How Disney & Universal Parks are Operating During COVID-19

As Florida parks & resorts reopen to welcome limited guests during COVID-19, many question what the parks are doing to keep guests and staff alike safe. Here we'll share photos and details of the physical and social distancing measures, ground markers, sanitation, and attraction changes that have been implemented by parks like The Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando. 

Physical Distancing

Both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando parks have modified all queues for attractions, dining and merchandise to create physical distance between groups. All lines have ground markings installed on the floor to keep groups apart. Our experience with these distanced queues was that, while we weren't measuring exactly, the spaces were easily 7-8 feet apart, likely to account for groups too large to stand directly on the markings. Guests were careful to follow the markings, with the exception of guests here and there forgetting momentarily, only to quickly shuffle back to their marker after realizing their mistake. 

When boarding each attraction, groups were kept physically distanced in a few different ways. Some attractions gave groups their own ride vehicle, some kept empty car or two between groups, and some kept three seats empty between parties. Attractions that normally fill rooms with crowds of people, like Poseidon's Fury at Islands of Adventure, were greatly reduced in capacity. ​

Walt Disney World's official "Returning to a World of Magic" update page covers the three operational guidelines and safety measures implemented: enhanced cleaning, reduced contact, and physical distancing. One thing Walt Disney World has installed in many attraction queues are physical barriers in select places where it is difficult to maintain physical distancing. The example below is from the queue at Slinky Dog Dash. Since Disney's website doesn't show examples of these, we took photos to show how the barriers separate sections of lines that sit side-by-side.

Barriers like these could be found at several of Walt Disney World's attractions where adjacent queues bring guests too close to physically distance. This way queues can maintain 7-8 foot spacing while their lines wrap side-by-side, without having to create larger gaps to keep groups apart. We saw these larger gaps at Universal Orlando's parks where physical barriers weren't used. Instead, Universal expanded the distance between markers to keep guests from standing beside other groups. This wasn't too big an issue, as lines were never really all that long. However, when the next marker was around a corner it was hard to know our time to advance in line. 

Masks & Sanitizing

In both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando parks all guests and staff are required to wear masks. Roller coasters are no exception to this rule and it was at times a struggle to wear them on attractions like The Incredible Hulk Coaster and Rip Ride Rockit. Water attractions like flumes and rafts are exempt from this rule to keep guests' masks from getting soaked. Those eating or drinking are able to remove their masks, but are politely reminded to put their mask back in place before getting up from their table. In Walt Disney World, masks can also be removed while taking photos. Disney and Universal both updated their mask policy to specify that park visitors cannot walk the parks mask-less while eating or drinking. Guests eating or drinking must be physically distant from other groups while doing so. This closes a loophole that we did see around the parks where people could get away with walking mask-free as long as they held a drink or snack in their hands. 

While Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure had strong mask requirements, their water park Volcano Bay was a very different story. Guests there are allowed to explore the park masks-free unless walking to a store or restaurant. While crowds were very sparse in Volcano Bay (we didn't have to use their virtual wait system at all), it still felt strange to see so many people without masks. If any busier, we likely wouldn't have felt comfortable enough to stick around. While we enjoyed most all of the slides and attractions, we did avoid the wave pool because of our own personal comfort level with the idea. 

In both parks sanitizer was present at every attraction, but in different ways. Walt Disney World had sanitizer stations at the entrance and exit of each attraction as well as hand washing stations in some spots. Volcano Bay had sanitizing stations at the top of each slide queue. Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure seemed much stricter on their sanitizer policy. At those parks, a Team Member at each attraction would personally squirt sanitizer into your hands before your ride. In fact, sanitizer was a requirement when entering every attraction and restaurant, not just an available option. Another difference we noticed was that Universal's sanitizer felt noticeably slimy, a lot thicker than Disney's. That slimy feeling seemed to be reactivated anytime water touched our hands (like when it down poured on us that afternoon). ​​​

Final Thoughts

Overall, this summarizes most of the changes we saw with modified attractions and temporary safety measures. The alterations in queues and on attractions helped make us feel comfortable at every attraction we went on. Even though attraction capacities have been reduced, our waits in line were incredibly short because of the dramatically reduced attendance. It also helps that FastPass+ has been put on pause at Walt Disney World during this time, so lines keep moving. Cast Members and Team Members alike were all very cheerful and welcomed us throughout our visit. Guests at each park deserve credit as well, since the vast majority we saw were following all of the new safety policies. While we give these parks high marks on their safety measures, it's worth mentioning again that Volcano Bay was a much different experience and its differences are something to think about when deciding how comfortable you are visiting. While it was great to experience just about every slide as a walk on, the lack of masks made Volcano Bay feel much different than the other parks.

Your Thoughts

Have you been to Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando since the parks reopened? What did you think of the new safety modifications and policies? Did you feel safe? Were there any times when you felt unsafe? Do you have any other thoughts, tips, or details we didn't discuss? What questions can we help you answer? Hearing your feedback is helpful and interesting to us and others reading, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!