Now that all four Walt Disney World theme parks have reopened amidst the backdrop of a global pandemic, everything’s fine and dandy… right? We wish it was that easy! Since the parks were closed for several months, forcing huge losses on Disney, we’re starting to discover the many challenges that lie ahead. Let’s dive into this week’s update, including major and minor changes around the resort, unfortunate project cancellations, and our conflicted park experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Face Mask Loophole Closed
Disney has implemented many changes to keep guests safe, but in order for them to work, all guests need to comply with them. During the opening week of the parks, we observed a lot of guests blatlantly not wearing their masks correctly (under their nose or chin) or removing them to walk around with bottles of water or other food.
Fortunately, Disney has noticed the issue and has taken steps to fix the loophole. Beginning immediately, guests will be required to remain stationary while sipping or snacking and must wear a mask while meandering through the parks. No more wandering around without a mask on just because there’s a drink in hand. They will also need to make sure their masks “Fully cover the nose and mouth and secure under the chin.”
Disney has since updated their website to reflect this update:
Disney Springs
Over at the Springs, Disney shoppers are being routed to a new World of Disney entrance at the back of the building. We’re guessing this is to better organize longer lines that form for new product releases.
Speaking of merch… select 2020 products are marked down to buy one, get one free – available at World of Disney and the larger in-park gift shops. Given that the parks were closed for several months, they’ve got a lot of this stuff to move . . . and how many of you really want to commemorate this horrible year?!
Mini Animal Kingdom Update
Asia’s “UP! A Great Bird Adventure” is back (sort of), after receiving a few tweaks. The outdoor theater show is now called Feathered Friends in Flight, focusing on the birds, their trained abilities, and their handlers. The typical storyline with an equity performer as “Wilderness Explorer Troop Leader Jones” has been nixed, and is now hosted by an animal-behavior specialist Cast Member. This is due to the union (Actor’s Equity) and Walt Disney World failing to come to an agreement on providing COVID testing for actors who portray “face characters” without face masks.
Feathered Friends in Flight seems to be an under-the-radar temporary show, as UP! A Great Bird Adventure is still listed online as temporarily closed:
For more on Animal Kingdom’s reopening, check out our coverage here:
Was the Reopening of Disney’s Animal Kingdom a Roaring Success?
EPCOT Cutbacks, “Flower & Wine” Festival
EPCOT’s first-ever hybrid festival, combining Food & Wine and Flower & Garden, began with the park’s reopening on July 15th and is set to run through the fall season. Just how does an EPCOT festival work now? Check out our experience from opening day:
Deliciously Different: EPCOT’s Modified Food & Wine Festival 2020
But there are some big future projects which have suddenly gone missing from the EPCOT Experience preview center. Sadly, Disney has since confirmed the Mary Poppins and Spaceship Earth overhaul projects are indefinitely postponed. Read more on the cutbacks here:
Closures, Cutbacks and Changes for the Future of Disney World
On a brighter note, the progressing and long-awaited Ratatouille project is almost complete! We recently caught some new exterior finishing touches…
The SkyLiner offers the best aerial views of the France pavilion’s new expanded area – you can really see how far along the construction is down there.
The famous Gusteau’s sign has been added to the pavilion!
Before the parks closed for several months, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was on track to open in June. Disney has yet to release when the ride will open. What will a new attraction opening look like now? We’re sure EPCOT park reservations will fill up fast as soon as an official opening date is known!
November Wine and Dine Half Marathon Canceled
It will be no surprise that the early November Wine and Dine Half Marathon races will not be possible this year. Runners have the option of canceling for a full refund or participating in a virtual version of the event.
The crowded and very popular event is completely sold out. But there are still ways to participate in the virtual event via a charity.
For details, you can visit this link to get more info on your options. We are curious how many of you will take the virtual race option vs. a refund. Let us know below.
Hollywood Hoorays & Hiccups
Last week, we spent a day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to see how the park was looking amidst these stranger times. This one small park hosts five of the latest attractions to open at the Walt Disney World resort: Alien Swirling Saucers, Slinky Dog Dash, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and, finally, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. (phew…what happened to short & sweet attraction names?)
Unfortunately, these new attractions bring crowds into smaller pockets of the park. With a majority of the park’s production shows remaining closed (Beauty & the Beast, Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones), there is a lot less to do. With the popularity of the new rides and fewer attractions for guests to wait in line for, certain areas just feel more crowded than the other parks do, not unlike a typical pre-pandemic day at the Studios. Lines for popular rides in the park exceeded 90 minutes on our visit.
Hollywood Studios’ hours are 10AM-8PM for now. I pulled into the park’s parking lot around 9:20am, anticipating a long line to park. Parking was a breeze, taking up only a few minutes. Then I noticed a [safely-distanced] line of people making their way from parking to the main entrance. The park is definitely quietly opening earlier, as I walked in close to 9:30AM.
No attractions were open just yet… unless you count the Red Trolley Car Café serving Starbucks Coffee on Hollywood Boulevard. Opening the park earlier than the posted time allows guests to safely enter, sit and await the first Rise of the Resistance virtual queue opening of the day OR to start lining up for Runaway Railway’s winding exterior queue:
The queue begins on the right side of the Chinese Theater, winding through the landscaped area, continuing with a masking tape switchback area.
Mornings are definitely busier at the Studios… but the crowds do eventually thin out. This photo was taken after 2PM on the same day:
We found there are some “dead” areas in the park…
…But many attractions posted much higher standbys than any of the other parks we experienced during reopening week. Here’s what the wait times looked like shortly after the park’s 10AM opening:
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
In the first half of the day, Galaxy’s Edge was one of the busier areas of the park. Honestly, some of this looks like a typical day in the land:
Approaching Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities, a cast member welcomed us and asked for us to sanitize our hands before entering (the first and only place in the park to do so), more of this please Disney.
Once inside, ground markers show where to walk and stand
Interestingly, out of the three open registers at Dok Ondar’s, this was the only one with a plexiglass barrier:
Coming back out into the land, it started feeling a little too busy for our comfort. The Black Spire Outpost shopping area is a one-way traffic zone. In effect, this causes a funnel of people emptying out into this area:
A Relaxation Station can be found between Black Spire Outpost and Rise of the Resistance, This is a designated area where you can remove your mask for a bit. . .
Passing Rise of the Resistance, this is another common area for guests to gather as they wait for their boarding group to be called:
On our way out, we spotted new safety reminder signs, distressed and decorated to match the land’s theme:
Toy Story Land
This cute and colorful land is also the park’s busiest-feeling area, especially within the first few hours of park opening. Toy Story Land is always a bottleneck. Even with the lessened park capacity and social distancing.
We feel like there should be traffic “lanes”, dividing up the walkway through the land, encouraging guests to walk to their right. We were trying to stay further back, but the crowd up ahead looks like a typical day in Toy Story land:
However… our observation about Runaway Railway was true here as well, after 2PM, the crowds really cleared out:
By the afternoon, Slinky Dog Dash was down to a 15 minute wait, while both Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers were a walk-on.
Our tip for ALL of the 4 WDW parks is the same – arrive later in the day. All of the parks are their busiest at opening. In each of the parks, we were able to ride the biggest attractions with little or no wait in the afternoons.
Character Cavalcades
We caught a few characters driving down Hollywood Boulevard and around Echo Lake aboard newly-customized Chevrolet Camero convertibles. Again, these shows are unscheduled to avoid crowding. They make their rounds approximately every 45-60 minutes. Here are just a few we happened upon!
Disney Jr.’s Vamperina and Doc McStuffins:
A Pixar Cavalcade, complete with Mr & Mrs. Incredible, Edna Mode, Sulley, Woody, Jessie, Green Army Men & Buzz Lightyear:
Disney’s Hollywood Studios – Attractions
Besides the usual social-distancing markers and plexiglass barriers throughout queues, here are some observations from the attractions we experienced at Hollywood Studios.
The Mickey Shorts Theater is open, presenting the new “Vacation Fun” short throughout the day. There is rarely a wait longer than a few minutes. For seating, every other row is closed off, and parties are asked to sit at least three seats apart.
In the post-show area, photo spots are open and available. You can still pose with an official Potatoland potato!
But the pop-up merchandise kiosk is closed:
The wait for Star Tours never rose above 10 minutes. If you need an indoor and uncrowded break, this is your tip.
Once onboard, you’ll notice the plexiglass shields separating groups of seats:
Depending on where you’re seated, these can obstruct your view along the bottom:
Heading down Sunset Boulevard for the dynamic duo of thrill rides…
Dependent on the crowd’s movement, Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n Roller Coaster fluctuate between a walk-on to 60 minutes throughout the day.
Tower of Terror’s preshow has become a walk-through, with no program playing. The posted wait was 25-minutes in the afternoon, but was actually only 10-minutes of waiting in the boiler room.
Next door, Rock ‘n Roller Coaster was posted at 10-minutes; this was accurate but the line was constantly moving.
The preshow is also turned off here, the queue continues on through the room.
Finally, Rise of the Resistance! We thought it would be a little easier to escape the First Order with less people in the park. They’ve also changed the process for obtaining a boarding pass. Instead of having to arrive before opening to secure one of the spots for the day, there are now three times when boarding passes are distributed (10am, 1pm, and 4pm). The intention is to make it possible for guests not to show up at opening but still get a pass… but that wasn’t quite the case for us.
The 10AM and 1PM virtual queue openings were filled within seconds. At the last opportunity at 4PM, we finally made boarding group #79, which was marked as a backup group. It is also odd that they are no longer displaying which groups are currently boarding on the app, which is a nuisance. You now have to seek out the tip-boards around the park for current boarding numbers.
Our backup group was thankfully called in at 6:30PM, 90 minutes before park closing. We had an hour to return and ride.
The overall attraction experience has received adjustments that work pretty seamlessly. You are divided up into “units” of 2 or 3 guests and assigned a number to stand on throughout the series of preshows:
Our number had an obstructed view with no BB-8
Once the First Order takes over, you’re quickly paced through the Stormtrooper area:
These plexiglass barriers actually blend into the militant theme of the First Order. They seemed to work better here than other attractions.
From here, you’re once again divided into units and assigned a color to follow once you reach the ride vehicle. They are seating one party per vehicle. If you happen to be traveling “solo” like I was… this is quite an experience!
Chill Zones
It can get uncomfortably hot very quickly in Central Florida. Don’t forget to keep extra hydrated and seek out some shade – which can be difficult in this park. Hollywood Studios doesn’t feature many cool, shady areas. Here are a few places we discovered to be helpful with the heat!
Commissary Lane – The ABC Commissary quick service location remains closed, so this area is really quiet throughout the day. There are shaded and properly-distanced tables along the walkway for those wanting to take a break, while still wearing a mask!
One Man’s Dream
Walt Disney and parks memorabilia, air conditioning and very few guests make this a great place to leisurely stroll until you’ve cooled off!
Plus, I could study those miniature models all day…
MuppetVision 3D – Thank goodness, MuppetVision 3D is open! This is one of our favorite A/C breaks in the park. There was no wait for this attraction, other than the time it takes for the previous show to finish up and the doors to open.
Star Wars Launch Bay Relaxation Station – Last but certainly not least, the favored Relaxation Station of the park! There is an outside area in the shade, as well as inside, among that sweet, sweet air-conditioning.
Once inside, there are marked areas where you may sit or stand, then remove your mask if you so choose.
There is no music or sound effects in here. Remembering what this space used to be… filled with character meet and greets, guests all around, booming John Williams score… it’s rather eerie when you’re sitting in an empty room, listening to the A/C. But also quiet and relaxing, nonetheless.
Closing Thoughts & Tips for Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios, by far, feels like the busiest of the four Orlando park reopenings. If you’re already feeling wary about visiting the parks right now, we recommend keeping this park last on the list. Again, due to the newer attractions, closed shows and guests maneuvering through smaller areas at the same time… certain areas feel much more crowded than necessary.
The morning was significantly busier on the day we visited, with the majority of guests leaving in the afternoon; presumably, after they were able to experience both Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance. We overheard several groups trying to figure out what to do until their Rise of the Resistance boarding group was called.
We also overheard several families who were on vacation that this is the most leisurely Disney trip they’ve experienced. You really can take your sweet time walking through the parks, re-ride some of your favorites (besides Rise of the Resistance, of course) and take breaks. There’s no reason to run around, trying to ride everything within a few hours, make your FastPass return time or race over for your dining reservation. Everything is set to a much more relaxed pace. You’ll also need to take your time to safely meander among other guests, always keeping that 6-feet distance.
We really miss park-hopping, as we would have loved to ride the Skyliner over to EPCOT for dinner or ride Haunted Mansion a few times at Magic Kingdom. But for now, the new Disney “day” is a leisurely-paced one park experience (each park has a 10-hour operating day right now).
Let Us Help
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Let’s Hear From You
These are such wild times. The parks are open, but that doesn’t mean magic as usual. Not only do you need to stay social-distant and try to be a safe as possible, but you also have to watch out for the folks who aren’t doing the same. It can be exhausting after a while. That’s why it’s good that you really can ride most everything you want in just a few hours.
Let us know your thoughts about today’s update. Are you glad to see the mask loophole addressed? Do you agree that because Hollywood Studios is a small park that it feels like it fills up more quickly? What are your tips for cooling down in the Florida heat? And, the elephant in the room, should the Florida parks even be open at all as the state leads the nation day after day in COVID infections?
Thank you for your thoughtful comments below everyone!
