Hi! I have a question for you about droid depot. How long did you wait after your check in time? Asking bc my hubs has Savi before the kids have DD and there could be some overlap I’m wondering if he’ll make it back to us before they call us in. Kids are 6,7, &9 so I think I can manage them alone but would be nice to have another grown up to help 
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We didn’t wait very long. The CM checking us in did say they had some flexibility for checkin (I was concerned about my BG and lunch ADR timing). While you’ll be on your own picking out droid parts there is a CM for every two builders so that will help you out too!
Ok that is really good to know, thank you!!
The family is over rope dropping parks but we still managed to get to AK by 8:30. After watching the AK episodes on Disney+ my animal-loving DD has decided she wants to work at AK when she grows up so she was really looking forward to today. Hit the the highlights including a decent dunking on Kali. What I don’t understand is why it was hot and sunny the entire time except when we were on Kali and immediately after? And just as with the safari you tend to get the backsides of a lot
of animals, so too was our luck for the character boats. We managed to eventually get them but most the day we saw the backend of a boat slip out of view.
Generally distancing in lines have been good but there have been some quirks by location (or at least that’s how I’m noticing them). MK had issues with irregular spacing and blind corners so people were frequently overshooting and then getting stuck between two groups. At AK there seemed to be more group spreading- groups taking up all the space between two “stand here” markers. Big groups I get, but 3?
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So I accidentally uploaded pics and then attempted to edit them out. Unfortunately that resulted in the garbled mess above but I’m afraid to mess with it again! 
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I thought it was a test. 
BTW, I passed.
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Discovery Cove day! I was looking forward to this- I’d heard good things, my kids love water and we needed a slower paced day. For anyone unfamiliar it’s an all-inclusive park with various sea life interactions and tropical themed pools. Rack rate is expensive but I picked up tickets during a 40% sale so worth getting on their email list if you’ve got a trip and you’re thinking of going.
Arrival/breakfast: they encourage you to arrive at 7:30 but my crew is beginning to rebel against early mornings. Got there about 8 and we had a sizable line for check-in. Their buffet has been modified so you ask for what you want from the attendants like back in the day school lunches. Fare was so-so but filling. After eating we picked up our wetsuits and snorkels.
Water activities: the water areas opened at 9 and we went to the lazy river. The water is warm which I personally loved. The river was well designed, quite long at 8ft deep in different spots. You’re also forced to go under two waterfalls which act as gates to the aviary. The otter interaction/exhibit was less than expected but the animals themselves were active which thrilled DD. There’s an area for snorkeling with fish and rays but we didn’t spend too much time there- the water was much cooler and the area much more crowded.
Dolphin interaction: we upgraded to the dolphin package and we enjoyed it immensely. They modified the swim portion to comply with COVID guidelines but you still get to glide, pet and interact with the dolphins.
After a disappointing lunch (remember my comment about school lunches? The food was rather reminiscent of school food 
) we headed back to do a couple of laps in the lazy river.
Some COVID thoughts: if I had to rank the parks for our perceived sense of compliance we would rank DC below UO and WDW. While they have sanitizer and space markers, there’s not a lot of use. Because masks aren’t used in the pools or while eating you’re counting on your fellow travelers to keep their distance and all too often they don’t. My DH eventually sat out because he was getting frustrated with it. All involved liked the park but not during COVID.
My only picture was from our arrival. Strongly recommend a waterproof camera/phone case!
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Went to dinner at Whispering Canyon mostly because I wanted to see the lodge. Could tell that they’d changed the lighting on the castle so I came in to check it out (family just wanted to get back to BLT). It’s not the same but it’s still impressive to me. And the lighting of the surrounding trees is a nice touch…
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I like the second picture! That is beautiful! 
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I dropped off that last day because, well, one loses energy on a 9-day Orlando trip…
We decided on a second HS day and while it was pretty overcast the rain held off. Since it was cloudy we decided to stand in line MFSR. Pretty good, but not as good as RotR. Although I did enjoy watching my DH and DD try to coordinate the “flying”… let’s just say there was some damage to ship! Speaking of RotR we got BG12 which I take as a personal achievement (and if you say “lottery” I’ll say “I can’t hear you”). Also took the Skyliner just for a break after lunch. Kids loved it but I kept wondering if we were near the high wind limit 
) I see many HS days in our future- DS has decided RotR is his favorite WDW ride and DD said ToT.
We got a couple of rides in our last day at MK before catching our plane home- and the rain- yesterday (loved being a short walk from MK just wish we could’ve done it more with PH ticket!).
A few closing thoughts:
- I’m now in the no FPP camp. Lines just seemed to move- which even when long mentally was easier to handle because we were moving.
- By far the sketchiest time re: COVID is the airport. If I had to do it over I’d probably drive. People are traveling again and the airport just isn’t designed to handle social distancing. The design at MCO to have all the restaurants in one tiny cluster is a SD nightmare- especially since unlike UO and WDW they don’t have anyone enforcing mask usage.
- While I missed the fireworks, I think I missed park hopping more
THANK YOU to everyone who has answered questions and made suggestions over the last several months. Even if I didn’t comment I made note (a special shout out to the post about playing “Heads Up” in line…)
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I especially appreciate your fast pass opinion.
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I’m quite nervous about the airports! Especially the airplane. If we’re gonna get COVID, we’ll get it there. We leave tomorrow!! Thank you so much for the fantastic Fairy Godmailer mail! My son is sooo excited for him and his brother to fly on an airplane and see Mickey Mouse!
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After speaking with a friend who works for Delta, he explained exactly how the air filtration system works in the planes. As a result, I’m no longer concerned about the flight. The one key thing is to make sure the air vent is blowing on your face. It is fed with fresh air, and doing so helps keep cabin air away from your face.
But they are also replacing the HEPA filters in the planes twice as often as they need to. He also mentioned that the entire volume of cabin air is replaced every 20 minutes.
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Yes and no. The flight itself, if everyone is following the rules, seems good to go. However, the whole process of loading & unloading a full plane (and both my flights were completely full) is where the exposure is more likely to occur. The military study that United proudly touts during it’s preflight video assumes everyone is wearing a mask- but then the flight attendants hand out drinks and those masks come off. The dude sitting next to me never put his back on 
which I unfortunately didn’t notice for about 45 min (what can I say, my movie was good!).
To me it’s the airport. You have to work harder to keep your space than you do at home or the parks and when you can’t you just wish there was a CM to explain that the mask should go over the nose…
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You’ll have a great trip! The airport for us was a bit anxiety inducing for us but we carried some sanitizer and just found empty nooks where we could.
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This is extremely helpful. I would have guessed the opposite on the idea that it would expose you to more air as it rushes past you. But, then I always thought that the cabin air was cleaned as often as the blankets.
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