I just went to the parks Nov 14-24! I had a blast! As we were there my state was getting shut down again, so it was nice to be able to do something as we would be coming home to quarantine #2. Although it was bittersweet knowing that I wouldn't technically have a job to come back to.
Anyway, we stayed 10 nights at Pop Century. Let's talk about that first. We were in a preferred room and man was it close to the lobby, about one of the closest rooms you could get to the food court, it was 6112 if anyone is curious. We enjoyed the fact that buses we coming SO frequently that we only waited for the bus to load, leave, and another bus to pull up into its spot, and so on. Sometimes we'd have to wait for the second bus because we had a
scooter but the bus was always there, it was just waiting for a spot to pull in to. I only experienced ONE time of my 10 night trip where we actually had to wait for a bus and that was from Epcot to Polynesian. I really hated how there was mousekeeping just two days during our entire trip, but we're the type that like our room cleaned every day. We wish there was an option, we'd even pay extra... we really hated that.
Not specifically related to Pop Century but next is the Skyliner! We love the Skyliner! Especially with the scooter, it's so easy to load. But I never remember it taking so long in the mornings before. We went to Epcot two days with 11am opening, and we'd leave around 9:30am because both times it took us a little over an hour to get to Epcot via Skyliner. I think this is 100% related to the fact that Epcot opens at 11 now. We usually like to go to Epcot right at opening, which usually isn't an issue but because it opens at 11, everyone is up and going by then so it's extra crowded at the time.
Some positives of the times that I like is that some attractions that normally have long waits, aren't crazy long. Peter Pan's Flight and Haunted Mansion for example. I also enjoy actually seeing the queue because we're normally the type to get many many many (20+) FPs in a day. I've never seen the main queue to Peter Pan or Mine Train before. Speaking of the queue, its really nice to not be crowded in with a buuuuunch of people, or to be constantly told to move closer to the people in front of you. Some people just get TOO close. Same thing with shows and shops. Sometimes you can't move in shops because they're so crowded. And back to the buses, it's nice to not have someones butt in your face on the bus, or the other way around. And I really enjoy the cavalcades, I hope these stick around.
Now for the negatives... we miss park hopping most of all, but I know that's coming back so I'm going to move on. Pin trading is really lack luster rn, it's one board or a handful of boards in the parks and some resorts have nothing. I know this isn't a big deal for most, but it's something we really enjoy. We were also very underwhelmed by the food choices both in actual restaurants that were open and what the open restaurants were offering. If a restaurant was open, it usually didn't have the thing we loved about it. The dumbed down menus meant we either eat the same thing every day, or get creative about what we ate. I mentioned it earlier, but we're spoiled in getting many FPs in a day, so seeing a 60 wait for Pirates meant that we didn't go on it. We didn't go on a few rides because of this. Same goes for shops. A lot of time, there's not a line outside of a store, but sometimes there is, and sometimes it's VERY long. We skipped going to shops a lot because of this. We also had a lot of issues with mobile ordering in that our apps wouldn't work a lot so that was frustrating. CMs are kinda pushy about it but when you're hungry and your app isn't working, it's about the most angering thing that can happen at a park.
I think the thing that got to me most however, was peoples inability to distance in queues, or anywhere really. They'd ignore the queue markers and just stand wherever they want. Or they'd stand 6 feet from the people in front of them, clueless to the fact that there's not a marker there because it's not 6 feet from other parts of the queue. Or we're all spaced out until it's time to see a cavalcade or leave a theater show, just forget the 6 feet rule if it's convenient for you!
Side note, I started not feeling great on the 23rd but I also started... uhhh... you know... so I just thought it was that and I didn't think much of it. But now I have a cough. I'm getting tested tomorrow but I swear I'm going to blame the people who stood too close to me if my test is positive. Because I tried to be sooo careful and if I got it I'm going to be annoyed but not surprised honestly. The crowd levels were insane because there were SO MANY PEOPLE. And I know it's 35%, but it's also 35% when some experiences aren't going, and queues are pushed into the "streets" and mobile ordering crowds are insane. It was hard to stay 6 feet from anyone toward the end of the trip.
We're supposed to go in April, and we're planning on staying at the Yacht Club. If things aren't different even if park hopping is back, we're probably going to cancel. There's just too much negative that for us that far outweighs the positive.