We got ears, say cheers!

We did it! We did the Disney World thing – during a pandemic. Side note, we did do Disneyland before, when the girls were both under 3 years old and 6 months.

Here are a few things I learned on this dry run of Disney World (we will be back, fingers crossed).

Disney was a lot of fun, and my kids were all really good ages for different experiences at the parks, 7, 6 and 2.
This time we did Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We got on almost every ride at Magic Kingdom but really struggled with wait times at Hollywood Studios. Disney isn’t currently doing Fast Pass, and they’ve reduced park hours, which I have feelings about, but it really made it difficult to do everything we wanted to do in Hollywood Studios. We made the best of it. From what I’ve read, Disney is replacing Fast Pass with Genie+, a paid service to get onto rides faster. We will definitely take advantage of this next time we make the trip because we won’t go back without some type of pass system. It stinks that the only solution is a paid solution as Disney is already so expensive for families. However, money seems to be the only solution to all the world’s problems.

Magic Kingdom was phenomenal for our 2 and 6 year old. Our youngest is all about Mickey right now, and our middle is still into all things princess, so Magic Kingdom was where it was at.
Did you know that if your child dresses up in one of the princess frocks in Magic Kingdom, the cast members will bow and tip their hats to your little princess? This was definitely the highlight of her trip.

The ride that my 2 year old enjoyed most was the one we stood in line for the longest. I really wasn’t expecting him to go gaga over it like he did, and that was Mickey’s Railway in Hollywood Studios. His reaction and screams of glee made the wait worth it.

When visiting Disney, the Disney’s App is a must have for going to any of the parks. I had all of my tickets synced to my Apple Wallet, credit cards loaded into the app, mobile food orders and arrival times to restaurants placed through the app and park maps loaded, which was extremely helpful, especially, if you plan to divide and conquer. It makes meeting up again a breeze. Orlando, in general, is struggling with staffing issue, and surprisingly has impacted Disney. So, placing orders through the mobile app for a designated pick up time is really the best way to grab a bite without standing in line for hours. The app is also your tool to finding out when cavalcades of characters will do mini parades and finding out their locations since the characters no longer just roam the parks.

Unfortunately, our biggest disappointment, with the app, was trying to book the Rise of Resistance attraction in Hollywood Studios. Lesson learned – make sure to just book your entire party for the ride and then click OK, because if you waste time trying to click off the exact number of attendees, that may want to ride, you will not get a spot in line. Also, if you have any babies in the group, not associated to a ticket because they are under 2, it’s best not to load them into the app; they throw off booking this virtual queue.

We were a bit bummed about not making the ride, but for my 7 year old, the sheer expanse and commitment of the park to transport you into the lands associated with Star Wars, was more than enough for her. She was amazed to say the least.

Overall, the kids were thoroughly impressed and ecstatic over the entire experience, as all kids are. A few things to note for the adults though. Like I said, our next trip will be timed around once Disney has their new FastPass system in place. I’m also not the biggest fan of booking rides via the app at designated times. It sucks – you’re trying to enjoy the day, and are worried about logging on at the perfect time to get the tickets, and then your kids are disappointed when you can’t get on, is just a big bummer. I’d rather wait in line, and teach my kids that good things come to those who wait, not that good things come to those with the fastest fingers and data plan.

Some of my friends have asked about how I felt about Covid, traveling, and Disney? We opted not to fly, so my Mom and I embarked on an old fashioned road trip. I coordinated our arrival to Orlando with my husband’s flight arrival into Orlando (as his work isn’t as nice about time off). With not knowing how my 2 year old would fair being masked on a flight, driving and making multiple stops along the way, seemed like the better option with three kids.
Mom and I, Thelma and Louise’d it with the three kids, and honestly, I felt relatively safe traveling in the USA. Hotels are being majorly vigilant at this time. We opted for Hilton hotels since I’m an Honors member. I’ve noticed that they’ve made an effort to ditch the carpet in most of their hotels and up the use of bleach, which is evident, and honestly comforting lol.

We chose to mask indoors, for most of the trip, but it was nice for the kids to have the option to honestly forget, move their mask, or even just vocalize that they didn’t want it on at the moment, and for me to not have to meet them with resistance, in fear of being kicked out of a place.

In Disney masking was enforced indoors, and sanitation stations were everywhere. I do think that they should cap the capacity somewhat as there is definitely no way to physically distance massive throngs of people. I also think that they need to come up with a better way than having stand-by lines spill into walk ways, because that just adds to the massive pockets of people.

Another thing I noticed is a lot of money is being invested in Disney Springs, and it is amazing. It’s clean, fun, great shopping and amazing eats. We ate at the Polite Pig (delicious BBQ) and The Boathouse (amazing surf and turf). Both meals were absolutely great. While Disney Springs is fresh and new – parts of Disney are really starting to show their age and need some attention, sooner than later. Hollywood Studios Mickey’s Railway, in the Hollywood Chinese Theatre, is a prime example of a building showing its age. Tomorrowland is essentially yesterday land, and needs a major facelift. Many rides appear faded. Sections of Hollywood Studios and Tommorowland, undoubtedly, need some TLC. Obviously, all things a child would never notice, because for them it was all magic and at the end of the day, that’s what counts!