Covid Trip- March 2021

[hes122]

Pre-trip

Last summer I contemplated driving to WDW after the parks re-opened to get out of my house for a few days. I didn't actually do it because 1) I wasn't ready to get on a plane yet, 2) it's too far to drive it myself in one shot, and 3) I just couldn't justify spending the $$ when I knew I'd be spending some of the time working for the hotel room.

So fast forward to the end of January when my friend A mentioned that her husband was pushing her to take a trip by herself to get a break from her job as a front-line healthcare worker. She mentioned that she was thinking about Disney. At that point I was about a week out from having my 1st vaccine shot, so I jokingly said something along the lines of twist my arm and I'll come along if you want! She had some dates in mind and so we asked a mutual friend who has been on 2 other trips with us if she wanted to go as well. Unfortunately, she couldn't adjust her work schedule on that short notice so we had to plan without her.

I had been sitting on a discount code from back in December that was still valid so I dug that out and started looking at prices, hotel options, etc. About a week later we finally sat down and got plane tickets and booked our hotel using my discount code. We decided on a split stay- 2 nights at Pop and 2 nights at Coronado Springs (she got the tickets, I got the hotels and then we'd figure out the food once we got there). We had been looking at the Hotwire deals for our dates prior to booking at pretty much only Pirate rooms at Caribbean Beach were showing up and we didn't really want that even though we love the Skyliner. About another week goes by and I just happened to check the Hotwire deals and both Pop and Coronado show up for our dates to the tune of about a $270 savings. I hurried up and booked those, canceled our original reservations and then added the new ones to MDE. I also purchased a Disney GC for the amount of the savings plus what I still owed her so most of our food was already paid for- woohoo!

We had ordered a set of Magic Bands on the original reservation that arrived on 2/13 (so about 9 days after we originally booked). Around the 20th we decided to order another set (because why not) thinking they'd arrive before our 3/3 departure date. Unfortunately that was not the case. The order wasn't confirmed for several days so I called Disney and asked to have them shipped to the resort instead of my house. I got the order confirmation and shipment notification the next day. They arrived in my state relatively quickly, but they sat at one of the USPS facilities for several days without any movement which was frustrating. They ended up arriving at 1:30 on 3/3 and my flight left at 10:00 that morning. So we didn't get to use the 2nd set.

 

[hes122]

Day 1- March 3

So my 2nd vaccine shot got pushed back a week due to a shipment delay so I didn't actually receive it until 3/1 so I was anxious about side effects prior to getting on the plane. The first days post-shot were fine- nothing but a sore arm. Around hour 26 I started running a very low grade fever (like 99.5- my normal resting temp is usually right around 98) and around hour 30 I started having some chills. Of course I slept like crap that night, but once I woke up and started finishing getting packed and ready I was really feeling fine. Thank goodness for the Tylenol.

I flew on American out of my local airport because the arrival time lined up with A's arrival time from her location. Because my local airport is a regional one, many of the airlines had cut their usually flight schedules from 2-3 a day down to 1. Of course they were overbooked. If there had been another flight that day, I would've considered volunteering. The seat I originally booked (the single seat) was given to another customer, but it wasn't the end of the world for the short flight. The boarding gate area in Philadelphia for my connect flight was pretty crowded, but there was this sweet older gentleman (100 years old) who was telling everyone that his grandson was flying him to FL so that he could live in a retirement community near his son. It was the sweetest thing and really made me miss my grandparents. Several people stopped and thanked him for his service (he had on his WWII vet hat) while deplaning in Orlando. There was also some really rude customers sitting across the aisle from me that would not stop complaining about their perceived lack of proper service.

Just as I was getting off the plane, I had a text from A saying that she had just landed so I told her I'd meet her at baggage claim. She arrived about 3:05ish and we made our way to ME. The CM was having weird issues scanning my MB, but the scan of A's worked so got in line for Pop (nobody in front of us) and didn't even wait a minute or two when they started boarding the bus. We ordered some snacks and drinks from Instacart on the ride to Pop. We hadn't received our room ready text by the time we got to Pop (around 3:45) so we went inside and checked in there. The line to speak with a CM took a bit, but we didn't really have plans until much later so it didn't really matter.

Around 4:05 we received our room assignment (6235 in the 70s section) so we made our way there and changed into weather appropriate clothes. I've stayed in every section now at Pop and can officially declare the 70s section as my favorite. So close to the Skyliner station! We decided to go and wait for our Instacart order since the driver was on their way and once we did that we dropped everything off at the room and hopped on the Skyliner to Epcot. It was probably around 5:15ish at this point so we didn't have a wait at either boarding location. We weren't going into the park, but we thought we'd hunt for a place to eat along the boardwalk. We had a dessert reservation at 9:50 for Beaches & Cream. We ultimately decided on Big River Grille as they had an outside table available. We split some appetizers and then walked over to BC to see if we could get seated for our ADR early. They were only able to accommodate us with an outdoor table, but we were fine with that because it enabled us to take the Skyliner back versus an Uber (since the DS busses weren't running past 10). Dessert was fabulous as usual, but the breeze from Crescent Lake made it chilly (especially once the sun went down) so were a little cold by the time we got back to Pop.

Once we got back to the room we pretty much got ready for bed and went to sleep but it was a good arrival day. We've done the early AM arrival with & without park plans before, but I think I liked the afternoon arrival with some loose plans the best. I think this was a sign of things to come because we usually tour with a go-go-go mentality. It was nice to feel relaxed for a change.

 

[hes122]

Day 2- March 4 (HS & MK)

We were up and ready to go early so that we could get a boarding group for ROTR. I had done my research and tried a practice run a few times so I knew exactly what we'd need to do. We stood outside the room using our own data versus the Disney wifi. We got boarding group 10- so exciting! We placed an order for breakfast at Everything Pop and went over there to pick it up. The wait time once we checked the "we're here - prepare the order" seemed to drag on forever, but really it wasn't that bad. I was just slightly paranoid about getting to HS on time (as in when they first open the park). I think we got in line for the Skyliner around 7:55. There wasn't much if any line at Pop, but we waited about 15ish minutes at CBR. The time stamp on our selfie at the entrance says 8:24. The park was scheduled for a 9 am opening that day.

In addition to the ROTR research I also looked into what would be our best plan of attack for the morning, so off to Sunset Boulevard for went. Tower of Terror wasn't open yet when we got there, so we walked on to Rock N Roller Coaster (picture time stamp is 8:37). TOT was open when we were coming back through so we got in that line. The wait was about 20ish minutes (the time stamp on the picture is 9:07). While we were in line we got the notification that our boarding group was available to board. We decided to squeeze in one more thing before before ROTR so we checked the wait time for Smuggler's Run. It was marked at 10 minutes so we headed there next. When we were there in 2019 we opted for the single rider line so it was nice seeing the actual queue this time. We were happy that we got to be pilots this time. The line was definitely longer than 10 minutes (probably closer to 20-25), but we still had time before our boarding group time expired.

We took a pit stop by the restrooms on the way to ROTR and when we arrived it was down- uggh. We decided to hang around for a bit rather than go do something else and come back. That turned out to be a smart plan as we only waited about 10-15 minutes. ROTR was AMAZING! I can't wait to go back and do it again. After ROTR we stopped to assess the wait times to see what we'd do next. We decided on Toy Story Mania as the line was posted at 30 minutes and everything else was about that or more. While we were in line we decided to mobile order from ABC Commissary. When we got in the line it was back out by the old entrance but it moved very quickly. We probably only waited 20ish minutes. When we got off, we decided we'd just go get lunch rather than try to squeeze in something else. I don't recall how long we actually waited for our food at ABC Commissary, but I don't think it was that long. The buffalo grilled cheese was yummy!

After we ate we decided to get in line for Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway. Based on the time stamps from the pictures of the outside portion of the queue (neither of us took pictures inside) I'd say we waited about 40 minutes. While we were in line, we decided that we'd go back to Pop for a pool break after we got off and come back to hit up some other things later. We stopped and took a few photopass pictures and shopped a little on the way out. We walked onto the Skyliner at both locations so we were back at the hotel by 2:00 at the latest. Instead of going to the pool, we opted to take naps instead.

After we both woke up (we slept a little over an hour I think), we started talking about our plans for the rest of the day. It was scheduled to rain on our MK day, so we decided to head to MK instead of going back to HS so that we could knock out a few headliners (especially Splash Mountain because who wants to ride that in the rain). We arrived at MK around 4 and watch a couple character cavalcades on the way to Frontierland. The goal for the evening was to knock out Big Thunder, Splash and Seven Dwarfs since they were all posted with 60 or more minute wait times (park closed at 7:00 that night). We started with Big Thunder (posted-60, actual- 20) and then Splash (posted- 60, actual- 33). When we got off Splash we realized we could squeeze in something else too, so we opted for Jungle Cruise over Pirates. The wait time for that was posted at 40 and it took pretty much the entire 40 minutes. It was about 6:35 I think by time we got off Jungle Cruise, so we made our way into Fantasyland and got in line for Seven Dwarfs. I didn't really mark the time for how long we actually waited (and it's hard to tell with some of the picture time stamps) but I'd say it was somewhere between 35 & 40 minutes. We shopped in the stores along Main Street on the way out of the park and then mobile ordered dinner at Pop for when we got back.

My legs and feet were already killing me when we got back to the resort. I guess that's what happens when you've been working at home for the past year and don't get out of the house much!

 

[hes122]

Day 3- March 5 (AK & EP)

We were up early once again because we were transferring to Coronado Springs on top of getting to AK early (8 am opening). We got a good night's sleep so it wasn't a big deal. We dropped off our bags at bell services and got in line for the AK bus. I don't remember waiting long at either spot and the time stamp on my picture walking towards the Tree of Life is 7:35 so it couldn't have been that bad. We headed straight for Pandora with the intention of getting in line for FOP, but Navi was showing a wait time of 5 minutes so we went there instead. I had never been on Navi before so that was nice, but I can now understand why A said she'd never wait more than 30 minutes or use a FP on it. After we got off Navi we went to find the end of the line for FOP (the park still wasn't officially "open" yet). Once we zig zagged our way in the proper direction we managed to find it. I think we waited about 25ish minutes.

We were hungry by that point, so we picked up some breakfast sandwiches at Pongu Pongu, walked over to Creature Comforts to grab some Starbucks, and then found a table to sit and eat. After that we made our way to Africa and got in line for Kilimanjaro Safaris. I think we waited about 15-20 minutes. We FaceTimed our friend who wasn't able to come along and she rode the safari with us. After the safari we went over to Asia and rode Everest. I was suspicious about the posted wait time (10 minutes) because the line was backed up all the way to the Finding Nemo theater. Our actual wait time was 7 minutes and we managed to get the front seat! After that we did the super zoom photo pass. There ended up being nobody in line behind us so the photographer took some extra pictures for us. We also got to see a character cavalcade float come by while we were there. We decided to ride Everest again and this time the line never stopped moving. After our 2nd time on Everest we made our way to Rafiki's Planet Watch so that we participate in the Animation Experience. That was a lot of fun and something neither of us had done before.

We started to get hungry again, so we order lunch from Harambe Market on the train ride back to Africa. While we were eating we decided to head to Coronado and go swimming. We had packed our swimsuits in the park bag that morning so we knew we'd be good to go once we got to the resort. We took the bus to Coronado and once again had to wait for a room to be assigned (no big deal- we anticipated this). We got a room assignment (8A Cabanas) around 1:30 and were in the pool by 2:00. We stayed at the pool for about an hour or so (including a refreshing margarita from the pool bar) and then went back to the room to get changed and head over to Epcot. While were getting ready we decided to see if our bags had arrived from Pop yet. They had so we waited while bell services delivered them. After that we headed to Epcot for the evening.

We arrived around 4:20. We had a 6:35 ADR at Le Cellier, so we decided to hit up a few rides before that. We walked onto Spaceship Earth and The Seas with Nemo and Friends and had about a 40 minute wait for Soarin. By the time we got off Soarin it was time to head to Canada so off we went. Le Cellier was on each of our bucket lists so we were excited when I managed to score the ADR. The food was delicious, but the macaroni side sat weird on my stomach for a while after that. After dinner we decided to knock out a few more rides before the park closed (9 pm). We walked through the WS and took some photopass pictures. We rode Frozen & Test Track with about a 30 minute wait each. By the time we got off TT, the park was officially closed so we headed to the bus depot. It felt like we waited a while for the bus but it eventually came and we crawled into bed pretty much as soon as we got back to the room.

 

[hes122]

Day 4- March 6 (MK & EP)

We decided to sleep in a little bit this morning and not rush to get to a park at opening. I don't really remember what time we woke up but I'd guess it was sometime around 8:30. We had a bit of a wait for a bus, but we weren't really in that much of a hurry so it wasn't a huge deal. We got to MK and walked in to a group of characters greeting guests from the train station around 9:50. We made our way to Adventureland and hopped in line for Pirates. We waited about 30 minutes and it's a good thing we got in line when we did because the wait time almost doubled while we were in line. It also started sprinkling while we were in line, but a quick look at the radar suggested any rain might not last too long. After Pirates we went over and rode Big Thunder again and we never once stopped while moving through the line. We then walked on to Haunted Mansion (we saw the Country Bears out on the way over there) and as we were getting in line for Small World it really started raining. We only had one poncho we just draped it over our heads while we were in the outside portion of the queue. Once we got to the inside portion it had pretty much stopped raining so the poncho got put away. We were starting to get hungry so we started browsing the app to see what our options looked like. Once we realized that Tomorrowland Terrace was serving the menu from Columbia Harbour House we knew that's where we'd be eating. We each placed our mobile orders (our GC $$ had run out the previous night). I think we waited about 35ish minutes for Small World. The time stamp on our Pirates picture is 10:34 and the one on my selfie just as we were getting on Small World is 11:49, so a ton of time hadn't passed, and I'm just now realizing that we never got our Haunted Mansion picture.

After Small World, we made our way over to Tomorrowland Terrace for lunch followed by a ride on the Carousel of Progress. Buzz was out, so we got a quick picture with him on the way to Fantasyland. We thought about waiting for Space Mountain, but decided to catch it on the way back through if the wait time came back down some. In Fantasyland we went on Mad Tea Party, The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, Journey of the Little Mermaid, and Dumbo. The crowds were getting a little crazy while we were in line for Dumbo so we decided to head out after that. We decided to head straight to Epcot rather than take a hotel break, but neither of us are huge fans of the bus depot at Epcot so we hopped on a bus to the Beach Club instead of the direct bus to Epcot.

Once we got to Epcot we had straight for the American Adventure so we could listen to the Voices of Liberty. That was on my never done list so I was happy to cross that off. After that, we started snacking around the world. We also stopped and took some topiary pictures and some distanced character pictures as well (Mary Poppins and Winne the Pooh were out). We went back to The Land with the intention of riding Soarin again, but decided to watch Awesome Planet (I'd never seen that either) and ride Living the the Land first. The line for Soarin bumped up while we were on Living with the Land so we changed our minds about taking a second ride. The crowds in the World Showcase were getting busier (which we expected, because it was a Saturday during a festival), so we decided to just head back to the resort for the night even though the park was still going to be open until 11 (it was about 7:30 when we decided to head out). We had a decent wait once again at the bus depot.

We got off at the Tower stop rather than the Cabanas stop because we decided to check out the gift shop. I needed to get my resort magnet after all! I have to say, that I wasn't that impressed with the selection of items available at the moderate and and deluxe resorts. We went back to our room and ate our leftovers from Le Cellier from the previous night prior to going to bed. It was probably 9:30/10ish when we went to bed.

 

[DLo]

Following along. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[DisneyFamilyHV]

Sounds like a good trip so far!

 

[hes122]

Day 5- March 7 (DS and MCO)

Well today was our last day . We actually set an alarm, because A's aunt & uncle happened to be in the area and were taking us to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. The family sitting at the table next to us was the same family the were waiting in front of us in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh from the day before (they had worn cute matching outfits that we remembered). After breakfast we went back to Coronado to finish up our packing. We had some time before our Magical Express bus was coming so we dropped our bags off at bell services and went to the bus depot to head off to Disney Springs. We knew going into this trip that Disney Springs gets crazy crowds on the weekends so we made it our goal to get in and out quickly. It was fine because there were only a few places we wanted to check out there.

We went to the Vera Bradley store and I ended up getting a new wallet. It wasn't necessarily the pattern I had my eye on, but I like it and the wallet I'd been using was starting to show its age. After that we walked down to World of Disney and set ourselves a time limit so that we'd get out and back to the resort with enough time before the bus came at 1:15ish. We each bought a few things for other people (lol), but that was mostly because I didn't see anything that really caught my eye that I wanted for myself. After we finished shopping we went and got in line for Amorette's Patisserie. We each ended up getting one of the Mickey Mousse desserts, but we wanted to get out of Disney Springs so we got them to go and made our way back to Coronado. We got back and found nice table out by the water and ate our yummy desserts. It was a little windy, but nonetheless a beautiful day.

We sat around for a bit and then went to bell services to get our bags. About that time a ME bus showed up, so we got on that one instead of waiting the 10 extra minutes for the one we were scheduled to take. I don't remember if we stopped at other resorts or not before we headed to the airport but the ride was uneventful. I had everything in my carry on, so I didn't need to check my bag but A needed to so we went to Delta so she could do that. We then went in search of something to eat and settled on Sbarro because very little else was open in the airport. We stopped one more time at the Disney store and then parted ways because we were in separate terminals. My flight was leaving later than hers so I had extra time to sit around the terminal. I pretty much just played on my phone.

The flight to Philadelphia was uneventful, but I did end up gate checking my bag all the way to my home airport since the flight was going to be full. I had purchased the in-flight wifi because I wanted to join in on a meeting that was starting 3/4 of the way into my flight, but unfortunately Zoom was blocked so I had to wait until we landed to join in. I texted A when I landed in Philadelphia and she responded that she had gotten home about 10 minutes prior. Once I got off the plane I joined my Zoom call (just audio), and instead of taking the bus to my next gate I opted to walk through the terminal since I had the time to spare. I landed at my home airport just before 10:00 and I was home and in bed before 11.

 

[hes122]

Post-Trip Observations, etc.

Now that I'm home and have had time to think about the trip I thought I'd write down my thoughts about some specific things.

Booking at 30 days out- I'm so used to planning months in advance, so that was new. I guess it helped me not overanalyze every little detail as much.

Split stay- I enjoyed getting to experience a new resort, but I don't know that I'd do it again for such a short trip.

Park hours- At first I thought I'd be annoyed by the shortened hours, but really they gave us a chance to get some REAL sleep for a change.

Mid-day breaks- This was the 3rd trip A & I have taken together (we had others join us on the previous 2) and I think we finally found a good balance between park time and chill time. We didn't find them to be a waste of time at all, so I think we'll try to build them in on future trips for sure. This also helped my tired, sore legs.

Mobile ordering- Oh I loved this! What I didn't like, though, was the long waits at some places (looking at you Everything Pop and Tomorrowland Terrace) once you'd told them to start preparing your order. I did not miss waiting in long lines at the QS restaurants at all.

No dining plan- I've done the DP in 2011, 2017, 2018 & 2019 and while I like knowing most (if not all) of my meals are paid for already, I didn't mind not having it as much as I thought I would. I might have felt differently though, if we'd not had the extra $$ from our hotel savings by booking through Hotwire. It did give us more flexibility in really deciding where we wanted to eat and when.

No character meet & greets- It wasn't a big deal and we enjoyed seeing the cavalcades.

No evening shows- This is probably the thing I missed the most about pre-covid times.

No fast passes- This didn't bother me as much as I thought it might. There were several rides that I had never seen the regular queues before so that was fun.

Crowd levels- We found them to be manageable for the most part. We went before the real spring break crowds started rolling in, though. As 2 adults we found it to be easy to just remove ourselves from the situation when they heavier than we would have liked.

Masking policies- As someone who's been fortunate enough to have been working from home since last March I went into this thinking it would be difficult only because I don't have to wear them for long stretches all that often. (FTR- I am a firm believer in mask wearing). The flight to Philadelphia was a little stuffy (and I'm someone who always freezes on airplanes), but the flight to Orlando was fine. A brought a stash of disposable masks for us to wear, and frankly I found those to be much more breathable than my cloth ones so I was happy to just wear those throughout the trip. I was a little paranoid at first about it coming off on RNRC, but when it didn't I hardly thought about it anymore. I thought Disney was respectful about enforcing the policies in the parks (we went before they allowed people to take them off for pictures). I had a few moments when I would roll my eyes internally because a patron tried bending the rules, but come on- you knew the rules going in; if you can't abide by them, don't go.

Disney Transportation- I didn't find the wait times at the resorts & parks to be all that different from any of my previous trips. While I appreciated not being crammed into the busses, I didn't really like that you couldn't see where you going some days (like not being able to just turn your head and see the big welcome to WDW sign) without having to lean out of your seat.

Airports- I was really surprised at how much (restaurants & stores) in the airports was not open, especially once air travel started ramping up. I'm sure more has opened up in the 2 months since then. I guess that's what I get for being so caught up in my own little bubble.

Overall, it was a great trip and exactly what we needed- a break to get away from our current reality. We have some friends that want to join in for the next trip so we're tentatively planning for Spring of 2022 so we get to experience the 50th anniversary celebration.

 

[DLo]

Thanks for taking the time to write this TR. enjoyed reading it .