What Do You Like Better Now Than Before COVID?

[imbelle]

I still don't know what does it in ours - every time, both of our bags. No matter what we take out beforehand, it goes off and security tells us it's a different reason. Try what security told us the next time...nope, still goes off. We have yet to go through security without needing our bags hand-checked. I wish we could have the luck other people do with the new scanners - the seem great in theory!

For me it was: eyeglass case, umbrella, and camera (my water bottle is all plastic so it was ok). Once I started holding those 3 items in front of me as I went through the scanner, I was golden.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

For me it was: eyeglass case, umbrella, and camera (my water bottle is all plastic so it was ok). Once I started holding those 3 items in front of me as I went through the scanner, I was golden.

Yeah that's basically all we have in our bags! Cameras and battery packs/external chargers. Every time I'll be in my chair, the guard will ask if he can take my bag through. I say "Yes, but it'll go off" and he'll insist...then sure enough, I have to go have it manually-searched, and my partner (who walked through the uprights with his bag) will end up right behind me to have them manually search his bag too. I know it works faster for a lot of people, but for us the old system (aka what they still use at Disneyland) ends up much faster. I wish we could be people who could speed on through the new one!

 

[Victoria3]

Mobile order and mobile check out.

 

[gardenrooms]

#1 SECURITY

This new way is sooooooooooooooooo much better.

You are so right about that. We keep asking when it is coming to DL!

 

[gardenrooms]

A lot of people are saying mobile ordering, but I dislike the changes from 2019. You could order right then and there, now, you are only allowed to order 30 minutes ahead which is very inconvenient, you are basically forced to the line if you want to order NOW - which some lines being 15 minutes long under the sun...
The only things I actually liked, having 2019 as a comparison, was how the castle looked and loved the new rides that I hadn't ridden since then which were plenty: Rise of the Resistance, Ratatouille, Cosmic Rewind, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Train, among others. Loved the Virtual Queue. Loved that the All-Star Resorts had their own designed buses instead of sharing.

I have more cons that pros, unfortunately.

Thank you for only including your pros

 

[gardenrooms]

I prefer Genie+ to Fastpass+. Having to decide ride times 60+ days out was not convenient or relaxing, and it often left you with weird gaps where you'd have your next reservation in 30 minutes and nothing had a short wait. I still thing the original Fastpass was the best system, but G+ is a net improvement.

Disney World in particular has done better with characters randomly popping up around the park. Pre-covid you had to wait in a long line or get a FP reservation to meet just about all characters, now it's much more common to see them out and around. As someone who likes characters but doesn't really care for the meet and greet locations, this was fantastic.

Reducing the dining reservation timeline to 60 days just makes sense. 180 was totally unnecessary.

Mobile ordering is another great addition, although I think the parks were trending this direction before covid anyway. I can take my time browsing the menu and placing an order while in line for an attraction, then as soon as I get off I head to the restaurant and my food is ready in less time than it used to take to order.

Although when the 6 month and 60 day things originally came out I did not like it - I thought "How will I know where I want to eat in 6 months or what I want to ride in 60 days???" But I actually came to like it. Living in CA and only being able to afford to visit once every 3 years, and since the schedules came out early, it actually made planning easier (I would always start at early entry park and jump to extra magic hours park - gotta maximize my time!). And since I was ready to make those ressies while some other people weren't yet, I was always able to get everything I wanted on at least 1 of our days. I'm going to miss that.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Thanks for this thread. I had no idea about the bag scanners. That is actually exciting because I was always the designated bag person in my family, and it used to annoy me that they could go up ahead while I was stuck waiting for the bag search.

Regarding bag scanners, it took us about halfway through our trip before someone pointed out that we could avoid a bag check if we hold our charging block in our hand. We couldn't figure out why our bag had to be checked sometimes, but not others.

Regarding what was better, surprisingly LL+. Staying offsite, we could no longer avoid early entry, but we now have a chance at LL+ for Seven Dwarfs or Flight of Passage, where before, we had no chance at FP+ staying offsite.

My glasses case did it for a whole trip before security told me to hold it out.

I still don't know what does it in ours - every time, both of our bags. No matter what we take out beforehand, it goes off and security tells us it's a different reason. Try what security told us the next time...nope, still goes off. We have yet to go through security without needing our bags hand-checked. I wish we could have the luck other people do with the new scanners - the seem great in theory!

For me it was: eyeglass case, umbrella, and camera (my water bottle is all plastic so it was ok). Once I started holding those 3 items in front of me as I went through the scanner, I was golden.

Yeah that's basically all we have in our bags! Cameras and battery packs/external chargers. Every time I'll be in my chair, the guard will ask if he can take my bag through. I say "Yes, but it'll go off" and he'll insist...then sure enough, I have to go have it manually-searched, and my partner (who walked through the uprights with his bag) will end up right behind me to have them manually search his bag too. I know it works faster for a lot of people, but for us the old system (aka what they still use at Disneyland) ends up much faster. I wish we could be people who could speed on through the new one!

For the bag scanner--if you set it off, ask them what in your bag set it off; they'll tell you what it was. Then next time hold that thing out in front of you (like they tell you to do with umbrellas).

 

[NavyDad]

I like that dining reservations are now 60 days out instead of 180. I never understood making dining choices 6 months in advance. Also like mobile ordering at most QS locations - so convenient!

Agree with both of these!

Also - with no Dining Plan since COVID we found there was a lot more availability for same day reservations and even walk up. The "wait list" through the app worked out well too.

 

[fabfemmeboy]

For the bag scanner--if you set it off, ask them what in your bag set it off; they'll tell you what it was. Then next time hold that thing out in front of you (like they tell you to do with umbrellas).

We've tried. Every time we ask, the give us a different answer. Hold out the item that the told us last time, totally different thing goes off. And based on the lists people have, that's basically every item in our bags: glasses case, camera, external chargers...that's literally all we're bringing! Oh, and I have a ton of pins on my bag which some of the security people have said can set it off too, so the bag itself is also an issue. :: I'm glad it works for other people, I just wish I could skip it and go right over to the hand-checking table since I know I have to anyway.

 

[gharter]

I thought it was weird that people were commenting on mobile ordering at all since that was around pre-covid. During our trip in 2018, I think we did mobile ordering for all but one of our park meals.

It was available, but not many used it (I know we didn't).
Once Co-Vid hit and they forced people to use it, many of us found out how beneficial it was and wouldn't want to go back to waiting in the long lines instead.

 

[RoseGold]

I used mobile order pre-Covid and it was functional. It had a couple restaurants and you had to book way ahead.

Mobile order now is incredible. So many options and it has always worked perfectly for me.

 

[Tallis]

Just read through this thread and I'm glad to see some people are trying to see new changes in a positive light.

Our last trip was 12/2019 and everything is very different now. It's a whole new learning curve and everything seemed negative for me prior to reading this. I'll learn to enjoy the new "new" just as I have with all the changes before.

I'm still very much on the fence with on-site vs off-site. We've never stayed off site, ever. Even though most of the perks have been taken away unless you can afford deluxe resorts, (we can't) I still want to give my youngest grandchild the full immersive experience at WDW. She's three and never been. I may just "pretend" we are staying on site by utilizing some Disney transportation to show her some of the more fun resorts.

The biggest loss I feel is the Extra Magic Hours. For the last couple years pre-covid, I could see they were phasing them out anyway. Still leaves a real void for me.

 

[emily nicole]

Even though most of the perks have been taken away unless you can afford deluxe resorts, (we can't) I still want to give my youngest grandchild the full immersive experience at WDW. She's three and never been.

We are taking our son's girlfriend with us and she's never been to Disney. That's the only reason we are staying on-site this time!

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

While we missed some of the character dining that still wasn't functioning as usual on our last trip, I REALLY loved the spontaneous character sightings. My daughter spotting Pooh catching butterflies was just magical, and made it exciting and plays into the feeling that the characters are real. We also caught some characters randomly outside the Grand Floridian and I just loved how intimate and special that felt. It reminded me a lot of the way character greetings were done when I was kid.

 

[Goldilocks07]

Regarding bag scanners, it took us about halfway through our trip before someone pointed out that we could avoid a bag check if we hold our charging block in our hand. We couldn't figure out why our bag had to be checked sometimes, but not others.

Regarding what was better, surprisingly LL+. Staying offsite, we could no longer avoid early entry, but we now have a chance at LL+ for Seven Dwarfs or Flight of Passage, where before, we had no chance at FP+ staying offsite.

this is good to know! Because I got stopped a few times to have my bag physically checked. I bet this is why. I'm going to take out my charging block and try it next time. Thanks!

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I like not having to make dining reservations 6 months out then waiting three months to find out if they fit your plans when you made your FP+ reservations.

Now you find out if they fit at 7 am the day of after you’ve purchased a lightning lane only for the time to have automatically been moved to conflict with your dining time.

 

[Kingoglow]

I enjoy the memories of my 4 trips I took across 2020 and 2021 of how few people were there and how much enjoyment that brought me.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Now you find out if they fit at 7 am the day of after you’ve purchased a lightning lane only for the time to have automatically been moved to conflict with your dining time.

And I just show up after I am done eating. No issues and still more flexibility for me.

 

[Dotluvsdisney]

I like the calvacades as well. I also liked when the characters were roaming around but off limits, like Pooh catching butterflies at EPCOT.

I saw Pooh! It was so cute. I don’t care about “meeting” characters and loved that. Didn’t know it was a pandemic thing.

 

[Elephantay]

I like that dining reservations are now 60 days out instead of 180. I never understood making dining choices 6 months in advance. Also like mobile ordering at most QS locations - so convenient!

Wow I didnt know that! We havent been since before the pandemic. I guess we've got time....