October 2020 trip planning

Walt Disney World
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This is a thread to discuss — in some cases perhaps hypothetically — priorities and strategies for an October 2020 trip. If you think that people who go to theme parks during pandemics are mass murderers or otherwise criminally insane, feel free to express that view . . . somewhere else. Don’t be killing my buzz. It’s my Dalmation Day.

I can — and in all likelihood will — make quite a last-minute decision to actually go ahead with my trip to Orlando in October but I’d still like to enjoy the fun of thinking about how the trip will (or would) look like.

I’m fortunate that I’ve visited WDW relatively frequently in the last few years so this is very much not a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me. That makes the planning substantially easier.

I grow ever more clear that the theme of the trip is simply being there and enjoying the sights and sounds and atmosphere. But equally it’s about being safe.

What that means to me in practice is that rides are not a priority. Any ride that may pose, for example, social distancing challenges (sure there are rules and markings and so on, but not everyone follows the rules) is crossed off the list.

One of the biggest challenges is where to eat. A real spanner in those works is that resort-hopping is (currently) not allowed. I was thinking that places like Geyser Point and Three Bridges would (a) be quiet during the day and (b) be fairly safe as they’re basically open-air. (But equally, somewhere like 1900PF would be out, because it’s a wholly enclosed indoor space.)

So I’m going to be thinking about how to have an enjoyable and safe trip. With minimal expectations. And I welcome suggestions and positive contributions to those thoughts.

I will also be visiting UOR, so feel free to chip in on that side of things, too.

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So . . . let’s start with MK. I’m just going to give thoughts and examples as they occur to me.

Splash Mountain strikes me as quite a good ride to choose, provided — and this may doom the whole thing before it starts — the line is not outside the regular line. Because the regular line is mostly outdoors and I can imagine social distancing being fairly easy. And the boats are cleaned regularly, you don’t really have to touch them. And on the ride you’re nowhere near anyone else.

Skipper Canteen seems like a good place to eat. Although it’s indoors, the main room is pretty cavernous. And it’s not that popular, despite quite cool theming and interesting food.

Tony’s is notoriously bad (is that really fair?) but there’s an outdoor area with a fun view of Town Square. You might even see characters on the station balcony if you’re lucky.

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An upbeat attitude - great! We all need that.

I heartily endorse Geyser Point as a midday meal. We did that last December and it was wonderful - so serene, on a lake shore, no sign of the usual Disney chaos (buses, crowds, noise) due to the landscaping and location. We also took time to explore the “train room” on the ground floor of Boulder Ridge. It was quiet, cool, and informative!

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I personally think the plan is genius — but will Disney allow it?

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I must have missed this. So only people staying at a resort can visit, including the restaurants?

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It’s been posted that you need a res. for dinning to go into any resort, but someone wrote that if you are staying on property they are allowing visits to other resorts. The only reported check points for entering resort grounds were at the security gate. I’ve not seen or heard reporting that they check guests res. coming off internal transportation at a resort…

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The couple of times I’ve eaten at Tony’s it was fine – not great, but certainly fine. Skipper’s, though, is great and even pre-Covid was never even half full. Go there.

On Splash, I probably will go to say good-bye in September. It actually was far from my favorite, but it had certain cute-ness. If you didn’t know or blocked out the context. I am VERY excited for the re-imagination to Tiana’s

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So I’ve been trawling lists of attractions and restaurants at each park.

MK
I’d feel fine with / be willing to “risk”:
HM (individual ride vehicles, open air line)
IASW (easy to separate groups on boats, open air line)
PeopleMover (very easy to socially distance provided line is short)
Pooh (individual ride vehicle, open air line)
PP (not as good as Pooh: line indoors and may be long)
Splash (mostly outdoor line, individual boat per group)
7DMT (I’m willing to skip BTM and Space, but I want at least one rollercoaster)

I’d eat at Skipper (see earlier post) and Aloha Isle (outdoors). If allowed, I’d consider Geyser Point, or GF Café (mostly to visit GF).

EP
Soarin’ (assuming they don’t fill rows, line is indoors, but very open)
SSE (individual ride vehicles, line is outdoors)
World Showcase (avoiding indoors)

I’d eat at Regal Eagle (outdoors)

HS
ROTR (too good to miss, lol)
SDD (outdoor line, good separation from other riders possible)
TSM (individual ride vehicles, but long indoor line)
ASS (individual ride vehicles, outdoor line)
TOT (mostly outdoor line, probably easy to separate groups)

I’d eat at Ronto Roasters and the Milk Stand (both outdoors)

AK
FOP (slightly dodgy choice, line is mostly indoors, but long; ride vehicles need wiping down before sitting down — I’d do this myself if necessary)
NRJ (line is outdoors-ish, I think? one boat per group, I assume)
Up! (theatre is open-air, seating is socially distanced)

Eat at Satu’li (outdoor seating available)

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Sounds like a great plan although I would definitely put BTMRR as having an edge over SDMT.

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It’s a tricky one. BTMRR is kinda loud. And the regular line is awful. It has nice views, but so does 7DMT. I like the mining scene in 7DMT — I like to sing along with it.

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I can’t argue with that- I guess I would have to do both!

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Agreed. The coaster part is just a little fun bonus around the mine scene. BTMRR is a better coaster, and the shorter wait makes it much better in my opinion.

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Have I recently just become very boring? A few weeks ago when I thought Disney was dead to me and I was saying my goodbyes, everyone was “No! Don’t go! We love your threads!” But since I decided to stick around and visit in October, my threads are bombing.

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You are NOT boring! anything but

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It’s probably because there is more action on the forum right now with the parks opening.

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Not boring. I’m glad you’re reconsidering and replanning October! It seems like you derive a lot of joy from WDW planning and we all need a little joy right now.

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My family loved Skippers. DH got the whole fried fish, DD got the steak, and I got the lamb. They were all really, really good. Skippers is on our list of favorite restaurants. Our CM was awesome and so funny. I love the Jungle Cruise and Skippers was just as fun and funny. I guess I’m in the minority, but I thought Tony’s was good. It’s a theme park restaurant for heaven’s sake. I’m not expecting James Beard award winning restaurants.

Watching some of the live streams on YouTube, I’ve been making a list of things I want to do next trip like visiting more of the stores just to check them out, paying more attention to the details of the buildings, and really checking out the landscaping and flowers.

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You are anything but boring :slight_smile: I haven’t been on the forums much in the past few weeks for exactly the reason you stated. It became depressing, but now I’m back to see how the re-opening is going. If you go I’d be happy to read your report and live vicariously. We had to cancel because most of us can’t handle masks for that long. I don’t have any specific advice for you, but I’m generally trying to use this time as an opportunity whenever possible. Our original summer plans are long out the window, but we did a short beach trip that we’d never considered before and had a good time. With our town pool closed I also discovered a great playground and splash pad that’s quite nearby. Hopefully a slower paced trip with more time spent wandering will prove quite enjoyable, and you’ll reminisce about it next time you take a fast-paced trip and pack it all in!

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Are you planning to split your time with WDW and universal now?

I have no travel plans but these are great list to think about.

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Yes. I’m not sure of the split or the priorities right now. It could be two UOR, four WDW.

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