Nicole's Notes

With the impending re-opening of Disneyland at the end of April, I thought it’d be a good time to review my visit to Disney World this past Fall of 2020. Seeing as they are all one mega-conglomerate, it’s a safe bet that the procedures and experience at Disneyland moving forward will be very similar.

First things first, my Disney passion meter. I like Disney but I’m not a mega-fan. I always enjoy it and have a great time when I go, but once or twice every couple of years is enough for me. I’m not the type to buy an annual pass, although that’s irrelevant now that Disney has axed its annual pass program. Given this, you might be surprised I decided to make one of my relatively infrequent visits during the Covid-era, since usually Disney = crowds = Covid. It’s something we wouldn’t have even considered, if it hadn’t been for our cousins who went earlier in the summer. Being mega Disney fans they were undeterred, and told us afterward that it was an ideal time to visit the park. During their visit the park was quite empty and they were able to breeze through all the rides. When can you ever say that about Disney?? Encouraged by our cousins’ experience, my family and I decided to give it a go. We especially wanted to visit Pandora in Animal Kingdom and Star Wars land in Hollywood Studios; and more specifically we wanted to ride Rise of the Resistance, which our cousins said was awesome. That ended up being quite a sore point of our experience, but I’ll get to that later.

Overall and most importantly, we felt VERY safe in all of the parks. You’re outdoors most of the time anyway, but indoors and out Disney is taking Covid very seriously. Disney has implemented park capacity restrictions, so before you can even buy a park ticket you have to check availability and make a reservation for the park you wish to visit. Furthermore, masks are required at all times within the park except when actively eating or drinking. Disney is very strict and great about enforcing this. There were multiple occasions when we witnessed cast members enforcing the mask mandate, and politely asking people to put their masks back on, or wear them properly. We ourselves were chastised at one point when my uncle took his mask off during Space Mountain. After the ride a cast member approached, telling him he needed to keep his mask on during the rides or he would be asked to leave the park. Furthermore, we couldn’t see or buy our picture afterward since he wasn’t wearing his mask. The rest of us law abiding citizens were a bit bummed, but understood the rationale, and personally I think it’s a great deterrent and enforcement measure. Don’t worry, we had plenty of opportunities to buy pictures later.

Disney also earns an A+ for social distancing. From restaurants to ride lines, everything is at least 6 feet apart. The lines even have stickers spaced out at 6 ft. intervals telling you where to stand the entire way through. Ride boarding is also spaced out, with cast members boarding every other row/seat or by family to ensure adequate social distancing. As a result the wait times were not much shorter. We were expecting to breeze right through all the rides so that was a disappointment, but I think by the time we visited more people had gotten the “Disney is empty” memo. The park did not feel crowded by any means and we always had plenty of space, but it was enough people to create wait times. That said, the wait times were not horrible. Most wait times ran from 30 – 90 minutes depending on the ride, and based on my previous experiences I’d say that’s slightly better than what they would normally be.

Hollywood Studios

Our first stop was Hollywood Studios, which we visited with the primary intention of seeing Star Wars land and riding Rise of the Resistance. Unfortunately we did not get the chance to ride it, and neither do most people who enter the park. This is not okay. What upset us most about the entire experience was how difficult and scammy it felt. In order to ride Rise of the Resistance you can’t just stand in line like every other ride, you need to receive a Boarding Group. In order to receive one, first you need to buy a Hollywood Studios park ticket, thus guaranteeing Disney you’re going to the park. Then you need to download the Disney app, link all of your family members’ accounts, and then try to sign up for a boarding group during one of the two daily offerings. At the time we went, you had to be physically in the park at 9 a.m. before you could even attempt to sign up for the first boarding group. So we got up early, entered the park, and unsurprisingly, were unsuccessful. “But it’s okay,” we thought, “we’ll try for the afternoon group, maybe we’ll get one then.” Nope. Of course Disney covers itself by saying they never guaranteed that you would be able to receive a Boarding Group. But what is frustrating and felt scammy to us was that we felt Disney is misleading about your odds of actually getting on the ride. They make you feel like you have a pretty good chance, when the reality is that you are probably not going to get a Boarding Group. We estimated that during our visit maybe only 1/3 or less of the people who were trying to get on the ride were successful. It’s ridiculous to me that if you go to a theme park you don’t even have a decent chance of riding one of the rides. Yes, rides break down, etc. but every other attraction at least has a line you can wait in. Who knows maybe the process has changed since we tried, but in my opinion Disney needs to change its system where Rise of the Resistance is concerned. Or at least make it very clear to people that they’re not likely to be able to get a Boarding Group, instead of stoking false expectations to increase ticket sales. If we had known going in that getting on Rise of the Resistance would be a very unlikely, but added bonus, we still would have attempted and come away much less angry and disappointed.

Despite the Rise of Resistance debacle, we really enjoyed Star Wars land. It’s very well done, looks and feels quite realistic, and has a number of small touches that enhance the experience. We really felt like we were in a galaxy far far away, and enjoyed the other rides and experiences we were able to have there.

In addition to Star Wars land we enjoyed the rest of the park with my personal favorite rides being the classic Tower of Terror and Aerosmith coaster, which was surprisingly fun. We capped off the day with dinner at the Brown Derby, where the service was great and the food was good. Did you know the Cobb salad was invented at the original location in Los Angeles? There’s some fun trivia for you, never know when it’ll come in handy.

Animal Kingdom

The Animal Kingdom was a pleasant surprise! For whatever reason I wasn’t expecting much, but really enjoyed it. It’s primarily a zoo, with the added bonus of a theme park and the rides and experiences that come with that. The first thing we did was the Kilamanjaro Safari because we’d heard that the best times to do it are early in the morning or in the evening – that’s when the animals are most active. We were lucky because the animals were very active on our safari. We were able to see pretty much all of the animals, with a couple of wonderful highlights. By far my favorite part was when the white rhinos decided to cross the road ahead of us and came right up to my side of the vehicle. One of the rhinos was so close I could have touched it, which was a pretty incredible experience. We also saw the lions walking around and roaring which our guide told us was quite a treat because normally they’re quite sedentary. 

Fresh off the heels of a wonderful safari, we made our way to Pandora. Compared to Star Wars land it wasn’t as well done overall, but it was still very nice. Right as you enter you see the magnificent floating mountains which are impressively executed, and other pandora-like decor and vegetation throughout. We really enjoyed the Avatar Flight of Passage ride. It’s a long line but worthwhile for a delightful visual and sensory experience. It reminded me of the Soarin’ ride they have at California Adventure and Epcot, but the new and improved CGI version. Afterwards we stopped at Satu’li Canteen, a fast casual restaurant for lunch. It was absolutely delicious. We were not expecting it to be that good but we all loved it and cleared our plates.

We skipped the river rides because we were not in the mood to get wet, and continued on to the park’s other attractions. As I mentioned before it feels a lot like a zoo, so there are a number of exhibits that feature various animals. It was nice to leisurely walk through the exhibits and observe the animals. They have a really cool cage-free bat exhibit with the biggest bats I’ve ever seen. As for attractions, I’m a roller coaster lover so I especially loved Expedition Everest. It goes backwards at one point! What’s not to love?

After sunset we returned to experience Pandora at night. The pathway in was lit with blacklight so anything white glowed and the surrounding vegetation and world was also illuminated with colorful neon lights. It was subtle, not as dramatic as we were expecting it to be, but still a lovely touch. After walking around and experiencing Pandora at night we decided to make our way home. Along the way we stopped to watch the nightly light show projected onto the Tree of Life, which was the perfect farewell treat.

Magic Kingdom

What’s not to love about the Magic Kingdom?! I’m not going to get into specifics here because it’s just your classic Disney experience – you’ve either been or you haven’t. If you haven’t you are in for a treat, enjoy! And if you have then you know your favorites – mine being Space Mountain, the Tea Cups, and Thunder Mountain. The great thing about Disney World though is you have the Beast’s Castle! We stopped at its restaurant, Be Our Guest, for lunch and that was a lovely treat. The restaurant is split into three rooms: The Grand Ballroom, West Wing, and Castle Gallery. We were seated in the Castle Gallery, which was the most plain and boring of the three. Afterwards we walked around the other rooms to scout them out and they were decorated much more beautifully. The food was mediocre and overpriced, so you’re paying for the experience. While we still enjoyed it, it would have been more worthwhile if we’d been seated in one of the other two rooms. For the kiddos another highlight are the character appearances, although due to Covid a lot of restaurants have stopped or limited these. During our visit the Beast did make a couple of appearances, albeit restricted ones. Instead of walking around the room he would just appear in the doorway every 30 minutes or so and wave. We were unable to see him very well from our table, but for one little girl at a nearby table that was unacceptable. During one of the Beast’s appearances she escaped her parents’ table and ran up to him, and it was quite hilarious watching him attempt to escape her grasp while her parents apologetically ran after and stopped her. Poor kid had no idea what she did wrong haha. Great entertainment for us adults though, dinner and a show.

Also have to give a special shout out to the Seven Dwarfs roller coaster, which was a blast! It’s actually quite a smooth coaster but still a really fun ride, so we definitely rode it several times. Wish they had it at Disneyland!

Farewell Thoughts

Overall we had a great time, and I’m glad I was able to experience Disney during Covid. It will be a good memory to look back on. Once was enough for me though. Even though you get used to wearing a mask after a while, it’s still not preferable. Weather-wise we lucked out and it wasn’t too hot, but it was still warm, and I would not want to be wearing a mask at Disney during the summer. And even though Covid Disney was a fun experience, it was still much better pre-Covid. Everything was. So I’ll be waiting until life returns to normal for my next visit. If you decide to go when Disneyland re-opens have a magical time, and leave a comment below sharing your experience!

(Note: this post was originally published April 10, 2021)