New Normal MK and Universal Trip, 7/13-14

Neon Cactus

Old Run Disney Addict
Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Hi, I hope this finds you all safe. For those of you who don't know me, I'm the type of person who will find just about any way to make a trip to Disney (or pretty much any theme park, for that matter) work. However, I really didn't think I'd be going until Marathon Weekend. That was, until I happened to check Spirit Airlines and see that they had some round trip fares from Dallas to Orlando for $34. My first thought was that it's too bad Disney isn't open (they weren't at the time I bought the ticket). But I read a post from a friend who took his family to Universal Studios and had a great time. I hadn't been to Universal Florida in about five years.

So I bought a ticket to fly on their first nonstop and get in at 12:45 PM Monday, and I was going to Universal and do as much of both parks as I could on Tuesday and then fly back on the 9 PM flight. To make things even better, the Doubletree right outside Universal had a great deal using points, so this looked good. I checked Disney World to see if they had tickets, but they were only selling them for 2021 at the time, so I figured I'd spend some time at Disney Springs on Monday afternoon. Then I thought about spending the afternoon at the Boardwalk and Beach Club area and made a dinner reservation so I could go there. And then. late last week, Disney put tickets on sale for this year. I landed at 12:45 PM, so I was figuring I could get to Magic Kingdom by 2 PM and they closed at 7. So I debated whether it would be worth it to pay full price for only 5 hours. The reports of small crowds helped make up my mind, but ultimately I knew that just being in the Magic Kingdom on Main Street, seeing the castle and hearing the background music would be worth it. So I bought a ticket, got my reservation and was all set. Now my only worry was Spirit Airlines being on time.

As it turns out, that wasn't a problem. We even landed 15 minutes early, so I quickly made it to Alamo and got my car and was off to the Magic Kingdom. I got there just before 2 and it was surreal (probably the best word I could use to describe it). I've been to Disney World many times over the years, and I've seen varying levels of crowds, but when I walked up to the temperature screening tent, I was the only person there. I was debating ferry vs monorail and saw the express monorail pulling into the station. I walked up and was the only person in the station besides the cast members.

While I was sitting in the monorail waiting for it to leave, I started checking the wait times and only Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain were over 35 minutes. I wanted to ride a classic attraction first and Jungle Cruise was only 5 minutes, so I decided to head there first. Like I mentioned earlier, I've been to Disney World many times since my first visit in 1975, but I can't think of another time where I had quite the same feeling of anticipation. I felt very emotional walking into the park and through the tunnel onto Main Street. And, I'd seen pictures, but to see it in person, so uncrowded was just amazing. One float with Tinkerbell was heading down Main Street towards me.

WDW Castle.JPG

I'd had a list of 10 rides I hoped to do and then anything else would be a bonus. I needn't have worried. In fact, I think I took more pictures of places where people WEREN'T, instead of pictures I would usually have taken. The line for Jungle Cruise didn't even take 5 minutes. I got on the second boat. They spaced out parties throughout the boat. There's now a divider between the skipper and the passengers.

WDW Jungle Cruise.JPG

Pirates had about a 10 minutes wait, so I rode that next. Then I headed over to Splash Mountain, which had a 35 minute wait and the line looked fairly long, so I went to Thunder Mountain first. It was my first nice surprise. It also said it was a 35 minute wait but the queue was empty and I walked right up and on the ride. So I rode that twice. Then headed over to Haunted Mansion. The stretching room is now part of the queue for now. I followed that with Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, the Teacups and Buzz Lightyear, all walk ons. I'd done 7 of my original list of rides (Peoplemover was closed, unfortunately) in just two hours. So at that point, I was going to wait for rides that had lines when I'd walked by them. I started with Seven Dwarfs, which said 30 minutes and was on the ride in 12, which was shorter than special events I'd attended. Then I rode It's a Small World which was also a walk on by that point. Peter Pan was still a walk on, so I couldn't pass up riding that again. Then headed over to Splash Mountain. Along the way, Country Bear Jamboree theater doors just opened, so I went in to see that. They are seating people in every other row and within the seating rows they have parties separated. Splash Mountain was still showing a 35 minute wait and the line was still looking pretty long, just because of the social distancing. They stopped the line for a while to clean the ride and then once it started moving again, it went pretty quickly. All told, it took about 30 minutes to get on it and when that's the longest line of the day, there's nothing to complain about.

WDW Splash.JPG

I took some time and just walked around the park, taking it all in and just enjoying the atmosphere. I ended back at Seven Dwarfs and rode that again with less than a 10 minute wait. It was 6 PM by that point and I realized I hadn't had anything to eat or drink all day. I don't usually eat when I have early morning flights and then once I landed, it was a race to get my rental car and get to the Magic Kingdom as fast as I could. Then once I got there, I only had 5 hours for rides, so who has time to eat? It was hot, but there was a breeze, and it was about 10 degrees cooler than Dallas, so it didn't seem that bad to me. I went over and got my Dole Whip float (pineapple juice, I'm eating healthy, right?). On the way, Fantasyland was as empty as I've ever seen it. There wasn't anyone walking through the castle, so I took the opportunity to run through it (I feel pretty sure that the Marathon will happen in January, but just in case!) They have several places around the park where you can take your mask off, but I wasn't really that uncomfortable with it on, so that was the first time I took the mask off. The hub was pretty empty about a half hour before park closing time (I was figuring people might not stay that late since there were no fireworks).

WDW Hub.JPG

Then I went down Main Street and bought my daughter a pair of Minnie ears. It was about 15 minutes from closing and I was going to make sure I was there for it. It was kind of nice as several characters were up on the train station with some cast members waving goodbye.

WDW Goodbye.JPG

I took the ferry back over and since it was free parking after 6 PM at Citywalk, I went there to finally eat real food. I had a free $25 birthday gift from Landry's, so I was going to Bubba Gump's. But they closed right before I got there, so I ended up at Panda Express. Which turned out well because I was so hot and dehydrated by then that I wasn't really feeling that hungry. My hotel was less than a mile from there and one of the good perks of being a Hilton loyalty members is getting two free bottles of water at check in. So some thoughts:
- It was awesome being back in the Magic Kingdom. I guess it's different when I DON'T go versus when I CAN"T go. I loved the lack of crowds, but can't say I totally enjoyed it because of the circumstances leading to that lack of crowds.
- I thought Disney did a great job. Keeping the rides cleaned regularly, hand sanitizers everywhere, temperature screenings. There's been a lot of debate on if they should open and everyone has their opinion. I had quite a few people I know say they couldn't believe I was going. My personal opinion is if people don't want to go, then don't, and I have no issue with that decision. But Florida cases are spiking (and Texas where I live is no better) with or without theme parks, so it's clear that it's spreading regardless. I was at WDW in early March a few weeks before they closed and didn't get sick then when no precautions were being taken. With both Universal (more on them later) and Disney, I feel they are taking a lot of precautions and I felt no more at risk than I do going anywhere else.
- I thought the other guests did a great job. Everybody that I saw kept their masks on and kept their social distancing in lines. I saw an interview with the Disney Parks president while in the airport and he was talking about the guests also having responsibility and I didn't see anybody trying to go without the masks.
- I missed having the fireworks, but it's one of those things I can give up for the time being to be able to go to Disney World. I liked them having the cavalcades during the day. I missed the one with Princesses, but it's a good way to get to see characters and kind of replace the one big parade and still get a feeling of magic.
- Saw the castle and it's new colors. I kind of like it. It's very similar to Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland for their 50th anniversary.
- This was a perfect visit for me to get my Disney World fix. It was a quick one day (less, actually) visit to get the best of it. If I were planning on taking a longer vacation with my kids, I'd have to debate whether or not to go. But I told some friends of mine who always complain about how crowded it is and how long the lines are that this is the perfect time to go. If it were people looking for the experience of character meals, fireworks, etc., I'd probably suggest waiting.
- I think they are going to be hurting for a while when it comes to getting a large number of travelers, so they're probably going to have to really rely on locals, especially annual passholders. Depending on the number of reservations taken, they might want to consider letting those AP holders park hop as long as there is availability. But it's early in the reopening. EPCOT and DHS were still closed and the Skyliner wasn't running yet. I thought they did a very good job.

NEXT: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
 
I hadn't been to Universal Studios in five years and decided with the cheap airfare I couldn't pass up, to go for a day. I bought a one day, 2 park ticket. There are several rides that were new, but I especially wanted to go on the Hogwarts Express, which required the 2 park ticket. I debated whether or not to get the Express Pass to get priority boarding, but I did watch their app and there was a couple of days where the wait for Hogwarts Express and Gringotts got up to 40 minutes, so I decided to get the Express pass. I don't think I really needed to, looking back.

The Doubletree had a free shuttle that left just before 8 AM. Universal resort guests could get into Universal Studios park at 8 AM, but I had to wait until 9, so I decided to start with Islands of Adventure. Unlike the day before, I decided to actually eat something before 6 PM. I went to Voodoo Doughnuts at Citywalk. I was very excited as you can see by my smile.

Universal Voodoo.JPG

They had a queue with social distancing markers so that people didn't cram together by the turnstiles and they let us in at 8:45. Most people headed toward the Harry Potter area. I'd heard that Hagrid's used to have really long lines, but they now require you to register for the virtual queue to ride it. This was great. As soon as I was in the park, I went on the app and got in the queue right away so I rode that first. I loved it and as soon as I got off the ride, I was registering to ride it again. Before it was time, I walked over and rode Kong, which was new since I'd been there. I was a little disappointed in it. The ride portion of it on the trucks was different, but the actual film itself was very similar to the Kong section of the tram tour in Hollywood, which I rode last year when I did the Minions 5k. I discovered another issue that I had with wearing a mask and 3D glasses. My glasses kept getting fogged up. I found that I saw it better taking the glasses off and having the blurred 3D picture than by wearing the fogged up glasses. I went back after that and rode Hagrid again. I then rode Cat in the Hat, Spiderman and Jurassic Park with no wait for any of them. I love the Cat in the Hat ride. It's one of my favorite dark rides at any theme park. On Jurassic Park, they let you take the masks off for the ride and say that you just have to put them back on once you leave the ride. I went to Poseidon's Fury after that, but the wait was 65 minutes and they said they take equal numbers of stand by and Express passes, so the wait was still going to be the same, so I passed on waiting for that. I went back to the Hogsmeade and to the Hogwarts Express. I love the Hogwarts Castle there.

Universal Hogwarts.JPG

I like the Forbidden Journey ride, and I don't generally get motion sick on rides, but I sometimes feel sick coming off it and didn't want to deal with that today. So I finally got to get on the Hogwarts Express and take it over to the Universal Park!

Universal Express.JPG

I loved getting seated in the compartments and the effects are excellent. And as much as the prior day didn't feel too hot, today was getting very hot, so the air conditioning was nice. Then I got to experience Diagon Alley for the first time and the Escape from Gringott's.

Universal Diagon.JPG

As the picture shows, it wasn't crowded at all. I loved the Gringott's ride, it doesn't make me feel sick at all. Definitely one of my favorite rides there. I took some time to look around the shops there and went to Borgin and Burke's shop in Knockturn Alley. They did an incredible job with the detail. Then I headed toward Rip, Ride, Rockit, but there was no line for The Mummy so I went on that. I didn't remember it being so painful but the sudden stops really got me this time. I did Rip, Ride, Rockit, after, which I really like, but at that point, it was getting hot and too many thrill rides in a row was getting to me. I decided to get an A/C break and stopped and got some water and went to ride ET, then headed to the Bourne Stuntacular, which gave me a nice long break inside. They have an interesting way to do characters. They have some on floats, similar to the Disney cavalcade, but others are on stages where you can get a selfie with them or picture of them.

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Universal Spiderman.JPG

The Bourne show replaced Terminator 2, which I liked a lot. I didn't like Bourne quite as much but it does have good effects. After that I went on Despicable Me, Jimmy Fallon's Race through New York, Men in Black and then rode ET again. My daughter's boyfriend's birthday is next month and he's a big Harry Potter fan, so she wanted me to go find something with Gryffindor on it. So I went back over to Diagon Alley and rode Gringott's again (got to see the dragon breathe fire this time, too!) and then went shopping and found him a hat and since they had a discount on three face masks, I got all three of us Gryffindor face masks. I headed back to the Despicable Me shop to buy a gift for my youngest daughter and passed the Knight Bus. It was a fun stop because the shrunken head will talk to you.

Universal Knight.jpg

After getting the souvenirs, I headed back to Hogwarts Express and rode it back over to Islands of Adventure. I was able to get another spot on Hagrid's, so while I waited, I got my frozen Butterbeer. My original plan for late afternoon was to get on Dudley Do Right's log ride and Popeye and Bluto's raft ride. But one thing I do remember from years ago is that while getting wet on Disney's water rides can be hit or miss, on those two rides, you get soaked. I had a change of clothes in the car because I was planning to ride them, but I was asking myself if I really wanted to fly home in wet shoes. I was hot and getting tired and decided no, not this trip. So I walked around and took some pictures before riding Hagrid again.

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Universal Marvel.jpg

I love Hulk, it's one of my favorite coasters, but my eye doctor said I should avoid severe spinning rides or rides with a lot of g forces and I'm ok for most roller coasters, but Hulk is right on the border. I'm sure I'll test it someday, but didn't think a solo trip would be the place to try. I was able to walk back to the Doubletree in about 15 minutes and go home from there. I was kind of hoping Spirit would bump me or cancel my flight so I would have a good reason to go to EPCOT the next day, but no such luck. We did get a nice thunderstorm that delayed our flight for an hour, but I got home.

I was very glad I did go to Universal. I haven't been in five years, mostly because of the price to do both that and Disney in the same trip. Like Disney, they did an excellent job keeping things sanitized. In some ways better. They seemed to clean the rides more. The employee at Gringott's had me wait another car so she could clean that row on the car. Where Disney has hand sanitizers everywhere, at Universal, they have everyone take some before they get on each ride. And where at Disney, I didn't see any guests take their masks off, I did see a few at Universal that did and in every case, a Universal employee immediately asked them to put their mask back on. They have a lot of clearly marked areas where you can take them off, but out in the general park, they were carefully watching the park guests to make sure they were in compliance. So there's no guarantee that people won't get COVID in the parks, either at Universal or Disney, but I felt very safe at both places.

The only issue I really had is the 3D glasses fogging up with wearing a mask, especially since they have several attractions that use them: Kong, Spiderman, Escape from Gringott's, Jimmy Fallon, Despicable Me. I didn't ride Transformers and Fast and the Furious either since I did those in Hollywood last year but they also use them. But overall, it was a great time. I have seen some other dates that Spirit is offering $34 round trip air again, so I'm considering another trip back for EPCOT!
 

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