Disney World Trip Report

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Bladewind
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Bladewind »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:29 pm Oh, you don't live in the U.S. either?
Nope ! Canadian my friend !
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Goldar
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Goldar »

Jab and Bladewind: I wanted to pass on this news in case you have not yet heard: I know you guys will be glad to hear that Disney is supposed to re-open this weekend (Saturday July 11)!!
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Goldar
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Goldar »

I also read about some Disney updates today. Here are the major changes I found:
1) Lots less people and no lines and no crowds!
2) Wear your mask! But there are "Mask-Free Refresher" areas where one can sit, cool down and rest
3) No parades or fireworks, but there are now cavalcades
4) More characters are about, waving and doing quick-pics with tourists
5) Pre-order your food for almost all places
6) No "Fill the Space" as they used to insist. Social Distance!
7) Use your DisneyApp not your MagicBand to pay now
8) reminders to not only put on your mask, but to keep it up fully on face

Hope this helps you guys if you want to reschedule your vacations.
Shock
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Shock »

Better advice: Wait til next year!
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Goldar
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Goldar »

Shock wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 4:32 pm Better advice: Wait til next year!
Glad to see someone is reading this, lol! :shock:

Well yes, next year, if possible to wait, is probably a good idea in most cases..........although not all.

..........and we do not know if things we be worse then as compared to now. I know, I know, it is a year away........but latest information suggests that most people are not following the rules, like they are wont to do, and the pandemic is growing worse, at least in America........... :o
mrdent12
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by mrdent12 »

Americans want their freedom darn it. Never mind that it might kill other people or causing long lasting medical issues. They can just stay in and not interact with anyone who might interact with me or someone who interacted with someone who interacted with me. Someone might die, but I can go to the bar, get a hair cut, and not have to wear a mask.
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by FuzzyBoots »

mrdent12 wrote: Mon Jul 13, 2020 7:27 pm Americans want their freedom darn it. Never mind that it might kill other people or causing long lasting medical issues. They can just stay in and not interact with anyone who might interact with me or someone who interacted with someone who interacted with me. Someone might die, but I can go to the bar, get a hair cut, and not have to wear a mask.
*sigh* It's a mess. There's a lot of mismanagement of information out there, and it gets hard to refer to the professionals when they keep changing their mind on the utility of masks, can't agree on lethality, or start to report antibody and virus tests in the same bin... let alone that there's ample evidence that some of the politicians sat on information about COVID-19 until they could infest in the medical fields that would profit from it. I mean, there are the crazy conspiracy theorists who think the metal band in the facemasks is meant to help control brain waves, but I can also get the people who believe the narrative that the government is making things sound worse than it is to control them, or that the government not restricting gathering for protests but forbidding church gathering, or allowing casinos to reopen but not restaurants, is "proof" that the government is using excuses to restrict us. Or that a handful of cases where people who died in car accidents but had a positive COVID-19 test are being counted into the COVID-19 mortality. And it doesn't help that, despite record high infections, the mortality rate in the United States seems to be lower than many other countries (I've seen theories everywhere from the blood type tie to the possibility that the main strains here are some of the weaker mutations).

Mistakes were made. And, unfortunately, that's poisoning the response.
mrdent12
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by mrdent12 »

I'll refrain from highjacking this thread further on the topic. I have many thoughts on it, but in the interest of keeping this thread on Disney I won't discuss them here.
Last edited by mrdent12 on Mon Jul 13, 2020 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Hollywood Studios

Post by Jabroniville »

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I love this dinosaur. Such a cute reference to ancient animation. In 2015, when I read the plaque about it, the guy behind the counter came out and did it too, pointing out that "I've been working her for three years, and never once read this before".

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS:
* aka: "This sucks- I wanna go back to EPCOT"

-So this park's generally a notorious "Half-Day" park, especially as at this point, it hadn't opened the "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" expansion. However, I greatly enjoyed it the first time I'd visited, as it's the most "Museum-like" of the Parks, and has a lot of stuff to read. However, this go around proved a bit less exciting, though I DID get to see the Frozen Sing-Along. Part of the issue is since I'd read all the stuff before, the appeal wasn't quite as strong, and I think the Animation building was closed or being renovated or something like that.

Star Tours was the same old stuff again- I don't recall getting anything new.

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The bearded guy is the kookiest narrator, lol.

The Frozen Sing-Along is great fun- I saw it twice, seeing each "pairing" of hosts, who comment along with the movie on screens. I guess fans have their preferences over which group is better- one lady made a big show of how much she lusted after Hans (doing something the kids call "flossing"). There's some great in-jokes when they re-watch bits from the movie, like when Elsa reveals her powers outside, and Arendelle freaks out ("Except for THIS guy" the male narrator points out, with a big guy just smiling politely while everyone else is terrified, "He's like, EVERYTHING IS GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN!"). There's a HILARIOUS bit where one of the male narrators was singing along to Love is an Open Door with the most psychotic look on his face ever. In the finale, Elsa & Anna come out with Kristoff and they of course do Let It Go while the theater is full of "soapy ice" or whatever that is. Overall it's fun and a good people-eater, as a hundred+ come out. It's always weird to me that someone dresses up as Elsa and does this pantomime 5-6 times a day and that's their job, but I guess it looks fun on a resume, lol.

I visited Toy Story Land for the first time ever- skipping Midway Magic since the lines are always nuts and I've done it before- it's OKAY, but hardly life-altering. You just shoot stuff at screens. I made a particular mistake with this vacation, though- my FastPass window had opened up more quickly than I thought it would (62 days in advance or something, not 60), so I rapidly made my selections without double-checking my planning. A few days later, I figured on changing my day for the Studios, and went with another, as I had the wrong day for the "Extra Magic Hours"- this meant that I lost my FastPass for Slinky Dog Dash, the hottest thing in the park at the time. This was unfortunate, but I figured I could just get in early and do it that way, or wait until later... well, turns out they had some "Special Morning Thing" or whatever that was limited release, so I literally walked into a SEVENTY-MINUTE WAIT, right at rope-drop, because I guess people were there already? I didn't notice that on my calendar at all.

By this point, I'd at least figured I'd be returning to Disney World VERY soon since I'd been having so much fun (perhaps assuming that the world would never change, lol) so I'd just make it for the next trip. Or wait until later. But the next time I tried to get in line for it (the wait had shrunk significantly, to 45 minutes or so)... it was WAY too hot out. I mean, an uncovered queue with almost nothing blocking you, and no fans... the Florida sun was just devastating, so there was no way I wanted to wait that long just for a kiddie-coaster, no matter how good it was. It looks neat, but I figured "next time will be fine", as eventually I was getting bored of the place.

Alien Swirling Saucers is fun- very cool seeing all the little saucers "detach" and then hook up to other platforms with that mechanical precision. It's an obvious "side-attraction" and not a big deal, but it's neat.

I saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid again- it's extremely dated but still cute. The Ariel legitimately sings, so this is a more prominent "Professional Actor" thing. I would hope that person makes more than the regular Face Characters. This is one of the only places you'll see Prince Eric, too. I eventually went to see the final showing of the Beauty and the Beast thing, as I was doing ALL the Live Shows that day... and after a 20-minute delay, they just announced that "today's performance... will NOT take place" so we all had to bail. This was about the time I was getting sick of the place, lol.

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I love the detailed sets in the museum.

Walt Disney Presents is still good, but again- it's the "Museum" part I'd already read through. Aerosmith's Rock 'n' Rollercoaster is good as always, and never seems to have a line for such a thrill-ride. I dunno- it's always available for FastPass, but I find you can just walk on every single time.

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is probably the best overall attraction in the park at this point, and I had a FastPass for 6-ish... but around noon, I was KIND of getting bored and just wanted to go back to EPCOT. My Frozen fandom was quite pronounced, as y'all know, and that's where the good stuff was. This was my last day at Disney World, so I wanted to do the stuff I'd had MOST fun doing, and I was like "well, next year" for everything else. I didn't want to get to EPCOT around 7-8 pm when it was almost done, so I just left my FastPass and took the bus to EPCOT. I mean, while this is the best of the Towers, I'd ridden it in FOUR PARKS by that point, so what was one more trip?

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The Skyliner- opening soon!

So ehhhhhh... this park kind of had a failing grade for me. Them taking out The Great Movie Ride was awful, because I thought that was a lot of fun, and a cute look at movie history, as dated as the animatronics were. Why demolish THAT to put in a new ride? YOU HAD TONS OF SPACE!! This place definitely needed the Star Wars push it was getting. Though I liked the shows I saw (I saw Frozen twice, obvs), you can't actually see everything in a day and still have time for other stuff (I STILL haven't seen the Indiana Jones one, or whatever that other stunt one was- I think it's gone now).

So of course I left for EPCOT, having a blast there again, as it's become my favorite American Disney Park, and possibly my favorite overall. I don't regret it, but of course certain events have made "ah well, I'll come back next year" just a little bit more hard to attain. I'd had my Slinky Dog AND Mickey's Railroad FastPasses sorted out, and I was SET to head to the Studios early on two days to ensure boarding passes while planning to go to EPCOT later on each day... but nope. Probably have to wait till November or even the next year. Oh well.
CaptainChaos
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by CaptainChaos »

My wife and I enjoy going to Disney every year for a couple of days. Last October we visited Hollywood Studios for the day and got to ride Smuggler's Run. We were fortunate that we were selected to be the pilots although I sadly admit we did a poor job of it. It was a lot of fun though and hopefully we'll be able to go again later this year.
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Bladewind
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Bladewind »

Supposed to be there now...

But paying full price for less, no park hopping and reservations even if you stay on site? No thanks...
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Goldar
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Goldar »

Yeah, I understand all of your disappointments. I am sorry for your vacations being ruined. I am supposed to be on vacation now myself, but am not.

I just wanted to post any new updates when I heard them, in case all of you did not hear the news about the re-openings, in case anyone wanted to go now and try to re-book/use their payments, etc.

As we all know, news can be slip-shot as to who hears what and when. I have a friend who thinks "now" may be better than a year from now as he thinks things will be worse then. Just wanted to get the info out to y'all.
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Goldar
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Goldar »

At long last, I wanted to present some new info for Bladewind, Jab and anyone else who may be contemplating a trip to Disney!

Disney World Florida re-re-opened last Friday, April 30, 2021, after months and months of reportedly being closed (yet again).

They are currently following a 25% capacity limit, soon to be increased to 50%.

From what I saw, the people were really enjoying themselves there and so happy to be back. Now may be the perfect time to start planning your trip......
Jabroniville
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Jabroniville »

Disney World has been open since last Summer, but it's too hard to travel abroad now (you're supposed to self-isolate for 2 weeks after). Disneyland is the one that finally re-opened after being closed for an entire year.

I'm thinking of maybe going later this year, after Halloween, but it's still such a mess right now. I'm half-vaccinated against COVID so we'll see.
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Goldar
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Re: Disney World Trip Report

Post by Goldar »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri May 07, 2021 5:54 am Disney World has been open since last Summer, but it's too hard to travel abroad now (you're supposed to self-isolate for 2 weeks after). Disneyland is the one that finally re-opened after being closed for an entire year.
I'm thinking of maybe going later this year, after Halloween, but it's still such a mess right now. I'm half-vaccinated against COVID so we'll see.
Yeah, that is what I thought-----but the report said "Florida"----so they got their locations mixed up, lol.

They showed people crying with their masks on in the park, stating that they never thought they would be there again.

But in light of all that, it is wise to wait for some time before going.
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