re: Disney/Universal Covid Review

Damn thanks for sharing. I might have to make a weekend trip. Haven’t been to Universal in years.

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I see there are no meal plans available, how far in advance did you make reservations? We are looking at going next weekend.

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We booked dining reservations as soon as Disney allowed. Was within the current 60 day window for us because they had just reopened dining reservations after closing down. Since we had dining reservations booked before they canceled our trip, we were allowed to book reservations before reservations were opened up to folks who did not have their trips cancelled.

My suggestion would be to try to get dining reservations as close to 60 days out as you can, but people do seem to be having decent luck getting reservations closer to time. You just may need to be flexible with where you choose to dine. Have a list of a few places you where you may like to eat instead of being stuck on your first choice.

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I highly recommend the fried rice from Yak and Yeti quick service.

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A childhood friend of mine manages Yak and Yeti.

He swears by the ahi tuna nachos. Gonna try them the next time I go down there. Best part is I don't pay for park tickets; he meets my family at the park entrance and swipes us in.

We are going in October. Any chance Ohana opens back up by then?

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We are going in October. Any chance Ohana opens back up by then?

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It seems the biggest hurdles for Disney in relation to opening everything up are:

1. they can't get foreign workers in to work their portions of the parks due to the travel ban. This was somewhat noticeable at the Epcot World Showcase, but some folks from other countries must be permanent US residents now because there were definitely some representatives. It is far more noticeable here at Animal Kingdom Lodge, because there are NO Africans working the Savannah here. I've never been to Animal Kingdom Lodge before, so I don't know if this is a downgrade. They currently have folks who typically work at Animal Kingdom pulling double duty at the park and at the resort, and they are definitely knowledgeable about the animals.

2. lots of people seem unwilling to attend if they have to wear masks. This is why Disney is reducing park hours starting September 8th. There was no one at Epcot late last night, which was great for us but obviously isn't great for Disney. Same deal at Animal Kingdom first thing this morning.

As for our experience, my family has been here for three days and it has been FANTASTIC so far.

On our first day, we spent all day at our resort (Animal Kingdom Lodge, as I mentioned earlier), and then went to Disney Springs that evening for shopping and dinner at the Boathouse. Animal Kingdom might be the best resort I've ever been to. It's really hard to beat waking up to giraffes and zebras outside your window, and the animal experts standing around the Savannah are really great sources of knowledge.

We did Epcot yesterday. Rode everything at least once, Soarin twice. Would have ridden Test Track twice, but it started lightning around 8:30 last night while we were on our way there so we decided to head to the hotel instead. My 6 year old was a little disappointed about not getting to ride that twice, but that's all but been forgotten at this point. Test Track isn't even a top ten ride at Disney World. We could have ridden the rides as many times as we wanted, really, but we decided to slowly mosey around the world and try out a ton of the food options at the "Taste of Epcot Food & Wine Fest" or whatever it's called. Truly great stuff all around. We also watched all of the world showcase movies specific to all of the various countries, which we usually skip, and checked out the Epcot preview room/movie where it showcases all of the new rides and attractions coming to Epcot after they finish all of the current construction projects.

As for the festival food, here are the dishes I recommend (everything we tried was good, but these were the best):

1. Canadian bacon and cheddar soup at the Canada kiosk. Soup doesn't sound appetizing in the Florida heat, but this is a must have. Well worth the few seconds of stomach churn at the thought of soup in 100 degree heat. Comes with pretzel bread.
2. orange drink that comes in a souvenir orange bird cup (it is ABSOLUTELY worth the $15) at some random citrus stand
3. lobster tail also at the stand with the orange bird beverage
3. Guinness/Irish Whiskey milkshake in World Showplace
4. Lobster mac n cheese in World Showplace
5. Beef Filet at the Canada kiosk

We went to Animal Kingdom today, and we rode every ride at least once. We could have ridden everything multiple times again today, but my kids wanted to do the whole "Wilderness Explorer" thing so we ended up only riding everything once (Pandora, Na'vi River, and the safari twice each) because for some reason they were on a mission to get every explorer badge. They ended up with all but 4 of them mostly because we really didn't know what we were doing. They've never been interested in this before. We also walked through all of the zoo exhibits, which is something we don't always have time to do on days with normal crowd levels.

Animal Kingdom has a bird show going on right now that usually has the characters from Up! doing something, but the characters aren't in it right now. Not sure if this has to do with the equity actors guild agreement or if Disney was just trying to save a few bucks by not using the actors. Regardless, the current rendition of this show is AMAZING! Truly a top-notch bird show. Do not miss it. If the Up! characters are back in the show when you attend, I don't know if that is a good show or not, but the current version is definitely worth your time. We got there about 15-20 minutes early, and there was also some pre-show activities that were worth seeing. The actualy show is only 30 minutes long, but I'd go ahead and get there 30 minutes early and give this show a full hour of your time. We ended up front and center, and it was absolutely worth it. I've seen lots of raptor shows, bird shows, etc, in my day, and this one ranks high on the list.

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Do they bother people if they have the mask kind of below the nose? Do small children have to wear a mask?

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I havent been since COVID but going next month.

But i follow a disney message board pretty regularly and most members there say that mask compliance is very high. And they do have at team of people now that will "politely remind you" to wear your mask correctly. Per Disney any kid 2 or older has to wear a mask. But from what ive seen posted online if the kids are in a stroller they kind of let you slide more.

I have a 2.5 year old and he will not keep one on. So it will be interesting. But my 5 year old will wear one.

Also if you arent wearing a mask during a ride your photo wont be shown if there is one on the ride.

Anyone have that link to after market Disney Resort reservations?

Or any advise on trying to go mid October?

Yeah! That's it...thanks!

Just got back from Disney with the wife, 6 year old, and 9 month old. We are by no means Disney experts although this is our second trip in the last year a half. Few details::

- we drove from SC, actually left after work and stayed in JAX the night before the first park day as we were planning on Epcot and it didn't open until 11.
- crowds were very manageable, we did MK 2 days, Day 1 was a saturday and it was fairly crowded, but the longest wait was around 25 minutes for Mine Train
- We stayed at Pop Century which was nice from a transportaion stand point, but the crowds were so low - driving and parking was not a big deal. We actually stayed an extra unplanned day and stayed off property and had zero problems driving in to MK on day 4
- Buses from hotel to park were very cautiously loaded with 4 or 5 groups per bus. Saturday at MK, we had to wait on a second bus from the hotel - maybe 10 mins.
- Masks were a bit of a drag, but didn't ruin the trip. Disney did a great job enforcing if that's a concern.
- No character meet and greets, but the calvacades were a nice touch. We got our feel of Mickey from a distance
- Our last day was a Monday at MK and we walked on nearly every ride, it was great.

Overall, I would recommend a trip if anyone was considering. The lack of crowd made up for the heat and masks. The biggest disappointment was no fireworks, but we knew that going in.