Social Distancing Journal, Day 150: Happy 39th Birthday to Me!

 Alright, guys. So I did something on my birthday that might be a little controversial. I went to Disney World. Now, that's a big leap for someone who mostly uses curbside pick up and hardly so much as goes inside a store, I know. But, in my head for months now, I thought 'if I could just walk the world at Epcot, and get some food, I'd be so happy! I don't even need to do any rides or anything!' I'd seen pictures and heard stories, and while people say Hollywood Studios can feel busy, for the most part, I've heard Epcot on a weekday is very, very empty. 

The plan was to go see what it was like, we could always bail if we weren't comfortable. Everyone has to wear a mask- even outside (even in the heat! yikes!) and Disney recently closed loopholes so even if you were eating you had to remain stationary, so no more nursing that drink while roaming around with your mask off. Nope, if you're walking, mask is on. And no neck gaiters or valve masks either. 

I went back on forth on if we should even try it. I hate that Disney is open, but I get it. Everyone else was for weeks before Disney and they employ so many people, that needed to start work again (in part because the Florida unemployment system is so terrible). 

But, the night before I decided we should give it a go. So, off we went to Disney. Driving there is still pretty surreal. Usually this is a highway pretty packed of cars. But, not so much on this Monday morning. 

We arrived at Epcot just after 11, their new opening time. We parked in the third row of cars, which they park in every other space to allow room when you get out of your car, and no trams are running- you'll walk to the entrance, which is fine, because there was only three rows of cars when we got there. We got out, and like usual there were other groups walking along. But, everyone had masks, we were outside, and it was very easy to social distance. We never came within 20 feet of anyone. 

Then we made our way to the temperature checks. No waiting, easy peasy. Some Advent Health people scan you, tell you you're good to go, and you're on your way. ( I snapped this picture on the way out, but those little tents are the walkthru areas  where you get your temperature taken). 

Next up, security. There are WAY more lanes than there used to be, and you keep everything in your bag, unless you have an aresole can (of sunscreen, which I did) or an umbrella. You pop that can out and into a bin, but everything else: bags, cell phones, keys- go through the metal detector with you. There was no waiting here, either. We walked right through. 

Then, it's on to the entrance to scan your magic band. Again, plenty of lanes open and no waiting. You do scan your magic band like always, but there's no fingerprint scan required. 

And just like that, in record time, really (without a jam packed security searching through every single individual bag, and no finger print scan or line at the gate things went FAST). Out of my car and into the gates without stopping for more than a few seconds. 

And then we were in. I nearly cried. I know it's ridiculous,and some people think adults who love Disney this much are just crazy. But, it just feels like home. And I love it. I think part of it, is it's just familiar, and with my anxiety that's just a nice comfort. Like, you can go to Disney for the day, with loosely based plans, and it's always going to work out. For me, that's just lovely. 

It's the thing I've missed the most during all of this. The last time I was at Disney, it was Epcot, on February 13th. It had been 3 days short of six months. That's the longest I've gone without a Disney trip in easily a decade. 

So, what was it like? Well, I took a million pictures to show you (and the boys). When we first got in, the crowds were light. There are social distancing markers in every single line, everywhere. A message comes over the music on the loud speakers every so often to remind you to stay socially distant, wash your hands, and wear your mask at all times (unless eating, WHILE STATIONARY, the announcement adds). It comes on often enough that you notice it, but not often enough it's annoying. It is a little dystopian feeling though. Disney has made a point to almost never use the loud speakers for messages. So, it's not something I've ever heard before. 

When we arrived, Epcot had just been opened 15 minutes or so, and there was a line, albeit, socially distanced line, for Spaceship Earth. Again, we had no plans to ride any ride, so we made our way to the world showcase. 

It is worth noting, you do have to wear a mask. In the heat. Which is no joke in Florida. It took a little while to get used to. I usually just wear them running into stores, or doing a drive thru. No long period of time. We picked up a couple from Costco because I heard they were good in the heat and comfortable. 

Now, I'm a mustache sweater, as the boys call it. So, I sweat in my mask a lot. It was uncomfortable in that my face was sweaty and there was no wiping it away (DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE! I kept reminding myself). But did it feel that much hotter than normal? Not really. Because in Florida, most of the time, hot is hot. Like, you're maxed out. So, sure I'm sweaty. But I'm ALWAYS sweaty at Disney in August. What's new? You will want to pack extra though, because as you sweat in them, and they get wet, they're not as effective, and it because a little more difficult to breathe. When I first put it on, it was like having a cold: were you consciously think 'breathe in an out', and remember the good old days when you can breathe normally. But, by the time we got around the world showcase, I wasn't thinking about it too much. Don't get me wrong Disney without a mask > Disney with a mask. But, Disney without a mask doesn't exist. 

I also wasn't sure how much I wanted to go inside anywhere. But, here's the deal: the Flower and Garden Festival was just about two weeks in, I believe, when Disney shut down. The Food and Wine Festival for the fall had been cancelled. But, Disney did decide to create a mini mash up festival of the two, called 'A Taste of Epcot', probably for a variety of reasons. First of all, both festivals see a variety of mini booths pop up around the World Showcase. Great for eating outside. It's basically a walk-thru drive thru. Plus, they had lots of merchandise ordered that they needed to sell. Plus, a lot of the world showcase is run by Disney employees who come from overseas. Essentially people from France run the French pavilion, people from Germany run the German pavilion. But all those people went home during the shutdown. So, a lot of those places remain closed. 

Now one of the things they brought to this new mini festival was a booth called "Festival Favorites", and they brought back things from past festivals that had been gone for years. The booth was with a bunch of others in a tent, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go "inside". But, it looked empty, there was nobody in line to go in, and they were counting people at the door. 

When we walked in, this is what we saw. Complete emptiness. 

I was braving the indoors for something very special: the Fisherman's Pie. This might be my favorite food in the whole wide world. It disappeared a few years ago from the Food and Wine Festival, and I was devastated. Or at least as devastated as you can be about food. I still talk about it. And then the Disney Food Blog posted about how it was coming back for this mini festival, and that's honestly when I started considering *maybe* going to Epcot. 

It's everything I remembered it to be. It's basically a lobster bisque base with huge chunks of lobster and scallops, topped with the creamiest mashed potatoes. And so, I deem the best thing to come out of all of this, is the fact that these circumstances made Disney bring it back (and cheaper than it was the last time it was at the festival years ago). 

After we had our Fisherman's pie, we started to make our way around a virtually empty World Showcase. Now, keep in mind, a lot of stores, museums, and even restaurants are closed. There isn't a lot to do around the world. But, those mini festival booths are open. And, it's a lovely walk. 

I took a lot of pictures. Because, when was the last time I was at Disney and it was this empty? Plus, I wanted to show the boys so they'd see what a safe environment it was. 

When we got to France, we were virtually the only ones there. It almost didn't seem real. 

There are some topiaries they left up from the Flower and Garden festival too. 

I was excited because Remy is a new one, and I really wanted to see him! 

We made our way back to Les Halles, one of our favorites. We weren't sure if we wanted to go in to get some food, but seeing as how empty it was, we gave it a go. 

We arrived and there was one other family at the cashier and us. Only half of the bakery is open and they don't have everything they usually do (no beignets). But, we did get a croissant. Usually, someone from France would serve us. But, like I said, the cultural ambassadors went home. So, it's a bunch of American's in here, which was a little strange. 

There were people at the indoor tables eating, so Asa and I decided to take our food outside. Now, it's not all fun and games. You are at Disney in a pandemic. I brought along tons of hand sanitizer, and lysol wipes, which we used every time we sat down. 

We ate our food and had some water (it is harder to stay hydrated when you're wearing a mask- just because you can't walk and drink, and you're not swinging by water fountains), and then made our way out of France and to Morocco. You can see we're not the *ONLY* people. But, it was like you passed the same people over and over again. I'd recognize them by their clothes. 

We swung by the Brazil festival booth for some black beans and pork belly, and then found a little spot to sit. The quick service Tangerine Cafe in Morocco is closed, but the outside seating is still available. 

So we found a spot way in the back and enjoyed the pork belly. (I didn't take a picture, but it's worth noting they got new plastic utensil dispensers, so you don't touch anything at all, just your fork!) 

Now, part of why the mask wasn't so bad, was because Asa and I would walk a little, order food, and then sit down to eat. When you're sitting down to eat, the mask, obviously can come off. I did buy some facial wipes too, to help with the sweat so it didn't dry on my skin (that tends to dry my face out so much it because all flakey and cracked- so to avoid that, I used the facial wipes. Super helpful). But man, it was HOT. A feels like of 108. Pretty par for the course in August. But, still. 

Again you can see one other person on a bench to the right of Asa, but that's about it. 

And while, I did wait a second for a mom with a stroller to make her way out of the pavilion, it was super easy to get a picture with nobody in the background here too. 

That's the thing. Sure, lots of stuff is closed. Sure, you're wearing a mask in all your pictures. But, these are not pictures you would get at any other time. At times we were the only two people around. 

We made our way over to Japan. 

To a view I haven't seen in much too long. 

And there were a few more people wandering around, but again, as you can see, super easy to social distance. 

Over in America, there's a new bbq place that opened at the beginning of this year, which I was excited to try. It's an indoor place, but has lots of outdoor seating. They also encourage you to use mobile ordering so you don't have to go in until your food is ready. There was a slight hiccup with ours, but no big deal. 

It was also pretty easy to social distance over in The American Pavilion. At one point we counted the people coming out of the giant theater show there, and it was a whopping 9 people. In a huge theater. (Still, we didn't go in.) 

Instead, I got a Frozen Mint Julip which I LOVED, from the outdoor bar. Asa heard from the bartender this is pretty much what Epcot is like every single day during the week. (He said there was an uptick on the weekend). But, he also confirmed that Hollywood Studios is much different. I think every park is a little different. It's worth noting, Epcot is the easiest Park to get a Park Pass for. You need a reservation for a park in addition to your ticket to help them manage how many people are coming in. If you want to get a park pass for Hollywood Studios, you'll be waiting at least six weeks (at least if your a passholder), but Epcot I got the night before. 

So, the Regal Eagle is yummy. I'd say it's slightly better than Flame Tree over in Animal Kingdom, but not as good as Polite Pig over in Disney Springs. The baked beans with burnt ends was a little too spicy for me. 

Over in Italy, you can see the crowds picking up slightly. Again, nothing overwhelming at all. You can also see on the ground, the social distancing markers for people waiting in line. Most people seem to pay attention to those, and they are everywhere. I think we only had to wait behind a family at one booth, and since we were the only other people in line, we waited behind two of the lines, instead of just the one. Because if you've got the space, 12 feet is better than 6, right? Also worth noting, all the employees are masked, most working behind plexiglass, and a vast majority of them are also wearing face shields in addition to the mask. (As for the guests- at 98% of them we saw had their masks on correctly, and there's even employees walking around to make sure people keep them on- both their mouth AND their nose). 

Over in Germany it was still pretty empty. 

Again, some people, but super easy to keep your distance. 

While walking through Germany, we noticed music from Frozen II was playing (You know we would recognize that quickly) and thought, that's odd to hear that playing in Germany. Turns out, Elsa and Anna were making their way around the world showcase! So, since you can't meet the characters in Coronavirus times, instead, at random intervals character "cavalcades" come by. They aren't scheduled, as to avoid crowds. Some employees do clear people through the side, and there are some people that get stuck behind the cavalcade, but it's not too bad. 

You can see that's about the most people we saw at once, the people behind the horse drawn carriage. I have heard you can sometimes find Winnie the Pooh, or Joy from Inside Out, frolicking in the grass behind the fences. I didn't see any of them, but I've seen pictures on the Disney blogs. (Also, the hearing the violins playing 'Somethings never change' over the loud speakers is oddly comforting while at Disney during a Pandemic). 

We made our way around to China, where Asa got his favorite drink: Tipsy Ducks in Love. It's Bourbon. It's coffee.  It's chocolate. It's black tea. A weird combo, that weirdly works. 

China was a little busier. Probably the busiest part in the world show case, excluding the cavalcade backup. I took a picture so you would know everything isn't totally empty.  

We grabbed the Tipsy Ducks in Love, and headed to the Norway Bakery seating area. The bakery is not open (so no school bread for us- boo!) Some seating has been removed and is blocked off. But, it was so empty, it didn't even matter. 

It is a little odd to have to sit while you have a drink, usually we'd just walk with it. But, it was a nice mask break in the shade. 

Oh, worth noting: they have hand sanitizer and even hand washing stations everywhere. They've also pushed back the trash cans so you can throw things away without having to push anything. 

By the time we got back to Mexico, the crowd had cleared. 

But then there was another horse drawn carriage with characters. (So you can see some people around there.) 

This time we got a bunch of princesses! 

I thought maybe the crowds were just starting to pick up, since Mexico and China were a little busier, as it got a little later in the day. But, back up around to the front of the world showcase, it was super empty again. 

If you go to Epcot, you know how strange it is for this area to be *this* empty. 

I mean, that is just me, the monorail, and the ball. That's bananas! 

It was so empty up there it felt strange. The whole thing was strange. It was like you weren't supposed to be there or something. 

More pictures of empty walkways. 

But a little busier over by Test Track and Mission Space. 

We spotted a few more topiaries. 

And of course, Epcot is in the middle of the whole re-do, so there are still lots of walls up in the old future world. 

But at least they've made them fun. 

We did swing by a mostly empty guest services to get me a birthday button. 

And then on our way out, we realized not one single person was in line for Spaceship Earth. Asa was feeling adventurous and said he thought we could do it. We asked the employees about spacing, and they said they leave quite a few cars between guests (in fact, at least six in our experience). 

So onto the ride we went. 

I got out the lysol wipes to wipe down our touch screen. 

And we took a spin on Spaceship Earth. It was the last thing we went on February, and the first (and only) thing we went on after the shutdown. Fitting. 

And look how funny we look in our video with our masks on. 

On the way out, it was funny, because you saw more employees than guests. All wiping down various handrails and such. Really, most places you are outnumbered employees to guests, but it was just more noticeable here for some reason. I think because one girl went to wipe something down and a guy was like 'I just got that' and she said something to the effect of 'we got everything like 10 times, there's nothing left!' And as you can see, nothing was exactly "high touch" because nobody was there to touch anything. 

I guess a day after we wee there, they installed the new fountain that is going to go in front of the ball and behind this wall. I think you can maybe see the top of it here. 

And a quick picture of what the entrance/exit looked like on the way out. 

So, that's a wrap for our trip to Epcot. I did exactly what I wanted to do: walk the world and eat food.  So what did I think about the whole thing? 

First off, it's hard not to feel like you're doing something wrong. You don't *need* to go to Disney. It's not a necessity. It's a frivolous fun activity I could survive without. I could throw out that mentally I needed it. But, that's an overstatement. Did it make me feel much better? YES! But, I wouldn't have broken down without out. 

Then there's the cast members.  I want to be considerate, but I don't know if I'm hurting the employees by being there because if there were no guests Disney could stay closed, or helping them- because they need a paycheck. I tried to be extra polite whenever I did interact with them. 

And then there's all the circumstances around a visit. It felt like Disney. Some Magic was still there. In a way, it was almost more unique because of how empty it was, and how relaxing it felt without all the hustle and bustle. Nobody stepped on my toes! That has to be the first time I didn't accidentally get bumped into on a Disney visit in YEARS! 

But, it is different. You are still reminded there's a global pandemic going on. The loud speakers announce it, the  social distancing markers are like bright caution tape in the middle of Disney, the masks are a constant reminder. Half the stores and eateries are still closed. It's just so different. If a month into all of this, I would have gone to Disney and that's what I would  have experienced, I would have mourned the loss of the "old Disney".  I would have hated how it felt, that it wasn't the same. But now, with everything so different in life, it's like ANY Disney is better than NO Disney. 

So, would I go again? Probably. But, still not frequently. There is a level of anxiety that exists being anywhere but your house. You have to bring hand sanitizer and face masks, and Lysol wipes and always be aware of your surroundings. There are reminders and signs everywhere that you're assuming the risk of maybe "contracting COVID-19". which could be deadly. But as far as something out of the house, I felt safer at Epcot than I've felt at the grocery store. Rules do get enforced here. (In fact we saw people getting kicked out for refusing to wear their masks properly). You're outside AND masked. That happens virtually no other place in Florida (except the theme parks). You really can control your limit of exposure. 

Now, it's worth noting, every park and even different days have a different experience. Again, Hollywood Studios has such limited rides, and lacks a good park flow so it's felt crowded, I've heard. I do have park reservations for Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom in the next month (passholders are allowed three days of park passes at a time). Not sure if we'll use them, but they can be harder to get, so you'd rather make them and not want them, then not make them and want them. 

Our next stop was over at Disney Springs. Again, you have to wear your mask. Asa and I changed ours out to get rid of the sweaty ones.  You also get your temperature taken. Here is the "line" for that. 

Asa and I were at Disney Springs in June, before any of the parks opened back up, for our anniversary week. So, we kind of knew what to expect. It does feel more crowded there. And, it's worth noting, since not everything is Disney owned there, but instead third party, the rules aren't as heavily enforced. You see more people with their mask off their nose here. I actually feel less safe here. But, for the most part you are outside, most people have their masks on, and we're always here for a quick trip. 

Mostly, we were there for shopping trip at World of Disney. This is a very, very large store. They've marked doors for entering and exiting to help the flow, and someone stands at every door, tallying people coming and going on an ipad. If it reaches capacity, you put your name in and they'll call you back when they are ready for you. 

Ultimately though, it's uncrowded. We knew right where to go to find what we were there for: puzzles. Passholders got a special 30% off discount until today. We've NEVER gotten 30% before, 20% has been the max. So, we loaded up.  

For the most part, Disney Springs was pretty empty too. 

It was easy to social distance along the walkways. 

And take your picture in front of the orange bird wall! 

I did want one other thing if possible: Teddy's Tea! It's a non-alcoholic tangerine and mint iced tea that they serve at the Hanger Bar. I was going to get it to go, but they said you would have to sit down to order it (I think so there was no congregated at the indoor bar). When we sat down, I realized how safely social distanced we were from people, and we decided just to have the drink there. (We left our waitress a tip that was equal to the price of the Teddy's Tea itself, I felt bad that was all I ordered, and I'm sure she's hurting for tips- oh! And all the servers had masks and face shields). 

But, I got my Teddy's Tea, in a bigger glass than usual. And I was SO happy. 

But the sun was out, and it was heat of the day by then, so I was ready to head home. Overall, it was a very successful Disney trip, when I wasn't quite sure what I would be getting. 

(What I got was a ton of awesome puzzles)

Back at home, Asa grilled steak and made me crab fries for dinner. 

And then the boys played Lifeboats with me, because they had to, because it was my birthday. 

And, I narrowly squeaked out a victory against Asa. 

I had ordered a Chantilly Cake for Curbside Pick Up from Publix on Instacart. But, they were all out. Angel Food Cake was my backup. 

We didn't put 39 candles on it though. 

And my mom zoomed for the festivities. 

We finished up the evening with Incan Gold, some Overcooked, and more Hamilton (we are obsessed- we listened to it all the way to Disney and back too). 

I never would have imagined I would be celebrating my birthday 150 days into this whole thing. I mean, when this all started we thought maybe Peyton could go on his cruise in April (how wrong we were). But, everyone but Hayden has now has a Pandemic Birthday. At least I was able to leave the house for mine, and I did get a birthday button. No birthday would have felt complete without one.  

So start the countdown. I've got one year left in my 30s. Lets hope for my 40th birthday we're not living in Pandemic times anymore!