My Experience at Disney World During Opening Week

Hey all! We spent one night at the Polynesian last week and went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I just wanted to share some quick thoughts - take it all with a grain of salt. Since we are currently living just an hour away from the parks,it was easy for us to get to Disney!

Parks Experience: Magic Kingdom was wonderful, but Epcot fell flat for us. We got there in the afternoon both times to avoid any morning crowds. Both parks were mostly deserted, but there were more tight walkways at Epcot due to construction. Saw more "magic" at Magic Kingdom, and it felt lighter there than at Epcot. A happier overall vibe at MK, maybe? Not sure how to explain it. Epcot is usually our favorite park, too, but it wasn't fun this time. Most of the shops were closed in the World Showcase also.

Transportation: We rode the monorail to and from the Transportation & Ticketing Center parking lot to Magic Kingdom and got put across from one other couple on the way there; we were by ourselves on the way back. Ferryboats looked empty, but we didn't ride the buses. Epcot monorail was not running while we were there.

Dining: Using the mobile order option in the app was easy and worked just fine! It seemed like they had limited menus though, so just be prepared and know your usual favorite may not be there right now.  In particular, Sunshine Seasons in The Land had a very limited menu.

Characters: As you probably know, there are no character meets right now, but we saw lots of characters spontaneously appear at Magic Kingdom including the cavalcades and random characters on stages and roofs. We didn't see any in Epcot although I know there are some. We just never saw them.

Attractions: We rode everything and some things (like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train) twice! We literally rode everything in MK in about 6 hours! Epcot we rode everything in about 5 hours. You can tell when they're cleaning based on when the wait times spike. If wait times are higher, they're probably cleaning. We just did something else and came back afterwards. Hand sanitizer was at every attraction entrance and exit, and the majority of people were using it.

Safety: Quite honestly I felt safer there than I do at Publix! Everyone we saw was wearing their masks properly, but I did hear Cast Members tell a few people on Splash Mountain to pull up their masks. Also, I heard Cast Members reminding people to keep distancing outside of Haunted Mansion. There were fewer Cast Members out and about at Epcot. Everyone kept their distance in lines beautifully, and plexiglass was placed perfectly throughout the queues. I didn't feel like my personal bubble was invaded AT ALL which is a miracle at Disney usually. Everyone was amazingly mindful. (I know that can change dependent on when you're there, but that was our experience!)

Photopass: Photopass photographers moved around during the day, and there were no lines for any of them. Photopass pictures with masks on are WEIRD though. 😉

Polynesian Village Resort: We stayed at the Poly, and it was clean and wonderful! We got upgraded to a Theme Park view, but it was bittersweet without fireworks to view! The pool and splash pad were great,  but it was definitely the most crowded we felt the whole time plus no masks there. pen with I think, limited hours! The pools do have shorter hours than normal; the one at the Poly didn't open until 11am.
We had drinks around the pool and saw some people eating, but they were having people stay stationary. People were wearing masks to their seats but not between the pool/splash pad, to the water slide, stuff like that. Nobody was wearing them while lounging.

Overall it was wonderful to be back in Disney! But very, very different from the usual Disney experience. Less magical than what we're used to, but still fun! Let me know if you have any questions that I didn't answer in this novel.