We put our vaccines to the test and vacationed at Universal Orlando for 8 days. Coincidently, Universal Orlando was our last vacation, in late January, 2020. We knew that summer crowds were in full swing, you can see them in the photo above. I think the quote of the week came from my daughter one evening as we were leaving the parks when she said “Well, there’s no social distancing in Florida!” She wasn’t wrong.
Here are just some of the differences we noticed as we compared this trip to those pre-pandemic
#1 – No housekeeping services in hotels! I missed this more than the rest of my family, but a week without service can be a long time. Those tiny in room trash cans fill up quickly and most of the larger trash cans around the properties have been removed.
#2 – Breakfast buffet – while our hotel did offer the full pre-pandemic buffet each day, it just didn’t feel right, especially as Orlando was a hot spot for new cases and there were very few masks to be seen. Luckily, the property offered a food and beverage credit for us to use daily at the onsite Starbucks, where we were able to get breakfast and take it back to our room.
#3 – Pack extra patience – We were lucky that our flights ran fairly smoothly, as did our entire vacation. However, we did our research, we knew what to expect. We knew that if we wanted lunch between 12 – 1 or dinner between 6-8 we needed to make reservations in advance. It was not unusual to see people without reservations turned away or asked to return after 9 or 10pm.
All in all we had a great time, we’re already planning to go back, but honestly, even before the current trends, it’s not something I would recommend for those not yet vaccinated. I’ll be happy to chat with anyone who has questions about the state of travel right now and moving forward.
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