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No. They weren’t. Which was fine by us, since it probably would have been too loud for us…but it definitely affects the atmosphere.
My DIL had plenty to compare it to…every amusement park she had ever been to. As such, Disney would be a let down if not for the magic. She preferred Universal to Disney for sure. But she enjoyed Disney…but she didn’t get to experience Disney Magic as we all know and experience under normal circumstances.
If taking young kids, then I agree with you.
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I’m terribly late to this thread but want to read it all so I’m following.
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Overall, the consensus is that, for this trip, Universal had a slight edge over Disney. Not just with COVID handling, with with crowds, lines, buses, and ride experiences. Mobile order never worked right at UOR, however, so Disney was better in that regard.
Disney was fine, but with the heat and many more lines extending outdoors in the sun, and larger crowds, it did interfere with enjoyment.
That isn’t to say we didn’t enjoy both. We totally did and ended having a great time at both. Just that Universal took the win. We asked our DIL which she preferred, and she said Universal. DS22 agreed, particularly the Harry Potter area. At Disney, while overall they like EPCOT best, they did concede that if they could only do one park, they would pick HS.
Endless Summer I also give the edge to over Pop. The quality of the rooms were similar, but we could get a family suite for the same price as a single room at Pop (even with the AP discount). The vibe at Endless Summer was also more relaxed. Perhaps too relaxed, but it was nice.
The Skyliner ended up being a non event for someone like me who has a fear of heights, but I will say the reliability of it is a huge negative. More than half the time we planned to use it we couldn’t. This was most a problem at Epcot. Halfway during the day we were going to leave but rain storms shut down the Skyliner. We headed to the buses, but before we got on a bus we decided to stay. But had we not changed our mind, we would have ended up waiting at the bus stop indefinitely because unknown to us, the Skyliner had opened back up. There is no way to know this in the app nor in the signage, which means we would have walked about an extra mile to catch transportion. They are NOT running the bus when Skyliner is running. So we would have been at the bus stop not knowing the Skyliner was open again, and you have to walk back to International Gateway.
Also, on our second HS day, the Skyliner took 56 minutes to get to the park from Pop which was annoying. If we had wanted to arrive for 10:00 that day, we would have had to be in line probably at 8:45 to make it. As such, Skyliner is fine if you aren’t going during busy times. And for two of the mornings, we had a message on our phone saying the Skyliner was not going to open in time and so had to use the buses. I am not sure how, if the hotels were busier, that I would like depending on the Skyliner at all. Glad we won’t need it for our December trip. At off times, it works fine and is relaxing.
In many ways, it is nice that we went now because when I go back with just my wife in December, we have no pressure of rides and we can just relax and do what we when when we want, and spend time just enjoying ambiance.
Thanks for joining me on this trip! Sad it is over.
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Oh. Meant to include one more thing.
I’m terms of lands, SWGE wins, hands down, as best immersive land, even more than Harry Potter. There was just to much detail to take in I was blown away. Harry Potter is a very close second. But Pandora just is no comparison. It is pretty and all, but other than the hovering mountains, there just isn’t enough to really care about that isn’t really much different from the rest of AK in terms of greenery, etc. And Avatar was a fun ride, but not sure I would rank it above Soarin’, frankly. It wasn’t immersive enough, but felt kind of like watching a video game.
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Thank you for the synopsis. It was really fun following along! Shame to hear about the lack of communication regarding which transportation is in effect for bus vs skyliner though… that’s a pretty serious kink.
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Yeah. I mentioned it to one of the CMs who worked the Skyliner, and she agreed it is a problem, so I might contact Disney directly to suggest they include in the app exactly when the Skyliner is closed.
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Please do! I’ll thank you in November 
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Crazy!!! What about people that are afraid of heights and will not do the sky cages! Im staying at pop in Dec. This is an issue as I may brave the Sky thing once, ill be infear the whole time!
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Are they merely running very few buses when the Skyliner is running? Like once an hour? Seems as tho I read that somewhere.
They said that if the Skyliner is running, there will be no bus service at Pop. I think pre-COVID, they did have limited service.
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Under normal circumstances yes, once an hour.
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Wrong. You are riding NRJ. Repeatedly. Or, so help me God, I will hunt you down and drag you on there myself.
Wrong. It goes WWOHP, then SWGE. And it’s not even that close.
Yeah. I can live with that.
Literally no-one calls it that. No-one. Just you. I can only assume that you’re trolling at this point.
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I heard many people call it that. Plus, as I said before, the actual name of it starts with Avatar.
We wanted to ride it. But the heat. It was unbearable that day, and the queue was mostly outside in the sun due to distancing. Just couldn’t do it. It should be easier in December when temperatures are lower.
Both are amazing…but SWGE just took it to a whole new level of detail. I wasn’t expecting that, frankly. I was expecting to like a few parts in SWGE, but everything about it felt like you were legitimately at Black Spire Outpost (aside from all the humans on vacation and the social distancing…but WWOHP had that as well).
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I agree with you on the Pandora area at AK. It looks awesome at night, but with AK closing early, its just ok. Same with FOP, we were not impressed, but we have only rode it once. We are going back this Sunday hopefully it changes our opinion.
Yes it starts with Avatar but even the CMs don’t call it that!
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We never drive on property unless doing a split stay. We hire a car and use it for going offsite. DH is the only driver and he likes the freedom of not being a chauffeur. And to be able to have a beer if he wants one.
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Actually, I never heard the CMs call it anything. They just played a role and explained what we were supposedly doing!
Which reminds me…we never saw the blue Na’vi man in the tank while in line. Is that room being bypassed or something? I planned to take a photo and we never saw it.