Has anyone actually preferred Disney World during Covid/masking?

[Blondie58]

The problem right now is the lines are not short. Granted, some of that is social distancing, but for my trip starting last week, many guests weren’t being so good with the distancing anyway and were much closer behind me than even the three feet now recommended. Also, since the queues are overflowing into areas where queues weren’t planned, there is very little relief from the sun. If the lines were short, and moving, I would agree with you, but that was not my experience the past couple weeks.

I went to WDW for years before FP, and in fact, never used paper FP because of all the extra backtracking (getting the pass and then returning to ride). I remember how efficient the lines used to be before FP. However, there were fewer people overall in the parks as well. The experience of waiting in line now is nothing like waiting in line then. I don’t recall ever waiting an hour for a ride back then, and it’s too long to be waiting for a ride now. Yes, not every attraction has an hour wait, but I personally did see waits as high as 80 minutes last week at varying times, and this isn’t even the summer rush yet.

I don’t know that FP+ will come back, or if something else will take it’s place, but they need to get the lines under control before they increase capacity.

If a person does not like FP they should NOT use. I do not understand why people complain about fastpass. Don't sign up if it is not your cup of tea. But some of us like and use. I agree FP should return for all the reasons you mention AND due to the fact some seniors have issues with standing in lines for so long. I do not really want a medical excuse for my back and knee issue. FP is a perfect remedy. If I could sit until my turn without line jumping that would be fine too.

 

[ScubaCat]

If a person does not like FP they should NOT use. I do not understand why people complain about fastpass. Don't sign up if it is not your cup of tea. But some of us like and use. I agree FP should return for all the reasons you mention AND due to the fact some seniors have issues with standing in lines for so long. I do not really want a medical excuse for my back and knee issue. FP is a perfect remedy. If I could sit until my turn without line jumping that would be fine too.

I suspect (hope) they'll have more virtual queues once covid is behind us. That could help with the really popular attractions.

 

[Lilsia]

I suspect (hope) they'll have more virtual queues once covid is behind us. That could help with the really popular attractions.

I don't think that they will. There are just too many people in the park that the queues eat up. Can you imagine what the walkways and restaurants would look like if many of the rides just had a virtual queue?

 

[ScubaCat]

When's the last time you saw DHS like this in the middle of the day?

View attachment 573370

I posted a few YouTube videos of the character cavalcades back in early August and it's amazing how few people are in them! There were certain areas which had more people than others, but wow, it was really nice to have this rare time with everything so wide open!

While I understand that entertainment and a lot of the dining wasn't open, I feel like I got to enjoy a lot MORE experiences as a result of the lower crowds. I am looking forward to everything being back open, but I enjoyed the experience this last year tremendously.

Also, it was a difficult year for so many of us for all sorts of reasons. Disney being open was a MAJOR mental break. I usually go maybe twice a year and I've been 5 times just since the reopening.

I equate it to my one and only Mardi Gras experience back in 2001: it's the most fun I never want to have again.

 

[Nabas]

While I understand that entertainment and a lot of the dining wasn't open, I feel like I got to enjoy a lot MORE experiences as a result of the lower crowds.

In July my son and his friend experiences Flights of Passage 5 times in a row without any wait. They did the same with Expedition Everest. This is what Disney's Animal Kingdom was like in the middle of the afternoon.




Anyone who has stayed at the Poly knows how crowded the volcano pool gets. This is what it was like during the hottest part of the day.

 

[gharter]

For the original question - no.
Having learned how to use Fast Pass, I miss it.
So many shows that hold a lot of people, I miss them.
The pre-shows that don't currently exist, I miss them.
TiW card, I miss it.
The lack of parades and evening shows, really missed them. Love the evening fireworks shows.
Early morning hours for onsite stays, I miss them.
I really enjoyed our trip last month having lost 2 trips last year, but missed all the above things.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

I dont like people standing close or touching me, (I don’t WANNA fill in all available space) so i personally love social distancing in general, and like the extra space in the queues, and being able to walk around without being in a mass throng of people. And I like the hand sanitizer everywhere, just from a hygiene standpoint. But the things I miss greatly outweigh the little bit of extra space.

 

[Biggen]

Give me full parks and FP again over masks any day of the week.

 

[ajgardner]

Just returned from our vacation and it was a much needed wonderful time. With that said, we won’t be back until it’s more normal. Masks especially, that was the biggest thumbs down for me (95 degrees with a mask on all day, blazing hot sun that you can’t find a way to get out of because lines are snaked so far outside and very few indoor spaces available to duck into...nope, not pleasant. Not to mention, it’s sad not seeing full faces and smiles). I also missed the shows and fireworks, fast passes, along with many of my favorite restaurants/meals not available. We were not a fan of the plexiglass on the rides - our family seemed to always be behind it and in some rides it is a distractor. But we went knowing that this was the current situation and adjusted our expectations to this, it was a great time for what it was.
I did very much enjoy the impromptu calvacades, I hope they keep those. While most of the time people did not keep to the 6 foot markers, they did still keep a couple feet away rather than squished up right next to you, that was nice and would like that to stay. Overall, Looking forward to normalcy and won’t be back until it is there.

 

[gharter]

I dont like people standing close or touching me, (I don’t WANNA fill in all available space) so i personally love social distancing in general, and like the extra space in the queues, and being able to walk around without being in a mass throng of people.

My wife said almost the exact same thing. While the lines seemed extremely long (because of social distancing), she loved the space between groups.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Local, I was at MK yesterday and both of us agreed , we prefer No FP lines.... much easier to stand in long lines with some forward movement versus standing in lines with no movement cause all the FP’s .
If they bring back FP I hope it is expensive and limited.
We did stand in line 3 different times for PeopleMover ...long lines , but tolerable . We arrived at 3:00 and accomplished a lot more than normal w/o FP. Also enjoyed the line for Jungle Cruise w/o FP.
It seemed everybody wanted JC & PM attractions. We walked past 7 Dwarfs. And it was only 35 minutes!

 

[kps7795]

I personally don't enjoy wearing a mask to the park, but I will gladly wear one to keep people from crowding around me in line.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

I haven't gone during Covid, but if FP+ never returns I would be a very, very happy person. Maybe I'm old school, but I'd rather stand in reasonably short, constantly moving queues all day long than run around the park to get to my ride reservations and stand still in unmoving queues in between.

I would also like this, BUT those days have been long gone for years. Even with FP, the regular queue wait times are long.

The problem right now is the lines are not short. Granted, some of that is social distancing, but for my trip starting last week, many guests weren’t being so good with the distancing anyway and were much closer behind me than even the three feet now recommended. Also, since the queues are overflowing into areas where queues weren’t planned, there is very little relief from the sun. If the lines were short, and moving, I would agree with you, but that was not my experience the past couple weeks.

I went to WDW for years before FP, and in fact, never used paper FP because of all the extra backtracking (getting the pass and then returning to ride). I remember how efficient the lines used to be before FP. However, there were fewer people overall in the parks as well. The experience of waiting in line now is nothing like waiting in line then. I don’t recall ever waiting an hour for a ride back then, and it’s too long to be waiting for a ride now. Yes, not every attraction has an hour wait, but I personally did see waits as high as 80 minutes last week at varying times, and this isn’t even the summer rush yet.

I don’t know that FP+ will come back, or if something else will take it’s place, but they need to get the lines under control before they increase capacity.

I could not agree more. In all our trips using FP+, we have rarely had to "run around the park" to get to our FP ride. If people are needing to run to a FP+ ride, then they are scheduling their rides to close together. Not to mention that each FP time normally has a 60 minute window so even if you had back-to-back FP's that's 2 hours to get both rides in. Plus, you do not have to use your FP if you do not want too and like you said, now if you want to talk about running around the park, that would be the old FP system like you mentioned, plus the fact that if you did not get to the park early the FP's were mostly gone already.