Yes, there’s a global pandemic. Yes, I have a kid with an underlying condition. And yes, I went to Walt Disney World. Before you judge me (or anyone else) for going to Disney World instead of staying quarantined at home, let me explain why I went to Disney World during a pandemic.
Safety Precautions
Disney is doing everything they can to not only follow but go above and beyond the CDC and WHO guidelines. I had heard from other people that it’s safer than going to the grocery store. After going myself, I can absolutely agree. Here is a list of some of the things they are doing:
- You must get a reservation before showing up because they are only allowing the parks to get up to a maximum of a 25% capacity. I can’t say the same for other theme parks.
- Nobody with a fever or showing symptoms of COVID-19 is allowed to enter — and yes, they do temperature checks (administered by Advent Health professionals) before going in.
- To avoid cross-contamination, they stopped doing bag checks and instead require everyone to go through metal detectors. This also makes getting in quicker.
- In addition to sanitizing high touch points like rails and ride vehicles often, they also offer hand-washing stations and plenty of sanitizer throughout the parks.
- Masks are required at all times (even outside and even while having your photo taken), with the exception of when you are actively eating or drinking while stationary and not near other guests.
- There are neither parades nor fireworks, which would typically mean guests are crowded near each other in close proximity. You cannot meet and greet with characters either. They do, however, have sporadic character cavalcades.
- Signs are displayed throughout the park with frequent announcements over the loudspeakers to remind guests of the rules.
- Markers along each queue indicate where to stand to ensure physical distancing of at least six feet between parties.
Physical Health
Because my son has a rare liver disease called biliary atresia, it was of upmost importance to me to talk with his doctor before we made any decisions about visiting the parks. And when I say that we talked with his doctor, I mean that we spoke with his transplant doctor — not just his pediatrician.
My son went through several blood tests, an ultrasound of his liver and a COVID-19 test. This is routine; I didn’t do it just because I wanted to go to Disney World. But the test results came back indicating that his liver functions are currently at practically normal levels, and his COVID-19 test came back negative. All of this was in our favor. And after talking it over with his doctor, he said it would be absolutely fine to take our son to Disney World as long as we remained socially distant and washed our hands often, which we of course did.
Additionally, I do have grandparents in their 80s, so after leaving the parks, it’s my intent to remain quarantined at home for at least two weeks before I see them again. While I still maintain that Disney is safer than the grocery store, it just seems like the right thing to do. My family’s health and wellbeing remain my top priority.
Empty Park
And the final reason I decided to go to Disney World was because of the nearly non-existent crowds. Even just driving up to the Magic Kingdom, my husband and I remarked to each other how almost eerie it was to see the empty road leading into the parking lot. I had never seen crowds that sparse — certainly not in broad daylight.
The only line that was at all a hassle to wait in was “it’s a small world,” and that was mostly because we had to wait for them to do the deep clean to sanitize all of the ride vehicles. I’m absolutely OK with waiting a little longer if it meant that it was going to be safer to ride.
Was it fun wearing a mask outside in the Florida heat and humidity? Nope. But we stayed in air conditioning as much as we could and didn’t find the masks to be as much of a nuisance as we were expecting — probably because we were too focused on enjoying our time.
We pretty much walked right onto Peter Pan’s Flight, which is typically at least a 90-minute wait on a normal day. And when we were done riding the Winnie the Pooh ride, nobody else was in line, so the cast members asked if we just wanted to ride it again. Given the fact it seemed like the ride our youngest son enjoyed the most, we were all for it.
Seeing the happiness on my sons’ faces after months of being locked up was priceless to me. My younger son had never even seen the outside world in his entire life before this. Hearing the giggles of my two boys made the trip absolutely worth it.
In the end, you have to assess what’s right for you and your family. But given the safety precautions Disney has taken, the fact our son’s transplant doctor gave us the green light, and for the sake of my own mental health, visiting Disney World was the right choice for our family. The allure of an empty park was just the cherry on top.
