Crescent Lake Club member Courtney recently took a family trip to Walt Disney World! They enjoyed a stay in a one-bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs Resort and mixed in park days with pool time. While Courtney frequents Walt Disney World, this trip was different … it was her first time visiting as a family of four! So — what’s Disney like with an infant and a five-year-old? Especially during a pandemic? You’re in luck! Here are Courtney’s Five Tips for Traveling with Kids During During COVID:
1. Adjust your expectations
Like nearly everything else in our lives right now, Disney during the COVID-19 pandemic is different from “normal” Disney. Between masks, social distancing (or Social Disneying as I saw many shirts say … not sure how I feel about that), and the requirement to mobile order nearly everything, a trip to Disney during COVID is going to feel different. Luckily, as we have seen over and over again during this past year, kids are adaptable. They will probably adapt to the changes much easier than the adults in your party. On our most recent trip, when any of the moms or dads started to get frustrated, I would look over at the kids and they were blowing their bubble wand, grabbing a handful of popcorn, or dancing gleefully in their stroller.
2. Book a Character Meal
Shout out to Garden Grill at EPCOT! This was one of my favorite character meals pre-COVID and still is. There are no character meet and greets on property and even at a character meal, your favorite Disney friends stay at least six feet away. However, this is the closest you can get to a character with the current restrictions in place. You can still take pictures and selfies and the kids still loved it! Remember a few years ago when Disney introduced the pre-signed cards at character meals and everyone lost their minds?! Well, now that is the only way to get any character autographs and my kids loved them.
3. Plan ahead (especially for mobile orders!)
I think this goes without saying when traveling with kids but it bears repeating. You need to be thinking a few steps ahead, especially when it comes to mobile ordering food. You do have to mobile order (through the My Disney Experience app) at most quick service locations and sometimes an immediate pick-up window is not available. We learned this the hard way on our first day in Animal Kingdom when we had to wait an extra 30 minutes for an available pick-up window at Satuli Canteen. That means you can’t wait until little Ryan is SCREAMING for his chicken nuggets to order. Go ahead and place your order when you are in line (you know you are on your phone anyway!) and avoid a meltdown. Your kid — and the other guests around you — will appreciate it.
Side Note: when you mobile order, you first select an arrival window of about 30 minutes. You then notify the dining location when you are there and they prepare your food fresh — its not just sitting out under a heating lamp waiting for you to show up and grab it.
4. Take advantage of the shorter park hours
For “Rope Drop to Fireworks” people like me, the thought of Magic Kingdom closing at 8 p.m. or Epcot not opening until 11 a.m. can be worrisome. How can I possibly get everything done?! That is simply not enough time to soak up the magic!! Guess what — it TOTALLY is enough time. The wait times are shorter, many of the shows that would normally eat up 45-plus minutes aren’t running (here’s looking at you Finding Nemo: The Musical) and you don’t need to stake out a spot for the parade … because they have been replaced with random cavalcades. Shorter park hours means that there is more time to enjoy your resort, Disney Springs and maybe even keep your kids on somewhat of a normal-ish schedule (gasp!!!).
5. Be flexible and remember that you are in the Most Magical Place on Earth!
Without Fast Passes and tons of advance dining reservations, there is less pre-planned structure to a day at Walt Disney World right now. This both allows for and requires a certain amount of flexibility. For my fellow Type-Aers out there, this can be pretty difficult. If you feel yourself getting frustrated then grab a Mickey bar, remember that you are in the Most Magical Place on Earth, and hop in that next socially-distanced attraction queue!
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