New restaurant mask rule

Wellhello

New Member
Original Poster
Hey all,
Couldn’t find whether this has already been discussed on here but my family and I have a trip planned to WDW in April and had a couple questions about this new mask policy at restaurants. Does this new policy mean in between taking bites and sips of water I have to keep removing and putting on my mask throughout the duration of my meal? Are they actually enforcing it? Thanks for any advice!
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
Hey all,
Couldn’t find whether this has already been discussed on here but my family and I have a trip planned to WDW in April and had a couple questions about this new mask policy at restaurants. Does this new policy mean in between taking bites and sips of water I have to keep removing and putting on my mask throughout the duration of my meal? Are they actually enforcing it? Thanks for any advice!
Not between bites, no.
If you are sitting waiting for your next course, waiting for your party to finish, or after the meal, yes.
 

Chi84

Premium Member
Not between bites, no.
If you are sitting waiting for your next course, waiting for your party to finish, or after the meal, yes.
Do you know this or is this your interpretation of the rule? Have you been to WDW and observed how the rule is being enforced? I'm asking because we're going in a few months and there's a great deal of room for interpretation.
 

Chi84

Premium Member
We went to Yak and Yeti yesterday and I honestly forgot about this new rule and no one said anything. I think they’re trying to prevent people from hanging out for long periods of time after their meal is over, but I didn’t notice any differences in operation with any tables or cast members.
Thanks! So people aren't being asked to put on masks while waiting for their food or between courses?
 

crawale

Well-Known Member
Source?

Yeah, after meals makes sense because they don't want people hogging up tables as mask break time, but are people really being asked to put masks on in between courses?
If you are waiting for courses it is not your fault the food is not at the table. Hopefully some common sense will prevail and staff will know the difference between just sitting at the tables and actually having a dining experience. The more masks are touched and taken off and on the less effective they become.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Do you know this or is this your interpretation of the rule? Have you been too WDW and observed how the rule is being enforced? I'm asking because we're going in a few months and there's a great deal of room for interpretation.
I can't imagine the rule is being implied the way he's reading it. Even the most stringent pro-mask people in the world don't think it's a good idea to be constantly taking masks off and putting them back on several times over the course of a meal. It's essentially rubbing a used tissue on the table over and over again.
 

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
I can't imagine the rule is being implied the way he's reading it. Even the most stringent pro-mask people in the world don't think it's a good idea to be constantly taking masks off and putting them back on several times over the course of a meal. It's essentially rubbing a used tissue on the table over and over again.
Saw livestreamers yesterday once they sat down they took their masks off....server didnt say anything.
If you are waiting for courses it is not your fault the food is not at the table. Hopefully some common sense will prevail and staff will know the difference between just sitting at the tables and actually having a dining experience. The more masks are touched and taken off and on the less effective they become.
He asked for the rule and not how its being enforced.

Its to stop people from sitting there 20 minutes after their meal without masks. Or those who take 30 minutes to 'decide' while sitting at the table so they don't have to wear a mask. Its not to stop you from having a 'dining experience'. The CMs will enforce it on those who need it enforced on them.

Also, the mask touching thing is largely debunked as the virus is extremely difficult to spread via a surface, so touching it doesn't really put you at a much larger risk. Theres some increase, sure, but its very low. Same reason you don't really need to disinfect your groceries or cart or anything else you touch.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
He asked for the rule and not how its being enforced.
That's not what you answered either. If the rule were interpreted literally, it WOULD mean masks on in between bites, which you already acknowledged is not the case. That's not the rule. It's not the intent of the rule, it's not the spirit of the rule, and it's not how the rule is being applied in practice.

"Actively eating or drinking" is being used to mean "in the middle of a meal." It's not rogue cast members choosing not to enforce the rules, that's just what Disney means by what they wrote.
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
CMs are not gonna in force that rule because it’s asking too much. And guests will be MORE than rude to the CM about it. It’s not worth enforcing.

If you’re going out to a theme park then you already don’t care enough as it is. So eh. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Chi84

Premium Member
I can't imagine the rule is being implied the way he's reading it. Even the most stringent pro-mask people in the world don't think it's a good idea to be constantly taking masks off and putting them back on several times over the course of a meal. It's essentially rubbing a used tissue on the table over and over again.
Are you doubting the power of the mask to keep itself COVID-free? (Insert gratuitous scolding)

In this case, OP is clearly asking for information on how Disney is interpreting and enforcing the rule - not for others to read it and tell OP what they think it might mean. If you don't make that clear, you get some interesting interpretations of rules, including the following (from another site):

One poster insisted that the "spirit" of Tables in Wonderland precluded the cardholder from paying for the entire party and then collecting later from the other households in his party. I actually ran that by a CM when I ordered my next card and she assured me that TIW has no "spiritual" rules, only the ones written in black and white under terms and conditions.

Another poster said that TIW included valet parking for three hours or the duration of your meal, whichever is shorter, and that if you finished early and wanted to look around the resort, you had to get the permission of the valet.
 
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King Racoon 77

Thank you sir. You were an inspiration.
Premium Member
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