jodifla
WDW lover since 1972
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
After what felt like a long very absence (OK, only two years!), my family went WDW from May 10 thru 17 with a split trip between BCV in a studio and the Riviera in a one bedroom and had an excellent time. I had prepped my family that this would be a different trip, more expensive than we were used to, and that we would have to roll with the punches. The pandemic isn't over at WDW isn't up to full speed.
But at almost every step we were pleasantly surprised. It felt great to get on a plane, go somewhere different than the same house we'd spent the past 15 monthshole up in, and put down our work laptops for a week.
We found the parks crowded the Tuesday and Wednesday, but the crowds really let up after that. I watched Touring Plans and the Disney app for weeks ahead of time to gauge crowds. We were even able to nab on RotR boarding group with our rickety old phones.
Magic Kingdom is the best bet these days because it has so many more rides. We walked right on several of them. Epcot takes more work because of all the construction, but we just took our time and took the park in segments. Hollywood Studios gets crowded and hot fast in the Star Wars area! But it does have the upside of so many new things to see. We had the best safari ride we'd ever experienced and are so glad they stopped the poaching storyline, which was getting old.
I relied heavily on the Touring Plans app and found it accurate.
We had low expectations given the situation and Disney far exceeded them.
We did get stuck on Spaceship Earth and had to be evacuated, which was wild. They gave us a fastpass, so we were able to quickly get on Mission Space.
The biggest area of disappointment was the food. The quality wasn't there and the servers struggled. The exception was Topolino's, where everything was top notch.
In fact, we really, really liked the Riviera. The 1 bedroom had a ton of space. It was well appointed and very comfortable. The quiet pool was so inviting. And the Skyliner was very convenient and a ride in itself.
There were many moments at WDW that I totally forget we were in a pandemic -- even though we were wearing masks. We had 6 day tickets, and that helped take the pressure off as well. If our only days there had been Tuesday and Wednesday, that would have felt way less successful.
I look forward to more normal times there and at home; but for us, WDW remains our happy place.
But at almost every step we were pleasantly surprised. It felt great to get on a plane, go somewhere different than the same house we'd spent the past 15 monthshole up in, and put down our work laptops for a week.
We found the parks crowded the Tuesday and Wednesday, but the crowds really let up after that. I watched Touring Plans and the Disney app for weeks ahead of time to gauge crowds. We were even able to nab on RotR boarding group with our rickety old phones.
Magic Kingdom is the best bet these days because it has so many more rides. We walked right on several of them. Epcot takes more work because of all the construction, but we just took our time and took the park in segments. Hollywood Studios gets crowded and hot fast in the Star Wars area! But it does have the upside of so many new things to see. We had the best safari ride we'd ever experienced and are so glad they stopped the poaching storyline, which was getting old.
I relied heavily on the Touring Plans app and found it accurate.
We had low expectations given the situation and Disney far exceeded them.
We did get stuck on Spaceship Earth and had to be evacuated, which was wild. They gave us a fastpass, so we were able to quickly get on Mission Space.
The biggest area of disappointment was the food. The quality wasn't there and the servers struggled. The exception was Topolino's, where everything was top notch.
In fact, we really, really liked the Riviera. The 1 bedroom had a ton of space. It was well appointed and very comfortable. The quiet pool was so inviting. And the Skyliner was very convenient and a ride in itself.
There were many moments at WDW that I totally forget we were in a pandemic -- even though we were wearing masks. We had 6 day tickets, and that helped take the pressure off as well. If our only days there had been Tuesday and Wednesday, that would have felt way less successful.
I look forward to more normal times there and at home; but for us, WDW remains our happy place.