Pandemic Disney
I got the chance to go to Disney World twice this year - once in February before the pandemic shutdown, and recently in December. Disney has changed quite a bit and implemented a ton of safety measures to protect both their guests and their cast members.
The Protocols
Disney is incredibly strict with their Covid-19 protocols, which made me feel safer in there than at my local grocery store. For the most part, people seemed to be following the guidelines without complaint.
Every guest has their temperature taken upon entering the parks and Disney Springs. These lines moved really quickly and if you go to the far sides, you don’t have to wait at all.
Guests now walk through a metal detector instead of waiting in line to have their bags checked. (I loved this, but my camera always set the detectors off so I had to get mine checked anyways.)
For the time being, guests no longer have to use their fingerprints when scanning a magic band to enter the parks. This eliminates a HUGE touch point at the entrance.
Everyone has to wear an APPROVED face covering at all times - except when eating and drinking while stationary. This is a big one and it is strictly enforced across all Disney properties. If someone isn’t wearing their mask, a cast member immediately asks them to put it back.
Anytime guests need to stand in line for rides, food etc, markers are laid out on the ground indicating a 6-foot distance.
Restaurants limit capacity and space tables out.
Cast members limit the number of shoppers in stores to allow for safe-distancing.
Touch-less hand sanitizing stations are everywhere in the parks.
Masks had to be worn at all times, even aboard the Millenium Falcon.
The Rides
We arrived hoping to be able to ride everything multiple times. That wasn’t a reality for us, but we still got to ride everything we wanted to and I got to ride a couple classics that I’d never actually been on.
The lines for everything look insanely long, (Mine Train wrapped all the way around past the Little Mermaid ride) but that is mostly because of social distancing. A cast member is usually standing at the end of the line with a sign noting the ride and how long the estimated wait time is. As I mentioned, they have markers every 6-feet to keep parties separated, and they also didn’t zig-zag as much once we got closer to the entrance.
We found that they were over-estimating the wait times pretty much the entire time we were there. Seven-Dwarves mine train said 70 minutes and we got through the line and were done with the ride in about 50 minutes. Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway said an hour and I think we waited 40 minutes. The lines also seemed to go faster because we were never standing stationary for long.
Many of the rides separated parties with empty rows or they had plastic dividers between guests.
There were always sanitizing stations right before and directly after the ride.
We were always told to keep our masks on during the rides, and the rumor was that if you took it off, you would'n’t be able to get your photo from the ride. That is unconfirmed, as we kept ours on during rides.
We stood still at the Mexico Pavilion Long enough to have a marg.
The Food (and Drink)
The food and drink experience was the biggest change in my opinion. We love to get snacks and walk around Magic Kingdom or drink (and stroll) around the world showcase at Epcot.
In Magic Kingdom we had an especially hard time finding places to sit to eat our snacks. A few times we ended up huddling in a corner or sitting on planters. I think Disney should put more cocktail-style tables around so people can at least have somewhere to set their food.
At Epcot we were able to find more places to sit and rest, but it just wasn’t the same as strolling around and sampling the food and beverages from each country. Sitting down stilted the journey and I felt like I had to down my drinks and eat my food much faster so I wasn’t holding up our time at the park. We usually get something from every country, but that wasn’t plausible this time.
Cast members who work in food service all wear face shields as well as masks and they sanitize everything constantly. At quick-service venues, guests no longer get their own drinks, a cast member is always at the drink stations to serve them.
Mickey and Pluto wave goodbye as guests exit the park.
The Magic
The most common question I’ve gotten is “Is the magic still there?” The answer is yes and no.
The parks were definitely not as crowded as they would normally be in December. But even at 30% capacity, it still felt busy. It wasn’t the empty ghost town we were not-so-secretly hoping for.
The parks are doing frequent cavalcades throughout the day instead of big parades. This cuts down on guests congregating in one spot for long periods of time. I really liked this, as it made it less imperative to catch every cavalcade and we could always see the next one. Though I did miss the “Once Upon a Christmastime” parade and the magic “snow” on Main Street, USA this year.
Character meet and greets are not a thing right now, but Mickey and friends can be seen at certain places around the parks for waves and selfies. I didn’t mind this either. It’s obviously less personal than getting to hug them and talk to them, but I felt like I got to see way more characters than I normally would. It was also really cool to have Mickey and Pluto waving goodbye to us from the train station as we left Magic Kingdom on our last night.
We really missed the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. That is always one of our favorite things and it didn’t feel as magical without it.
We kind of liked that there weren’t any fast passes because the standby lines seemed to move so much faster. We also didn’t feel as scheduled and structured as normal, which was kind of nice.
We couldn’t park hop, which was a big bummer for us. It made my ticket cheaper, but it also limited our dining choices and we had to be really strategic with our days. Luckily park-hopping will be coming back January 1, 2021, so that won’t be an issue for much longer.
Is it worth it right now? Thats kind of up to you. I would say that if you’ve been before and have experienced Disney at its most magical, then by all means go! We had a lot of fun on our trip and the smaller crowd size made it worth it to me. If you are trying to go for the first time, I suggest you wait until things are semi-normal again - at least until fireworks are back!