Walt Disney World says goodbye to the final remnants of its COVID-19 safety protocols

Aug 02, 2022 in "The Walt Disney Company"

Gallery / 6 Photos
Walt Disney World COVID-19 warning signs 2020 - 2022

Posted: Tuesday August 2, 2022 7:00am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has removed the last of the COVID-19 health and safety signs this morning at the entrances to locations across the entire Walt Disney World property as the company looks to a new era post-pandemic.

COVID-19 warning signs have been on display since summer 2020

These COVID-19 warning signs were positioned at the entrance to the theme parks, resort hotels, and Disney Springs at Disney World's reopening in summer 2020 and stated to guests, "By visiting Walt Disney World, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19."

COVID-19 disclaimer at Disney Springs

As part of the COVID-19 health and safety protocols at Disney World, the warning signs were joined by social distancing and masking signage. The latter were removed over time as Disney relaxed its COVID-19 guidelines. But the warning sign with the disclaimer notice remained until now.

COVID-19 disclaimer at EPCOT

The last of the COVID-19 signage remains at Disney's First Aid Centers, which still require masks to be worn when inside.

In addition to removing the warning signs, most hand sanitizer stations have gradually been removed from the parks over the last few weeks. You may still find some hand sanitizer stations at buffet restaurants, but don't expect to see them at park entrances or attractions.

Hand sanitizer stations are being removed

The latest action by Disney seems to close the book on COVID-19 at Walt Disney World, despite continuing cases among guests and Cast Members. Like most of the planet, Disney World is looking to put the pandemic firmly in the history books.

Magic Kingdom on its reopening day July 2020

Discuss on the Forums

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cranbizAug 12, 2022

I think it's time for this thread to close. Seems nobody over the last few pages can stay on topic and its turning into a covid debate. @The Mom ?

LilofanAug 12, 2022

Heck , even the 3 lane 25 yard lap pool in my local gym has signs saying if you have a communicable disease to stay out of the pool.

Figgy1Aug 12, 2022

FTFY;) It's not nice to share germs;)

LilofanAug 12, 2022

Testing positive for Covid and willingly going to the packed theme parks on vacation is completely irresponsible.

mmascariAug 12, 2022

We tested prior to our trip. The night before we left for the airport. Just the home test. Everyone was negative. We tested the morning after we returned. Three out of 4 were positive. Clearly, somewhere between the two dates we shifted from negative to positive. Could have been the first day, could have been after we got back, or it could have been anytime between those two.

MagicHappens1971Aug 12, 2022

This years merch is better than it has been in recent years, some actual unique designs

bhg469Aug 12, 2022

Granted I live in Orlando but part of my symptoms were bathroom related... The idea of fun tends to be spoiled when endless trips to the throne are happening. I most definitely avoided the parks when I was testing positive.

LittleBufordAug 12, 2022

Active = showing symptoms and/or testing positive Also, how seriously it affects you doesn't have much bearing on how seriously it might affect others. My grandmother had it and experienced nothing worse than a cold; my father (her son) caught it from her and nearly died.

mmascariAug 12, 2022

How active are we talking here? Like, "it's just allergies" a little bit active. Or, like "pounding headache, uncontrollable coughing, and exhaustion" active? How about when symptoms started? Are we thinking someone in the second group before they got on the plane to even travel to WDW? Or, is this someone who tested negative immediately prior to driving to the airport but is on day 4 of a 7 day trip and those allergies that started on day 3 may not actually be allergies after all? I would like to think that people that tested positive prior to departure prior to going to WDW at all would defer their trip and deal with the disruption. I assume that people that test negative prior to departure and develop something while at WDW aren't going to stop and will also not test until they return home. Since, if you're not going to act on the test, there's no sense taking one. Plus, since you departed negative, you know you got it somewhere in route. (They could be nice and wear a source control mask at least if they're thinking they may have it.) Someone who doesn't test even before departure, they actively do not want to know.

draybookAug 12, 2022

It's the Disney souvenir that nobody wants but always gets.

Minnesota disney fanAug 10, 2022

Yep, I can't count how many times we have come home sick, but I do know it was. every.time!! One of us would get sick the day of or before leaving every time with fever, chills, cough, etc. Disney has thousands of visitors from all over and there is no way they can keep illnesses out of there. There's too many people in close proximity. It's true to other destinations where there are a lot of people in close proximity, not just disney. We went knowing this and of course went anyway - it's disney after all! I don't think most people will cancel their very expensive vacations and (time off from work) if a family member doesn't feel good. So there are the people who go knowing they are sick and those who get sick while there. If someone pays a lot of money for reservations, hotel, tickets, air fare, etc etc and got time scheduled off work, do you think they will cancel if little Jimmy has a "cold" or slight fever? I don't. It's just the way it is, IMO.

draybookAug 10, 2022

esskayAug 10, 2022

It's a thread discussing Disney's protocols for COVID being removed. Not a thread discussing the rather complex (and mostly political) response, or a debate on COVID as a whole. People who want to debate the existance of it need to go to one of the conspiricy forums and talk to the rest of the nutjobs. ----- Back on topic, theres seemingly still a lot in place that you could technically class as things that were down to covid, but most of them seem to be due to lack of staff, like the merch to room delivery service for example. With the fresh batch of students now working at Epcot I wonder if that'll have a knock on effect to fix some of these things. I.E showcase temp staff that were filling their place can be realocated back to other locations around the parks. Only problem is I guess pretty much all of those places are already short staffed, and even with the extra bodies they'll still not have enough people. Do we know how many ended up being let go just at WDW? The figures 28,000 and 32,000 were thrown around but that was across the whole company. Even the reports for 'parks' includes all their parks so its tricky to know just how short staffed they are.