Trip To WDW - what's different

[Pathways]

Time to 'dip my feet into the water' and see what WDW is like with the Covid changes. Decided to fly in just for the weekend and see whether we feel comfortable enough to renew our AP's.

We/family had three RCI trades at SSR the week the parks shut down in March. Last day the parks were open was the Sunday we left. Can't wait to get back.

To get into the parks, you must have a ticket as always, but also must 'reserve' a spot in whichever park you want to visit. Only one park per day, no park hopping. Most annual pass reservations are already gone for the weekends, so we reserved a room at a DVC property. Staying on Disney pretty much guarantees a spot in whatever park you want. We grabbed a studio at Bay Lake Tower, only about $160/night in MF cost, and reserved a day at Magic Kingdom and one at EPCOT. (BLT and MK so we could just walk to the park and avoid their transportation.)

Our first shock was parking at the outbound airport. We normally park in the garage a short distance from the terminal, and have to drive around looking for a spot close in. Not this time, only about 50 cars on the entire floor. Just pulled in a spot, walked in the terminal and looked at the screen to see what gate. Second shock - instead of three full screens of departures, two screens were turned off, and the first screen was only about 2/3 full with flight listings. Wow!.

Walked to pre-check security, we were the only ones there. There were three people in the regular security lane. My DW still got the random 'extra' screening, (she seems to always get this) and the TSA folks actually joked with us about pulling her for the extra search when there was virtually no one else there.

Southwest doesn't have you line up anymore, they board in groups of 10 instead of 30. Stay seated until your group of ten is called. They asked us to spread throughout the plane. We wiped down everything in our group of seats, and actually waited until late to board so we could pick a row with no one behind us. Only water was served, no alcohol or soda etc. Made service VERY fast. All in all a very good flight, felt safe.

Next shock - Landing in Orlando. 8 pm arrival and MCO is DEAD. No stores open, all food spots closed except McDonalds in the main terminal food court. O'hare it isn't, but this place is/was ALWAYS busy. Went to the Magical Express bus (We didn't want to try a rental car even though Expedia said base rate of $5.00) and they told us we would probably be the only ones on the bus so to take our small suitcases onto the bus with us. Waited 15 minutes and then surprise, another family showed up so there was 7 on board for the trip to BLT.

Stopped at the front desk at 9 pm to get our magic bands. Big mistake. We had not eaten, and that took an extra 20 minutes. (Should have just used our phones to access the room and got the bands later) We headed to the Contemporary for food, and found out little was open, and all closes at 10 pm. And they want you to order using your phones. I hate that when I don't really know what they have. Got some help from a cast member, and got it ordered at 9:40. Then we saw the desert tray, and decide we wanted a desert. The online system would no longer take orders, as the kitchen had all they could handle until closing. About 15-20 groups showed up after us to order - no dice. We asked a cast member how to get the desert added, and she couldn't do it either. So she just gave us one.

Got our order right at 10pm, we heard others get their orders and say they were shorted numerous items. They simply ran out of a number of food items, clearly no inventory control. They didn't charge them for the missing items, but some were missing the main entree. And there is no where to go that is open. Or even snacks to purchase. I guess they could have pizza delivered. Some people wanted an extra soda or water bottle, and since you couldn't 'order' one, the cast members just gave you whatever you wanted out of the cooler.

The room looks sparkling clean - Can't wait until MK tomorrow!

 

[Pathways]

Headed to the MK this morning. We normally don't eat breakfast, but I stopped by the Contemporary just to see. Busy, but no big line.

There is really no rope drop anymore, they don't want you there until the park opens. So, the walkway from BLT is not open until the park opens. Temp check and then security on the path, so you can just walk right to the tap stand and into the park.

Headed directly to the mine ride and it looked like a long wait - back almost to Dumbo. Normally a 70- 90 minute wait. Turned out to be about 25. The entire queue is marked 6 feet. No play items for the kids. They actually changed part of the queue to help so you don't pass close to others. In the section inside, they have placed plexiglass walls about 7' tall - stickers all over saying 'don't touch. These are NOT temporary, they all all solidly built and concreted in.

All the rides are similar, the queue's changed, plexiglass when needed. Hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE. At the beginning of the queue, where you get on the ride, and also where you exit. Even though the lines LOOK long, they go very quickly. The long line at the mine ride virtually never stopped, you step on the social distancing line, stand for about 5 seconds, and then advance forward. It's like that all the way through to the ride itself. I LOVE IT that there on NO Fast Passes! That's what holds up the stand by line. Without FP's, the line just continually moves.

 

[Pathways]

Since many of the food choices are closed, we decided to eat early before the noon rush. Went to the Starlight Cafe. They wouldn't let us in at first since we had not ordered our food using the Disney app. The cast member finally admitted we didn't have to, but for cash/cc purchases we had to go in a 'special' entrance which was on the other side. Headed there and they let us in to order as usual. Over 50% of seating out of service, staff on hand to take your tray when done and spray down the seats and table.

Masks are required everywhere. They have Cast Members all over who's only job is to hold up signs reminding such, and to quickly confront any scofflaws. What a thankless job. Many were young gals, we made sure to thank many of them for what they do as we heard some people give them a lot of flack.

On the Carousel of Progress, they were watching during the ride. Twice they came on the speakers remaining patrons they may NOT drop their masks, they must keep them over mouth AND nose. Second warning they said if it happens again, they would stop the ride and remove the offenders. Disney clearly does not plan on shutting down again - they MEAN BUSINESS!

 

[travelhacker]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Right now we’re booked at the Hyatt coconut plantation for our kids fall break, but I have been hoping to land a solid DVC exchange.

We went to a local amusement park and really didn’t feel comfortable with all the people relaxing on safety measures, so I’ve really been on the fence about going to Disney.

What I’m still trying to figure out is if our twin boys (2) would have a good time. I know they would absolutely love it under normal circumstances, but with no character greetings and parades that’s a big chunk of what appeals to them. One will be 40 inches by the time we go, but the other won’t be so lucky. Would be heart breaking to let one go on a ride and keep the other from going. I’m leaning towards sticking with Coconut Plantation.

 

[Pathways]

So we hit a few rides after lunch - no issues. Except we began to remember why we never go to FL in the summer. Decided to take a siesta with plans to return to MK later in the day when cooler.

A dole whip is a must have, so we got on the monorail to head to the Polynesian. We saw how empty the main parking lot is. The monorail is for seated passengers only, no standing. Only one group per row, so if there is just one person, you get the whole row. Didn't notice any extra cleaning, they do have canvas type barriers between the section of the cars that were just open. Again, hand sanitizer everywhere.

No line for the Dole Whips, unlike at MK, so we could relax in the hotel lobby.

Still feeling very safe, we stopped off at the GF. DVC open there, but the wire fencing and green privacy curtains are separating the GF hotel rooms and pools as that is where the NBA players are staying. A number of shops are closed, like the soap shop is totally vacant with empty shelves.

On the way to Contemp/BLT we saw the new bridge for the walking path from GF to MK. It appears totally done, they even have the canvas tent erected where the temp checks and security will be. I assume they are just waiting for the GF to open to the public and get some traffic before they open it.

 

[Pathways]

After a two hour break, we headed back to MK at 5pm (open until 7). Finished the day by going to the rides we missed earlier. All lines still moving quickly. We both remarked the park was similar to what we used to enjoy in October - one day in a park let us experience all the rides we wanted. The 7 pm close time was a pain, so we hit Splash Mountain again. Get in the line by 7 pm and they let the ride operate until all waiting have riden.

Weird walking out of the park at 7:45 - very empty by then, and yet it was still light out. Emporium on Main Street was still open. Cast Members control entry to the shops - one way in, and two or three ways out.

Headed back to BLT to get cleaned up for dinner - we have decided to go to the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. Oops - the Monorail has already shut down around 8 pm. Turns out they are operating a bus that circulates around the monorail resorts b/c of the monorail shutting down early. Waited for the bus, the driver tells you which seat to sit in based on where you are going and party size to maintain SD.

Had a great dinner, but a long wait for the bus to get back to BLT. We were the only ones on it. We are both concerned about the heat tomorrow at EPCOT since we check out of the room in the am. (More accurately, what we will smell like at the airport tomorrow night) We will discuss in the am.

 

[TheHolleys87]

Emporium on Main Street was still open. Cast Members control entry to the shops - one way in, and two or three ways out.

Thanks for this detailed report! For the Emporium, where was the single entrance, at Town Square or next to Casey’s, or did it change from morning to closing time? On our way out at the end of our day we like to enter by Casey’s and cruise through the entire store.

 

[Pathways]

Thanks for this detailed report! For the Emporium, where was the single entrance, at Town Square or next to Casey’s, or did it change from morning to closing time? On our way out at the end of our day we like to enter by Casey’s and cruise through the entire store.

The entrance is now in the middle of the store. Casey's, Crystal Palace, and the Plaza Ice Cream are all closed. Entrance was the same each time we went by.

 

[Pathways]

So - we decided not to go to EPCOT today and instead head to the airport and try to get an earlier flight out. Just TOO hot, and we have really already learned what we were looking for in the NEW WDW experience. Getting home early would also allow each of us to hit the office for a while tonight so we are not behind tomorrow.

Asked at the front desk for a late check out and got one until 1 pm. First time EVER that we got a late checkout at a DVC resort. BLT seems to be averaging about 45% so I thought we had a shot.

 

[Pathways]

A little confusion on the Magical Express pickup, but that was partly b/c I never give them the correct flight #. (Disney requires a pickup three hours before scheduled departure, (I want it to be 2 hrs, and now with the empty airport, 1.5 hrs before. Especially important as the priority pass lounges are closed)

Bus had more people than I expected, but still only about ten. Made one stop at Wilderness Lodge, and on to MCO.

Airport was still a ghost town. Noon, and the standard TSA line was listed as a 4 minute wait. The pre-check line was empty, walked right up and through. Tram to the SWA terminal gates. Headed to the gate to ask about changing flights. No issues, she switched us both to the next flight out. Got to love Southwest. As an A-list member, the changes were at N/C as always.


At least most of the food places were open by the gates so we grabbed a sub sandwich for the flight, and headed back to the gate. The entire wing of the SW terminal was empty except for TWO active gates. So very sad thinking about all the employees all over that are clearly out of work.

Gotta LOVE the Southwest humor. A bored IT/marketing group re-tasked to come up with one-liners to display on the screens at the empty gates.

 

[Pathways]

Final thoughts as we head out of MMouse land.

We will not hesitate to be back in late September before our AP's expire. Just checked availability and picked up standard studio nights at the Boardwalk - only 10 points (about $70/night).

We also will probably NOT renew the passes, as to make the required reservations for the park to visit each day with our usual short notice, we probably will need to stay at DVC. While that is easy/cheap pickings right now, I doubt it will stay that way.

All in all we loved the trip, and are highly complementary of all the Disney efforts/changes.

By our 'highly technical and researched expert opinion', , we feel our 48 hours at Disney presented a risk about equal to ONE trip to our local grocery or Home Depot.

Safe Travels All!

 

[Luanne]

By our 'highly technical and researched expert opinion', , we feel our 48 hours at Disney presented a risk about equal to ONE trip to our local grocery or Home Depot.

Safe Travels All!

And how many times more expensive?

 

[frank808]

A little confusion on the Magical Express pickup, but that was partly b/c I never give them the correct flight #. (Disney requires a pickup three hours before scheduled departure, (I want it to be 2 hrs, and now with the empty airport, 1.5 hrs before. Especially important as the priority pass lounges are closed)

Just FYI for your next trip in Sept., The Club at MCO in Terminal A gates 1-29 has been open from July IIRC. Unfortunate for me as United uses Terminal B and United Club is closed at MCO. There is no chance I will clear TSA twice to use a lounge in another Terminal.

 

[Pathways]

Just FYI for your next trip in Sept., The Club at MCO in Terminal A gates 1-29 has been open from July IIRC. Unfortunate for me as United uses Terminal B and United Club is closed at MCO. There is no chance I will clear TSA twice to use a lounge in another Terminal.

Thanks for that clarification. We also use the club for cans of soda to take with us, so I would not want to go through security again. The one we use is the Admiral's Club in Concourse 4 and we take the tram back to the terminal and then out the the SWA Concourse 2 without having to go through security again. It does show as still being closed.

If the one that is open is The Club MCO in Concourse 1, doesn't that share security with United at Gates 30-59? Remember, the confusing A/B side stuff is actually split security wise to the gates. The A and B is just where the ticket counters are located.

IOW - Terminal A Conc 1 (1-29) shares security with Term B Conc 3 (30-59),

and Term A Conc 2 (100-129) shares security with Term B Conc 4 (70-99)

You travel a lot more than me but I have always thought the letter/number system at MCO was the most confusing ever.

Correct me again if I have it wrong.

 

[littlestar]

Thanks for the update.

 

[frank808]

Thanks for that clarification. We also use the club for cans of soda to take with us, so I would not want to go through security again. The one we use is the Admiral's Club in Concourse 4 and we take the tram back to the terminal and then out the the SWA Concourse 2 without having to go through security again. It does show as still being closed.

If the one that is open is The Club MCO in Concourse 1, doesn't that share security with United at Gates 30-59? Remember, the confusing A/B side stuff is actually split security wise to the gates. The A and B is just where the ticket counters are located.

IOW - Terminal A Conc 1 (1-29) shares security with Term B Conc 3 (30-59),

and Term A Conc 2 (100-129) shares security with Term B Conc 4 (70-99)

You travel a lot more than me but I have always thought the letter/number system at MCO was the most confusing ever.

Correct me again if I have it wrong.

I have only flown United in the past 12 years or so. I have always arrived in Term B gates 70-99. There are two The Club locations, one in Terminal A and one in Terminal B. The Club in Terminal B is still closed. The Club in Terminal B is pretty large and I was told it is larger than the one in A. I just wanted a place like you to get some drinks and snacks before boarding. No such luck on our June trip.

Delta Admirals Club access with priority pass? I thought PP mainly dealt with Alaska lounges.

 

[Pathways]

I have only flown United in the past 12 years or so. I have always arrived in Term B gates 70-99. There are two The Club locations, one in Terminal A and one in Terminal B. The Club in Terminal B is still closed. The Club in Terminal B is pretty large and I was told it is larger than the one in A. I just wanted a place like you to get some drinks and snacks before boarding. No such luck on our June trip.

Delta Admirals Club access with priority pass? I thought PP mainly dealt with Alaska lounges.

As a rule, no, not Delta. However, Delta does sometimes share.

Maybe things have changed since June. There are 29 United flights today out of MCO - all leaving gates 4x. (30-59 are officially listed as United) None in the 70-99. 70-99 is Delta and all international flights.

The terminal A and B designations are only for check in and ticketing. The security and gates are not divided the same way. They refer to it as 'Security checkpoint 1-59' and 'Security checkpoint 70-129' . Each of those security checkpoints has two concourses attached, one concourse from the Terminal A, and one from Terminal B group. IOW, the clubs you refer to are - closed: the one in Security checkpoint 70-129, and - open: the one in Security checkpoint 1-59.

Like I said, confusing. The clubs are sometimes referred to as 'terminal A or B in the club location apps. For a long time I thought I didn't have access to one unless I went through security again (Pre-covid, when all were open). A TSA gal on break clued me in to how the numbering works and how the club I had access to was listed on my phone as different terminal, but was actually in the same security area. I just need to take the tram to the other concourse. She said all the signage when you leave the tram leads you out of security, but don't follow the crowd out. You just need to walk the other direction and get on the other tram.

,

 

[Rolltydr]

Final thoughts as we head out of MMouse land.

We will not hesitate to be back in late September before our AP's expire. Just checked availability and picked up standard studio nights at the Boardwalk - only 10 points (about $70/night).

We also will probably NOT renew the passes, as to make the required reservations for the park to visit each day with our usual short notice, we probably will need to stay at DVC. While that is easy/cheap pickings right now, I doubt it will stay that way.

All in all we loved the trip, and are highly complementary of all the Disney efforts/changes.

By our 'highly technical and researched expert opinion', , we feel our 48 hours at Disney presented a risk about equal to ONE trip to our local grocery or Home Depot.

Safe Travels All!

Thanks so much for the review. We have reservations for late October and I keep delaying canceling them. We mainly want to go to the Food & Wine Festival so I’m really interested to find out how that is going. From the website, it appears the Global Marketplace food kiosks are open but I’ve read that most of the restaurants are closed so I’m not sure how the experience would be. Less crowds would be great, less food options would not. We love experiencing the different cuisines. I may wait to read your posts on your September trip before making a decision.

 

[frank808]

As a rule, no, not Delta. However, Delta does sometimes share.

Maybe things have changed since June. There are 29 United flights today out of MCO - all leaving gates 4x. (30-59 are officially listed as United) None in the 70-99. 70-99 is Delta and all international flights.

The terminal A and B designations are only for check in and ticketing. The security and gates are not divided the same way. They refer to it as 'Security checkpoint 1-59' and 'Security checkpoint 70-129' . Each of those security checkpoints has two concourses attached, one concourse from the Terminal A, and one from Terminal B group. IOW, the clubs you refer to are - closed: the one in Security checkpoint 70-129, and - open: the one in Security checkpoint 1-59.

Like I said, confusing. The clubs are sometimes referred to as 'terminal A or B in the club location apps. For a long time I thought I didn't have access to one unless I went through security again (Pre-covid, when all were open). A TSA gal on break clued me in to how the numbering works and how the club I had access to was listed on my phone as different terminal, but was actually in the same security area. I just need to take the tram to the other concourse. She said all the signage when you leave the tram leads you out of security, but don't follow the crowd out. You just need to walk the other direction and get on the other tram.

,

Thanks for the hint about not following crowd and just get on the other tram.

Must have changed and they have consolidated flights out to of MCO. In all my trips have arrived and left MCO out of gates 70-99 even in June. Thought I was losing my mind when you said that United flew out of 30-59 but United does use those gates in pre covid times. How are the odds that in over 30+ trips to MCO that we have never used gates 30-59?

Will definitely pay more attention this coming Oct trip and see what gate we use. What was different this trip is the rental car terminal B was closed. We had the schlep our luggage after getting it from baggage claim back upstairs, then to the other side to Term A. That was a journey in itself. Then do the same on the car rental return to Term A go across the airport to Term B. It was funny as I was so lost after walking, as usual, out the doors to rental car parking garage to find out it was closed.

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[frank808]

Thanks so much for the review. We have reservations for late October and I keep delaying canceling them. We mainly want to go to the Food & Wine Festival so I’m really interested to find out how that is going. From the website, it appears the Global Marketplace food kiosks are open but I’ve read that most of the restaurants are closed so I’m not sure how the experience would be. Less crowds would be great, less food options would not. We love experiencing the different cuisines. I may wait to read your posts on your September trip before making a decision.

Hope you decide to go in Oct. We will be there and love the food and wine also. Will definitely miss those cultural CM from the host nations. That will make F&W feel different. If you decide to go and our times align maybe we could have a TUG meetup?

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[smmatrix]

We would love to go now especially since there are no crowds, but no way, as long as they enforce the ridiculous masks rules, we're not going. Hopefully, masks rules will become more relaxed soon, maybe someday, but not holding my breath. Might be the new normal. Many people saying will ease up after the election. They might be right.

 

[Rolltydr]

We would love to go now especially since there are no crowds, but no way, as long as they enforce the ridiculous masks rules, we're not going. Hopefully, masks rules will become more relaxed soon, maybe someday, but not holding my breath. Might be the new normal. Many people saying will ease up after the election. They might be right.

200,000 people dead from covid-19! Zero from masks. Sure, the masks are the problem.