Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are going to Disney World after winning Super Bowl LV. That may not have been a fundamental milestone in previous years – after all, announcing you’re going to Disney World is a proud tradition for American sports champions – however, this is Super Bowl 2021. The NFL – like all the world – had to go through a very strange season to get to Super Bowl LV, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney World has been (obviously) been one of the biggest business to take a hit due to the pandemic and public health restrictions – so Brady and Gronkowski aren’t just carrying on tradition – they’re making an all-American proclamation.
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Of course, the Disney World experience isn’t quite the same for Tom Bray and Rob Gronkowski as it is for the rest of us. In a normal year, the entire park would almost certainly be reserved for the two NFL stars, their families, and teammates, to spend the day indulging in the magic and fun of Disney. In 2021, it’s a certainty that Brady, Gronk, and any other guests in their group will get the top-notch private, and sanitized, Disney experience. It also probably helps that the NFL was at the forefront of helping push for a COVID-19 vaccine, in part to help protect its players. They’re probably the most secure group of human beings to walk into Disney World since the pandemic began. You can bet Brady and Gronkowski are loving the decision to move to Florida. New England looks like the Tundra right now…
Disney World theme parks re-opened in mid-summer 2020, but have struggled to find equilibrium during the continuing surges in COVID-19 infections. Disney laid off around 28,000 employees in the fall of last year, followed by an additional 8,000 part-time employees. This has been accompanied by cuts in hours at Disney theme parks due to reduced attendance, while some parks – like the Anaheim, CA, park – have struggled to open at all. It makes things even trickier that there are different restrictions in each state regarding public health mandates over COVID-19, making it hard for companies like Disney – with major locations in different regions of the country – to come up with a consistent plan of action.
However, the parks will no doubt get a boost in PR from having two of the most famous NFL players in the world give the sign that things are returning to normalcy. With more vaccinations and a collective desire for people to get out, it’ll be interesting just how much Disney theme parks bounce back this year.
