As we make our way into the start of fall, my husband and I have now been back to Disney World twice since it reopened after closing for three months due to COVID-19.
We first went to Magic Kingdom, which I talked about in a previous post, and this past weekend we made our way through Epcot and Animal Kingdom.
For this post, I don't want to just give you another overview of my experience, but a couple tips and tricks I've learned and implemented along the way! My hope is to make your decision to come enjoy some Disney magic just a little bit easier.
Bring extra masks
You never know when you may need an extra mask and you certainly don't want to be stuck without one! Sometimes, life happens. You may sweat through your mask, get it wet, drop it, get something on it, etc. It's a smart move to carry an extra or two for each person in your party juuussttt in case. Worst case scenario, Disney does sell their own masks, however they may not be as comfortable or your preferred style. If you're okay with that, you do you. I did not bring extras into the park with me the first day because I had intended to pick up a few from the parks anyway. I then carried them with me the remainder of our trip and we were happy we did!
 |
| We enjoyed taking the ferry from Morocco back to Future World mid-day! |
Take a break
If you sang that subheading a la Hamilton, we can be friends. Walking around outside, in Florida heat with a mask on can be nothing less than oppressive. Especially if you have any kind of breathing issue like asthma, just getting from place to place can be a real task. I found that I fared much better if I let myself take breaks and take my time. If I started to feel winded, I sat down on a bench and had a drink or went into a store or somewhere with air conditioning. While you can only remove your mask if you are eating/drinking and stationary, sometimes that cool air can do the trick. I also just kind of moseyed, especially when it came to Epcot. We were enjoying the Food and Wine festival, so it allowed for frequent stops and outdoor mask breaks. One thing I found particularly enjoyable was being able to finally try a beignet in France. We sat down inside and enjoyed our food for a nice long while and that really helped take the edge off.
Another thing I'll note here is not to have high expectations for being able to do EVERYTHING and also consider your lifestyle the past six months. I have just recently started working back in the office after about six months working from home. During that time I was largely sedentary, so jumping back in to doing the parks hardcore really did a number on my back, legs and feet. What is normally easy peasy to me was a lot more taxing on my body. So if you think you could be out of shape, maybe don't push as hard!
Stay hydrated
It's hot and you're outside and plus you have a mask on making dealing with those environmental factors all the more difficult. Hydrating is important any time, but especially now, it's even more important. I can't tell you how many times I nearly passed out on this trip. Was it worth it? Yeah, totally. And maybe I'm crazy, but I will say I didn't do a great job of making sure I drank lots of water and I paid for it. I recommend carrying a reusable plastic or metal water bottle and filling up throughout the day. Most places in the parks offer free water in ways of restaurants or there are always water fountains. Better to refill than repay for each bottle of water! Bonus, staying hydrated will also help minimize those after-park cramps and muscle aches!
Be aware
Being aware of your surroundings is more important than ever when doing Disney during the pandemic. Unfortunately, not everyone is as careful as others and you will certainly see people wearing their masks incorrectly at the very least. At the end of the day, wearing a mask is more to protect others from you than the other way around and are intended to be worn when social distancing is not possible or difficult. So if you and everyone around you is wearing a mask, if you pass by them kind of closely, you shouldn't need to worry. I just recommend being aware and trying to social distance as much as possible. If you do stop to eat/drink, try to stay at least six feet from the nearest person as you will not be wearing a mask at the time and they likely won't be either (in particular at the festival).
Another thing I'll point out is being aware of things you'd normally do that may not be "pandemic appropriate." For example, my husband is a people person and loves talking to others in the park. He just has the instinct to go up to people and ask them what they're eating or where they got that thing or what have you. I noticed two specific instances where a normal interaction became just slightly uncomfortable, mostly out of protection for the other people.
Keep it comfy
Masks are uncomfortable, there's no if's and's or but's about it. So I would suggest making sure you are super comfortable otherwise in what you choose to wear, how you do your hair, etc. It's no fun to already be dealing with discomfort and then have your long hair making you hotter, shorts that are too short and cause chafing or wearing just a BIT of make up and having to just take it off because it basically melted off anyway. I may or may not be speaking from experience...
 |
| My go-to outfit: Shorts, sports bra, Disney tank, sneaker and hair up and away! |
Take advantage of low crowds
One of the perks of the parks being at lower capacity is that wait times for the rides are MUCH lower than normal! I cannot speak for Hollywood Studios, as I still have not been back there, but in the other three parks, it was very easy to get on our favorites quickly! I definitely recommend taking advantage of this by riding things that often have long wait times like Peter Pan or Flight of Passage. Sky and I had never been on FOP and this weekend we got to go on it TWICE with the fist wait time under 20 minutes and the second we pretty much walked on. Compare that to the typical 90+ minutes and it's totally worth it! (Also, btw FOP was AWESOME and totally worth the hype.) The same goes for restaurants. That beignet I mentioned earlier? I'd never had one because I never had the patience to wait in the always lengthy lines at Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie (that's the big pastry/sandwich shop in the back of the France pavillion!) But this time there was no one there and we even got a table!
 |
| Sky and me in line for FOP! |
BONUS TIP:
If you wear glasses or enjoy sunglasses TAKE THEM OFF BEFORE RIDING A THRILL RIDE. I will say it louder for the people in the back!!! This is seriously something we never even thought of. Sky always wears glasses and doesn't usually need to take them off on rides that don't go upside down. HOWEVER. When we went on Everest, they literally flew off of his face and THANKFULLY landed in his hand where he was able to hold onto them. Now normally, this likely wouldn't happen, BUT what I figured out is that because of the mask he was wearing, they actually slid down his nose, onto the very slippery mask and off his face. So if you have ridden these rides before with glasses/sunglasses on, take that into consideration!
 |
| Note how far Sky's glasses are down his face!! |
So I think that's all for this time! Do you have any great Disney tips? Share them with me in the comments!
XO, Briana
No comments:
Post a Comment