We were SO excited to celebrate Noelle this year and it was most in part because we would be returning to one of our favorite places, Walt Disney World. We celebrated the same way last year. Just Mom, Dad and our big girl. She requested this exact same celebration the moment we left the Disney parking lot last year but who knew it would be so different!!

We are previous annual passholders and due to the pandemic, we decided it best to cancel them. Unfortunately, Disney has not resumed their passholder program just yet so we went with the next best option which was to do the Florida resident multiple day pass in order to pay less for multiple days.

Noelle likes to ride the big rides now that she is able, so we leave little sisters at home so that she can do all the roller coasters. Honestly, it’s so awesome being able to spend one on one time with her because that has been very rare since the pandemic has begun.

There are lots of changes with the park that I thought I’d run down for those of you seeking to jump back into the magic.

MASKS!! I made it very clear to Noelle that if she wanted to go back, masks were a hard stop. I knew she would be ok with it but I had heard Disney was being super strict on this, which definitely put me at ease. I saw on a couple of occasions, cast members asking guests to put their mask over their nose. I was so happy that they weren’t being lax on this.

The crowd size. I can’t say that since the pandemic it’s always as empty as it was this day but I’ve heard from my Disney loving friends that the crowd size is significantly less than we are used to pre-Covid. I know some days are definitely busier than others but my first impression on our first day back was “wow, this is really empty”. This is due also to Disney limiting the amount of people allowed in the park at one time. You have to pre-select the dates and parks you plan on attending. Park hopper passes are available but they are more expensive.

It felt less crowded in pretty much every aspect. Even getting into the park. We didn’t need to ride the tram in the parking lot, we were close enough to walk to the gate. If you know the Disney days of old, you know this is NOT normal for a weekend, or weekday, pretty much ever.

As we entered the gates, there was no line. We were able to get our temperatures checked immediately, walk through the metal detectors and only got our bags checked if the sensors went off. This is also very different as the line to get your bags checked is usually pretty long. As we boarded the monorail to get to Magic Kingdom, we were given a number to stand at like always but this time there were dividers between parties of riders inside the monorail.

When we entered the park, there was no scanning of your fingerprint, for obvious reasons, GERMS! We got to the castle and Main Street was crowded but not AT ALL like usual. There was no big show with the characters on the stage, in order for Disney to avoid large crowd gatherings. Noelle still got to see Mickey and Minnie and the others, and she was fine with that. If you are considering bringing your family with small children, this is apart of the usual magic you will definitely be missing. Not to mention the INCREDIBLE shows at all the parks such as The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Frozen, etc. Honestly, if your small children have never been, they won’t miss it. As avid Disney goers, we definitely knew it was missing but Noelle is old enough to not care much. When we come back and bring all the girls, I am interested if Lois will notice or miss it.

No character meet and greets! So this was a little sad for me because I know how much magic goes with the opportunity to meet your favorite princesses. Again, Noelle was not super bummed about this because she’s met them several times. It’s pretty obvious how doing this safely is just not possible but also I realized that they wouldn’t want to mask their princesses anyway, you couldn’t see their whole face! They did do a parade of princesses which Noelle was completely satisfied with. Now, if your kids have never been, they won’t know the difference. It’s only when you know it’s missing that it’s sad.

Due to the lack of crowd size, the wait lines look A LOT different. The wait times were SO MUCH SHORTER!!! Like, it was insane! We rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and if you are at all familiar with this ride, you know that pre-Covid, the wait times were around 2 to 3 hours, ALL THE TIME! Well, this day, it was only 55 minutes and so we jumped at the chance to get in line to wait under an hour. Noelle took the wait like a champ and I’m so happy we finally got to experience it on her special day. The wait times would be much less if Disney was packing the rides at full capacity but they are not. The roller coasters are spacing seating between riders and rides like a small world are only loading two families at a time (instead of 4-6).

Each ride wait area was spaced with markers to socially distance. I only had to ask one person to please pay attention to the line. She was on her phone and not paying attention and practically breathing on our necks. We also gave some other people the look of “give me fifty feet” and they got the hint. But in general, people were good at keeping their distance and being respectful.

With the rides that were inside or in pretty small spaces, they installed dividers so that there was some degree of protection. This was surprising to me and pretty cool that they were able to do it.

Hand sanitizers were placed at the end of every ride. I felt like some rides should have required sanitizing before, like for the carousel ride for instance. So many hands, and cleaning after the ride just didn’t seem enough for me. They do not clean the rides between each rider, so don’t expect this. I remember reading that the rides were cleaned around every 2 hours or so but if I’m completely honest, I didn’t see it actually happen. This is not to say that it doesn’t happen but I just didn’t witness any of it while we were there.

Eating! Although eating and walking may be a talent, you won’t be able to flex this muscle while at the parks. You are only allowed to eat with your mask off when you are stationary, not including waiting in lines. If you have children who get thirsty or need a snack every 5 minutes, you might want them to wait outside the line with another adult! When we were ready for lunch, we ordered our food on the mobile Disney app from Pinocchio Village Haus, paid and waited for it to be ready. Once we got an alert that our food was ready, we could enter the building, get our food and find a seat. The tables are all spaced for social distancing with signs for the tables that are off limits. This was our view while eating. Practically NO ONE. There was only one family “close” to us and they were about 20-30 feet away outside. I can’t say that this is how they are doing things across the board but I can imagine this isn’t the only restaurant doing it like this.

No fireworks display! LISTEN!!!! I was so hurt about this one, lol! Disney puts on a spectacular fireworks show and I was so sad we wouldn’t end our night this way. To see the way they light up the castle is a thing to marvel. It makes total sense why they couldn’t do this because of the gathering of a really large crowd. This is just one of those things, you’ll have to plan to come back to see.

Overall, I definitely felt comfortable enough coming back. We were really good at hand hygiene and were careful but of course everyone has to do what they feel comfortable with. Disney is not a necessity, OBVIOUSLY, but it was so nice to do something we love and enjoy! Most importantly, Noelle had a great time!!!

Minnie Ears

I’m sure I’m missing something but I really hope this helps in your planning or consideration for coming to the park during the pandemic. Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section and I’ll answer whatever I can!

For more information on Covid visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

Visit https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/ for Covid guidelines for Disney visitors.

Until next time, Leah <3