RaySharpton
Retired and going to Disney.
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2000
- Messages
- 6,974
Following up on the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride mask question. I saw a video today from blogger Tim Tracker who rode the safari ride after the above websites posted their info. Tim was listening for it since he had heard the same news about masks allowed to be removed. There was no announcement on the ride that masks could be removed.I read on Kenny The Pirate's site as well as Inside the Magic that guests are allowed to remove their masks on Kilimanjaro Safaris. This info was posted during CM previews, so I'm not sure if it's still being allowed. I noticed in the pictures on this thread everyone was wearing masks. But there were no pictures of loaded ride vehicles after leaving the load station. Has anyone heard if guests are allowed to remove their masks during the safari?
Walt Disney World officially reopened two of its four theme parks to the general public this weekend. Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom began welcoming guests back after an unprecedented nearly four-month closure. EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will officially reopen their gates to guests on July 15th.
But, the one question everyone still has about Disney World right now is: Is it safe and should I go? We’ve got a broad perspective on this for you — with lots of quotes and specific, firsthand reporting. But we’ve also got an anecdotal perspective on this from our time in the parks and Disney Springs. I was shocked…by my own behavior. And that’s what I think is the most important part of this article for you to read. So hopefully these two sides of the coin will help you as you’re making this very important decision for yourself.
We did spot a few issues Disney will still need to work out. Guests needing to visit Guests Relations prior to going into Magic Kingdom on Saturday found themselves in a lengthy queue outside the park gates that lacked distance markers. This line blocked the way for guests trying to get to the park from the Contemporary Resort, and ensured the impossibility of social distancing with no other option for the guests in the queue or the guests walking to and from the Contemporary but to be very much within six feet of many other people.
And there were also a few pile-ups during downpours, and in front of quick-service locations while guests waited for their Mobile Order numbers to be called. (At the time, Pecos Bill’s in Frontierland was not allowing guests into the restaurant until their Mobile Order food is ready.)
We were also a bit uncomfortable on the monorail and in other areas where barriers between guests were flimsy and incomplete. (On the monorail, which transports guests between several hotels, the parking lot, and the Magic Kingdom, there is a flexible barrier that drops down between the two sections of each car, but there’s at least an inch gap at the bottom between the barrier and the seat. If that gap is going to be there, and you’re seated within inches of the person behind you, the barrier is not fully protecting you from the spread of droplets if the person on that seat sneezes or coughs.)
So is it safe to go to Disney World right now?
Florida is in the midst of a massive spike in COVID cases. At press time, the epicenter of illness in Florida is in Miami, so Orange County, where Disney World is located, could be considered slightly safer than the more southern part of the state. But cases are still rising, and from behavior, we’ve seen outside of Disney World (and, honestly, behavior we’ve seen in Disney Springs), there are many people in the area who are not taking the pandemic seriously.
As we stated, the safest place to be right now is AT HOME. Disney World has implemented excellent health and safety protocols, but, again, these are only effective if they’re being strictly followed and adhered to by every single guest and Cast Member. And sometimes, there are breakdowns. Even with rule-followers like me.
Personally, I’ve been shocked at how easy it is to lower my guard as I’m out and about after diligently self-isolating for months. I went from being terrified to sleep in the hotel bed on Day 1, to forgetting to sanitize my hands when getting off of an attraction by Day 6!!
The backslide is rapid. So keep that in mind — when you’re doing a common-during-normal-times activity (like riding an attraction in Disney World or visiting a favorite restaurant), it’s very easy for your muscle memory to kick in and forget the important new protocol — putting your mask on and KEEPING it on correctly, sanitizing your hands, not holding on to high contact touch points like lap bars or railings any longer than you must. I stood up to walk to the restroom while in a restaurant and FORGOT — 100% FORGOT — to put on my mask. I walked to the restroom without it! I was mortified when I, personally, realized the error and literally covered my nose and mouth with tissue to walk back to the table. But take my mistakes as an indication of how easy it is — even for a very dedicated-to-the-rules-and-honestly-terrified-to-get-sick-and-infect-my-family kind of person like me — to mess up. You can promise yourself and your family that you’ll sanitize regularly, avoid crowded areas, and BE CAREFUL. But just know that it’s difficult to be the kind of careful you want to be once you’re in the situation simply because there’s SO much to be paying attention to.
And if you’re surrounded by thousands of other people, no matter how vigilant you are about your own safety, someone’s going to be making a mistake.
And, yes. I realize that my one or two subconscious errors likely did not get myself or anyone else sick. But expand that times the thousands of people in Disney World every day. All it takes is one slip-up from someone like you or me to contribute to the statistics.