Pent-Up Demand Fueling Florida Travel
With spring break season nearly over and summer fast approaching, it’s time to return to one of our favorite topics: “Revenge Travel” at Walt Disney World in 2021. This isn’t the first…second…or even third time we’ve broached the subject, which has significant implications for crowds, attendance, and pricing for travel to Orlando later this year.
It’s been a busy few weeks in Central Florida. Universal hit capacity before noon for almost a week straight. Judging by social media, SeaWorld look bonkers. I-Drive is the most packed I’ve seen it in well over a year, with full parking lots in a variety of establishments. We drive past the Flamingo Crossings Town Center hotels daily, and have never seen them this busy.
Over the weekend, we did a stay at a third party on-property hotel, and it was similarly hoppin’. Busy bars and restaurants, people reserving lounge chairs at the pool early in the morning, multiple weddings taking place. Of course, that’s entirely anecdotal, and we’ve been talking about the impact of pent-up travel demand on Walt Disney World for a while now. The difference now is that we’re starting to see data out of Florida and the United States as a whole that supports the predictions.
By most objective measures, travel is starting to return. U.S. airport numbers hit another new high yesterday (March 28, 2021) with over 1.5 million passengers screened, according to daily statistics released by the Transportation Security Administration.
This is nearly three straight weeks of over 1 million travelers per day screened by the TSA, which is still down as compared to two years ago, but up dramatically as compared even the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. For its part, Orlando International Airport has become the No. 1 airport destination in America.
American Airlines paints an even rosier picture of domestic travel. The carrier reports that first-quarter total available seat miles flown will be down about 40% as compared to the first quarter of 2019, but with most of that weakness occurring earlier in the quarter.
As of March 26, the carrier’s seven-day moving average of net bookings is about 90% of its 2019 level. American Airlines is expecting the strong bookings to continue, and anticipates reactivating most of its aircraft in the second quarter as demand continues to pick up. In recent weeks, the CEOs of Delta, Southwest, and United have all been similarly optimistic, with reports of strong bookings ahead of summer vacation season.
Upon landing in destinations, travelers might also encounter a shortage of rental cars. Last year when travel essentially stopped, the rental car industry sold off more than a half a million cars, about a third of their combined fleets, to generate cash they needed to survive the crisis. Although demand has now returned, rental car companies are unable to rebuild their inventory because of supply chain issues facing the auto industry.
The situation is particularly bad in Florida, with reports indicating that 18 of the state’s 20 largest airports were sold out of cars during the peak of spring break. Going forward, MCO is still sold out of cars for many travel dates–with others having astronomical prices of $100 to $300 per day for a rental.
Weekly United States hotel occupancy also jumped seven percentage points last week as compared to the week prior. Nationwide occupancy was 58.9%, which is still historically low. However, this has the highest level in the country since early March 2020–and a 94% increase year over year.
Moreover, Florida is outperforming the rest of the United States. Of cities in the top 25 markets, Tampa (85.3%) and Miami (80.7%) experienced the highest occupancy levels per STR data. The Florida Keys and Sarasota were two markets that actually surpassed their 2019 levels.
In an interview over the weekend, Marriott’s CEO corroborated this, indicating that their real-time data shows consumer confidence and demand are increasing for travel to leisure destinations (like Florida) despite still being down in many big cities.
This surprise turnaround came after Marriott predicted last year that the financial impact of the pandemic would be on par with 9/11 and the Great Recession. He credited pent-up demand and vaccine distribution for this, as well as a blending of trip purposes, with more people able to work and learn remotely.
Walt Disney World doesn’t release its numbers, but anecdotally, things are looking up for some of the resorts that have reopened. In checking availability, Disney’s Pop Century Resort is sold out for a handful of dates over the next two months. Art of Animation and Caribbean Beach also have limited options during that stretch.
Then there’s All Star Movies, which has been overbooked to the point for spring break that there are widespread reports of guests being upgraded from there to the Grand Floridian. (Seriously–and it’s not just a couple of people. We’ve seen/heard at least a dozen instances of this exact move.)
On that front, another interesting trend is that over the last couple of weeks, pool wait times at Coronado Springs and Caribbean Beach have consistently been between 1 and 2 hours. Other resorts have had similar issues, albeit none (to our knowledge) that bad.
At the other end of the spectrum, Deluxe Resorts still seem pretty quiet. It’s impossible to ascertain occupancy levels just by wandering the grounds, but there’s a reason Grand Floridian is where displaced All Star Movies guests are landing. Same goes for the aggressive targeted discounts, delayed reopenings, and impromptu room overhauls at the Contemporary and Poly. Those aren’t the kind of things that happen when numbers are strong. (The apparent booking disparity between the lower priced hotels and Deluxe Resorts is fascinating on its own, but that’s another topic for another day.)
With all of that said, Walt Disney World wait times do not reflect a pronounced spring break travel spike. Some days and attractions have had numbers on the longer side since reopening, but are not what you’d expect if extrapolating from TSA data. For instance, current crowds are lower than Thanksgiving, Christmas, Presidents Day, and Mardi Gras.
Of course, Walt Disney World is utilizing the Park Pass reservations system, which is one means of manipulating attendance. While those have been fully booked for a number of dates over spring break, we discussed recently why we suspected that Disney was limiting attendance.
The overarching travel trends and what’s happening at Walt Disney World are interesting to us for a couple of reasons. First, as a predictor of where attendance and crowd levels are likely to head. Not that this has been easy since reopening, but it’s becoming even more challenging.
When it comes to U.S. travel, it’s pretty close to a sure thing that this will be a blockbuster summer on par with two years ago. There’s a lot of pent-up demand to be exhausted, and that’ll likely result in a very busy vacation season for Florida as a whole.
With Walt Disney World, there are many more considerations. How will the parks handle their self-imposed attendance caps going forward? Will attractions increase capacity? Will health safety rules change? What entertainment and other offerings will return? Will there be a lull as fans postpone trips until after the start of the World’s Most Magical Celebration on October 1?
I’m inclined to predict that we’ve already seen the last of truly low crowds for the year at Walt Disney World. Summer will probably track with other destinations in Florida, albeit to a lesser degree depending upon how some of the above questions are answered. Things slowing down to some degree in late August and September before picking right back up in October also seems plausible, if not probable.
Intertwined with this is what substantive and policy changes Walt Disney World is likely to make in response to demand and evolving guest expectations and preferences. As you’ve probably gleaned by how frequently the topic comes up, this is very interesting to me. It’s something we’ve discussed at length in our Quarantine Rules for Disney Travelers and “Temporary Abnormal” Guide to Walt Disney World, among other posts.
In a nutshell, our view is that things will start returning to normal at Walt Disney World sooner than many fans anticipate–certainly before 2022. This will be driven by a combination of consumer sentiment and the reality that the current health safety protocol are the biggest obstacles between Walt Disney World and profitability.
As is borne out by spring break travel trends, Americans are tired of restrictions and are beginning a return to normalcy. This is despite public health guidance to the contrary, and the fact that only 15.5% of Americans are fully vaccinated. The CDC Director has conceded that their team’s messaging to stay the course just a little longer is largely being ignored by a “fatigued public.”
This is what’s already occurring right now. It’s a trend that’s only going to accelerate as summer draws nearer and more people are vaccinated. A large segment of the population has already returned to life as normal. For another large segment, being fully vaccinated will effectively be the end of this, and they’ll want to behave accordingly.
Sometime in or around May 2021, the United States is going to reach a point where the vast majority of people are exhausted and over this. It won’t matter what the CDC or anyone else says–things will go back to normal when that’s the consensus view of the general public. We’re not expressing any value judgment about that; it’s just increasingly clear that will be the case given what’s already happening.
In past posts, several readers have pointed out that one thing we’re overlooking when discussing Walt Disney World’s return to normalcy is that the pediatric vaccine won’t be approved and available until the first quarter of 2022. We’re not overlooking this at all, we simply think it won’t be the basis for Disney’s decisions.
Others have pointed out that families with small children are an important demographic to Walt Disney World, which is true. It’s also true that the company is very protective of its reputation for safety and being family-friendly. These are fair points and ones that’ll weigh heavily on the company’s decision makers.
Our core thesis is essentially that Disney’s policies will be (and have been) as much business decisions as about health safety. Divisive as they might’ve been, implementing these rules last summer was an easier decision when public opinion was more closely split. Going forward, that’s unlikely to remain true.
There’s a grace period during which fully vaccinated people will tolerate certain rules while the rest of the population catches up. That will not last through this summer, let alone into 2022. In the not too distant future, there’s a point when the protocol will cost Disney too much lost revenue to be the only major vacation destination in the United States to have policies few embrace.
Quite simply, it is untenable for Walt Disney World to be the lone holdout with mandatory health safety protocol in place. People will simply vacation elsewhere. (This is already starting to play out with beaches seeing a faster recovery.)
Up until now, the CDC has sort of sidestepped this issue with pediatric vaccines by treating children as largely low-risk; a continuation of that type of guidance would provide Disney and other businesses the type of “cover” needed in relaxing rules. It would also make sense once deaths and hospitalizations crater, which almost certainly will happen even without a pediatric vaccine.
If for some reason the CDC doesn’t issue favorable recommendations, Disney will be faced with a dilemma. We could be wrong about how that’ll be resolved–it wouldn’t be the first time–but that’s our perspective.
Ultimately, to boil all of that rambling down into something succinct, pent-up demand is already fueling a recovery of the travel industry. Florida is seeing a disproportionately high amount of this demand right now, whereas it would appear that Walt Disney World is seeing less demand than other popular spring break destinations in Florida.
Going forward, there are two extremes as possibilities, plus a large swath of middle ground. One extreme is that Walt Disney World anticipates trends and consumer sentiment, and quickly accelerates the pace of its phased reopening to capture more of the pent-up summer travel demand. The alternative is the aforementioned gap widening if Walt Disney World errs on the side of caution or is way behind the general public’s sentiment in returning to normalcy. Our expectation is that a middle ground scenario will be what plays out, but it’ll be interesting to see what actually happens.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you visited Florida recently? What was your experience with the airport, rental cars, hotels, pools, or anything else? Were you surprised by the level of demand or lack thereof? Thoughts on crowds at Walt Disney World v. other destinations? Do you think Walt Disney World’s crowds will rise significantly come Summer 2021? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Covid-19 statistics are still troubling, with a big outbreak north of Detroit and lots of cases around northern New Jersey and New York City, among others. The big outbreak in California seems to have collapsed, good news for the southern part of the state. The rate of new cases is still as bad as the peak of last summer, and currently rising. No wonder the CDC is worried. The current situation is worse than most of last summer and fall, and has the potential to return to something resembling January. The good news is that if the rate of vaccinations keeps up, we can have a pretty normal summer, though perhaps without much international travel. And of course the vaccinated are far safer than the rest of us. Plans to let vaccinated people attend sporting events seem a great idea, but prohibited in Florida. My vaccine status is unknown because I’m in a double-blind clinical test for Novartis. Got a pair of injections (I’m betting placebo) and will get a second pair in May and June that will ensure that I’m vaccinated.
It’ll be interesting to see reports of cases in the next two weeks. Post-Easter outbreak?
I was in and out of Orlando airport pretty quickly last week. The B parking decks had plenty of spaces, nothing like peak crowding in the recent past. The C parking deck is still closed.
“My vaccine status is unknown because I’m in a double-blind clinical test for Novartis. Got a pair of injections (I’m betting placebo) and will get a second pair in May and June that will ensure that I’m vaccinated.”
First, kudos to you for doing that. Really awesome!
There will probably be some degree of post-Easter increase in cases, especially given what we know about the nature of “living room spread” and past holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
However, I’d hope that deaths and hospitalizations won’t follow suit. A huge percentage of the high-risk elderly population is fully vaccinated, and that’s the demographic most likely to have those outcomes. As daily vaccinations continue to significantly outpace new cases, it would sure seem like we’re going to “outrun” this. (Would still be great if the gov’t earmarked more vaccines for Detroit and other current hotspots to get that under control.)
We went to Universal Studios a few weeks ago. We took our kids are out school as they are learning remotely anyhow. We traveled from Massachusetts on Southwest. Not all middle seats were empty. We wore a N95 mask and a shield on the plane. Universal was busier than I thought it would have been. We only went to the parks Tuesday through Friday after reading your blog about how busy the weekends are. I always appreciate any information I can get before going to Disney or Universal. We got very lucky with the weather being in the 70’s. If we went a week later it was 88 and 90 degrees and that would have been awful to wear a mask in the parks all day. We had a wonderful vacation! Glad we did it!
Tom, any thoughts on early May crowds and revenge travel? We have a trip booked and the increases in travel, Spring Break notwithstanding, have us nervous (and facing a looming cancellation deadline!). I know it won’t be the dead time on par with earlier, but do you see the current crowds as being sustained rather than seeing what would usually be a drop-off from Spring Break highs?
Thanks for your blog–it’s an amazing resource!!
One thing that will still be missing is Foreign travel. I am an American who lives in Canada and has a home 8 miles from Disney off 27. My two daughters were down for Spring break last year from University when we got the notification while at MK that Disney was going to close down. In the next crazy days we decided to forego their flights home and I drove them back to Canada. The border closed the next day. So here I sit still in Canada and I haven’t eaten in a Restaurant since Disney over a year ago. The hassle to leave and re-enter Canada stops a huge portion of Canadians going to Disney and then you have the lack of Australians, Brazilians, even the UK crowd. I know Americans make up the bulk at Disney but still that has to have an impact. I am not even sure I will get down there for the party in October.
Thanks, Tom, for this down to earth, common sense article. It helps clarify alot.
As far as being over the masks,I see it every day in every store I go into. The numbers of no mask people are increasing. Just today we followed a couple into Walmart who did not have masks on and the greeter called out to them about not wearing a mask, and they just kept on walking. The greeter did not pursue them. It is not up to a minimum wage employee anywhere to police the mask situation. I think we all agree it is time to remove the bandaid.
There have always been viruses and always been deaths with them. Viruses mutate all the time. Each year a horrible flu comes along and gets into our nursing homes and elder care areas. This one has been bad, though.
When it first started we were all told to social distance and wear masks TO KEEP the ICU ‘s from being over run. That has long disappeared and we are on the down swing, thank heavens. There is no way to keep safe at WDW or any popular destination where people are crowded together, just no way. If someone wants to wear a mask , then they should, if they feel uncomfortable, have a medical problem, or are afraid of catching a virus. It shouldn’t be any different than before covid. If someone was uncomfortable in those crowded situations, then they stayed away from them or wore a mask, or they came but distanced themselves from others as much as possible.
I think that WDW will start to reduce restrictions more and more. After all, their main goal is to make money in the end. We would like to make another trip to WDW before 2021 when DME is gone, but won’t if they still require masks. Just my opinion at this time.
Thanks for the article, Tom. We were lucky enough to visit WDW last week of August, first week of September last year. We really picked a great time for our rescheduled trip as the initial crowds had died down and the big wave didn’t start again until Labor Day. I think it will be interesting to see what Disney does in FL with restrictions. They are still more restrictive than the rest of your state. We’re in CA and have no doubt that restrictions will be tight for a long time, but are glad the parks finally get to reopen. We have 2 days left on a Costco Universal pass we’re waiting to use and are also hoping to visit Disneyland in October for a short trip. We loved our vacation to WDW so much we hope to return next spring to experience some of the things we had originally planned that were cancelled last summer. Hoping they’ll reopen Ohana.
I think the “over this” point has already come and gone my friend. It’s not still months away. Americans have been dealing with this for a full year now, with what started as “2 weeks to flatten the curve.” Any attempt by any governing agency to try and reel it back in at this point will be mostly ignored IMO. People want to be able to live their lives again.
Quite so! Many of the state governments and folks in DC really are so out of touch with reality, they are in for a rude awakening if they try to implement travel and other non-covid restrictions being thrown around. It’s our personal responsibility to take care of ourselves and those around us, not the government’s. And phony Fauci is really milking this for all it’s worth and then some.
Jeff, yes!!!! What little trust I had in the government before was completely obliterated once we passed the “two week” timetable. The scary thing is, America seems to have totally forgotten that the government works (or should) for us, not the other way around. We should never have put all of our hope in “experts” who seem to be making every decision by sticking their finger in the wind & seeing which way it blows. This can all be over the minute We The People say it is. If you’re high risk, take whatever precautions you need to. As for the rest of us, let’s get back to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness! 🙂
Stephanie, they are really pushing the boundaries every day now, on covid and everything else. I just got out of a construction meeting at the big VA hospital here. They were down to 1 cove patient, but got 5 more the other day. It’s totally random, and the numbers are going down all over the place. We know a lot more and are finding better treatments all the time.
I hope you’re right about things possibly slowing down in September….we have a trip planned the 2nd week of that month. We were supposed to go a year ago today but of course that didnt happen and now our tickets expire end of September.
I’m hoping with school starting it won’t be AS busy – I’ve caught alot of flack already from my family for taking my kids outta school but….better than dying in the summer Florida heat with the park being at full capacity, right??
Fingers crossed other parents arent as “bad” as me! 😉 Thank you so much for your blog and all the useful information. I studied it VERY VERY closely when I was planning our trip last year. 🙂
I suppose I was a “bad” parent! We always took our kids out of school in the late fall every two years and went to WDW until they were in high school and it was impossible to make up the school work if they skipped. We live in a small town in Idaho and both my girls were top of their classes, so I took them out whenever I felt like it (Disney movie dates, ice cream dates, spa days, or just because) and no one at the school said a word even though they were well beyond allowed absences. Now they are both college grads in their early 20’s and my youngest plans out all of the details and logistics for our Disney Trips even of she can’t go with us. She often quotes statistics from this blog as part of her planning strategies and the hubs and I just follow along!
Not at all, Nancy! You were a great parent! Spending time with your kids is the most important part of being a parent, more so than having a fancy house or a lot of money, or anything else. I laugh when these people post, trembling, at the thought of trying to appease the school people for taking their kids on a family vacation. Public school is a joke, and while I realize that not everyone can skip a few days or even weeks and recover, most could if they had any desire to do so. My nieces’ schools threaten parents if the kids miss x number of days for any reason. Parents are both retired teachers and I know that if the parents tell them in no uncertain terms to shove it or hear from the lawyers, the school WILL back down. They always do.
We have a trip booked in early June and man does it look busy, park passes gone along with no hotel reservations available, going to be interesting on how Disney can handle the pent up demand with no shows or other people eaters. It might be a Disney IT glitch not allowing more reservations but going to alter how we try and do the parks.
Maybe keep an eye on June reservations.
Tom, I agree with most of your reasoning but I think you are overlooking/undervaluing the importance of hospitalization data in CDC decision making. That metric has been incredibly stubborn lately, plateauing or even ticking up depending on the area despite vastly improved vaccine access compared to the start of the year. If those numbers were going to crater anytime soon it seems like they would already be headed in that direction, so I don’t see the CDC adjusting recommendations yet as their primary concern has always been the hospital system getting overwhelmed.
Also, regardless of what you or I or anyone else think makes the most business sense, every decision Disney Parks leadership has made so far indicates they have essentially written off the current fiscal year. There’s no real reason to think they will change their mind, so I don’t know how much what happens in the rest of the country this summer matters to them.
As a lagging indicator, I wouldn’t expect deaths to plummet immediately, beyond what already happened post-holidays. The high percentage of the elderly population that is now fully vaccinated is exactly why I’m optimistic, since that group is most at-risk for bad outcomes. New cases today driven in large part by young people going out to bars for spring break isn’t as concerning for the same (or opposite?) reason.
I do agree that Disney leadership has thus far made several decisions indicating they’re writing off this fiscal year. That seemed like a reasonable approach back in December or January, but I’m baffled that it still appears to be the plan. That’s why I think there’s a decent chance not much significant changes or returns before October 1.
Jared, I talk with folks in hospitals across the nation on a daily basis for our projects. Mostly VA and military, but hospitalization rates have been dropping all over. Where last year they had 2 floors dedicated to cove patients, now it’s only one, or maybe just one small section. An interesting effect of this experience is that we now look at designing a lot more patient rooms as convertible, able to be positive or negative pressure to add future flexibility to the spaces.
I enjoyed the article very much, especially the part about Movies people being upgraded to GF. How awesome is that? That’s Disney’s fault for not opening Port Orleans.
People are getting tired of the restrictions mostly because the numbers are going down and vaccines are picking up. If the numbers go back up again for whatever reason, then people are going to go back to caution. Personally, I’m playing it safe and forgetting about Florida or any flying trips for this year, hoping that covid will be forgotten come next year.
I just came back from a trip from Orlando to Maui. The planes were stuffed, both ways, and American and United seemed to be running full schedules with large planes (as in double aisles). United’s Hawaii gateway at Denver was looking busy. Orlando airport wasn’t quite its pre-pandemic summer self; there were plenty of parking spaces in the B deck (a luxury for my car, I know). West Maui? Busy!
Florida and Hawaii have swapped beach shrubs. We have their beach naupaka (Scaevola taccada), they have our sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera). Both are pests in their adopted states.
Both my husband and I are the oldest members of our respective families (other than my father in law) and we are the last to get vaccinated and we just got the first dose last Friday here on the island. I had been trying to book us appointments via the Publix website since they opened up for vaccines and hadn’t been able to even attempt to book a time. When they opened up booking for school personnel, it was even harder. In all the weeks I tried to book an appt (every Mon, Wed and Fri), I think I only got BOOK NOW twice and by that time there were no appts left in Collier County.
We live on Marco Island in far SW Florida where the average age is about 65 yrs old and that might even go up during “The Season” (Dec through mid-April). We normally have 15K residents during the non-seasonal time and about 45K during the season, but this season seems to be a lot busier. I think a lot of snowbirds invited their families to join them in Florida since the adults were already working remotely and the kids were attending school remotely. I don’t believe I’ve seen traffic as bad on the island in prior years. We haven’t been to our beach in a while (we had a pool and it works for us right now), but have seen the few parking lots packed with out of state vehicles. Last week we took a trip to visit my husband’s father (he is 90) since he might not have too much longer left and we left our home on Friday, March 19 (which just happened to be the end of that Spring Break week). Traffic around the Florida Turnpike and I-75 intersection and Sarasota area on i-75 was horrid with all the vacationers leaving Florida headed back to the much cooler Northern states. We returned home on I-75 on the following Thursday and traffic wasn’t nearly as bad.
Plus home sales are astounding, even house prices going up and up (our home value increased $100K over the price we paid three and a half yrs ago. Many of the vacant lots have homes being built on them, too. Vacant lots can run from $100K to $1.5M. Homes that sold for $650K one year ago are going for $860K now and the owners are getting it.
We have one more trip in early May on our soon to expire Weekday passes and four more trips booked starting in Oct. We’ll cancel those trips and bank our DVC points if they don’t come up with some Florida Resident annual passes by that time.
It’s interesting how things are going very differently in areas of the same state. Here in Orange County, appointments were also very difficult via the Publix site at first, but that fizzled out pretty quickly. As of a couple weeks ago, I know the pharmacies had unfilled slots (and were quietly starting to accept frontline works–including some Cast Members we know) and the super sites had walk-up availability. It sounded like things were similar in Miami.
House prices are really something–especially after a brief drop around this time last year. I wonder how much of that is a result of low supply (many people don’t want people in their homes during a pandemic) + low interest rates as opposed to a long term trend. I guess we shall see.
I lived in Tampa in 04 working on the I-4 project there, and owned my house for 1 year, sold it for $40k more than I paid. And it was a small, cheap house (in Seffner actually) as the first house I owned by myself. Almost a 40% increase. I could’ve charged more as first contract was in 3 days. I know others who made more than $100k on a nicer house in 2 years there. Denver has gone nutso too. My brother bought a house there, owned it for maybe 2 years, got a check at closing sale for like $74k. Those people sold it later for another $200k more. Just absurd. I still have a house in NM I was going to sell, but have thought about leasing out. Need to clean things out and decide, but the fake Zillow numbers are skyrocketing there too..
Another great read.
I wonder how much make up travel from the period the Florida resorts were closed is playing into increased travel and bookings?
We decided to do a mini Spring Break trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg (several hour drive from home), so we could mix in some history for homeschool and do some fun stuff for the kids as well.
I was worried about crowds swamping the place. My thoughts were with it being a regional destination, much shorter lead time for a trip, maybe families responding to some positive news, etc., it might end up being busy. We just spent the whole day in the park and it was empty. The only crowds/waits were a result of things being closed and some poor operational decisions.
I know comparing a regional park to Disney is a fools errand…just interesting how everything here seemed so delightfully devoid of people with Florida travel seemingly spiking.
Virginia still has entertainment venues capped at 1000 people. The cap will be lifted April 1, with the ability to go to 30 percent of capacity with no cap. But for now, I am not surprised to hear that it feels pretty great at BG – enjoy your trip!
That’s very interesting, actually!
How was Busch Gardens Williamsburg? My family used to visit there often when I was growing up, but I haven’t been back in ages. Loved the lush landscaping, quaint design, and roller coasters.
Busch Gardens was a lot of fun. We are actually queued back up to go in for a few hours before driving home (great time to read the blog!). They were/are running aggressive discounts on tickets so it was extremely affordable (double emphasis on affordability) for a family of four.
The theming is far short of Disney, but it’s still well kept and the natural landscape is nice. If the Disney parks are Varsity, Busch Gardens feels like a solid JV team. Either way we really scored on the weather, and we had a wonderful day being outside and just “being there”.
A highlight was convincing my daughter that one of the big coasters (Apollo’s Chariot), was the big kid version of Slinky Dog. She was a little terrified but went, enjoyed it, and was proud of herself.