****December 2020 Thread****

[Lsdolphin]

Ok NOT SURE if this is correct or not But just heard that Florida Gov is not mandating that Florida residents wear masks and has no attention of closing Fla schools or businesses.
I am well aware That everyone must wear masks and many other precautions are required while visiting Disney but I am more concerned now about contact with general Fla population not being required to wear masks outside of WDW. It seems that there could be a more significant number of possible “Covid carriers” walking around as I don’t believe temp checking is going to identify Those who might be symptom free but positive...
Does anyone else feel this is a concern?
PS: saw a quote from Fla Gov. a few minutes ago on a KTP email

 

[Lilias]

I was starting to rethink our decision not to fly next week (it's like a 16 hr drive and Frontier is basically giving plane tickets away at this point, lol) but yeaaaah I'll stick with driving methinks...and make sure all my masks have filters O_O

 

[twinklebug]

Ok NOT SURE if this is correct or not But just heard that Florida Gov is not mandating that Florida residents wear masks and has no attention of closing Fla schools or businesses.
I am well aware That everyone must wear masks and many other precautions are required while visiting Disney but I am more concerned now about contact with general Fla population not being required to wear masks outside of WDW. It seems that there could be a more significant number of possible “Covid carriers” walking around as I don’t believe temp checking is going to identify Those who might be symptom free but positive...
Does anyone else feel this is a concern?
PS: saw a quote from Fla Gov. a few minutes ago on a KTP email

I thought it had been this way for some time now. What his lack of direction means is that the counties can still try to enforce masks, but any fines will not hold up. I think most people are aware of how important masks and distancing are though. They simply try to stay away from those who aren't adhering to the "rules".

I was reading through some papers on Covid and the numbers point to that if we could get 50% compliance on mask wearing it will be enough to bring down the virus. The problem is more about who is getting together with who outside of shopping. "They're family or close friends, therefore safe" is not good enough. I heard of a man who intentionally exposed his entire family to Covid over restaurant tables and only told them after as he left to go home. he didn't want to be denied the social activity.

 

[CruellaNY]

Returned last night from our Thanksgiving trip at BLT; head down again Sunday for our 1 night at BWV before 2 nights at Universal for work! This was our 6th Thanksgiving trip and the least crowded since 2012; attraction waits were lower than our September trip for the most part as well! We did EPCOT before the Festival of the holidays started so looking forward to being there Sunday

 

[The Druggist]

I was starting to rethink our decision not to fly next week (it's like a 16 hr drive and Frontier is basically giving plane tickets away at this point, lol) but yeaaaah I'll stick with driving methinks...and make sure all my masks have filters O_O

From some other forums I’ve read: make sure you know which rest stops and restaurants are open to the public in case you have to make a bathroom break. Since some restaurants are doing drive through only and have their lobby’s closed to the public.

 

[MEC004]

First day and loving it!!

 

[ashnicole]

I leave in a few days and have not received my Magical Express letter. I got an email but I didn’t see a confirmation number in there. I’m going to call tomorrow, but has this happened to anyone else leaving soon? I declined magic bands for the trip and last time I tried to use a magic band linked to my account but not from that trip, they said nothing came up so I had to show my letter. Was that just a fluke or do you need the magic bands sent from that specific resort reservation linked to the ME reservation?

ETA: I called ME today. They said any active magic band should work and if not I can give them my resort reservation number.

 

[karen4546]

We will be there in 6 days! We were there in September, October, and November. Crowds kept getting larger each visit. I obviously don't have any trepidation about the coronavirus since WDW is IMO doing very well with the precautions they have in place.

But, with limited capacity in restaurants, stores, and the social distancing in lines, AND with them increasing park capacity- it gets really crowded in some areas.

I read a couple of reviews of the Orlando Informer meet up last night and those people said that they waited over 30 minutes for food/butter beer to only be told they were sold out. I have never been to Universal and my main focus will be the HP rides and Jurassic park. I am excited about going to Universal. I have been watching many past meet up videos.

If anyone went last night or are going tonight, will you post your review and experience here? thanks!

 

[Donnask8pro]

No Butter Beer? Dh & DS will not be happy

 

[JJ2017]

Hopping in once again. Didn't think December would be happening, but we are now booked for Xmas week, but offsite which is brand new for us. It will be a non-parks focused trip, but I know we will end up in the parks on at least one day. We currently have an Epcot day reserved, but I'm very torn on if it's worth it given the single day price of the tickets - hard pill to swallow. My family LOVES Epcot and it's a good park choice for us, but have to continue to think this through. Anyway, SO very excited to be around the magic! We have Sanaa booked on NYE, but not sure we will keep that either. Not sure what to really do on NYE (if anything at all). Excited to follow along the thread again.

 

[DisneylandMommy]

Just popping in to see if anyone planning to go over Christmas is having second thoughts. We are scheduled to leave on December 19, staying until the 24th. I'm getting nervous with all of the COVID rates going up everywhere. I've been looking forward to this for months, but it seems like things have really changed in the last couple of weeks.

 

[twinklebug]

Just popping in to see if anyone planning to go over Christmas is having second thoughts. We are scheduled to leave on December 19, staying until the 24th. I'm getting nervous with all of the COVID rates going up everywhere. I've been looking forward to this for months, but it seems like things have really changed in the last couple of weeks.

Disney is doing an excellent job. Once you're there you should be fine. Just take every precaution and stay away from those who don't seem to understand or follow the guidelines of distancing, masking and staying still while the mask is removed to eat or drink.

 

[monique5]

So Disney released more Park Reservation Passes the week of Christmas. Is capacity now going to be increasing? Supposedly now 35%. Reports that not skipping rows on EE today too. I’m good with being safe and making decision for family to go to WDW, but I would hope Disney would still be responsible in social distancing and crowds as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in FL.

 

[Tarilyn]

Just popping in to see if anyone planning to go over Christmas is having second thoughts. We are scheduled to leave on December 19, staying until the 24th. I'm getting nervous with all of the COVID rates going up everywhere. I've been looking forward to this for months, but it seems like things have really changed in the last couple of weeks.

Just popping in to see if anyone planning to go over Christmas is having second thoughts. We are scheduled to leave on December 19, staying until the 24th. I'm getting nervous with all of the COVID rates going up everywhere. I've been looking forward to this for months, but it seems like things have really changed in the last couple of weeks.

we are planning to leave on the 20th through the 26th. We are getting nervous and are just waiting until the last minute to cancel or them shut down

 

[karmacats]

If it helps those deciding whether to come, we are here now - did DS on mon, MK yesterday, EP today.

Just so you know where we're coming from, we are covid chickens - since march i have been in one store (cvs, to get my flu shot), and not done anything elective such as haircuts, movies, clothes shopping, etc. We almost cancelled this trip 10,000 times, esp when disney announced they upped capacity to 35%. Rather than a hotel, we are staying at the ft wilderness cabins so we have our own hvac and kitchen, and no shared spaces. We cancelled all our indoor dining ressies because we weren't comfortable sharing maskless indoor space.

With all that said, we've felt pretty good the last 3 days. Mask and line spacing compliance have been good. We had some close walkers behind us at HM so we just let them go ahead of us, but that's it. The choke points have not been as bad as the pictures led us to believe - there were quite a few times i said to DH that I'd freak out if i saw a pic of where we were, but actually being in the crowd it turned out there was plenty of room to distance.

We did feel uncomfortable in world of disney, so just left. Idk how much was the actual store and how much was because it was the first store i'd been in in 8 months, though. We were fine in mouse gear today.

The only real concern I've had so far was in earl of sandwich - it was super structured and safe in line for ordering and paying, but then waiting to pick up the sandwich was basically a mosh pit. Some guy coughed on me and i freaked and ran outside. He was wearing a mask so hopefully all will be well, but i was not happy.

Long story short, you can't control everyone, but in most cases it's easy to control your surroundings. So far, we're really happy we came, and have not been nervous other than the couple situations above, which we took care of by leaving the store or letting the folks in line behind us go ahead (though unfortunately nothing to be done about EoS guy). I may sing a different tune if we get covid, but for now, we feel good.

If you have any specific questions, i can try to answer them.

 

[DisneylandMommy]

If it helps those deciding whether to come, we are here now - did DS on mon, MK yesterday, EP today.

Just so you know where we're coming from, we are covid chickens - since march i have been in one store (cvs, to get my flu shot), and not done anything elective such as haircuts, movies, clothes shopping, etc. We almost cancelled this trip 10,000 times, esp when disney announced they upped capacity to 35%. Rather than a hotel, we are staying at the ft wilderness cabins so we have our own hvac and kitchen, and no shared spaces. We cancelled all our indoor dining ressies because we weren't comfortable sharing maskless indoor space.

With all that said, we've felt pretty good the last 3 days. Mask and line spacing compliance have been good. We had some close walkers behind us at HM so we just let them go ahead of us, but that's it. The choke points have not been as bad as the pictures led us to believe - there were quite a few times i said to DH that I'd freak out if i saw a pic of where we were, but actually being in the crowd it turned out there was plenty of room to distance.

We did feel uncomfortable in world of disney, so just left. Idk how much was the actual store and how much was because it was the first store i'd been in in 8 months, though. We were fine in mouse gear today.

The only real concern I've had so far was in earl of sandwich - it was super structured and safe in line for ordering and paying, but then waiting to pick up the sandwich was basically a mosh pit. Some guy coughed on me and i freaked and ran outside. He was wearing a mask so hopefully all will be well, but i was not happy.

Long story short, you can't control everyone, but in most cases it's easy to control your surroundings. So far, we're really happy we came, and have not been nervous other than the couple situations above, which we took care of by leaving the store or letting the folks in line behind us go ahead (though unfortunately nothing to be done about EoS guy). I may sing a different tune if we get covid, but for now, we feel good.

If you have any specific questions, i can try to answer them.

thank you so much. That was really helpful.

 

[JJ2017]

Can anyone shed light on how you think one day in Epcot would be during Christmas week? We love the park so much and really would love to snack in WS but also can’t go without riding test track and Soarin. Just trying to figure out if one day tickets will be worth the experience.

 

[chaboyd]

We leave Sunday if everyone can stay healthy until then. I feel like we're trying to dodge bullets here. This is a rescheduled trip from August. Maybe it would have been better if we had just gone then.

If we don't go now, it would be June at least before we could reschedule since I teach. I just need to stop watching TV. It's making me feel guilty for trying to do anything "normal or fun." I teach in person, so social distancing at Disney has got to be safer than elementary kids and their germs.

 

[JJ2017]

We leave Sunday if everyone can stay healthy until then. I feel like we're trying to dodge bullets here. This is a rescheduled trip from August. Maybe it would have been better if we had just gone then.

If we don't go now, it would be June at least before we could reschedule since I teach. I just need to stop watching TV. It's making me feel guilty for trying to do anything "normal or fun." I teach in person, so social distancing at Disney has got to be safer than elementary kids and their germs.

This is what I feel and it's keeping me partly focused on actually going on this trip. My state at this point is worse numbers wise than FL. I know there are more rules in my state, but we have gotten used to these rules and will try to make the best decisions for ourselves once in Orlando. I work at a school, my kids go to school, they are in sports/dance, etc...... we will quarantine 4 days before leaving, we have tests scheduled the day before we leave...... But then I watch TV, read news, hear from leaders saying - don't travel unless essential - then my mind flips again.

 

[Lilias]

We just arrived at universal yesterday and I posted some pictures on Facebook of just me in front of the globe with a mask on and nobody around and one of my friends is already mad at me

We just went to city walk last night and it was a bit of a madhouse--we were very concerned until we noticed that the parks had just closed so we literally arrived at the worst time by the time we left, it was much better.

I can tell that telling people to use their eyeballs is going to be a theme of the trip... Husband had to use a bathroom and said people didn't realize there was a socially distanced line for it and he had to start snapping at people who were just walking in when it was his turn, there were always multiple lines for things cuz people were just oblivious @___@