Walt Disney World Reopening Mandates
There has been a lot of speculation and interest about when Walt Disney World will reopen. (Hint: I don’t think it will be 2021.) Florida has pushed faster than other states to reopen, but with tourism being such a large part of their economy, they definitely want to be careful. Yesterday the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force introduced recommended guidelines they feel will make reopening easier.
These guidelines come from their recent meeting and are not final procedures. These are recommendations and will adjust as data and circumstances change. With that said, they should still give us a good idea of what things will look like when Walt Disney World reopens so let’s take a look!
A Plan for Reopening Florida’s Businesses Including Walt Disney World
In a meeting yesterday the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force released their initial recommendations for reopening businesses of all types. We’ll take a deeper look at the recommendations for hotels, restaurants and theme parks since those will directly impact the reopening of Walt Disney World.
Walt Disney World Hotel Reopening Guidelines
Walt Disney World is home to numerous on-site hotels while also drawing tourists from hundreds of hotels just off property as well. Here are some of the taskforce recommended guidelines for the reopening of Walt Disney World and other Central Florida hotels.
- Limited housekeeping services which allows for minimal guest and employee exposure
- Rooms to be cleaned only upon request or when guests depart
- Mobile check-in should be promoted
- Non-critical employees should be allowed to work from home
- No in-room room service deliveries
- Social distancing should be promoted for all guests and staff
- Additional cleaning and sanitizing should be performed
- For Phase 1 & Phase 2 employees who are 65 or older should be encourages to stay home
Additionally, the task force has recommended a number of mandates be put in place for hotels including those located in and around Walt Disney World.
- All employees must wear facemasks
- Touchless hand sanitizer to be located at the entry
- Employees with flu like symptoms stay home
- Front desk staff to sanitize regularly
- Sneeze guards to be used at the front desk
- All service items such as glassware, coffee cups, etc must be removed from rooms
- Mini bars are not to be stocked
- No self food services will be offered
- Pool furniture is to be spaced according to social distancing guidelines and is to be sanitized regularly
- Door handles, elevator buttons and railings to be sanitized regularly
- All guest collateral items to be removed, except those that are single use
- Guest keys and bell carts are to be sanitized between use
- No conferences allowed in Phase 1 or 2 of reopening
Large Theme Parks Including Disney & Universal
In addition to the numerous recommendations for the reopening of hotels, the task force has specifically laid out recommended guidelines and mandates for the reopening of large theme parks such as the ones owned by Disney, Universal and SeaWorld.
Here are the recommended guidelines for the reopening of the Walt Disney World theme parks:
- Tape marking of 6 feet apart in ride/attraction queues
- Staff regularly needs to wipe down surfaces at random
- During phase 1 & 2 staff who are 65+ are encouraged to stay home
Additionally, the task for has recommended the following mandates for large theme parks when reopening:
- All employees required to wear facemasks
- Touchless hand sanitizer at each ticketing entry and turnstiles
- Touchless hand sanitizer at each ride attraction entry and exit
- Temperature checks for staff prior to shift (temp above 100.4 must not enter premises)
- All employees with flu-like symtpoms advised to stay home
- Wipe down all railings and surfaces after every use (That could get tricky on high capacity rides)
Walt Disney World Capacity When Reopen
The Economic Recovery Task Force for Orange County also recommended capacity mandates for Disney, Universal, SeaWorld and other large theme parks to follow when reopening.
The phased capacity constraints for Walt Disney World and other large theme parks are as follows:
- Phase 1 Theme Park Capacity: 50%
- Phase 2 Theme Park Capacity: 75%
Having less guests in the park should allow for greater social distancing while also giving the parks time to adjust to all of the new procedures which are sure to slow things down tremendously.
Walt Disney World Restaurant Reopening Guidelines & Mandates
In addition to recommended guidelines and mandates for theme parks and hotels, the task force has also released recommened procedures for reopening restaurants at Walt Disney World and elsewhere in Central Florida. Under this new plan restaurants may face new mandates such as having sanitizer at each table, employees being required to wear facemasks, regular sanitizing of every surface, the spacing out of tables and similar capacity constraints to the theme parks.
Watch the entire video below for the full recommendations released by the task force. Skip ahead to the 22 minute mark for the portion about hotels & theme parks.
Walt Disney World Reopening Mandates – Bottom Line
While we still don’t have an exact date for the reopening of Walt Disney World and other theme park resorts in Central Florida, we now know a little more about what these places may look like when their gates once again swing open.
What do you think about the new Walt Disney World reopening proposed guidelines? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
are retired cast members included
will retired cast member be able to get in the parks
I suspect any free passes will be restricted for awhile but no info has been released as of yet.
I go to DisneyWorld every summer in Mid August, but will not go if they are still in Phase 1 or Phase 2. I am not spending $100+ per day if I have to wait in long lines because of social distancing or can’t see the parades and fireworks shows.
As we all know from New Year’s Resolutions, what people say and what people do are 2 different things. The media can run around and do polls all day showing that 75% of the people say they won’t go to Theme Parks in the next year, but people will flock back once they see a sense of normalcy. And that is what Disney needs to do, they need to get out of Phase 1 and Phase 2 as quickly as possible.
I am sick and tired of hearing people say the world will never be the same blah blah blah. The world will be the same in a few months, except for the people who seem to live their whole life in fear. Those people can stay locked in their basements for the rest of their life.
It will be different but the reality is the whole world is now different. Fear has been ingrained in our heads for justifiable reasons now we need immunity to overcome the fear. Less is not necessarily a bad thing. I am a big fan of Disney. so I do not want to see it go under. I hope to be able to experience this new way because some new protocols will be permanent, here to stay TY COVID19, such as better cleaning, less acceptance of no space… I do believe Disney with time will be able to bring some of the old Disney ways we are use to but before 03/13/20 100% those ways NOPE. It will be interesting to see how big crowds of rides will be handled next year. I do not envision that happening this year. Given our nation’s economy even if we want to RUN to Disney parks many will not be able to because of life priorities. This will give Disney time to properly adapt as changes come, as new social norms, new social behaviors which ones.. become permanent. This is what I truly admire of Disney Co they adapt with time, they’ve had too if not they’d had gone under years ago.
I think it’s dangerous. Will parking still be as economical as always? Walt is rolling in his grave at how expensive it is to have a family visit.
Ha….You need to do you research on who Walt Disney really was.
Sounds awesome!!!
I want to be at that park at phase I. 50% capacity!
So you think. The VIBE will gone. You think wow I can get on the rides quickly. That is 1000% wrong. Distacing and wiping ripdes plus other procedures will slow things down considerably.
That’s 1000% wrong if you think that’s what I’m looking at.