Disney to Re-Open as COVID-19 Cases Spike

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Disney is known for it’s magical thinking. The company plans to re-open Walt Disney World and Animal Kingdom on Saturday July 11, 2020 as new cases of COVID-19 surge in Florida. Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are set to reopen July 15. As the theme parks prepare to open their gates, Florida has recorded the largest weekly increase in COVID-19 cases in the country. Orlando, on the doorstep of Disney, has the fifth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in Florida. Florida has over 10,000 new cases of the virus every day. 266 hospitals in Florida are reporting less than 10 hospital beds available. As of Wednesday July 8, 2020, the Florida Department of Health reported a total of 223,783 cases. It reported 10,140 new cases in the last 24-hours.

More than 10,000 Disney Cast members signed a petition urging Disney and government officials, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, to reconsider opening Disney World. “This virus is not gone, unfortunately it’s only become worse in this state,” the petition posted on MoveOn.org reads. “While theme parks are a great way to relax and enjoy free time, it is a non-essential business; it is not fair to the people who work there to risk their lives, especially if they are at risk or have family members who are at risk. People are more important than making a profit. As individuals who work in the bustling tourism industry in central Florida, we are responsible for ensuring the safety of our guests and our fellow magic makers. Keeping ourselves and our visitors safe is our No. 1 priority, in every theme park. This includes our health and well being. We are encouraged to say something when we see something that we deem is unsafe so we’re speaking up.”

When Disney CEO Bob Capek was asked about how many guests would be allowed into the park each day and he did not respond with a number of guests or a percentage of maximum park capacity. Instead he said they will try and maintain 6 feet of distance between guests. As he said, “Unlike Shanghai, where there were strict government mandates in terms of what capacity could be when we reopened, we don’t have that here at Walt Disney World.”  As he explained, “Well, we won’t open up a park unless we can cover our variable costs — essentially our cost to operate the park. So then beyond that it becomes a question of trying to cover your overhead and your capital expenses that you have.” Expecting a business to self regulate for public safety doesn’t work if profits are at stake. Disney will not loose money. What are you prepared to loose?

While some safety concerns have been addressed around areas like temperature checking for employees, the park was slower to offer responses on whether they will offer the COVID-19 testing that the labor union requested. Actors Equity said that Walt Disney World is retaliating over their demand for COVID-19 testing for actors, who have been “locked out” because of their desire for safe working conditions. The union represents about 750 park employees. Employees dressed as characters are represented by the teamsters. Equity actors appear in staged productions such as Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage and Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

The reopening plan was approved unanimously last month by the county’s economic recovery task force, prior to the huge surge in COVID-19 cases in Central Florida. Disney World is reopening with only limited park reservations available for people with annual passes or tickets that were purchased before the pandemic. No new tickets are being sold for 2020. Other theme parks have already reopened their gates to the public in Central Florida, including Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando and Gatorland, that reopened back in May.

Mayor Jerry Demings said, “At this point, I’m fairly comfortable with the decision that Disney has made to reopen because of the extent that they have gone through to ensure it’s a safe environment. Again, we saw something positive today in terms of the lowering of the positivity rate within the last week and some of the other things. So we have to take the good news where there’s bad news, as well, and we have to try to get our economy stimulated. But we don’t want to do that at the expense of risking people’s safety.”

Florida State Governor Ron DeSantis remains solidly behind the re-opening. He believes attending a Florida theme park would be safer than going to a large private gathering. It is also safer than jumping off a ledge at the Grand Canyon.

An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can lead to severe illness and death. According to the CDC, senior citizens and Guests with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable. By visiting Walt Disney World Resort guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.

Stay Home. Stop the spread. Save lives.

The Deadliest Place on Earth

Posted on by Thor

Walt Disney World has plans to open July 11, 2020 followed by Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Animal Kingdom on July 15, 2020. The Orlando parks will have social distancing and wellness measures, including temperature screenings, wearings masks, keeping guests six feet apart while lining up for attractions and a guest reservation system to limit capacity.

Fireworks, parades, and character meet and greets have been suspended. Disney World also isn’t selling any new tickets for now, it will focus on guests who have existing tickets and reservations, like those who made bookings prior to the pandemic and had to postpone, as well as annual pass holders.

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground on June 22, 2020. Disney Springs shopping and dining area reopened May 20, 2020 with limited parking, fewer entrances, temperature screening before entry, masks required, physically distanced lines and barriers, reduced hours, no entertainment and more sanitation and disinfectants. Plenty of images circulated online however of guests not wearing their masks. One rumor circulated is that if you are holding a drink you don’t need to wear the mask. The bottom line is that enforcement seemed lax to non-existent. Americans in particular seem to resist the idea of protecting others by wearing a mask.

I spoke with one character actor who dreads the idea of getting back into a costume. Universal Studios opened the week of June 1, 2020. Many of the character meet and greets will still exist, but the characters will be kept in areas separate from the guests. Additionally, the characters will be wearing masks. This allows for picture-taking and conversation to continue, without any of the contact.

Universal Character actors will not share the same costumes throughout the day. Each costume must be laundered before someone else can wear them. Typically there will be more than one of each costume so multiple performers can be the same character on the same day.

It seems smart of Disney to wait and see if the way Universal is showcasing characters will result in a spike in Covid-19 cases among talent and or the guests. Though the Disney parks will have enhanced health and safety measures, guests are advised to follow all posted instructions while visiting. There is an inherent risk of exposure to Covid-19 in any public place where people are present. Covid-19 is an extremely contagious disease that can lead to severe illness and death. According to the CDC senior citizens and guests with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable. By visiting theme parks all visitors voluntarily assume all risks of exposure to Covid-19. I assume that character performers also sign away any liability for possibly being exposed to the virus when they get in to their costumes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the pandemic is worsening globally after new cases reached a record high on Sunday, June 7, 2020. Have a great vacation!

Animal Kingdom

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Because I taught a workshop at the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, I was issued two free tickets to the Disney Theme parks as a thank you. Cleaning up around the house, Pam Schwartz and I found the tickets and realized that there was just one week left before the tickets expired. We decided to go the next day which was a Sunday. The Animal Kingdom was our destination which I had only been to once before. We watched the movie Avatar the night before, and made a commitment to go to the new Pandora Land in the Animal Kingdom.

As we drove south toward Disney it started to rain. We wanted to get some breakfast at Panera Bread, but when we got there the restaurant had evacuated the building. We got crummy overpriced breakfast sandwiches at Starbucks instead. I checked the radar and realized that it would be raining all morning. We put a positive spin on this by thinking the park might be empty when we arrived. We were dead wrong. Nothing stops the flow of humanity to the theme parks. Parking was $25. As I had my bag checked by security, a waterfall suddenly poured down on my shoulder from an umbrella that gave way its weight of water.

The first order of business was to get a plastic bag to protect my sketchbook. With that done, we wandered the park towards Pandora – The World of Avatar. The land is impressively designed and landscaped. The floating islands were amazing and I wanted to sketch, but not in the rain. The wait time for Avatar – Flight of Passage was like 190 minutes, How many hours is that? We skipped that ride and decided to find rides with shorter wait times. Every ride we tried was shut down. We also had fast passes to some rides. The fast passes kept getting canceled. As we got turned away from attraction after attraction we both got pretty grumpy. WTF.

Then we decided to get some food to get away from the rain. All the sit down restaurants we approached had insane wait times. Clearly every family in the park had the same idea of using the restaurant as a place to stay dry for a bit. The smaller food carts weren’t much better, I couldn’t stomach the idea of paying $15 for a hot dog. A majority of the “affordable” quick grab food stands were also closed. We would have to hide under a gutter overhang to try and stay dry as we ate. We finally did split a macaroni and cheese.

My sketch is of Up, a Great Bird Adventure in Asia. We went in simply because the audience had cover from the rain. The stage however was still getting soaked. The announcer wasn’t sure the show would go on. The Disney cast did come out and performed at the front of the stage which was barely under the awning. Russel and Doug from the Pixar movie, Up were amongst the cast. A bird flew out and turned on the radio on stage. A green parrot did manage to belt out a tune. But the peacocks were divas and refused to go out on stage in the rain. The show was cut short and everyone was ushered back out into the rain. I kept working on the sketch until the cast practically had to drag me out.

Theme parks are a special kind of hell. Screaming children were having tantrums everywhere. You got to see the worst in parenting. We were on a theme park death march from land to land in the endless rain. My feet were soaked all day. We sought cover in every stage show we could find. In the afternoon the sun finally broke through. We waited for an eternity going through endless switchbacks to get on the back of a Banshee and fly. I have to admit that the all too brief ride was the best thing we did that day. It was a 3D motion simulation ride that really did an amazing job of making it feel like we were flying. I kind of wish there was truly some control so that each ride was unique, but it is what it is. We ended the day at Rivers of Light which was impressive, but could have used a story line to tie together the animal-themed projections. Would I return to Animal Kingdom any time soon? Hell no. Disney would have to pay me (again) to return.