Hit or Miss?

Walt Disney World
1

Had the opportunity to plan for 3 different trips during 2020. Here’s a couple of things I didnt miss at all and a couple things Im going to be sad when they’re gone…

#1 thing I didnt miss was booking dining 180 days out. I always thought it was ridiculous. 60 days is just fine. Even at 30 days I can find pretty much what I’m looking for. And then there’s TP reservation finder (for the win)

#2 thing I didn’t miss was fast pass. Granted, I didn’t do many park days but the days I did go, I chose my parks wisely. I RD’d headliners and had a solid plan (and backup plan) before going in. Never waited in a line longer than 30 minutes.

#3 thing I didn’t miss was parades. Scoping out a spot early, sitting in the hot sun waiting, people breathing down your neck, etc… The cavalcades are great. Keep em’. Even better, tack some Xmas lights on those babies and send them out at night as well.

Now, there are a few things Im really going to miss when they go away…

#1 thing I’m going to miss are the cheap flights and the cancellation policy most airlines implemented due to the pandemic. You can’t beat $50 round trip, non-stop flights from New England to Florida when the planes were half full. Then when airlines opened up middle seats and planes got a bit fuller, it was nice to be able to book a “backup” flight (or two) knowing it could be cancelled if not needed.

#2 thing I’m going to miss is renting discounted DVC points. I’ve been able to stay at OKW, BCV, AKV (Jambo and Kidani) and coming up GFV, and Poly. All places I’ve never stayed before, and may never stay again. I rented points anywhere from $8 and up to $15 a point. I rented from Liners, DisBoard, and MouseOwners. The most I paid for a studio was $225 a night and the least was $80.

#3 thing I’m going to miss are the spontaneous trips. With airfare so low and discounted accomodations it’s been so easy to book a 2-3 day midweek trip or long weekend trip (now its true those 2-3 days usually turned into 4-5 days) but when’s the next time im going to be able to say… for under $1k my wife and I can fly down to FLA from N.E. for 6 days, rent a full size car for the week, stay in places like GFV, POLY, AKV, and CSR and just enjoy the warm weather? Probably never again.

15 Likes
2

Love the idea of “throwing lights on the cavalcades and send them out at night”!!! That’s really all we need!!

4 Likes
3

I agree except when I went lines were longer in Oct even on weekdays and it was hot so the one thing I do want back is FP for PM rides. I’m fine rope dropping three or four in the AM and then being allowed a couple when the park is at its hottest.

4

If they go back to the old way of rope dropping, I’m going to miss this current iteration. It was so much less stressful without the crushing crowd all rushing to go to the same ride at the same time. I suppose that if it becomes well known that they open the park and start certain rides before opening maybe it will organically revert back to what it was pre-covid, but I liked the new way so much better

2 Likes
5

I have never been more afraid than at a HS rope drop. My teenage son grabbed me and yelled don’t let go. It was insane and unsafe.

4 Likes
6

One thing I definitely miss is not needing these damn park reservations.
Simply because it forces me to buy tickets before I’m 100% sure just so I don’t run the risk of not getting what I want.
I almost never buy packages because I’m always on the hunt for the best deal, so I usually go for room only discount with discounted tickets from UT or convention tickets.

2 Likes
7

I agree with @Olafsdad and #s 1 - 3. Didn’t miss 180 days ADR, fast passes or parades. We did use the paper fast passes some, but more and more did rope drop and then leave the park about 11:30. Probably more about crowded walkways than long lines. Haven’t cared about parades in probably 25 years.
*** Except for 2013 when we hung out in Frontierland for the Electric Light Parade. A very tired DH was totally energized when he heard the parade coming. ***

I will miss social distancing. Nothing we do in our daily lives involves crowds.

I won’t miss mobile ordering, tho I suppose it’s here to stay.

I will miss having my sister being able to exchange into DVC. This was a thing for years. But the last five years, no availability.

I won’t miss QR codes for menus - conversely, I missed menus.

Hopefully the new security scanning is here to stay.

I haven’t heard anyone missing the parking trams. :thinking:

2 Likes
8

AGREED. we’ve had 3 pandemic trips to WDW, all spontaneous, less than 90 day planning.

2 Likes
9

This is/was my husband’s favorite thing at Disney. He is still hoping it will come back in some form. He also would get really energized and excited when it came down the street, and that is very out of character for him.

1 Like
10

Our first experience with rope drop was at MK shortly after the opening of new fantasy land. This was still when the welcome show happened on the train station (I actually really did like that show, but not the insanity that followed it.) The only person in our party who had a cell phone was DH because it wasn’t uncommon to not have a phone at that time either. Each adult carried a child, even the children that were well old enough to walk on their own two legs, because I was so terrified we were going to lose a kid or they were going to get trampled! I am also someone who is not considered a morning person… at all… especially on vacation… so I absolutely do not enjoy rope drop. BUT, if we are to do the things we want to do, necessary evils and all that jazz. We rope dropped both of our park days on our pandemic trip, and it was actually relaxed and fun. I think it was one of the most relaxed disney vacations we’ve had in a long time because there was a lot less stress right at park opening

3 Likes
11

Don’t miss the 180 ADR date. Although I’m a big fan of long range planning, I always found trying to arrange a meal schedule six months out to be a bit crazy.

Kind of miss Fast Passes, but mostly the old style paper fast passes.

Gonna miss online food ordering if that goes away after Covid. It was so awesome to send the order before I left the room and have it waiting when I got there. That is fantastic.

12

I agree, that this was great when it worked. When we were leaving MK, we were able to place an order at Captain Cook’s while on the ferry back to TTC, walked to pick it up, and had a dinner that we otherwise wouldn’t have had without mobile order. But there were some times that mobile order either didn’t seem necessary or the glitches we encountered rendered it useless. We had the biggest problems with it in HS, and had to not only go to the QS to order our food verbally but also had to take extra time to show the castmembers that it indeed was not working. I love the concept though, and hope they work the bugs out!

1 Like
13

This was us at Sunshine Seasons at Epcot. Tho we weren’t given an option to show mobile ordering wasn’t working for us. Just told, you have to mobile order.

We’d been seeing walk up availability periodically through the afternoon at Coral Reef but not at supper time. After mobile ordering wasn’t working we walked over to check in person. 30 minutes later we’re interacting with one of the best CM servers in years. :grin:

1 Like