While we still wait for the official reopening of the Disney World parks, all three parks at Universal Orlando Resort are up and running. In order to make the parks safer for guests, your next trip to Universal may look a bit different than your last. Here is what I experienced during my day in the parks a few weeks after they reopened this summer.
The first thing to note is that masks are required nearly everywhere on property. This includes hotels and parks, even when you are outside. Exceptions to this are when you are seated at a restaurant or using the pool. We chose an extremely hot day to visit the parks, so honestly keeping the mask on at all times was really very challenging. I bought a ticket that is good for multiple days and will probably be waiting until the fall when it is a bit cooler out to use the second day. Breathing in the mask in the heat is too exhausting.
I stayed overnight at the Endless Summer Resort- Surfside Inn and Suites. At the hotel, there was a temperature check as soon as you entered the lobby. A wristband was then given to you to avoid having to check guests every time they entered the building. In the morning, we had to stop by the station to get our temperature rechecked, and then were given a different color wristband to signal that we were all good for that day.
While we went to the parks after checking out of the hotel, we had them hold onto our bags. In order to keep workers from touching your belongings, we actually had to place them in the back room ourselves. The workers also took extra care not to pack the busses that transport you from the resort to the parks.
When we first arrived at Citywalk, there was a bit of confusion in the lines leading to security. No one really knew where they were supposed to be so social distancing protocols were not really kept. However, I do not believe the situation is this messy all the time. We showed up for dinner, which is right around the time that the parks close and many people leave. In the morning when we came back to enter the parks, the process was not nearly as busy or confusing.
There are signs posted at the entrance to Citywalk as well as around the parks to remind guests of social distancing and other safety procedures. With everything that is going on, I was actually surprised with how busy Citywalk was on a Thursday night. However, once the initial park crowds cleared out it wasn’t too bad.
Most restaurants did have wait times of about 30 minutes to an hour. Again, this probably mainly just had to do with our timing of arrival being right when the parks closed at 6 pm. With restaurants not serving at their full capacity, wait times are increased a little.
We ended up waiting around half an hour to eat at the Hard Rock Café. Here, as well as many different restaurants, there are signs on the floor to indicate where you should stand. Doors are designated as entrance or exit only and hands must be sanitized upon entry. Bar seating was limited so they could spread out parties, but we were able to grab a beer and bring it outside while we waited. Every time we sat to eat anywhere, we were provided with a bag to place our masks in.
One thing that I was not expecting to still take place was any live music. However, Citywalk still did have performers on their stage at night. The seating was not crowded though, and everyone seemed to still be keeping their distance.
The parks themselves did not look busy at all when walking around, except for when we first arrived with the crowd. Throughout the day I was amazed at how much open space there was. However, even though the streets seemed empty, we still did meet a good amount of wait times.
Social distancing is enforced throughout all queues with place markers on the ground to show where your party should stand. Some queues even have workers there to monitor where you are standing and make sure everyone is keeping their masks on. Because of the extra spacing required between parties, the queue looked to extend way farther than it actually was. It is hard to guess how far you are from the ride with all the space between riders.
Universal team members are only filling part of the ride vehicles, usually every other row. This obviously makes the line take longer. What was really frustrating to watch was when a party of one or two took up a row of four to themselves. The ride that we experienced the longest wait because of this was actually the Hogwarts Express that takes you between parks. The procedures totally make sense, again it was just hard standing in a long line seeing entire cabins filled up with a just a couple or a single rider.
While ride seats are not wiped down between guests, a team member places hand sanitizer in your hands before every ride. Yes, every single ride. (And I’m not talking just any sanitizer here. This is the slimiest sanitizer I’ve ever used. Even after washing my hands later, my hands were still slimy.) I was still a little uncomfortable getting into those ride seats though. My thoughts were that if they filled odd numbered rows one ride, the next riders should sit in the even number rows to at least space out the people in each seat and give riders that extra peace of mind.
Some of the ride stories, such as Escape from Gringotts, were affected because of the virus. The ride normally has a few pre-show activities that are not currently operating so guests don’t have to be shut together in close quarters. I thought it odd that they didn’t just play one of the videos as you walked through in order to add to the experience.
Other interesting things to note about the park experience is that character appearances are very limited. We only saw characters on two occasions throughout the whole day. Each time they were distanced from crowds.
Although procedures are being enforced, it still seemed there were some areas that were lacking. For example, some commonly touched areas such as themed decorations and statues were not roped off. Some of these areas can be found in Simpson’s character statues or the photo below. Although some of these places have signs telling people to keep their distance, it is not being enforced. These characters could still be touched and climbed on without anyone cleaning in between.
Overall, I still felt pretty safe during my trip to Universal. What do you think? Are you going to be visiting the theme parks any time soon?
Pretty safe seems about right🙄, but the slime sanitizer probably is great fun for the little ones! Very interesting post. Thanks for the honesty and the inside story.