Why now is a great time to visit Walt Disney World

As temperatures in Florida start to slowly drop and fall takes hold of Orlando, now is a great time to take the family to Walt Disney World.

As temperatures in Florida start to slowly subside as fall reaches Orlando, now is a great time to take the family to Walt Disney World.

If you spend a lot of time on social media outlets, you’ll probably have seen all the talk about how Disney is opening too soon while a “pandemic” rages around the country. Well, that’s kind of true, but not really.

Disney has specific rules in place and social distancing is being strictly enforced. Masks are required at all times unless you are eating or drinking. Disney Parks have gone so far as to mandate that you can no longer walk and eat because people don’t wear masks while eating and some were using the food as an excuse.

Personally, I would rather go to Disney World than my grocery store. Why? Because I know that Disney is a stickler for cleanliness and my grocery store, eh, not so much.

Image: Brian Miller

But I digress. Why go now? Well, for starters crowds are really low, which is great if you’re hoping to take in all four parks without having to play bumper shoulders with the other guests. One employee told me that the wait for Avatar: Flight of Passage was only 10 minutes long. That is down by about 3 hours and 30 minutes, the normal wait time. Flight of Passage is a great ride and one you really should experience if you are a fan of the movie. A 10-minute wait means you don’t need the fast-pass.

Animal Kingdom is a pretty cool park, and the section modeled after Avatar’s Pandora is the highlight. It especially cool to see at night, when the bioluminescence is displayed in its full glory. If you’ve never been, it’s a must stop.

Over at the Magic Kingdom, there are plenty of rides to keep you occupied and plenty to see without having to walk down Mainstreet, USA shoulder to shoulder while sweating like a pig on a spit. Now, it’s a lot easier to navigate in and out of the shops and the bakery, and finding a table to eat at isn’t a big obstacle.

The parades are still running, and now you will get a better seat to view them without being stepped on and knocked around. In fact, you don’t have to “camp” anymore for those parade route viewing spots.

Perhaps the best thing about heading to Disney World right now is over at EPCOT. Like the other parks, attendance at EPCOT is down, but you can still experience the International Food and Wine Festival being held alongside the Home and Garden show, which has beautiful topiaries of your favorite Disney characters. The two have been mashed together for most of the late summer.

Image: Brian Miller

There are some issues you’ll run into, especially at EPCOT, where construction has closed down quite a bit of the central wheel hub. Great rides like SOARIN are still open, though. At the World Showcase, cast members are more local right now instead of from the countries themselves, given the travel restrictions in place. That’s a little disappointing.

Finally, you can make a trip over to Hollywood Studios where you can visit Galaxy’s Edge, the incredible Star Wars trading outpost on the edge of the galaxy. It’s a must-see if you’re a Star Wars fan, and I highly recommend the blue-and-green milk beverages served both with and without alcohol. The new Smuggler’s Run attraction looks worth the shortened wait time.

If you’re interested in buying a ticket, it’s not as simple walking up to the gate and buying one. You need to check to see if the capacity limits for each park have been met, and you may have to reserve your day in advance. Simply call the guest relations office at 407-939-5277 to the latest updates.

Another downside of heading the parts right now: the restrictions in place have made park-hopping all but impossible. That means if you don’t have four days to give each park, you will need to pick which ones are important enough to you, because you’ll only be able to visit one per day, for now.

Overall, this is a good time to go. The crowds are smaller, the wait times are down, and Disney is still making sure they are going all out to give you the best vacation you can hope for.

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