A Whole New World, Disney during a Pandemic

[lovethattink]

Going to Kilimanjaro Safari was a great idea!! All the animals had just been fed and were eating breakfast!!

Yes, you had to wear a mask while riding!!

I saw a twitter post during cm preview saying they were told they didn't have to wear a mask. That is no longer true. Wearing a mask is a requirement to ride.

I was starting to think I was on Kali River Rapids, I kept getting wet. From them cleaning the trucks, there was water or disinfectant on the roof that kept dripping to my seat. So I ended up sitting super close to dh to avoid the drips.

Back to animal breakfast time. Never have I seen so many animals on a safari. It was great! So right after 8am is a great time to ride!



















We did not see any giraffes. We had a great view of the lionesses. but the pictures didn't turn out. It was fun seeing so many animals!!

We kind of felt like zombies. Except for dh going to work, ds and I have been on theatre time. Prior to the pandemic, he was operating a spot light for the show Kinky Boots. We weren't getting home til after midnight. And through the 4 months of the pandemic he and I continued to keep late hours and sleep in. So getting up early to go to the parks made us feel like zombies. Speaking of zombies, one of his acting coaches is an Orlando local who was a character on the Walking Dead. Orlando is filled with so much talent. On a tangent, I sure hope the equity union and Disney reach an agreement. I love Disney's streetmosphere characters, singers, and actors. I hope they will be back soon!!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Thanks for taking the time to report .

 

[lovethattink]

Following along. Thanks for taking the time to report .

It's been a long time since I did a TR.

 

[lovethattink]

Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail

Naked mole rats are still there, but hard to see from such a far distance.







This was one of the few doors we had to touch. Mostly all other doors in the park are kept open.



I want a hippopotamus for Christmas





Once again it was breakfast time!! So the animals were in plain sight. Not many people were on the trail; so there were no problems with social distancing.



I just love the gorillas!! I could watch them forever. I usually take the time to listen to the cm talking about them. We got to see Baby Grace! She was eating with her mama.



We were suprised to find Wilderness Explorer stops along the trail. It works very similar to before. Just add in masks and social distancing. Stickers are placed on a clip board for the guest to take.







Up next, Pandora.

 

[lovethattink]

Our original plan was no indoor dining or indoor attractions. I've been reading so many articles and doing Covid-19 continuing education classes. So the idea of being indoors made me nervous. DH is a healthcare worker, so for him, he felt it would be no different than going to work. And at work, he has to properly wear a mask, but he works in a county where masks are encouraged, but optional. And we've seen only about 50% wearing masks.

I check MDE to see what the wait times for Pandora looked like. We decided to go for it. I was nervous, but tried to reassure myself that those are huge buildings and should be well ventilated.



I guess they were expecting huge crowds on the bridge? Markers every 6 feet. But we were the only ones there!!



The first time I saw the Avatar movie, I didn't like it. Neither did DH or DS. We were in awe of the CGI, but the storyline didn't appeal to us (very brutal, our hearts hurt for the fictional characters). Now that we've seen it many times, the movie has grown on us.

The land, I love this addition to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Pandora is so amazing. One of my son's castmates from theatre was an imagineer on Flight of Passage. We stood in awe of his theatrical talents on stage, and after riding Flight of Passage are even more in awe of his talents.



We have gone on FoP many times. But we have never gone in the standby line. So this was a new experience for us. I was really excited! People did a great job a social distancing in line. Plexiglass has been added any place where social distancing in queue is not possible. There are signs reminding guests not to touch the plexiglass.



Our first time seeing this part of the queue. Loved it! Though with low crowds we moved through here very fast. I attempted to take quick photos.









I'm claustrophobic. But I did not have a problem waiting between the plexiglass here. The queue had plenty of space, there were periodic openings in the plexiglass.






As I'm sure you've probably already read, there is no preshow. That room is skipped. We were sent up the steps. This was the first time we ever were in the top row. I have to say, just like Soarin' this is the best perspective to ride. Dh said he never took notice how it's set up like Soarin', He never noticed the different levels of riders. I prayed the 3D glasses were properly santized!! Read too much about how the eye is a mode of virus entry. I'm paying attention to the 14 days past wearing them. Overall, except for the glasses, we felt safe on the ride and the queue. The attraction is cleaned every one to two hours, and in between as needed. That may delay your ride, or increase the length of the queue, so allow time for the cleaning.

Up next Navi River

 

[disneyseniors]

Hi Love that tink! Happily following along
About the indoor resting areas? I wonder what extra measures Disney is doing to make these safe? I think they have done a wonderful job with their efforts to keep staff and guests safe. I would imagine they would take some precautions in an inside rest area, same as inside dining??? Just wondering out loud. I can't see them going to such great lengths of safety to just ignore the inside rest areas and rides. Do you have any insight now on this? Thank you so much for this fun trip report!

 

[lovethattink]

Hi Love that tink! Happily following along
About the indoor resting areas? I wonder what extra measures Disney is doing to make these safe? I think they have done a wonderful job with their efforts to keep staff and guests safe. I would imagine they would take some precautions in an inside rest area, same as inside dining??? Just wondering out loud. I can't see them going to such great lengths of safety to just ignore the inside rest areas and rides. Do you have any insight now on this? Thank you so much for this fun trip report!

We didn’t check out those areas. We have 3 more park reservations to go over the next few weeks. Perhaps we’ll hear before we go. I’d assume they have social distancing in place.

 

[mdsouth]

Enjoying your TR. AK is my daughter's favorite park. So much so, we spent two entire back to back days there in 2014 (our last trip) and before Pandora was even open. And we did not ride Everest since we are both scared to ride it, at least she was at the time.
I had a trip planned for June of this year and was looking forward to seeing and experiencing Pandora for myself for the first time. But now our plans are on hold until next summer, I hope.

Thank your hubby for us!

 

[lovethattink]

Enjoying your TR. AK is my daughter's favorite park. So much so, we spent two entire back to back days there in 2014 (our last trip) and before Pandora was even open. And we did not ride Everest since we are both scared to ride it, at least she was at the time.
I had a trip planned for June of this year and was looking forward to seeing and experiencing Pandora for myself for the first time. But now our plans are on hold until next summer, I hope.

Thank your hubby for us!

Thank you! Oh wow, that's great!! She sounds like a huge AK fan. I don't know if you can still do this. But right before closing, they use to take the animals out of the display areas. The cm would use clicks, whistles, different noises and the animals would follow. When my oldest son was little, that was his favorite part of the day!

I'm so sorry your trip plans are on hold. Who would have ever thought we'd be dealing with a pandemic? Hopefully, by next summer things will be in much better shape.

Dh appreciates it!

 

[lovethattink]

Navi River
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We arrived at Navi Just in time to have it close down for cleaning. Social distancing was maintained by those waiting in line. However, some people chose not to wait, so they passed by within inches of everyone in line.

This was our first actual wait for anything. It didn't take too long. But my sweat was going in my eyes and burning. Next visit to a park, I'm bringing a wet cloth in a zip lock bag. I could barely see as I was squinting and dealing with watery eyes. Oh how I use to take it for granted and just touch them.

I took a couple photos of the attraction cm. Notice they are wearing both a mask and a face shield. After talking to a wife of a cm friend who works at Soarin' all attraction cm wear both.





The queue got moving. The entire queue was marked every 6 feet. Any place where social distancing couldn't be maintained between guests, they had plexiglass.



This area was way more than 6 feet apart.









We were loaded in the front seat of a boat. Nobody was placed behind us in the boat.

You really need to bring your patience with you. Be prepared for delays and waiting.

DS has disabilities. He usually uses a DAS. He did not want to stop at GS to get one. We did these 3 hours without one. He said he liked the social distancing. It made him feel a lot less anxious. He did not miss hearing please fill in all available space.

 

[lovethattink]

Navi River is one of my favorite attractions. I know it gets a lot of flack. But I love the detail, colors, etc. I catch something I missed each time. Be sure to look up. There are creatures above you as well!





It was time to get DH to work. As we headed away from Pandora. We had our first character during a pandemic experience!! It was very magical. At first we were the only people on the bridge. So it was our own private showing for a bit.



This was our kiss goodnight from our 3 hour Animal Kingdom Adventure!

On the way out, we stopped at GS and got ds a DAS in case we need it next time. I know there was some question on the boards on how this would work. It works pretty much the same. GS can make your first ride reservation. After that, the reservation has to be made at the attraction.

There was a narrow opening to exit to the parking lot.





We really enjoyed our day at AK!! I truly felt safer there than at the grocery store or Walmart here in Florida. Everyone wore a mask. There were a few people walking with food or drink and no mask. DH says he saw a couple people wearing the mask under their nose. I missed that. Everyone I saw was wearing them properly.

 

[lovethattink]

We really enjoyed our day at AK!! I truly felt safer there than at the grocery store or Walmart here in Florida. Everyone wore a mask. There were a few people walking with food or drink and no mask. DH says he saw a couple people wearing the mask under their nose. I missed that. Everyone I saw was wearing them properly.

Looks like people not wearing masks and eating and drinking is a thing of the past.

https://variety.com/2020/politics/n...kKqAB6KSHyVw1-ixOGzBU24F5AaSF0SZcH4961b7Dslt4

 

[erinch]

Following!

 

[lovethattink]

Following!

 

[lovethattink]

3 Hours Seems to be my Limit!
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Our very first park reservation since the re-opening was for Epcot! I had heard that social distancing was a harder in the World Showcase, so we decided to stick to Future World.

The original plan was to arrive at 11am. Instead, we had to drop off something at my oldest son's house. And for one reason after another, we didn't leave our house until later in the afternoon. It was strange to be at DS's house and not hear fireworks from the castle show or the train. I would love to hear those sounds from home! How about you?

His view of firework shows is pretty amazing too! Can't hear the music, but could always play a YouTube video to hear the music. We've only done that once with them.

We dropped off the package to DIL and headed to Epcot.

The sky looked ominous on our ride there. We had umbrellas in the car. So we were prepared. Arrived at Epcot. They were social distancing the cars. We were parked in row 41. There's always been a joke between my dh and my parents. Whenever we were at Epcot they'd ask where we parked and dh would say "Create 48". Even if we didn't park there. One of the parking lot cm had a speaker system and announced we parked in row 41.

There were no signs telling you where to enter. It was strange walking in the tram area. I walk slow as molasses now that I'm so out of shape. So it was thanks to the people in front of us that we knew to cross the tram lane to the other side of the parking lot to enter.



I never noticed before how hot my breath is. Breathing in the mask while huffing and puffing in the hot sun to keep up with dh and ds, I thought for sure I wouldn't pass temp check. The sun was blazing! We all passed the temp check and proceeded to a turnstile. You still have to tap your admission media to the tapstile.

I brought a Bath & Body Shoppe little hand sanitizer. DH had one of their old spray sanitizer bottles, but refilled with 91% isopropyl acohol and bubble gum scent. (DS makes soap for all his castmates in almost every show he's done. So that was where the scent came from.) DH sprayed our MB and his AP, he has over 60 MB tied to his pass and he can't find any of them. Well, it's partially my fault. I was "helping" him by putting them all in Freezer bags since Disney was closed for the pandemic. I know where I put mine and Ds'. But have no clue where I put DH's. I swear I gave them to him, he says otherwise. So there is a mystery to solve. Where are the magic bands?

If you have many magic bands, how do you store them? Do you have them displayed nicely or hidden in storage?

First thing we notice when we get into the park is the area where Festivals are usually announced. It was dressed with trees instead of Festival Fun. I didn't even take a picture. Hey! That's probably why it was boring! So people don't bottleneck and take photos. Good one, Disney.

When you enter Epcot do you go left or right? We usually go left out of habit. But this day we went right. The walking path has been moved. The new path has you walking behind the restrooms and you come out by the Coral Reef.










DS loves wall art!! And there is plenty along the construction walls! So those were must stop and take photo spots! Speaking of photos, we did not see any photopass photographers at all in Future World.



And I just remembered why we were off to such a late start! My son just recently became a member of the Florida Youth Council. He was assigned to do a vlog introduction. He's really excited to be on the council. And looks forward to making a difference. He can't wait to lead, advocate and peer mentor youth with disabilities!

He is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to self-tape videos. It's been instilled in him from his acting coaches about good lighting, good sound, etc. So he set up his self-taping audition gear complete with soft lights positioned just right to give light and take away any shadows and solid background.



When I did my survey about AK, I was asked about interaction with CM with yellow shirts. I had no clue what they were talking about. We didn't see anyone wearing yellow shirts. But at Epcot we saw one! I asked her if I could take her photo.



Do you know the purpose of the cm in yellow shirts? I didn't until I did some digging after my survey.



Next up, The Seas with Nemo and Friends!

 

[lovethattink]

So our journey began at the Living Seas. The path we were walking on took us right to the Coral Reef.

For the most part, it was easy to social distance inside. The entire standby queue was open, so while it said a 5 minute wait, there really was no wait. It was all walking.



The cm asked us to hold on to the rail to board. We looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. Uh, no touchy, sorry. They slowed down the belt until I boarded. Ok. I know I'm out of shape, I know I'm slow, but seriously? None of us touched the railing. How do you feel about touching the railing? I don't think we've ever been instructed to do so previously? Maybe someone fell and it's for their protection? I don't know.

At the exit to the ride, we were greeted by a new sign.







The signs are pretty clear. We were the only people in this part at first. Then a few people came in.

The manatee room was closed for cleaning.



A cm was cleaning the large aquarium windows too. That area was not closed. It was also impossible to stay 6 feet away from her.



Even the coral was getting cleaned.



The dolphin was out swimming in a circle. We always love to see the dolphins. Didn't get any good pics though.



Stopped to learn about sharks.



Turtle Talk was closed, but you could walk in there to see the aquariums.



DS is very proud of his new Clone Wars shirt he's wearing. It's from the Her Universe, the Our Universe collection for men or women. He loves that Ahsoka and Maul are front and center. All Clone War Characters! The Bad Batch are on the one side. He can't wait for that show to come to Disney+!! He was very pleased with the ending of Clone Wars. He grew up with Clone Wars. That was his first Star Wars movie seen as a little kid. During years of SWW at DHS, he got to meet and know some of the Clone Wars voice over actors.

Speaking of voice over actors, did you know that Tom Kane is the voice you hear reminding you to social distance in the park? He's yoda in the Clone Wars series and Lego series, in addition to all the other characters he's voiced.

DS has done one voice over gig. He hopes to do more in the future! He was inspired by the shows at SWW where they explained how it was done. To actually go into a booth himself and do voice over was a dream come true! (Here's a behind the scene photo.)

 

[lovethattink]

Our next stop was the Land pavilion.




We were surprised to see Awesome Planet open. Neither ds, nor dh, wanted to see it. We decided against Soarin'. And headed to Living with the Land.

Cm greeted us and said it was down for cleaning to come back in 25 minutes.

So we headed over to Journey into Imagination With Figment. We noticed a group of people gathering by the fence. Then we saw Winnie the Pooh! He was out waving to people and posing for photos.





There was a 5 minute wait for the attraction. Each car was one family per car.



The interactive games after the ride were all closed. The Big Hero Six backdrop was open, with no characters.



We were finished long before the 25 minutes were up for the cleaning. So since ds loves murals and wall art, we took photos.





We headed back to the Land and sat outside the building in the shade to drink some water and wait for the cleaning to be done.

As we were sitting there, I spotted a longtime friend that I met on the DIS back when there were the Zeta VMK girls and her family. We all use to play VMK together. It was a game in that was started during the Happiest Celebration on Earth. It was good to see them again.

We went inside and the attraction was opened again.Our germaphobe sirens were going off. The man in front of us touched all the railings and his face. He's braver than us. Most of the queue was completely empty. See the added plexiglass.



The boats are set up like Kilimanjaro Safari with vinyl between each row. The loaded people into every other row, then filled in additional rows starting with the first boat. We were in the 1st row of second boat. Our entire boat was every other row. There was no vinyl barrier separating the back of one boat and the front of the 2nd. But there is close to 6 feet distance between the two.

 

[lovethattink]

It was strange not seeing anyone on the Behind the Seeds Tour. We looked for hidden Mickeys.







As always, it was a very nice boat ride!

The heat was blazing even hotter when we exited the building. We decided to go to Mouse Gears then call it a day. Along the path there were construction walls. We stopped for photos ops with them.

 

[StageTek]

I've been following this thread and watching trip videos on YouTube.

I am SO envious! I wish I had had been in The World during it's first few weeks back open.

I wonder what September will look like....

 

[lovethattink]

I've been following this thread and watching trip videos on YouTube.

I am SO envious! I wish I had had been in The World during it's first few weeks back open.

I wonder what September will look like....

The lack of crowds is definitely a plus!! I expect September to be much the same, but who knows? It's a guessing game at this point.