Covid Disney was the BEST Vacation Ever

Our family LOVES Disney. All things Disney. The movies. The TV shows (the oldddd classics like Buzz Lightyear, Aladdin, Gummi Bears, Out of the Box, etc.. ). SO, we had a trip planned to go in November of 2021 but after a year of COVID, which cancelled all of our personal and work events and trips, we decided we earned an earlier Disney trip. At the time, Disneyland was closed but Disney World was open and because we LOVE Epcot so much, we decided we would just do it! I research everything, so when I say that my brain is 80% Disney World knowledge, I mean it. The leftover 20% is only because I've only been a handful of times and lack the experience of all the resorts.

At the time when I'm writing this, the COVID protocols in Disney are minimal so a lot of our experience may not be relevant anymore. I could do so many different Disney topics, but for this blog, I'm sticking to the meat of our trip and why I consider it to be the BEST DISNEY VACATION I've ever been on.

Here are my top reasons why it was the BEST DISNEY VACATION:

The time of the year-

We planned the trip a little last minute (we had been saving up for an anniversary trip that COVID cancelled so our budget was a little heftier than normal.. more on that later) and ended up going in February of 2021. We arrived there a day before my birthday ;] Convenient when Mommy plans a vacation....ha! We chose the specific week based on our schedule, based on the Disney crowd calendar (link here... this is a MUST) and based on our travel expenses budget. February is an "off" time to visit Disney World and because of COVID, the only big event (the marathon) was cancelled so the crowds were extremely low. The weather was also amazing! Sunny skies the entire time and the weather reached a high of 80 degrees only once on the trip. We obviously had to wear our masks the entire time and because the humidity and temperatures were lower than normal, the masks didn't bother us at all!

It was during COVID-

Understandably, this is a touchy subject. We obviously travelled during COVID but felt very safe at Disney the entire time. We had to wear masks at the hotel, walking around outside, inside the restaurants, on all the rides, and on all transportation BUT it wasn't bad. We had prepared our kids by practicing in public places and in the cars. We also live in New Mexico where masks were mandatory so we wore them A LOT. Also, like I said above, the weather was so nice that the masks never got too hot or sticky from humidity. COVID also meant that the crowds were lower which was AMAZING. We had 15 minutes one morning in the park without seeing a single person and walking without bumping into others in our stroller was fantastic. If you've ever been to Disney during a crowded time, you know exactly why the lower crowds sounds heavenly. Obviously, Disney during COVID had some downfalls, ie, no parades, no character pictures, masks, and social distancing made the lines very long BUT we were able to go to Disney, take our time, and feel relaxed without stressing about seeing all the characters and parades and fireworks and rides, etc... Also, more about COVID, we all had a crappy year and the trip was made even more magical because it was the first time we were able to get out after COVID and let ourselves have some fun.

We stayed at a Disney Owned Hotel-

Other than the military hotel Shades of Green, which is a Disney hotel but technically not... I had never stayed at one of Disney's hotels before this trip. For this trip, we stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort. At the time, it was the only "value resort" that was open because of COVID. We arrived at the airport, hopped on the Magical Express (which is not longer running as of 2022!), had our luggage brought to the room while we ate a late dinner and that was all included with our hotel. Pop Century also has direct transportation to each individual park which saves you a lot of time in the mornings. Some hotels have bus routes that take you to other hotels before arriving at the park so if you're like us and want to be the first in the park, this was amazing. Pop Century also has the Skyliner connected to the hotel which takes you directly to Epcot and to Hollywood Studios. The Skyliner is a ride in itself and became my 4 year old's favorite thing we did the entire time. Pop Century has 3 themed pools, very cool scenery and decorations, a fantastic Disney souvenir store and a super yummy restaurant with the beloved Mickey shaped waffles (birthday breakfast!). My husband and I agree that we would always save up and stay at this hotel or Art of Animation (which is right behind Pop Century) because of the great value, convenience and experience!

Our Budget-

Now, budget is a topic the hubs and I always have to talk about before we even start thinking of planning a trip. We are very good at making budgets and very good at sticking to them. We have our own travel budget that we've been blessed with lately to start and with everything, we do what we can to save up. Our Disney budget was higher than previous vacations because we had an anniversary trip planned that we were saving for but COVID cancelled, we had extra points on a credit card we got with our company, and we used one of our stimulus checks. I also highly recommend a travel agent or someone with extensive Disney World knowledge if it's your first time doing anything at Disney. We used one for the first time because of the COVID protocols that were too confusing and too stressful to figure out. She was a magician and made the trip planning even easier! Disney, at the time, was having a buy 3 days get 2 days free package and we were able to go for 5 days for the price of 3. We also cut costs with food by eating in our hotel room (oatmeal and cereal) and my kids ate lunchables for lunch (which they absolutely think is a treat and I won't argue with the price tag). This freed up our budget so that we could splurge on some treats each day (which is another blog to come because we know ALLL THE GOOD PLACES TO EAT).

Our Theme Park Strategy-

This could be an entire blog on its own with what we learned from this trip. I am an over-planner and our Disney park strategy helped us really enjoy this trip. Because of COVID, we had to know what days we were going to what parks and we strategically planned that as well. Example of a lesson we learned the first day on strategy: On the first day we went to Magic Kingdom and we got there before the park was scheduled to open. They opened the gates a littler earlier and we followed the mad dash of the crowd to the newest ride. Without even making it to the actual line, the wait time was already 90 minutes! I knew that if we stayed, all the other lines would lengthen and then we wouldn't be able to go on all the rides we wanted to that day. We vetoed the new ride and went on the closest ride to where we were (Winnie the Pooh). I was already irritated that we wasted the time walking to the back of the park while the ride lines got longer. Thankfully, we planned our last day to be at Magic Kingdom again and so instead of following the crowds, we turned the opposite direction and went 15 minutes without seeing another person on this side of the park! We were able to ride on the top 4 rides of the park all within 30 minutes of the park opening. We took this lesson into the rest of our days at the other parks and it worked wonderfully! Knowing your strategy for the day is a priority! There is nothing worse than having one kid throwing a fit because he wants pizza from Tomorrowland but you want a burger from Frontierland, but your Fastpass expires in 30 minutes in Fantasyland all while the other child is complaining because he's hot and can't. walk. another. step. Or when you're trying to squeeze two parks in one day but you didn't strategize the fastest way to get from one park to the other and the transportation alone takes 5 miles of walking and 1 hour of bus and hotel hopping in the Florida heat. We knew when we were waking up, when we needed to be at the transportation line, what rides we were doing first, what land we wanted to start in, where we were having lunch and when and where we were going to take our breaks. Yes, I know that sounds crazy and daunting. BUT believe me, you want to put the effort and the time in before you get there so that once you do arrive, you can really enjoy every moment! Plus if you need help, let me know!

Disney was magical with my family and I am so blessed to have been able to go this year!

Stay tuned to my blog for more Disney inspired posts!