What is it like to visit Walt Disney World with COVID safety practices in place?

Posted on October 16, 2020Comments Off on What is it like to visit Walt Disney World with COVID safety practices in place?

Does it feel safe?

Yes! We were surprised at just how safe we felt during the entire trip. In typical Disney fashion, they seem to have thought of everything that would allow for a safe and pleasant visit.

Socially distancing on rides
  • There are hand sanitizing stations everywhere including as soon as you exit each attraction. There is little concern about just having rode in a car that some else had touched when you can sanitize your hands almost immediately upon exiting.
  • The lines are set up in a manner that keeps your party six feet away from others at all time or there is a separator in place.
  • Everyone wears a mask, and they wear them correctly. We were surprised at how well all the guests seemed to comply. On the occasion that we would notice someone not following the mask requirements a cast member was usually there to remind them.
  • The attractions are cleaned regularly. A friendly cast member advised us that they clean all the rides about every two hours throughout the day.
  • Social distancing is even present on the rides. Rows between parties are being kept empty to ensure there are at least six feet away from others while you ride attractions.
  • Parties are kept together and separate from others on all WDW transportation including buses, monorails, boats and the skyway.

Is it crowded?

There were times that the parks felt empty, and there were times that the parks felt crowded. A lot of that depended on the park and the time of day. Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are set up in a manner that they often feel more crowded than the others anyway, and the new lands at each of these parks (Star Wars and Pandora) felt congested by late morning. Still we spent one day at Animal Kingdom and one day and an evening at Hollywood Studios, and we were able to see every attraction that we had wanted to while also enjoying a leisurely sit down lunch and dinner at each. At Magic Kingdom lines began to get long (40 min or so) by early afternoon. Epcot was the least crowded. We spent two days at both Magic Kingdom and Epcot and were able to see every attraction and again eat leisurely meals.

The first and last hour of the park’s day stood out as excellent times to visit the most popular parts of each park. We were able to look around in a nearly empty Star Wars land which was amazing!

What are the hotels like?

With the Magic Band and My Disney Experience App you can go your entire stay without ever having to interact with someone. Checking in online is easy, and it allowed us to head right to out room when it was ready. The mousekeeping is limited to an every other day refresh which consists mostly of a delivery of new towels and coffee. We found this was the one area that Disney didn’t shine. The mousekeeping staff forgot to leave shampoo, conditioner and coffee cups throughout our stay. However, t was easy enough to call and ask for them to drop them off.

We had worried a little bit that we would encounter long waits for the WDW buses going to and from the hotel and parks due to how few people they are allowing on at one time right now. It turned out that this was the smoothest we have ever seen the buses run. We never waited for more than five minutes for a bus, and they were never full. Currently many of the park’s guests are locals so people staying at onsite resorts are enjoying very low crowds.

Do you recommend going?

Absolutely! While this trip to Walt Disney World was a little different than before, it was still Magical. We did miss fast passes and fireworks, but we enjoyed having our Millennium Falcon cockpit all to ourselves!

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