The Best (and Worst) Aspects of This Disney World Safety Measure

Disney World reopened with new health and safety regulations that have affected what guests experience in restaurants, gift shops, and attractions.

Most of the health mandates surround limiting capacity in the theme parks and inside buildings. Physical distancing is implemented in lines and on attractions to create space between travel groups. Over the months, Disney has adjusted the regulations to compensate for increased crowds. One of the adjustments has been the installation of more plexiglass barriers on attractions. We’re breaking down the big pros and big cons of plexiglass on attractions, and how it could impact your ride experience.

The plexiglass barriers were initially installed on a handful of attractions when the parks reopened. Many rides were seating guests in every other row to put distance between groups. The attractions with plexiglass could seat every row and usually had faster loading times.

Crowds have increased and the overall theme park capacity has been raised to 35%. We’ve seen wait times increase and lines stretch outside of the ride queues to adhere to proper physical distancing. 

To accommodate the crowds, Disney has installed more plexiglass on attractions. This allows attractions to seat every row and has increased capacity on popular rides. We’ve started to see decreased wait times for popular attractions like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway since the installations.

Because of the installation, guests may see shorter wait times on certain attractions. It’s also a way for Disney to recognize safety measures without decreasing ride capacity.

The decreased wait times have been pretty great.  Who wants to wait longer in line if you don’t need to? The ride capacity may be increased and wait times may be shorter with the plexiglass installed. However, the ride may not be worth the short wait if you can’t see well and the experience is altered.

We recently rode Frozen Ever After with the new windows installed. This is a log ride and water will sometimes spray the boat and passengers. Our vision was obscured by the mist and water droplets that formed on the barriers.

We had a similar experience on Rise of the Resistance. The ride vehicles transport guests from outside to inside. The transfer between Florida humidity and air conditioning caused the windows to fog up on the ride. The fog on Rise of the Resistance and the water droplets on Frozen Ever After made it harder to see and affected our ride experience.

Also, it should be noted that capacity was recently raised on Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. We actually didn’t see a decrease in wait times once the plexiglass was installed. We could see this changed in the future. For now, our wait time was the same as it was before.

The pros and cons can be weighed for both. Some guests don’t mind the wait and would rather enjoy the attraction without looking through a window. Others would rather cut down on lines and aren’t bothered by the plexiglass. Disney will most likely continue to adjust the attraction seating and experience as events unfold.

Now, we wanna hear from you! Do you think the attractions should have windows installed and increase capacity? Or, would you rather be seated every other row without the barriers? Let us know in the comments!