Monday @ Disney Springs & Epcot, Tuesday at Hollywood Studios.
This is going to cover a lot of ground... we've done a lot in the last 2 days since my last report.
We moved from Old Key West to Riviera on Monday. This was by design; we decided it would be fun to stay in the oldest DVC resort (OKW) and the newest (Riviera) on the same trip. And they were the only 2 DVC resorts we had never stayed at. I know this forum is about the parks but just a quick commentary on OKW & Riviera. Particularly in these times, the "small separate buildings" feel of OKW was very comfortable. It really hit us when we got to Riviera and it felt like a very busy hotel in comparison. Just something to keep in mind. We loved both and they are VERY different (obviously).
Related: transportation. I was one of those that when I first heard about it a few years ago, I was not a fan of the Skyliner idea. But then it happened, we tried it and we really liked it. So I say this from a "pro Skyliner" perspective. One of the highlights of Riviera is direct access to the Skyliner - then to Epcot & Hollywood Studios. Well, it tends to rain in FL, right? And for a lot of the year, that rain comes with thunder & lightning. So, the Skyliner gets shut down. And just like that, Riviera becomes another hotel on the bus line. And maybe it's because of the current situation but it's a bit worse. We were leaving the Studio this afternoon in the rain. Skyliner was shut down. But the bus signs did not list Riviera - at all. So we had to walk back to the Skyliner attendant and ask. They turn the bus line on to Riviera when it rains but it's not marked on the boards (it was #6, BTW).
But back to the parks & Disney Springs...
We checked out of OKW and went to Disney Springs on Monday (Labor Day) while waiting for our room at Riviera to be ready. Not sure why but traffic into the garage was really slow & backed up. But we parked, got screened and in we went. Like the parks, the crowds seemed relatively light. But unlike the parks, the queues to get into places like World of Disney &
Lego are pretty disorganized. I get it; they never expected long lines. But if you go, be prepared.
We didn't have reservations but we were able to get 2 seats at the bar at Wine Bar George. We always enjoy it there and this time was terrific.
We hung out for a while, checked into Riviera and then went to Epcot. Remember what I said about Skyliner being shut down if it rains? Ya... bingo; that's what happened last night. So we grabbed an Uber over to Boardwalk and went into Epcot through International Gateway.
I've talked about Food & Wine Festival 2020 in a prior post. I give Disney a lot of leeway for pulling it together at all. We have been coming for F&W for many years. If you are thinking of coming because of F&W, my recommendation would be for you to delay until 2021. It's understandable why... but it's disappointing.
Crowds were noticeably lighter yesterday (Monday) than we saw Saturday. Picture attached of what America looked like at about 8 PM.
Today was the Studio. We were lucky to have done Rise of the Resistance when it opened but we were dying to try it again. So, we walked over to the Caribbean Skyliner station and boarded when they opened at 9:00. [It's faster to walk to Caribbean than to transfer from the Riviera line first thing in the AM.]. Though the gate, quick stop at Starbucks and then into the line for Runaway Railway (while we waited for the Rise of the Resistance boarding group system to go live at 10:00). We were just about to board the train when Rise went live; we got our boarding group and really liked Runway Railway. [FYI, Rise boarding groups were gone in less than a minute today.]
Overall, lines weren't bad. Railway was about 40 minutes. Slinky Dog was 60. Millennium Falcon was under 30. Midway Mania was a walk-on. Rockin' Rollercoaster was about 40. So we hit everything we wanted. Late lunch at Mama Melrose (it was fantastic) & then back to Riviera.
The only negative I have to say about the Studio was the lack of food options. Most restaurants are open. But food stands are few & far between. Plenty of popcorn... but good luck finding a Mickey bar. I get it that capacity is down and it's a Tuesday today. But it (food stand availability) was very different in the Studio than we had seen at MK or Epcot.
Finally... sorry to harp on it but for those keeping score, we tried to use Skyliner to/from Riviera 3 times and it was shut down because of weather 2 out of 3 times (in the last 24 hours). Riviera is beautiful. But for the number of points to stay here, if you are doing it because of access to Skyliner... temper your expectations. We lived in central FL for 4 years; it rains and thunders in Orlando in the afternoon A LOT. The rule for Skyliner is that once a thunder storm gets within a 10-mile radius, they shut it down until no storms have been within 10 miles for 30 minutes. Great call from a safety perspective! But from an uptime perspective... it's going to take a toll. I would classify Riviera as near Grand Floridian quality... but on the bus line (effectively).
