We just got back from visiting Disney during Spring Break and while it is different nowadays, you can still find some magic. The parks are operating at 35% capacity currently. However, it felt closer to 100%. Maybe that is because the lines are forced out into the park winding all around. Maybe it is because there are no shows and few restuarants open. Either way, the parks felt very crowded. It is important to note that there are no fast passes right now. Also, you need to plan ahead and make park reservations for each day…even if you have a park hopper. Unfortunately, there are also none of the night shows such as fireworks. However, we didn’t let that stop our fun. After a few days at Disney, we headed over to Universal to continue the adventure!
Resort
We stayed at the new Riviera Resort. It is beautiful inside and the rooms are immaculate. Our room had a Queen bed, a murphy bed, and a single bed. I love that it had separate shower and bath areas. It was also great that the room came with a little kitchenette area! We had a coffee maker, sink, cupboards, small refrigerator and microwave.
There are two pools. One is quieter and seemed mainly for adults. The other one had a slide and plenty of kids having fun. The hot tubs were open here but were closed at Universal hotels. Masks were supposedly required when not in the pool. However, most people wore them in and out of the pool area and that was it. I was surprised you needed them at all in the pool area to be honest. The pool area was great but I expected a little bit more being a new resort. My kids enjoyed the Hard Rock pool over at Universal much better.
Food
There are few places to sit and dine. Those places that are open, require reservations far in advance. They do have the mobile orders process nailed down. However, the food is lacking much variety. Many of the menus were pretty limited. I think I ate a sandwich and fries for just about every meal. We did bring a lot of drinks and snacks with us which did help save some money. I highly recommend bringing what you can with you to the resorts.
You can use the Disney App to place a Mobile Order. You choose a time window and then when you are about 10 minutes away, place your final order and complete the last step. Then you wait outside the restaurant until your order is ready. The process was efficient and we never had to wait long. Once done, you will receive a notification and you can then go in and pick up your food. We enjoyed the food options much better at Universal.
Transportation
The Riviera Resort is along the Skyliner. You can use the Skyliner to travel to Hollywood Studios or Epcot. From the resort, the Skyliner is your only option to get to those parks. There are no shuttles or buses from the Riviera to Hollywood Studios or Epcot.
When traveling from the resort to Hollywood Studios you have to get off the Skyliner and stand in another line to get back on to head to the park. Our first morning we were heading to Hollywood Studios and had no idea what we were in for when we stopped at the mid-point. The line was extremely long and about 40 minutes just to get back on to head to Hollywood Studios. That was frustrating. Then when leaving in the evening from the park the line can get long again. However, any other times during the midday Skyliner lines were almost non-existent. From the resort, traveling to Epcot was a breeze. You jump on the Skyliner and it is a straight shot with no stopping.
We wanted to take the Shuttle over to the Magic Kingdom but we were told the buses come about every 35 minutes. Which I assumed really meant 40-45 minutes. Therefore, we opted to drive over to the Magic Kingdom. Since we were staying at a Disney Resort, parking was free. We also drove to Animal Kingdom. So I can’t really tell you how the bus system was at the resort. I am spoiled because at the Polynesian they seemed to come around every 10-15 minutes.
Disney Springs
We started off visiting Disney Springs our first evening there. The boys were looking forward to going to the Lego Store. Once you arrive, everyone is funneled into one entrance. They take your temperature and verify you have an ‘appropriate’ mask (no bandanas, neck gaitors, valves, etc.). It was extremely crowded and difficult to walk-around. Apparently all the stores and restaurants are operating at a very limited capacity.
We headed straight to the Lego store. Once there we found the long line wrapped around the outside. As we attempt to get in line we are told the line is closed since it was so long. My boys were crushed but decided they would enjoy going to the Disney store. Well…..that turned out to be another long line with a 40 minute wait. I refuse to stand in a long line waiting to buy over-priced souvenirs. Disney Springs was disappointing so just be prepared and know what you are getting into if you decide to visit. I will say it was easier to get dining reservations there then at the other parks and resorts. However, you still have to make them far in advance.
Hollywood Studios
The day you decide to go to Hollywood Studios you need to be on the Disney app and ready to get into the Virtual Queue for Rise of the Resistance early in the morning (assuming you want on this ride). You have 2 chances that day to get in the virtual queue. The first chance is at 7:00am the day of your park reservation. We had the world clock going and kept refreshing the screen waiting for the JOIN option to appear. Once it did, I immediately clicked on it and then clicked the next button and by then the queue was already full! This seemed impossible since it couldn’t have taken me more than a couple seconds. I was devastated for my boys. This was the main attraction for us. Luckily you got one other chance that same day at 1pm. You have to be in the Park at the time. We were sitting down for lunch and I was afraid I didn’t have a good enough signal but somehow we got in the virtual queue. We got our group number which was far off. We ended up going back to the hotel, taking a nap, and coming back a couple hours later to get in line when our group was up.
The ride itself is superb. There is so much going on that it is hard to take it all in at once and appreciate all the detail. However, the production is quite amazing. It is a shame to know that people visit to experience this and don’t get the chance even when it is at limited capacity.
The lines at Hollywood Studios were the longest but we were able to ride everything we wanted to try.
- Rock and Roller Coaster: This is an indoor roller coaster with an awesome blast off in the beginning. The wait wasn’t long for this yet as this was our first ride in the morning.
- Toy Story Mania: The line for this became short in the afternoon so we jumped on. It is another shooter game but we always love a little competition. This line was 55 minutes and we waited about 40 minutes.
- Slinky Dog: This roller coaster was about my speed LOL. It was smooth and fairly slow. Great roller coaster for kids. Everyone enjoyed this one.
- Smugglers Run: This was one of the longest lines at 75 minutes and it took the full time.
- Star Tours: I didn’t go on this one but heard it was OK, not great.
- Tower of Terror: This was my absolute favorite at Hollywood Studios! The line was hideous because most of the time we were outside baking in the sun. We waited a little over an hour for this one but so glad we did.
If you want to build your own light saber you get in a virtual line once again. We waited and waited and finally found a shop at Star Tours that had light sabers. They weren’t build your own, but they are still great and the kids love them.
Epcot
We didn’t spend too much time at Epcot. We got there in the morning and headed straight to Soarin Around the World. We might have waited 15 minutes at the most. This ride was superb! It is like you are hang gliding all over scenic places around the globe. I loved it.
Next we headed over to Nemo. This ride had no wait and is very cute. Once you get off the ride you are inside the aquarium. My boys could spend hours looking at sharks. However, they kept everyone moving in one direction and you couldn’t stay in one place for long. They were very strict about the flow of foot traffic in every room.
We were hoping to hit the Frozen ride next but when we walked by we couldn’t even find the end of the line. It was over an hour wait and the boys weren’t down for waiting that long on a ‘girl ride’. By this time the lines for everything were long. We walked around, grabbed a snack and left to go back to the hotel pool.
Animal Kingdom
We first hit up the Expedition Everest Roller Coaster. This was another home run. Everyone agreed this was a fantastic ride! Next we went on the Dinosaur ride. This was a good one for the boys. Not too far outside of that ride is a good playground area. However, it was closed. That was disappointing.
Next we headed over to do Pandora Flight of Passage. The wait time for this was 75 minutes, the line was sooooo long. However, it did move quickly and we got on the ride after about an hour. It is a really cool ride. However, even after 2 dramamine this ride gave me some motion sickness. I didn’t toss my cookies but wanted to lay down afterwards. It is a simulation where you are riding on the back of a banshee. If you don’t get motion sickness then you will love this one! We were going to do the other Pandora ride (River Journey) but the line was over an hour and the boys opted out of that one. I was spent and my husband was dying of the heat at this point so we headed back to the hotel for some naps and swimming.
Magic Kingdom
The best park ever! I made the mistake of thinking that the kids had already been here before and wouldn’t want to spend much time there because nothing was new for them. We arrived in the evening and unfortunately only had a couple hours before closing. The lines were still long for Splash and Space Mountain. However, we were still able to jump on Thunder Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain. The only regret I had was not alloting more time for the Magic Kingdom. These rides are all classics and I felt like we could’ve spent more time here. This is the one park where I walk in and feel the magic instantly!
Even though the Riveria hotel was extremely nice, next time I will probably stay at the Grand Floridian or Polynesian. I miss being close to the Magic Kingdom. Plus we love having the option of taking the monorail or a boat ride.
Tips
Here is a quick list of a few helpful hints if you visit Disney…..
- Downloand the Disney World app on your phone.
- Before you buy your park tickets, check the dates to make sure no parks are sold out for your dates.
- Once you purchase your tickets, reserve your dates for the parks ASAP.
- If you want to sit down somewhere for a meal, make your reservations early.
- Don’t forget to order your Magic Bands.
- You can check into your hotel on the app and when your room is ready it will provide your room number. No need to go to the front desk anymore!
- Get to the parks early. If a park opens at 10, you can get in at 9. Pick ahead of time the ride you plan on getting in line for….obviously one that would usually have a longer line.
- The day you are going to go to Hollywood Studios, get online early and be prepared to try to join that virtual queue for Rise of Resistence at 7am. Make sure you have a good signal! You can do this from the hotel. However, to join the 1pm queue you have to be in the park.
- Prep kids to keep a mask on all day.
- Bring extra masks. Since you have to wear a mask all day, you might want to change up mid-day. I imagine during the summer when it is very hot and humid, those masks are going to get sweaty and moist. I hate to think all the bacteria we are breathing in. The kids masks especially get dirty so bring plenty.
- You are going to be standing around outside a lot so put on plenty of sunscreen.
- Bring water.
- Take a mid-day break. I love going back to the hotel for some pool time or a nap.
- Don’t forget matching shirts!
- ENJOY!!!!
Summary
If someone would have told me before I booked Disney that it isn’t the same because of all the Covid restrictions, I wouldn’t have listened and I still would have booked. So I am not going to say now isn’t the time to go. I will just say be prepared for the experience to be different HOWEVER there still is some magic there! Go and enjoy and just understand that there will be long lines, no parades, no shows, no character meet & greets, no fast passes, etc. With that being said, it is Disney! It is still fun and amazing.
Disney is extremely strict about marks and social distancing. The Cast Members walk around almost policing everyone. If anyone’s mask slides below their nose for a second they are on it. My boys were having a drink while we were waiting in line for hours and they got in trouble because they took their mask down to drink while moving a couple feet forward in line. I even heard them telling kids in strollers to pull up their mask. Just make sure the little ones are prepared to keep a mask on for hours at a time.
Go into the experience knowing there are changes but if you are ready to have fun, you will have fun! You will be making amazing memories that will last forever.
Stay tuned for my upcoming review on Universal in comparison to Disney during this crazy time! I am sure you will be waiting with breathless anticipation 😉
Checkout our visit to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party here which I highly recommend!
Also, here is a review from our stay at the Polynesian!
Follow along on our adventures here!
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