Some questions about masks.

[bobbiwoz]

A friend who isn’t at Disney “warned” me that at Disney Springs and around the World Showcase people are not wearing masks.

If you have been recently, is that statement generally true? We cancelled next week’s trip for Festival of Arts ( Sun and Mon) because it was too close to our second vaccines. However, we rescheduled for two weeks when Garden Festival is in play.

We will have a mask on and do what’s asked. Is that what the majority are doing?

 

[princesscinderella]

A friend who isn’t at Disney “warned” me that at Disney Springs and around the World Showcase people are not wearing masks.

If you have been recently, is that statement generally true? We cancelled next week’s trip for Festival of Arts ( Sun and Mon) because it was too close to our second vaccines. However, we rescheduled for two weeks when Garden Festival is in play.

We will have a mask on and do what’s asked. Is that what the majority are doing?

We were at Disney Springs and everyone we saw was wearing a mask, some people have their noses sticking out or try to walk and drink which is not allowed. It can get crowded in certain areas and times and hard to maintain social distancing. If this makes you uncomfortable I would stay away from Disney Springs. They do have employees reminding people to wear their masks correctly but it’s hard to police everyone.
We went to Universal and social distancing in lines was awful the guests just didn’t seem to care and mask wearing was about the same as DS. I felt much more comfortable at the Disney Parks than Universal.

 

[Brett Wyman]

It’s the areas where food and drink are readily available where the unscrupulous, and maybe just ignorant, choose to break the rules. So it’s no shock that DS and Epcot WS are areas your friend mentioned. We were definitely uncomfortable at Disney Springs due to those exact kinds of folks.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thank you, we can omit DS. We do want to see the flowers, but will avoid the food kiosks.

I do appreciate the input.

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

This is not DS related, but we went to Gatlinburg near the holidays and it was a free-for-all mask wise. We found that if we just zigzagged when encountering crowds, we were good. Just avoid standing with them. Keep on the move and enjoy yourselves!

 

[bobbiwoz]

This is not DS related, but we went to Gatlinburg near the holidays and it was a free-for-all mask wise. We found that if we just zigged-zagged when encountering crowds, we were good. Just avoid standing with them. Keep on the move and enjoy yourselves!

Wow! We skipped our usually yearly Christmas time visit to that area!

I do love the Smoky Mountain area.

 

[CarolMN]

Reminder: The DIS DVC forums are NOT the place to debate the pros and cons or need for masks. Further posts doing that will be deleted. Observations re compliance are welcome.

Disney policies are what they are. Please take respectful mask comments to the Community Forum.

 

[CarolynFH]

Thank you, we can omit DS. We do want to see the flowers, but will avoid the food kiosks.

I do appreciate the input.

What I read here in the Here Now and Just Back thread makes me plan to avoid World Showcase and DS on weekends, when they’re the most crowded. It sounds like they’re much better on weekdays in terms of mask compliance.

 

[Lost boy]

We just returned from two weeks at okw and went to the springs every day, proper masks are required along with temp checks. What we experienced was total compliance, an occasional nose poking out but we felt comfortable. You can remove your mask to eat or drink while stationary but can't walk around and eat or drink. When we consumed anything we were able to have distance and felt safe but we only ate outside while at the springs.

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

What I read here in the Here Now and Just Back thread makes me plan to avoid World Showcase and DS on weekends, when they’re the most crowded. It sounds like they’re much better on weekdays in terms of mask compliance.

LOL--sounds like our typical pre-Covid plan!

Those areas can just be crazy on the weekends even before Covid, especially WS.

 

[keishashadow]

Thank you, we can omit DS. We do want to see the flowers, but will avoid the food kiosks.

I do appreciate the input.

We will be very close to the recommended time frame after our 2nd vaccine for our impromptu March trip.

We’ve decided to head to food booth area first to try & avoid that bottleneck that forms starting at the bridge to Mexico, then double back to front of park for the attractions.

Last trip in sept/oct it seemed as though DS suddenly would get quite crowded after we’d emerge from our various dinner reservations both weekday & weekend (more than pre-pandemic)

 

[kristenabelle]

From my December trip - compliance was mostly good at MK, surprisingly good at AK and DHS, great at Epcot during the day and iffy after 4-5. I didn't go to Disney Springs.

My "ratings" didn't include folks who took a sip of water and re-masked, or anything like that. Mostly noses, or folks that would pull down their mask to talk to others.

For the most part, you can avoid folks who aren't being entirely compliant. But where it's hard is in lines (especially smaller spots like MK Starbucks, Karamell Kuche).

Compliance at Universal in September was great, so I was really surprised when it was poor in December. Lots of noses, hanging masks, or walking with food/drinks. And at one point, a TM with mask signage walked by a noncompliant group, looked at them, and kept going without saying anything. I really don't envy CMs/TMs for having to enforce this, so I don't blame them at all.

Pre-trip I saw that a lot of folks said compliance was perfect compared to where they came from, so that's possibly why I'm being a little more critical. For the most part where I am in North NJ, compliance is really, really good. So I expected same or better from WDW.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Just got back on Saturday from a week long trip. My experience was mostly total compliance - even at Disney Springs. There were some people sitting where the bands play and eating some pretzels or such without masks. But all the shopping places (we went into Coach, Pandora, and a few places around there) that were not food, people had them on as well as just walking around. Most of the places were also limiting the number of shoppers - pandora for example felt very safe. But there is a lot of food in DS, so you would expect a lot of people sitting and eating.

As for the parks, the only thing I noticed were a few 5 year olds who had masks that did not fit properly and their noses were peaking out. A few people took masks off in the parking lot or exiting the parks once past security.

We stayed at OKW, and remarkably, everyone we passed walking on the sidewalks were wearing their masks.

 

[aokeefe]

We went to DS on Sunday. We took the bus to Saratoga and walked to the Springs. There were several families walking on the path with no masks (they were all behind us). They did put their masks on while approaching the temp check. I was pleasantly surprised at the mask compliance at throughout Disney Springs- crowded though. Holiday weekend so I wasn't surprised at the crowds.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

It doesn't seem unlikely that some of the World Showcase masklessness are people who have stopped to eat/drink. That is permitted.

You're not supposed to walk and eat/drink. But you can stand somewhere off path or sit and eat/drink, which is going to involve masks down.

 

[Yinn]

A friend who isn’t at Disney “warned” me that at Disney Springs and around the World Showcase people are not wearing masks.

If you have been recently, is that statement generally true? We cancelled next week’s trip for Festival of Arts ( Sun and Mon) because it was too close to our second vaccines. However, we rescheduled for two weeks when Garden Festival is in play.

We will have a mask on and do what’s asked. Is that what the majority are doing?

I went less than 2 months ago. We didn't go to Disney Springs, but Epcot/World Showcase was terrible compared to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. For us, it came down to the type of people and the age group.

At Epcot the day we went the crowds were younger and more likely to push their limits. The same was the case at Hollywood Studios. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom had more families who were much more likely to be cautious and abide by the mask rules.

My advice for Epcot would be to go at park open for an hour. The go back 1.5hours before close. We did just that and still got on everything we wanted without having to deal with some of the shenanigans. There's no good answer for Hollywood Studios and it was a luck of the draw based upon who you were in line with.

That said - the majority is following the rules. But it's very much dependent on the person who decides to ignore masks, signs, plexiglass and comes right up against you.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We went to F&W in Oct and Nov, Fest of the Holidays in Dec and Fest of the Arts in Jan. We seldom saw people without masks unless they were eating or drinking. Most were seated or standing stationary at a table.

 

[Anal Annie]

We did a quickie 2-night weekend trip in early Nov. and went to HS on Saturday where compliance was very good but we went to DS 3x in order to eat since so many restaurants are closed. We found the end down by House of Blues wasn't so crowded but the other end of DS was a real "show" and was very overcrowded - uncomfortably so for us. We only ate outdoors each time but it was really obvious that the local crowd was there on the weekend and we saw no CM's enforcing any social distancing or mask wearing. We'll try to avoid DS on the weekends on our next trip at the end of April but will probably go a couple nights during the week for meals (unless they open some more restaurants elsewhere or extend park hours a little more). We found finding food for dinners was more of a challenge than we expected due to with the shorter park hours and so many closures.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I detest masks, but we were 100% compliant on our two pandemic trips. Their property. Their rules. I said that only to make this point. Things must have seriously deteriorated since our trip at Thanksgiving because I don't recall seeing even one violation by anybody anywhere. And I would have noticed. Because I'm me. My attitude became, "If everybody else can put up with it, I guess I can too because I know 'all' of these people don't necessarily want to be doing it." Did I see an occasional nose out? Probably. But it was quickly corrected or I'd remember that too.

I'm surprised to read some of the reports. It's extremely hard for me to believe it's changed that much (mostly based on other threads here and on other forums). I fully expect Easter to be just like Thanksgiving was as far as compliance. If it's not, I will be shocked.

 

[Yinn]

I detest masks, but we were 100% compliant on our two pandemic trips. Their property. Their rules. I said that only to make this point. Things must have seriously deteriorated since our trip at Thanksgiving because I don't recall seeing even one violation by anybody anywhere. And I would have noticed. Because I'm me. My attitude became, "If everybody else can put up with it, I guess I can too because I know 'all' of these people don't necessarily want to be doing it." Did I see an occasional nose out? Probably. But it was quickly corrected or I'd remember that too.

I'm surprised to read some of the reports. It's extremely hard for me to believe it's changed that much (mostly based on other threads here and on other forums). I fully expect Easter to be just like Thanksgiving was as far as compliance. If it's not, I will be shocked.

I don't think anyone can make a definitive statement. I posted above I saw non-compliance, but I can also say I saw staff who's only job was to walk around and ask people to put on their masks or to stop to eat and drink. Staff who's only job was to hold signs saying - wear a mask.

I think overall Disney has done a great job, we never felt Disney as a park put us at risk. But there's going to be YMMV scenarios.

At the end of the day, we're all individuals and responsible for our own actions. So a dozen of us can decide we're going to comply at Epcot. Meanwhile tomorrow a dozen of us can decide not to. The thousands of people we walk by on those two days in the same park will experience and see different things, heck even people on the same day in the same park. If I walk past that unmasked group by the entrance where it's nice and wide, I may not notice or even see them versus having to squeeze by them by the Mexican pavilion where I'd definitely notice.