Disney World News: July Hours, Wait Times, Face Mask Rule Relaxation Reaction

We’re back with another Walt Disney World news roundup. This one covers the “aftermath” of the bombshell Friday news that face masks would no longer be required outdoors, more park hours for summer, additional dining options returning, physical distancing wait time dynamics, and more.

Let’s start with an update on new park hours as Walt Disney World approaches what’s likely to be a busy summer travel season. All four theme parks, Disney Springs, and Blizzard Beach have had hours for another week added to the DisneyWorld.com park hours calendar. Added dates are the week of July 25-31, 2021. Here are that week’s hours:

• Magic Kingdom: 9 am to 9 pm
• EPCOT: 11 am to 9 pm
• Hollywood Studios: 9 am to 7 pm
• Animal Kingdom: 8 am to 6 pm
• Blizzard Beach: 11 am to 6 pm
• Disney Springs: 10 am to 10 pm (11 pm on weekends)

Keep in mind that Walt Disney World’s normal practice is to release boilerplate hours before extending those based on attendance and hotel occupancy projections. These are simply placeholder or “lorem ipsum” Walt Disney World hours–the minimum hours the parks will be open for those dates. We would expect an hour or two could be added to many of those closing times, and perhaps some of the opening hours–especially if this summer is as busy as predicted…

Speaking of hour changes, Kali River Rapids now begins operating at 9 am, which is an hour after Animal Kingdom opens. This change currently lasts through July 2021. No reason was given for this change, but it’s presumably a cost-savings measure. It’s not like Kali River Rapids sees less demand in summer.

As covered in our 1-Day Animal Kingdom Itinerary, the vast majority of rope drop guests head directly to Pandora, resulting in low waits for the first 90 minutes of the day everywhere else. We honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple more attractions open later at Animal Kingdom.

On the topic of attraction wait time dynamics, we’re starting to see the first fruits of reduced physical distancing on attractions. Waits for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror plunged on Saturday as the attraction began loading every row (not experiencing downtime with the elevator shafts undoubtedly helped, too).

Other attractions have also reduced guest spacing, including theaters. There’s still no party mixing and many rides are still loading every other row, including Splash Mountain. Look for further gradual reductions to on-ride guest spacing coupled with the removal of plexiglass barriers. This should at least partially offset increased attendance.

Next, Walt Disney World has announced that this summer, the Market at Ale & Compass in Yacht Club Resort will sell exclusive Disney Cruise Line merchandise. More notably, DCL themed treats available on the restaurant side of the market, including a blueberry cream cheese trifle, Mickey-shaped rice crispy treat and lemon tart with raspberry mousse. Adults can also take an excursion to the Ale & Compass Lounge or Martha’s Vineyard for the Pirate’s Nest specialty drink.

As we noted the last time Disney announced something like this, there’s already a place to buy Disney Cruise Line merchandise in Orlando: Disney’s Character Warehouse Outlet. That’s usually where unsold DCL merchandise ends up, and often for 70% off.

While fairly minor snack stands, Terra Treats at Animal Kingdom has reopened, and Dino Diner will return on June 13, 2021.

More significantly, Fairfax Fare at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has reopened with a new menu. I’m personally looking forward to the California BLTA Hot Dog. On the other hand, Sarah is now regretting her commitment to try “all things plant-based,” as that unfortunate decision has put her on a collision course with the Chicago-style “Hot Dog” Salad.

Finally, some thoughts on the aftermath of Walt Disney World’s huge policy change, ending its outdoor face mask rule over the weekend. Now that face coverings have been optional in most outdoor settings at Walt Disney World for a couple days, we thought it’d be worthwhile to return with some commentary and feedback.

As regular readers know, we get a lot of feedback about face mask rules on this blog from a variety of perspectives. In counting the comments on blog posts and social media, we found that over 95% of our readers in support of this change. Even assuming some selection bias in who speaks up and who stays silent, that’s an overwhelming majority.

Elsewhere, it was much more of a mixed bag. Most of those who were opposed to the change were concerned about it being more complicated, or offering a loophole that guests would exploit. This, in turn, could cause more headaches for Cast Members tasked with enforcing the rule in queues or indoors. There was also a lot of frustration about the late hour of the announcement and immediate implementation of the change, blindsiding Cast Members.

While some of those are valid concerns, slippery slope arguments are unpersuasive. Guests who want to find an excuse to break the rules will find an excuse to break the rules. Loopholes already existed, and guests who want to push the envelope have been able to try exploiting those for months.

My view is that the greater risk was Walt Disney World being absolutely unyielding and maintaining policies that have virtually no impact on actual safety (the science on unlikelihood of outdoor transmission has been clear for months–we won’t rehash that yet again, as we’ve been doing so since last July), but do lead to lower guest satisfaction and are burdensome for Cast Members to enforce. Burn-out and high turnover in the roles dealing with this have been problems for months.

There’s a reason that so many cities, states, and businesses dropped their mask mandates and rules following the earlier-than-anticipated new CDC guidance last week. After that, it was simply untenable to maintain and expect service industry workers to enforce these rules; it would amount to swimming upstream against the flow of government advice and public behavior. We’ll never know how the alternative reality of Disney maintaining strict rules in the face of more lax CDC guidance would’ve played out, but it’s safe to say that fewer people would accept the rules without pushback. That’s exactly what’s happening elsewhere.

As we’ve said for months, Walt Disney World needs to comport with guest expectations if they want to maintain a high degree of compliance for the health safety rules. Our bullish predictions about face mask rules being relaxed might now seem prescient, but that’s hardly the case. They were foreseeable if looking at this from a sociological perspective.

Despite what some people might fear, reasonable rules are better for ensuring compliance than heavy-handed ones. This is a well-established principle of public health. My favorite current illustration of this came from a Harvard epidemiologist who spoke with mask skeptics last year. When she explained that masking wasn’t as important outdoors, they became more–not less–willing to wearing face masks indoors.

In a more recent article in The Atlantic advocating for the lifting of outdoor mask rules, that same epidemiologist was baffled by the notion that the best way to get people to wear masks inside is to require that everybody wear one when they’re outside. She offered this analogy: “We don’t recommend condom use when people are enjoying themselves alone to get them to wear condoms with their sexual partners.” Hopefully that doesn’t offend anyone’s sensibilities, but it was too apt not to share.

Reports from readers and friends in the parks this weekend suggest that the rule relaxation has gone well thus far. Whether good or bad, we’d love to hear your accounts in the comments if you’re at Walt Disney World right now. (We aren’t in Florida and won’t be able to do any firsthand reporting until next week.)

In a nutshell, there were instances of Cast Members having to remind guests to put on masks when entering attraction queues, but that hardly “vindicates” the aforementioned fears. The same thing happened consistently with walking and eating or drinking for months, and Cast Members were quick to shut that down.

More notably, there was a reported “mood shift” in the parks, with tension between guests and Cast Members dialed down dramatically. There was a night and day difference in demeanor and atmosphere, with better overall rule compliance.

If a lot of this sounds familiar, it’s because this is almost identical to our observations after Walt Disney World relaxed the mask rule for outdoor photos. History repeats itself here, from the initial “sky is falling!” social media outrage to actual consensus among guests to there being fewer reports of actual problems in the parks.

With all of that said, we are sympathetic to those who are not personally ready for this change, have a lower risk tolerance, or are parents of kids under age 12. It has been a difficult and downright traumatic year, and a lot is changing quickly thanks to the highly efficacious vaccines. Many people are going to have a hard time easing back into “normal” situations; it’s going to be a gradual process that requires adjustment, acclimation, and time. We can extend a little courtesy and compassion as everyone’s circumstances and comfort levels are different.

Moreover, the United States is going from unprecedented collective action and societal efforts to one of personal responsibility where, as the CDC Director said, “your health is in your hands.” It is not going to be easy for a lot of people, and we should all be understanding of that. (Certainly, no one should be shamed or given the side-eye for continuing to wear a mask if they so desire.) Where the problem arises is when people have the expectation that policy or rule-making revolve around their individual feelings of discomfort, rather than a science-based assessment of actual risk.

As cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to decline and vaccinations continue to increase, we anticipate further rule relaxations this summer at Walt Disney World. However, you shouldn’t expect anything even remotely on par with the pace of last week’s changes again anytime soon–think July at the earliest for the next big health safety protocol changes. In the meantime, the focus of Walt Disney World news should switch gears with more on new and returning substantive offerings. We’ll keep you posted of the details!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of this Walt Disney World news? Have you experienced the new outdoor optional face mask policy in the parks? Optimistic about wait times dropping at attractions that are starting to load every row, even as attendance increases? Hoping for more dining options returning in the next couple months? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!