19 Days at WDW with 2 kids under 12 - and we all stayed healthy

[Christina78]

I know this is an uncomfortable topic for some, but I read these boards religiously prior to my trip looking for tips to stay healthy, and something worked. So I wanted to return the favor by summarizing all the precautions we took in the hope that it helps someone else in a similar situation.
Who: DH & I, 40s, vaxxed; DS 13, vaxxed; DS 9 & 8; my mom 60s, vaxxed. No underlying health conditions.
BCV 8/18 - 8/25; AKL 8/25 - 8/29; Riv 8/29 - 9/1; BLT 9/1 (we weren't feeling the magic at BLT so asked and were transferred back to AKL - 9/6)

Everyone in KN95s (from Costco) at all indoor locations, mixed indoor/outdoor queues, and any outdoor location in which we could reach out and touch someone. My kids are fantastic about wearing their masks, and often had them on before I did when things started getting crowded outdoors.
No indoor dining whatsoever, either we ate outside or back in the room. Kids would wait outside while I went inside to pick up food.
I wouldn't ride elevators with other people when the kids were with me. The hotels weren't crowded, so it wasn't a matter of me making a line form. If a little crowd formed at the elevators, we would wait it out until we were the only ones left. Never more than 2-3 minutes. However, there were times when we were already in the elevator, doors were closing, and someone would try to jump into our car. This meant me unfortunately being a little confrontational and getting into it with other guests. The vast majority of people were super cool about it.
I only rode WDW transportation at non-peak times, so we got gondolas to ourselves or mostly busses that weren't full. However, this was the area where I felt that I was at greatest risk of exposing the kids. We had one bus driver who was wearing her mask below her nose, which triggered many other passengers to take their masks off and she said nothing as they walked right past her. Other drivers also said nothing as guests walked on the busses with no masks on. Also on the monorail, several guests just strolled on with no masks and the CMs said nothing. I complained A LOT to WDW about these instances, and maybe I'm not the only one, as mask enforcement seemed to get better towards the end of the trip. I saw a family being removed from the Remy preview for refusing to put their masks on (then feigning ignorance that they were supposed to wear masks in WDW...?)
Mask compliance wasn't great in queues when CMs weren't around, but I can't police 20 people. If there was a party of nose-peakers either in front or in back, I'd put myself between them and the kids, and leave 6 feet of distance in the queue between us. I only saw a few others doing this, so maybe I'm a weirdo, but you can't argue with results.
There were a couple times when we were in queues near a person who was clearly visibly sick, and we bailed on the line and came back to the ride later.
We had Binax home tests that we bought from CVS with us. No one experienced any symptoms, so never had to use them.
Copious hand sanitizer any time the kids got in contact with surfaces. Disney sanitizers were usually full, except at the very end of the day, they often ran dry.
Everyone showered/bathed and clothes went in the washer as soon as we returned from parks or pool (even if it meant 2-3x/day).
Probably TMI, but on the drive down from NY, we avoided rest stops and took bathroom breaks in secluded areas. We also requested first floor hotel rooms on the way down so that we didn't have to walk through hotel lobbies or take hotel elevators with the kids (mask compliance is TERRIBLE in the South, outside of WDW. We were often the ONLY ones wearing masks in the hotels).
We avoided our usual plan of rope dropping, because it looked like that was the height of crowds, plus the transportation issue. So we slept late, hung at the pool, then hit the parks when it cooled down late in the day, and either came back just before park close, or well after, so that the busses/gondolas/boats cleared out.
We took COVID tests when we returned, and all of us tested negative. It's been almost 2 weeks since we came home and no one caught so much as a cold. Although, my TMJ is flaring, likely due to the stress I felt constantly policing the environment around the two little ones.
Would I do it again? When we got back, I said, we are not doing Disney again until this pandemic is firmly under control. And then...I just booked for April. However, we have DVC points that will expire, Southwest miles that will also expire, and annual passes. So in essence, the trip is free (until I factor in all the Genie stuff). Would I pay full price for a drastically watered down Disney vacation? Probably not.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Thank you for posting. This is information that some people with upcoming trips planned really are looking for.

 

[Griffin11]

Would I pay full price for a drastically watered down Disney vacation? Probably not.

Could you elaborate on this a bit more? Thanks for your thoughts.

I have a trip on the books for late January, and the value for money is what I am thinking about more and more. I feel I will have enough info to assess the COVID risk for my family. But even is the COVID risk is sufficiently low, not sure it's actually worth the money as this time? We'd be flying in from Canada, so the flights alone are pricey!

 

[Jennasis]

Thank you for this post. Your plan is what DH and I are planning on for December.

 

[Christina78]

Could you elaborate on this a bit more? Thanks for your thoughts.

We had a wonderful trip, we really did, and made tons of wonderful memories. And the kids weren't worried the way I was, so I think they had a better time than I did. But I felt constantly on edge, always worried logistically about keeping the kids out of harm's way. At the end of it, I mentally did the math on what we spent, and figured that we could have done a couple of weeks at the Ritz in Cabo on the ocean. And the kids would probably have had just as much fun and I would have been able to relax on the beach and not worry about whether the guy on the bus without his mask might be breathing COVID on us.

We are all healthy, so I wasn't necessarily worried about serious illness, but more about the logistics of getting home should someone get sick. My husband had to go back to work a week before us with the car, so we flew. If anyone got sick, we wouldn't have been able to fly, we would have had to rent a car, and I would have had to drive a sick child 30 hours back home. So I was doing everything within my power to avoid that, and the stress took a toll.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I, too, thank you for your informational post. I just arrived today (all vaccinated, no kids), and my plan is similar. I appreciate the tips as well. My sister in law is with us, and because of her health issues we are being super protective. I also brought tests which were given to me by a friend who works at a testing lab. I have 2 grandkids and they have no problems whatsoever wearing their masks. They have never once complained and they wear them properly as well. We did try to go to DS today but I had to give it up. Too crowded and little masking. Most people follow the requests for indoor masking, but you know some people just can’t help showing their independence. I have not had anyone I know come back from Florida positive but a family I know just moved to texas and they all got covid within a month. Lost of friends positive coming back from Myrtle Beach, prompting us to cancel our trip for next month. Some severely ill. (Sadly one passed). I really want to come to Disney and probably wouldn’t have except our tickets from last year expire the 26th of September. I “upgraded” DS and family for them to hopefully go next year - kids too young for vax - and it cost 650.00 to change 4 tickets from an expiration of 9/26 until April 2022.

 

[p8ntldy]

UPDATE: We got our Covid test results today (9/9/21) - had waited 5 days to take the test. Both of us are NEGATIVE!

To go or not go is a decision that only you and your family can make…

My DH (age 70) and I (age 68) rented DVC points for a Studio at SSR for a 10 day trip (8/24 - 9/3) celebrating both of our birthdays, our 49th Anniversary, and his retirement. We planned the trip in May when it looked like the end of summer would be a very safe time to go (based on vaccination rates at the time). We didn’t expect it would turn out to be the Delta variant explosion - and the positive test results/hospitalizations going thru the roof.

We were discussing cancelling the trip for over a month before we left. We have been vaccinated since December (husband worked in healthcare) and super diligent in staying safe. Never stopped wearing masks in public, etc. So, to go to Florida now just didn’t feel like a good decision…

But, after reading all the info we could - we ended up deciding to take the trip with certain precautions. We would ALWAYS wear masks indoors. And mask up outdoors when there were people close to us, which was a lot of the time. I must say - we observed approx. 99% masking compliance indoors. But, only About 40% outdoors.

Luckily, we ended up going during a really slow time - and experienced low crowds the entire trip. We would carry sanitizer in our pockets and use it constantly before and after touching anything in public - on busses, in elevators, in stores, etc. We carried disposable sanitizing cloths (like Clorox) and wiped off any tables, chairs, trays, etc. that we would use. We decided we wouldn’t eat in any sit-down restaurants and canceled a few ADR’s that I had made. We mobile ordered food, and Disney was only allowing you in a quick service restaurant if you had an order to get. Those indoor areas were not crowded at all and we always sat by ourselves in an obscure corner. We also ate when most families were done eating (like 3 pm for lunch - and after 7 or 8pm for dinner) - so less people around. In addition, we sprayed our throats with an antiseptic spray a couple of times a day.

Given all those precautions, we only went to the parks for a few hours each day of our 6 day pass. The rest of the 4 days were spent at the pool relaxing or going to another resort to eat quick service and explore/walk around - enjoying the ambiance. Disney Springs was a hot mess in the evening - so we left and went back early one morning when hardly anyone was there. We never rope dropped and were able to ride in mostly empty busses other times of the day. (Bus service was great, by the way).

We’ve been home for 3 days now, with no symptoms and will get a Covid test in the next day or so - before we see any of our grandkids.

The longer we were there, the safer we felt - as we were in charge of our actions and only counted on us to take the necessary precautions. These were the surgical masks we ordered and used (but used N95’s on the plane): https://myddssupply.com/products/astm-level-3-surgical-masks-blue-by-plastcare-usa

This was a really wonderful, laid back trip. We slept in, ate breakfast in our room (had ordered InstaCart the day we arrived - so had breakfast items, adult drinks for evenings, cheese and crackers, etc.), relaxed at the pool or Blizzard Beach (which was practically empty), and went to a park late in the day. Waited for the crowds to leave the parks before we went for our bus. Ended up being only 4-6 people on most of the busses we took.

We wouldn’t have gone if we had unvaccinated kids, OR if it looked like the super crowds of mid-summer. Would not go anytime after October 1st now - because of all the crowds expected. It sounds like the rest of September will be low crowds, so that would play a part in any decision going forward.

Also, getting a booster vaccine would make us feel better about going in the future… but they are a few weeks out yet. Our plan may not be workable for many families, but it’s what worked well for us and we would go again with the same precautions In place.

Now, we just wait to take a Covid test and keep our fingers crossed that our precautions helped keep us safe!

 

[StuckInKS]

Glad your trip went well! We went in early March with all 7 of us un-vaxxed (obviously as it was too early) and no one got sick but mask compliance was great back then. We also went to DL in July with 11 including 4 kids under 12 and my un-vaxxed mom (who did not mask at all except for ride lines on the last day when it became required) and the kids caught a cold but no one else got sick. We have another trip in Nov with 2 weeks with just 5 of us including 2 kids under 12 and then another week with all 11 of us that went to DL including my un-vaxxed mom and am hoping things go smoothly again. A little more nervous this time, but I'm hoping there is still a mask requirement indoors. We do stop at rest stops and hotels and sometimes eat inside at a McDonalds or IHOP on the drive, but always mask and have not had an issue yet. Our drive is 1,250 miles each way for WDW and 1,700 miles each way for DL, so it would be rough to have this many people and not stop a few times.

 

[StuckInKS]

BLT 9/1 (we weren't feeling the magic at BLT so asked and were transferred back to AKL - 9/6)

Also, would love to know more about this. Was it the construction? We are looking at staying a week at BLT in Nov as we love visiting there but have never stayed yet.

 

[pigletgirl]

Glad your trip went well! We went in early March with all 7 of us un-vaxxed (obviously as it was too early) and no one got sick but mask compliance was great back then. We also went to DL in July with 11 including 4 kids under 12 and my un-vaxxed mom (who did not mask at all except for ride lines on the last day when it became required) and the kids caught a cold but no one else got sick. We have another trip in Nov with 2 weeks with just 5 of us including 2 kids under 12 and then another week with all 11 of us that went to DL including my un-vaxxed mom and am hoping things go smoothly again. A little more nervous this time, but I'm hoping there is still a mask requirement indoors. We do stop at rest stops and hotels and sometimes eat inside at a McDonalds or IHOP on the drive, but always mask and have not had an issue yet. Our drive is 1,250 miles each way for WDW and 1,700 miles each way for DL, so it would be rough to have this many people and not stop a few times.

Even if there isn't a mask mandate, you can still 100% wear a mask if you so choose. It's the wise thing to do.

 

[pigletto]

This is exceptionally honest and helpful info. I planned a January trip back when things looked like they would be hunky dory since we were fully vaccinated. We all know how that went.

Our whole family is fully vaccinated but in order to come back to Canada we currently test within the 72 hours prior to our flight home. If we are positive we obviously can’t get on the flight and we have to quarantine in Florida for 14 days. Part of me says “are you insane ? The cost alone would be terrible!!” . Another part of me says “the thought of another subzero winter locked in my house will make me crazy.” I can barely stand the thought of another winter with nothing to look forward to.

Anyway, it’s helpful to read other people’s honest accounts and weigh my options and think things through. So thank you .

 

[StuckInKS]

Even if there isn't a mask mandate, you can still 100% wear a mask if you so choose. It's the wise thing to do.

Which my family will, but I have an un-vaxxed mom that will barely touch a mask unless it is required and if she gets it, my under 12s will get it so it almost seems pointless for us to mask if she is not, even though we still do. Plus, it would be nice for less stranger germs to be circulating around the masks of my under 12s.

 

[Christina78]

Also, would love to know more about this. Was it the construction? We are looking at staying a week at BLT in Nov as we love visiting there but have never stayed yet.

In a nutshell, I had requested high floor, northwest (I think, whichever is towards MK); which I completely understand is a request, not a guarantee for my lakeview room. My room was on the 4th floor, facing the marina, with the lake to the left, and on the right, a full and direct view of the Contemporary construction in all its' glory. I knew there would be construction at Contemporary, I just didn't realize it would be so pervasive at BLT. If I closed my eyes, it sounded like NYC from my balcony. The only food option is at Contemporary, and the lobby was so loud with construction noise that I couldn't hear my kids when they were telling me what to mobile order, I had to have them point.
I asked very nicely if they could move us to a room that was farther from the construction noise, and they couldn't be nicer, and they were able to eventually find us a room on the other end, which was far better than the first. Also, the pool at BLT is laughable. It would fit in better at a Days Inn on International Drive, not a deluxe DVC resort. Plus, we had planned on using the monorail a lot while at BLT, and I found that mask compliance on the monorail was really, really bad; which made me remove visiting GF and Poly as options for fun things to do. So I just wasn't feeling the overall vibe. I got an email asking for feedback about my experience, so I related what I said above, and someone called me in the morning and asked if I would prefer to move back to Animal Kingdom Lodge, which we gladly accepted. We only spent about 3-4 hours per day at the parks because of our COVID/crowd aversion issues; so hanging out on my balcony looking at giraffes was a much better option for us.