Because it’s important for us to help Disney fans manage their expectations regarding their upcoming vacations to the parks, I want to share a couple of my thoughts on last night’s announcement from Disney that they are resuming the requirement to wear face masks indoors at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
This has been quite the topic of contention amongst most of our viewers/readers as back and forth conversations and arguments ensue online regarding face masks and vaccination status.
While I won’t get into the back and force of unvaccinated versus vaccinated or mask-wearing versus non-mask wearing, I do want to address the topic of social distancing in the parks and resorts and whether or not it will come back. Most of the comments I have seen online consist of people wondering when or if Disney theme parks will revert to using physical distancing markers in their ride queues and throughout the parks and resorts once again.
Anyone who has been to the Disney theme parks in the last month or so can totally see and feel the difference in the crowds. The cast members are back to reminding guests to “fill in all available space” and for some, that’s still an uncomfortable feeling. Theaters are being filled with no empty seats between parties and the same with attractions. Will they go back to spacing guests out on attraction vehicles and in queues? Only time will tell.
Something that I’ve seen brought up several times over the past few days is the Disney Park Pass reservation system; mostly discussing how people have already made their reservations up to the current capacity allowed – whatever that might be. Some folks are saying that there is “no way” Disney could go back and reduce their capacity because tickets have already been sold and Park Pass reservations have already been made.
Do you guys remember last year when all dining reservations were cancelled and everyone had to start over from an even playing field? I’m not by any means suggesting or implying that this will happen again, but it could and we should all be keeping that in mind, simply for the sake of managing our own expectations if nothing else.
Disney could decide that they’re going to lower their theme park capacity at any given moment – with or without notice – and there isn’t anything that any of us can do about that. If it means that they have to go in and cancel all park passes and start from scratch, I’m guessing that’s what they’ll do. Sure, they’ll have some unhappy guests just like they did last year, and still do if we’re being honest, but I don’t believe that will stop them if that’s what they feel needs to be done. In fact, below is a photo of an update that went up on the official Walt Disney World website this morning.
In the meantime, I’m hoping that we can all find a little bit of magic and get through this together.