By Soarin’ Diva
We are all looking forward to this Coronavirus Pandemic to pass as quickly as possible and getting our lives back to routine. One part of that for us Disney addicts would be the reopening of Disney Parks around the world. Military Diva had all your closure information up to March 31 in this article. At this point, I think we are just hoping for the parks to reopen soon, but things could change every day and it could be longer. It all depends on which way the wind blows with this virus and depends even more on how we, the human race, choose to respond and behave throughout, as in staying home and only going out for necessities or being an “essential employee”.
The sad fact of life for me and my family, however, is that we won’t be returning until late May or early June of 2021. We had to let our Annual Passes lapse and not renew when they expired in February. While we were sad about this, we knew it was for the greater good, because when we go back, it will be for our youngest son’s high school graduation trip. My husband and I have another big trip planned for 2021 as well, we are hoping to stay for our first two-week vacation for Walt Disney World‘s 50th Anniversary. Because of these two big trips, we had to let those Annual Passes expire so we can save and have two great trips.
So, when we finally get to go back “home”, what will be the first thing we do? And no, I don’t mean things like check in to the resort, that’s a given. I mean, what’s the first thing we’ll do at the parks?
Cinderella’s Castle in Walt Disney World
I’ll begin with the Magic Kingdom and how we like to begin our day there. It’s easy to say Magic Kingdom is my favorite park overall, there are just so many more things to experience there than at any other park. If all of the stars align, we hold our breath just right, hop on one leg & cross our eye, fingers, and toes at the same time, maybe all the attractions at Magic Kingdom will be operating perfectly and nothing will be down. If that’s the case, we like to hit Big Thunder Mountain first. There’s nothing like the “wildest ride in the wilderness” to start your day off right. From there, if the weather is warm enough and we have enough time before our first Fastpass, we may hit Splash Mountain. If it’s too cold or there isn’t enough time, we’re heading to Pirates of the Caribbean before we backtrack to Haunted Mansion.
EPCOT
Moving on, we’ll discuss how we start our day at EPCOT. Now, I say that Magic Kingdom is my favorite park, but in all honesty, when rope-dropping, nothing gets me more excited than waiting for EPCOT to open. I don’t know why, maybe something about the music that’s playing in the background, but I absolutely LOVE to rope-drop EPCOT and feel those excited jitters in m tummy. But where do I head first? We usually like to Fastpass Test Track and rope-drop Soarin’. It’s much less hectic to head to Soarin’ than it is to head to Test Track, the crowd is much lighter. From there, we usually head to Journey Into the Imagination With Figment and maybe The Seas With Nemo and Friends before our first Fastpass. I’m not against Frozen Ever After, but it’s not usually my first choice for Fastpass or rope-dropping. Now, if there is a Fastpass available for it after I’ve used my first three, then yes, I’ll grab it, but it’s not dire that I ride that particular attraction.
Soarin’ Diva’s family opening Hollywood Studios
Third, we will discuss starting our day at Hollywood Studios. Whew. Now this one is particularly difficult now that both new Star Wars attractions are open. Now that Smugglers Run is offering Fastpass, I’m really not sure how we plan to tackle this park. We have had success in waiting until an hour before the park closes before getting in line for Smugglers Run. The lines are so much shorter then and we’ve been able to ride a few times in a row that way, so we may stick with this process and use our initial tier-one Fastpass on Slinky Dog Dash as we normally do. This means we would begin our day by rope-dropping Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror before using our Fastpasses. Of course, by the time we get to go back to the parks, Rise of the Resistance may have Fastpasses, so we could have a need to rethink this entire situation.
The Tree of Life
I’m going to end with Animal Kingdom. Yes, Magic Kingdom is my favorite park, EPCOT is my favorite rope-drop, but Animal Kingdom is home to my favorite ride; Avatar, Flight of Passage. I can never get enough of this ride. That means it doesn’t matter if I have a Fastpass for it, it doesn’t matter that I’m risking life and limb to get there in the crushing early morning crowd, I’m rope dropping Flight of Passage. We are usually able to ride this before the park officially opens thanks to the Cast Members walking us back early. That means we are also able to hit Na’vi River Journey next before heading over to Expedition Everest or using our first Fastpass.
There you have it, details on how we will spend our first days at the different parks in Walt Disney World once we are able to go back. I know many of you will be there much sooner than I, so what is the first thing you plan to do when you get there?
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