What Its Like Visiting a Theme Park During a Pandemic

Recently I spent a week at Universal Orlando Resort with my family, learning and observing what its like traveling to a theme park right now.

This was my third trip since the COVID-19 pandemic began but my first visit to a theme park under the “new normal”. Over the years our family has visited Universal several times, always ranking these vacations as low stress, high fun, setting our pre-COVID standards high. 

Arriving a little skeptical, mostly about mask wearing in the excruciating Florida heat, I was thoroughly impressed with the thoughtful job Universal has done to minimize exposure risks while still delivering a fun theme park experience that was well-worth the costs of the trip.

So, what is it like to travel to a theme park right now? Keep reading as I share the major observations from my recent trip to Universal Orlando Resort.

New Safety Protocols Didn’t Detract From The Experience

The new Universal Orlando Resort health and safety guidelines focus on screening, sanitizing, and spacing.

Adhering to these protocols were a breeze for our family. Honestly it didn’t seem much different than our “new normal” in South Carolina. At first, the full day of mask wearing was intimidating, especially in the 100 degree Florida heat but we quickly adjusted and carefully timed our lunch/snack breaks to minimize “mask fatigue”. 

Masks are required for everyone over the age of 2 in any indoor or outdoor space, the only exceptions are when you’re eating, drinking or swimming. The parks do offer U-Rest areas where you can remove your mask and relax. Some of these are indoors but most are outdoors with umbrellas and cooling fans. If you’re an AMEX cardholder the member lounge is another option within Universal Studios to take a break. Although their official policy does not allow a mask break here, if you’re the only family utilizing the space they will allow you to remove masks.

Team members are kindly reminding guests that may not be complying with these new protocols, and are constantly cleaning high touch, high traffic areas. I saw countless occurrences of this firsthand! 

Universal Orlando Resort is also requiring resort-wide, daily temperature screening of all guests and team members. Anyone with a temperature over 100.4 is denied entry into theme parks, hotels and City Walk.

Park Entertainment Hasn’t Gone Completely Dark

For my family, character greetings, shows, and parades are a huge part of the theme park experience. Kudos to Universal Orlando Resort for recognizing the value of park entertainment and thoughtfully creating opportunities to allow the show to go on!

Even though my kids are 14 and 10, there’s still a level of excitement when you see one of your favorite characters from a beloved movie or tv show in-person! The new character greetings are socially distanced with markers perfectly placed for photos or selfies with the characters in the background.

Most shows at Universal Orlando Resort are still being performed as well. Indoor theaters are operating under reduced capacities and maintaining social distancing by leaving empty seats between travel parties. Outdoor shows have designated socially distanced spaces for travel parties to stand to enjoy these performances, while Universal team members are there to reinforce this. 

Sadly, parades are not running and because of reduced park hours evening shows have been temporarily cancelled.

Attractions That Still Excite 

Attractions still deliver all of the thrills, shrills, laughs, and screams that we’ve come to expect, some with a few noticeable changes (mostly queue experience).

Most rides at Universal Orlando Resort begin with locker stations. Team members are strictly monitoring these areas limiting the number of guests to promote social distancing.

Throughout the queue markers were placed to assist travel parties in maintaining proper social distancing. For many attractions the pre-ride shows were disabled which does slightly diminish the overall ride experience, most notably on Escape from Gringotts and The Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon. 

Team members are distributing 3-D glasses individually and ensuring everyone receives a squirt of hand sanitizer just before boarding every ride. Attraction seating is also being staggered to promote social distancing.

Although the Virtual Line experience is not a new technology it has been expanded to include more attractions. This operates similar to the FastPass system at Walt Disney World, allowing guests to pre-select a 30-minute ride time window based on availability. Honestly, we only utilized this for two newer attractions, everything else was available with little wait on stand-by.

Dining Experience Offered Room For Improvement

The dining experience was the most notably different aspect of our Universal Orlando Resort vacation. All of our food and beverages selections were good but the delivery logistics seemed inefficient. Popular restaurants had longer waits for seating, ordering, and delivering food compared to our pre-pandemic experiences.

Seating capacity has been reduced at all dining locations. Full-service dining experiences have transitioned to one-time use menus and counter-service dining locations are promoting mobile ordering on the Universal App. This allows guests (except on dining plan) to pre-order, pay, and pick up their meal when its ready. I also discovered that kids meals are not available through mobile ordering.

Minor Hotel Changes Are Easy To Overcome

Onsite hotels adhere to the Universal Orlando Resort social distancing, sanitization, and screening policies. Signage throughout the hotel promoted these updated safety protocols. Most notably elevators are limited to one travel party at a time and hand sanitizing stations are placed at all elevators. 

Hotel food and beverage outlets are operating with limited hours and menus due to occupancy levels, so don’t expect too many options for hotel dining right now. 

Another significant modification is the cleaning or servicing your room during your stay has been discontinued. If you need fresh towels or even trash pick up simply call or text the front desk, then leave everything outside your door and your requests are quickly filled.

Final Thoughts

With low crowds, increased cleaning, and current offers now is the BEST TIME to visit Universal Orlando Resort. It’s an exceptional value! And these vacations don’t require much advance itinerary planning making it the perfect last minute trip! 

But it was the unseen benefit that I will cherish most from this trip. Universal provided our family with a safe, fun escape from the stress (& drama) that this pandemic has caused. We spent a much needed week laughing, having fun, and making unforgettable memories. For us traveling was the most normal we’ve felt since March, and that’s priceless!!

Contact us to help you plan your perfect Universal Orlando Resort vacation without any stress, and there’s never an additional fee to book your travel with us!