Just got back from WDW, Here are the logistics

[Dpmcleod]

This board was the reason we ended up going and I thought I would put a simple list of the feedback from this trip. Flew Westjet out of Pearson YYZ from Aug 28th to Sept 5th at OKW.

Testing:

This was a highly stressful event but turned out to be nothing:

• Shoppers Drug Mart $40 test 2 days prior to flying out. I should have booked ahead more but got the appt and result on time.The pharmacist made an error on the paperwork (put year 2011 lol) so we had to get a new copy. Either way it was painless but $160 for the family so a bit pricy
• The day after we got there I booked us all for an appt with beepermd. Thanks a million to all the folks on this forum who recommended them! I booked exactly 72 hours from our departure time and when I got the appt it was for a range that basically ended so I called them and changed the appointment to later in the day.
• All appointment communication happened over text messaging so make sure you have access to your texts if you use this service. They were excellent at keeping us in the loop as to what was happening. I still was on pins and needles but had an expensive backup strategy if this didnt work out. Thankfully it did,
• The day of the appointment we got multiple texts from the doctor who showed up exactly when they were supposed to and did the test. She promised results within 36 hours and we had ours back (text and email) within 26 hours.

Flying:

• Super fun and other than the mask on the flight, most of the experience was similar to pre-covid. We were served drinks and snacks on the flight so were not masked the entire time.
• Flying there there was noone at the airport, we were the only ones at security at 8am. We had printouts of our tests and attestation form from the CDC.
• Flying back there were delays in the check in process but this was not a big deal. I uploaded all of our vaccine information and test information to ArriveCan. Note they want copies of BOTH vaccinations so make sure you have that. I also gave everyone a copy of their stuff in case there were any issues but checked in everyone on my ArriveCan. We also had Nexus so were outside around 20 minutes after landing. (This was the Sunday of the long weekend)

Covid Precautions:

• There is no social distancing at Disney but we were never uncomfortable
• Masks were required indoors and on transportation. Almost everyone adhered to this and this policy actually made me feel comfortable as it seemed appropriate.
• At no point was I concerned about our environment. Everything seemed clean

The Magic:

• Overall the magic was definitely there. People and cast members were friendly and while it wasnt like a pre-covid trip it was still a lot of fun
• Parks were empty during the week. I was not expecting to go on a lot of rides but we did them all multiple times including ROR and FOP. FOP was a 5 minute wait so we just walked on from the line.
• No more bag checks, just walk through a machine and you are in. We kept getting flagged and found out my glasses case was tripping the machine. I switched to another one and we were good for the rest of the trip.

The Missing Magic:

• Because everything was dead a lot of things were closed early including food. We ended up ordering Uber Eats twice (Blastphemy!) and I ended up hungry one night because i couldnt get through to order a pizza. Having a Canadian phone sucked as dominos.com went right to dominos.ca. I lost my patience for this and figured it out the next morning but there was some hangryness that one night.
• The heat and humidity were a factor and we did not plan our days well enough around it. Best to be indoors during the heat of the day.
• Anxiety over a positive test result and getting stuck in Florida (Or a one way car rental home)
• OKW only allows deliveries to the lobby so we had to walk 5 minutes to the front to get our food and carry it back to the room. We probably wont stay here again because of this.
• After 8 days I still regret all the things we didnt get a chance to do
• A lot fewer kids were there as expected. They were replaced with a lot more drunk people (haha with a dash of truth)

Other Things that went well:

• Mostly everything!
• Instacart delivered our groceries in 2 hours. Paid a bit extra but no big deal. the hotel added $6 to deliver to our room, ugh
• No-one was at the parks so we had virtually no waiting time, except on the Saturday at Epcot which was like a light day in 2019.
• Busses were empty. Most times we were the only ones on.
• We used the Mears service from MCO and it was well worth it. The driver was waiting for us with a sign with my name on it. That was super cool.
• We got one last ride on the Magical express coming back. It will be missed.

With all the changes to the pricing we will most likely wait a bit before going back but are super glad we got this trip in.

 

[HersheyKiss]

I'm glad you had a good time and everything went smoothly! I can imagine the stress and anxiety waiting for the return test results. That's one thing I'm not looking forward to.

I have to say I nearly spit my drink out (for real) when you said $160 for testing was pricy. That is CHEAP. We have to pay that per person in Manitoba, you are one of the lucky ones. Only Ontario and I believe Alberta get that privilege. We have to go to a private travel lab. which is $$$. Hopefully Shoppers spreads the love around the rest of the country before we leave, I'd love to save $480!

 

[grantclaire]

Thanks for the great update! Did you have to pay for beepermd or was it covered by insurance?

 

[Dpmcleod]

I'm glad you had a good time and everything went smoothly! I can imagine the stress and anxiety waiting for the return test results. That's one thing I'm not looking forward to.

I have to say I nearly spit my drink out (for real) when you said $160 for testing was pricy. That is CHEAP. We have to pay that per person in Manitoba, you are one of the lucky ones. Only Ontario and I believe Alberta get that privilege. We have to go to a private travel lab. which is $$$. Hopefully Shoppers spreads the love around the rest of the country before we leave, I'd love to save $480!

Wow I had no idea it was so expensive. I'll remind my comment.

At least the test coming back is free.

Thanks for the great update! Did you have to pay for beepermd or was it covered by insurance?

It was totally free for us. They only charge you if you are doing a single test. There were 4 of us so the service was free. I have no idea how they did this.

 

[Dpmcleod]

I'm glad you had a good time and everything went smoothly! I can imagine the stress and anxiety waiting for the return test results. That's one thing I'm not looking forward to.

I have to say I nearly spit my drink out (for real) when you said $160 for testing was pricy. That is CHEAP. We have to pay that per person in Manitoba, you are one of the lucky ones. Only Ontario and I believe Alberta get that privilege. We have to go to a private travel lab. which is $$$. Hopefully Shoppers spreads the love around the rest of the country before we leave, I'd love to save $480!

Duplicated in error

 

[Starwind]

Wow I had no idea it was so expensive. I'll remind my comment.

At least the test coming back is free.


It was totally free for us. They only charge you if you are doing a single test. There were 4 of us so the service was free. I have no idea how they did this.

According to the BeeperMD FAQ on their webpage (https://beepermd.com/#faq):

How is it free?

If you schedule 2 or more tests, then we can waive all fees.

The US government wants everyone to get tested and therefore they are covering the cost of testing for anyone that doesn't have health insurance.

For anyone that does have health insurance, BeeperMD will bill the insurance company directly.

 

[cate2]

Thank you so much for posting your experience - it is very helpful. I'm happy to hear how well your trip went and how straight forward the testing was.

 

[quandrea]

Your reports of the airport are encouraging. We cancelled a recent domestic trip in part due to airport reports. Your testing experience was also good. Not sure we will travel while testing is in place, but good to know beepermd exists. Who knows how’s long testing will be in place. It might be something my family will have to do eventually.

 

[GreatGoofini]

Thanks for the detailed info. Can you confirm what entrance screening rules are posted for the airports? Ontario has changed the guidance a few times on how businesses should screen people and I'm wondering what exactly is posted at Pearson for entry. For example, screening now recommends that people should not have a fever, bad cough, loss of taste/smell, etc but they have removed any questions about runny nose, headaches, sore throat, etc. I checked the Pearson site but all the info they have is about flying not the basic rules for entering the airport.

 

[Dawg74]

This board was the reason we ended up going and I thought I would put a simple list of the feedback from this trip. Flew Westjet out of Pearson YYZ from Aug 28th to Sept 5th at OKW.

Testing:

This was a highly stressful event but turned out to be nothing:

• Shoppers Drug Mart $40 test 2 days prior to flying out. I should have booked ahead more but got the appt and result on time.The pharmacist made an error on the paperwork (put year 2011 lol) so we had to get a new copy. Either way it was painless but $160 for the family so a bit pricy

Hi, when you went to Shoppers for the test do the results Come right away? I have booked shoppers for next Tuesday night and we fly Thursday morning. The pharmacist indicated the results are quick. I want to make sure we get the results . Thanks

 

[Dpmcleod]

Hi, when you went to Shoppers for the test do the results Come right away? I have booked shoppers for next Tuesday night and we fly Thursday morning. The pharmacist indicated the results are quick. I want to make sure we get the results . Thanks

Yes. They took 15 minutes or so.

 

[Dpmcleod]

Thanks for the detailed info. Can you confirm what entrance screening rules are posted for the airports? Ontario has changed the guidance a few times on how businesses should screen people and I'm wondering what exactly is posted at Pearson for entry. For example, screening now recommends that people should not have a fever, bad cough, loss of taste/smell, etc but they have removed any questions about runny nose, headaches, sore throat, etc. I checked the Pearson site but all the info they have is about flying not the basic rules for entering the airport.

Honestly I don't remember seeing anything on this. We got there super early so basically just walked in. Noone stopped us at any point.

 

[Baldy]

According to the BeeperMD FAQ on their webpage (https://beepermd.com/#faq):

How is it free?

If you schedule 2 or more tests, then we can waive all fees.

The US government wants everyone to get tested and therefore they are covering the cost of testing for anyone that doesn't have health insurance.

For anyone that does have health insurance, BeeperMD will bill the insurance company directly.

I’m glad BeeperMD worked out for you. We had no one show up and when I was finally able to reach a rep on the phone, I was told they were “still trying to locate someone in our area”. By that point we had just over 48 hours until our flight and had to pay $250 USD per person to get testing done elsewhere (plus the taxi to get to the clinic).
Edited to add: our appointment was confirmed for Sept 2.

 

[Dpmcleod]

I’m glad BeeperMD worked out for you. We had no one show up and when I was finally able to reach a rep on the phone, I was told they were “still trying to locate someone in our area”. By that point we had just over 48 hours until our flight and had to pay $250 USD per person to get testing done elsewhere (plus the taxi to get to the clinic).
Edited to add: our appointment was confirmed for Sept 2.

That is terrible and the exact scenario that kept me up at night. Sorry to hear this happened to you.

 

[Sue M]

I'm glad you had a good time and everything went smoothly! I can imagine the stress and anxiety waiting for the return test results. That's one thing I'm not looking forward to.

I have to say I nearly spit my drink out (for real) when you said $160 for testing was pricy. That is CHEAP. We have to pay that per person in Manitoba, you are one of the lucky ones. Only Ontario and I believe Alberta get that privilege. We have to go to a private travel lab. which is $$$. Hopefully Shoppers spreads the love around the rest of the country before we leave, I'd love to save $480!

no cheap Shoppers tests here in BC either. Cheapest I found was $80 per person.

Wow I had no idea it was so expensive. I'll remind my comment.

At least the test coming back is free.


It was totally free for us. They only charge you if you are doing a single test. There were 4 of us so the service was free. I have no idea how they did this.

Wow! I didn’t know Beeper charged for single test. In August it was 2 of us but we went to Walgreens. Free. I was considering Beeper for upcoming trip but it’s only me that will need test. I’m going with California friends. So guess I’m doing Walgreens again. I like that we got results in 40min.

This trip calculating time is a bit more difficult, airline canceled Canadian afternoon connections so I have to overnight in Seattle and take the morning flight home. Trying to calculate when my 72 hrs is I forgot to take under consideration time change!
Last trip I just did it 48 hrs ahead so didn’t have to be so exact. But this trip, with layover to next day, 48 hrs just doesn’t fit into plans.
I look forward to the day we don’t have to go thru this anymore!

 

[Sue M]

This board was the reason we ended up going and I thought I would put a simple list of the feedback from this trip. Flew Westjet out of Pearson YYZ from Aug 28th to Sept 5th at OKW.

Testing:

This was a highly stressful event but turned out to be nothing:

• Shoppers Drug Mart $40 test 2 days prior to flying out. I should have booked ahead more but got the appt and result on time.The pharmacist made an error on the paperwork (put year 2011 lol) so we had to get a new copy. Either way it was painless but $160 for the family so a bit pricy
• The day after we got there I booked us all for an appt with beepermd. Thanks a million to all the folks on this forum who recommended them! I booked exactly 72 hours from our departure time and when I got the appt it was for a range that basically ended so I called them and changed the appointment to later in the day.
• All appointment communication happened over text messaging so make sure you have access to your texts if you use this service. They were excellent at keeping us in the loop as to what was happening. I still was on pins and needles but had an expensive backup strategy if this didnt work out. Thankfully it did,
• The day of the appointment we got multiple texts from the doctor who showed up exactly when they were supposed to and did the test. She promised results within 36 hours and we had ours back (text and email) within 26 hours.

Flying:

• Super fun and other than the mask on the flight, most of the experience was similar to pre-covid. We were served drinks and snacks on the flight so were not masked the entire time.
• Flying there there was noone at the airport, we were the only ones at security at 8am. We had printouts of our tests and attestation form from the CDC.
• Flying back there were delays in the check in process but this was not a big deal. I uploaded all of our vaccine information and test information to ArriveCan. Note they want copies of BOTH vaccinations so make sure you have that. I also gave everyone a copy of their stuff in case there were any issues but checked in everyone on my ArriveCan. We also had Nexus so were outside around 20 minutes after landing. (This was the Sunday of the long weekend)

Covid Precautions:

• There is no social distancing at Disney but we were never uncomfortable
• Masks were required indoors and on transportation. Almost everyone adhered to this and this policy actually made me feel comfortable as it seemed appropriate.
• At no point was I concerned about our environment. Everything seemed clean

The Magic:

• Overall the magic was definitely there. People and cast members were friendly and while it wasnt like a pre-covid trip it was still a lot of fun
• Parks were empty during the week. I was not expecting to go on a lot of rides but we did them all multiple times including ROR and FOP. FOP was a 5 minute wait so we just walked on from the line.
• No more bag checks, just walk through a machine and you are in. We kept getting flagged and found out my glasses case was tripping the machine. I switched to another one and we were good for the rest of the trip.

The Missing Magic:

• Because everything was dead a lot of things were closed early including food. We ended up ordering Uber Eats twice (Blastphemy!) and I ended up hungry one night because i couldnt get through to order a pizza. Having a Canadian phone sucked as dominos.com went right to dominos.ca. I lost my patience for this and figured it out the next morning but there was some hangryness that one night.
• The heat and humidity were a factor and we did not plan our days well enough around it. Best to be indoors during the heat of the day.
• Anxiety over a positive test result and getting stuck in Florida (Or a one way car rental home)
• OKW only allows deliveries to the lobby so we had to walk 5 minutes to the front to get our food and carry it back to the room. We probably wont stay here again because of this.
• After 8 days I still regret all the things we didnt get a chance to do
• A lot fewer kids were there as expected. They were replaced with a lot more drunk people (haha with a dash of truth)

Other Things that went well:

• Mostly everything!
• Instacart delivered our groceries in 2 hours. Paid a bit extra but no big deal. the hotel added $6 to deliver to our room, ugh
• No-one was at the parks so we had virtually no waiting time, except on the Saturday at Epcot which was like a light day in 2019.
• Busses were empty. Most times we were the only ones on.
• We used the Mears service from MCO and it was well worth it. The driver was waiting for us with a sign with my name on it. That was super cool.
• We got one last ride on the Magical express coming back. It will be missed.

With all the changes to the pricing we will most likely wait a bit before going back but are super glad we got this trip in.

I guess it’s relative. I think it could take 5 min to get to lobby even in resorts where you’re in one building.

I wish we could’ve gone late Aug, early Sept but was tied to Daughters work schedule. Early Aug. waits were miserable but I knew that would be the case.
We enjoyed mid day pool breaks!
My experience with people following mask rules were not as good. In ride queues too many people had noses sticking out of mask or pulled mask down to chin.