Walt Disney World Making Major Change to Mask Policy

Walt Disney World is making a major change to its mask policy. On Wednesday, Disney announced, as [...]

By Nicole Drum

Walt Disney World is making a major change to its mask policy. On Wednesday, Disney announced, as reported by Spectrum News 13, that starting Thursday, masks will be optional at outdoor queues and outdoor theaters. Guests ages 2 and older will still be required to wear masks indoors and while on Disney buses, monorails, and Skyliner regardless of vaccination status.

This update to the mask policy comes just a few weeks after a previous update that required visitors and employees at Walt Disney World Resort ages 2 and up to wear masks in all indoor locations, including entering and throughout all attractions and in enclosed transportation vehicles. Prior to that update, face coverings had been optional at Walt Disney World since May. You can read the latest update from Disney regarding the mask policy (via Inside The Magic) below. You can also check out the full safety protocols at Walt Disney World here.

"Since May, face coverings have been optional for Guests in outdoor common areas, and beginning Thursday, August 19, face coverings will also be optional for Guests in outdoor attractions, outdoor queues, and outdoor theaters at Walt Disney World Resort. As a reminder, face coverings remain required for all Guests (ages 2 and up) while indoors and in Disney buses, monorail, and Disney Skyliner, regardless of vaccination status."

In July, Disney made changes to their mask policies at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland due to the surge in COVID-19 cases involving the Delta variant and following CDC guidance requesting that businesses institute mask mandates in the hope of stopping the spread of the Delta variant. Thus far, there has been no update in the mask requirements for Disneyland, which is located in California and it is possible that this won't be the last update for Walt Disney World as well. Conditions surrounding the pandemic continue to shift and change, requiring adaptation to a "new normal", something that Disney Parks chairman Josh D'Amaro spoke with CNBC about previously.

"We are in a new normal right now, so what's happening outside of the gates of Walt Disney World is our new world," D'Amaro explained. "I think you know we were one of the first theme parks to close, and we'll be about the last to open. And we spent every minute of every day thinking about how to operate in this new normal that we're in."

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