Mickey, Magic and M*sks- July 2020 Contemporary Crashers

[coralietg]

Thursday July 16th- An Empty Animal Kingdom​

So, our touring style this trip is to sleep in, lazy breakfast, lunch in the park then rides. It seems to be working really well so far. Ready for pictures of an empty park?









At 12:04, we were in the park and heading towards Pandora. The glowing river ride was showing a 10 minute standby. Flight of Passage? 5 minutes. We walked right into the loading room. Right in.



My husband has taken the youngest on Na’vi River Journey while they waited, they were off and on in 10 minutes. On our way out of FoP, a cast member asked if we wanted to go again? Sure! We went off to the right and joined right below the room entrance. FoP twice in 20 minutes, just unbelievable.
On the way out, we were asked again if we wanted to ride again! I had to tap out, my motion sickness was in full force. I switched out with my other, less nauseated, half, who went on to ride it THREE times in a row. Remember those days of 200 minute standby lines? We got five rides in about an hour. We could’ve just gone off and back on all day.

I went around the glowing river once (they also asked there is I wanted to reride), before going to camp out in Satu’li Canteen to try and knock the sickness out.

Did I mention we are doing things slowly? After a long lunch break (in the AC), we got to KS at 14:27. I didn’t take note of the wait time but it was about 10 minutes.
They have barriers between the rows, and didn’t say anything about taking masks off so I’m thinking that was short lived




Kali River Rapids were up next at 15:28, another walk on. The river must’ve been pretty calm today as we barely got a splash to break up the oppressive heat.

We moved on to our favourite coaster at Disney!





This was his first time tall enough for Everest, and he loved it! Our first ride was a walk on at 15:43, and we just switched out for the next hour. I stopped keeping track of time, but I went twice with the kids and my husband went at least five times.

We stopped by Yak and Yeti for a light dinner, originally hoping to hit Dinosaur on the way out but we ran out of time.

For only being in the park six hours (including two meals), we got an amazing amount of rides done!

 

[coralietg]

Friday July 17th- Hollywood Studios at Capacity? Oh dear.
​

Prior to our trip, I had been reading about Hollywood Studios being the only park that had reached capacity for most days in July. I had been checking the wait times during our trip, and they had all been quite high compared to MK and AK.

We continued with our late starts and headed towards the park at noon. We had a 13:00 reservation for Hollywood Brown Derby and would go from there.


This did not bring me joy. We hadn’t even made it in yet and MMRR was closed?! Apparently, this pops up a lot with many rides due to cleaning.

Just for fun, I’d tried signing up for a Star Wars boarding group at 13:00 but straight away nothing was available. We’re not Star Wars fans, so didn’t plan on going in that area or on any of the rides (sorry).

We had a wonderful lunch and started our touring day at 14:54 with Toy Story Mania.



A walk on. You can see the social distancing lines in this picture, they are everywhere. We walked off and right back around at 15:13 for another go. We could’ve easily kept going but that walk out is pretty long and brutal in the heat of the day.

Back to the land closest to the sun, Toy Story Land was also pretty quiet. Slinky Dog Dash was showing a standby of 25 minutes but we were on the ride in 11. We switched out with the youngest on Alien Swirling Saucers while we waited and went on SDD a total of six times by 16:26. It’s a fun little ride!



Barriers and social distancing lines



16:35, we were Slinky Dogged out, and heading towards Tower of Terror.



16:53 and ToT had a wait time of 30 minutes standby. We tapped in for rider switch, ready for a long wait. We were at the elevator by 16:59. A whole 6 minutes Part of that was me waiting at a gate for a minute before realizing I couldn’t see the path going the other way in the dark. Ooops.

I don’t even know if my husband used rider switch to go back around, it was a walk on until the elevators.

17:44 Rock n’ Roller Coaster was another walk on. A cast member even joked we had our own private ride up ahead. 17:51 we used rider switch and went again. The only benefit to rider switch with the majority of these rides was being able to use the shorter fast pass line.

It was finally time for MMRR! The standby time was listed as 45 minutes, it was pretty stormy and started heavily raining, but we were ready!



We entered the standby line at 18:15, and were on our little cart at 18:27!





It’s definitely a cute little ride! The baby was thrilled with it and asked to go again. We waited a grand total of 20 minutes the second time. The line was down to a probably 5 minute wait after that, but we were ready to head out.

I had been a little worried about longer lines, but it was another great day down.

 

[coralietg]

Room Update​

Housekeeping has been a little bit of a battle. We’ve had different answers from different people, but there is supposed to be daily trash collection and fresh towels, and every other day light cleaning. They are NOT changing bed linens or making beds at all. After requests over several days, we finally got some clean sheets on day six to change the beds ourselves.

We had asked for vacuuming since day 2, and today we just had these dropped off in the room



Called back again and they finally brought a vacuum up and dropped it off in our room

With four kids, it adds up without vacuuming every day.

 

[coralietg]

Following - love the report - I hope we get to go in September with our 6 year old.

I hope so for you too. Based on what I am seeing, the majority of people are doing great with mask compliance and social distancing. It will be interesting to see how the next several weeks plays out for Disney.

Amazing upgrade! Feeling the pixie dust!

Unbelievable for sure! The garden wing was already such a big upgrade, this is just crazy.

What fabulous pixie dust. Nurse, EMT + 4 young children -your family deserves this
So funny about your little girl's tooth
Hope you have a ball today!

I have felt a lot of guilt for keeping this trip, but I actually feel safer at Disney than I do at work. The kids definitely deserve a change of scenery.

There are 2 Publix not too far from the Contemporary. My oldest ds lives very close to the Contemporary and shops at both. There's also a gas station just off Disney property that is usually a little cheaper than the one on Disney property.

We have been by and stocked up on Powerade and more water. Definitely a bonus to driving here. We have a little soft sided cooler we’ve been putting under the stroller with ice packs from the freezer. Working great and much cheaper than Disney prices!

Enjoying your report, thank you for the detailed run down and yay for the awesome upgrade to a 2 bedroom at BLT!
I am an RN as well, Thank you for all your hard work!
I love how you use military time, reminds me of work, lol

Hello! I have been following your reports for years, thank you for following! I feel like military time is so ingrained in me now, hard to use anything else. Thank you for your work too, it’s tough out there at the moment.

Amazing upgrade!! Glad you are having such a great time.. Its hotter than hell home in Louisiana now as well

I’ve been seeing the weather posts from back home, I would be hibernating if we were still there lol. The whole south is miserable in the summer.

This trip sounds absolutely wonderful!!! Congratulations on all the pixie dust!! I makes me soooooo happy to hear! I hope all the pixie dust continues for the rest of your trip. Now that you have experienced the two bedroom, look into dvc rental points for future trips, it’s not as expensive as you think

We had actually rented points for our cancelled May trip at the Polynesian. That was obviously cancelled and we now have a credit with that website. It was the last time we could’ve stayed at the Poly before my youngest turns three and we would be a Disney family of 6, so I was disappointed to lose that. It has been amazing so far, thank you!

Loving your report so far! I also have 4 children (much older now-ha!) and this is bringing back all of the memories from when they were younger at Disney What a wonderful upgrade on your accommodations and yes, I get your excitement at the laundry facilities IN YOUR ROOM! What a wonderful bit of pixie dust for mama! Can't wait for more!

The laundry room is amazing! Touring is definitely slower with four kids, but it’s a good thing with how hot it is. Lots of (air conditioned) bathroom breaks and water stops. I’m sure they are appreciating the more laid back trip too. The last time we came it was so much gogogo they were quite worn out.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Wow, what a day at AK! We have never been on FOP without a FP so this just sounds incredible!
I think you are touring the right way during this. The wait times and parks start to clear out by afternoon and evening.
We have always been early morning park commandos, however, touring maybe changing if this keeps up for awhile.
I would love a leisurely morning at Disney, that rarely happens for us!
We have rented points many times and housekeeping at the Villa is never great!

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

It has been interesting reading your experiences. We have been debating on when to use our tickets that expire next September. My youngest turns 2 this fall, and I don't know how we will keep a mask on her. My 4 year old loves Disney but also loves touching the outside of his mask. But he is eagerly awaiting when he can go on the rides with a 40 inch height limit, like Star Tours, which he was too short for last trip. Glad to hear you are having a good time and thank you for sharing your experiences.

 

[coralietg]

Real Life Update

I received some bad news from my workplace while I have been here (a death and some positive results), so I've decided it is best to head back to home. I have cancelled our offsite stay, and we will be saving our Universal tickets as they are good until December 2021. This isn't how I wanted our trip to end, but I think it's the smart decision. I had really wanted a break from reality, but it managed to follow me anyway. That is the true reality of right now.

Anyone heading to Disney soon, it really is a unique experience! Our longest wait time this whole trip was 25 minutes, the crowd levels are so low, but the heat is no joke. I honestly don't think the masks make much difference with the heat, it's just oppressive overall.

I hope everyone heading this way has an amazing time, Disney is doing a great job. Stay safe all

 

[cajunfan]

I am sorry to hear your real life news. Sending prayers and pixie dust your way.