Return to the Magic Kingdom 2020

It will have been 3 months and 25 days since a guest has stepped foot in a Walt Disney World park on July 11, 2020. The experience those guests will have will be vastly different than that of the last day of operation March 15.

We were in Hollywood Studios on March 15. It was a very busy day. And sad. Disney had already announced the parks closing due to the Novel Coronavirus. Disney had also announced they were closing things like the Disney College Program until further notice, effectively cancelling the current attendee’s program mid-course. They were all at Hollywood Studios that day.

Sam and I will not be attending the beginning days of the parks opening, but we are keeping our current hotel reservation and Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village July 24-26. Whether or not we will get a reservation to go to a park remains to be seen.

We expect many things to be different from our last visit. First, temperature and health checks at the entrances to most areas. This is something not normal in the United States; and its something we don’t think will be well received. Second, we will have to wear masks in most areas. The debate about facial coverings ranges from they don’t work to they are the cure. I don’t believe they are the cure, but I don’t believe they have no effect either. Last, there probably won’t be any crowds. This is the reason we think the trip might be worth it.

We don’t think this is the new normal. This is the temporary normal. During the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918-1920 a lot of the same measures were seen. We know more about biology and virology than we did now, but they were on to something. Nonetheless, 1920 was an election year in the US, and with overwhelming support, the US voter voted to have their rights restored instead of security. Something we expect the US voter will continue in the future.