It is entirely enclosed.
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Universal has very little that doesnāt have indoor queues. And outside areas such as WWoHP get so crowded you are often shoulder to shoulder. So, if you are trying to find a way to do UOR without spending much time inside, or with the ability to remain physically distancedā¦the honest truth is, I donāt think it is possible.
If you do decide to go in, I HIGHLY recommend being there long before rope drop. You can get in several rides with very minimal waits that way. Avoid WWoHP. At IOA, for example, we were able to do Hulk, Doom, and Spider-Man with less than 5 minute waits eachā¦almost walk on. But, keep in mind there is no physical distancing on the rides themselves any longer. The only rides that I think would be āsafeā (as much as anyone could say that for) are Blutoās and Jurassic Park River Adventure.
USF is probably worse. The only things outside are RRR and Twirl and Hurlā¦ RRR has a queue that is outside, but quite enclosed and still kind of jammed togetherā¦so if that makes you uncomfortable, even there you might not feel safe.
Now, personally, I would not hesitate to return knowing my unvaxed son would just have to still mask up in the lines and for the rides. He would be fine with that. But if you arenāt confident in that, then I am being frank to say I would skip UOR entirely. Save the tickets for a future trip if possible.
My two cents, for what itās worth.
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Iāve never been clear on this: If I wear a standard blue surgical-type mask, what protection is it giving to me ?
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The Meet Ups are like Disney After Hours events. They are nothing like MNSSHP or MVMCP.
In my experience of having attended one in December 2019.
Everything, bar Hagridās, was a walk on.
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I refer the honourable lady to the reply I gave some moments ago.
Which is to say, not crowded at all.
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I forget the exact percentage, but wearing a mask properly will protect the wearer by reducing risk of transmission by about 80+%. Wearing a mask protects OTHERS from you (should you have COVID) by even more than that. When both are wearing masks, risk of transmission approaches almost zero.
Now, wearer is protected significantly higher than the 80% when wearing a properly fitted N95. That is why medical staff need them, since they are at highest risk of actually encountering COVID infected patients.
With numbers dropping and more and more people being vaccinated, the actual risk, with or without a mask, is dropping precipitously. We are seeing this in Michigan. Just a couple weeks ago, our numbers were worst in the nation. But with vaccinations hitting around the 40% mark, even with mask requirements dropping, the number of new cases is hitting almost an all time low since this pandemic started.
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it will be interesting to watch Disneyās response. It seems as if Universal is āback to normalā but honestly their target audience is not the same as Disney. For Disney to drop all face masks and all other protocols, while children need to be masked, they would need to be prepared to return full park events (dining, fireworks, shows) and I donāt think they can do that now.
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Agree.
While either could experience some backlash, WDW would face much much more. People need time to make new plans.
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The primary reason I would see them follow suit is for the safety of the CMs. CMs were already being abused (verbally and physically) when both parks had mask mandates. CM safety is a big part of the reason that they dropped the outdoor mask mandate when they did. They may try to hold off on the indoor āoptional for vaxxed guestsā thing - but Iāll wager a guess that they will have higher ups closely watching how CMs are treated when they remind people to mask up and if things get too heated and too much āUniversal doesnāt require it - you canāt make meā they WILL follow suit and make it optional for vaxxed and āencouragedā for non-vaxxed.
Just a guess, but Iād suspect even taking kids out of the equation, Disney likely has a higher percentage of anti-vaxxers in their fanbase - meaning that theyāll be lying about it or simply not taking the encouragement seriously.
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Yes, the train is open to the air. The Animation Experience was being held in the lobby/atrium of the Conservation Station. So indoors but in a pretty big high ceiling place. Although now with back-to-normal maybe they would use that space ā I donāt know where it was pre-COVID conditions re-opening
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I agree here! Iāve done the after hour events and the parties. The AHE are very low crowds, not at all like the party crowds.
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I still want to do the animation exp. and will someday 
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We are going to the after hours OI Meetup, so wonāt be there for RD at all. The parks close at 7pm on Friday and 8pm on Saturday. We can enter as early as 4pm but are thinking of waiting until 6pm so the crowds will have started to clear, and weād start with the kiddie areas, like Seuss. Weāll wait until weāll after park close before we go near HP.
With a party of 7, we can hopefully seat the twins in the middle of the 5 vaxxed on rides to create our own distance.
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I think the OI meet up is going to work really well for you. Didnāt you say you bought both nights too?
It always seems as if whole sections of the parks empty out early at Universal. I think your plan will work.
Yes, both nights.
DHs concern is that Iām going to be stressed out and micromanaging where everyone is standing the whole time, etc. Heād rather cancel and just hang at the hotel than have that situation.
Iām honestly not sure how that is going to go. If other people were largely masked, it would just be the occasional āwe need to pay attention to where the twins are for this queue because I see nosesā.
Iām not sure I can get to a place where I can just say āwhat will be, will beā and pretend there isnāt a pandemic.
I really donāt know how to judge how well people will voluntarily mask at the event vs normal operating hours.
ā¦and we just crossed into Florida!
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Welcome to Florida! Drive safe
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You wonāt know until you get there BUT it will not be crowded like a normal park day and that should be your biggest benefit!
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I think you are assuming the queues will be backed up. I donāt think that will be true.
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Yeah, Jeff and his haphazard attempt at napkin math almost has me scared to drive here! 
We had a car run a red light across in front of us yesterday and I told DH āGood job on not proving Jeff to be right on where the danger is!ā 
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