Here Now & Just Back WDW Reopening Experiences Including Park Hopping

[Best Aunt]

Looking for pandemic packing tips from anyone just back. We leave in a week and are driving. I have the usual big general Disney packing lists I’ve found online but wondering if there are things you all found useful or wish you had brought for “pandemic Disney?” There will be five of us with 3 kids ages 6, 10 and 12.

If it were me, I would be thinking about what my family would do with their masks while eating. If you plan to swim, you should wear the mask until you get to a lounge chair - what are you going to do with the masks when you take them off after you sit down, or go in the pool? Put them on a napkin? On a lanyard? In a paper bag? In a ziploc bag? Just toss them in your park bag?

If family members have masks which look identical, are you labeling them somehow? (I use a Sharpie to put a small dot on my fabric masks - not to identify them, but so that I can quickly tell the top from the bottom when I take them off and put them back on.)

I personally like to keep my hand sanitizer in a ziploc bag. I'm afraid that I won't close the cap tight, and it will get all over everything in my tote bag.

 

[only hope]

Looking for pandemic packing tips from anyone just back. We leave in a week and are driving. I have the usual big general Disney packing lists I’ve found online but wondering if there are things you all found useful or wish you had brought for “pandemic Disney?” There will be five of us with 3 kids ages 6, 10 and 12.

Same as usual really, except masks and everything to do with them, and sanitizing supplies. If you don't normally pack many snacks/meals you may want to reconsider that. Many places are closed, and locations without mobile order can have a long wait. Places with mobile order frequently do not have any time slots available right away, so you have to plan ahead of time.

 

[HikingFam]

If you like chewing gum to avoid smelling your mask breath, pack it! No gum sold on Disney property, even at the Speedway (verified 5 minutes ago lol).

 

[lovethattink]

Looking for pandemic packing tips from anyone just back. We leave in a week and are driving. I have the usual big general Disney packing lists I’ve found online but wondering if there are things you all found useful or wish you had brought for “pandemic Disney?” There will be five of us with 3 kids ages 6, 10 and 12.

I don’t know how long your drive is, but we drove to Ohio and back to Florida twice since the pandemic started. Finding restrooms was an issue. Many restaurants were drive thru and sit downs were carry out.

We stopped at a McDonald’s in Georgia that had only drive thru and had to search for a place that had a public restroom. So we ended up stopping at travel plazas with fast food and restrooms.

2nd trip, I packed a cooler bag with food and we pulled over at rest areas.

In the car we had a spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol. We spayed the bottoms of our shoes with alcohol before getting in the car. Got plenty of stares, but we felt safer. Also used it on my purse since I hung it on restroom doors.

Packed several bags to use for garbage and threw them in garbage cans when we got gas or stopped at rest stops.

Kept hand sanitizer readily available.

We stayed at Pop in August. I packed Chlorox wipes for handles and surfaces at the room. But I packed them pre-pandemic too.

Things I packed that I’m glad I did, ketchup, mustard, and Mayo. Knife, fork, and spoons, paper towels, zip lock bags and paper plates. We ate in the room instead of the food court. They gave us like one pack of ketchup, no plates for the large pizza. And it would have been a pain to walk back to food court to ask for those things.

Snacks that don’t require refrigeration or won’t melt in heat. If you don’t pre-order your food and time for counter service, you could be waiting a long time. We packed Krispie Treats to hold us over til our food was ready.

I’ve discovered that 3pm is a great time to eat at the parks.

 

[BridgetR3]

Rough morning at Epcot. We were in the park at 10:07 and walked to test track. My kids were about 5 families back from the front when they announced that the ride was closed due to technical errors. So we walked over to frozen. It is now at 10:58 and we just received word from a cast member hollering through the line that frozen is not working either.

 

[HikingFam]

Rough morning at Epcot. We were in the park at 10:07 and walked to test track. My kids were about 5 families back from the front when they announced that the ride was closed due to technical errors. So we walked over to frozen. It is now at 10:58 and we just received word from a cast member hollering through the line that frozen is not working either.

We are here also. Everything feels very crowded, I guess because 2 headliners are down.

 

[Buzz2014]

Just got back 2 days ago.. we were there from 11/13-11/19 mask compliance was great, I literally only saw 2 people with noses out but everyone has masks on. Social distance non existent tho.. we walked into the the park in Monday in a crowd of ppl and it was not even ripe drop I had purposely waited 2 hours but I guess everyone had the same idea.. on wed we entered the park at noon and it was a big difference. We shared the bus with 2 other ppl, no one at line anywhere to get in, and areas were pretty spaced out all rides were walk on or 20 min wait with exception of mine train splash and.. carousel? Not sure why but that had a long wait most of day. I was more disappointed than I thought I would be due to missing characters. I had no clue that’s where I would be missing the magic. Decorations were nice and I was excited to try holiday treats.. however Food lines were what appeared the an hour long. Shopping at emporium did not happen, it was a 40 min wait at closing and on another day at just 5p it was an hour wait.
It was a little more manageable at

Looking for pandemic packing tips from anyone just back. We leave in a week and are driving. I have the usual big general Disney packing lists I’ve found online but wondering if there are things you all found useful or wish you had brought for “pandemic Disney?” There will be five of us with 3 kids ages 6, 10 and 12.

We drove too.. I would recommend wipes and your own Lysol spray.. we had 4 adults and 2 kids in our minivan, one kids feet rested on the cooler so I constantly wiped the bottom of shoes. The other kids feet constantly touched where cup holders were so I wiped their shoes too. Spray was for their shoes entereing the car wipes were for when they kept moving from mats to where I described above, they could have also gone without shoes but my son has special needs and required wearing his shoes to avoid taking longer to put them back on with inserts etc.
I lysoled the upholstery in our room, I know Disney has done a great job cleaning rooms but I also know people put luggage and bags on top of areas after having them all over the floors. Sometimes people see a room and request a change, I highly doubt that room is recleaned as long as all looks untouched. ( I still cleaned the usual light switches cabinet handles door knobs locks faucets but I did this prepandemic too)

I also used Clorox wipes when we sat to eat, CMs are doing A great job cleaning tables etc but I don’t see anyone clean chairs at restaurant like sides where people constantly hold to scoot closer to table. Outside tables are not cleaned between seatings either, I know they are cleaning every now and then but it’s impossible to clean between groups. And if you are particular about hand sanitizer I would carry small bottles, ( especially for hands on stuff like buzz or smugglers run ) they have plenty of contactless ones after you get off a ride but some were out and some were the sticky kind. In bathrooms remember there are maybe 4 paper towel dispensers per 2 rows of sinks, maybe 16 sinks ? I’m not sure.. but grabbing paper towels after washing my hands became very frustrating with no social distancing and ppl basically standing shoulder to shoulder no one getting out of anyone’s way ( moms with kids, groups staying together, people looking for each other etc) it was easier to air dry.

We also had small ziploc bags for keeping new masks and placing masks down while eating( if outside they blow away from tables so I would bring extra masks too)
We were there 6 days got back 3 nights ago and mask compliance was great so that was nice to see. We were able to ride everything and repeat rides too.. but the magic was not fully there when seeing the holiday snack lines wrap around buildings or seeing a 40 min line just to browse at emporium. My son missed the characters more than I thought he would., I think I did too. We went with little expectations and it def was a very different trip. We did get to try a bunch of new restaurants and stayed at a new resort for us due to split stay. Our friends resort hopped 3 times and loved that part of it. All in all if you want to ride everything this is a great time but that is probably all you may be able to do. I saw 1 character “ non parade” and that is all on one day. It was the Christmas themed 2 floats with princesses.. I know ppl say cavalcades are constant but that was not what we encountered. If we didn’t have expiring points I would not have gone. If staying off site and or driving to the park I would recommend going another time.. the parking and ttc ferry/ monorail is very crowded no social distancing at all just the usual lines to get in. We did rope drop as well as 90 min after park opened and crowds were all the same.. only time it was effortless was when we entered a park at noon after arriving via bus from our resort.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Does anyone know if it’s ok to take a aerosol can of Lysol spray in checked luggage via SWA?

 

[DL1WDW2]

In general the answer is No but doing online search for your answer outlines many other important factors to consider. Glad I searched and now I know
Sorry not being snotty I am glad you asked too! Good question....

 

[DL1WDW2]

Everyone, remember it's a holiday week, all the parks will definitely be busier than what you've seen online and what's been reported here.

I think today is last Epcot Festival Day. Forgot what it is called...

 

[Lsdolphin]

Does anyone know if it’s ok to take a aerosol can of Lysol spray in checked luggage via SWA?

Ok going to answer my own question after doing further research...(google)
“Disinfectant sprays” are banned from planes

 

[swelch1976]

Will someone please remind me of the best rope drop strategy for Epcot currently? I know to be in line to park at 10-10:15, but when we were there in September we got in line for Soarin and had to wait until 11 for them to start the ride. Is there anything we can do that starts before 11?

Frozen opened at 10:45 when we were there on 11/9. Test Track sometimes does, but is less reliably open, from what I’ve been hearing.

 

[DL1WDW2]

In response to what to pack P aper towels, small trash bags from grocery for trash!
I normally bring a small fan to circulate air. Extra ziploc bags All sizes
The QS at resorts Has been irritating enough to make me bring survival food and snacks and a small cooler on wheels. I use extra large ziploc bags to fill ice from vending machines and bring a bag to fit in the ice bucket in room . Bag , then bottle water or soft drink , then fill with ice from vendor...
I suggest you slowly wander thru the grocery store to look for this type of trip planningbeyond peanut butter& jelly...

 

[DL1WDW2]

Ok going to answer my own question after doing further research...(google)
“Disinfectant sprays” are banned from planes

I was probably searching at same time.... Haha

 

[Befferk]

Does anyone know if it’s ok to take a aerosol can of Lysol spray in checked luggage via SWA?

I pack a aerosol hairspray all the time in my checked luggage.

ETA, I see you found your answer. I had no idea they would classify disinfectant differently than any other aerosol spray. Anyone know why?

 

[kdonnel]

Spent the 21st at Hollywood Studios.

We are staying at Pop Century. Got to the Skyliner at 8:30 and walked into Hollywood right at 9am.

We rode everything once just before 4pm. Took an hour or so break to ride the Skyliner to Epcot and took the boat from Boardwalk back to Hollywood.

At that point we rode Smugglers Run and Toy Story two more times before walking out at exactly 7pm.

So a little less efficient then our trip over Labor Day but not by much.

Still so much fewer people then Thanksgivings past.

 

[cp1116]

Here today at Magic Kingdom and it’s very crowded. Not seeing the same mask compliance as the past few days. I would say over in frontier land mask compliance would probably be around 65-70%. Cast members are not enforcing.

 

[Donnask8pro]

I pack a aerosol hairspray all the time in my checked luggage.

ETA, I see you found your answer. I had no idea they would classify disinfectant differently than any other aerosol spray. Anyone know why?

I was also questioning this. I fly easily 10x a year and always pack hairspray. Apparently toiletries are different I did ask Mr. Google

 

[kdonnel]

At the AK today the 22nd. Rode everything before 2:30. Planning to reride what we want now. We have dinner reservations at 6pm at Ravello at the Four Seasons. Not sure we will hang around at the AK until then.

 

[HikingFam]

Today at Epcot, much much more crowded than the days we were there in September and October, which I guess is to be expected. We hit a few rides first thing (the few that were open) then ate our way around the park and left around 1. Although all the walkways and outdoor areas appeared very crowded, lines for food weren’t bad except Mexico. Thinking we will stick with our plan of just doing the parks for a few hours each morning this week. Mask compliance was about the same as September, but I did hear a lot of coughs today.