Oh! Another thing I wanted to mention for sports fans is how difficult it is right now to find a place to watch the game. We did go to DS for the hockey game one night, but it closed at 10, so we had to hurry back to the hotel to watch the rest from the room.
ESPN club and a lot of the other similar places aren’t open, and there just didn’t seem to be anywhere with several TVs in the Swan/Dolphin. For Saturday nights game we just watched in the room, but would have been nice to have somewhere to watch a Florida team in the Stanley Cup with other fans without having to drive!
For sports fans traveling this fall who hope to catch a game, just something to be aware of and keep an eye on as things reopen!
How did you feel being in “the crowd” waiting to get in, as far as social distancing? During “normal” times my husband HATES the rope drop crowd constantly creeping up on you, strollers pushing up against you, everyone so excited to get in that they forget manners … how did it feel during COVID times?
This was actually the least “crowded” or rushed I’ve ever felt at RD. You have your markers to wait on that are spaced out 6ft at the temp screening and because of that there is a pretty natural spacing of people into security (which is a BREEZE now with the new screeners) and the tapstiles. Then, since they aren’t holding people anywhere in the park until you get into a line, there isn’t that bottleneck of people like there was in the hub at MK or the bridge to Pandora.
It also helps that the different transportation options slow for different waves of people arriving. So they really just don’t ever allow super large lines to form at RD before they open the gates.
We’re booked for December so I am hopeful that some more places to eat are open by then.
Thanks so much for the re-cap! The ability to walk to HS is why I looked into the Swan. We haven’t done any of the new SWGE stuff so I am hoping we get to ride everything.
That would definitely work for a daytime game. We did CityWorks right next to it and it was great too. Just for a night game the earlier closing time isn’t ideal.
Haven’t been around to see how this trip wrapped up. Work has been off the hook this week and I have not been able to step away for even a moment. Planning to catch up today. Hope re-entry has been kind!
Thanks for sharing your trip. It is bittersweet for me - and probably for all of us “playing from home” - but mostly it helps quell the sadness of not being there myself. I appreciate the honest evaluation of the Covid effect on everything; you covered so many different aspects. I like that it was not sugar-coated and all “we drank the kool-aid” but real, honest, good-with-the-bad.
I hope you are doing well back at home and I sure hope you remain healthy. May re-entry be kind!!!
Thanks! It was a lot of fun doing this “live” and it made all the little moments nice to know others would appreciate them. My travelling group are Disney fans, but don’t have any idea the level of planning and strategy that I use when preparing for a trip, so will never fully understand some things!
Ultimately, no one can answer if it is a good time to go to Disney for someone else. It will be completely different for each person based on what they are comfortable with. So I hoped to at least give a clear picture of what it was like so that people can determine if those factors are enough to not go, or are something they can handle for the benefits.
I did AK on a Monday. We arrived at the parking gates at 8am for a 9am open and they held us there for a bit. We got parked and headed into the gates around 8:30 and headed straight to FOP for about a 10 minute wait once they started running the ride (not until just before 9).
I’m not sure what time I would say is the latest you should get in line, but by the time we left the ride at 9:15 there was already a posted wait of 75 minutes.
I was there about 5 minutes behind @TarHeelTiff having arrived via Disney bus. I think I was likely in the second run of FOP and saw the same wait times when I got off.
The same happened to us in August. We arrived around 7:30 (8:00 AM park opening then) and got right in line for FOP. They didn’t start loading the ride until 8:00 sharp. We ended up waiting right outside the lab area of the queue. By the time we got off, the line was quite long. However, later in the afternoon we rode basically walk on (but it takes a while to walk through that queue!) and then again with a minimal wait just after the lab. So if you don’t get there early enough, it pays to wait. I’m going again in October, so I’ve been checking the Lines app periodically and it always seems to go down to at least under 30 minutes in the afternoon.
Went back to reread your recap of the Swan (very helpful!), since I’m strongly considering it for Dec for just my wife and me. Most questions I would have are pretty much answered there already, and I know we would have to uber from and back to MCO. I guess what I’m still unsure of is the macro view, does the overall experience feel “Disney” enough staying at Swan or Dolphin compared to a Disney property? Or do you really feel off-site when in the resort, like you’ve left the bubble? Cost-wise, it’s a significant bump up from there to either CSR or CBR, even figuring in the extra resort fee (we’re ruling out POP). We wouldn’t plan on doing much at the resort itself if enough things are open around the boardwalk. And I don’t care about using MB to open door or charge purchases either. If I’m sold on this idea, then I will try to further break down Swan vs Dolphin. Thanks again for the great trip report!!
… how did it feel during COVID times?
