1st timer Disney world (Apopka, Holiday: best hotels, condo, hotel)

[3peasinapod]

We are considering disney world for our daughters birthday. We would go the week of December 8th and have 4 days at the parks. My question is it worth going with covid restricting openings of restaurants etc. It looks like united a bit of restaurants and experiences are not abmvaikabke due to covid? Am I correct? Has anyone been recently to tell us? Also any pointers on the best hotels outisde of the resort? Any pointers at all for the trip?

[MrKnight]

This is actually a great time to visit the parks as they are practically empty (due to capacity limitations and distancing guidelines), this is likely the emptiest and least busy you will ever see Disney parks. In regards to safety, Disney has done an outstanding job at providing the safest possible experience, precautions include a mandatory mask mandate (both indoors and outdoors), temp checks prior to entering park, reservation system to limit capacity in park (cannot enter park without advance reservations), virtual queues, contactless ordering at restaurants, no fireworks to prevent crowding, etc. Be sure to book your park reservations as soon as you purchase tickets to ensure you can access the parks during your vacation, this can be done easily either via the Disney website or by calling Disney directly.

In regards to the experience, while most rides/attractions are open/operating and many restaurants have re-opened, there are also sadly many experiences that have been limited or made unavailable altogether due to COVID guidelines, this includes no firework shows, no character meet and greets, limited park hours, some restaurants are still closed, etc.. While this COULD change prior to December, it is important to know that at this point in time this is how it is and Disney has not yet made any announcements about holiday festivities, events, etc.. There is still much to be determined..

In regards hotels outside of the resort, I would strongly recommend staying at a nationally branded hotel such as the Hilton properties, Hilton in particular (similar to Disney) has rolled out rigorous widely accepted guidelines and cleanliness practices at all of their hotels in response to COVID. I recently personally stayed at a Hilton hotel and felt very safe.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by 3peasinapod

We are considering disney world for our daughters birthday. We would go the week of December 8th and have 4 days at the parks. My question is it worth going with covid restricting openings of restaurants etc. It looks like united a bit of restaurants and experiences are not abmvaikabke due to covid? Am I correct? Has anyone been recently to tell us? Also any pointers on the best hotels outisde of the resort? Any pointers at all for the trip?

It's not worth the risk of getting covid... I already have 2 people who died after getting it. I canceled my annual pass, they gave passholders a window to cancel it because you have to make a reservation and back then it was like one month out because everything was filling up.

[tonyp22]

Sorry to hear of this, bmw. My condolences.

[milliehubbard]

We just returned from a mid-August trip. We are annual passholders and Disney Vacation Club (DVC) owners so we go frequently. If this is to be your first time to Disney World and you possibly would not return for some number of years, I would recommend that you wait until the Covid restrictions are lifted. Yes, there is reduced capacity in the parks which makes them less crowded than they usually are, but it would not be the full experience. No fireworks, no parades, no character meet & greets, limited restaurant offerings.

We did enjoy ourselves, but we went in knowing that it would be a "very different" trip and it was. I especially missed the fireworks which are one of my favorite things, and we were not able to dine at some of our usual restaurants. The other issue is that, though the crowds are lower, you will wait in line for the rides and attractions since the FastPass+ system is not currently operational. The lines look very long at first glance, but remember the social distancing requirements stretch the lines out...we found that the wait time was about 1/2 of the time posted, so 40 minutes standby was actually closer to 20. Not every time, but quite often. Also, the rides are closed fairly regularly for cleaning which can be a bummer if you are close to the front of the line and turned away - it happened to us on Peter Pan's Flight.

In my opinion, if this is your first trip and you are wanting that "Magical Experience" for your little one, it would be best to wait until the parks are fully operational. I will also note, that we felt very safe at WDW, much more so than at the grocery store or home center. Guests for the most part really respected the safety requirements, masks, distancing, hand sanitizing etc. There are hand sanitizer stations everywhere and we also brought our own pocket size bottles. We probably used them 20-25 times per day. Just like anywhere else, be aware of your surroundings, try to not touch surfaces as much as possible, railings, walls etc. - just practice the safety measures you do at home but be a little more "on guard" because it is so easy to get distracted at WDW will all the new experiences and excitement.

I will caution against Disney Springs in the evenings and especially on the weekends. Disney Springs is a "locals park" since there is no admission charge and it can get very crowded. Although they have the same safety requirements, there was much LESS adherence to those requirements. We did go during the late afternoon on a Friday and made a point of going directly to World of Disney, doing our business there and getting out of the Springs as quickly as we could. This was a little sad since we love the restaurants at Disney Springs, but since we go often we knew we'd have an opportunity in the future to dine at some of our favorites.

I hope this info is helpful, we did comment among ourselves while we were there, that we would not have come if it was a "once in a lifetime" trip...it's just not the same. Still magical (the new paint job on Cinderella Castle is BEAUTIFUL), but with an overlay of caution and concern.

One important note, you must have a park reservation in addition to your park ticket. Having an admission ticket alone is not going to get you into the park. Also, there is no park-hopping (going to multiple parks in one day) at this time. So you select the park you want to visit and that's it for that day. Another note, the park hours have been greatly shortened, closing around 6 or 7 pm each night rather than the 11 pm or midnight in previous days.

If you google Disney Park Reservation System, the website will provide instructions. I will note that you stand a better chance of getting a reservation if you have a Disney hotel reservation. Since we had used all of our Vacation Club points for the year, we paid cash and stayed at Pop Century, one of the value resorts. This was our favorite value (lowest cost - not cheap though) prior to purchasing our DVC membership. The other advantage to staying in a Disney hotel is the Disney Transportation system, free to all resort guests. You can get anywhere on property using the bus system. We rode them several times and felt safe. We also utilized the monorail and the Skyliner during our stay and again felt safe.

Oh, you asked about hotels. I can recommend the new Holiday Inn Express on Palm Parkway. It is a short drive from Disney Springs and probably about a 15 minute drive to Magic Kingdom. You would need your own vehicle as they do not offer shuttles. But is is brand new, super clean and we had a wonderful stay. If you will not have your own vehicle then I would recommend the hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd. closer to Disney Springs, many of them offer shuttles, and a couple of them have been recently renovated, also some hotels on Apopka-Vineland Rd. offer shuttles (Sheraton Vistana - a huge resort). Stay away from the hotels on Rt. 192, Irlo Bronson Highway, it is a low-end (very) tourist trap. Not safe in some stretches and definitely not safe from a Covid standpoint.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by tonyp22

Sorry to hear of this, bmw. My condolences.

Thanks Tony, I appreciate it!


I actually got a drive-thru test today. I feel fine, but I have senior parents, so I just want to make sure because I have them over often. That test wasn't as bad as I thought, but it also is a piece of work lol. I had to swab my nose myself and it didn't look scary, just a long q-tip and was told to just make sure the cotton part is inside, the rest doesn't have to go... but geeez instant tears lol not because of pain or anything, just involuntary.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Thanks Tony, I appreciate it!


I actually got a drive-thru test today. I feel fine, but I have senior parents, so I just want to make sure because I have them over often. That test wasn't as bad as I thought, but it also is a piece of work lol. I had to swab my nose myself and it didn't look scary, just a long q-tip and was told to just make sure the cotton part is inside, the rest doesn't have to go... but geeez instant tears lol not because of pain or anything, just involuntary.

This.

I have a senior uncle that I visit quite often, and as such, do all that I can to stay away from overly-crowded areas. I’ve known a few people who have died as well from this thing — older people, but still.

[tonyp22]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Thanks Tony, I appreciate it!


I actually got a drive-thru test today. I feel fine, but I have senior parents, so I just want to make sure because I have them over often. That test wasn't as bad as I thought, but it also is a piece of work lol. I had to swab my nose myself and it didn't look scary, just a long q-tip and was told to just make sure the cotton part is inside, the rest doesn't have to go... but geeez instant tears lol not because of pain or anything, just involuntary.

I’m in the “we’re all in this together” camp.

I’ve done this twice. The first time was at the end of March when this was getting into high gear, after several days of combined fever, coughing, and other symptoms that made it sound suspiciously like COVID. Came back okay. Then again at the end of June, before I came back down here to my Florida house (I haven’t sold my other house yet, so for now this is my “Florida house” ). I wanted to make sure I was okay before coming back down. Sticking that thing up your schnoz is not a whole lot of fun!

[America097]

I agree with the previous posters. It is not very crowded and friends have reported being able to do all the popular attractions in a half day. However, the regular character experiences, fireworks, shows, and parades are not available. If these are important to you, I would suggest waiting until after covid.

If you decide to come, I enjoy the properties (wyndam, hilton, marriott) at Bonnet Creek.