I’m just finishing up a week here... here’s some WDW during Covid advice
Hope this helps everyone, please ask if I don’t cover what you need below.
I stayed at Pop, did all 4 parks.
Arriving at the parks:
All resort transportation starts 1 hour prior to park opening, as opposed to 2. All passenger cars are held at the toll plaza until 1 hour before park opening... I’ve heard cars are turned back up until a certain time. I honestly have no idea, but this might be different for magic kingdom as you have to take the monorail or boat to the park. Those were VERY backed up at park opening and closing. One group per monorail bench, be it one or 4 people. No standers. I kind of think they should have either not opened the monorail resorts or provided bus transportation from them so they could use both Monorail lines exclusively for TTC passengers. Also going to note Epcot’s Monorail is not operating at this time, the reason I was given was that there is no park hoping. Also no Parking Trams, and during the Park Opening rush they only fill every other spot, and will go back and fill the rest sometime later.
Resort transportation:
I’m really not a fan of the Skyliner, at least not right now. I went into a rant about It on the accommodations forum. But I’m told that for a 10am Hollywood studios opening, the queue at Pop starts building at 7:30, and the Skyliner to Caribbean beach opens at 9:00, and then you get off and get back in line again to transfer to Hollywood Studios. You will need to allow over an hour to get to Hollywood Studios. If you have a car, I strongly recommend driving to all parks except magic kingdom. Busses have either a number (1-6) or a not available sticker on the seats, I think there were 4 of each number, and the driver will tell you which number to head to. They send many busses around opening/closing times. Expect to wait for several. Again, no standing allowed.
Rope Drop:
Here’s a game changer. There is no rope drop. Rope drop essentially occurs an hour before posted park opening time at the toll plazas. Here’s where it gets interesting. The park is then pretty much open. The main attractions open as soon as guests get to them, so like 50 minutes before park opening time. If you can get there, this is a GREAT time to knock out Frozen, 7 dwarfs Mine train, Avatar, and Mickey and Minnie’s runaway railway. You’ll have your main priority done before the park even opens. Also don’t forget... you can still jump in line for something with an hour wait 1 minute before park closing and be allowed to ride, so you can more or less extend your park hours by 2.
Single Rider Lines, FastPass+, and Park Hoping:
Let’s make this quick, No, no, and no. Next...
Seating on rides:
I think this is the one most people are probably curious about. It really varies by ride, but I’ll give some examples, note a group is defined as any number of people who are visiting together, bet it 1 person or 100, if there are 2 single riders each one is his own group, they won’t be paired together and spaced out.
Tower of Terror: Up to 4 groups per elevator, 1 on right of rows 1 and 3, and 1 on left on rows 1 and 3... no seating in row 2.
Test Track: 1 group per car
Mission Space: only every other pod operating, 1 group per operating pod.
7 dwarfs, Space Mountain, Slinky Dog, Big Thunder, Runaway railway, Expedition Everest, Rock n Roller coaster: 1 group per car (a car contains 2-3 rows.)
Star tours: No seating in rows 2 and 4, up to 2 groups each in rows 1, 3, and 5.
Soarin: 2 groups in all hang gliders, except for A-3 and C-3 where it’s one.
Splash Mountain/Forzen: This one varies, if there are 2 groups of 2 they will put one in the front and one in the back, a larger group (3+) is probably going to have their own boat.
Pirates: for the most part 1 group in row 1, row 3 and Row 5
Dinosaur: 1 group in row 1, 1 group in row 3.
Midway Mania was interesting, as it wasn’t too affected by this, just no grouping of single riders together, so this one had very short waits.
Wait times/lines:
This is another think I think many are curious about. I think in the Magic Kingdom Most posted waits were grossly over exaggerated. Space Mountain was posted at 40, but I spent more time walking through the tunnel to the loading area then I did waiting in line, it was like 5-10 minutes. Big Thunder showed 70 and I waited 15-20 minutes, when I got off it said 45, feel free to think of your own theory there. Splash was always posted around 50-70, but always seemed to be around 30. Peter Pan posted 30, it was a walk on.
I waited 5 minutes in the queue after my boarding group was called for Rise of the Resistance.
Hollywood studios was still pretty bad for the most part though, RnR, ToT Smugglers run we’re usually 45-60 (posted and actual) and runaway railway was 90-105. I think they close the queue off around the 105 marker.
A general note, all lines are physically long due to social distancing, and many extend well beyond their normal areas. ToT and RnR start well out into Sunset Blvd. 7 dwarfs wrapped around to across from the circus entrance. Frozen went into the next country. Everest started around the bridge that connects Asia with Dinoland, and despite its “normal” queue being full, it was a 20 minute wait. Remember that even with many seats not being utilized, fast pass takes up 80% of the rides capacity, so the lines still move very fast.
Personal Safety:
Before approaching security, you will have your temperature checked via forehead. This occurs at the front gate for Epcot, AK, and HS. For Magic Kingdom, they do it at the Front gate for those who arrive via resort bus. If you arrive via boat or monorail, it’s done where you board that, be it the TTC if you drove or your resort if the monorail or boats stop there.
Masks: well you already know you need to wear one, but I will say they are very strict about this, which is good. If you remove yours at a park or hotel and are not eating you WILL be confronted. Supposedly it’s treated like smoking outside a designated smoking area.
Food/mobile ordering:
I used this a few times, I typically didn’t need to order that far ahead. You order in half hour time slots, and when you get to the restaurant you press a button on your phone to let them know you are there, and when you’re orders up it’s direct you to a numbered pick up window. Tip: tell them you are there a couple minutes before you will arrive, it’s not instant.
Well I think that about covers everything. Let me say that I echo the opinions of that reporter who said she felt safer at WDW then a supermarket. I saw more people without a mask on my last trip to Walmart (which has a mandatory mask policy) than I did in a week at WDW.
