Recently, I visited the Disney Parks with my Family. There’s a lot of things that are different right now…Well, No Shit. Thusly, Walt Disney World has made many changes to adapt in the midst of a pandemic. As Bobby told you a while back during his visit to Disney Springs, things on Disney Campus just seem, well… odd.

For starters, if you haven’t heard by now the mask requirement on the Disney property is very much enforced, as it should be. You are required to wear your mask unless: 1. you are stationary and eating/drinking. 2. at the pool. 3. in your hotel room. 4. under the age of two. Those are the four exceptions, that’s it and that’s all. I saw cast members pop out of nowhere to remind people to mask-up. Guests tried to skirt the issue by only covering their mouth and they’d be met with a stern “CHIN TO NOSE PLEASE!” Others who would try to eat on-the-go were greeted with “Mask on unless you are eating AND stationary away from others.” And my favorite was in the Animal Kingdom parking lot all the way back in row 5,428 – some guest got a hello followed by “THE MASK RULE APPLIES TO PARKING LOTS TOO.” So, umm yeah… wear a mask and I suggest you bring more than one because you’re bound to sweat, get rained on, or get wet on a water ride. Pro-Tip: keep your extra masks in a ziplock so they stay dry and checkout my what’s in the bag video below for more tips on what to take into the parks.

The next biggest change is the lack of crowds. My visit was over a Friday thru Sunday in the parks and even my Saturday visit to Hollywood Studios which was the most “crowded” had virtually no waits for anything. We’re talking 15 minutes for Millenium Falcon… PLUS we were able to board Rise of the Resistance fairly easily in the 2pm boarding call. So, if you want low crowds now is the time to go if you can handle wearing a mask in the Florida heat all day.

Lastly, I’ll say that the lengths Disney has gone to for guest safety are quite incredible. From a temperature check to enter the parks or Disney Springs. To the mask rule, to the six-feet markings in all the queues, to them putting up screens in the lines where six feet isn’t a possible distance to maintain. Plus, the aforementioned cast member “reminders” to keep your damn mask on – like seriously they will break character to remind you. Oh, and there is hand sanitizer every-fucking-where; Before rides, after rides, in the queues, and randomly placed every-so-many steps, you can bathe in the shit if you so desire. But the one thing that stood out is the gift shops. I’m not talking about the one way in / one way out policy to regulate congestion. I’m talking about closing time. Disney is closing the motherfrikkin gift shops when the park closes. For the uninitiated this may seem like a given, but us Disney-vets know that you can basically find the gift shops open waaaaay after park close. That’s usually the one place they won’t chase you out of, because money. Welp, it’s COVID season folks and them shits shutter when the park does. So, don’t plan on buying your mom a souvenir after you squeeze one last ride in at Magic Kingdom at 5:59pm. You’ll the have to resort to taking the monorail to the Polynesian to find her something after-the-fact (not that this overtly specific example happened to me, cause it totally did).

By the way while we were there, we filmed a ton of content. Usually this site sticks to written wordsmithing, but now we’re branching out into video. So, take a look at our first ever Vlog below and let us know what you think.