Walt Disney World Trip Report Spring 2022, Plus Disney Travel News

<p><strong>What's it Like to Visit Walt Disney World Right Now?<br></strong><br>Walt Disney World is pretty much back to normal in many ways. Masks are a thing of the past. In fact, we felt like the only guests wearing masks at all. We still required a negative Covid test to board a plane home, so we had to be extra careful (although this mandate for Canada is set to expire on April 1, 2022). It's very rare to see a mask on guests at Walt Disney World, except on monorails and buses, where they are still required (although we feel that this mandate won't be here for much longer.</p><p>As Walt Disney World continues to emerge from the pandemic, there are still some things that are catching up. For example, there are not boats running from Disney's Contemporary Resort. This is because Disney World lost a large number of boat captains over the pandemic and they are currently trying to hire and train new captains as quickly as possible. On a related note, we were told that the SeaRaycer mini speedboats would not be back. Apparently, the boats sat around for too long over the pandemic and simply got gummed up and required too much service to make the fleet worth keeping. We don't believe they will be replaced based on our discussions with Disney Cast Members.</p><p><strong>Is Lightning Lane Better than FastPass+?</strong></p><p>In short, no.</p><p>Disney's Genie + and Lightning Lane make visiting the parks at Walt Disney World much more challenging and frustrating versus previous methods of FastPass and FastPass+. We share full details in the episode, along with some tips and tricks for how to make the most of the current Lightning Lane and Individual Lightning Lane.</p><p><strong>Disney World Rides and Attractions Continue to Experience Downtime</strong></p><p>Consistent with what we had been hearing before this visit, many Disney rides and attractions continue to experience more downtime than was previously "normal" for Walt Disney World. Once again, we believe that this is due to staffing challenges and hop