What is distancing like on the rides?

[ToyStory3]

For anyone who has been there since they’ve opened back up - how are they distancing on the actual rides? Are there empty rows between parties? And have they doing any type of wipe downs on the rides between guests? Thanks!

 

[kdonnel]

They tended to only put one party in a vehicle if possible, sometimes it was every other row, sometimes they used every row, it depended on the ride configuration.

I never saw anyone wipe down any of the rides between guests. I did see them wipe down handrails and exit push bars though.

 

[Eeze]

I’m at universal right now. Been here since Sunday and will be leaving Friday. We are a party of 3 (Dad, Mom, Daughter) and have been to both parks every day and have rode every ride except for hulk since my daughter is 1 inch too short for that one. Ride cars are separated by party except for Jurassic river which is seated every other seat so 1st row, 3rd row and 5th (last row), spider man and transformers are seated first row and last row. King Kong and fast and furious (bus style rides) will seat every other row. 2 seater rides like hagrids seat single riders by themselves but do not skip cars (they’re not right up on each other though so it’s not an issue). They disinfect all rides on a schedule (not after every ride) but we have seen it happen as we have ridden everything multiple times. Mummy had us skip a car that came up because they disinfected after a party got off and ran it empty. I watched them spray the car with whatever they clean with and then record the car number on a clipboard (so I’m assuming it’s all scheduled and then documented). Escape from gringotts did the same thing when we were next to be seated. Rides like jimmy Fallon and shrek (technically a show) that have open show seating are seating guests every other row and leaving 3 chairs minimum between parties (usually more than 3 when crowds are low). They require hand sanitizer for all guests right before you get on any ride (not before you walk the queue) so you will likely see them wiping the handrails down more often than the rides since those rails are being touch by hands that haven’t been sanitized. Distancing is marked clearly on the ground throughout the queue. The way the queue distancing works is that there will be a marker every 6 feet but when the queue wraps around and you are now coming the opposite direction next to the line of people that are behind you, the markers are longer than 6 feet apart as you would be standing shoulder to shoulder if they weren’t. The only problem is that if the line is somewhat long then people get used to staying 6 feet behind each other. When the queue turns coming back and they don’t see a marker on the ground and the party ahead of them is 20-30 feet farther ahead, then they just move up to be 6 feet from them (not on a marker). This causes them to be standing next to the party in the other lane that are standing correctly on their marker. This is the only distancing issue but is caused from guests not universal. It’s difficult to enforce if the line is long because once a party moves up incorrectly then you have every party moving forward and now you can’t just go back. But short answer is yes, there is distancing and a sanitizing procedure but not after every rider.

 

[easyas123]

Wow - good to hear Eeze , sounds like they are doing pretty good.

 

[Eeze]

They are indeed. To help anyone deciding about their decision to come. I will say that the park has implemented the “new normal” safety precautions better than I think anyone would expect. I am staying onsite at Aventura and you are temperature screened upon entrance and given whatever color wrist band is designated for that day. Once you are screened at hotel or at parks you do not get screened again while wearing the colored wristband. Masks are required when walking around anywhere on the resort, city walk and parks except for when seated for dining or at the pools. The staff will correct guests not wearing their masks properly. I was fussed at one day when trying to access my park tickets from my phone and I quickly pulled down my mask (stupid iPhone face recognition). The check in is done with plexiglass barriers between you and the staff. They will all be wearing masks as will you. Housekeeping is limited so you will request towels and or sheets and they will leave them at your door and take your old ones that you leave outside the door. There are not many non residents at the parks so the hotels seem pretty empty. We’ve been to sapphire falls and cabana bay and they seem the same way (in other words, you’ll get to park pretty close to elevators in parking garage). The buses to the park run better than I’ve ever seen at any Disney resort (maybe because of COVID but I’m impressed either way). I have not seen a gap between buses for more than 2 minutes. They take off after like 2-3 minutes of waiting if you’re the only group that boards. We’ve rode by ourselves multiple times at various times of day. When there are other parties on board then social distancing is just done as you see fit (there are no blocked off seats because they have no idea how big a party may be) but they will not board the buses to maximum capacity. Once the driver sees the seats can’t be socially distanced any further they will leave and another bus will be immediately behind them to pick up any leftover passengers. Bus drivers will be wearing masks as well. We’ve taken the water taxis from sapphire falls back and forth several times (right across street from Aventura) and they block off every other bench with a placard taped to back of seat saying social distancing. Seats (Benches) fit 3 maybe 4 people if small children and ride is fun and relaxing. The water taxi captains will be wearing masks as well. I’m not a fan of walking back after walking all day in the parks and I think the buses / water taxis will make most people feel distanced and comfortable. The dining in the parks is all socially distanced and once you are seated you can remove your mask. You are brought your food instead of getting up to get anything that you normally would have to for quick service (drinks, utensils, condiments, napkins, etc.). Essentially you are given and waiter / waitress at a quick service restaurant but not in a sense that you feel obligated to tip. I’m sure they would appreciate it but it’s set up for prepaid mobile ordering and there is no way to tip on the app. They essentially just bring you your food and if you needed a refill you would flag anyone of them down and they will take care of you by bringing you a new cup. Refill bottles that are sold in the parks are never taken from guests or touched by any employees, if you buy the $16.99 unlimited (It’s actually every 10 minutes for 1 day and $9.99 each day after with existing bottle) refill bottle then they will give you a large cup of your drink of choice once they scan the bottom of the bottle by you putting on a black circle scanner (your decision to drink out of the cup directly or pour into your bottle yourself). There are coke freestyle machines throughout the park (way more choices than you get anywhere at Disney) that are available to fill your own bottle. These are wiped down on a scheduled basis I’ve seen as well. Not after every person so beware of that but there are disinfecting wipes next to every station so you can wait your turn standing on a 6 ft marker and then wipe the screen or anywhere that is touched before you refill. The stations that have more than one machine are either spaced apart from each other or one or the machines will be turned off so there is nobody standing right next to you to refill your drink. Icees are included in the free refills so if you drink more than 3 drinks or share a bottle between the family then you will save money by getting one. They are a burden carrying around tho and you will most likely have to pour them out to put them sideways in a free locker for the rides that require you have no loose items on you. We ate dinner at hotel 2 nights and probably will again tomorrow (completely empty dining room) but we did eat dinner at bubba gump and margaritaville full service non universal owned restaurants on city walk. Both were socially distanced and no reservations needed. Just walked up and got a table. Margaritaville was limited menu and bubba gump the servings were small for the big prices. The wait staff all wore masks and kept a distance when taking orders. You have to request everything as the tables have all been completely cleared (no ketchup bottles, napkins, salt shakers, pepper etc.). My daughter has experienced most if not all the character meet / photos by standing in front of the characters at a marker that’s distanced. Some of the characters will be on a stage or behind a gate or hedges. The bumblebee transformer seemed normal meet and greet as in no social distancing but I did not realize it until now that I’m writing this post. We were right in front of him maybe 3 ft. Very cool costume character (my favorite). The donkey from shrek will be talking to guests as normal and so will the talking head in the bus (I have no idea what that’s from). I originally had an earlier trip to Disney canceled and I couldn’t bring myself to spend the Disney money (non discounted) for a trip that wasn’t a full experience. This trip has left me feeling like I’ve gotten the full universal experience (characters, rides, restaurants, hotels and shows except blue man group) with no unreasonable obstacles such as having to reserve a park. I am glad I got to experience a theme park that did not consist of wasted hours waiting in lines (everything is a walk on and express pass is not needed at this time) and the best part was the go with the flow mentality since there was no schedule / reservations for us. We finished all rides in whichever park we started in by 2pm each day with taking a lunch break at a quick service (Simpson’s, mels diner and thunder falls). The early park access we learned after the first day is not needed right now since the parks will only have 1 Harry Potter ride and 1 other random ride open at 8. Everything opens at 9 so sleep in and enjoy yourself. The virtual queue is not the “Disney” virtual queue. I can’t find the post asking about it to reply to but I was all amped “Disney” style refreshing and refreshing first thing in morning to get my time to ride hagrids. I did not want to miss out by being 2 minutes late to snag a wait time. I got it at 8:45 ish for 9:50-10 something. Anyways, I missed it because we were in universal studios park at that time. I went and got another time for 12:10 and missed it again because we hadn’t finished with our lunch. Finally we got to islands of adventure and I got one for 3:50 and we were able to finally ride it. Had a blast. Daughter wanted to go again and while exiting the ride I just booked another reservation for 4:15 ish and got in line right away even though it was maybe 4:05. Staff didn’t question it and scanned the phone and we rode it back to back with keeping the original free hour locker rental for our loose items (if the hour is almost up u can just retrieve your locker belongings and scan your ticket again for a new hour free rental). The line stretched across the park it seemed with social distancing but the line never stopped moving at normal walking pace so despite the line the wait time was about as fast as you could walk the queue no more than 10 minutes. The hog warts express was the worst wait in the entire park. The posted times seemed to always say 15 min but were more like 30 min each direction. Made me question waiting to just walking over to the other park. Express pass would’ve been useful for this. My daughter did ollivanders today at diagon alley around 11:30am. We found the shop asked about the wand ceremony and they directed us to the back. There was a lady with a clipboard taking reservations. We asked to sign up, she asked who our chosen wizard was, we gave her my daughter name and when I was expecting her to give me a time to return she knocked on the door, a guy opened the door, she whispers something to him, he closes the door she says the wizard (or maybe something else like wand smith, not sure exactly and I know nothing about potter) was getting ready and will see us shortly. I was confused because this was supposed to be a sign up (waiting list) for reservations and before I could say anything the door opened, we were invited inside and the lady whispered to me on my way inside that she had a cancelation and squeezed us in. The wand ceremony was enjoyable and was done with only our party keeping with social distancing. As far as masks go, I’ve seen everyone wearing every kind from paper disposable ones, universal sold cloth ones and neck gaiters which I prefer. I’ve worn all 3 at different times and they don’t bother me but the sweat will make you go through and bunch of disposables. The cloth ones I find myself adjusting all the time. The neck gaiter will be the most comfortable during summer because they tend to act as a cooling rag when they get wet from either sweat or if they get wet from water rides and are still easy to breathe through when you sweat. I heard they are banned from Disney tho so I’m not sure if they’re a good investment if going to both parks.

 

[andieb0602]

@Eeze thank you so much for taking the time to post during your vacation. We're heading down soon and I was curious about how they were distancing on the boats and buses. I'm so happy they're doing such a good job.

 

[easyas123]

Yes, that was very helpful!

 

[dreynolds1982]

That's some fantastic info @Eeze. We're going for a one nighter in a couple of weeks, staying at RPR and park hopping. Since we have UnlEP staying at RPR, doesn't sound like we will have any issues riding what we want, when we want. I've really heard nothing but positive things about how UO has handled this whole process so we're super looking forward to it.

 

[gmac1962]

Just got back last night. The only time I had an issue was when a couple of rides/shows released the guests. Taking 25/50 people and releasing them in to a store does not work with social distancing. While I couldn't read the whole post above(sorry, I get dizzy reading that many words with no breaks) it did seem the guests were the problem not Universal. I found the flying(Southwest) to be the issue. I definitely won't be in an airplane for a long while.

 

[GreyStr0ke]

I got back today and really didn't have any issues. However, Hogwarts Express took forever!!!! Even with Express I waited around 45 minutes and the line was short. As for walking around the parks, the biggest problem were the little children whose parents didn't seem to care what they did.