Visiting Disney World During the Pandemic: What You Need to Know

When Walt Disney World Resort reopened in July of 2020 after a 4-month ‘Rona hiatus, I was immediately curious what visiting Disney World during the pandemic would be like. Would it be safe? Will all the rides and attractions still be open? Would it still be magical?

So, on MLK weekend of 2021, my boyfriend and I finally used our Disney World tickets from March 2020. (Yes, we had a trip scheduled the same month Disney World closed.)

We drove to Orlando and spent an amazing few days in the parks, even with the pandemic!

However, a lot has changed because of Covid-19, and Disney World is no exception.

There were some notable differences from my previous Disney visits, as well as some new parks guidelines and ticket rules.

Can you have a fun and safe time at Disney World during the pandemic? Absolutely. But, there are some important things you’ll need to know in order to have a successful, magical trip. 

This guide will go through how Disney World has changed in order to accommodate for the risks of Covid-19. I’ll also talk about they’ve altered the attractions, dining, and resorts, and answer the big question: Is Disney World still magical during the pandemic?

At the end of this blog, I have some insider tips to share from my own trip, so stay tuned!

Just a quick disclaimer: I’m certainly not a scientist, doctor, or pandemic expert. Safety is the highest priority, so I highly recommend that you follow CDC guidelines when traveling during the Covid-19 pandemic. If you, or someone you often come in contact with, is especially susceptible to the virus, please stay home. If you, or someone you come in contact with, is sick or showing Covid-19 symptoms, please stay home.

Now, let’s first talk about how Disney World’s reservation system has changed.

Purchasing Tickets

Upon reopening, Disney World introduced a new park reservation system that requires a bit more planning ahead on the guest’s part.

Now, in order to get into any park, you must have both a valid park admission ticket AND a Disney park pass reservation for the park you are visiting on that day. If you don’t have a reservation for the particular park you are visiting, they won’t let you in. You can now get park hopper passes, but regardless, you still need park reservations.

This allows Disney to limit the capacity of guests coming into the park. For this reason, I do NOT recommend waiting until the day of to reserve your park pass, let alone to purchase your tickets.

I honestly had a lot more peace of mind from deciding ahead of time which parks we were going to on which day. It definitely made it easier to plan our schedules and dining reservations too!

One perk of Disney World during a pandemic is some pretty good discount ticket offers. Currently, Florida residents can purchase a 4-day park ticket for only $50 a day (offer ends March 28). For Disney tickets, that is a STEAL!

Attractions

When it comes to the attractions at Disney World during the pandemic, there have definitely been some major changes.

Disney no longer offers FastPass+ bookings. Instead, they’re using that extra line space to ensure social distancing in the queues. 

At first, I was a little concerned about wait times. However, most of our wait times were quite short, especially for a holiday weekend. The longest we waited for a ride was approximately an hour. I’d say our average wait time was more like 30 minutes. 

On less crowded weekends and especially weekdays, I’ve heard that those wait times are even shorter. However, as the government starts pulling back Covid-19 restrictions and Disney increases their capacity, those wait times are sure to start moving back to normal. 

I also found that the projected wait times were often an overestimation, and we ended up waiting for less time than what the official wait time stated. Don’t always be discouraged if you see a line extending outside the ride itself.

Those waiting in line must keep a 6-foot distance in between parties. So, a queue may look a lot longer than it actually is! And, I’m not gonna lie, that extra space in the lines is pretty nice. 

It’s also worth noting that most of the Disney rides no longer have their pre-shows. (You know, like when you go into the recording studio with Aerosmith on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.) If you’ve been to Disney World before, this doesn’t seem like a big deal.

Still, first-timers might miss out on the story behind the ride without the pre-shows. As someone who has visited Disney World many, many times, I found that the rides were *almost* as exciting without the pre-shows!

Parades and Live Entertainment

While most of Disney World’s rides are still in operation, almost all of the parades, shows, and nighttime spectaculars have been cancelled.

This is probably the biggest letdown of Disney World during the pandemic. I truly missed the fireworks at night, or sitting in the audience of Beauty and the Beast, Live on Stage. 

Hopefully, these shows will gradually, and safely, make their return. Hollywood Studios has already brought back the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.

Because of the crowds that the parades and nighttime spectaculars draw in, I don’t see them returning anytime soon. However, Disney has supplemented their parades with character cavalcades, which are randomly scheduled character processions throughout the day. 

While passing through Main Street in Magic Kingdom, we saw Mickey and friends, as well as Tinker Bell! If you’re visiting Disney during the pandemic, keep an eye out for these mini-parades during the day at all the parks.

Dining

I typically recommend making dining reservations in advance at Disney’s table-service restaurants. This is even MORE important during a pandemic.

With the limited capacity of restaurants, it is much harder to get a walk-in table. Some restaurants don’t even allow guests without a reservation inside, and trying to get a reservation the day of is incredibly difficult, especially for the more popular restaurants. You can hope for a random cancellation, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Even with quick-service restaurants, I highly recommend mobile ordering from your My Disney Experience App. The great thing about Disney mobile orders is that you can submit your order early in the morning, but select a specific pickup time for later in the day (lunch, dinner, whenever you want).

However, even these mobile order time slots can fill up quickly on busier days. So, try to be proactive about scheduling your quick service pickups too!

Resorts & Lodging

Despite the pandemic, almost all of the Disney World resorts are now open for guests! There are typically some great perks for guests staying at the resorts. However, with Covid-19, some of those benefits have been altered, or cancelled altogether.

For instance, Disney has decided to cancel their Extra Magic Hours, which used to allow resort guests extra access to the parks either before or after regular park hours. As one of the biggest perks for staying in a Disney resort, this cancellation does make the option of staying at an off-site location a little more appealing. 

The good news is that Disney plans to replace EMH with something they’re calling Early Theme Park Entry, which will allow resort guests to access any park 30 minutes early. According to the Disney Parks blog, Early Park Entry will start later this year as part of their 50th anniversary celebration.

Disney World has made some modifications to their resort’s rules and enhanced their cleaning process for all the rooms. Masks are required in all public areas of the resorts, except for while swimming or when seated for dining.

Online check-in is also available to reduce contact and allow you to go directly to your room. And, you can also use your My Disney Experience app as a digital room key!

Is visiting Disney World during the pandemic safe?

With the Covid-19 pandemic, there is always a risk anytime you travel anywhere or come into contact with others. The same goes for Disney World.

However, I do believe that Disney has taken some solid steps to reduce these risks and make their parks safe for their guests.

When entering the parks, they do check every guest’s temperature and conduct a touchless bag check. I’m personally a huge fan of the speediness of the touch-free bag checks and hope they make that a permanent change!

Disney World is also very good about promoting at least six feet of distance between parties in queues, on rides, and in restaurants. While in the parks, I never felt overly crowded by other guests.

There are also hand sanitizers stations EVERYWHERE. I still brought my own bottles to have as well, and used them often for extra caution. 

All guests ages 2 and up, as well as cast members, are required to wear face coverings over both the nose and mouth. This made me feel a lot better while walking around the parks. Disney World is pretty strict about it too. They even have designated cast members hanging out in popular photo locations to ensure that everyone is following the mask rules. And, they WILL call you out if you are not following the Covid-19 regulations.

Disney also states that they have the right to ask a guest to leave the property if they are not following the rules, so they are taking Covid-19 seriously! We guests should too so that everyone at Disney World can have the best time possible.

There was only one time when I really felt unsafe from Covid-19, and that was when we went to Disney Springs. We decided to go there on a Saturday night for dinner, which was probably a mistake on our part. Disney does still require temperature checks, masks, and limited capacity in stores and restaurants at Disney Springs. Despite this, it was incredibly crowded, and there was not much social distancing between guests outside the various shops and eateries.

I’m sure that Disney Springs is not always like that, but just be wary of visiting on popular weekend nights. When it’s super busy, you can’t always avoid the risk of crowds.

Is Disney World during the pandemic still magical?

Besides safety, my biggest concern with visiting Disney World during the Covid-19 pandemic was if it would lose its magic. Coronavirus has certainly put a damper on a lot of things. Would it put a damper on Disney’s unbeatable atmosphere too?

After my visit in January, I would say that overall, Disney World’s magic is still alive and thriving. When walking around the parks and enjoying the rides, I still felt that same childlike thrill of being surrounded by the classic Disney atmosphere.

After a couple hours, the masks and social distancing signs start to blend into the background. You don’t even really notice them any more!

Still, there were just a few moments where the magic felt a little lesser (though not enough to make the trip not worth it).

Shopping

When entering Disney’s specialty shops and souvenir stores, there was almost always a wait to get in so that they could limit capacity. While I understand the necessity, it is unfortunate to have to wait in a long line just to browse the new collection of Mickey ears.

I’d recommend doing your souvenir shopping online ahead of time, so you can make the most of your time in the parks.

Character Interactions 

Another unfortunate result of Covid is that the character interactions have changed. No longer are meet and greets or closeup interactions available with all your favorite characters around the parks. 

While this is a bummer, Disney has tried to supplement this change with random, socially distanced appearances of all your favorite characters around the parks!

While strolling through Galaxy’s Edge, we stumbled upon Storm Troopers, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, and even Rey. We also saw Chip and Dale hanging out in Frontierland of Magic Kingdom, as well as Mickey, Minnie, and all their friends parading through Main Street!

While I did miss having conversations and hugs with my favorite princesses in the meet and greets, I actually found the random character appearances to be even MORE magical! It really helps to immerse the guests in the different worlds. I hope they make these kinds of interactions a bigger staple of the parks in the future (along with the meet and greets, please).

Cast Members

I also noticed that cast members are not as interactive with the guests as they usually are, due to all the social distancing and the masks. I understand their struggle – it would be hard to work at Disney during Covid times! Still, I did miss the cast members’ big smiles and all the fun conversations I usually have with them. 

As always, we can still be kind to the cast members and share our thanks for working to make our trip to Disney just as magical during a pandemic.

Final Tips

Here are some final tips are you prepare for your Disney trip during the pandemic:

#1. Download the My Disney Experience app.

With this amazing app, you can keep track of your park tickets, resort information, and dining reservations. You’ll be able to see all these reservations under the “My Plans” tab.

Through your Disney app, you can also mobile order, utilize online check-in to get into your resort rooms, and check ride wait times and park hours. I cannot stress this enough. This app is the best way to ensure that you have a more successful, stress-free Disney World vacation.

#2. Get to the parks as soon as, or before, they open because of shorter park hours.

With Covid-19, Disney has reduced a lot of their park hours. This will probably change as spring break and summer approaches. Still, if you wait until the afternoon to arrive at the parks, you may find that you don’t have as much time as usual to enjoy all the park has to offer before closing.

#3. Wear your masks at all times while in public, except for when dining, swimming, or actively eating or drinking.

You’ll have to take pictures with your masks on at your favorite photo-op locations. If you do really want a picture without it, the best time to do so is while you are eating or drinking at an isolated table or area. Still, you need to be stationary when you take your mask off.

Of course, wearing a mask all day is not the most enjoyable thing. To make it better, Disney World does sell really cute masks on ShopDisney and at all their gift shops. While they are a bit pricey, I will say that my adorable Mickey mask from Disney World is probably the most comfortable mask I’ve ever used. Even now, I wear it all the time and get tons of compliments!

My mask was a size Large, but my boyfriend needed an X-Large for his mask to fit comfortably on his face. I would keep this in mind as you make your own Disney mask purchases.

#4. If this is your first time visiting Disney World, I would consider waiting until the worst of the pandemic subsides.

When we went to Disney in January, it was my boyfriend’s first visit. Of course, he still had an amazing time! However, there were some quintessential Disney experiences (shows, fireworks, meet and greets, ride pre-shows, etc.) that he missed out on for his first time there. 

If you’re looking for the most magical Disney experience for you or someone else’s first time there, it might just be worth the wait, at least until Disney starts bringing back some of these key experiences. 

And that concludes my review of what it’s like to visit Disney World during a pandemic! Have you visited in the recent months? What was your experience like?

I’d love to hear all about your Disney trip in the comments below.

And, for more information from the Mouse himself, check out Disney’s updated Covid-19 guidelines here.

And, if you’re looking for more Covid-related travel tips, check out this guide for Flying During the Pandemic.

Happy Travels,

Danielle xx