News Disney mask policy at Walt Disney World theme parks

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TrojanUSC

Well-Known Member
It's obvious masks are going soon, but it's still interesting that it seems like they're going to lump everyone as "fully vaccinated" when this is our current data and we have the CDC still recommending masks for kids under 12.



Which is why they are going to lump everyone as "non-vaccinated" indoors and in queues.
 

m3000

New Member
The obvious answer is Disney says all vaccinated people can go maskless and all unvaccinated people have to wear masks. Problem solved!

No unvaccinated person would ever lie about that and go maskless right???


Alternatively since it's impossible to tell who is vaccinated and unvaccinated, then the mask requirements needs to be an all or nothing thing. Which if unvaccinated people want to risk that then they should go for it assuming they're also fine paying full price for any doctor or hospital bills they accumulate if they do catch it. Ventilators aren't cheap after all! But unfortunately kids under 12 still have no choice, which is the crux of the problem now. Kids obviously have less risk of serious issues with Covid overall but what is an "acceptable" amount of risk is going to be a very personal decision for a lot of families. It's something we're struggling with ourselves. And so Disney has to decide if keeping that risk low for kids will bring them more money vs upsetting the adults who don't want to wear masks. I'm thankful I'm not the one trying to figure that out.
 
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correcaminos

Well-Known Member
be advised: that’s “party time” and pretty close to the biggest weekend if I recall?
I go yearly for this. It's not that bad even at MK. I think bad stereotypes come out because of what it is, not due to how it is. Many avoid due to that alone (don't want my kid to see it) plus it's officially canceled.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
I go yearly for this. It's not that bad even at MK. I think bad stereotypes come out because of what it is, not due to how it is. Many avoid due to that alone (don't want my kid to see it) plus it's officially canceled.
I strongly disagree. I've been three or four times and I think that in general it's fine, and even the "scheduled" days when they officially go to Epcot, Studios, or Animal Kingdom are fine. But that scheduled Saturday at Magic Kingdom is crushing crowds.
 

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
I go yearly for this. It's not that bad even at MK. I think bad stereotypes come out because of what it is, not due to how it is. Many avoid due to that alone (don't want my kid to see it) plus it's officially canceled.

don’t misunderstand... I’m supporting it, not condemning it. But I know there’s still strong opinions out there.

underneath the surface...there’s a lot of pure joy during the month. Fun and a lot of good natured people. More than “average” for sure.

I don’t understand why that’s ever a bad thing. But opinions vary.

and I guess it is canceled this year....that stinks. They should reschedule it for October...liven up that crowd of gulf coasters and/or Pearl clutchers 😎

I strongly disagree. I've been three or four times and I think that in general it's fine, and even the "scheduled" days when they officially go to Epcot, Studios, or Animal Kingdom are fine. But that scheduled Saturday at Magic Kingdom is crushing crowds.

yeah...that’s the kinda thing i was talking about
 
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Kidatheart1963

New Member
Legal issues could arise if officials tried to make use of a vaccine passport system mandatory.
as the vaccines themselves can not be made mandatory, the passport system itself can not be made mandatory either:

“I think it would be a big problem if it were mandatory, because you can’t make the vaccine mandatory. You can exclude people for not being vaccinated, but you can’t force them to take the vaccine. So if you were to require or mandate the app or the program, I think you might run into some legal problems.”
 

GaBoy

Well-Known Member
The obvious answer is Disney says all vaccinated people can go maskless and all unvaccinated people have to wear masks. Problem solved!

No unvaccinated person would ever lie about that and go maskless right???


Alternatively since it's impossible to tell who is vaccinated and unvaccinated, then the mask requirements needs to be an all or nothing thing. Which if unvaccinated people want to risk that then they should go for it assuming they're also fine paying full price for any doctor or hospital bills they accumulate if they do catch it. Ventilators aren't cheap after all! But unfortunately kids under 12 still have no choice, which is the crux of the problem now. Kids obviously have less risk of serious issues with Covid overall but what is an "acceptable" amount of risk is going to be a very personal decision for a lot of families. It's something we're struggling with ourselves. And so Disney has to decide if keeping that risk low for kids will bring them more money vs upsetting the adults who don't want to wear masks. I'm thankful I'm not the one trying to figure that out
The transition is going to be tough and the customer service folks are probably being prepped or should be. I assume that this won't be a gradual tapering of restrictions. I would guess that when Disney does this, they will drop it in the same manner the CDC did.
They will also keep it very simple and not interject a policing role into this which would add additional strain to their understaffed parks.
It could be just as simple as what the CDC guidance suggests, shifting that responsibility to the individual. They would state exactly what the CDC guideline states and let people make their own adjustments on a family by family basis. This may or may not look like a mix of masks or no masks for a family of four and it will be really simple for the parks to restate the simple guidelines, again pushing the decision making to the individual to figure out.
 

correcaminos

Well-Known Member
don’t misunderstand... I’m supporting it, not condemning it. But I know there’s still strong opinions out there.

underneath the surface...there’s a lot of pure joy during the month. Fun and a lot of good natured people. More than “average” for sure.

I don’t understand why that’s ever a bad thing. But opinions vary.

and I guess it is canceled this year....that stinks. They should reschedule it for October...liven up that crowd of gulf coasters and/or Pearl clutchers 😎



yeah...that’s the kinda thing i was talking about
I figured you were talking about crowds and the draw to it, not supporting or not, so don't worry there. The reality is some are drawn to it, and others are 100% into avoiding it. So the balance is it really isn't busier than usual. There are group schedules like country bear full of a bunch of red shirts (best show ever IMO) that could cause maybe a temporary wait to be more, but going yearly now early June, the crowds are not so bad. It was cancelled a few months back, but I'm sure unofficially it will still go on.

I strongly disagree. I've been three or four times and I think that in general it's fine, and even the "scheduled" days when they officially go to Epcot, Studios, or Animal Kingdom are fine. But that scheduled Saturday at Magic Kingdom is crushing crowds.
I go to quite a few of the scheduled days, and intentionally do MK that Saturday every year. I loathe crowds. It's not crushing at all. Spring break is faaaar worse. And I'm not even talking Easter/Passover weeks too.
 

tpac24

Well-Known Member
no...it’s not a justification for overselling their park when the conditions didn’t warrant it. And that is what happened
If they opened and functioned at capacity with little restrictions and weren't a big super spreader like expected shouldn't that be recognized? You know follow the science. I actually think them proceeding that way and having people who were willing to go is actually a good case study to learn from. We are noticing more and more when states started to reopen and drop mask mandates that the results we were being told to expect really didn't go the way they said in some cases I think some had hoped.
 

Dranth

Well-Known Member
With the upcoming distancing change and assuming they do mostly drop masks at WDW soon, their reasons to not bring back everything (entertainment, dinning, activities, FP+, etc.) that was shelved due to COVID are pretty much gone. For me, it will be interesting to watch add see how both Disney and guests respond going forward.

Specifically, if they slow walk the return of all the missing elements and people are starting to expect something close to a “normal” experience, will that guest satisfaction level they have enjoyed the past year start to plummet? If everything does come back, will guest satisfaction fall because we have changed as people? In other words, do we all descend on WDW and it looks/feels like 2019 and suddenly realize, after a year of pandemic life, this feels downright uncomfortable and isn’t a very pleasant experience?

Who knows, maybe it just all returns to normal very quickly but it will be interesting to watch.
 

mgf

Well-Known Member
I would guess that when Disney does this, they will drop it in the same manner the CDC did.
They will also keep it very simple and not interject a policing role into this which would add additional strain to their understaffed parks.

Which may lead them to move more slowly. I doubt they will change rules overnight. I suspect at least a few weeks notice to recondition guest expectations. For all the talk about people avoiding the parks because of the mandates, my suspicion is at least (and likely far more) came to the parks *because* of the mandates and protocols.

We have all spent a lot of time armchair health policying Disney, but I would guess they know exactly where the market (or at least the share they want) is at on COVID protocols.
 

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Original Poster
With the upcoming distancing change and assuming they do mostly drop masks at WDW soon, their reasons to not bring back everything (entertainment, dinning, activities, FP+, etc.) that was shelved due to COVID are pretty much gone. For me, it will be interesting to watch add see how both Disney and guests respond going forward.

Specifically, if they slow walk the return of all the missing elements and people are starting to expect something close to a “normal” experience, will that guest satisfaction level they have enjoyed the past year start to plummet? If everything does come back, will guest satisfaction fall because we have changed as people? In other words, do we all descend on WDW and it looks/feels like 2019 and suddenly realize, after a year of pandemic life, this feels downright uncomfortable and isn’t a very pleasant experience?

Who knows, maybe it just all returns to normal very quickly but it will be interesting to watch.
Disney has some significant barriers to returning to normal.

Staffing is a massive problem right now. They simply do not have the number of CMs to increase capacity and extend hours. College Program restart will help, but will take a while to ramp up. Bus drivers are critically short. Not enough trainers, and not enough drivers. It is a double whammy.

Union agreements will cause significant issues - the reopening agreements were made with mask requirements in place. Unions are going to need to sign off on those.

Disney are also greatly concerned about public perception and how no masks and distancing leaves those unable to get vaccinated - under 12s.

Sea World and Uni do not have these problems so can pretty much flip the switch overnight. Disney cannot.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Let’s nip this at the bud. Disney will NOT say 12+ vaccinated (so, everyone 12+ because they can’t ask for vaccine passports) go maskless while kids wear masks. That’s the exact reason Disney is not rushing this like Hersheypark. Anti-kids policies are damaging to the Disney brand. Instead, they are waiting a bit to let this all play out. There is not a single Governor who will punish children for not getting a vaccine they can’t get (and probably not many parents). You will observe the removal of all remaining mask mandates from states and local government bodies in the coming weeks. Then Disney will act.

This is the same reason why they chose to not allow vaccinated out-of-staters into Disneyland. That would exclude children. It’s pretty disgusting that any themed entertainment companies are engaging in that for a few bucks.

It is a preposterous position from the CDC to suggest children wear masks indefinitely. That’s why states are ignoring that. In the same way that public uproar caused the recent CDC updates, there will be further updates with respect to children.
 
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ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Let’s not forget, the CDC has already said vaccinated adults and their unvaccinated children can be out and about without masks. Disney can remove the outdoor mask mandate and tell people to still distance and stay in groups of no more than x people (8 people? 3 family groups? Their choice. Latter most likely) and be in line with CDC policy, FL state law, and (soon) Orange County guidance.

Indoors will take longer.
 
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