Disney World Ending Temperature Checks & Universal Also Dropping Distancing
In what appears to be a coordinated move, Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced within hours of one another the dropping of one health safety measure, while Universal took that a step further with the relaxation of another. In this post, we’ll offer a rundown of the changes, when they’ll occur, and what else might be the on the horizon–and when.
It’s been a whirlwind week on the health safety front. It started with Orange County’s announcement that physical distancing would be relaxed immediately to 3 feet as part of a phased plan with vaccination and positivity metrics that would allow the gradual lifting of all mandates.
Then came the recommendation from the Florida Department of Health that businesses within the county no longer need to perform temperature checks on guests prior to entry. The Orange County Department of Health Director Dr. Raul Pino said too many places are wasting resources on something that “makes no difference.” Based on these county-level recommendations, our expectation was policy changes from Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World in the coming weeks…
The biggest change, effective immediately, comes from Universal Orlando Resort, which issued the following “New Safety Guidelines: Getting Closer to Normal” on its Operations & Safety Updates:
“We’re excited to enhance your Universal experience with the latest safety updates from local health and government officials. There are no more temperature checks upon entry. And Social Distancing between travel parties is now reduced to three feet (1 meter). Still, most of our original safety protocols remain unchanged–from wearing face coverings across our Resort to our ongoing dedication to cleanliness and sanitization.”
For its part, Walt Disney World announced on its “Reopening & Update Experiences” the dropping of one health safety measure: “Since reopening, we have considered guidance from public health authorities, government agencies, and our own team of health and safety experts as we assess and update health and safety measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
“As this guidance continues to evolve, and with the support of local health and government officials, we are making some additional adjustments. Following the advice of the CDC and our local health officials, we will phase out onsite temperature screenings at Walt Disney World Resort for Cast Members beginning May 8 and Guests on May 16.”
Walt Disney World indicates it will “continue to follow the guidance of health and safety leaders going forward and most importantly encourage people to get vaccinated.” This is the second time in only a few days that Walt Disney World has publicly encouraged guests to get vaccinated, which is great to see.
As we pointed out previously, vaccine hesitancy comes in many forms and to varying degrees. Some people are unlikely to be persuaded; many others are simply on the fence, waiting to hear from voices they trust, like friends, family, or even their favorite theme parks. I got the shot because my personal hero, Jason Alexander, did. (Never mind the fact that he was vaccinated after me; that’s neither here nor there.)
In terms of commentary, both of these are solid moves in my view. Temperature checks are one of many things Walt Disney World has been doing in the name of “safety” that we’ve been deriding as “hygiene theater.” They’ve always been a waste of money that was not effective at much of anything except giving guests comfort. Even last year, the consensus was that they offered minor mitigative benefits at best, and an emboldening illusion of safety at worst.
Physical distancing is a bit of a different story. Nevertheless, we need an off-ramp for returning to normal as vaccination rates increase, cases/positivity/hospitalizations/deaths drop, and risk is objectively lower.
Even if you’re exclusively a Walt Disney World fan, Universal Orlando’s changes are noteworthy. As with traditional security, the health protocol plans developed by all Central Florida theme parks have been collaborative in nature. While some diehard fans of both Disney and Universal project their own aspersions and view the companies in an oddly adversarial light, that doesn’t reflect reality.
While competitors, it’s also true that Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando both exist in the same community and engage with one another and the same local leaders. In the past, we’ve seen identical changes and policies rolled out simultaneously at the two resort complexes, including 5 years ago when both (plus SeaWorld) installed enhanced security infrastructure overnight.
There have been some diverging approaches between Universal and Disney on the health safety front, but 95% of their rules and protocol have ended up being identical. This is not coincidence.
The main difference in the last year has been that Universal Orlando has been more nimble and faster moving than Walt Disney World in making changes. They’ve essentially offered a couple of weeks’ sneak peek at policies Disney would later implement. We’d expect the same here with 3′ physical distancing.
On that note, the Walt Disney Company has its fiscal second quarter 2021 financial results webcast on May 13, 2021. A portion of this is usually devoted to forward-looking expectations, with positive changes emphasized to create optimism among investors. That earnings call would present the perfect opportunity for Disney to announce plans to relax physical distancing and increase attendance.
As we’ve pointed out ad nauseam, physical distancing is Disney’s biggest impediment to profitability. Don’t be surprised if CFO Christine McCarthy points to several “tailwinds” for Walt Disney World during the summer travel season, including safely increasing attendance thanks to higher capacity caps.
Of course, what’s good for the theme park operators is not always what’s good for the guests. It’s a given that Universal Orlando will raise its attendance limits as a result of this move. What’s not clear is how this will impact physical distancing on attractions, and whether the two increases will be proportionate to one another.
Our guess is that they will not. While most rides are not operating at or close to 100% efficiency, distancing on many attractions already has been reduced significantly since last summer. It’s unlikely ride efficiency can be increased right now to a sufficient degree to offset the attendance uptick.
Our expectation is that the length of lines will decrease, posted wait times will remain more or less unchanged, and actual wait times (which are often ~75% of posted wait times) will elevate slightly. It’s also entirely possible that many weekdays demand will be more of a limiting factor on attendance going forward than the park capacity caps.
One way reduced physical distancing would be mutually beneficial to park operators and guests is at restaurants. Decreasing table spacing and seating more people could relieve some of the burden on dining reservations, so long as those restaurants are sufficiently staffed to fill more tables (which may not be the case). Thus, whether this change is a net positive or negative for guests will depend in large part upon when you visit, what you do, etc.
Ultimately, regardless of whether or when Walt Disney World officially reduces physical distancing to three feet, that has become the de facto standard for most guests. One of the things we’ve stressed repeatedly is the importance of a pragmatic approach to health safety protocol, and the need for both health officials and businesses to comport with public expectations. Again, being fully vaccinated is effectively the end of this for most people, and they’ll behave accordingly without regard to what some marker on the ground says.
At some point, some of these measures and rules amount to Walt Disney World trying to swim upstream. In our view, that point has been reached with trying to enforce 6′ physical distancing. Making 3′ the official rule now would be advantageous for both Walt Disney World and guests, and should facilitate the return of more substantive offerings and be a big stride towards normalcy. It would also likely mean higher wait times in the short term, but that’s totally worth it for us as this is the roadblock for many other positive changes and the return of things we’re anxiously awaiting.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Any predictions on if or when Walt Disney World will reduce physical distancing? Would you view that move as a net positive or negative in returning to normal? Thoughts on both Universal and Disney dropping temperature checks? Do you think they were doing any good, or are viewed as a hassle at this point? Please keep the comments civil. This is not the place for arguing about efficacy, politics, and so forth—all such comments will be deleted, irrespective of perspective. You are not going to change anyone’s mind via the comments section on this blog, nor are you going to change Disney’s rules or public policy. If you wish to contest this, rather than yelling into the internet abyss, have your voice heard in a meaningful way by contacting Disney or your local elected officials.
Practically speaking, even with the 6-foot distancing requirement, we almost always had the people in line behind us up our keisters. A 3-foot distancing requirement is practically no distancing. I’m not as concerned in that we’re outdoors, but it’s irritating to me that so many people can’t follow basic instructions. Oh well. Here’s to hoping we’re back to normal sooner than later.
The difference between Disney and classrooms is that schools have a stable cohort of students from the same locality that can easily be screened and tracked. The CDC recommendation for schools assumes other protocols are also in place. Disney has a mix of thousands of people from places with different transmission rates coming together and mixing. So the odds of exposure are just different. That’s why I think they may go to 3 feet distancing, but masking will be in place for a longer time.
While there are vaccines available, a huge portion of Disney’s attendees (under 16) cannot get them, and we’ll likely see 12-16 year olds eligible sooner than under 12. I don’t see Disney going back to “normal” until kids have at least an option for a vaccine.
This is not just about individual safety (I’ve got mine so I’m good) but about reducing community spread through the population (getting closer to something like herd immunity). I expect Disney to play it on the safer side to appear a responsible brand and keep some restrictions in place longer. That said, I think we’ll see some things loosen up that help them financially (more capacity) but others might stay in place (masking indoors).
about time to drop this. I’d really be interested in knowing stats on people turned away due to high temps. Last aug at Epcot I had to drink some cool water and sit in the tent to get my temp down but after a quick re-check I was fine and of course didn’t have Covid. I know these stats won’t ever be released but it would be of interest. Like did WDW turn someone away and only to find out later that that person tested positive. I wish they’d drop the temp check at my children’s school too. Hope this catches on everywhere.
Wow. Months ago this blog was filled with people saying how they’re excited for things to get back to a recognizable normal. Now it’s copy and paste jobs of how we’re still in a raging pandemic.
People need to get their heads wrapped around the fact that “normal” is coming this summer and covid mitigation will be primarily a personal endeavor and risk assessment.
In fairness, they’re probably different people. There’s always a disproportionately vocal response among those who disagree with something than vice-versa.
I’d also be hesitant to grant disproportionate weight to those who are “very online.” Those viewpoints are typically more polarized in both directions than the general public. The reality is that 6′ physical distancing hasn’t been happening for the last couple months at either Walt Disney World or Universal. That should tell you everything you need to know about where the majority of current theme park visitors stand with regard to this rule change.
We went to Disneyworld for our first time in December and can’t wait to go back when things are normal. Our kids have been in school since August, full time and in person (k-12). The risks to our unvaccinated children is so low it is almost nonexistent. And it has been shown that they are not the “super spreaders” we thought they could be. I am so grateful we have been allowed and able to let our kids be kids and enjoy school and all of their activities. Thanks Tom for your blog and keeping us up to date on the world of Disney ;)! Hope to be back soon!
Sure, if we were actually post pandemic.
But we are not, regardless of how much people WISH we were.
There are 3 highly efficacious vaccines that are widely available and drop the risk of death from COVID-19 to 0. Between that and the CDC deeming that 3′ is sufficient for kids in classrooms, I’m not sure what scientific basis there is for objecting to this. Health experts have specifically said the commonality among all those still being hospitalized and dying is that they’re unvaccinated.
We had a trip planned for June 2020, which of course was canceled. We recently made reservations for June–2022. We’re hoping things will be completely back to normal by then (pre Covid, no masks!). We’re looking forward to seeing our sweet cast member niece work her magic at Disney, if she can last that long. Apparently, things have been a little “challenging” for the cast members. Be nice people!
Also btw (I’d reply to myself but I assume reply is still broken), the Parks Blog is doing a “Halfway to Halloween” gimmick tomorrow, and is teasing a “special announcement.” Anyone want to place their bets on whether that announcement will involve MNSSHP?
I wouldn’t be surprised either way. I could see Disney taking the middle ground, teasing MNSSHP without actually committing to it.
Regardless, I think it’s happening in some form this year–just wouldn’t be surprised if Disney is as vague as possible about it since it’s still early and they don’t have the entertainers for it yet, nor a full picture about what it’ll entail.
It’s almost like there isn’t a pandemic still raging.
This all worries me because dropping the distancing for kids – who can’t be vaccinated yet – is not safe.
In fairness, the CDC already dropped distancing in classrooms to 3 feet: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0319-new-evidence-classroom-physical-distance.html
I cannot imagine the risk profile is higher than a classroom anywhere at Walt Disney World. Aside from restaurants, everything is much more fleeting in nature–or outdoors.
The delayed “phase out” of temperature checks seems odd. Are they running out a contract with Advent Health or something? It’s strange for Disney to effectively say “now that the county says we shouldn’t bother doing this any more, we are only going to bother doing it for one more week.” Why not just, you know, stop doing it?
As for distancing, I can imagine Disney implementing the 6-feet-to-3-feet change without making any formal announcement about it. You’d think queue spacing markers could start changing/disappearing and dining tables could start moving closer to each other without a proper “we are now changing our distancing protocol” proclamation, you know?
Still just hoping that, when we finally head down in September, we won’t need to wear our masks when we’re outdoors. Anything beyond that is gravy.
Just a thought but do you think (with the exception for big events like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween) that Disney’s MO moving forward is going to be to continue to make these announcements of new openings/offerings only a couple of weeks in advance. For instance, can you imagine if they announced right now that fireworks would be returning July 4th? My guess is there would be a whole mess of May/June reservations being pushed out to July and that’s not something Disney would want. Just curious on your thoughts, Tom.
It only makes sense that Disney, Universal and Sea World would collaborate on safety and security, since a bad event at one park would likely affect attendance at all the parks. It seems reasonable they’d present a unified front.
I don’t have a problem with the temperature checks being dropped, since fevers can mean nothing or anything, and plenty of people had asymptomatic cases.
But the lax on physical distancing worries me a bit, as a parent of a small child who can’t get vaccinated anytime soon. We’ve booked a trip for the fall, and I realize lots of things may be back to normal by then, but I’m just hoping vax rates are way up to justify the return to normalcy.
I’ve been impressed with Disney’s approach to safety (certainly more rigorous than any regular place in my area). I hope they continue to emphasize public health. (I also hope they bring back FastPasses by the fall!)
There’s something nice about the parks not being so crowded.
Maybe bad for Disney’s bottom line but good for the tourists. I enjoyed an empty Epcot on Xmas day.
Tom, I am curious as to what this 10am “major” announcement is between Disney and Advent health. Any guess in the next 3 minutes? lol
I will go when they lift mask restrictions and bring back fireworks and all the restaurants. Hope they keep lifting more and more restrictions and get back to normal.
Tom, I’m guessing news will drop at some point of park capacity. Or is it just a coincidence that all the park reservations after July 4 were replenished this morning?
“…if you gaze into an abyss long enough, the abyss will gaze back into you.” Just noticed for the first time that even your warning about lame comments is quite funny.
Only mildly on topic, but would love to see some more of that Universal content you had mentioned a while back. There doesn’t seem to be any content that’s fun to read for Universal like you create for Disney (probably not as popular to read either). Figured you’d be all over the Velocicoaster AP previews…
Glad to see the temperature checks go!
I think a 3′ distance in line is a reasonable # to keep post-pandemic! My guess would be that’s what most people gravitate towards (aside from RD for a key attraction, or when being asked by CM’s to fill in all available room).