Tag: face covering

Everything You NEED To Know About Wearing Masks in Disney World

Post author By disneyfoodblog.com
Post date June 8, 2020

Face masks are becoming a regular part of our everyday lives as businesses reopen and resume operation. And with more private businesses requiring the use of face coverings and masks by their employees and customers, we have all needed to become overnight experts on the do’s and don’ts of masks!

Disney World

As Disney World prepares to reopen their theme parks on July 11 and 15, this is a great opportunity to review exactly what the face mask requirements are at the resort as well as some useful tips that you should be aware of if you’re heading to Disney World this summer!

Protocol & Regulations in the Resort

To start off, it’s important to know the exact protocols and regulations at Disney World when it comes to face coverings! In general, if you’re outside of your hotel room, you should plan on having a face mask on at all times, unless you are seated at a restaurant, eating or sipping on a drink on-the-go, or you are swimming.

In Disney Springs

All guests must wear face coverings when entering Disney Springs, meaning if you don’t have one on you when you arrive, you will NOT be allowed in. We were told by a Cast Member that a small number of disposable masks will possibly be available at the checkpoint for guests without one, but we recommend not counting on that and bringing your own.

Required Measures Sign

Once you have entered Disney Springs, you are still required to keep your mask on at all times. The exceptions to this rule are when you are seated at a restaurant or if you take a bite to eat or sip on your drink while walking around Disney Springs.

In the Theme Parks

Disney World notes that face coverings will be required for Cast Members and for guests.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Magic Kingdom

Disney has floated the idea of “relaxation zones” where guests may be able to briefly remove their masks while in the parks. We’ve seen this same concept in effect at reopened Universal Orlando, where they offer URest Areas to guests.

See all of the details from Disney World’s May 27th presentation, including the health and safety measures they will be implementing.

In the Resorts

When Disney Vacation Club Resorts & Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campgrounds reopen on June 22, face coverings will be required for Cast Members and guests when they are in public resort areas, including lobbies, pool areas, gyms, etc.

Beach Club Resort

Face masks will NOT be required when guests are swimming in the pools.

Other Policies

Originally, Disney was requiring all guests above the age of three to wear a face mask. As of May 28, per CDC guidelines, that was updated to all guests aged two and up.

Update Mask Requirements ©Disney

In case there was any doubt pertaining to Disney’s authority to enforce these policies, remember that Disney World is private property. And as private property, they can deny any Guest service if that Guest does not comply with their policies.

Learn more about Disney World’s updated age policy when it comes to wearing masks here!

Where can I buy masks in Disney World?

As of this writing, Disney Springs is the only retail location open in Disney World. Within Disney Springs, only a select number of third-party retailers have been seen selling face masks including Vera Bradley, American Threads, Sephora, and The Polite Pig.

Vera Bradley Face Masks

With shopDisney selling Disney-themed face masks, we thought we might spot them being sold in World of Disney, but so far that has NOT been the case. Only time will tell if Disney will sell any masks within the theme parks once they reopen in July.

Check out the adorable character masks shopDisney is selling here!

Best practices & tips for staying comfortable

For optimal comfort, you are going to want to shop for masks made with lightweight, breathable material. For maximum effectiveness, you are going to want a face mask made with a tightly-woven cloth. The material that checks both of those boxes seems to be regular old cotton.

American Threads Face Masks

Not all masks are created equal. Some masks are going to be comfier than others. Do your research and shop around. Try different fabrics as well as different elastics (also try masks that tie around your head!). If you don’t want to spend money on face masks, consider making them yourself!

Click Here to Read What It’s Like To Wear a Mask in a Theme Park All Day!

©BitOfMagicCo on Etsy

When it comes to staying comfortable once you have your mask on, we recommend you take your masks on an all-day test run BEFORE you leave on vacation. Wear them around the house, go for a long walk outside, and get used to the feeling of wearing a mask for a prolonged period of time.

Cast Member with required face mask

You’re going to want to be prepared by packing extra masks for you and everyone in your family, or be ready to wash those masks nightly! The CDC recommends that you wash your face mask after every use. You will need to hand wash your mask (or machine wash…but hand washing works fine), or you will need at least one face mask per person per day.

Read the CDC guidelines for washing your face mask here!

We also recommend you bring a couple of masks in your park bag per day in case it rains. A wet mask is considered no longer useful, and who wants to wear a wet face mask around all day?

Guests with Face Coverings in Disney Springs

You may also want to consider taking a longer midday break if you find it difficult to wear your mask for prolonged periods of time. Leave the parks and go back to your hotel room where you can take your mask off, or go swimming! We recommend working at a slower pace than you may be accustomed to in the theme parks. Try not to run around & get yourself worked up, especially in the summer. It was hot in Disney World BEFORE all these masks, just imagine it now!

Click here for some of our best recommendations for masks!

Masks are new for most of us, but with a bit of research, we can make the best choices to ensure we’re all comfortable. If you’re planning a trip to Disney World soon, you’ll need to do the extra work to be READY with your masks and the new challenges that they will bring. We’ll keep you posted as Disney announces more regarding their reopening. In the meantime, start picking out those masks!

What are YOUR top tips for staying comfortable in a face mask for a prolonged period of time? Share your expertise in the comments!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Disney Springs, Featured, Walt Disney World, disney springs, Disney World, disney world face mask policy, Disney World reopening, face covering, face mask

Tags Disney Springs, Disney World, disney world face mask policy, Disney World reopening, face covering, face mask, Featured, Walt Disney World

Disney Guides Disney Parks Other

Here’s What It’s Like To Wear a Mask in a Theme Park All Day!

Post author By disneyfoodblog.com
Post date June 7, 2020

Disney Springs and Universal Orlando’s CityWalk reopened last month and brought about several big changes — some of which are taking a little more getting used to than others!

Universal Orlando

Both shopping and dining districts mandated the use of masks for both guests and employees. Making the change to wearing masks in daily life has been a bit of a transition — but add a little Florida heat and walking around all day to the mix and things start to get a little swampy pretty FAST.

Our Disney Springs days while wearing face masks were good practice (and gave us some idea of what to expect!) but now that Universal Orlando theme parks have reopened, we can finally give you the official scoop on what it’s like to wear a face mask at a theme park ALL. DAY. LONG!

Masks vs. the Heat

We’d be kidding ourselves if we said wearing a face mask wasn’t really, REALLY hot at times. It definitely the hardest part of the whole face mask-wearing lifestyle we’ve recently procured for ourselves (along with everyone else)! Mid-day when the sun is beating down (not to mention Florida is VERY humid) we’ve been noticeably sweating uncontrollably!

Universal Lines

But here’s the thing — if you’re like us, you’re already used to shvitzing half of your body mass in sweat and having your clothes cling to your body! Being outside this time of year can be hot, sticky, and uncomfortable even without a mask.

Universal

Luckily, we did a little pre-theme park conditioning before we hit Universal Orlando — and we highly recommend taking some long walks outdoors with your face masks and see how well you handle the heat. Chances are you’ll find it tolerable — but you’ll probably have to work up to it!

Click Here For Suggestions To Find The Most Comfortable Masks

Masks vs. Thrill Rides

We weren’t exactly sure what would happen to our face masks once we went on a rollercoaster for the first time since we know what usually happens to loose articles! Bye-bye favorite sunglasses!

The Incredible Hulk Coaster

Check out 6 things that really surprised us about Universal’s reopening here!

But with face coverings that fit snugly against your nose and mouth, this isn’t an issue! The only time we felt our mask start to slide was on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit — one of Universal’s more-intense rides. And even then, our face mask stayed in place. We recommend giving your mask a quick tug to make sure it’s secure before take-off!

Mask vs. Excitement

Does wearing a face mask take away from rides? This was something we were the MOST curious to find out!

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit

So what did we think? We still had a great time on the rides, despite wearing face coverings. In fact, on Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and The Incredible Hulk Coaster, there were moments we totally forgot we were wearing them!

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

Check out 6 things we learned at Universal this week that you’ll need to know for Disney World’s reopening!

But here’s the thing — if this is your first time visiting Universal Studios or experiencing these rides, you might not get the full experience! We’ve been on the rides before, so for us, it’s just exciting to get to enjoy them again. If you’re only planning on visiting Universal (or Disney World) once, you might want to wait until face masks aren’t mandatory.

Masks vs. Eating

We weren’t about to let a face mask stop us from consuming as much Butterbeer (and Butterbeer Ice Cream!) as Muggle-ly possible! And like our experience at CityWalk and Disney Springs, eating and drinking with a face mask isn’t much of an issue.

Universal

Guests are allowed to lower their masks while eating or drinking and since tables at restaurants have been spaced apart, you’re free to remove your face covering while you enjoy your meal. Universal employees were keeping a watchful eye on everybody and any time a guest had their mask lowered but wasn’t holding a snack or drink, they were asked to re-cover.

Masks vs. Breathing

Getting in some practice with wearing a mask definitely helped us get more acclimated to breathing through a mask while outside. We also noticed the material of your face mask will make it easier or harder to breathe. Click here for some suggestions as to the most comfortable face masks you can choose.

U-Rest Area

Universal has set up several U-Rest Areas (two inside each theme park and one at CityWalk) where guests can remove their masks temporarily while social distancing. You can stay in these areas for however long you need to get a break.

Click here to learn more about Universal’s U-Rest Areas!

Masks vs. Children

We didn’t have any children with us on our trips to the theme parks this week, but we understand many of our readers are concerned about being able to get their young children to wear face masks for the duration of their visit. The kids we’ve seen so far have been doing a really good job keeping their face masks on, and waiting until they got to a restaurant or U-Rest Area before taking them off!

Line for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

While we think this will be a matter each parent will need to address with their children individually, we think having the flexibility to remove face coverings when sitting down for a meal or in a designated U-Rest Area will provide some extra relief for families with younger kids. It’s also possible you might need to plan shorter park days than you’re used to — at least for the time being!

Honeydukes

Overall, face masks do take some getting used to. But that being said, wearing a mask in a theme park didn’t feel TOO much different from a mask all day at Disney Springs. We found out some lessons the hard way, so we have some top tips for wearing a face covering here!

Our most important tip is probably to have back-up. Bring at least two masks (and maybe three) for each person in your party, just in case one does fly off on a ride, or you’re stuck in a rainstorm and the mask you’re wearing is no longer effective.

Thunder Falls

And remember — YOU get to decide when you’re ready to go back out in public and if you’re ready to go to a theme park right now. But we were pleasantly surprised that face coverings didn’t actually put too much of a damper on our day!

Check out all of our live coverage from Universal’s reopening here!

Do you have any questions about wearing a mask in a theme park? Please let us know in the comments below!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: Disney News, Disney Springs, Featured, News, Disney, Disney reopening, disney springs, face covering, hulk, Islands of Adventure, Mask, reopen, reopening, theme park, Universal, Universal Orlando, Universal Orlando Resort

Tags disney, Disney News, disney reopening, Disney Springs, face covering, Featured, hulk, Islands of Adventure, Mask, news, reopen, reopening, theme park, Universal, Universal Orlando, Universal Orlando Resort

Disney Parks Other

7 Tips For Wearing a Face Covering in Disney World

Post author By disneyfoodblog.com
Post date May 23, 2020

We’ve got the tips you need to make wearing a face mask in Disney World more comfortable!

Magic Kingdom

With the reopening of locations like Shanghai Disneyland, Disney Springs, and Universal Orlando CityWalk, it’s become a common practice to require guests to wear masks. And since this is new for many Disney guests (including us!) the new accessory might take some getting used to. Here are the top tips our team has picked up from exploring the newly reopened locations in our masks!

Bring Lip Balm!

One unexpected consequence of wearing a mask — our lips got super chapped! We found that having lip balm on hand was a real lifesaver for us. Be sure to throw this in your park bag even if it’s not normally on your list!

Face Mask

If you happen to forget lip balm on your trip, you can check for it in the hotel gift shop — or place an order to be delivered to your hotel!

Click here to learn more about getting packages delivered to your Disney World Hotel!

Protect Your Ears!

In our experience, we’ve found it’s way more comfortable to secure our mask around our head instead of behind our ears. But since most masks are designed with ear loops to keep them in place, we’ve had to get creative! Try investing in an ear saver that will allow you to hook the mask behind your head and take the pressure off of those poor ears!

Vera Bradley Face Masks

Using one of these handy tools allowed us to safely modify our standard masks to make them more comfortable!

If You Have Long Hair, Wear It Up!

This tip has helped us on a few levels. First, with the straps and ear savers on our masks, wearing our hair up reduced the amount of tangling. And, since the mask has made the shopping experience a bit hotter, having our hair off of our neck has helped us stay cool!

Cast Member with required face mask

Whether you prefer a soft hair tie, or a sturdy coil design, as long as you have something to keep your hair out of the way of your mask (and the back of your neck!) you should be set.

Don’t Forget to Wear Sunscreen!

Just because your mask will cover part of your face doesn’t mean you can skip the sunscreen! Be sure to apply sunscreen to your face, shoulders, arms, legs — any exposed skin! Wearing sunscreen will also help reduce the potential “face mask tan” you could end up with if you have extended exposure to the sun (this one is “sweat proof”).

Don’t forget your sunscreen!

We’ve seen sunscreen for sale in the parks before, but we recommend bringing your own to make sure you’re prepared and have your preferred brand (this one comes in a non greasy stick so you can apply easily).

Bring a Personal Fan!

It’s no secret that Disney World can get pretty hot, and wearing a mask can make you feel a little bit warmer. So, it’s more helpful than ever to carry a personal fan with you in the park! Having some extra airflow from a handheld fan can make a huge difference. And while there are some battery powered versions, we’ve also found rechargeable fans which means more space in our suitcase!

Cooling Fans

This is another product you might be able to find around Disney Springs if you’re in a pinch. But bringing your own will probably be cheaper — and that way you won’t have to sweat it out until you can find one!

Buy Your Child a Mask That Fits Well!

While children under the age of three are exempt from wearing masks in Disney Springs and CityWalk, everyone aged three and older is required to wear a face covering. And it can definitely be difficult to encourage the kiddos to keep the masks on! But one thing that does help is to make sure you buy a mask designed for children — that way the fit is designed for them and it will be both more comfortable and more effective.

Plus, if your child has a face mask with a cool design that they enjoy, it can become more of a fun experience and encourage them to stick with it!

Avoid Wearing Glasses if Possible!

Wearing a face covering can cause glasses to fog up pretty quickly. So, if you need corrective lenses and you also have contacts available, we suggest opting for the contacts so you don’t have to deal with the fogging effect with your glasses!

Heart-Shaped Sunglasses

Of course, sometimes glasses are unavoidable. Whether they’re corrective lenses or sunglasses! If you do need to wear glasses on your visit, be prepared for the fogging and be sure to pack a microfiber cloth to wipe down your lenses regularly.

It’s definitely been an adjustment for us to get used to wearing a mask around Disney property. But we’ve these tips to make the experience much more comfortable! Be sure to keep these things in mind when wearing a face covering around Disney World to make things easier for yourself and the rest of your family!

Do you have any tips for wearing a mask in Disney World? Share your suggestions in the comments!

From our friends at www.disneyfoodblog.com
Filed Under: disney parks, Disney Springs, Featured, Walt Disney World, chapstick, cloth face masks, cooling fans, DFB Tips, disney disney springs, disney face mask, Disney Face Masks, Disney Spring face masks, disney springs reopen, disney springs reopening, face covering, face mask, face mask tan lines, face masks, fan, hair tie, health and safety measures, lip balm, sunscreen