Category: Blog Posts

As many of you well know, COVID 19 is impacting our world at the moment. Currently, in the United States, New York State is ground zero for this deadly outbreak. Over 1,000 people have lost their lives to COVID 19 in New York City alone, and the situation is just getting worse from there. According to the Florida Health Department, the state has 6,955 cases, and 87 deaths. Of that number, 170 cases and 8 deaths are in Pinellas County. This was as of 04.01.2020.

On 04.01.2020, being within social distance guidelines and following the safer-at-home rules that the State of Florida and County of Pinellas have in place, I got in my car with my mom, and drove around the county to document our findings. Beaches are closed, restaurants only allowing takeout, beach towns deserted or very less populated, and hotels and nonessential businesses closed.

Below is a gallery of photos from the beaches of Pass-a-Grille in St Pete Beach, and Rockaway Beach in Clearwater, two very popular tourist destinations where I live. All photos are mine, taken on my iPhone 11, with automatic settings.

Photo 1: Pass-a-Grille Main Beach between 9th and 10th Avenue, dead due to COVID-19. Beaches have been closed in Pinellas County since March 20th.

Photo 2: Paradise Grill at Pass-a-Grille Main Beach, shut down due the outbreak.

Photo 3: Seating area at the Paradise Grill completely empty.

Photo 4: Beach access at 10th Ave in Pass-a-Grille with a barricade put up by the County of Pinellas Commission Board and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Photo 5: The very popular Don CeSar pink hotel on St Pete Beach dead and the parking lot nearly empty during the outbreak. The hotel is usually very popular around Spring Break time.

Photo 6: Popular Rockaway Beach in North Clearwater Beach, shut down and clear as day. Clearwater Beach, from Sand Key Park in South Beach to Rockaway Beach in North Beach, is extremely busy from March to late April for Spring Break.

© Dylan Pawlina, 2020. All rights reserved. Reposting is ok with approval from the author.

Sunday, the 15th of March was the day prior to Universal and Disney closing due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic.

That day, Thursday, I was looking at news apps WESH 2 and WFLA 8, two NBC affiliate stations, the former located in the Orlando area and the latter located in the Tampa Bay area. They said that the 16th of March, all theme parks in the State of Florida, that includes Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Legoland and their respective water parks will be temporarily closed. Being me, this made me curious, so the same day, Thursday, I booked a DoubleTree by Hilton near Universal to go into the parks before they closed on Sunday.

Sunday comes around, and for the first half of the day, I was spending several hours having fun and laughing with family members. My mom and I drove to Universal Studios after we spent time with our family, getting there at at around 5 o’clock giving us at least 3 hours to have some fun before it closed.

We got into Islands of Adventure and I noticed that even though it was the last day of park opening, it was very quiet. I know it was 5:30, and people were probably there earlier in the day, it was almost dead. Me, wearing my Gryffindor robe, tie and wand in hand, went into Hogsmeade Village, and noticed it was very quiet. I noticed though that Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure posted a 120 minute wait, which was very unusual for the park being so quiet. I went to grab a frozen Butterbeer at the Butterbeer cart, and it literally took me about 5 minutes to obtain, which was unusual because it would take around 30 minutes or so.

We take some pictures at Hogwarts Castle and after that, we walked on the Hogwarts Express that took us to the Universal Studios Florida. We got off at Kings Cross near the entrance to Diagon Alley, walked in to Diagon Alley, and was shocked. Diagon Alley was quieter than Hogsmeade. I took some pictures in Diagon Alley, at 12 Grimmauld Place, and the Knight Bus, then proceeded to the Shrek 4D Experience. It was hilarious as usual, but not crowded at all.

At around 7:30, we left to get our hotel room, and at around 8, we walked from the hotel to Universal CityWalk. We ate at BigFire, which was not very busy at all, but the food was excellent. CityWalk was average that night, with shops being somewhat busy, and the restaurants being somewhat busy as well.

The next day, Monday, felt very strange. Our hotel was very empty, even during breakfast. There was only a few people around. Our room had a view of Universal, and even South Kirkman Road, where the hotel was located, was not even busy. At around 12 that day, we went to CityWalk and it was dead. The parking lot was dead, the shops and restaurants were dead, and even Voodoo Donuts was not busy. The donut place had a line out the door the night before, like always, but Monday, no such luck. We got 4 donuts, took some pictures, then left Universal property.

It was a very surreal experience, and something that should not be taken lightly. I was actually scared on how dead it was, which is something I never feel when in a big area like Orlando.

Thanks for reading this and remember to social distance and stay at home so we can get through this ordeal.

It was the 1st of May when I first went into the parks of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It was a warm day, no rain in sight. I went to Disney Springs that day with my mother, but before that, we drove 2 hours from Saint Petersburg, which gave me plenty of time to discuss buying a pass to go for the whole year.

At Disney Springs, I went to the Guest Services center and asked a Cast Member to show me the different pass options and their costs. Florida does this whole monthly payment program, which I decided to do, so in the end, I picked the Platinum Florida Resident Pass, which had no block out dates.

Fast forward 2 hours later, and boom, here I was standing in Epcot. I went to Disney World the year before with my High School’s Music Department, but when I walked in there on my own, having a whole year of fun, my mouth dropped. I took some photos, and waited for Frozen Ever After, then left because I knew I could come back as many times as I wanted during the year.

Living in Florida has many benefits. I have been a Walt Disney World Passholder for almost 1 year at the time of this post, and I love every time that I go to the parks. After about a year, I knew Orlando had many other theme parks. I did my research and looked at Sea World, Universal Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa, 30 miles from where I live. After checking out prices, and saving up money, I ended up going with Universal Studios Orlando.

It was the 16th of February when I first went to pick up my annual pass to Universal and the first time in 5 years that I have stepped foot on another theme parks property other than Disney. I walked in with my mother, and wow….my mouth dropped. I forgot how much fun Universal was. In 2011, I moved from the Los Angeles metro area to the New York City metro area and with that, I left the theme parks I knew and loved, Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure and Universal Studios Hollywood. When I got my pass almost 9 years later, it made me happy to be back to generally what I know, and had to learn some attractions and other park locations that weren’t in California.

I finally made the plunge on Universal because I am a big Harry Potter fan. I have been since I read the books both in the United Kingdom and the United States, and because I loved the films. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is amazing, and I will write a whole post just on Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, but it was the main reason I took the plunge.

After 8 years of living in Connecticut, my family and I decided to move to Florida due to high taxes and job reasons. I left Connecticut in late February of 2019, and never regretted it. It was a big change moving from a fast paced environment like New York to relaxed environment like St Petersburg, Florida. Everyday life has been calmed and relaxed, with warm days and nights and many beach days. Disney has also been a big part of my life, and has been visited multiple times a month by me.

The weather has been decent, especially in the Fall and Winter months, but let me be honest, summer sucks because of high humidity and extreme heat that feels like over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The biggest change is the lack of seasons, due to constant warmth and location in the United States. Overall, Florida is a great place to live and work, with great people and weather all year round.

Lastly, the people have been a big part of the move. The people in Florida have been very nice and helpful when we got here. They are very polite and a re willing to help you with what ever you need. No offense, but people in Connecticut, a part from the people that I knew and interacted with on a daily, were very welcoming or helpful. This made my decision to move to Florida very easy.