How to Navigate Disney During a Pandemic

Amidst the uncertainty of traveling during a pandemic, we braved the crowds and donned our masks for a magical time with our family. Read on for our top tips for making the most of your Walt Disney World vacation during unprecedented times!

Today I'm covering what to expect from a Walt Disney World theme park visit while Covid-19 restrictions persist. Although we have traveled to Disney more than 11 times before, we shared your apprehension about traveling during a pandemic but returned from our magical week thankful we booked a vacation at the most magical place on Earth!

"Arrive early, honor health and safety guidelines, and be flexible!“

Our Top 3 Tips for Making the Most of Your Disney Vacation in 2021:

Arrive Early

The Golden Hour... It's been written about many times. That glorious hour after park opening when you and your crew could tackle up to five rides in an hour before throngs of people made their way down main street to capture the perfect castle photo. Times have changed. We had been successul navigating our crew through that magic golden hour before but this year was different. This was our first visit during a spring break week and our first visit during a pandemic. Here is what we learned and what I wished we knew the first two days of our vacation:

Although unpublished, during our visit Disney's theme park parking lots opened up to one and a half hours before park opening! It is beneficial to designate the early riser in your family to set an alarm and plan ahead so that you may arrive by car or Disney transportation at least one hour prior to park opening.

Disney's theme parks began admitting guests through park turnstiles up to one hour before official park opening. It seems as though these changes are to avoid crowds forming at guest entry points. Disney handled this very well and is one change that I really appreciated. I believe a similar change had been made prior to pandemic capacity restrictions. For example, main street and it's shops have been open for approximately one hour before official park opening in the past. However, due to changes in rope drop procedures early park entry is even more critical than ever before.

Cue lines began admitting guests and rides began operating anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes prior to official park opening hours. What!?! We did not know this was happening prior to arriving on our first day. The physical rope drop for entry into certain areas or lands in the parks seems to have been temporarily done away with. There were no cast members with ropes or signs holding back guests ready to speedwalk to their first ride. Instead, once through health, security, and ticket checks we were able to proceed through the lands and into cue lines. For example, we were admitted into the park and in line for Soarin' in Epcot at 10:36 when the official park opening was published as 11 AM. On our second day at Epcot, the ride was not operating until 10:45, but the same procedures were applied. We experienced similar proceedings at both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. (We did not visit Animal Kingdom on this trip.)

Honor Health and Safety Guidelines

We felt very safe during our visit to Walt Disney World theme parks. Everyone's threshold for safety during this unusual health crisis is unique. For our family, we have been working with the public throughout the past year due to the nature of our jobs. In addition, our children have been able to attend school safely during the 2020-2021 school year successfully and without illness. My husband and I appreciated the added peace of mind of full vaccination prior to our visit, again due to the nature of our professions. In addition, our immediate family does not have any known risk factors or health factors that would limit our travel plans. We acknowledge all of these factors are amazing blessings and that not every family has the luxury of these aforementioned factors. However, if you personally feel comfortable traveling here is a summary of our experience.

Expect temperature screenings at each Disney park. Regardless of whether you stay on or off property, all guests were temperature screened prior to park entry. At the time of our visit, tents for screening were set up prior to reaching security stations. Two or three cast members used non-contact thermometers to take every guest's temperature. We found this to be non-invasive and very efficient. For peace of mind, I did pack a thermometer and checked our own temperature's before leaving our hotel room each day.

Mask wearing was strictly enforced in all Disney theme parks. All cast members and guests were expected to wear masks. This includes on all rides and attractions and for photographs. We rarely saw anyone breaking this rule. On the rare occasion it did occur, cast members were quick to offer a verbal reminder and this was enough to gain compliance. We each wore a mask into the parks and I packed spare masks in my bag in case of loss or soiling.

Maintain social distancing. During our visit, guests were expected to maintain six feet of space between traveling parties. Ground markings were applied to all cue lines including lines for rides and attractions as well as for food and beverages. We visited Disney parks on 5 full weekdays and only experienced one family insistent on encroaching in on us. We expect they were a little too eager to ride Slink the Dog Dash roller coaster. It is a little odd standing close to others since we are now conditioned to give so much elbow room - best to observe the distance and not make others nervous.

Be Flexible!

This was our mantra going into this trip and we even discussed this with our kids. We have had many wonderful trips to Walt Disney World together and love reliving those memories, but we were aware those memories might create unrealistic expectations for this trip and lead to disappointment. So we endeavored to remain flexible if something didn't go our way.

There are unexpected changes in dining. I was not prepared for the changes regarding outdoor dining experiences. First, dining experiences are still limited. Not all restaurants have re-opened in the parks and guests still need to eat. This creates higher demand for fewer locations. Second, cast members were guarding entrances and exits to dining venues including quick service. Most quick service locations utilize mobile ordering which we found convenient and easy to use. However, be aware there is generally one entrance and one exit for each quick service location. You are not permitted to enter until your food is ready and you must stay together as a group. This even applied to outdoor dining. We typically divide and conquer - dad grabs the food, I find a table and the kids get flatware, napkins and ketchup. This was not permitted even for outdoor dining and we found cast members to be very abrasive about this rule. Definitely not as magical and relaxing as we would like, but now that you know at least you can plan ahead.

There may be attractions you aren't able to experience on this visit. Even with reduced capacity, the parks felt full. Park reservations are required and fill up fast, so make sure you obtain a reservation for the date and park you would like to visit. During our visit, the parks were limited to 35% capacity. The dates we attended were fully booked likely due to spring break crowds. FastPass was not available during our visit. Lack of fastpasses along with changes to park entry (see above) meant many wait times for rides and attractions were between 60 and 90 minutes long at official park opening time and throughout the day. (Even if the posted wait time was long, such as 70 minutes, we did not actually wait that long. Probably a little mickey magic or psychology there. So if you want to ride, go ahead and jump in line! ) We avoided this later in the week by arriving one hour before posted park opening times and then returning to busy attractions during the last two hours of the park day.

Although this was our first visit during a spring break week and our first visit during a pandemic, we had a wonderful time. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Our family was revived by sharing fabulous food, experiencing new attractions, and soaking up the sun at the pool and at the parks. We were in desperate need of some Disney magic, so it was worth it!

Note: We are not travel agents or affiliated with Disney in any way. The experiences, opinions and images we share are strictly our own. We are a regular family eager to share all we've learned about traveling and adventuring as a family. I hope this helps you plan for your next Disney adventure in the coming months! Blessings to you and your family!

- Amy