While some cities have shutdown down restaurants, even for outside dining, Florida theme parks are not just open, they are packed with people. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis lifted most restrictions in the state back in September and since then the theme parks have increased attendance limitations. The picture you see above was taken around 10:30 am on Tuesday, December 29th. People were crowded together in the Harry Potter section of Universal’s Islands of Adventure park in Orlando. The park announced it had reached capacity that day at 8:32 am. The next day it hit capacity even earlier.
One worker in the park’s guest relations department told us they haven’t been told how many people are being admitted into the park. The Daily Mail cites a statement from Universal as saying:
“We have been working to give our guests a great experience while we manage park attendance and access to our attractions as part of our COVID health and safety protocols… We are doing the best we can during a busy holiday period, while making sure we do not compromise our strict protocols and we ask guests for their patience and understanding.“
Today, one blog unaffiliated with Universal posted “The crowds seem even worse today for New Year’s Eve, though Universal Orlando Resort has not yet announced the parks are closed.”
The Orlando Sentinel reports that earlier this month NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said Universal’s theme parks are running at about 35%, “Disney revealed in November it increased the attendance cap from 25% to 35%. Neither park releases daily attendance numbers.”
While the perception of these crowds is concerning when we are being urged to avoid large gatherings, Dr. Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County says no COVID-19 outbreaks have been tied to the parks. The CBS affiliate in Orlando quotes him as saying:
“Our concerns are not really the large parks. These parks are open space, and that’s less conducive to transmission. Our concern is the smaller parks that may not have the resources that Disney and Universal or SeaWorld have… Our outbreaks, we have not been able to link to specific places at the large parks.”
California theme parks remain closed. The Orange County Register recently wrote, “California theme parks are unlikely to return to full operation until early 2021 or next summer under COVID-19 health and safety reopening guidelines issued by the state. Many of the state’s theme parks have partially reopened without rides for shopping, dining and special events.”
