Disney World tightens face mask guidelines for dining locations
The Walt Disney World website has been updated to tighten written guidelines for face coverings at dining locations, adding clarification as to when guests are permitted to remove masks.
The new language states that face coverings “can only be removed while actively eating or drinking” and that “face coverings must be worn while standing, waiting, or sitting in dining locations.”
Previous language left more room for interpretation, stating that face coverings for guests age 2 and up “must be worn in all public areas—including while entering and exiting dining locations — and can be removed while eating or drinking.”
Throughout the pandemic Disney has continued to clarify and tighten language and signage with respect to mask requirements in the theme parks and dining locations.
The latest update extends Disney’s rules beyond those in place at other theme parks like Universal Orlando, where face covering guidelines for dining locations currently state that guests can remove face coverings while seated at their table: “Inside restaurants, we have arranged tables and seating so that guests can safely remove their face coverings while enjoying their dining experience.”
In some other parts of the country, strict statewide guidelines have been issued with respect to mask requirements while dining in restaurants, particularly as they relate to interactions with servers and other restaurant staff. For example, a statewide policy in Illinois requires guests to wear masks when approached and served by staff, including when food and beverages are delivered and tables are serviced.
Stay tuned to Attractions Magazine for updates and let us know how you feel about this new rule clarification below.
We are local AP’s on a monthly payment plan and WILL NOT BE GOING TO WDW as long as they have this asinine mask policy in place. Masks are absolutely useless and have been compared to putting up a chain link fence to keep out mosquitoes. There is absolutely no medical science proving masks do anything except subjugate and control the populace but plenty of data on the harm they do to healthy people wearing masks including bacterial pneumonia (caused by unnecessary masks) which killed more people in the 1918 flu epidemic than the actual flu did). We have been AP’s since 1996 and obviously will not be renewing this year when ours expire in September/October. We were going to cancel when we had the opportunity to in May (ours expired then), but decided against it. We now know our first instinct was right – we should have cancelled. We’ve only been over once since August and it was a miserable visit. Restaurants not open, attractions down or not open, trams in the parking lot not running, etc. The mandatory masks in the August heat were an experience never to be forgotten. We did go over to meet friends in December and while the heat wasn’t a factor, masking up was still unpleasant. We have been Disneyholics since 1955 when the original Mickey Mouse Club aired and cannot believe how this one factor (masks) have changed our whole attitude toward Disney. To be fair, all theme parks are requiring masks unnecessarily but Disney was our main go to park even though we live 45 minutes from Busch Gardens. We cannot justify driving 2 hours over and 2 hours home and being required to wear masks even thought there is NO SCIENTIFIC PROOF SHOWING MASKS DO ANYTHING TO PREVENT THE VIRUS!!! We will not be renewing our AP’s and Disney will not be getting anymore money from us once our payments stop.
I’m not sure where you made the connection between pneumonia and wearing a mask. Quite possibly your only source of information is Fox News? In case you need scientific proof, there is a very easy to read article posted by CDC which includes 45 references, all showing studies that masks do indeed reduce infectious spread.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html
And also just FYI, Global Climate Change is real, and just because folks froze their butts off in Texas last week doesn’t mean the entire globe isn’t warming as a whole. I’m hoping that your home location in central Florida means your house won’t be underwater when the southern third of Florida is below sea level in 30 years.
Why face masks work
Transmission of the coronavirus is thought to occur through respiratory droplets that are released when people speak, sneeze, or talk, according to Dr. MeiLan Han, a professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Michigan.
If these droplets land in the mouth or nose of people nearby, or are inhaled into the lungs, a person can contract the virus.
Masks create a physical barrier that catches these droplets and prevents them from spreading as far into the surrounding air as they normally would.
Han said the masks become even more important because a significant proportion of people who get COVID-19 either don’t exhibit symptoms or there’s a delay before symptoms show up.
Studies show, however, that these people can still transmit the virus to people around them.
The data suggest that the use of face coverings can help limit the spread of the disease by these asymptomatic and presymptomatic individuals, said Han.
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This being said, I think it would be difficult to enjoy Disney wearing a mask all day …
But they are doing their best to keep guests safe.
I felt 100% safe at Disney. I believe masks work. Have you been sick this year with anything? Germs don’t spread when everyone is wearing a mask. Hopefully the maskless people will stay home and let everyone else enjoy themselves.
Nah, masks don’t work and never will. You people really should “follow the science” on this. The mask nazis, scared senseless of a “virus” with a 99% survival rate upon infection, should be the ones staying home so the rest of us can live normally again. Go away.
Glad to hear you are not renewing! Yes, wearing a mask is a pain, but they work. Check the CDC website. But without you as a passholder, there is more room in the park for me, thank you!