The Disney World parks have remained closed since initially shutting their gates on March 16th.
Magic Kingdom
But with Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom set to reopen on July 11th, followed by Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on July 15th, the longest closure in Disney World history will soon be coming to an end.
There will be a number of new health and safety procedures implemented upon reopening, including reduced park capacity with required reservations, limited attractions and entertainment offerings, required face coverings for guests and Cast Members, to name a few.
Despite the planned safety measures, there have still been concerns raised that the parks are reopening too soon. These concerns are heightened by the increasing case numbers in Florida, as highlighted by the closure of recently reopened bars. And since Disneyland has delayed its planned park reopening date of July 17th, some have suggested that Disney World should do the same.
Tree of Life
So, with all of the buzz around the ever-evolving situation, we asked our Instagram followers, “Do you think it’s too soon to reopen the parks?”
Of the respondents, 57% said yes, they think it’s too soon to reopen the parks, while the remaining 43% said no, they don’t think it’s too soon.
Pie Chart of Our Readers’ Responses When Asked If They Think It’s Too Soon for the Parks to Reopen
Let’s take a look at some of the responses we received from our readers!
“Yes, It’s Too Soon for the Parks to Reopen.”
Many of those who said they do think it’s too soon for the Disney World parks to reopen pointed to the recent increase of case numbers in Florida. “I think when they made the plan it was fine, but now with the rising [number of] cases it’s too soon.” This was a common concern expressed by those who responded.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios entrance
Others also pointed out that despite the precautions Disney has taken, there is still no guarantee that other guests will follow the rules the parks have put in place. “Yes. Not because I don’t trust Disney, but because I don’t trust people.” Some respondents expressed concern that social distancing and face mask guidelines would not be adhered to.
Here are our tips for wearing a face mask in Disney World.
“No, I don’t think the parks are reopening too soon.”
There were also some common trends among those who don’t think the parks are reopening too soon. Several people pointed out that Disney World waited longer to reopen than many other theme parks. “No. They waited longer to be safe. They will make the parks safe for guests and Cast Members.”
Magic Kingdom
A number of people also said that they’re impressed by the health and safety precautions Disney has implemented, and due to these measures, they would feel comfortable in the parks. “I honestly feel safer at Disney World than any other place we could possibly visit.”
Here are our answers to your frequently asked questions about the reopened Disney World Resort hotels.
Currently, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are scheduled to reopen on July 11th, which would mark the end of a 117-day closure of all Disney World parks. However, despite the new health and safety measures planned for the reopening, some guests still have concerns about the timing of the reopening. Given the unprecedented nature of the situation, details are subject to change, so we’re keeping a close eye on any updates.
Guests can’t book Disney World park tickets for 2020 right now — here’s why!
Disney Park Reopening Details and Info
Click HERE for the All Latest Updates
Click HERE To See FULL LISTS of the Rides, Attractions, Shopping, Entertainment, and Restaurants Opening in Disney World!
TUTORIAL: How To Use Disney World's NEW Park Pass Reservation System
ALL Disney World Reopening Procedures
Disney World Hotel and Ticket Booking Information
We’re Visiting ALL the Reopened Disney World Hotels and Have All the Need-to-Know Details
We’re LIVE in Disney World's Magic Kingdom For the FIRST Time Since the Closures
We’re LIVE in Disney’s Animal Kingdom For the FIRST Time Since the Closures
We Got a FIRST LOOK at Disney World’s New Character Cavalcades and Entertainment!
Everything You NEED To Know About Wearing Masks in Disney World
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Do you think the Disney World parks are reopening too soon? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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As a mother of a WDW CM, I fear for her safety and health with the parks reopening. Aside from that, I can’t imagine working outside in the Florida heat wearing a mask. So for those vacationing there, it’s nice that you have a choice to go or not go. For those who work there, they have no choice. I pray all CM’s remain healthy because of this decision.
Disney is waiting too long but they have no choice given their reputation and size. This virus isn’t going away by itself nor will the flu. It will be dampened when we build immunities and get a vaccine which basically isn’t happening until after election. Meanwhile, no one’s thinking about the petri dish of concentrated mask/face covering germs people are spreading from their masks to everything they touch because now the virus is only magically spread through air. How many people are wearing air tight masks and disposing them after each use??…and using hand sanitizer immediately after touching their face/mask before touching anything else? I won’t be visiting a park while masks are required. I have no problem if someone wants to wear a mask. I think this would be the perfect time to go to parks since attendance will be down and waits should be minimal with the restructuring they’ve had to do. However, I don’t find it enjoyable to vacation with a mask. If you want to go, then go. If you don’t, then don’t worry about everyone else.
I think it’s far too soon to reopen the parks. The numbers are surging here in Florida and despite Disney’s rules, all it takes is one person to start coughing on others because their mask broke and before they could get another mask on, or while someone is eating and coughs on others — and I’m not imputing bad motives, I’m sure they’d be unaware that they were carrying the virus at that time — and suddenly there’s a lot more cases.
People mention how Disney employees need their jobs – that’s true, but I have friends who work at Disney, and they’re afraid of going back, but if called back, they feel they have no choice because you can’t get unemployment insurance if you’re turning down work. So they are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
I really miss not going to the parks, but I’ll be staying home until well after there’s a vaccine. I want to be sure it’s effective and that we’re truly safe before we go back. We’ll err on the side of caution.
I didn’t see the original question either but I would add my vote for opening now. As someone else said, if you are scared, don’t come! Others of us, who want to go and get the economy going, have no issues. Unfortunately, so much of people’s fears are media fed.
Disney is offering an opportunity. If it is too soon for some, they don’t have to go. Conversely, we have a trip coming up and I am getting a little more nervous every day. It would take a load off if Disney shut down so I didn’t have to make the final decision. But that is the price of freedom… you have to take personal responsibility. Whatever happens it will be on my shoulders. I can cancel and devastate my kids (Disney is not a common occurance for us). I can forge ahead and be wracked with guilt if we end up ill. As much as Disney closing gets me off the hook… I am the parent. I have to make the choice and live with the consequences.
There are too many irresponsible people out there. They don’t worry about it, even though their ignorance can spread it.
I love Disney, I go several times a year and I was doing the races. I miss all that, but safety is important to keep our loved ones safe. I am saddened by the whole thing, but we need to be responsible and save lives.
I agree it’s been tough on employees, but if they return to work it could be counter productive.
I wish I had a good answer, but right now I think if you can stay home, stay home. Protect your loved ones.
Yes, Disney needs to wait it out longer on reopening. With Covid-19 numbers rising in Florida.
The bottom line is that you need to do what’s best for you and yours. As you can see from the comments, you aren’t going to convince people that have already made up their minds. You do you and let the rest go. We’ll see the results soon enough. I hope everyone stays healthy!
I do trust Disney will make great efforts for the safety of its cast members and guests. It’s some of the guests I don’t trust. There was an incident already in Disney Springs of a person not wearing a mask being told to wear one and she spat (yes, spat) on the cast member.
I think Disney World should hold off on opening until the spike in cases go down and there is greater consensus on wearing masks for everyone’s safety.
It’s not too soon. There are only more cases of C19 being reported because the testing and availability has gone up exponentially. But the death rate is actually falling. Currently the death rate due to C19 is 2.4% based on the absolute most current date at CDC.gov.
2.4% is less than the seasonal flu.
All this fear mongering is getting ridiculous.
It is NOT too soo. To open.
The way things are going, they might get shut down before July 11! It’s aggravating to see a lot of people out in public not taking precautions, like masks and distancing, it very widespread!
Given the recent uptick in Florida Covid 19 cases I do not think that Disney World is making a good choice at all in reopening.
It’s not too soon to open. Disney and everything else should open and operate normally. Regardless of what we do everyone will eventually be exposed to COVID and develop antibodies. Humans have survived viruses for thousands of years by building immunities.
I say take a chance to reopen the theme parks, and if it gets out of hand then shut it down quickly no question ask. It’s safe and sorry at the end and tg ed n people to get angry as nd try to get a lawsuit against Wslt Dusneys Parks.
Per haps, take a look at Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard. I have been following this every day since March 1, 2020. It provides actual numbers. Not Hyperbole, speculation, just numbers. I could state the stats, or you can just look at the raw numbers. Trending downward from their peak, a few days ago.
https://fdoh.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/8d0de33f260d444c852a615dc7837c86
I will make decisions that are the correct ones for my family. Based on these comments, I’ll assume everyone will do what is best for them.
Only you know. Do I go….Or do I stay-away. Almost had a Clash song, there.
I fully trust Disney to do the very best they can to protect its guests, but there are far too many people who behave as though the pandemic doesn’t exist at all and for that reason I won’t be going anywhere “touristy” – not just Disney – until there’s a vaccine.
Instead of simply looking at “the numbers” (which on their own paint an inaccurate picture anyway), why aren’t we looking at the places ALREADY open?! How many Universal employees have gotten it since the reopening?…how about Disney Springs cast members? Can’t look at an entire state and make a blanket judgement over only one facet.
It is not to early to reopen. Everything needs to reopen as soon as possible. People forget or don’t understand why things closed in the first place. Everything closed to prevent large numbers of people needing to be hospitalized with COVID during the flu season when hospitals are are already busy. It was NEVER meant to kill the virus or completely stop it. No matter what the virus will keep spreading until at least 60 to 70% of the population has been exposed to it. Therefore no matter how long you close the world as soon as you reopen it there will be people getting COVID. So if people are going to sick no matter what we do, the summer months when hospitals are slow, I work as a respiratory therapist in a hospital, is the best time. Hospital resources will not be taxed by flu patients at the same time. The majority of people will not even need to be hospitalized anyway. We took care of almost 5.,000 patients while they were at home through telahealth visits. This way when the flu season arrives in the Fall the number of COVID cases should be down. The longer things stay closed the longer we will drag this out. High risk people should do what they can to keep themselves safe. But we are going to run into far more trouble if people don’t return to work and go on with life. The poverty that will be caused by masses of people losing their jobs and the unavailability of food will become far more devastating.
This makes me sad to think of all the families eager to go are undoubtedly putting themselves and others at risk. I believe there will be cases reported once they reopen. I hope and pray that I’m wrong. We had a trip planned in July and cancelled. We decided it wasn’t worth the risk, the cost etc knowing we would be uncomfortable the entire time. We will be back in a few years!
Why isn’t anyone complaining about Universal being open? Is it just that not that many people go there or something? I haven’t heard one complaint about them but everyone is all over Disney for this.
Open…These numbers that are supposedly on the rise are positives, not deaths. Meaning are people getting COVID, yes. But then there immune. Even Dr Brix said tests are 50/50. Meaning 50% are correct 50% are incorrect. If you don’t feel safe, don’t go. This is all too political anyway. I’m going!
Way too soon to open. People over profits.
I am happy they are opening and do not think it’s too soon. The numbers are up because testing is readily available now. It is ridiculous to stop the world for this any longer. There are way more healthy people who need income or they won’t be able to eat or afford housing. Disney cast members included. We cannot keep closing everything and expect the healthy, living people to do well. My husband lost his job because of this. We have 7 kids to take care of. It’s ridiculous! It’s like saying the sun causes cancer so we should all stay inside. Universal was extremely diligent with telling everyone to
Put their mask on and keep it over their noses. They put hand sanitizer on everyone going into every single ride. They enforced all of it. So I am 110% confident in Disney’s ability to do the same. If you don’t think they should open, then do not go. If you’re
Worried about COVID, then stay home. It’s really that simple.
I have to agree with those that are saying if you don’t feel safe…. then don’t go. We need to start life again and get people that have lost their jobs a chance to live again as well. It is important to develop immunity to visuses and by staying shut down or at home all the time is part of why we are seeing such a spike in cases. Not to mention not sure that the counts are totally on the up and up.
Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying….. I totally agree we the need to take precautions and be smart with caring for ourselves, loved ones and everyone else around us (how we would normally from any virus or common cold). I feel that we have had our freedom of choice to be able to make safe decisions taken from us with fear. We need to get back to having more faith than fear, not to mention our freedom to choose a part of which this great nation was founded on!
Please not meaning to offend anyone this is totally my opinion and that’s all it is!!!!!!
Reopen the parks and let those that want to go go, and, if you don’t feel it’s safe your choice should be to stay home and be safe. But don’t take away everyone else’s choice to go to Disney ….yes …….one of my happiest places on earth!!!!!
This virus isn’t going to go away anymore than any other virus/flu they all have seasons.
I think it’s interesting that people keep saying “Just stay at home until the virus goes away.” How exactly is this virus going away? The only reason for the quarantine orders was to flatten the curve not “get rid of “ the virus. This virus isn’t going away until there is a vaccine if there ever is one. So WDW needs to go ahead with their plans. We can’t shut down everything for the rest of the year in hopes that we’ll have a vaccine or that this virus will magically go away.
People are being asked an opinion question: “Do you think it’s too soon to open”. Those who do not think so have a perfect right to say so, but those people don’t seem to think that others should have the right to express an opposing position, without them using the nasty retort of “well then stay home.”
Seems to me that if you can’t respect other people’s feelings and opinions, then you have already ruined the “HAPPIEST (or technically the Most Magical) PLACE ON EARTH.”
I suggest this website which shows in real time, the infection rate for the different states:
https://rt.live/
It also has historical data as well, up to 3 months.
The park itself opening seems ok because there will be procedures in place. My worry is people travelling to Orlando might spread the virus from/ to other states or countries as a result . That is how the virus spread from China in the first place.
I don’t think people are taking this virus seriously enough. There is no organization including Disney that can keep you perfectly safe from contracting the coronavirus. It’s highly contagious and spreads from one person to another very easily.
You take a great risk by exposing yourself to large groups of people and you also may be asymptomatic and not even know you have the virus while spreading it to others.
It seems that some people take it very lightly perhaps because it has not affected them personally as yet. We have lost two family members to coronavirus and it is a real and serious situation.
Once you experience something like that, you are not so quick to expose yourself or other family members to a park as large as Disney even at 50% capacity. That’s still a lot of people.
Those of us who have experienced a tragedy due to the coronavirus are more aware of how serious it is and are not anxious to start traveling again or to be around large groups of people.
I understand that many people want to get out and try to have some fun, but you really have to seriously weigh what is important here.
Hopefully will have a vaccine by next year and that will be a safer time to go to Disney World or to travel. We need to exercise a little self-control here and realize that we are still in the middle of a pandemic. It won’t be forever, and once we have a vaccine we will have some sort of immunity.
Until then we all need to act responsibly and try to respect and protect one another so that we can all come through this safely together.
Geoffrey Buxton, Spain has a higher death rate per capita then the US does. Those are the real numbers, the percentage of your population that gets sick. In fact, there are several Countries that have many more deaths per capita then the US. Please do some research. You see a high number in the US but don’t take into account how many people live here.
The whole Country can’t be put on hold for much longer. It is easy for those who are still working, or sitting at home collecting unemployment to say that. But you forget about those who either lost their business, or those like me, who still have a job but have has my hours cut drastically. I get a much smaller paycheck and I do not qualify for unemployment because I am still “employed”. And quitting your job does not get you unemployment. My bank still wants it’s mortgage check and my kids still need to eat. People who are still doing fine and collecting a check are just thinking about their own situation and not those who actually need for the economy to get back to normal. There is no eradicating this virus. It will have to make it’s way through the population.
If you feel unsafe ..it’s super simple don’t go to the parks .. stay home don’t ruin it for everyone else
We just got back from magic Kingdom and Epcot from Los Angeles. Going at this time was easily the best desicion. The staff was great making sure everyone wore mask, hand sanitizer about every few feet. No lines whatsoever. The most we waited was 10 minutes for a ride all day. We did go on a Monday and Tuesday so that probably helped.
Kids and my older mother had an amazing time. Even the plane was half empty.