visit to Disney World, then don't make this your first trip. If visiting Disney World is just another 'theme park' trip to you - then by all means, take advantage of it!

Jeremy asked if I would go by myself right now, and I said - heck ya, this would be the perfect time to go by myself!  

Our mask choices (I'm not affiliated in any way and not getting paid to advertise these!):

From Harlequins Handmade: https://www.etsy.com/listing/819692071/mickey-mouse-face-mask-with-soft?ref=shop_home_active_34&crt=1. 

I ordered a Large - I will say it was pretty snug around my ears, but not so tight that it bothered my face. Paige had the Villains one in a size Medium. It was a little too big for her but stayed on well. She loved that one and wore it both days (I washed it between days). 

From TPADesigns: https://www.etsy.com/listing/826045007/disney-snacks-face-mask-3-pleated-built?ref=shop_home_active_21&crt=1

- I purchased the adult premium and the kids premium and then ordered filters from Amazon. We used these on the plane. And I used this one for Magic Kingdom. This one was definitely the most comfortable for me.

From CocoandMimiDesignCo: https://www.etsy.com/listing/818946306/new-ear-savers-ribbon-ear-saver-with?ref=shop_home_active_5&crt=1

- This was amazing. My ears were definitely getting sore. I had ordered one of the 3-D printed ear savers and was not a fan of how it felt, but this was great. I also ordered one for Paige, but she didn't use it, she never complained about her ears hurting.