Disney World Should Be Open Despite Of The Pandemic
Disney World has been receiving a lot of backlash for opening their parks during the pandemic — the reason for that is because Florida’s new cases of COVID have been skyrocketing. I am well aware that this is not a good thing, but I want you to take in everything I am about to tell you about how Disney is approaching their reopening.
Disney Springs was the first part of Disney property that reopened. This was smart on Disney's end because Disney Spring is a lot easier to manage over the theme parks. As soon as you arrive at Disney Springs, you have to go through a temperature screening and are required to wear a mask. Don’t worry — if you forget your mask, they have disposable ones you can use.
- There are also hand sanitizer stations and portable sinks at every corner.
- Custodial cast members are on their A-game with sanitizing every part of the property. I saw parking employees sanitize the railing constantly.
- All of the restaurants and retail store doors are wide open to avoid guests touching the door handles.
- Cast Members are stationed at each entrance and exit way in the retail stores to track how many guests are coming in and out of the stores by using an iPad.
- There are constant reminders on the speakers to social distance.
- The restaurants are not crowded and all tables are at least 6 feet apart.
- Restaurants’ menus are now disposable paper with limited food options.
Overall, I think Disney Springs did a great job.
Disney called back their cast members for a two-week training on safety as well as retraining them for their role since they have been out of their job for 3 months. Disney supplied their cast members with a safety pack consisting of reusable masks, goggles, shield, hand sanitizer, and a digital thermometer to check their temperature before going to work. If you are asking me, I think Disney proved that they care about their cast member’s well being. If that isn’t safety— I don’t know what is.
Before the park opens up to the general public, they offered a cast preview. This was an opportunity for cast members to get an exclusive look at the new safety measures and an opportunity for working cast members to practice.
I went to Animal Kingdom’s cast preview and this is my experience…
It all started with parking. To adhere to social distancing rules, the parking cast members set up a system where cars parked in every other spot. Once they parked in every other spot, the cast members direct the next line of cars to park in the empty spots. This allowed time for the first set of cars to get out of their cars before the second line of cars park.
Next up is temperature screening. As expected, Disney has mandatory temperature screening before entering the park. Following — security has up their game. Traditionally, Disney would be old fashion by having security check each individual’s bag, but now they installed security technology that they use in airports so it can be more efficient and security does not touch your belongings.
Side Note: It is required to make a park reservation on the app MyDisneyExperience in order to enter the park. This helps Disney manage the number of people that come to the park.
The first thing I did when I arrived at the Animal Kingdom was sit in a secluded seating area to finish up my morning coffee. After, I proceeded to pandora to ride Avatar’s Flight Of Passage. This ride is the most popular ride at Disney World with a typical wait time of 3 hours. When I went during the preview it was a walk-on.
Side Note: The fast pass system will not be offered during reopening due to the small number of guests in the park. Believe me, when I say this — all the lines will be treated as a fast pass.
The next thing I did was ride Navi River Journey which had a 20-minute wait, but only because there was a delay in the ride, but no worries they set 6 feet apart stickers in the queue and glass window to separate the standby queue line to avoid any accidental contact.
Next up on my agenda — I rode the attraction called Dinosaur. My boyfriend and I had our own “rover” which is the form of transportation for the ride. This made me feel safe because I wasn't near anyone.
Lunchtime was next on our agenda. To avoid waiting in line at the quick service location, we had to order our meals via mobile order on the MyDisneyExperience app. We were not allowed to enter the quick service location until we received a notification that our food was ready. Inside the quick service location, there were multiple cast members assigned to sections to sanitize tables as soon as the guest finished their meal.
Fun fact: A cast member told me that they have to wait two minutes for the sanitizer to sit before they wipe down the table. So, pretty much I have been cleaning tables wrong my whole life.
Moving forward, my boyfriend and I went on the Safari ride which was another walk on as well. During the Safari we had our own row with plastic dividers in between to avoid contact.
After our fun ride on the Safari, we rode flight of passage one more time! The ride was still a walk on.
To end my day, I went to the Nomad Lounge to have a drink and an appetizer. This is where I saw Goofy and his friends playing music and hanging out on a boat in the river near the restaurant. There are no character greetings as of right now, unfortunately, but characters are still present at the parks at a distance. It is still magical in my opinion.
I would say I really enjoyed my time at the Animal Kingdom and managed to do everything I wanted to do with no wait time.
Let’s talk resorts.
The resorts are going through their own phase opening. Only select resorts will be open to the public. The first resorts to open were the DVC resorts. The resorts for the general public that are open currently are the Contemporary and Pop Century. Each month a couple of resorts will open back up. Disney took this process to avoid high traffic on the property. There are a couple of resorts such as the All Star’s, Port Orleans, Wilderness Lodge, and Animal Kingdom Lodge that will remain closed going into September of 2021. I know that does sound insane that they would be closed for a year, but honestly who knows if that can change.
Disney created a year plan on how they are going to reopen to the public. A lot of careful planning and consideration was put into this reopening process; therefore, I am confident that guest will be safe. If a guest is truly concerned about their health, they do not have to visit Walt Disney World. They are more than welcome to wait it out until they feel safe.
Although Disney had received a lot of negative comments about reopening, they know what they are doing, but also as a community we need to follow the rules and do our part with staying safe.
