Nice!
What time did you pull up to the toll plaza to get that placement?
We actually got there about 5 min before 8 am and the toll booth CM told us to loop around once and we should be good. We looped thru the parking lot and back around World Dr, took the u-turn and lined right up. It was probably at 8 on the nose.
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I’m not sure if it’s the lighter boats with less people or what, but we stayed relatively dry in the front row. Just from the chest up got wet, and dried quick with 2 rides on BTM.
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So with the rain coming in shortly after the last update I posted, my phone and camera stayed in the backpack and under the poncho. So my pictures dwindled. We ended up only missing a couple things on our list. We were standing feet away from the entrance to Philharmonic theater when they announced that they would not be showing any more shows as the building was being used as a rain shelter. This is a first we had not experienced, but radar said we couldn’t just sit it out. Not a passing shower. We took the opportunity to put our flip flops back on and trek on. Managed a couple more rides, shows, shopping, and ice cream.
Pumpkin spice sundae anyone?
Eventually, the rain lightened up enough to get 2 walk on rides to 7DMT at the end of the day. We walked out of the 2nd ride at exactly 6 pm and went straight to the ferry boat to say goodbye to Magic Kingdom. It was sad, but we might be back in Dec. And next, we move over to Universal for 4 days. I plan to continue the trip report for that.
Now, we are back at Kona Cafe for some delicious dinner. Yum!
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What are you having to eat at Kona? Is that the pork belly noodle bowl? Looks delicious!
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Thank you, no. 
Sorry you missed Philharmonic; way to Poncho-Up and Liner-On.
Great to hang in there and score the 7DMT!!
Dinner looks so good!!
Nice way to end the day!!
Thanks for taking us along!!
Will look forward to your adventures at Universal!!
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That is the pork belly noodle bowl. They warn you that it’s spicy but it’s not that bad. But tasty! Also got the Airline Chicken, great choice as well. And dessert…well just look at these yummy goodies!
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I’m not much for pumpkin spice usually, but wanted to try something different. It’s actually not a strong pumpkin spice flavor, very mellow. Made for some good ice cream with the mound of whip cream and sprinkles.
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Since Universal tends to be a different animal, I want to give my takeaways on post Covid Disney.
- Disney has really put everything they can in place for safety. It’s obvious everywhere.
- Some people just don’t care. It didn’t matter what safety measures Disney had, some people will do anything they can to not have to comply. Whether it be mask rules or distancing. Doesn’t matter. We had people stand way too close and we felt uncomfortable enough to leave. We also watched people shake their heads at CMs who read the rules. And also watched people remove their masks in line (this is a bad one) only to put it back on when a CM was getting close.
- Disney is trying to hold compliance, but at current park capacity (when we experienced Sat and Sun before Labor Day), Disney didn’t have enough CMs to keep up with all the non-compliance. The only day we felt there was good compliance was our slowest day. Our busiest day was the worst.
- The line markers are helpful, but also agitating. I don’t know how many times I had to search for the right line, or the end of a line, or just a place to stand where there was no line. They have lines for every stand, every building, every ride, etc. At one point, we had to move 5 times waiting outside Oga’s because we kept accidently standing on line markers. The only safe place was smack in the middle of the aisle.
- Mobile ordering is a breeze, but it’s easy to forget. Several times we walked up somewhere just wanting a quick snack or drink, only to have to go back to our phones to mobile order first.
- The shortened park hours may be a problem for non-locals or non annual pass holders. A single day at a park may not be enough with these shortened hours. We ran out of time on both Tues and Wed once the new schedule kicked in.
- There is a severe lack of food options at every park.
- Don’t count on your favorite shops being open.
- Indoor dining is not that bad. Their spacing is great everywhere we went. No restaurant felt crowded.
- Don’t let the length of the lines fool you. It’s really hard to get in a line when it wraps around the side, but you have to trust that it’s not that long.
- Expect that you will get stopped in line for cleaning cycles. The lines continuously move most of the time, with all the spacing, but they come to a direct halt for cleanings. That can be agitating, but just have to whip out the phone and do a trip report update while you wait.
I intend to report out on Universal the same way and will continue our last 4 days in sunny FL here. Until tomorrow…
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Thanks for sharing, love following along! Would you feel that people not complying with masks/social distance markers put a damper on the trip? It’s one thing to quickly move by someone who isn’t wearing their mask properly, but I just don’t think I could handle being in line with people not following safety protocols. It’s the one big factor making me question our upcoming trip. I’m of the mindset of if I don’t feel safe I’m going to skip it (rides, stores, whatever). Do you think I’d be skipping a lot? 
Thanks! Enjoy Universal, can’t wait to see it all!
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I would really say it depended on how busy the park was. Our last day at MK was great with compliance. Again, it’s considered compliance to have it off as long as you are stationary and consuming food or drink. We passed a ton of people who weren’t necessarily consuming, but at least they were seated off to the side and that didn’t bother us. The worst days were Sat and Sun, which were both full capacity days at all parks. Disney just didn’t seem to have enough CMs to monitor compliance as well. And the lines were where I felt many were trying to sneak in breaks from their masks. I can’t say whether you would feel comfortable or not…we personally felt a little uncomfortable at times, but would just back off an extra ground marker to accommodate following a group with compliance issues. It didn’t ruin the day, but we did have to stay more aware of surroundings to feel safe.
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First day of Universal…we packed up our Disney room and headed out to Universal parks. We will check into our hotel later tonight. Since we arrived by about 9:30, we walked straight in to Universal Studios and headed for the train over to IOA. Since IOA hadn’t opened yet, we are waiting in a significant line to get on. But, hey, we have 4 days. No hurry!
We already feel like Universal is taking a stronger approach at ensuring you continue to move to the next available marker. Disney didn’t ever pay attention to lines moving or not, but Universal is keeping us going.
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Made it on the train. Cabin all to ourselves!
Went to Hagrids first…I have to say that this coaster is AMAZING! This was so much fun. I believe that you may get a different feeling when riding bike vs. sidecar, so we are going to try again tomorrow morning and switch spots. We also got a ride on Forbidden Journey and Hippogriff, all before lunch.
As we walked around IOA, we saw several characters on makeshift stages for photo ops. This is definitely different than what Disney is doing. And easy to get pics.
The Jurassic Park coaster is looking good!
Now, we are waiting thru a brief line for Spiderman.
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Any idea why all your selfies appear to be flipped? It makes it hard to read the masks.
Most smartphones have the option to do a mirror image when you take a selfie (to facilitate using the front-facing camera as a mirror). You can change this in the settings.
The masks say “This mask makes me look Riddikulus” (a reference to Harry Potter). And “Mmmm … Social Distance.”
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Yeah, I probably need to change my camera settings.
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After eating a quick lunch at Terrace Falls in IOA, we noticed that both Gringotts and Despicable Me are both hovering around 10 min. So we are back to the train station again, going the other way.
Mobile ordering of food was just as easy here as Disney. We walked inside to wait for our food, they sat us at an assigned table, and the food was brought out to us via GPS location. Easy peasy!
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Finished Gringotts in about 10 min, moved on to both Transformers and Minions, both at about 5-10 min wait. Now, walking back to Simpsons and caught a few photos along the way.
But look at these streets…they are empty!
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Thank you for continuing your report at Universal! We love both Disney and Universal- really enjoying the pics!
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