We just came back from our Walt Disney World (WDW) trip with a 5 year-old and a 7 month-old. This was the 2nd time my 5 visited WDW and of course the first time for my baby. Here is what you need to know from wait times, what to eat to where to stay if you’re considering visit WDW during the pandemic.

WDW has had changed a lot in response to the pandemic such as no fireworks, no character meet and greets, no parades and the most important is no FAST PASS. Small parades happened throughout the day without scheduling to avoid gathering. We were lucky to see 2 parades in one day.

  1. Safety

WDW did a very good job to provide safety policies and procedures

  • Guests are required to have a Disney Park Pass reservation for specific theme park for each day they want to visit. This way, WDW can control the capacity of each park. Make sure you pick the park you intend to visit and reserve it via My Disney Experience App or website
  • Masks are required for everyone age 2 and up at all time unless you stay at one place to eat or rest. As long as you move, you have to wear mask. I bought Disney mask with the picture of Mickeys smile face for my kid but she refused to wear it. It made her uncomfortable. Luckily that I brought her favorite Target mask which she has wore all day in school. You need to prepare the good mask since the kids need to wear them all day long.
  • Temperature checked before you enter the park and Disney Spring.
Mask at all time
  1. Wait times and lines
  • WDW has suspended Fast Pass, all guests must wait in the standby queue for every ride WITHOUT stroller. My 5 had to stand by herself and my husband had to carry my 7 month the whole waiting time. Only Slinky Dog Dash ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studio allowed us to push the stroller in the line before we reached the stroller parking. You can check the wait time via App. When it showed 60 even 90 minutes for the popular rides, we found the real times to be about 10-15 minutes shorter, even during the weekend. Other rides only have 20-30 minutes wait.
  • Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studio is the only ride that you could reserve as a virtual queue.
  • My baby could get in all rides with “all height” requirements and she enjoyed every of them.
  • Make sure that you prepare enough water, sunscreen and hats for both adults and kids. I also prepared snacks for my girls during the waiting line and it helped a lot.
Not too Crowded in the early morning.
In line for Slinky Dog Dash Ride
Almost there after 45 mins waiting
  1. Where to stay
  • We always love staying on property at WDW for the convenience and the benefits that WDW provides. Now, during the pandemic, I feel like with the safety procedures happening in the resort and the resort transportation, it is safer than elsewhere in Florida.
  • There was no more magical hour for resort guests which disappointed me.
  • The transportation didn’t allow full capacity, so the wait time was longer than expected but it was not too bad. If you stay in the resort with skyline, it can save you time since cables running non-stop.
  • There is 30% from now until July. Go check and book it as soon as you can 😊
Resort Room
Resort
Get something from the Gift Shop
  1. Food
  • Dining reservation is a MUST since the restaurants have operated at reduced capacity. In addition, the restaurant hours have been altered as well. Make sure to check the app for current hours
  • Mobile order option is the life SAVER via My Disney Experience app. Don’t wait until you are in front of the restaurant to change the status to “I’m here”, it would take them 20-30 minutes to prepare the food. After the 1st long waiting with empty stomach, we learned that.
Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo at Star War area in Hollywood Studio
My favorite Star War Restaurant
Food is good

This post is only about the Covid-19 changes. I will have the review about each park soon. I hope you have a wonderful trip to WDW.