COVID forced thousands and thousands of people to cancel their Disney vacations between March and July.  Unfortunately, Dom and I were two of those people; when we got back from WDW’s Marathon Weekend in January, we planned a trip for May that obviously didn’t end up happening.  On the bright side, it was going to be a post-spring exam trip and the spring exams we were supposed to take ended up getting cancelled too.

As the parks reopened in July for preview days, I watched a lot of Disneygrammers’ and theme park reporters’ Instagram stories to see how I felt about what they posted. After seeing all of the new safety measures Disney was taking, I decided that I did feel safe enough about going to book a trip, so I anxiously waited the few days until WDW announced they would be resuming ticket sales.

Once that day came, I set a 6am alarm so I could be sure to get the park reservations we wanted for our first trip back.  The reservation process went smoothly, and once I had all the confirmations for our flights, hotel, rental car, and tickets, the excitement set in – we were going to Disney in 10 days!   I did briefly try to convince Dom that we should also plan a last minute trip for the official opening weekend of Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom (very last minute – it was lunch time on Friday and I was trying to convince him we should drive up to Chicago and catch an 8pm flight to Orlando), but when my persuasion ultimately failed I settled for watching more Instagram stories and counting down the days to our trip.

While I watched and read about other people’s experiences, I found myself coming back to four major worries for our trip.  I wanted to make my first post about those worries in case other people have the same thoughts that I did and are trying to make decisions on whether or not to go, what to bring to the parks, and so on.

One of my biggest concerns was:

Would I really be able to have a good time at the parks while wearing a mask in the Florida summer heat and humidity for 10+ hours a day?

The short answer is yes; Dom and I were both totally fine with wearing masks the whole time, and we said numerous times that wearing them was not a big deal at all.

For a little more of an explanation:

I was mostly nervous about this because personally I get very very warm, very very quickly when I’m walking around outside in the sun, even if it isn’t that hot out.  It’s gross and annoying, and I am jealous of Dom who doesn’t seem to have this problem at all, but it’s just part of life and I have accepted it.  However, I was a little worried that most of the people I was watching on Instagram were more like Dom than me, and I was going to get very uncomfortable even though they all said they were fine.

While wearing a mask didn’t bother me when I was outside over the last few months (walking into a grocery store or getting gas), all of those experiences were during an Illinois summer and I was very aware that that’s not the same as rushing around Magic Kingdom, trying to get on as many rides as possible in Florida in July.  Similarly, a lot of the Disneygrammers I was following live near Orlando and so they are presumably already accustomed to that kind of heat.  All of that to say, it’s not that I didn’t trust what I was hearing; it’s just that I didn’t know if it was going to accurately apply to me.

The realization that I worried for nothing settled in pretty quickly on our first day; the masks legitimately are not that big of a deal when it comes to the heat.  Of course, it will be nice not to wear them someday and to be able to post throwback mask photos instead of current mask photos, but wearing them for now (and for however long they are necessary) didn’t take anything away from the parks for me.  And to be totally honest, it was kind of nice to not have to worry about if my smile looked weird in pictures throughout the day.

One thing to keep in mind on this is that other people do have different opinions on this, and they find the relaxation stations very helpful – those are the areas that you are able to sit and take your mask off, some inside in the AC and some outside. We never felt the need to stop at one, but everyone is different and figuring out which side of that you fall on is something that you won’t really know until you’re in the parks.

Veering a little away from the mask topic, my second question was one that I had just because I haven’t been to the parks in the middle of summer since I was about 12:

What do I need to bring to stay cool at the parks?

I want to emphasize something here that may not have been clear in my answer to the first question: I am not by any means saying the trip wasn’t hot.  It was, and for some reason it was especially hot at Hollywood Studios.  However, a few of the people I follow repeatedly reminded their followers in Instagram stories that it’s hot because it’s Florida in July – not just because of the masks – and I felt that was very true once we were there.  It was hot, but the masks definitely weren’t the reason it was hot. It was going to be hot whether we were wearing the masks or not, and I’ve seen a lot of WDW visitors reiterate that over the last few weeks so I wanted to make sure and say it again here. 

To try and combat the Florida / July heat, Dom and I did bring USB recharable handheld fans that we bought from Amazon, but I actually don’t think Dom pulled his out at all. The only times I used mine were in the queue for Rise of the Resistance once our boarding group had been called, and in line for Space Mountain – both before we made it to the AC portion of those queues.  Those were the only places that were standing directly in the sun for more than five minutes, so they obviously did get pretty warm because again, it’s Florida in July.  The fans definitely brought some relief, but I also think you would be fine to pass on those if you didn’t want to mess with them.

When I watched Disneygrammers’ lists of park supplies, many of them said to bring multiple masks because they ended up changing them out when the one they were wearing would get sweaty or damp from talking / breathing in the heat.  We did bring about six masks total, but we actually didn’t end up using any of our spare masks because we never felt the need to.  I would say that it’s a good idea to bring them for the peace of mind, especially if you end up going on even hotter days than when we were there, but you don’t necessarily need to go out and buy extra masks just for the parks if you don’t currently have them.  Also, if you do end up needing an extra mask and don’t have one, the ones that Disney sells in the parks and at Disney Springs are adorable and buying one of those is always an option – I believe they are $6 each.  I’ve heard multiple people say to size up on the Disney masks though because they run small.

The last thing we brought to stay cool is by far the best thing we brought to the parks period: an insulated refillable water bottle (I brought a Yeti and Dom brought his Hydroflask).  We usually don’t bring water bottles because we’ve always been able to walk up to a Quick Service place and ask for a cup of ice water.  That isn’t something that’s easy to do anymore due to the major transition to mobile ordering since the park reopened. I was very thankful that I had seen many people emphasize that it’s important to bring a refillable water bottle to keep water in, even if it’s just water fountain water – I actually went out and bought my Yeti after seeing so many people mention it.

One big tip I have on the insulated water bottles is that even though Disney has metal detectors, it’s not like the airport – it’s totally fine to bring full water bottles to the park – so we filled ours with ice and water at the hotel before we left.   We topped them off with ice water from lunch and that helped keep ice in both my Yeti and Dom’s Hydroflask all day.  Besides the refill at lunch, we refilled the water at drinking fountains as the water level went down.  Again, the water bottles were definitely the most important items we brought to the parks, so if you’re looking for something to cut from your park bag, do not cut that.

I wasn’t necessarily worried about the next question I had, but I was definitely curious about it:

Will my mask stay on during the more intense rides like Space Mountain and Tower of Terror?

I can’t speak for Animal Kingdom or Epcot because we didn’t go to those on this trip, but we did almost every attraction in Magic Kingdom and we did every attraction at Hollywood Studios.  The one and only time we had a problem with the masks staying on during a ride was on Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster in Hollywood Studios.  Since that is such a fast ride, my mask did continuously fall down off my nose, but every time this happened I just adjusted it back and it wasn’t a big deal.  Considering we did about 30 attractions over the weekend, I felt like only having an issue on one of them was really good – after all, it’s not like the rides were originally designed with masks in mind.

The last question I had is one that I think everyone has been wondering about:

Will the other WDW guests wear masks responsibly?

I saw a lot of mixed posts prior to our arrival at the parks about mask compliance from other guests.  I saw one post that said a mom nearby told her kids it was okay to take off the masks while they were walking through the Peter Pan queue and “take a breather”, and several people said guests were pulling masks below their noses as the parks got less busy in the evenings – both of which were concerning to me.

Keeping in mind that everyone has different experiences because it just comes down to who you happen to be around and when you are around them, I don’t remember seeing a single person on our Magic Kingdom day that was wearing their mask inappropriately or not wearing a mask (besides when eating / drinking while stationary).  Everyone I saw wore them through the queues, while walking around, while taking pictures, and on all of the rides without issue. Unfortunately, as I was preparing this post I realized that in my picture in front of the castle, there are two girls getting their pictures taken with their masks on their chins. So, I guess I will say I saw 99% mask compliance.

At Hollywood Studios, the only issue I saw with mask compliance was when the Rise of the Resistance queue broke down.  We were at a standstill for an hour while they fixed it, and there was a couple that I could see through the new plexiglass queue dividers that were just continuously pulling out soda, water bottles, fruit, etc. to “eat and drink while stationary” while they were in line, but they weren’t really eating or drinking – they just used it as an excuse to take their masks off and there wasn’t a Cast Member near them to hold them accountable.  This was very frustrating to me because that’s the exact kind of thing that will ruin it for everyone – as soon as one person thinks the rules don’t apply to them, it will spiral out of control.  I saw a few other people lower their masks below their nose at the same time, but they were near where a Cast Members was standing so the CM quickly walked over and told them to fix it, which I appreciated. 

Overall, mask compliance was very impressive throughout the trip which I was very grateful for.

If you have any questions that I didn’t address here, please feel free to reach out!