Walt Disney World Resort theme parks are preparing for a phased reopening—with significant reduction in capacity—beginning this Saturday, July 11, with Magic Kingdom Park and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will follow on Wednesday, July 15.
In addition to limits on attendance and controlled guest density, new procedures will be in place for park entry, attractions, dining, retail, transportation and more.
In order to cap visitors at all theme parks, guests must have a reservation to visit. WDW’s Park Pass System is a new online tool available on disneyworld.com where your clients can make a reservation in advance for each park entry. After logging in and purchasing a ticket, they’ll have access to a calendar of available reservations and dates for each theme park. Your clients will be able to link tickets with family and friends to coordinate their trip.
Health & Safety Measures
All guests 2 years of age and older as well as cast members will be required to wear a face covering at all times except when eating and drinking while dining. Walt Disney World Resort guest transportation will have limited capacity and guest density—theme park buses and the monorail will implement a combination of physical distancing and physical barriers to provide separation between guest parties. Party groups will be required to maintain physical distancing while aboard Disney watercraft. Disney Skyliner will load one party per gondola when it returns to operation July 15. For those driving to a theme park, auto plazas will be in place to offer cashless payment (parking lot trams will not be available).
All guests will undergo temperature screening prior to entering a theme park, and park entry will be touch-less with greeters verifying your theme park reservation. Based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anyone displaying a temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher will be directed to an additional location for rescreening and assistance. Those who again measure 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher will not be allowed entry, nor will those in their party.
There will be increased cleaning procedures in high-traffic areas, and there will be new signs throughout the parks promoting these new measures & requirements, including directing visitors to hand washing stations and hand sanitizer dispensaries; and asking guests to maintain proper physical distancing, with ground markings at restaurants, shops and attraction queues providing a guide.
Most attractions will be available when the theme parks reopen but loading procedures will be adjusted in order to keep parties distanced from one another. Capacity for shops will be limited and physical barriers will be in place at select locations with cashless transactions encouraged.
New measures implemented at dining locations include enhanced cleaning in waiting and dining areas and increased distance between seated parties, as well as the removal of self-service stations for food and drinks. Mobile order through the My Disney Experience app is now the primary way to select and pay for food at many quick service restaurants. With a few tabs, clients can browse menus, pick an arrival time that fits their schedule and order ahead from wherever they happen to be. When they arrive at the restaurant, they can tap “I’m here” and head to a designated pick up area. Select table service restaurant will now offer mobile check-in through the My Disney Experience app, allowing visitors to be notified remotely when their table is ready.
And your clients will want to know that with traditional character greetings and parades on hiatus during this phased reopening, Disney characters will appear in new and different ways throughout all four theme parks. Select atmosphere entertainment groups will return, as well, such as Main Street Philharmonic at Magic Kingdom, Mariachi Cobre and the JAMMitors at EPCOT, and Discovery Island Drummers at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Entertainment experiences that draw large group gatherings, such as nighttime spectaculars, will be on hiatus.
New Blended Festival Debuts at EPCOT
A new version of the popular EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival will debut July 15 when the park reopens, continuing into the fall. The Taste of EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival will be the longest festival in Walt Disney World history, blending floral fun from the park’s annual flower and garden event with the global goodies of the food and wine festival.
This new event will offer more than 20 signature global marketplaces, including Hawaii, Hops & Barley and Islands of the Caribbean. Additional tables will be in place throughout the park where guests can stop and remove their face coverings to enjoy festival dishes while maintaining physical distancing. Guests can take photos in front of the park’s newest Remy topiary in the France pavilion and purchase merchandise from the 2020 International EPCOT Flower & Garden Festival.
For more information, visit disneyworld.com/updates.
