Redo Voodoo - Instead of June 2020, planning for June 2021

[imktdqt810]

We leave in 6 days, and we all have been in vacation mode since my daughter's graduation on Saturday. The girls and I have started putting our clothes in our suitcases (DH will probably wait until the weekend), and we just did a Target run to hopefully get the rest of the things we will need, however I am guessing it won't be our last . We are all excited for our trip, however, we have been looking at the projected weather when we are there and boy will it be hot. We will definitely be doing breaks during the day so we can relax in the pool or take a midday nap . .

We leave in 11 days and I have been packed for a few weeks....call me crazy...but I have things that I know I won't be wearing until on Vacay so why not "store" them in the suitcase. DH will be like your DH and prolly grab whatever it clean into the suitcase until last minute! My mind has been wandering into Vacay mode as many of my co-workers are out on vacay this week! Oh well, your time will be here before you know it and then I will be there soon after!

 

[PoohsFan1]

We leave tomorrow , and we are all so ready for this!! Very excited to say that tomorrow we will be in Epcot and are going to eat around WS at the F&G Festival (my favorite Epcot Festival) then for dinner it's Rose and Crown. Hope all of you have a wonderful trip, and safe travels .

 

[imktdqt810]

@PoohsFan1 have fun! We are under a week now and I've been spending the weekend double checking our packing and getting things ready! Enjoy EPCOT tomorrow and dinner!

 

[AliceNDinah]

We will be there next Monday - eeeeeeek! So darn excited.

 

[kylenne]

Checking in with the June squad. I arrived on Saturday and was pixie dusted into the main building at GF. So much magic on this trip it’s unreal. Tomorrow I switch to YC for the rest of my stay but I am having a blast. Crowds aren’t terrible either!

 

[CruellaNY]

Well I do like to make last minute changes! Changed our Tony's lunch (because that was like a desperate grab) to House of Blues and probably changing our Biergarten too. I mean we usually end up changing plans including dining the day anyway but there's some nice availability now restaurant wise for next week!

 

[zeferjen]

It's JUNE!!! YAYYYY. Only 17 more days until we leave. I suppose I need to start thinking about packing. How is it that it always takes FOREVER for a vacation to get here and then I am somehow unprepared anyway?

 

[brewhome]

Happy June! It’s our month! 26 more days for me! I of course already started tossing things in the suitcase. I’m glad we have things to do every weekend until we leave to help the time go by fast!

 

[windcriesamy]

We leave on Saturday morning! It’s going to be SO HARD to get through the work week

 

[sarbah77]

We fly out in 16 days for a pre-park stay at Cocoa Beach and arrive at Disney on the 20th! Sixteen days. Wow, finally - we booked this the day reservations opened last year!

 

[kylenne]

Hi June friends! Had an exhausting day at AK and moved from GF to YC for the second half of my split stay. Safe travels to everyone coming down soon. Crowds have been very manageable and waits not bad!

 

[imktdqt810]

Hi June friends! Had an exhausting day at AK and moved from GF to YC for the second half of my split stay. Safe travels to everyone coming down soon. Crowds have been very manageable and waits not bad!

Have you had any problems with having to Mobile Order far out (like by 8am for a noon lunch or 2pm for a 5pm dinner)? We arrive this Sunday and plan on walking to EPCOT that night to eat at whatever is on the Festival Carts then hit HS on Monday. We are only hitting HS once and I've brushed up/practiced on my ROTR virtual queue! Hoping lines aren't long, weather isn't too wet and it's a great time away! Enjoy the rest of your stay!

 

[brewhome]

I’m sure we’ve got some June friends that are already back from their trips - anyone want to share how their trips were?

 

[hauntedcity]

I’m sure we’ve got some June friends that are already back from their trips - anyone want to share how their trips were?

Just got back home late last night! We went back in October, as well, and things have definitely changed. Areas outside of queues have had their distancing markers removed. They still exist within the queues, but very few people (<10% at the most) are actually following them. We are back to having little kids bouncing off your butt as you wait in line. Seriously, personal space is GONE. My wife had the horrible sensation of some guy's beer belly pressed up against her back as she was going through the security line.
Mask compliance is also hit-or-miss in lines, as people drop them all the time, and cast members aren't as vigilant as they were in October.

Restaurants are still the shining star of the pandemic times. Tables are distanced comfortably, and you don't have to wear your masks at the table. I really love how Disney is using mobile order these days, and it looks like they've improved since October. Back then, we saw huge groups of people packed together outside restaurants waiting for their food to be prepared. We didn't see any of that this time. Just make sure you PLAN AHEAD, and place your order ahead of time, so you grab a time slot that works for you!

Walking around without a mask on is HEAVENLY, especially as we had some days with heat indexes in the 105 range.

We were so excited to see Festival of the Lion King again, even though it was a truncated show. The parks really need to get more shows added, to help load up some of the crowds. Distancing on rides has decreased as well. Last Thursday, we rode Star Tours with empty rows and dividers between parties, by Monday, all rows were filled and the dividers were removed.

If I seem overly critical, it's just because there was so much confusion on safety measures. Some rides were still enforcing masks and distancing, and then you'd go on a ride where you are told to crowd close together and "fill all available space."

Overall, my family had a great time. You just have to be vigilant and watch our for yourself.

What was amazing? The Skyliner! Rise of the Resistance! I cried when watching Festival of the Lion King! Fooooood, including a No Way Jose in a Mickey Sink at Beaches and Cream! NioMOs! All of Galaxy's Edge!

Not amazing? SO MANY RIDES DOWN (We had one morning at MK when Big Thunder, Splash, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and HM were all down at park opening). People not allowing personal space. Confusing mask enforcement. Probably the worst bus service I've experienced at WDW (and I've been visiting for a few decades).

 

[windcriesamy]

We just got back yesterday! We stayed at CSR and bus service wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, though we did end up opting for a Lyft to Epcot one afternoon since the next listed bus wouldn't arrive for over 30 minutes and I was ready to get to the World Showcase.

We wore our mask whenever we were required and also whenever we were in a large group of people, such as at rope drop or the tapstiles, but were very grateful to not have to wear the mask everywhere outdoors. Social distancing was not really enforced in queues and whenever cast members weren't within line of sight, many masks came off or were worn improperly. We're both fully vaccinated so this didn't bother me personally (aside from being annoyed by others not following the rules) but if you or your kids are unvaccinated you may feel uncomfortable. We allowed 3 feet of distancing whenever we were able.

I didn't really miss FP+. Wait times really weren't that bad in Epcot, MK, and AK; we rarely waited more than 20 minutes for a ride at MK (Jungle Cruise being the exception) and FoP was our longest wait right at 55 minutes from entering the queue to the pre-show. Most of the HS rides were at 45+ minute waits by 11:00, so we tried to do as much as we could in the morning and then left by 12:30-1:00.

We've never been down in June before and I was counting on afternoon showers every day to cool things down and thin the crowds a bit, but we only had rain on our arrival day at Disney Springs. Aside from a few sprinkles, we had no rainy relief! I definitely recommend lots of cold water and cooling towels or neck fans to help stave off the heat.

Mobile ordering worked out well for us. I tapped "I'm here!" as we walked to Aloha Isle and Ronto Roasters and our food was ready within 5 minutes during the busiest times of the day and almost immediately at slower times. We also joined virtual walk-up lists for Nomad Lounge and Three Bridges, and those worked well for us too. When our table was ready at Nomad Lounge we had a 10 minute time frame to check in with the hostess, but for some reason only 5 minutes for Three Bridges? We tried to hurry from our room down to the hostess stand and didn't make it within the 5 minutes, but we received a second "5 minute warning" text and made it within 10 minutes and it wasn't a problem being seated. I just found it strange that the time frames differed between our two experiences.

I overheard several cast members speaking with one another about having been just called back and met a few "earning their ears," so staffing is increasing! Nearly every cast member we encountered was outgoing and friendly, and I had a few outstanding interactions with waitstaff as well. On our arrival day there was a lady cleaning the bathroom at CSR and she took the time to ask if I was enjoying my stay, and when I told her we had just arrived she said she was so excited for us to enjoy our trip and hoped we had a wonderful time. This was the very first CM I encountered on our trip and it really set the tone for our visit. I didn't catch her name but did my best to describe her to management at the front desk so she could be recognized! And I made a point to tweet cast compliments for everyone else who made our stay so magical!

 

[sjb95u]

We're down to 8 days until we arrive at the Polynesian. So excited about the masks being relaxed. Wish 'Ohana was back as well as the monorail but we'll do our best to enjoy!

 

[zeferjen]

Guys did you see magic kingdom will be previewing fireworks June 26-28?

 

[sarbah77]

Guys did you see magic kingdom will be previewing fireworks June 26-28?

No. Way. Tell me more!

(The 26th is my parents 50th)

 

[imktdqt810]

Hello All!

We returned back home Friday evening from our 5 night trip. We stayed at the Boardwalk Villas (first time in a villa and at that location). It was a rocky start with getting an email at 4pm (while still at the airport...waiting on our luggage) that our room wasn't ready yet. 2 1/2 hours later they still didn't have an estimated time to check in so we put our bags in at Bell services. They gave us $100 credit (the second time I went to the from desk after being on property over an hour). We went to EPCOT to search for dinner and by 6:30 I got a phone call and a man was apologizing that they STILL didn't have a check in time yet and they were very short staffed in getting rooms cleaned. He gave us another $200 credit and about 15 mins after his call I got the notification of our room number. So it was a rough start with a cool $300 credit ending to the travel day!

We never got rain (other then our arrival day waiting on the room and we didn't head to EPCOT yet). Other then that it was hot, humid and LONG lines. We didn't really bother with rides we did before and got tons of photo pass pictures. I was surprised at the lines just for the photo pass photographers.

Breakfasts were from the Bakery (night before purchase with making our own coffee and eating out on the balcony). We didn't rush to any park....just got there when we got there and headed back to the resort when things got too hot or too crazy. We went swimming most afternoons then hit another park in the early evening. We ordered Pizza from the boardwalk one night, had ice cream from the boardwalk another night and ate at Big River Grill two different nights.

We embraced "Mobile Ordering" after we walked up to one place (can't remember where) for lunch to just "order" and was told if we waited about 10 mins someone will guide us to a register to order but it will take about 45 mins to get the food and it will need to be "to go" since the seating area was reserved for "Mobile Order folks". We just all grabbed pretzels and said forget that...so going forward by 8-9 each morning we would look at the menus and figure out what to eat. And while sitting there eating lunch we were figuring out dinner and making those orders in advance as well. When you tap "We are here" it took anywhere from 10-15 mins up to 25-30 mins until we were notified it was time to come to a certain "queue" inside to get our food. We normally picked 12-12:30 as lunch time and 5-5:30 for dinners. All in all it went good but I wished it gave more info on what locations were sitting inside (in air) vs. outside dining. If it was on the screen, I never saw it. Most of the food felt like it was from a cafeteria and the bill for the 3 of us always came between 40-50 bucks per lunch or dinner.

We took the skyliner one day when we needed to "tap into EPCOT" but really wanted to go to Hollywood Studios. So we went to Disney Springs in the morning to shop, went back to the resort to swim then took the Friendship boat over to EPCOT, tapped in and then took the Skyliner over to Hollywood Studios. It was a pleasant ride and we got over to Hollywood by around 5pm and grabbed a mobile order dinner and did a few rides.

I was able to get Boarding group 25 in our Hollywood studios day so we got to do ROTR, which was cool and the Falcon ride was only 40 mins the same morning we were there which was a true blessing. After 40 mins the ride was at 170 mins and we were floored how long the line was!!

I know this isn't a normal report but just wanted to give you all some insight on what our trip was like. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer, if I can!

 

[zeferjen]

No. Way. Tell me more!

(The 26th is my parents 50th)