Ok, so this post is hard to write for you all on multiple fronts. First, we did not share widely even with those close to us that we were doing this because we have seen a lot of judging going on about people taking trips or venturing out in this era of managing the ramifications of COVID-19. Second thing, this isn’t going to be an “endorsement” per say, or a “don’t go” type post either, the goal here is simply to share information in an effort to share first hand what an experience was.
Alright so having said all that, what did we do? Well, Labor Day weekend, we cut and ran to Disney World as a surprise for our kids. Yessss we went to the house of the mouse. At least partially anyway. We stayed in one of the Good Neighbor properties and we went to two out of four of the major parks, Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom. Overall, we had a great experience and things went very very well. Again, not an endorsement here, or a “don’t go”, just sharing our experience.
The first question we get asked the most is why? That’s an easy one actually. We were looking for a trip to take, that would be fun and have a chance to “take a break” for all of us in our family. We took a bit to make the decision but from our perspective, if there was a space that was going to, theoretically, pull out all the stops to keep people safe, a candidate for that would be Disney. So off we went!
So one question is where did you stay? Because of the fact we were only going to have a short weekend, we opted to stay off-site with one of the Good Neighbor properties- The Townplace Suites was as good or better for us this trip than we could have asked for. Situated just outside the western gate it was a quick 5-10 minutes into the parking areas and we were straight in from there. Townplace had gone to great lengths also to be safe. From tissues to use when touching elevator buttons, to seriously distanced check-ins (well beyond 6 feet) the hotel took many steps beyond what you may consider as minimally required. The parking was handled well also. Cars were spaced accordingly and a number of cast members to guide you in. Both of these facets were handled very well.
We actually moved through the bag checks, ticket line, and the temperature check lines fairly quickly. There were no hiccups that we could detect other than ones you might normally see (i.e. someone having to run a magic band twice, or something to that effect). Staff were really quick to point out in discrepancies in masks, they were regularly sharing information and directing guests as needed. Guests received the feedback well and everyone seemed to be playing ball (so to speak) with the staff directions.
Let’s talk about characters and their engagements with the guests. While it’s not the face to face interactions or the personal engagement 
that you may have come to expect from the Disney characters, I have to give them credit for creativity. There were several different ways that we saw them interacting with the people even though they couldn’t be “up close and personal”. The first of course was the cavalcades and some impromptu (appearing) parades. Those would pop up very quickly and mostly unexpectedly and it created several opportunities cheering, waving, photo ops, etc along the way. Another was appearing on decking or distance-able locations. The Winnie the Pooh characters appeared on a dining area front porch in the Magic Kingdom waving and saying hello. Also, Cinderella’s sisters had the castle deck staked out talking to passers-by and of course, in complete character. It was fun to see how they were interacting. Similarly in Hollywood Studios, the character parade, they would stop and pose for distance pictures and also interact from a distance as well. Chewbacca and Rey were on top of their speeder garage and interacting with passers-by as well.
More to come with the next post as we’ll talk ride lines, virtual ques, food lines, stores, and more.
