Technically its my 4th trip to Disney and just the 2nd with my Kids. After the Vaccination, and checking destination protocols we decided on our much awaited break to Disney world.
Reasons why we chose to travel to Orlando Disney in April 2021:
- It was Spring Break for Schools in NYC
- Will be my 6 years olds first trip finally
- Easy protocols for travel to Florida
- Disney capped its capacity to 30% to avoid crowd.
Lot of friends and family I came across after the trip, asked me one common question – how was Disney different during Pandemic? Hence the inspiration to write this and share my before and during pandemic experience at Disney world, Orlando.
Pre-pandemic I took a trip with my son to celebrate his 7th birthday and his first trip to Disney in October 2019 . We were accompanied by another active mom and child.
My Spring 2021 trip to Disney came in the wake of pandemic still soaring and we went with all preparations and faith needed. This time with my husband, both kids and my 2 lovely nieces.
Before and During Pandemic Planning Phase:
Prepandemic in 2019 –
I Reserved the hotel and tickets package 6 months before travel. Prime reason to book in advance was to take advantage of difficult-to-snag restaurant reservations, Fast Pass slot availability and do modifications and cancellations while they were possible.
Planning for 2021 – Booked 2 months before departure.
Here is why things were clearly different:
- Fast pass system was halted for a moment ☹
- Early and late access to parks were halted as well. Ropes went down half an hour only before schedule. ☹
- Capacities of Visitors each day were capped to 30% in each park – i.e. instead of 100,000 people attending in a day they allowed only 30,000 in per day. 🙂
- We realized Lines were still long (atleast they seemed) coz each family were standing 6ft distance apart and also because the rides were modified to take limited people in it at the time. ☹
- Stringent Mask rules and Mask ambassadors all over the park – We rarely could click photos with our masks down. Luckily we didnt invest in Memory pass package =)
- No parades or character meet and greets around the park. We focused on thoroughly enjoying rides :)) However there were cavalcades on random times.
- No eating and drinking were allowed while in lines. However many rides which were halted like character meet and greet stations, were converted to Mask relaxation stations for some breather. ☹
- Millions of 6ft apart sticker markings all over the park . There was no confusion. The distance had to be adhered to. :))
- Disney buses were lined with partitions after every 3-4 seatings and were neatly organized by the driver to allow only that many passengers which could adhere social distancing inside. This did increase our wait times a little. :))
Fast pass Favorites pre-pandemic:
The fast passes select with app saved us a lot of time to cut lines with the most popular rides. We saved easily hours, coz the lines can be notoriously long. Fast pass helps in reserving slot for using a ride with a special short line entrance (3 rides per park at a a time) Some of our favorite rides that made difference to get Fast pass for were –
Epcot – Soaring, Fast track, Finding nemo / Planet earth
Magic Kingdom – Peter Pan ride, Seven dwarfs mine train, Splash mountain (alternate choice was to do space mountain fast pass). Alternately we wanted to get the pirates of Caribbean and Jungle cruise ride.
Hollywood studios – Slinky dog dash, Star tours, Rock and Roll Rollercoaster
Animal kingdom – Pandora flight of passage, Dinosaur ride, Kilimanjaro safari
Hands down we missed Fast pass system.
2021’s New Park pass system – Pandemic crowd control plan:
Parks need to be preselected by the date of visit (as soon as tickets are purchased) through the Disney app. If we change our mind we needed to cancel the previously selected park for the day and then select another based on availability. (with the risk of loosing your previous selection)
Our itinerary:
In 2019 arrived in afternoon and after checking in we headed straight to the park to enjoy the half day event (in our costumes) – Mickey Horror nights trick of treating (Halloween event in Magic kingdom park)
The park closes for non ticketed guest to attend this event. We took advantage of doing the popular rides in Magic kingdom for the evening we were there and the totally transformed park had many trick or treating spots and decorated creatively to look spooky but festive too for the delight of our kids.
Next 4 days we did – Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal kingdom in line. We had a choice of any extra day of enjoyment before we depart and my son and I chose to do Magic Kingdom to cover up what we missed.
2021 Itinerary:
Arrival day – Made sure we enjoyed our beautiful Disney property and got accustomed
Day2 : Magic Kingdom
Day 3: Hollywood Studios
Day 4: Animal Kingdom
Day 5: Epcot (half day)
Availability of park systems were limited coz of capped capacity. Therefore I can say we were lucky to get availability for the most popular choice Hollywood studios for atleast one of the 5 days that we were there. PHEW!
Hotel choices:
We chose Disney hotels both times for some extra perks and proximity, transportation ease and just being part of it all. Booking hotel and package together also allows better refundability and modifications needed(even on tickets). Also access to magical express bus from airport to hotel and back is complimentary (in 2021 trip we took an uber to reach our hotel in disney it was close to $60 one way, so it was a good saving)
2019 – we chose to stay at Disney’s POP Centruy (Budget Themed Disney Property) – Rooms at Pop just got renovated and we wanted to experience the upgrade . Also the hotel was in the new skyliner route giving it quick and better transfer to Epcot and Hollywood. We were very excited for those reason while traveling under a single moms budget. It was a great call.
2021 We chose a moderate hotel with again the skyliner access. Our first choice was to get rooms at the new Disney Riviera Resort for all the nights but this hotel was unavailable months back. Better luck next time .
We chose to stay in Disney’s Caribbean beach resort for multiple reasons:
- It was the skyliner hub and proximity to parks. We love Disney skyliner hands down
- It still gave an access to restaurants we wanted to experience at Disney Riviera Resort, being it an adjoining property
- The hotel had planned activities like “movie under the stars”, free time art, and multiple pools options, a small manmade beach with hammocks (the property was huge) very beautifully themed like Caribbean villages. Biggest pool had 4 waterslides as well and a kiddie pool area. We had an amazing time at the resort for watever time we were there.
- Most of the rooms were connecting and 2 rooms accommodated our group of 6 perfectly. Again the rooms were neat and newly renovated.
Dining review:
Disney is big about dining experiences and restaurant choices. My last experience in the park I came across some really unique cuisine options and thought will try my hands on them and plan to reserve some this time.
Something I learnt as we planned the 2 times:
Traveling with kids between 6months to 16 years you cannot just plan just the vacay and be done with without planning where and what to eat on time to avoid anxiety. The POPULAR restaurants need some pre-thinking and patience to book because walk ins not always guarantee immediate seating. This is where my being Disney authorized planner came handy and I could snag most difficult character dining experience or themed restaurant reservations easily for us.
2019 – We enrolled to Disney dining quick service plan . We could experience park and resort food at participating quick service locations (entrees appetizers and unlimited drinks in souvenir cups)
Celebrated my sons Birthday by dining with the main characters at TUSKER HOUSE at Animal kingdom. Not only was it themed to look like a rustic restuarants in Africa but the food was unlimited variety of Asian and African cuisine with inidan and African flavors both. This was the best meal we had on our trip. The characters gave us a good time with enough intereactions and photo moments.
2021 – Dining plans were cancelled in pandemic times. I Picked and planned many food experiences this time with what I read were the best options in the park, and with my foodie husband accompanying me this time I wanted us to focus on getting variety restaurant experience as well.
If you didn’t have much time to plan and prefer eating in comfort of you rresort, you can use Uber eats to order dinner (they conveniently deliver to all Disney resorts outside your room) . However I had dinner reservations for rest of the days which worked efficiently coz the kids were very tired and wanted to have a good planned sit down meal each day.
At Magic kingdom, Lunch we had at Pinnochio haus (quick service) we loved the margerita pizza and tatertots.
DINNER at JUNGLE SKIPPER CANTEEN.
Located right next to Jungle cruise ride. Thematically it looked like a museum designed to looks like a skippers collection of items from his journey through the rivers and forests. We sat right next to such a showcase of artifacts as a backdrop. Food was filling and tasting exotic and mix of unique flavors. Menu was very mixed for example We had thai pineapple curry along with some Mediterranean varieties as well. We were quite satisfied with the flavor. Well delivered by Disney.
OGAS Cantina at Hollywood studios I had this hard to get reservation for just my husband and I, A bar cum restaurant at the Star wars land. I had heard a lot about the interior of the bar designed to look like a galactic outlet in out space and it truly matched its reviews – straight out of the sets of a Star Wars movie. The drinks were themed to taste and appear this way too. It was a tingling experince. I was particularly impressed with the drink dispensers on ceiling which were actually functional . and we cant miss the most entertaining dj robot who appeared to mix music and spoke in the mike in his funny voice, time and again
Dinner at SCI-FI Drive in theater restaurant .
Menu was the American burgers fries and salad with classic sodas and milkshakes (vanilla choclate were to die for) . Excitement on the kids face when they saw the restaurant tables which looked like a vintage chevy-type cars, facing big screen playing movies form 50s and 60s and clips of classic tom and jerry as well . it was overall entertaining experience for us and another unique memory we have of Disney!
Dining at Animal kingdom. Lunch at Yak and Yeti restaurant (takeaway stayle) we made use of mobile order from the restaurant through the Disney app. Veggie noodles and a blend of Asian tapas were very savory and filling.
Dinner – There was something exemplary waiting for my family at Disney Springs. I snagged a tough to get restaurant reservation for the mere experience it gives like a caves during the prehistoric times restaurant set up. It was the T-Rex Café! We were drawn by the ice age dinosaur era ambience and its light effects that often appered to add drama to the place. This was also so memorable to us and we got to visit the Disney Springs area as well.
Last day – Character breakfast time At the Topolinos terrace.
Not only was it located at the beautiful and all new Disney Riviera Rooftop, (Neighboring Carribean Beach resort) it was also the most beautiful location. From its terrace we can spot 3 of the the 4 parks and allowed us Many picture ops.
The difference with character greeting during pandemic was the social distancing element. All the characters appeared in background of our pics during their performances atleast 10 feet away form whee we were deating. The charcter appeared 2-3 times to perform and stop by for some photo ops. The were dressed like a artists with thir apron and painters pallete. Our favorite was mINI mouse. Her costume and amazing grace in her greetings was talk of the restaurant! Also the autographs were presigned ina a beautiful envelope to take home as memorabilia. The breakfast was so wholesome. There were plenty of mini muffins were provided on the table even befor ewe ordered and we got to take some with us. No one can completely finish the portion size provided per order. Definitely another must-do checked on our list of dining.
All in All here is what we experienced as a change between the 2 times we visited:
Pre pandemic with my meticulous planning, we had a flawless and timesaving experience with the fast pass structure
The parks were filled with surprise appearances of characters and character meet stations. Which we missed a lot in 2021 and came home with empty autograph book.
Parades were schedules to take place in every park twice a day, for which people used to hold the spots in advance to get best viewing. We missed that in 2021
The day concludes with an extravagant night entertainment like Rivers of light in Animal kingdom, Fantasmic show at the Disney Hollywood studios. Clearly missed in 2021
Specially designed fireworks every night in 2018. We cant wait for these fireworks to return each night
NO early access and late exit was worth it to take advantage of rides later after the non resort guests aren’t at the park. Our staying in resort within park in 2021 had fewer perks like these.
These are the things that added value to your visit each day in 2019. We hope the normalcy returns and the classic Disney experience is definitely the best way to experience by far.
Big update – Say goodbye to the Magical express.
The bus ride transferring guests staying in Disney resorts to and from the Airport. 2021 will be the last year for this service. Tough your wait times were bad, we still enjoyed the comfortable ride and accessibility.
I want you to travel! 
Great information for a Disney trip anytime.
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