I want to preface this with, I’m not a doctor and I’m just sharing my opinion on how I felt while at Disney World during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In our household we’ve been taking the pandemic very seriously and have been wearing our masks whether places require it or not. Andrew and I just recently became fully vaccinated but when I went to Disney World I was only half vaccinated. I was a little nervous about going to Disney World, but did feel better being half vaccinated + reading all the rules and regulations they put into place for the pandemic. Okay, let’s jump into the meat and potatoes of this post and highlight everything Disney is doing to keep their guests safe and feeling comfortable while at the parks. I will say there are pros and cons but the pros did highly outweigh the cons — and I’ll share those all as you continue through the post.

WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE AT WALT DISNEY WORLD DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

I really like breaking up posts like this by stating the big questions people have or even asked me after visiting Disney World during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Okay… the biggest question is:

Is it safe to go to Disney World during the Covid-19 pandemic?

I love me some Disney World but I wanted to make sure I would be safe and feel comfortable while there. I wanted to know the rules and regulations Disney World had in place for attending during the pandemic. So, what are the COVID precautions Disney World has in place?

Park Reservations are required!

What this means is that Disney World is managing the capacity of each park and some parks you may not be able to get into if they’re at capacity all day. When my friend Ana and I were there we purchased two day park hopper tickets and were thankfully able to book Epcot for our park reservation on the first day and then Animal Kingdom for our park reservation on the second day. This was a little confusing for me so I’ll break it down even further. When you purchase your tickets at Disney online you can go into your My Disney Experience profile and choose what park you’re going to visit first that day, if you have a park hopper or whatever park you want to spent the entire day at, if you have a one park a day ticket. Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were not available for us to visit as our first parks either day so we had to go with Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We love them all, so it didn’t matter! However, we purchased park hopper tickets, remember?

So… how Disney is doing park hopper tickets is that they’re not letting you go to your second park until 2:00 p.m. — this may be subject to change but for now, that’s how it is. We didn’t mind it because it gave us a decent amount of time at our beginning parks. Some people mentioned you might not be able to get into the other parks if they’re at capacity at 2:00 p.m. when you want to park hop but we never ran into any issues. I will say we were at the parks on a Monday and Tuesday, though. SOOOO if you’re at the parks on a weekend, it might be a different story. Overall, I didn’t mind Park Reservations being a thing — just remember to make your reservation when you purchase your tickets or you might be up shits creek come arriving at Disney when you can’t make a reservation for the park you wanted or a park at all. Read more about park reservations at Disney World here.

Are masks required at the parks?

Absolutely! Florida might be changing their mask rules but Disney World is not. They are still requiring their guests to wear masks in the parks. However they’re updating this as we start to evolving back into somewhat of a normal world. Therefore, I wanted to outline some main bullets regarding masks rules:

• You now may remove your mask for stationary photos outside in the parks. Read more on that here.

• When guest are not wearing a mask for an outdoor photo, they must maintain a safe physical distance from others and remain stationary. We did take some little videos with our masks off, BUT we made sure no one was close by.

• Masks must be on while walking around the park, even if you have a drink in your hand. I didn’t realize this was a rule until a cast member politely mentioned it to me while I was walking around with my blue milk in Hollywood Studios. I completely understood and promptly put my mask on.

• You must be stationary while eating or drinking in the parks with your mask removed.

Here’s exactly what Disney says about masks:

“Face coverings are required for all Guests (ages 2 and up) and Cast Members, including those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine. Please bring your own face coverings and wear them at all times, except when dining or swimming. You may temporarily remove your face covering while actively eating, drinking or taking an outdoor photo, but you must be stationary and maintain appropriate physical distancing during this time.” Read more about their masks rules here.

Does Disney World require temperature checks before entering the parks?

Yes! Disney World has tents before entering through security checks where there are individuals checking temperatures. It was super easy and quick to get our temps checked and then we were off to check our bags! Evidently this won’t be in progress for too much longer. Disney mentioned they will phase out onsite temperature screenings at Walt Disney World Resort for Cast Members beginning May 8 and Guests on May 16. They said they will continue to follow the guidance of health and safety leaders going forward and also encourage people to get vaccinated. Read more about Disney’s temperature requirement here.

What does dining look like during the pandemic at Disney World?

The My Disney Experience App is going to become your best friend even more during the pandemic! There are numerous features you’ll be using on the app regarding dining while at the park such as:

• Mobile Order Service for Dining: This allows guests to order ahead and save time at select dining locations using mobile order service. Disney highly recommends that guests use this service during your visit. Some restaurants actually only allow mobile ordering. Every restaurant we went to in Magic Kingdom required ordering ahead if we didn’t have reservations. It was SUPER easy though. While we were in Magic Kingdom we decided to submit our orders for Pinocchio Village Haus early and the My Disney Experience app allows you to choose a time slot for when you’ll arrive at the restaurant. We wanted to take a bunch of photos by the castle beforehand so we scheduled our food pickup for 7:15 p.m. and took photos from 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

• Scannable Codes for Select Restaurant Menus: Table-service restaurants have a code to scan that allows access to the digital menu. This is pretty common nowadays — basically every restaurant we go to is like that now whether at Disney World or not.

Read more on this here.

What are the Disney World Resort Hotels like during the pandemic?

Disney has enhanced cleaning and housekeeping modifications for all their guests staying at resort hotels. Ana and I felt like our room at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort was extremely clean and we both felt very comfortable in our rooms as well as around our resort amenities and common areas. There were even plastic wrappings on all the high touch areas for guests to show they were cleaned properly before arrival. A couple other things Disney offers their guests staying at Disney Resort hotels are:

• Online Check-In service and Direct-to-Room service allows guests to get to the fun faster with real-time, room-ready updates and even lets guests use the My Disney Experience app as a digital room key at Disney Resort hotels. We didn’t do the online check-in service because we wanted to change the credit cards linked to our magic bands. If you didn’t know this was a thing, I’ll explain it a little further!

  When you tie your hotel reservation to your My Disney Experience App you are then offered the opportunity to purchase discounted MagicBands. The MagicBands are shipped to the address on file and also linked to the credit card on file. If you’re going with a friend you may want to have your friend have their credit card connected to their MagicBand. In mine and Ana’s case, that’s exactly what we wanted — so we told the cast member who checked us in at our Disney Resort Hotel and they were able to do this for us quick and easy.

• Use cashless or contactless forms of payment, including a MagicBands or Key to the World Cards, which Disney Resort hotel Guests can use to charge purchases to their Disney Resort hotel folio. MagicBands are my personal favorite because you literally never have to pull out your wallet unless you’re showing your ID to purchase an alcoholic beverage. Additionally, your MagicBand is how you get into the parks because your tickets are linked + your hotel key!

What are the lines like at Disney World during the pandemic?

Disney World did a wonderful job at placing stickers all around the park for lines that were all 6 feet apart. They even put up plastic dividers in the lines to separate guests from one another, which I really liked. You don’t realize how close to guests you actually were before the pandemic. Overall, I loved that they separated individuals in lines for rides, restaurants, and even to get into the parks.

What is Disney World transportation like during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Disney transportation is one of my favorite things about Disney World because it makes it extremely easy for guests to get around the vast property. All Disney World transportation requires guests to wear masks at all times. Disney makes it' very easy for guests to feel safe and comfortable while riding to and from different resorts, parks, or Disney Springs.

Disney’s Magical Express to & from the Airport

On the way to our resort our bus was completely full because flights were delayed and all came into Orlando Airport at the same time. On our way back to the airport at the end of our trip we had the row of seats next to us empty and the seats in front of us empty, which was really nice.

Disney Busses to parks, hotels, & Disney Springs

On the way to the parks, hotels, and Disney Springs the busses all had seat numbers and plastic dividing each party. The bus driver would ask us how many were in our party then assign us a number to sit in. We were always very spread out on these busses too.

Disney Skyliner

We had the entire gondola to ourselves which is something Disney is doing now during the pandemic. Typically, each gondola holds 10 people but now they’re only placing one party in each so Ana and I were alone in ours. It was awesome!!

Other Disney World Transportation

We didn’t take any Water Transportation such as, water taxies or ferries or Monorail Transportation while visiting this time however I’m sure they’re similar to the skyliner and busses.

Pros & Cons of going to Disney World During the Covid-19 pandemic

PROS

• The parks aren’t as crowded because they are limiting capacity.

• Restaurants aren’t as crowded because reservations or mobile order service is required.

• Disney enforces mask wearing very well! We were extremely impressed.

• There are sanitizer stations EVERYWHERE!

• You get to experience the happiest place on Earth safely during a pandemic.

CONS

• Not everyone respects social distancing.. Ana and I were social distancing on Main Street in Magic Kingdom to take some quick photos and because we were stationary we removed our masks and then were booty bumped and actually run over by a family with no regard for others. Both of our jaws dropped.. we actually couldn’t believe that happened and I looked up and said “excuse you” and they looked at me like I was the crazy one. We basically just threw our masks on and high tailed it because we didn’t want to deal with disrespectful individuals.

That was pretty much the only con I had while at the parks. Everything else was great and I felt very safe.

Have you been to Disney World during the Covid-19 pandemic? Be sure to check out my friend Ana’s post here on this topic as well!

XOXO

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