The big news this week from Disney is that they are winding down social distancing measures on several rides to increase capacity as the parks become busier over the holiday season.
Since Walt Disney World reopened in July, after over three months of closure due to COVID-19, social distancing protocols have been in place on rides to ensure enough spacing is given between parties in order to cut down the risk of the spread of COVID-19 between guests. This includes the installation of plexiglass as well as limiting the number of riders on attractions by leaving empty rows. This has inevitably impacted wait times but as capacity has been limited it hasn't been too much of a problem.
As capacity has increased over the last few weeks, the decision has been made by Disney that these social distancing measures will cease to be in place on Slinky Dog Dash, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Avatar: Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest where all rows will be loaded without spacing.
For Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run, a maximum of two parties will be loaded into each ride vehicle. Plexiglass will separate parties on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This news may have come as a surprise to many theme park fans and leads us to ask you for our new Big Debate, Is Disney Right To Wind Down Social Distancing Measures On Some Rides?
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With vaccination programs beginning in the US and around the world, for some theme park fans, this may seem to be a sensible time to relax social distancing measures. For others, they may feel this is too early. With a new strain of COVID-19 at large in the UK, it is surely only a matter of time for this strain to become more prevalent in the US.
Choices for our debate, Is Disney Right To Wind Down Social Distancing Measures On Some Rides? are as always very simple:
- Yes
- No
CLICK HERE to vote and don't forget to share this with your friends and family. I know some of our readers see these debates as pointless as it won't change anything and everyone has their right to an opinion but for those readers that find it helpful to have the opportunity to have their say let us know what you think by voting and leaving us a comment below or on our Facebook page.
It is always great to read your comments on these issues, please remember to be respectful of others when posting comments on Facebook. We will collate a selection of these comments, hopefully showing both sides of the debate, and share them with you in our Big Debate RESULTS article which will be coming very soon to Theme Park Tourist.
Let us know if you have any great ideas for a Big Debate by emailing me at [email protected]
Comments
Remember that entering the park requires you to make a Park Pass reservation, and to do that you must agree to a liability waiver: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/park-pass-terms
Due to this, I think the Park Pass system will be the last thing to go, long after mask mandates, physical distancing, etc...