Traveling home from our Space Coast staycation and visits to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex and the Brevard Zoo, we made had made plans to stop at Walt Disney World Resort.
The Decision To Go Back To Walt Disney World
Chuck and I are Disney Annual Passholders. I’m a former Cast Member. Long before we began blogging, we were Disney Vacation Club Members. In addition, we have taken several Disney Cruises. To say we are Disney junkies might be an understatement.



However, watching TV and the rants of people about Disney reopening in the middle of a pandemic even gave us pause.
Before the bashing begins, we fully understand that other central Florida attractions are reopened. Mostly, with no fanfare. And no one commented on those places reopening.
On this Florida Road Trip / Staycation, we very carefully weighed the safety of our options. We chose outdoor places to explore. And carefully made our decisions based on each place’s safety protocols.
Researching Walt Disney World
As Disney Annual Passholders and Florida residents, we were kept up to date on reopening. As well as the process of making park reservations, and Disney’s safety protocols and requirements.
Advance park reservations were required to gain entry to any of the four parks. There is no park-hopping, and you couldn’t just pop into a park for lunch or dinner. Something we’d often done when we lived closer. Reservations are very limited to maintain the reduced park capacity. Because of this, we looked at weekday dates well in advance of our trip. We figured weekday might be quieter.
Additionally, YouTube has been a great resource to see the most current information on the parks. We watched dozens of videos from local vloggers. Many shared their recent experiences. Ranging from adherence to masks wearing, physical distancing, crowd levels, wait times, and even eating in the parks.
What Walt Disney World Says
We have taken enhanced health and safety measures. An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present.
Disney World Reopening & Updated Experiences
First of all, you want to check out the link above that shares everything you need to know about what Walt Disney World is doing. This includes enhanced cleaning, physical distancing, and reduced contact. Secondly, it shares everything you need to know before you go, for instance.
Why We Chose Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is BY FAR Chuck’s favorite park. Our home resort with Disney Vacation Club was Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were amazed after traveling to Kenya at how authentic our previous Animal Kingdom experiences had been.

Not only is Animal Kingdom our favorite park, but we knew that the traffic flow, amount of wide-open spaces, and even walkable wildlife trails would provide the comfort level we were looking for in our first outing.
Lastly, be sure to check back for our upcoming blog post, where we’ll share specifics of our adventure, great food, and a few tips and observations on what we learn