What You Need to Know About Visiting Walt Disney World and Universal During COVID
Even with the COVID pandemic happening, many families are still looking for adventure and amusement park fun. The Walt Disney World and Universal Parks in Orlando are currently open and ready to entertain your family. While many things remain the same in the parks, there are some new procedures, rules, expectations that you will want to know about before planning a trip to these parks. Lindsay Riggs joins Lisa to share all about her family’s experience in the parks, what she learned while they were there, and what you can expect if you plan a visit.
Understanding the rules and expectations will set you up for having a fantastic time at the amusement parks in Orlando.
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“Planning a last-minute vacation is a great option during these uncertain COVID times.”
Ready to have a great time at some of the Orlando amusement parks? Here are Lindsay’s tips and insights that will help make your trip amazing.
Buying Tickets
You can pre-purchase Universal Orlando tickets. They are not assigned to a specific day. There is a park capacity and once it’s reached, more people will not be allowed in. This did not seem to be an issue except on peak holiday times. Plan to get there early so you won’t have to worry about the park reaching capacity before you get there.
Walt Disney World tickets need to be purchased ahead of time on the Walt Disney World website. There is an availability calendar showing the number of reservations available so be sure to check that before purchasing rickets. If you will be buying park hopper tickets, you will need to reserve the park where you will start each day. You will then be free to hop to a different park after 2:00 pm.
Where to Stay
There are many hotel options in Florida. There are hotels on-site at both parks. A few years ago, Lisa and her family stayed at the Universal Hotel, Cabana Bay. It was a clean & basic room with a great location.
You can check out the Universal on-site hotel options here.
You can see the Walt Disney World hotel options here. When you scroll, you can see that Disney offers 31 on-site Disney hotel options plus there are a lot of good-neighbor hotels in the area. Staying on-site can be convenient but can also cost more than other places.
Both Lindsay and Lisa love to stay in Airbnb properties. Lindsay found a great 3-bedroom house for just over $100 per night that was only 10 minutes away from Walt Disney World. Doing a little research can save money and add comfort since a house comes with many amenities that a hotel may not have.
One benefit to many Airbnb properties is having a washer and dryer. This is especially great during the pandemic so that you can wash everyone’s clothes each night and not have people wearing things for multiple days before washing.
COVID Precautions at the Parks
Mask wearing is mandatory. You will be asked to leave if you do not have a mask covering your nose and mouth.
There is a temperature check before entering the park.
Social distancing is expected in ride lines. There is tape on the ground marking where you should stand. There are also plexiglass dividers where you end up standing right next to other people weaving through the line.
Relaxation stations. All of the parks had relaxation stations where you could go and take your mask off. It was also a great place to enjoy a meal.
Hand sanitizer stations are all over the park. At Universal, they had an employee at the start of each ride who would squirt hand sanitizer onto each rider’s hands.
Food can only be eaten if you are stationary. You cannon be walking around and eating.
At Disney Parks, there were not the normal parades and fireworks shows. There were occasional character experiences where a couple of characters would ride down the street.
No Fastpasses at Disneyland.
No single rider option at either park.
Shows were limited but were happening in the Disney Parks.
Child Swap is still available. At Universal, the parent who goes to ride the 2nd time can take 5 additional people with her/him. At Disney Parks, they can take two additional people.
Universal and Walt Disney World Dining Options
At Universal, most dining places were open with a limited capacity. Lindsay and her family walked right into the Three Broomsticks for dinner and didn’t need to wait and did not have a reservation. You can check out all of the Universal dining options here.
Some of the Disney restaurants were not open and others were full with reservations. Plan ahead and make reservations if there is a place you know you want to eat at while in the park. You can check out all of the Walt Disney World dining options here.
Other Tips
Overall, the visit to the amusement parks was wonderful and Lindsay is so happy that they went. Most people in her family enjoyed Universal more (they are big Harry Potter fans!) but they also had a great time at Disney.
If you are able to spend four days at Walt Disney World, Lindsay suggests that you plan to visit one park per day. This will save on the cost of the park hopper ticket plus you won’t have the wasted time moving between the parks.
While the masks were fine to wear in January, it could be a struggle in the hot and humid summer weather. If you can go while the water is cooler, it will be a more comfortable mask-wearing experience.
Thanks to Lindsay for coming on the podcast and sharing so much useful information. If you are heading to the Orlando amusement parks, I hope you find this helpful!