It’s been an exciting week of reopenings in Orlando! Despite Florida having the highest amount of active COVID cases in the country, the Walt Disney World Resort is pressing on and has already reopened two of four theme parks over the weekend, with the other two reopening today, July 15.
Well, here we are with our masks on, staying as safe as possible and keeping as far away from other people as we can. There’s a lot of risk to visiting the parks right now, but for those willing to accept that risk, there’s also the reward of having an entire theme park to yourself. So, does it still feel magical? Let’s take a look at the changes and news . . .
Passholder Give and Take
Disney World Passholders have a choice to make. Either cancel by August 11th (and receive a refund on the unused portion of your pass), or be prepared to start paying for your pass again next month. With the new park reservation system, getting a reservation to visit isn’t a guarantee. And as Covid cases grow rapidly in Florida, there’s also no compensation for those who would like to keep their pass, but don’t feel safe visiting right now. Further, for those paying for access to the water parks, their reopening hasn’t been announced yet and no accommodation has been made yet for those passholders.
But Disney is reportedly offering passholders a 30% Discount at select WDW locations through August 14th.
Are you a Disney World passholder? What will you do – cancel until it’s safe to buy a pass again, or continue on as normal?
Mini Magic Kingdom Update
While attending Magic Kingdom’s public reopening on Saturday (we were able to attend Cast Member previews earlier in the week), we observed plenty of social distancing, ground markers, safety reminders, hand sanitizing and relaxation stations. Upon entry, you may receive this push notification:
Besides finding a massive line at guest relations for ticketing issues, the rest of the day was pretty easy to navigate.
Safety reminders are broadcast park-wide on a frequent basis, and there’s lots of signage posted of guidelines to follow. We may steer clear of high-touch attractions like Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Mad Tea Party, but overall, we felt fairly safe being in the Magic Kingdom because of guest compliance with guidelines.
Crowding has been almost nonexistent due to the significantly reduced capacity at the WDW theme parks. This change is to allow for social distancing in all areas of the parks. This means that many rides are at near walk-on conditions, even if they’re posted at 10-20 minute waits. However, that doesn’t mean there are no problem areas. We found that anywhere where there weren’t social distancing markers on the ground, people would often congregate too close.
Cinderella Castle is looking beautiful with the new rose and yellow gold enhancements. We’re waiting to see the full unveiling once the bottom half is painted the darker greys and greyish-blues… but so far, so good! So, take a minute and enjoy some pretty shots of the new makeover.
Can’t get enough of the new look? Head to the articles below for more Cinderella Castle love:
In order to keep guests from forming crowds, all traditional/scheduled entertainment in the park has been put on hold. But that doesn’t mean your favorite characters can’t be found. Instead, character cavalcades run approximately every 30-40 minutes, around the typical Magic Kingdom parade route; to avoid crowding, these do not have any set schedule. There are also a few areas around the park where characters are distanced on balconies and stages (we’ve got more on that in a little bit).
Areas that were once crazed with strollers and bottlenecking in the past are wide-open now.
All attractions have received several updates, including the new norm: social distancing markers throughout queues and show seating, parties seated at least one row apart on attractions, and plexiglass barriers added where social distancing isn’t possible.
At the Haunted Mansion, the queue is almost always a walk-on.
For now, the Stretching Room is left in the “stretched” state, with the doors on both sides open, acting as part of the queue.
Over in Tomorrowland, Buzz Lightyear is greeting guests from afar and posing for distanced-selfies. This is similar to how Universal Orlando is treating their modified character meet and greets, but with one major difference: UO places social distancing markers to keep guests from crowding together. We hope this is something that Disney will consider as well.
Even though Space Mountain’s standby stated 10 measly minutes, this classic coaster was a complete walk-on. By complete, I mean the gates were already open for us to board the rocket as we approached the loading bay because we were the only ones in the queue.
We didn’t stop walking through the queue until it was time to sit down and lower our lapbars.
The PeopleMover is currently down for refurbishment. It was undergoing maintenance when the park shut down in March, and is only being finished now that the park has reopened and refurbishment has resumed. Supposedly the PeopleMover will be operational again sometime this week.
We decided to “race” along the Tomorrowland Speedway, exclusively for some sneaky peek views of TRON: LightCycle Run construction:
On our way back to Main Street, we decided to take a breather, literally, at one of the Relaxation Stations.
This was cool and comfortable, all while maintaining guest safety with available tables properly spaced apart. A beverage cart selling cold water bottles was also nearby.
Back on Main Street, you may have caught Dusty going live at Magic Kingdom via Facebook:
During Dusty’s video (near the beginning), you’ll see a wild moment involving a horse during the Princess Processional cavalcade… Merida was leading the processional on a Clydesdale when a child’s stray Mickey balloon became entangled around the horse’s leg. Thankfully, Merida and assisting Cast Members handled the situation well, and no one was hurt. But this was still pretty shocking to see!
We were with MiceChat reporter Bill Zanetti who was able to get some closeup video of the incident. We’d like to assure everyone that no guests or performers were injured and Angus is doing just fine . . . thankfully:
As we were headed out to the monorail at 6PM on reopening day, the sky opened up and completely soaked the Magic Kingdom. Mother Nature’s way of saying . . . GET OUT!
EPCOT Reopening and New Food & Wine Festival
Epcot was only a couple weeks into their Flower and Garden Festival when the parks shut down suddenly. With the parks now reopening, there was a lot of merchandise and other items that Disney didn’t want to get stuck with. So, they’ve created a new hybrid festival that will run through the fall and allow them to sell both their Flower and Garden and Food and Wine merchandise.
For more about the new hybrid Food & Wine Festival, take a look at the article below.
BREAKING NEWS: Walt Disney World’s Halloween Parties Cancelled, Modified Food & Wine Festival
We were at a preview yesterday and will have a full write-up for you shortly. But, like the other parks, Epcot is operating under the new Disney health and safety guidelines.
The new Ratatouille ride is just about ready to reopen. The new entry sign has been installed:
Dusty takes us on a walk around the entire park. It’s an hour and a half long journey, but it’s a great way to see what the park experience looks like:
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom has reopened as well. I have a full writeup for you below:
Was the Reopening of Disney’s Animal Kingdom a Roaring Success?
Disney Springs
Disney Springs has been open for a few months now (it reopened in May), but there’s been a few changes lately. Here’s just a quick overview of a couple changes we noticed.
The VOID, the Virtual Reality simulator with Star Wars, Avengers, and Wreck-It Ralph themes, wasn’t one of the opening attractions at Disney Springs. Its sister location at Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort in California received a notice a few weeks ago about eviction and termination of their contract with Disney.
When we walked by The VOID on Tuesday night, we noticed that the lights were on, and no one was home. In fact, it looked like no one had been home since before the shutdown in March! All the merchandise was still on display, the video loop was running, even the iPads used for check-in were exactly where they were months ago. I hope someone is coming back for all that equipment… But, given the company’s dispute with Disney, it’s unlikely that they’ll reopen.
Rainforest reopens . . .
While on our walk around Disney Springs, we saw a burst of fire coming from the volcano, so we headed over to investigate. Although the restaurant’s operation had ended for the day, they are open for business, granted with some new changes. A sign at check-in asks guests to limit their dining experience to (1) hour! Part of the appeal to Rainforest Cafe is sitting for a spell and taking in the sights and sounds of a simulated rainforest environment. We’re interested to see how this operates in reality.
The Dish on Dining
As everything else on WDW property right now, dining is different.
Mobile Order
As far as Quick Service eateries go, mobile ordering via My Disney Experience is the only option in many locations (unless you have no access to a smartphone or have food allergies). Dusty visited Pecos Bill’s to get a quick bite to eat and they stopped him at the door asking for his mobile order. They weren’t taking walk-ups. So he placed a quick order via the Disney World app and the food was prepared immediately. There were only 2 other guests in the whole establishment.
Dining Reservations
Table-service dining reservations are now available online for those with a park pass reservation, up to 60 days out. But we’ve been able to get same-day reservations almost everywhere. Want a Be Our Guest reservation today? No problem!
To avoid crowding, the dining check-in experience is different. Once you’re in the park, and 15 minutes before your dining time, locate your dining reservation within the My Disney Experience app. From there, you’ll confirm your entire party is ready, then the restaurant will send a text message once your table is ready. Once you’re inside the restaurant’s front area, there are socially-distanced marked areas on the ground for parties to wait before being escorted to a table.
Touch-free menus have been implemented at restaurants. Once seated, you’ll find a QR code on your table; scanning this with your phone’s camera pulls up the restaurant’s full menu. And when it’s time to pay up, disposable paper billfolds have replaced the usual black reusable ones.
Wonder what character dining experiences are like now? Spoiler alert: it’s VERY different. For even more Disney dining updates, check out our coverage below:
Mickey From a Distance: The Modified Disney Character Dining Experience
Star Wars: Return of the Virtual Queue
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was the first and only attraction to ever utilize a virtual queue at Walt Disney World. Last week, Disney confirmed that Hollywood Studios will return to a virtual queuing system for this one-of-a-kind attraction. However, the queue will now open virtually at three different times during the day, at 10AM, 1PM and 4PM. This is huge, as opposed to the previous singular early-morning time, which filled up within minutes of park opening and caused major crowding among guests. This is something we have been advocating for months, and we’re glad to see this change in the park.
Guests will be able to enter one virtual queue per day. With less park capacity and more opportunities to join a virtual queue, we’re curious if guests will eventually be able to escape from the First Order more than once per day . . . especially since we believe that the ride has a higher daily capacity than the number of people currently being allowed to enter the park.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios reopens today, Wednesday, July 15th. Check back here and our Instagram Stories this week for more of this park’s updates!
COVID Concerns
Even with Walt Disney World’s enhanced safety measures, the rate of virus spread in Florida is out of control. You may not catch Covid in the parks, but if you are traveling through the region, you are putting yourself at great risk right now. Many other states and countries are rolling back the types of businesses they are allowing to operate right now.
In fact, Hong Kong Disneyland is closing after reporting less than 50 active COVID cases. Compare that to the 15,000 new cases in Florida on July 12th:
BREAKING NEWS – Hong Kong Disneyland Forced to Close AGAIN!!!
The decision to visit WDW for reopenings was a tough call for us, especially since some of us had to travel across the country for this. But our job is to cover the parks, and we made the decision to continue covering the parks so you can make an informed decision about your family’s vacation planning. We learned a lot on this trip and will be sharing some additional thoughts and concerns in the coming days.
Let’s Hear From You
Have you been following our coverage of WDW’s reopening? Do you think that Disney World could face another shutdown in the near future? How do you feel about the passholder situation, should there be more options than cancel or pay? What sort of compensation should passholders with water park access be given since parks are open but water parks aren’t? Would a 30% discount get you to travel in a pandemic? Let us know your thoughts on today’s update in the comments below.
