Just back from Feb 13-20th stay at BCV, one bedroom
I usually do not visit President's week. I am a Sept, early May, early December, first week in February DVC'er, so relatively speaking I am used to much lower crowds. So this trip was much more crowded than I have ever experienced. I do miss fast pass.
We arrived at parks an hour prior to opening. We focused on DHS and EPCOT, no Animal Kingdom this trip and only one day at Magic Kingdom.
From what I saw, YMMV, nearly all people were wearing masks appropriately.
I did notice more people running at park opening and less cast members telling them not to. During the off season seems like less people run and when they do the cast members always say something.
Didn't notice too terribly rude behavior by guests. In fact except for the runners, people seemed more polite and much more aware of their surroundings than prior trips.
I miss Fastpass, Yellow Tags for your luggage, Resort Airline Check In and character meets & the entertainment that has not restarted.
I like having seats assigned on Magical Express and how they are maintaining storm along bay pool seating, during mid day there seemed to be much shorted wait times for the Friendship Boats.
THE DETAIL
On arrival day, Sat, the ME line extended all the way down to the rental car booths. I was tempted to call rideshare, but the line seemed to be moving quickly. It was basically a slow walk from the far end of the now closed car rental booths to the ME counter. It was longer than usual, but not as bad as it looked.
Unfortunately for us, the line for the BCV , Yacht Club, BWV bus was almost back to the check in, back so far there were no more markers to indicate social distancing. It did take longer than usual for the buses to arrive, we were not able to get on the first bus and one of the last groups on the second bus for our resort area.
I do like the boarding process with assigned seats & everyone was wearing their masks appropriately. I do miss the yellow tags and I hate having to shlep my luggage from terminal A to terminal B. There was no social distancing around the luggage carousels.
We did online check in and were very happy that we got a text saying our villa was ready as were on ME. When we arrived at BCV, (last resort to drop off ) we didn't even go through the lobby. We turned left down the sidewalk with our luggage right to the villa. I requested a room close to the lobby and was happy with the location. Not perfect but not the crazy hike to one of the end units.
I did notice a chemically like smell when we first entering the villa, the smell dissipated when we returned from EPCOT latter that evening.
On Saturday at EPCOT it was difficult to maintain social distancing in some bottleneck walkways. We went to Voices of Liberty show, no problem finding seats, not crowded at all.
Saw the Jammonitors (sp), I do not like how they removed the benches from in front of the stage in Canada, I can understand it, with COVID, but another area for tired feet to stand and no one was maintaining social distancing.
Watched the Defying Gravity Show, everyone was seated on the floor and social distanced themselves. I was impressed especially since it was the exact opposite of the Jammonitors show.
Tried the Ratatoulle which was too salty for me, Had the grill cheese bacon & tomato soup. The soup was nearly cold, took it back and they gave us a fresh hot one. Split Lobster Poutine and Almond Frangipane Cake which were delish.
Rode SE, with about a 20 minute wait. Rode Nemo, looked around the Living Seas. Rode Living with the land.
It was near park close and soarin still had a 60 minute posted wait time, we got in line and it took about 50 minutes, walked back to BCV through a closed EPCOT park, which was very cool.
We had great luck with DHS, Sunday, Tues and Wed, booked ROT right at 7 am , we were able to get boarding Groups 77,76,25 respectively and all the rides we were interested in were open right when they allowed you in the park.
When leaving DHS late morning and returning to DHS for our ROT boarding groups, the Friendship boats were either waiting at the dock or pulling up with less than a 10 minute wait. However one night we left DHS at park closing we decided to walk back as the line for the boats was terribly long.
We did make a mistake one day around 11: 30 ish we took the skyliner from DHS with the intention of going to the international gateway at EPCOT, We forgot we had to transfer Skyliners at the Caribbean. Since EPCOT opened at 11 am, the line for the EPCOT skyliner was ridiculous. That was one or our longest waits. We talked about rideshare from the Caribbean back to BCV and we should have done that.
DHS on Friday and Saturday we did not have great luck. Slinky Dog Dash was down both days, when first let into the park and didn't open until sometime after 9 AM. On Sat the railroad ride was also down when first let into the park and did not open unitl after 9 AM. We ended up riding TSM multiple times, we adore that ride. When the closed rides opened they already had built 60 plus minutes waits. So we skipped them.
We park hopped to EPCOT a few afternoons and late evenings around our ROT boarding groups. We did not ride on test track as the line was always crazy long, even at Park Close. We rode Frozen at park close with a 30 to 40 minute wait and Mission Space another evening with a 30 minutes wait.
Magic Kingdom Day on Monday (should have picked another day) was a bust, 7DMT closed at park opening. Looked at
MDE slightly after 9 AM and Pirates, Splash & Big Thunder were closed. This backed up crowds at the Jungle Cruise and Aladdin Carpets. Splash opened to 60 minute wait time sometime before 9:30 AM and much longer wait for 7DMT when it finally opened. I do not know when Pirates or BTTMR actually opened.
The walkways were horrible to navigate, no social distancing so we left before Noon, probably around 11 30 ish. We did see Tinkerbell make her rounds on her treasure chest and the Princess waiving form the Railroad Station Platform, which was cool. We ended up riding, Peter Pan, Buzz Light year, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets, Tiki Room, we mobile ordered Ice Cream from Sunshine Terrace right when it opened.
Storm Along Bay was great. The cast members were cleaning chairs after parties left the area. From my observation's the cast was very attentive to cleaning.. All the guests at sorm along bay I observed were very polite.
I did observe one cast member speak in a very rude manner to a child and her Mom. I was kinda shocked.
As I waited for DHS to open at temp check station, I observed the blue coated temperature takers having a complete gossip session with a Disney Cast member about "stupid guests", their words, they were making fun of guests, not for bring rude or bad behavior, but for being not knowledgeable and asking what amounts to stupid questions from their point of view. I did report this to guest services on my way out of the park. My opinion, If staff want to vent and make fun of guests that pay their salary, do it in the break room or on your time, not in front of other guests & families.
Runner Story.
Heading into DHS one morning, a father pushing a stroller following the Mom, were both flat out running, down the main street, they were trailed by a 9 or 10 year boy, who was trying to keep up. Poor kid, tripped over a curb and face planted. Thank God he wasn't hurt, (that is an assumption on my part as he wasn't crying and saw him stand /got right up) but the parents didn't notice, they kept running. A cast member in one of the stores observed it and was assisting him as his parents were long gone in the sea of people. I do not know at what point he was reunited with his parents.
When did that happen? (If I’ve just been dense/not paying attention my apologies lol)
