monstermash23
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 23, 2021
- Messages
- 263
This is VERY long.
Introduction:
If you’ve seen my posts you already know my stances and experience with Disney. But I’ll restate for this post. We are a family that has been going to Disney World at least 1x annually for 30+ years. Some members of our family have been going since it opened 50 years ago. We typically go in the spring time around Easter/Spring Break, and sometimes in the summer around July 4th. We are a large family, extended and intermediate, and enjoy Disney in different ways. We love Disney and have a ton of history with it. This current trip was a long one and spanned the pre-mask mandate reactivation and post-mask mandate. Here is how I like to enjoy Disney and what I’m used to though, so you get some background on our/my preferences….
I like to plan Disney World in advance and I am the one who plans for our entire family and for many friends (I’m not a TA though). I enjoy planning fastpasses in advance and we rely heavily on ADRs, almost always. We have been going for too long so we know what we like and what we don’t like. We don’t rope drop, but we typically plan to be in the park early in the morning, head back to the pool and then head back into the same park or a different park at night. We usually stay at the Yacht and Beach Club but bought into DVC BCV a little bit before the pandemic started. So because of how different things have been at Disney, I’m going to break down this review into categories and grade each category accordingly, so that I can more easily compare the experiences we have had in the past with the experiences we had during this recent 2 week trip. We had a lot of points to burn due to the pandemic, so this was the first time we ever stayed in Disney World this long. Usually it is a 7-8 trip at most.
I’ll also preface this by saying that everything written in this review is meant to be as objective as possible but due to our lengthy experience at WDW, there will of course be bias in this review that is skewed towards that experience and our typical touring patterns/preferences. I am not a Disney apologist and I view each trip with Disney as an individual transaction and do not possess a sense of entitlement based on previous trips. However, as I stated, due to our vast experience, there are certain expectations that I expect Disney to meet and even exceed based on our many past trips. So I can understand if expectations and entitlement may come off as the same, but that isn’t the case. Again, we love Disney and I could go on for pages and pages talking about the things we love. But that’s obvious. So this review will focus more on the current changes and differences between now and previous pre-pandemic trips. It will also be a mix of comments, opinions, experience reporting and grading each category accordingly. So please know that when reading this. Anyway, here’s my full review.
Here are the categories I will use to break down this review:
Rides
Lines
Line Cutting
Food Quality
ADR Experiences
Mobile Ordering Experiences
Things to do at WDW
Crowds
Cast Member Interactions
Cleanliness
Hotel
Summer Weather
WDW Policies
Overall Experience
Rides:
The rides are primarily why I go to Disney. Others in my family enjoy the sights and the nostalgia, as do I, but the rides are my primary focus when traveling to WDW. I enjoy the immersive experience that each ride offers. And I expect to be enveloped in that immersive experience from the queue all the way to the gift shop exit. Disney never disappoints in this regard. That holds true today, despite certain new additions such as plexiglass dividers and extended queues (which I don’t like at all, but will get to later). My biggest issue is wearing masks on a ride such as an outdoor ride or a fast moving rollercoaster. If you want to talk science regarding this, take it to another thread. This is again just my viewpoint and my own experience. Mileage varies for everyone here I’m sure. But I do not enjoy looking at my pictures with masks on. I don’t like how Disney removes pictures from a service that you pay for because your mask isn’t perfectly on during a high speed roller coaster. And I don’t like wearing them on rides such as the Safari at AK (more of an experience then a ride obviously) or even the Water Rapids ride at AK (my mask was soaked and unusable for the rest of the day). If you don’t mind the mask wearing, then take the post mask mandate ratings with a grain a salt and focus on the rest of my review if you are interested. If you do mind, then maybe this will help you make decisions with any upcoming trips you may have.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate July 30th): A+
This Trip (post-mask mandate): B
Lines:
You already know where this is going. Firstly, we used the Lines app a lot which was very very helpful, and almost always accurate. But lines for rides were LONG and they typically stayed long most of the day. This is at all parks and most especially Hollywood Studios, which currently has the most to do as far as rides go. Extended queues are the worst thing at Disney at the moment IMO. No shows, no fastpasses, etc. This all adds up. But the parks are designed to be beautiful and immersive, and these extended queues make it feel like a Six Flags or Universal to me. These parks were just not designed for extended queues and it really shows, especially at HS. And with a lack of fastpass availability, the lines in the dead heat of summer were just extra brutal. For me, the mask mandate made the lines slightly worse and slightly more unbearable. Enforcement was all over the place as far as I could tell regarding extended queues but were more decently consistent when entering the actual official attraction queue. We didn’t rope drop at all, we don’t like doing it. But if you want to experience as much as possible with as little waiting as possible, then I highly recommend rope dropping to any and everyone.
Pre-Covid Trips: B+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): D+
This Trip (post-mask mandate): D
Line Cutting:
I can’t believe I even need to have this as a category. That alone should speak volumes to you. But line cutting was one of the worst things I’ve seen at Disney. I saw a lot of confrontations (I was in a few myself trying to stop line cutters) and a lot of people just cut any and all lines with any excuses they could come up with. I have zero sympathy for these people and hope they get what they deserve as far as karma goes. But the lack of enforcement (literally zero enforcement from CMs with line cutting - I know because I complained a few times and even pointed the people out but the CMs just always shrugged it off like they either didn’t care or didn’t have the power to fix the situation) was the most startling part of the whole line cutting problem. It was bad before the mask mandate came into effect, but was even worse once the mask mandate became effective. Maybe this is due to CM’s needing to police masking and diverting attention to that or maybe it’s because they let people get away with it more because of masking in the sun baked lines, whatever the reasons this was no OK at all in our book. This isn’t six flags, this is Disney World. Not OK.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+ (maybe this was always an issue, but with fastpass I really never noticed)
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): D
This Trip (post-mask mandate): F
Food Quality:
Let’s move on to something more pleasant. The food quality. Yes, menus are pared back a lot at WDW restaurants. It’s obvious everywhere you go, especially if you frequent WDW like we do. We lost many favorite dishes at many restaurants we loved in the past. But the quality of food that the kitchens are putting out have not been degraded. In fact, I would argue since there are only a few dishes that each kitchen is putting out that chef’s can put a bit more focus on quality. And it shows in the options that are available. I do hope that they can get their supply chain issues fixed and start bringing back better options and much more variety. We grew tired of the same menu options at every restaurant (with variations in prep, flavoring tied to the theme of the restaurant) so we eventually switched many of our nighttime ADRs to Disney Springs restaurants. Disney Springs is NOT suffering from the same supply chain issues and it is obvious. The food we had at Disney Springs was fantastic. Wine Bar George, Boathouse, Jock Lindsay’s Hangar, Morimoto, etc were all incredible.
Pre-Covid Trips: A
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): Anywhere from a B+ to an A+ depending on the restaurant
ADR Experiences:
Let’s start with service. CM’s in this regard have done the absolute best they can. They are understaffed with little to no help in the busboy, runner department. So the servers are doing triple jobs here as far as I’m concerned. They were responsible for taking orders, running the food and cleaning tables. So because of that and the lack of help, tables were left dirty. Waits were sometimes past the ADR time. And food/drinks sometimes took longer. However, I tipped very well no matter what, making sure my tip was at least 25-30% each time we sat for a meal. The servers need help and they need it quick. Whatever economics are involved with the prior shutdown, not trying to debate that here, but there is a serious shortage of low wage help in the restaurants. Some examples: We ate at California Grill twice. The first experience was fantastic. The second experience was a total flop and couldn’t be more opposite. The server tried his best, we tipped well, but he literally messed up almost every drink and food order that came to the table. In the past, I would have complained. But in this current environment, I instead just tipped more.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): N/A. I won’t rate them here because it would be unfair to give a rating based on the current working conditions they have.
Mobile Ordering Experiences:
I wrote in a mini review a week ago, mid trip, how I hated mobile ordering. My first experience wasn’t the best with it. But as the trip went on and as we relied on it a little bit more then expected, my opinion turned around completely on it. Mobile Ordering is great and needs to stay, in my opinion. I hope that they introduce a hybrid once they are staffed accordingly so that people can either choose to mobile order or choose to walk up and order. I think that will eventually be the future, but for now this system does work well as MO only.
Pre-Covid Trips: N/A - we never used it until this trip
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): B+
Things To Do at WDW:
This is an obvious one. But Disney is SORELY lacking any and all in-park entertainment options. This is reflected in my “lines” category since long lines for rides are a direct impact of having nothing else to do at Disney. Thank god they have fireworks shows again, which were always great and a favorite thing for us to do that isn’t a ride. But Disney NEEDS shows, parades and character meets back asap (please hold all covid opinions regarding this - once again I’m just reporting what I’m seeing). The last time I watched parades at Disney was the Electric Lights parade at WDW (R.I.P.) and the last time I stood in line for a character meet up was when I was a child. But just because I don’t utilize these things, doesn’t mean they don’t need to come back. They do, and for a lot of reasons. For me, this was most evident in Epcot. We LOVED walking around Epcot and watching the various entertainment that would go in each country. Really missing this stuff.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): D
Crowds:
Obviously not having shows back this quickly isn’t Disney’s fault. But I had to give an objective grade of D (maybe even F tbh) for the sake of the review. However though, the current crowd situation and the overcapacity issue currently plaguing every park at Disney World, is entirely their fault. It’s maddening that they did this and now are clearly facing some tough Covid decisions which I’m sure is even more complicated due to the position that they put themselves in by increasing capacity way too much and way too fast. Sorry, but any executives that had a hand in these decisions over the last 6 months regarding capacity should be fired. However, under Bob Chapek’s culture of slashing costs and increasing the bottom line at the expense of the guest experience are probably being rewarded. I hope the culture that fosters these kinds of decisions within Disney dies quickly. But I fear it won’t.
Pre-Covid Trips: B (we have always gone during crowded times - Easter, Spring Break, Christmas, 4th of July, etc so we are used to crowds)
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): F (the lack of things to do, my above category, really impacts this)
This Trip (post-mask mandate): Double F (wearing a mask outside in the dead of heat while in line sucks, but wearing one in the dead of heat while waiting 120 minutes for Tower of Terror, for example, just sucks even more).
Cast Member Interactions:
This category is largely why I have 3 grading criteria (pre-covid, pre-mask mandate and post-mask mandate). Because the experiences with CM’s differ widely between each time period. In the past, CM’s had the ability to make or break your trip. They still do, but they almost always MADE the trip for people. Whether it was them being overly helpful or overly nice/courteous or just adding an extra positive experience in anyway they can. They were always great at this. This is really what made Disney for us and ultimately why we kept coming back. This trip, we had many positive experiences with CM’s. However, if positive experiences with CM’s during pre-covid trips were at 99%, then they have dipped overall to maybe accounting for 80% of our interactions during this trip. This isn’t a huge dip if you are anywhere else in the world, but at Disney it has a noticeable impact on your overall experience. In the beginning of our two week trip, it was easy to brush off the neutral or even slightly negative experiences with CMs. We attributed the occurrences to people being new, lack of training due to a rush to bring back staffing, and maybe even not being treated right by Disney during the pandemic. Either way, in the beginning of the trip we felt that the positives outweighed the negatives. But as the trip went on, and most especially after the mask mandate was re-implemented towards the end of our trip, we noticed a bigger dip in these interactions. It started to resemble Universal more then it resembled WDW. I saw verbal fights between CMS and guests, which I have never seen before. I saw CM’s be cold and even downright negative/condescending towards guests whether they complied or not. This wasn’t always the case but it is worth noting. They have effectively turned CMs into a police force and that is most of their job at the moment.
I feel bad for the CM’s that are trying to create a positive experience for guests while doing their job. You notice those CMs and how they struggle. But then you see the overzealous CMs who take this mask mandate as a right to become a police force almost barking orders at people left and right (again, whether the guests are complying fully or not). I’m sure not everyone will walk away with these experiences. But I waited in every line for every ride in every park almost every day for 2 straight weeks. I really did see a lot. Ultimately, I feel bad for the CMs that care about the guest experience. And that is most of them. But I have no sympathy towards CMs that take this as a way to become power hungry. One example, on the first day of the mask mandate, on RocknRoller Coaster, there was a girl in a small group that had some decorations on her mask but the mask was very tight and could be seen having multiple protective layers. She clearly made it through every mask checkpoint without issue. But after the shoulder restraint was brought down, an overzealous CM came over, lifted the restraint in her coaster train and forced her off the ride. I was appalled for her and for Disney. When we got off the ride, we saw her complaining to a CM and she was in tears. I overheard her explaining that she waited 2 hours for the ride with no issue from anyone and that she works in a hospital (not sure if that was true). We watched from a far to see what happened as we were curious and the CM she complained to apologized quickly, listened and then just gave her a surgical mask and told her sorry you’ll have to get back in line to ride this. These CM’s are the ones I don’t feel bad for and I do believe they need re-training, despite whatever belief you hold regarding masks. And for the record, I did comply as I didn’t want to put any CM in the situation of having to make my trip negative due to my own actions. But some of the stuff I saw was inconsistent enforcement, sometimes overzealous enforcement and downright policing without any care, which led to a lot of confusion for many guests that watched this stuff happen. Again, whatever your beliefs on masks are, leave it at the keyboard. I will do the same. This is just me reporting what I saw.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): B to A+, depending.
This Trip (post-mask mandate): Anywhere from a C to an A+, depending. I really hope they become more consistent in their messaging and enforcement and I do hope that any cast members that are freshly out of training continue to learn and improve, as I think they will. But imo, I do believe Disney needs to hire CMs who’s sole purpose is mask enforcement. Label these CMs as a different entity and allow the bulk of CMs to focus on other parts of their job that is more directly related to improving guest experiences, while a certain subset of CMs can act as police for masks. That’s honestly just a quick idea off the top of my head on how to improve that situation so I’m ready for anyone to pick that apart and find flaws with it, as I’m sure there are.
Cleanliness:
The parks, hotels and restaurants were very clean as they always are. I remember seeing the posts of garbage overflowing, etc. I witnessed maybe one or two garbage cans that were overflowed but that is it. I was here for two weeks and saw every crack and crevice of the parks and our hotel, BCV. No garbage in the hallways either. So whenever you see these posts on social media, please take it with a grain of salt. Because the only issues at Disney, imo, are the ones I’m describing here . So if you see an overflowed garbage can, just know that it means janitorial staffing just didn’t get it to yet because they are overworked. But the whole cleanliness problem is an absolute non-issue in my experience.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): A+
Hotel:
We love Y&BC. And we love BCV even more. Been staying at these resorts for nearly 15 years now. We will continue to come back to these resorts. The only gripe I have at the moment is that SAB does not open earlier in the morning. Not sure if it ever did in the past, but having it open at 8 or 9 would make a huge difference for us. I also wish that the beaches and cream ice cream window was open for our trip. It only opened at the very end of the trip. We also sorely missed walking over to get Ample Hills ice cream and having a few late night drinks watching dueling pianos at Jellyrolls. But that isn’t BCV/Y&ABC - that is more of an issue for the Boardwalk. So that won’t be reflected in my grade either. That’s just personal opinion though and not really related to the overall experience.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): A+
Summer Weather:
It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s HUMID. It’s sunny mostly but it rains in the afternoon most days. This is normal and if you don’t know this by now then you probably have never gone to Disney during the summer or began your research quest yet. I’m only including this category because we got lucky the first week and saw not a drop of rain. Our first time in many summers experiencing that. But because of that, it also led to some of the hottest days Florida has seen in a long while. Thankfully these “hottest days” were before the mask mandate.
No ratings needed for this category, just wanted to share those thoughts.
WDW Policies
I put this at the bottom for a reason. If you believe that masks need to be worn at all times, then avoid this category because you will most likely be triggered. Skip onto the last category “Overall Experience”. I’m not going to talk about any Covid science, beliefs I have on the science or politics or anything like that. I’m only commenting here on the actual policies themselves and how they relate to the overall experience that WE had. I have my opinions. You have yours. You won’t change my mind and I won’t change yours so let’s leave it at that. Mileage will vary greatly between individuals and groups based on factors that I will not discuss here or even respond to if they get introduced by other posters. So let’s respect that. But regarding WDW Policies, I do believe that Disney is in a crappy position with Covid becoming more of an issue again and because of the overcapacity problems they created. I think that the current masking policy should be refined as follows: If I can wait for fireworks at MK in a crowded space with thousands mask free or wait in a long line outside at Epcot for the wine and food festival mask free, then I should be able to also wait in line for a ride that is OUTSIDE mask free. There is no difference to me between an outdoor extended queue and an outdoor official attraction queue and the other crowded situations I just described. Masks indoors is one thing for me, but masking up outdoors in Florida is a whole different ballgame. I know others will disagree, but everyone has different heat tolerances, health issues, etc. I don’t agree with this policy. I think it would have been far better if they didn’t increase capacity so much, but that ship seems to have sailed so we are left with this current situation. Again, I’m excluding any science or opinions regarding Covid because they are not allowed on this board. This is simply my own opinion regarding the current policy. I think it does lead to enforcement inconsistency issues and confusion for a lot (yes, I know others will respond with a quote from Disney’s policy telling me “here, this is clear, stop saying it’s confusing” but I think that just oversimplifies the actual complexities at play that I witnessed in the 3 days masks were mandated vs the 9 where it wasn’t mandated).
No rating needed. This is just my general opinion regarding the newest policies that have been put in place at WDW and how it impacts comfortability, logistics, etc. This is not an opinion regarding Covid or anything else that isn’t allowed on Dis.
Overall Experience:
This review may come off negative to some and that’s understandable. When I write a review, I try to be as objective as possible but the negative side of things tend to be center focus. But that isn’t our entire experience. As I said, I wanted this review to focus on the changes between this trip and our historical trips with Disney. With that said, overall, we did have an awesome trip. I thought I would regret going to WDW in the months leading up to the trip but I was very mistaken there. This trip was a lot of fun, free flowing and spontaneous in ways that I never thought were possible at Disney. We are so used to planning every minute of Disney so it was almost refreshing to do this differently despite the conditions. We never rope drop. We still didn’t rope drop this trip but we saw and experienced a ton of Disney in all facets. And we came away very happy that we went. However, due to the current situations that are described in the above categories, we may delay coming back for a while until things are more back to normal. I want Typhoon Lagoon back. I want Disney Springs to be open till later, like 1am, again. We want Jellyrolls back. We want shows back. We want fastpass back. And we just overall want things to be more normal again, whatever that may mean in the future. But anyone that is afraid that their upcoming trip may be impacted negatively due to the current situation both in WDW and the world at large (and if you are ok with the mask mandate in place), then I can assure you that you will have a great time. You have to make the most of it though. That is an absolute pre-requisite for having the most enjoyable trip possible. But not just at WDW, that’s anywhere now and always. That is what we did. And that is why we had a great time and why we will ultimately be holding onto our DVC contract. However, that is always a fluid thing and if Disney continues to put profit over guest experience (there is no reason those two can’t coexist, they did successfully for many many years - they are not mutually exclusive) then that may change. But for now, we absolutely had a great enough trip that we will be holding on and watching closely as things develop and hopefully come back to normal at some-point at WDW.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): B+
This Trip (post-mask mandate): B- to a B+, depending
I hope anyone reading finds this review useful. I hope anyone that has an upcoming trip (and is still going) enjoys their trip thoroughly. I wish you all the best and will respond the best I can to any questions anyone has. If anyone wants to share differing experiences, I fully welcome it. To each their own here. This is mine.
Introduction:
If you’ve seen my posts you already know my stances and experience with Disney. But I’ll restate for this post. We are a family that has been going to Disney World at least 1x annually for 30+ years. Some members of our family have been going since it opened 50 years ago. We typically go in the spring time around Easter/Spring Break, and sometimes in the summer around July 4th. We are a large family, extended and intermediate, and enjoy Disney in different ways. We love Disney and have a ton of history with it. This current trip was a long one and spanned the pre-mask mandate reactivation and post-mask mandate. Here is how I like to enjoy Disney and what I’m used to though, so you get some background on our/my preferences….
I like to plan Disney World in advance and I am the one who plans for our entire family and for many friends (I’m not a TA though). I enjoy planning fastpasses in advance and we rely heavily on ADRs, almost always. We have been going for too long so we know what we like and what we don’t like. We don’t rope drop, but we typically plan to be in the park early in the morning, head back to the pool and then head back into the same park or a different park at night. We usually stay at the Yacht and Beach Club but bought into DVC BCV a little bit before the pandemic started. So because of how different things have been at Disney, I’m going to break down this review into categories and grade each category accordingly, so that I can more easily compare the experiences we have had in the past with the experiences we had during this recent 2 week trip. We had a lot of points to burn due to the pandemic, so this was the first time we ever stayed in Disney World this long. Usually it is a 7-8 trip at most.
I’ll also preface this by saying that everything written in this review is meant to be as objective as possible but due to our lengthy experience at WDW, there will of course be bias in this review that is skewed towards that experience and our typical touring patterns/preferences. I am not a Disney apologist and I view each trip with Disney as an individual transaction and do not possess a sense of entitlement based on previous trips. However, as I stated, due to our vast experience, there are certain expectations that I expect Disney to meet and even exceed based on our many past trips. So I can understand if expectations and entitlement may come off as the same, but that isn’t the case. Again, we love Disney and I could go on for pages and pages talking about the things we love. But that’s obvious. So this review will focus more on the current changes and differences between now and previous pre-pandemic trips. It will also be a mix of comments, opinions, experience reporting and grading each category accordingly. So please know that when reading this. Anyway, here’s my full review.
Here are the categories I will use to break down this review:
Rides
Lines
Line Cutting
Food Quality
ADR Experiences
Mobile Ordering Experiences
Things to do at WDW
Crowds
Cast Member Interactions
Cleanliness
Hotel
Summer Weather
WDW Policies
Overall Experience
Rides:
The rides are primarily why I go to Disney. Others in my family enjoy the sights and the nostalgia, as do I, but the rides are my primary focus when traveling to WDW. I enjoy the immersive experience that each ride offers. And I expect to be enveloped in that immersive experience from the queue all the way to the gift shop exit. Disney never disappoints in this regard. That holds true today, despite certain new additions such as plexiglass dividers and extended queues (which I don’t like at all, but will get to later). My biggest issue is wearing masks on a ride such as an outdoor ride or a fast moving rollercoaster. If you want to talk science regarding this, take it to another thread. This is again just my viewpoint and my own experience. Mileage varies for everyone here I’m sure. But I do not enjoy looking at my pictures with masks on. I don’t like how Disney removes pictures from a service that you pay for because your mask isn’t perfectly on during a high speed roller coaster. And I don’t like wearing them on rides such as the Safari at AK (more of an experience then a ride obviously) or even the Water Rapids ride at AK (my mask was soaked and unusable for the rest of the day). If you don’t mind the mask wearing, then take the post mask mandate ratings with a grain a salt and focus on the rest of my review if you are interested. If you do mind, then maybe this will help you make decisions with any upcoming trips you may have.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate July 30th): A+
This Trip (post-mask mandate): B
Lines:
You already know where this is going. Firstly, we used the Lines app a lot which was very very helpful, and almost always accurate. But lines for rides were LONG and they typically stayed long most of the day. This is at all parks and most especially Hollywood Studios, which currently has the most to do as far as rides go. Extended queues are the worst thing at Disney at the moment IMO. No shows, no fastpasses, etc. This all adds up. But the parks are designed to be beautiful and immersive, and these extended queues make it feel like a Six Flags or Universal to me. These parks were just not designed for extended queues and it really shows, especially at HS. And with a lack of fastpass availability, the lines in the dead heat of summer were just extra brutal. For me, the mask mandate made the lines slightly worse and slightly more unbearable. Enforcement was all over the place as far as I could tell regarding extended queues but were more decently consistent when entering the actual official attraction queue. We didn’t rope drop at all, we don’t like doing it. But if you want to experience as much as possible with as little waiting as possible, then I highly recommend rope dropping to any and everyone.
Pre-Covid Trips: B+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): D+
This Trip (post-mask mandate): D
Line Cutting:
I can’t believe I even need to have this as a category. That alone should speak volumes to you. But line cutting was one of the worst things I’ve seen at Disney. I saw a lot of confrontations (I was in a few myself trying to stop line cutters) and a lot of people just cut any and all lines with any excuses they could come up with. I have zero sympathy for these people and hope they get what they deserve as far as karma goes. But the lack of enforcement (literally zero enforcement from CMs with line cutting - I know because I complained a few times and even pointed the people out but the CMs just always shrugged it off like they either didn’t care or didn’t have the power to fix the situation) was the most startling part of the whole line cutting problem. It was bad before the mask mandate came into effect, but was even worse once the mask mandate became effective. Maybe this is due to CM’s needing to police masking and diverting attention to that or maybe it’s because they let people get away with it more because of masking in the sun baked lines, whatever the reasons this was no OK at all in our book. This isn’t six flags, this is Disney World. Not OK.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+ (maybe this was always an issue, but with fastpass I really never noticed)
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): D
This Trip (post-mask mandate): F
Food Quality:
Let’s move on to something more pleasant. The food quality. Yes, menus are pared back a lot at WDW restaurants. It’s obvious everywhere you go, especially if you frequent WDW like we do. We lost many favorite dishes at many restaurants we loved in the past. But the quality of food that the kitchens are putting out have not been degraded. In fact, I would argue since there are only a few dishes that each kitchen is putting out that chef’s can put a bit more focus on quality. And it shows in the options that are available. I do hope that they can get their supply chain issues fixed and start bringing back better options and much more variety. We grew tired of the same menu options at every restaurant (with variations in prep, flavoring tied to the theme of the restaurant) so we eventually switched many of our nighttime ADRs to Disney Springs restaurants. Disney Springs is NOT suffering from the same supply chain issues and it is obvious. The food we had at Disney Springs was fantastic. Wine Bar George, Boathouse, Jock Lindsay’s Hangar, Morimoto, etc were all incredible.
Pre-Covid Trips: A
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): Anywhere from a B+ to an A+ depending on the restaurant
ADR Experiences:
Let’s start with service. CM’s in this regard have done the absolute best they can. They are understaffed with little to no help in the busboy, runner department. So the servers are doing triple jobs here as far as I’m concerned. They were responsible for taking orders, running the food and cleaning tables. So because of that and the lack of help, tables were left dirty. Waits were sometimes past the ADR time. And food/drinks sometimes took longer. However, I tipped very well no matter what, making sure my tip was at least 25-30% each time we sat for a meal. The servers need help and they need it quick. Whatever economics are involved with the prior shutdown, not trying to debate that here, but there is a serious shortage of low wage help in the restaurants. Some examples: We ate at California Grill twice. The first experience was fantastic. The second experience was a total flop and couldn’t be more opposite. The server tried his best, we tipped well, but he literally messed up almost every drink and food order that came to the table. In the past, I would have complained. But in this current environment, I instead just tipped more.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): N/A. I won’t rate them here because it would be unfair to give a rating based on the current working conditions they have.
Mobile Ordering Experiences:
I wrote in a mini review a week ago, mid trip, how I hated mobile ordering. My first experience wasn’t the best with it. But as the trip went on and as we relied on it a little bit more then expected, my opinion turned around completely on it. Mobile Ordering is great and needs to stay, in my opinion. I hope that they introduce a hybrid once they are staffed accordingly so that people can either choose to mobile order or choose to walk up and order. I think that will eventually be the future, but for now this system does work well as MO only.
Pre-Covid Trips: N/A - we never used it until this trip
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): B+
Things To Do at WDW:
This is an obvious one. But Disney is SORELY lacking any and all in-park entertainment options. This is reflected in my “lines” category since long lines for rides are a direct impact of having nothing else to do at Disney. Thank god they have fireworks shows again, which were always great and a favorite thing for us to do that isn’t a ride. But Disney NEEDS shows, parades and character meets back asap (please hold all covid opinions regarding this - once again I’m just reporting what I’m seeing). The last time I watched parades at Disney was the Electric Lights parade at WDW (R.I.P.) and the last time I stood in line for a character meet up was when I was a child. But just because I don’t utilize these things, doesn’t mean they don’t need to come back. They do, and for a lot of reasons. For me, this was most evident in Epcot. We LOVED walking around Epcot and watching the various entertainment that would go in each country. Really missing this stuff.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): D
Crowds:
Obviously not having shows back this quickly isn’t Disney’s fault. But I had to give an objective grade of D (maybe even F tbh) for the sake of the review. However though, the current crowd situation and the overcapacity issue currently plaguing every park at Disney World, is entirely their fault. It’s maddening that they did this and now are clearly facing some tough Covid decisions which I’m sure is even more complicated due to the position that they put themselves in by increasing capacity way too much and way too fast. Sorry, but any executives that had a hand in these decisions over the last 6 months regarding capacity should be fired. However, under Bob Chapek’s culture of slashing costs and increasing the bottom line at the expense of the guest experience are probably being rewarded. I hope the culture that fosters these kinds of decisions within Disney dies quickly. But I fear it won’t.
Pre-Covid Trips: B (we have always gone during crowded times - Easter, Spring Break, Christmas, 4th of July, etc so we are used to crowds)
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): F (the lack of things to do, my above category, really impacts this)
This Trip (post-mask mandate): Double F (wearing a mask outside in the dead of heat while in line sucks, but wearing one in the dead of heat while waiting 120 minutes for Tower of Terror, for example, just sucks even more).
Cast Member Interactions:
This category is largely why I have 3 grading criteria (pre-covid, pre-mask mandate and post-mask mandate). Because the experiences with CM’s differ widely between each time period. In the past, CM’s had the ability to make or break your trip. They still do, but they almost always MADE the trip for people. Whether it was them being overly helpful or overly nice/courteous or just adding an extra positive experience in anyway they can. They were always great at this. This is really what made Disney for us and ultimately why we kept coming back. This trip, we had many positive experiences with CM’s. However, if positive experiences with CM’s during pre-covid trips were at 99%, then they have dipped overall to maybe accounting for 80% of our interactions during this trip. This isn’t a huge dip if you are anywhere else in the world, but at Disney it has a noticeable impact on your overall experience. In the beginning of our two week trip, it was easy to brush off the neutral or even slightly negative experiences with CMs. We attributed the occurrences to people being new, lack of training due to a rush to bring back staffing, and maybe even not being treated right by Disney during the pandemic. Either way, in the beginning of the trip we felt that the positives outweighed the negatives. But as the trip went on, and most especially after the mask mandate was re-implemented towards the end of our trip, we noticed a bigger dip in these interactions. It started to resemble Universal more then it resembled WDW. I saw verbal fights between CMS and guests, which I have never seen before. I saw CM’s be cold and even downright negative/condescending towards guests whether they complied or not. This wasn’t always the case but it is worth noting. They have effectively turned CMs into a police force and that is most of their job at the moment.
I feel bad for the CM’s that are trying to create a positive experience for guests while doing their job. You notice those CMs and how they struggle. But then you see the overzealous CMs who take this mask mandate as a right to become a police force almost barking orders at people left and right (again, whether the guests are complying fully or not). I’m sure not everyone will walk away with these experiences. But I waited in every line for every ride in every park almost every day for 2 straight weeks. I really did see a lot. Ultimately, I feel bad for the CMs that care about the guest experience. And that is most of them. But I have no sympathy towards CMs that take this as a way to become power hungry. One example, on the first day of the mask mandate, on RocknRoller Coaster, there was a girl in a small group that had some decorations on her mask but the mask was very tight and could be seen having multiple protective layers. She clearly made it through every mask checkpoint without issue. But after the shoulder restraint was brought down, an overzealous CM came over, lifted the restraint in her coaster train and forced her off the ride. I was appalled for her and for Disney. When we got off the ride, we saw her complaining to a CM and she was in tears. I overheard her explaining that she waited 2 hours for the ride with no issue from anyone and that she works in a hospital (not sure if that was true). We watched from a far to see what happened as we were curious and the CM she complained to apologized quickly, listened and then just gave her a surgical mask and told her sorry you’ll have to get back in line to ride this. These CM’s are the ones I don’t feel bad for and I do believe they need re-training, despite whatever belief you hold regarding masks. And for the record, I did comply as I didn’t want to put any CM in the situation of having to make my trip negative due to my own actions. But some of the stuff I saw was inconsistent enforcement, sometimes overzealous enforcement and downright policing without any care, which led to a lot of confusion for many guests that watched this stuff happen. Again, whatever your beliefs on masks are, leave it at the keyboard. I will do the same. This is just me reporting what I saw.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): B to A+, depending.
This Trip (post-mask mandate): Anywhere from a C to an A+, depending. I really hope they become more consistent in their messaging and enforcement and I do hope that any cast members that are freshly out of training continue to learn and improve, as I think they will. But imo, I do believe Disney needs to hire CMs who’s sole purpose is mask enforcement. Label these CMs as a different entity and allow the bulk of CMs to focus on other parts of their job that is more directly related to improving guest experiences, while a certain subset of CMs can act as police for masks. That’s honestly just a quick idea off the top of my head on how to improve that situation so I’m ready for anyone to pick that apart and find flaws with it, as I’m sure there are.
Cleanliness:
The parks, hotels and restaurants were very clean as they always are. I remember seeing the posts of garbage overflowing, etc. I witnessed maybe one or two garbage cans that were overflowed but that is it. I was here for two weeks and saw every crack and crevice of the parks and our hotel, BCV. No garbage in the hallways either. So whenever you see these posts on social media, please take it with a grain of salt. Because the only issues at Disney, imo, are the ones I’m describing here . So if you see an overflowed garbage can, just know that it means janitorial staffing just didn’t get it to yet because they are overworked. But the whole cleanliness problem is an absolute non-issue in my experience.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): A+
Hotel:
We love Y&BC. And we love BCV even more. Been staying at these resorts for nearly 15 years now. We will continue to come back to these resorts. The only gripe I have at the moment is that SAB does not open earlier in the morning. Not sure if it ever did in the past, but having it open at 8 or 9 would make a huge difference for us. I also wish that the beaches and cream ice cream window was open for our trip. It only opened at the very end of the trip. We also sorely missed walking over to get Ample Hills ice cream and having a few late night drinks watching dueling pianos at Jellyrolls. But that isn’t BCV/Y&ABC - that is more of an issue for the Boardwalk. So that won’t be reflected in my grade either. That’s just personal opinion though and not really related to the overall experience.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre and post mask mandate): A+
Summer Weather:
It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s HUMID. It’s sunny mostly but it rains in the afternoon most days. This is normal and if you don’t know this by now then you probably have never gone to Disney during the summer or began your research quest yet. I’m only including this category because we got lucky the first week and saw not a drop of rain. Our first time in many summers experiencing that. But because of that, it also led to some of the hottest days Florida has seen in a long while. Thankfully these “hottest days” were before the mask mandate.
No ratings needed for this category, just wanted to share those thoughts.
WDW Policies
I put this at the bottom for a reason. If you believe that masks need to be worn at all times, then avoid this category because you will most likely be triggered. Skip onto the last category “Overall Experience”. I’m not going to talk about any Covid science, beliefs I have on the science or politics or anything like that. I’m only commenting here on the actual policies themselves and how they relate to the overall experience that WE had. I have my opinions. You have yours. You won’t change my mind and I won’t change yours so let’s leave it at that. Mileage will vary greatly between individuals and groups based on factors that I will not discuss here or even respond to if they get introduced by other posters. So let’s respect that. But regarding WDW Policies, I do believe that Disney is in a crappy position with Covid becoming more of an issue again and because of the overcapacity problems they created. I think that the current masking policy should be refined as follows: If I can wait for fireworks at MK in a crowded space with thousands mask free or wait in a long line outside at Epcot for the wine and food festival mask free, then I should be able to also wait in line for a ride that is OUTSIDE mask free. There is no difference to me between an outdoor extended queue and an outdoor official attraction queue and the other crowded situations I just described. Masks indoors is one thing for me, but masking up outdoors in Florida is a whole different ballgame. I know others will disagree, but everyone has different heat tolerances, health issues, etc. I don’t agree with this policy. I think it would have been far better if they didn’t increase capacity so much, but that ship seems to have sailed so we are left with this current situation. Again, I’m excluding any science or opinions regarding Covid because they are not allowed on this board. This is simply my own opinion regarding the current policy. I think it does lead to enforcement inconsistency issues and confusion for a lot (yes, I know others will respond with a quote from Disney’s policy telling me “here, this is clear, stop saying it’s confusing” but I think that just oversimplifies the actual complexities at play that I witnessed in the 3 days masks were mandated vs the 9 where it wasn’t mandated).
No rating needed. This is just my general opinion regarding the newest policies that have been put in place at WDW and how it impacts comfortability, logistics, etc. This is not an opinion regarding Covid or anything else that isn’t allowed on Dis.
Overall Experience:
This review may come off negative to some and that’s understandable. When I write a review, I try to be as objective as possible but the negative side of things tend to be center focus. But that isn’t our entire experience. As I said, I wanted this review to focus on the changes between this trip and our historical trips with Disney. With that said, overall, we did have an awesome trip. I thought I would regret going to WDW in the months leading up to the trip but I was very mistaken there. This trip was a lot of fun, free flowing and spontaneous in ways that I never thought were possible at Disney. We are so used to planning every minute of Disney so it was almost refreshing to do this differently despite the conditions. We never rope drop. We still didn’t rope drop this trip but we saw and experienced a ton of Disney in all facets. And we came away very happy that we went. However, due to the current situations that are described in the above categories, we may delay coming back for a while until things are more back to normal. I want Typhoon Lagoon back. I want Disney Springs to be open till later, like 1am, again. We want Jellyrolls back. We want shows back. We want fastpass back. And we just overall want things to be more normal again, whatever that may mean in the future. But anyone that is afraid that their upcoming trip may be impacted negatively due to the current situation both in WDW and the world at large (and if you are ok with the mask mandate in place), then I can assure you that you will have a great time. You have to make the most of it though. That is an absolute pre-requisite for having the most enjoyable trip possible. But not just at WDW, that’s anywhere now and always. That is what we did. And that is why we had a great time and why we will ultimately be holding onto our DVC contract. However, that is always a fluid thing and if Disney continues to put profit over guest experience (there is no reason those two can’t coexist, they did successfully for many many years - they are not mutually exclusive) then that may change. But for now, we absolutely had a great enough trip that we will be holding on and watching closely as things develop and hopefully come back to normal at some-point at WDW.
Pre-Covid Trips: A+
This Trip (pre-mask mandate): B+
This Trip (post-mask mandate): B- to a B+, depending
I hope anyone reading finds this review useful. I hope anyone that has an upcoming trip (and is still going) enjoys their trip thoroughly. I wish you all the best and will respond the best I can to any questions anyone has. If anyone wants to share differing experiences, I fully welcome it. To each their own here. This is mine.
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