Happy 20th Anniversary to my sweetheart! What a crazy trip it has been, wouldn't trade a minute of it.
Disney has changed with the times to accommodate travelers during these Covid times. My manager at work is a season pass holder, so I had some good intel about what to expect (and actually pull the trigger and go in the first place).
We had noticed a lot on our arrival. Rule #1 is mask up. No mask, they throw you off the property. Only time in public you are allowed to remove is when stationary and eating. So no walking around munching on that smoked Turkey Leg. You are allowed to be maskless on your campsite.
The second part is you have to buy your tickets in advance and reserve your spot in a park. As we bought a 4 day resident pass we had to tell them in advance which park on which day. Also this 4 day pass was more restrictive as you had to use it within 7 days. Previous times we had a few months, but I get it with the pandemic and anyway we planned on 4 days in a row anyway.
We strategized as we would be hitting the parks Wed-Sat, then leaving Sunday AM. We figured our best bet was Hollywood Studios on Wed as it's the middle of the week, so less locals. As it's the new hot thing with the Star Wars Galaxy Edge land, it seemed like the right call.
First thing I learned from those that came before me was you have to reserve in advance your spot on the Rise of the Resistance experience. So day of, you have to be on your Disney app at 7AM and hit the button. We were both on our phones and neither of us got in! This was a little disappointing, but nothing we could do. It sold out in about 20 seconds. There is a second chance at 1PM but you have to be in the park to get it (GPS and Disney app). We got in at 1PM no problem. Phew.
Lucy found out that people dress up, so of course Cosplay had to happen. She made an outfit for me too, but my 10 year old black shoes blew out when I put them on, so it was sneakers and jeans for me.
Naya stole part of my outfit (the gear bag on her leg) and off we went. It was pretty cold in the low 50s, but warmer than Lake Griffin. Here we are waiting for the bus from Ft. Wilderness to Hollywood Studios.
Tommy decided that he wanted to be baby Yoda, so he came along for the day. Here is my desert junk collector roaming the galaxy. Before going to Star Wars land, we went to the Tower of Terror as the line was a lot shorter for that ride. We hoped the Aerosmith roller coaster would open, but it was down for the whole day. There was the new Mickey and Minnie ride, but it was over an hour wait, so we figured we'd come back later (it broke later and we never got to go on it).
After making our way across the park from the Twilight Zone, we went on Star Tours and was happy that they updated the ride. We then made our way to Batu spaceport and went on the Millennium Falcon ride.
Tommy Yoda posing by the back of the Falcon in line. This was the first ride that broke the age old Disney tradition as we went out a gate behind a building and back to the reality of Florida with stairs and trucks parked etc. This was done for social distancing reasons and understandable.
Needed a wider angle lens, but that's the Falcon back there.... The ride was pretty cool as you get to sit in the cockpit of the Falcon and each person has a job to do. It actually matters as we rode it twice and the results were different when the girls said they could fly it better than I did (they didn't lol).
When 1PM came it seemed everyone around us was poised to smash the reserve button on their phone.. Lucy beat me by a microsecond as it told me I was already in the boarding party. Days later Lucy found out the day we were there, the afternoon reservations stayed open for almost 2 hours.
View of the Falcon from where we ate lunch. You can see people doing a good job of distancing, although there were some who where not paying attention.
We had lunch and looked in some of the shops and did the 2nd trip on the Falcon. We then headed over to Toy Story land and rode the sorta tea cups (you can't spin them yourself :( ), and the 3D shooting gallery (pretty fun ride). The Slinky Dog coaster was too long of a wait. We headed back but were ahead of our boarding call, so we went on the Muppet Vision ride as it was close by just out of the Star Wars area.
We got in line it snaked around and just when we thought we would go inside (well we actually did but 20ft later it was out a side door and around the building on the outside.
Interesting how framing a photo makes a big difference. One looks like she's waiting in line for a ride, the other looks like she might actually be somewhere else. Naya had completed her look by taking my leather jacket and buying a drink jug with a fake frog in it. She looked pretty good, especially next to my nomadic junk collector. This line snaked through another set of doors and we were actually outside the muppet theater before coming back around and going into the building.
We were about 80% of the way through the line when the ride stopped for 30 minutes. We waited in this underground rebel armory and it was cold with the wind blowing through it. I had to put my jacket back on (and Naya got her sweatshirt back out). Finally it started moving again and off we went.
I won't put any spoiler about the ride, but I found this
video on youtube and it's pretty good if you want to see the whole ride. A couple of things about the ride that added to the experience for me. The half hour wait made the ride better as there is a part where you go outside in a space hanger to launch. It was dusk and the sky was orange and purple and it was about 60 degrees out. Not typical FL weather, so it 'felt' like you were on another planet. Similarly when it was over I looked up through a gap in the roof and moon was positioned perfectly as a waxing quarter and the sky wasn't black yet, so again added to the experience.
Walking to the transport. I'm sad the sky is washed out, but we were in a hurry, the First Order was after us!
Docking bay on a Star Destroyer when we got captured
Star Destroyer Hallway. The dots are for your party to stand on to maintain distance from the other prisoners (The guard told me that us rebel scum were infectious and needed to be separated lol)
Safely away from the evil clutches of Kylo Ren. You can see the evening sky above the roof. The moon was directly overhead.
We had about half an hour of park time left and the Mickey Ride was broken, so we stopped at Star Tours again as they have 16 different variations on the ride. We rode it twice more and got something different each time, so we saw 3 of the 16 rides. I liked the Naboo one.
The park was closed and we headed out. Instead of taking the bus back to the Fort, we rode the Starliner over to EPCOT and then walked 10 min to the Yacht Club hotel. There was a waypoint on the Starliner where you have to switch to a new run, and I asked a girl working where a good dinner spot was. She suggest the Ale and Compass at the Yacht Club, so off we went.
We got a table in the bar and were able to get the full menu. I had the Seafood Pot Pie and it was delicious. We were hoping to walk back to EPCOT and get a bus direct to the campsite, but the concierge said that unless we had been in EPCOT we couldn't get to the busses as you had to walk through the park. Instead, we would have to ride to Disney Springs and transfer.
We went out front and there was a bus out of service (refilling its Pixie Dust it said). The driver came out and asked where we were going. I told him and he said the Disney Springs bus would be there in a minute. Sure enough it was. As it was pulling up, he called us over and said he would take us directly to the Fort! Amazing customer service! Super nice guy and I thanked him profusely as he probably saved us close to an hour.
We got back and pedaled back to the coach (no neighbors yet!) and called it a night....
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