Trip Report Livin' La Vida Local

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

For those of you that have been following my adventures for awhile now, welcome back! For those of you that are just joining my adventures, I'll do some quick introductions before we jump on in!

I'm Brittany and this is my prince, Dylan. We are from Pennsylvania and got engaged at MK a little over a year ago. We took a page from Walt's book shortly thereafter and chased our dreams, leading us to central Florida. I teach 1st grade and Dylan works at the Magnolia/Palm (Disney) golf courses located across from the Poly and Grand Floridian. After living in FL for a full year now, we are 100% certain that we won't be moving back to PA. We are Floridians through and through and can't imagine living our crazy life together anywhere else.

You'll see lots of faces in my report (including some of yours!), but this is the one you'll see most often. This is my very best Disney friend, Brooke (@wishes2013)! We met through this site and were brought together when we realized that we would both be teaching 1st grade at the same school. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you can either find us at school or Disney... we're together more often than we're not.

You can find the ongoing trip report that chronicles our first year living in FL and being passholders here. This report will serve as more of a "highlight reel," rather than detailing every moment of every trip we take to the parks. But fear not, there will still be lots of report to read! If you're looking for your Disney fix or a way to chase those Disney blues away, you can most certainly find it here.

To all who come to this happy place, welcome!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Great update!! I've thought about you and some of the other locals and wondered how you've been doing. Congratulations on the new home and pup. Sorry about Wendy, it's so hard when you lose them no matter if you've had them for days or years.

I don't tend to get on instagram much anymore but I'll definitely make it a point with the reopening so that I can dream of being at Disney! Have lots of fun!!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Oh and I have to say.... Wally is freaking adorable!!

 

[LisaBelle]

Your new pup is precious. So sorry about your loss of Wendy .
Happy first anniversary to you and Dylan.
I was hoping we’d get a chance to meet up again because my daughter was accepted into the Fall 2020 DCP. Of course it’s now been cancelled (along with my dream of being an AP)! Crossing my fingers that the program will be back in the future and that she will have the chance to fulfill that dream!
Has your district decided what school will look like in the fall? My district is doing a blended learning plan. Classes will be divided into 2 groups. Group A comes to school Monday & Tuesday. Group B comes Thursday & Friday. The groups alternate Wednesdays so student will have at least 2 days of in person instruction each week. The other days will be remote learning. We have to wear masks and have 6 ft. of social distancing. They are working with community partners to get WiFi for many families. They are making sure grades 2-12 have personal devices. I teach first so I am not sure how remote learning will work for them if they don’t have a device to use. Less than half of my kids had devices or WiFi this spring so I am concerned.
Can’t wait to read about your new Disney adventures! I will definitely be following along on Insta!

 

[blreinsel]

Great update!! I've thought about you and some of the other locals and wondered how you've been doing. Congratulations on the new home and pup. Sorry about Wendy, it's so hard when you lose them no matter if you've had them for days or years.

I don't tend to get on instagram much anymore but I'll definitely make it a point with the reopening so that I can dream of being at Disney! Have lots of fun!!

Oh and I have to say.... Wally is freaking adorable!!

Thank you for all of your sweet words! We think Wally is pretty great. He’s such a lover, so he made his way right into our hearts in the blink of an eye! Tomorrow is the day! I’ll post every detail for everybody!

Your new pup is precious. So sorry about your loss of Wendy .
Happy first anniversary to you and Dylan.
I was hoping we’d get a chance to meet up again because my daughter was accepted into the Fall 2020 DCP. Of course it’s now been cancelled (along with my dream of being an AP)! Crossing my fingers that the program will be back in the future and that she will have the chance to fulfill that dream!
Has your district decided what school will look like in the fall? My district is doing a blended learning plan. Classes will be divided into 2 groups. Group A comes to school Monday & Tuesday. Group B comes Thursday & Friday. The groups alternate Wednesdays so student will have at least 2 days of in person instruction each week. The other days will be remote learning. We have to wear masks and have 6 ft. of social distancing. They are working with community partners to get WiFi for many families. They are making sure grades 2-12 have personal devices. I teach first so I am not sure how remote learning will work for them if they don’t have a device to use. Less than half of my kids had devices or WiFi this spring so I am concerned.
Can’t wait to read about your new Disney adventures! I will definitely be following along on Insta!

Thank you! I totally forgot about your daughter doing DCP - that is SUCH a bummer! I hope that it all works out for her to do it in the future... what an amazing experience it would be for both of you!

Our district did release our plan... basically the options are face to face 5 days a week or completely online. So... Not great. There are A LOT of unanswered questions and we’re all feeling super uneasy. Your district’s plan is EXACTLY what I was hoping for, but no such luck. Everybody will wear masks and our kids have to maintain 4 feet apart. It’s all good in theory, but teachers know what the reality will be. It’s going to be tough, but I’m trying to stay positive because I miss being in the classroom so much. I’m even more nervous about Dylan because high schoolers can be.... not nice. It’s easier for me to talk a 6 year old into putting the mask back on then it is an unruly 17 year old. All we can do is hope for the best!

I actually just accepted a job at a new school this morning, so I’m super excited! I get to stay in 1st, and that was really important to me. At least something about school can stay consistent.

 

[LisaBelle]

Thank you for all of your sweet words! We think Wally is pretty great. He’s such a lover, so he made his way right into our hearts in the blink of an eye! Tomorrow is the day! I’ll post every detail for everybody!



Thank you! I totally forgot about your daughter doing DCP - that is SUCH a bummer! I hope that it all works out for her to do it in the future... what an amazing experience it would be for both of you!

Our district did release our plan... basically the options are face to face 5 days a week or completely online. So... Not great. There are A LOT of unanswered questions and we’re all feeling super uneasy. Your district’s plan is EXACTLY what I was hoping for, but no such luck. Everybody will wear masks and our kids have to maintain 4 feet apart. It’s all good in theory, but teachers know what the reality will be. It’s going to be tough, but I’m trying to stay positive because I miss being in the classroom so much. I’m even more nervous about Dylan because high schoolers can be.... not nice. It’s easier for me to talk a 6 year old into putting the mask back on then it is an unruly 17 year old. All we can do is hope for the best!

I actually just accepted a job at a new school this morning, so I’m super excited! I get to stay in 1st, and that was really important to me. At least something about school can stay consistent.

Congrats on the new position! Will you and Brooke still be together? Glad you’ll still be in first !
I’m glad we’ll get to be with our kiddos at least 2 days per week. I am very concerned about masks and social distancing. I also think it will confusing for the kids and parents to keep track of which Wednesday’s they will attend. I agree that Dylan will have a tough time dealing masks and social distancing with teenagers! There are no good answers with this! Best of luck to you both!

 

[Songbird76]

Thank you for all of your sweet words! We think Wally is pretty great. He’s such a lover, so he made his way right into our hearts in the blink of an eye! Tomorrow is the day! I’ll post every detail for everybody!



Thank you! I totally forgot about your daughter doing DCP - that is SUCH a bummer! I hope that it all works out for her to do it in the future... what an amazing experience it would be for both of you!

Our district did release our plan... basically the options are face to face 5 days a week or completely online. So... Not great. There are A LOT of unanswered questions and we’re all feeling super uneasy. Your district’s plan is EXACTLY what I was hoping for, but no such luck. Everybody will wear masks and our kids have to maintain 4 feet apart. It’s all good in theory, but teachers know what the reality will be. It’s going to be tough, but I’m trying to stay positive because I miss being in the classroom so much. I’m even more nervous about Dylan because high schoolers can be.... not nice. It’s easier for me to talk a 6 year old into putting the mask back on then it is an unruly 17 year old. All we can do is hope for the best!

I actually just accepted a job at a new school this morning, so I’m super excited! I get to stay in 1st, and that was really important to me. At least something about school can stay consistent.

Congratulations on the new job! I didn't know you had applied for a new one! Will the district plans change now with recent events? I read that schools might be defunded if they don't open fully. Will the plans have to be scrapped? Over here, the elementary schools opened in May half time, and the teachers said it was impossible to distance. They have the space, but trying to wrangle 12-15 kindergarteners is no easy feat, and they just have no concept of how far 6 feet is. In June, with the high schools, they did it differently. My daughter's class divided into three groups. Every class in the school was given a classroom where they stayed the whole day and the teachers went from classroom to classroom. But that model wouldn't work in the US because you don't all have the same classes, or the same kids in every class the way they do here.
Do parents have to commit to a whole year of either face-to-face or online?

 

[blreinsel]

Congrats on the new position! Will you and Brooke still be together? Glad you’ll still be in first !
I’m glad we’ll get to be with our kiddos at least 2 days per week. I am very concerned about masks and social distancing. I also think it will confusing for the kids and parents to keep track of which Wednesday’s they will attend. I agree that Dylan will have a tough time dealing masks and social distancing with teenagers! There are no good answers with this! Best of luck to you both!

Thank you! Unfortunately not.. Brooke is staying at our current school. I’ll be trying to coax her over to my new school for next year though.

I’m concerned about it all as well. It’s just not a good situation any way you spin it. All we can do is hope for the best and keep praying that we get this awful virus under control!

Congratulations on the new job! I didn't know you had applied for a new one! Will the district plans change now with recent events? I read that schools might be defunded if they don't open fully. Will the plans have to be scrapped? Over here, the elementary schools opened in May half time, and the teachers said it was impossible to distance. They have the space, but trying to wrangle 12-15 kindergarteners is no easy feat, and they just have no concept of how far 6 feet is. In June, with the high schools, they did it differently. My daughter's class divided into three groups. Every class in the school was given a classroom where they stayed the whole day and the teachers went from classroom to classroom. But that model wouldn't work in the US because you don't all have the same classes, or the same kids in every class the way they do here.
Do parents have to commit to a whole year of either face-to-face or online?

Thank you! Unfortunately as of now, nothing with reopening plans will change. It has been brought up that the cases are continuously rising but the plans were made prior to the rise, but nobody seems to care about that. It’s definitely just a big mess and I truly don’t believe that anybody has any idea what they’re doing. We’re all just flying by the seat of our pants and seeing what happens. It just stinks that teachers and kids are put at risk in the process.

In my district, parents are permitted to switch back and forth between face to face and online. They haven’t given information on how many times throughout the year parents are able to switch. We’re concerned about them changing their minds every other week, which is hard on us as well as the kid. All they’ve said thus far is that parents will have to give a week’s notice before a switch takes effect.

 

[blreinsel]

Guys.

Today. Was. AMAZING.

I have a ton of pictures and lots of info to share, but I am exhausted. We’ll be out of town for the weekend, but I promise to post everything as soon as I can! We rope dropped and stayed till close, so a solid 10 hours in the Florida summer heat. It was 100% worth it though and my heart is so happy.

For now, I’ll leave you with this.

 

[Songbird76]

Guys.

Today. Was. AMAZING.

I have a ton of pictures and lots of info to share, but I am exhausted. We’ll be out of town for the weekend, but I promise to post everything as soon as I can! We rope dropped and stayed till close, so a solid 10 hours in the Florida summer heat. It was 100% worth it though and my heart is so happy.

For now, I’ll leave you with this.
View attachment 482535

Is that the newly painted castle? That doesn't look NEARLY as bad as the previous pictures, where the pink was much more...pink. I can totally roll with this. I prefer the original, but this isn't as jarring as it looked like it was fixing to be. I'm glad you had a great time!

 

[blreinsel]

Is that the newly painted castle? That doesn't look NEARLY as bad as the previous pictures, where the pink was much more...pink. I can totally roll with this. I prefer the original, but this isn't as jarring as it looked like it was fixing to be. I'm glad you had a great time!

Yep! To be fair, I used a filter on this picture.. the colors are brighter than they appear here. But it does look better in person than in pictures. It still looks nothing like the artist drawing that was shared initially, but it’s not as in your face. I’m still not a fan of it, but I’m glad it doesn’t look as much like bubblegum as I originally thought lol.

 

[Songbird76]

Yep! To be fair, I used a filter on this picture.. the colors are brighter than they appear here. But it does look better in person than in pictures. It still looks nothing like the artist drawing that was shared initially, but it’s not as in your face. I’m still not a fan of it, but I’m glad it doesn’t look as much like bubblegum as I originally thought lol.

Well, it will be a while before I have the chance to see it for myself, so maybe by that time, I'll have seen enough pictures in TRs that I will be used to it and it won't be such a huge adjustment when I see it in person. The pictures I saw before just made it look like a cartoon plastic castle....Barbie's dream castle or something. I like how elegant the original was...fantastic, but also classic.

 

[Zipadeelady]

While at work yesterday (I have multiple computer screens so I also worked while watching ) i watched Resortv1 and Cory's World both live on youtube at MK, I thought I might even see you in the background but didn't. Can't wait to hear about your day!

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 9

I am not a morning person... I always hit snooze at least twice. However when my alarm went off today, I was immediately wide awake. It was finally the day I had been waiting for! I got up and around, ready to leave the house around 7:30am. My friend Caitlin picked me up, and soon we were en route to the Magic Kingdom!

Off to a great start.


We arrived at the toll plaza around 8:10am, and traffic was stopped. We had heard that they were letting cars through in waves, strategically putting 5-10 minutes in between waves of traffic.

There was surprisingly not as much traffic as I had anticipated, but I'm sure part of that was the fact that we were there almost an hour before park opening. We were sent through at 8:33am after having our AP card and ID checked. It took another 5 minutes before we were parked in a spot.

The CM's were parking cars in every other spot, and then going back and filling in those empty spots after each party had gathered their things and started walking toward the TTC. We thought that was a nice touch, since people tend to crowd around the cars while waiting on their party to be ready to walk.

The trams are not running at this time, so we walked from the Zurg parking lot to the TTC. Fortunately we didn't have too far to walk since we were in the first lot. Before security, everybody was required to go through the temperature check. It was a super quick and efficient process, much like it is at Disney Springs. There was plenty of signage and there were CM's present to direct each party through the screening. You can also see the ground markings here to ensure social distancing while waiting if a line happens to form.

The lines for bag check and security were pretty much non existent, but again, there are ground markings for the occasions when lines do form. There is still a no bag line all the way at the end as well.

The security guard directed us to remove water bottles and umbrellas from our bags, and then we walked through the scanner carrying our bags. They were stopping people to go through their bag if the scanner went off, but otherwise, you were allowed to just keep walking. Fortunately our bags didn't set the scanner off... I know that this has been a concern for some people, because they feel uncomfortable with the security guards touching their things. Again, this was a super quick and efficient process with plenty of security guards available to assist and direct crowds.

Once through security, there were CM's giving guests their options for getting the rest of the way over to the Magic Kingdom - ferry, monorail, or bus. We opted for the bus, but you can see the ground markings for boarding the monorail here. There are also arrows pointing from each numbered dot to the next to ensure that the line moves in the correct direction. The monorail line was relatively long, so we didn't want to wait when we could walk directly onto a bus.

There was a whole line of busses ready and waiting for guests to board. There were only 3 total parties on the bus that we got on. The CM's asked how many were in each party as we approached, and then directed us to stand on one of the numbers on the ground. The numbers on the ground correspond to numbered seats on the bus, and each group of seats is separated by a divider.

You can also see that guests are seated in every other section, further ensuring proper social distancing during the trip.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 9

We were dropped off near the security tent that you go through when walking from the Contemporary, so we did have to walk the path the rest of the way over to the entrance. Before long, we were here! Absolutely no line whatsoever and plenty of touch points open. When we walked up, the CM scanned our bands with his iPad and then we were on our way inside (I was only squealing a little bit at this point). More markings on the ground to ensure social distancing.

We walked through the tunnel at 8:55am (a little before official park opening) and my heart practically exploded! I managed to keep myself under control, but I definitely felt the tears welling up. Instead, I just did a lot of squealing and "I'M SO EXCITED."

Also a lot of this face. This was my first look at the Kingdom in 4 months!

HELLO OLD FRIEND.

There were CM's all over the place, waving and saying "welcome home!" It truly did feel like coming home... explaining the feelings I had while walking down Main Street really can't be put into words. This picture makes it seem way more crowded than what it actually was. We took some time to walk around and take pictures before continuing into the park.

..... what have you done to my castle? More on this later.

HOME SWEET HOME!

A lady offered to take a picture of us together since there weren't any PhotoPass photographers out at this point. I felt a little weird about it at first, but she sprayed my phone off with sanitizing spray when she gave it back to me, so all is well! This isn't something I'll typically do because it just presents a lot of risks, but I was prepared to sanitize either way.

Alright, let's discuss the elephant in the room. I am NOT a fan of the new paint job... I absolutely hated it when pictures first appeared online, but I tried to reserve full judgement until I got to see it for myself. It looks better in person than in pictures, but it's still really, really bad in my opinion. It looks nothing like the artist rendering that was put out when they first announced the updates. The best way that I can describe it is "unfinished." I realize they're still working on the bottom parts (hence the crane), but there's no transition between the pink and grey whatsoever. The gold is nice, but the pink is just awful and the blue is too bright. Will it fade? Yes, and that'll help. But there's no amount of fading that can fix the lack of transition between colors. I'm usually pretty good and supportive about changes at Disney, but this is one that I just can't get onboard with.

And that's all I'm saying about it. Moving on.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 9

A few more castle pictures!

The lack of crowds did not stop amazing me all day long.

We walked over to the relaxation station at Tomorrowland Terrace, because we had been asked to Skype with a local news station for an interview. We figured it would be easier to do the interview in a quiet area where we could take our masks off. But when we got over there, all of the entrances were blocked off. We stood there and waited for probably 10-15 minutes, but nobody opened the area up.

We decided to head over to the other relaxation station beside Golden Oak Outpost, and it was fortunately open! We were the only ones there, so we got setup in the back corner in case anybody else ended up coming along. I thought that I took some pictures of the area, but I guess not. The tables are all spaced out and there are markings on every other table and bench to prevent parties from sitting right next to each other. There was also a hand sanitizer station at the entrance of the area. We sat and did the interview for about 15 minutes, and then we were off to our first ride of the day!

When we got there, the wait had increased to 40 minutes. We decided to hold off and come back later, but wanted to peek in the gift shop to see what Splash Mountain merchandise was left. The shop was strangely closed, so we moved along, also planning to check there again later.

We headed across the park to Haunted Mansion instead! The queue was closed off, but the line wasn't long enough to warrant more than the FP queue anyway. We were sent directly through the stretching room and boarded a doom buggy immediately. There were hand sanitizer stations at the beginning and end of every ride throughout the day, but nobody enforces guests using it. We utilized them before and after every ride, but not everybody was. There was also no sanitizing of the ride vehicles happening between guests, but I've since read that the vehicles across the park are sanitized every 2 hours. They were seating guests in every other car, so that was better than nothing.

When we exited HM, Caitlin had to call the news station for the second part of the interview, and I was interviewed by the Orlando Sentinel while she was doing that. It was busy news day! Lol. We met up with another friend and her mom after the interviews and headed over to Tomorrowland. We did a lot of criss crossing throughout the day, which was honestly just a mix of excitement over low wait times and poor planning, but we didn't care.

We walked onto Space Mountain next, and they were again seating guests in every other vehicle. There are plexiglass barriers once you get into the loading room, but there were not barriers in the main part of the queue were the screens are. They completely removed the interactive games in the queue and replaced them with screens that just play videos. There are markings on the ground in the queue from start to finish.

When we exited the ride, there was a pin board in the gift shop and I was so excited to finally be able to pin trade again! I had to tell the CM which pin I wanted and he removed it from the board. Then, I had to drop my pin into a bucket so it could be sanitized before going on the board to be traded.

 

[blreinsel]

Orlando Sentinel interview: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/tra...0200709-2wdtqugy7zgf3c546dzjk3ejli-story.html

Channel 13 interview: https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando...3wFp6Jtn-dm4RTJPLvbrsJP2UKmszlp5ifA_TmzR-Gx2U

Thursday, July 9

A few other things I forgot to mention.. we stopped to watch the fab 5 greeting guests on top of the train station when we first walked into the park, and it was much harder to not be able to hug Mickey than I had anticipated lol. It was a cute interaction though! We also waved to Piglet, Eeyore, and Rabbit as they rode by on one of the trolley cars! We ran into one of the calvacades on our way to HM as well, and I've never been so excited to "get my ears on!"

Okay, continuing on! Next, we walked onto Buzz... this is one ride that I wish they would sanitize after every guest. It makes me a little uneasy to be using the guns after somebody else just before me. Again, we used sanitizer before and after the ride, but still. Usually when I ride Buzz I joke and say that my gun is broken because I'm so terrible at it. But this time, I'm convinced that my gun actually was broken lol. I'm bad at the game, but I'm not THAT bad. The only points I got were the pity points from holding down the button. I'm sure if I'd asked, they would have let us ride again without going through the queue, but I didn't really care that much.

We waved at Tinkerbell as she floated by, as well as the country bears!

We decided to mobile order lunch from Pecos Bill's... We ordered on the app and then you had to wait outside the restaurant until your order was ready. Then, there was a CM standing at the doors calling out names and directing people to the correct register inside. It was a smooth process, although guests were not social distancing while waiting outside the restaurant to be called in. Instead of waiting there, we hurried over to check on the Splash Mountain gift shop again. We realized that the shop you exit through after riding Splash had been open the whole time, but we had checked the one outside of the ride entrance earlier in the day. To enter the shop, we had to join a virtual queue, which was actually really nice as the wait was 5 hours. They took our phone number to join the queue and said we would receive a text when it was our turn. Our food was ready by then, so we headed back over to Pecos Bill's. We bumped into another character calvacade along the way!

I had a chicken and rice bowl... it was very good and filling! The tables inside the restaurant were spaced out and every other table was blocked off to prevent guests from sitting too close together. The toppings bar is closed and they were just handing out individually packaged toppings with your meal. So I was given a little tray with lettuce and tomatoes, a cup of sour cream, and a cup of salsa. It was great to be able to take a break from wearing my mask in the AC and to rest my feet!

After lunch, we headed over to Pirates, which was another walk on. Oh how I missed those smells! You can tell from our picture that they were keeping parties separated. There were so few people in line that we probably could have had our own boat just as easily.

Next up was Jungle Cruise! Honestly this is probably the longest wait that we had all day, and that was only because they were sanitizing when we got in line. There were plexiglass barriers between each party, as well as between guests and the skipper. I can't remember for sure, but I don't recall there being barriers in the queue... just markings on the ground.

Continuing on to our next destination, we ran into the princesses! I'm curious about whether or not Merida and Gaston will continue to ride horses through the park after the balloon incident.

I had concerns about crowds still starting to form for these little mini parades, but guests were pretty good about gathering away from other parties each time we stopped to watch. Hopefully this continues.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 9

One more princess picture!

We headed to Peter Pan, which was maybe a 10 minute wait. We were sent through the standby queue, so it was fun to get to see that without having to wait over an hour.

We disembarked and walked right across the path to it's a small world!

As you can see here, there are several rows between us and the party in front of us, as well as an empty boat in between. The boats were damp, so you could tell that they had just been sanitized.

We were walking along, trying to decide what we wanted to do next when it started to rain. Fortunately, we were able to run into Philharmagic right before the skies opened up! In the waiting area, CMs were directing guests to stand on an assigned dot on the floor. Gone are the days of "move all the way down, fill in all of the available space!"

This is a "full house." Still plenty of room between us and the other guests around us!

Inside the theater, every other row was blocked off. I don't remember if there were individual seats blocked off or if it was up to the guests to put a few seats in between them and the party next to them once in a row.

The rain had stopped by the time we exited, so we headed over to 7 Dwarfs! I think it was listed at 25 minutes but we more or less walked on. There were barriers throughout the queue.

All of the interactive queue elements were blocked off. The spinning barrels right inside the door were accessible, but they just weren't turned on.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 9

We crossed over and hopped onto Pooh, which was of course a walk on. All of the interactive elements were blocked off here as well, and the honey screens weren't even turned on.

When we exited, Dylan had arrived in the park so we stood to wait for him for a few minutes. Then, we headed over for a cool treat in Tomorrowland. There was a lot of debate, but we eventually decided that we were in the mood for a Citrus Swirl instead of a Dole Whip for today. We found a spot along the fence and away from other people to enjoy our treats. It was very refreshing!

Continuing on with the "cool down," we headed to Splash Mountain! It was listed at 25 minutes but was also pretty much a walk on.

We had a boat to ourselves.

If I remember correctly, we had been called back to enter the gift shop just before this, so our wait ended up being a little shy of 5 hours. We were pretty disappointed with the offerings once inside... all that they had were some stuffed animals, some kids shirts, and the Funko Pops. We left empty handed, feeling grateful that we hadn't wasted time waiting in line to get in.

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 9

Since we were right there, we headed over to Big Thunder next! Lots of barriers in this queue.

We took a spin on the magic carpets and paused to watch another character drive by on our way back toward Fantasyland. This is a view that truly represents how few people were in the park.

The rows of horses on the carousel were numbered and CMs were directing parties to assigned rows. There weren't many people on the ride, so it was easy to put a few rows in between us.

Gaston is doing a great job at social distancing.

We took a dive under the sea next!

And then a spin on an elephant!

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, July 9

Next up was Barnstormer... and the CMs let us ride twice!

Some Tron construction.

Time for a spin!

I was not aware that she was taking a picture, clearly.

Next up was the Speedway! I actually kind of hate this ride lol.

We were getting hungry again at that point, so we headed over to Cosmic Ray's. I was super bummed that Columbia Harbor House and Casey's were both closed... both of my favorites. But this was good and did the job just fine!

We decided to take another spin on Space Mountain, and we were able to just walk right on.

And our last ride of the day was a second ride on 7 Dwarfs!