Are people masking indoors at Universal parks or hotels?

[WTG770]

Supposed to be heading down in a week, but with cases on the rise, we're not as comfortable as we were when we first planned our trip. Can anyone who is there now tell me about what percentage of people are masking? We have local mandates and we're feeling uncomfortable indoors with unmasked people. Disney required it on our last visit there, and it was a ton of fun...and we felt safe.

Thanks!

 

[schumigirl]

We came back on Wednesday after 2 weeks at RPR with a lot of time in UOR and found not too many were masking up indoors.

There are some that masked up, but it`s not being enforced in any way. It was a very low percentage of folks wearing masks in general.

We didn`t wear a mask at anytime during our stay except on a visit to Wilderness Lodge. We felt comfortable with that, but everyone has their own comfort level.

 

[Gentry2004]

Is it not required for indoor lines/attractions at the parks, like Disney?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Supposed to be heading down in a week, but with cases on the rise, we're not as comfortable as we were when we first planned our trip. Can anyone who is there now tell me about what percentage of people are masking? We have local mandates and we're feeling uncomfortable indoors with unmasked people. Disney required it on our last visit there, and it was a ton of fun...and we felt safe.

Thanks!

Right now, it appears Disney is still requiring indoor masking and Universal is not. So if you're more comfortable with indoor/public place masking, probably head to Disney (we were there last week, and indoor masking percentages were high). If you prefer to go maskless, head to Universal right now.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Can confirm about Disney. Our kids are only partially vaxxed, so since we had to be in Orlando for the weekend we chose one day at Animal Kingdom instead of Universal. Everyone was good about masking up in the resorts and in the shops, and the indoor queues for rides. Bathrooms/transportation were more iffy, including the lady who ate fried chicken our entire ride from the airport on the Magical Express while chatting with the bus driver. (Like really, lady, if you're going to risk exposing all of us to coronavirus, at least don't distract our driver while he's driving us on the highway). After that we decided no more buses and took Ubers everywhere. We're putting off our UO/IOA trip until Spring Break so that our kids will be fully vaxxed, since we know they no longer have a mask policy. Can't wait to be able to finally go.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Is it not required for indoor lines/attractions at the parks, like Disney?

Not since mid-May of this year for Universal - encouraged but not required.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Can confirm about Disney. Our kids are only partially vaxxed, so since we had to be in Orlando for the weekend we chose one day at Animal Kingdom instead of Universal. Everyone was good about masking up in the resorts and in the shops, and the indoor queues for rides. Bathrooms/transportation were more iffy, including the lady who ate fried chicken our entire ride from the airport on the Magical Express while chatting with the bus driver. (Like really, lady, if you're going to risk exposing all of us to coronavirus, at least don't distract our driver while he's driving us on the highway). After that we decided no more buses and took Ubers everywhere. We're putting off our UO/IOA trip until Spring Break so that our kids will be fully vaxxed, since we know they no longer have a mask policy. Can't wait to be able to finally go.

We pushed back our trip from Nov to Jan so our kids would be fully vaxxed. I’m also bringing KN95 masks since I know we’ll be the only people wearing masks indoors (the kids have been wearing them for indoor sports and are fine with them).

I wish Universal was the one taking precautions. I’m not happy with Disney doing away with FP so I don’t consider the mouse an option right now. Given that Universal is not doing anything, we just had to decide if we can live with it or not. And we decided that fully vaxxed, we can.

But OP - I definitely hear you on discomfort. Coming from a state with an indoor mask mandate, it’s going to be jarring.

 

[georgina]

We pushed back our trip from Nov to Jan so our kids would be fully vaxxed. I’m also bringing KN95 masks since I know we’ll be the only people wearing masks indoors (the kids have been wearing them for indoor sports and are fine with them).

I wouldn't say you will be the ONLY people, but not many are wearing masks. We wore them on Hogwarts Express and in the Bourne stunt show, I wore mine in the Grinchmas theater. We have gotten 3 shots, but wore them anywhere it seemed crowded. You never know, perhaps by Jan there will be more people wearing them.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I wouldn't say you will be the ONLY people, but not many are wearing masks. We wore them on Hogwarts Express and in the Bourne stunt show, I wore mine in the Grinchmas theater. We have gotten 3 shots, but wore them anywhere it seemed crowded. You never know, perhaps by Jan there will be more people wearing them.

True. I exaggerate. But partly just to prepare myself. I’m not looking forward to being in those small cramped tunnels in the lines for Hagrids.

 

[WTG770]

True. I exaggerate. But partly just to prepare myself. I’m not looking forward to being in those small cramped tunnels in the lines for Hagrids.

Ok, so I have not been to US or IOA since HPW was invented, so I'm unsure of the layout. If we have Express Passes, will we still be in tunnel lines?

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Ok, so I have not been to US or IOA since HPW was invented, so I'm unsure of the layout. If we have Express Passes, will we still be in tunnel lines?

Hagrid's doesn't currently accept Express Pass so yes.

 

[georgina]

Ok, so I have not been to US or IOA since HPW was invented, so I'm unsure of the layout. If we have Express Passes, will we still be in tunnel lines?

If you can get there 30 minutes before park opening you will minimize waits in those tunnels! The line kept moving for the most part.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

We pushed back our trip from Nov to Jan so our kids would be fully vaxxed. I’m also bringing KN95 masks since I know we’ll be the only people wearing masks indoors (the kids have been wearing them for indoor sports and are fine with them).

I wish Universal was the one taking precautions. I’m not happy with Disney doing away with FP so I don’t consider the mouse an option right now. Given that Universal is not doing anything, we just had to decide if we can live with it or not. And we decided that fully vaxxed, we can.

But OP - I definitely hear you on discomfort. Coming from a state with an indoor mask mandate, it’s going to be jarring.

You're right to not be happy with it. Genie+ sucks even worse than I thought it would. I hope that having the kids be double vaxxed and masked will be enough (they don't mind masks either and are masked at school). I'm ready to break up with the mouse for good. We do have the Galactic Starcruiser booked (for now, we'll see what the March reviews say). Couldn't resist one last chance to set my money on fire, I guess. But after that, I think we're done. No more WDW, no more DCL. It was fun while it lasted.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Yeah

You're right to not be happy with it. Genie+ sucks even worse than I thought it would. I hope that having the kids be double vaxxed and masked will be enough (they don't mind masks either and are masked at school). I'm ready to break up with the mouse for good. We do have the Galactic Starcruiser booked (for now, we'll see what the March reviews say). Couldn't resist one last chance to set my money on fire, I guess. But after that, I think we're done. No more WDW, no more DCL. It was fun while it lasted.

We basically had one last Disney trip planned to see GE in May 2020. I would have been happy to call Disney done after that. I was practicing getting a BG for RotR and everything. I’m so sad that trip didn’t happen. I do want to see SWGE someday. But I’ve not heard anything good about G+ and with a family of 5 it’s tough to swallow financially. Having been proficient with the FP system, going back to nothing or paying 15 a head to get 2 or 3 so-so LL slots just doesn’t appeal. Universal for us, at least for now

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Yeah

We basically had one last Disney trip planned to see GE in May 2020. I would have been happy to call Disney done after that. I was practicing getting a BG for RotR and everything. I’m so sad that trip didn’t happen. I do want to see SWGE someday. But I’ve not heard anything good about G+ and with a family of 5 it’s tough to swallow financially. Having been proficient with the FP system, going back to nothing or paying 15 a head to get 2 or 3 so-so LL slots just doesn’t appeal. Universal for us, at least for now

We were very lucky to experience SWGE in Dec 2019, right before all of this happened. We were able to get a boarding pass for ROTR, and we did wait about an hour to ride MFSR, but we got to ride Slinky too for the first and only time using FP+. It rained nearly the whole day, but the kids got to do Jedi Training Academy, my eldest got picked as the Rebel Spy on Star Tours, my boys each built a droid and we even ran into Chewie as he was coming out from backstage. It was a great, if very wet Star Wars day. It's hard to reconcile the WDW of my very recent memories with what it has become. I'm hoping we'll rediscover some of that lost magic at UO/IOA. Since UO/IOA seems to be investing more in bringing back entertainment, instead of cutting costs while nickel and dining guests everywhere they can, I'm optimistic.

 

[shh]

just got back. Can also confirm vast majority are not wearing masks. Some castmembers are, some aren't - I think UO gives them the choice. There are definitely a few people here and there wearing them, but if someone reading this is uncomfortable with large, mostly maskless crowds, I wouldn't recommending visiting now.

 

[tiana1989]

I agree with the perceptions of both parks others have already posted. I think because of the differing mask policies, there’s some amount of self selection going on right now with those preferring/at least not minding indoor masks more commonly going to Disney, and those who feel more comfortable without more commonly going to Universal. My household feels more comfortable with indoor masks, and while we’ve been to UO/IOA a couple times in the last few months, we’ve been in a pretty large minority wearing masks inside and have opted to mostly stick to the seasonal events and have been spending less time there than we otherwise would. On the flip side, when we we at Disney for the 50th, a lot of people were masking up outside (where it’s not required) when it got crowded. Certainly not everyone, but enough people that it was notable. So I think the policies are definitely affecting which parks people visit right now.

 

[dina444444]

I was at both WDW and UOR the week after thanksgiving. As noted above masks are encouraged indoors, but not enforced at universal. Less than 5% of people are wearing them indoors, I wore mine but was the odd man out. At WDW where it is enforced the main issue is people not wearing them in the bathrooms and then occasionally on transit.

 

[shh]

I will say the vast majority of Universal CMs were in great spirits, friendly....I saw big smiles (or smiling eyes if they wore masks!) and only friendly answers to questions, wherever we went. I have to believe not having to play mask police and be the "bad guy" every minute of their shift and constantly deal with angry, aggressive mask protestors has got to be a relief to them. Even guests seemed in good spirits everywhere I was - and it was very crowded and busy. I didn't visit WDW, but from what I hear on the boards and from friends/family who visited recently, WDW CMs seem exhausted and feeling very beat up by the general public, given all the Genie changes, price hikes and current mask policies. I think they're having a much tougher time.

There were a couple of moments - like the confined tunnels in Hagrid's line where I felt a wee bit nervous given so many people so tightly packed - and I live in Florida - a state where very few mask. I pulled on a mask for a few min during those very tight, confined lines - but since I wasn't too consistent throughout my trip, I doubt I really accomplished much!

 

[Wendysofftoneverland]

Just got back from UO. I knew masks were optional, or "recommended," but I was surprised the time that we were I think the only family on the bus wearing masks, because I thought all busses required masks.