With the reopening of Walt Disney World, guests may be curious as to what measures are being taken to ensure guests safety. After my recent visit, I was very happy with the precautions put in place and how they were carried out. I have highlighted below what to expect on your next visit!
Limiting Park Capacity
- One of the biggest changes frequent Walt Disney World visitors will notice is the lack of crowds. I have previously visited during “low crowd” times, and this visit was far less crowded than any other time I have ever experienced. See photos below during normal peak hours of the day. To control the park capacity, Disney has implemented a pre-arrival park reservation system to ensure a certain threshold is not exceeded daily at each park. Be sure to verify with your Mickey World Travel agent that your dates have availability before booking!
Face Coverings
- All guests ages 2 and up are required to bring and wear their own face covering throughout their visit to the Walt Disney World Resort. The only exception to this is while swimming at your resort, or when eating and drinking. However, be advised that you must now remain stationary while eating and drinking in order to remove your face covering. For the most updated policy, be sure to visit https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/ as these policies change from time to time. Be sure to wear these throughout your stay, even during rides and attractions. Disney will not link your ride photos to your My Disney Experience account if your photo shows you or anyone in your party not properly wearing a face mask.
Temperature Screenings
- Before entering the parks each day, you will need to have your temperature taken. These scans are being conducted under tents for shading and are being conducted by Advent Health. You must have a temperature under 100.4º in order to be allowed entry.
Contactless Security
- New security technology has been put in place to not only expedite the process but to encourage less contact between guests’ personal property and security team members. You will be asked to take out aerosol cans and items with concentrated metal like umbrellas or pins for pin trading and place them in a separate bin. Then you will carry your bag through a new type of scanner. If a further scan of your bag and contents are needed, you will have to completely empty every compartment and pocket on your bag. I highly recommend taking out any items you suspect may set off the scanner and place in the bin before going through.
Hand Washing Stations and Hand Sanitizer
- There is no shortage of sanitation reminders throughout the parks and resorts. From mobile hand washing stations at various locations, to hand sanitizer dispensers setup at every ride entrance and exit, Disney provides constant options for keeping yourself safe. Announcements are also made every few minutes that encourage use of these sanitation stations and physical distancing.
Enhanced Ride Vehicle Cleaning
- Wait times were at a minimum throughout the day at all parks. The only time wait times were above 15-20 minutes is when rides were taken out of service for cleaning. This is a new process for Disney; where every attraction vehicle is fully sanitized after so many minutes and this process is completed all day. TIP: If you see a wait time jump from 10 minutes to above 30 minutes, it is likely due to cleaning. Plan to come back a little while later and ride this attraction after the cleaning is completed and the line has returned to normal.
Physical Barriers and Distancing
- Those of us that are frequent visitors to theme parks, are used to being crowded in small rooms and queues as we wait in line for attractions. For now, those days are over! Each and every queue and attraction vehicle has been retrofitted with Plexiglas and physical distancing markers to ensure guests’ safety. Here are a few photos of what to expect.
- (insert pic FOP queue, safari ride vehicle, falcon queue, rockin’ queue)
Mobile Order
- Again to protect guests and cast members, Disney is limiting close contact interaction by encouraging guests to use mobile order. This can be done at most quick service locations and resort food courts, as well as some other snack stands like Aloha Isle. You can view the locations and menu options on the app, under mobile order. You will need to first select an arrival window, and then you can place your order. When you arrive at the quick service restaurant, you will direct the location to prepare your order on the app. Then when it is ready, the app will notify you of the pickup window for your order.
- For sit down dining, you will be asked to check in on the app 15 minutes prior to your reservation window, and the app will alert you when your table is ready. Physical menus are not being given out, and you will need to scan a QR code in order to retrieve the menu for the restaurant.
- At food courts and quick service locations at the resorts, if you purchase a refillable resort mug, you will have to have those filled by a cast member. You simply show the cast member your mug and tell them what drink you would like, and they give your drink to you in a disposable cup, which you then can pour into your mug. You must mobile order at the resort food courts as well.
Overall, the Walt Disney World Resort has done everything they can to ensure their guests are as safe as possible, and I have already booked my family a return trip to take advantage of the low crowds!
Contact me at JessicaNix@MickeyWorldTravel.com to book your Walt Disney World vacation today!
