We're just back from a three-night stay at the Beach Club. Checked in on a Wednesday around 1ish, and room was ready within an hour. We went to Disney Springs that night around 5:00 and had no major issues--got drinks at Jock's, had dinner reservation at Raglan Road (delicious shepherd's pie), and got ice cream at Ghiardelli where the wait was around 15-20. My wife and sister waited for cookies at Gideon's and that took around the same.
Our first full day we got up early and went to MK for rope drop. We waited at Tomorrowland to get on SM. Once we were finally allowed in everyone was turned away because SM was down. So we went to HM...and that was down too, despite having a wait time on the app. We wanted to do Pirates but that was also down. Little Mermaid was open so we did that but it was a really frustrating way to start the day and completely defeated the purpose of us getting there early. After LM we went to TTA and right as we got on we saw that SM had opened and poeple literally running to get in line. Needless to say it was not a great ride on the TTA because by the time we got off the line for SM had backed up to the Main Street because they hadn't yet filled the queue inside. We skipped it and did HM, waiting around 20-25 despite the displayed 45 wait time. After that we decided to just wait for SM because the time had gone back down a bit to 50 minutes. This was about accurate. I had time to get an iced coffee while my wife and sister waited in the outside line, then to finish that coffee before getting inside. We left after lunch at Pecos Bill.
Dinner was CA Grill and was excellent as usual. Walked to MK after and was able to get on TTA, LM, and HM again. We caught Happily Ever After which was terrific but bittersweet as it’s the last time we’ll see it.
Next day we went to Trattoria al Forno for breakfast. All food was great there and it was nice to have a sit-down breakfast (and to have time to do it since Epcot opened at 11:00). We went over around 10:40 and went straight to Soarin’ within about 10-15 minutes, and saw people exiting already so they must’ve just been letting people ride. We rode Living with the Land immediately after, then SE, and Nemo. Got a few Food and Wine items and generally enjoyed a less-packed environment than MK. We broke midday and came back for dinner at the Coral Reef. Atmosphere there is so fun but the food was very underwhelming, which it seems to normally be but it’d been a while since we’ve visited and wanted to give a try. Walked around some more after, rode SE again and took in the new entrance at night. One more lap around WS and we went to the Boardwalk for ice cream.
Overall takeaways:
- It’s July in FL but it’s been a while and forgot how oppressive and still it can feel. So just get ready for that and drink water.
- MK was packed and virtually no one wears a mask. It truly does feel like pre-Covid crowds without the FP+ or staffing. Lines that would ordinarily be quick for small services and food felt much longer.
- As much as it’s disappointing, be prepared to either only get on a few of your favorites if you choose to take a midday break or to wait a decent amount of the time in line if you don’t. There’s really no way around it we found.
- We only had two weekdays but if our resort was any indication on Saturday, I can’t imagine crowds during the weekend. The lobby was packed by the time we left around 11 with check-ins/outs. Again: it’s summer and with much higher capacity. So it’s expected but still was a bit surprising.
- Pet peeve alert: the pandemic has done nothing to people’s use of their flash during dark rides or fireworks. I know this complaint is just going into the void but taking flash pictures on rides that are meant to be dark feels like one person in the audience asking the magician how he did his trick and then them telling everyone the answer. I don’t want to see the mechanics of a ride or having a small spotlight illuminating half the crowd during a fireworks show that’s best viewed at in the dark.
Overall: great and fun trip, great food, and got on rides we wanted to for the most part. We expected it to be packed and it was, and that helped a bit. It does feel very crowded and like they haven’t been staffed up enough to handle it all but CMs were all pleasant and professional as ever with no overflowing trashcans and clean bathrooms mostly.
Happy to answer anything if anyone has questions!
