Ms. Hafeez said that at one point there was a family without masks standing behind her in a line waiting for a ride. Before she could say anything, a castmate asked the family members to put on their masks. She also described hearing several announcements reminding people to social distance and wear masks.
“Disney’s staff did everything in their power to make you feel like you were having a safe Covid experience and I trusted that more than I trust other places,” said Ms. Millar, the solo visitor. “There are mask mandates in other places, but they aren’t enforced like they are at Disney.”
Lines are shorter, experiences have limits
For repeat guests, one of the biggest differences in the parks might be the lack of fast passes, which let holders jump the lines on chosen rides. Everyone has to wait for rides, unless they have a VIP booking through a travel adviser, but with capacity at 35 percent, lines are moving faster than on a normal prepandemic day, visitors said.
“This trip had the shortest lines I’ve ever experienced in my life,” said Anum Syed, a paralegal who lives in Texas and visited Disney World in late January. “The longest was 25 minutes and everything was 15 minutes or less.”
Mr. Antonelle, of Mickey Travels, who lives 10 minutes away from the Magic Kingdom and said he has been to the park more than 100 times since it reopened in July, said that he has noticed lines getting longer since July, but they are still shorter than before the pandemic. (Mr. Antonelle has an annual pass).
Ms. Syed and Mr. Antonelle both said that rides were equipped with plexiglass dividers, and that depending on the ride visitors might be placed in every other car, or that parties would not be mixed within a car (each group would get its own Teacup, for example). There were plenty of signs encouraging social distancing. They and others said that they felt safer in the park than in grocery stores.
“It felt like being in a bubble,” Ms. Syed said.
The parades, fireworks, and nighttime spectaculars that are typical of the Disney park experience are still suspended. Instead of parades that typically draw big crowds of people who line up and sit on the curb, guests who recently visited Orlando parks said there were smaller performances throughout the day. Character interactions are allowed, but have to be socially distanced.
