The Magic Returns to Walt Disney World

    As we all know by now, the Walt Disney World Resort has reopened its gates to visitors. Both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are open to everyone while EPCOT and Hollywood Studios are working on their phased reopening strategies. The parks are vastly different though now then when they closed. I'm going to go into some of that and also put some links to videos of things going on in the parks. Since I haven't witnessed the parks first hand I can only go off of what I am seeing in these videos. I understand that things can be different at different times so if I see an area with a crowd I am well aware that that doesn't mean there is always a crowd at that location. Anyway... Lets get right into it.

    Both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom now feature attractions with plexi dividers in queue lines as well as social distancing markings on the floor. Many of these social distancing markerss extend well beyond the normal queue length for these rides. For example, at The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in Magic Kingdom, the social distancing spots for the ride queue all the way into the normal meet and greet area next door to the ride. Across the way, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train's social distancing extended queue extends basically around the mountain. Right now there seems to be no use for them since the crowds have been low, but obviously Disney is anticipating some large crowds in the near future.

    From what I've seen mask wearing hasn't been a major issue. Of course you have people trying to wear it incorrectly, but I haven't seen it as a huge problem in the videos. Disney has banned those bandanna/neck guard looking face covers. I'm fine with that. I never understood how a bandanna really does much of anything to protect anyone, but hey that's just me. As expected there are currently no traditional character meet and greets. That said characters have appeared in cavalcades and in Magic Kingdom they have also been seen on the rooftop of Country Bear Jamboree and the platform of the Main Street Train Station. Animal Kingdom also has a cavalcade that takes place on the river within the park which is pretty nice. The biggest downside I've heard is that routine maintenance apparently wasn't high on the priority list. For example, the Tomorrowland People Mover has been closed since before the shutdown. Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress has audio missing in sections, and busted speakers in others. Splash Mountain also has broken down frequently since reopening. Speaking of Splash Mountain...

    The frenzy that the eventual re-themeing of Splash Mountain has caused an enormous spike in all things Splash Mountain. The ride is seeing some of the highest wait times in the parks, the gift shop line is so extensive that there is a virtual queue for it. People are literally buying out the entire shop and throwing stuff up on eBay for insane amounts of money. The hilarious side to me is this. There is no closing date for Splash Mountain. The ride is going to apparently be around for the near future and that means so will the merchandise. In fact, Disney debuted new merchandise for the ride today. It's going to be interesting to see what happens to all those eBay listings as the park continues to restock Splash Mountain merchandise. Personally I wish Disney would put limits on it like they did original Frozen merchandise to stop the eBay garbage from happening.

    Overall it sounds like the first two parks have opened up on a pretty good note. Feel free to check out the following videos that will highlight some looks into the parks. Stay tuned here though for more thoughts on the park re-openings and the first installment of Then and Now: A Great Adventure coming real soon!