CNBC asked the key components needed to get the parks to reopen. To that, Chapek responded that social distancing, as well as masks, will be required for all Cast Members and guests. While masks are a cultural norm across parks in Asia, he also recognized that guests across U.S. parks will have to adapt to wearing masks in hot, humid environments (like Walt Disney World.)
Thank you for posting. I am glad he has said it now. This will allow people that feel strongly against masks to make decisions with the information they needed.
Thanks for posting. At least we can stop guessing about the mask or no mask situation. Now we can move on to how long we think this will last…as in, how long till a vaccine maybe? Or until the “curve” is well on the down swing? Or until we have “herd immunity”? (Honestly I have no clue what any of this all means. But at least we have a definite on the masks.) uhg, still so much uncertainty.
It has just occurred to me that I do not have a problem with this, but I suppose I do need to query my family. I am concerned that my 12yo son will not want to do this. But I would rather know before we get there for 10 days!
I will review this with them all tonight and, if necessary, adjust plans accordingly.
You are entirely too optimistic towards the Disney SuperFan cohort. I expect to hear from the restless ghosts of Pasteur, Salk, Clarence Darrow, and Louis Brandeis starting immediately.
Please don’t hate me for saying this but I am going to be keeping an eye out at the ADR situation now. Assuming it will take a few days for the word to get out and for people to truly assess if they are okay with wearing a mask all day or not, I wonder if we will see some cancellations. And if so, my real wonder is if we will see some ADR’s open up, or not see anything open up in the assumption that maybe Disney has stopped cancelled ADR’s from opening back up again. Just wondering… I was actually shocked last week when I got an alert from TP that a ADR had opened up for Storybook that I wanted. I wasn’t surprised to think that someone had cancelled their ADR more as I was surprised it went back out in the public to be booked. One would think Disney would try to be capping the amount of ADR’s per time-slot per restaurant.
For sooner reservations, I think we’ll see this. I think Disney will allow some of the reduction in tables to shake itself out and then proceed with cancelling, or whatever they will do to accommodate new regulations, thereafter.
For further-out reservations, I think the number of tables available was reduced to accommodate new regulations. Whether people have already scheduled and will cancel will determine if we see openings then.
As I was walking around our grocery store on Saturday wearing a mask, I came to the realization that for me wearing a mask is a continuous reminder of the Covid-19 situation and that when I am at WDW, the most important thing to me is the ability to escape and forget about the outside world while I’m in the “Disney Bubble”.
For me personally, wearing a mask will be a major detriment to my enjoyment of my WDW visit. So unless wearing a mask becomes just a another standard article of clothing I wear in public like shoes and a shirt, I probably will wait to visit WDW again until masks are not required.