Walt Disney World is Open, and It’s Kind Of Terrifying

July 11, 2020 Angel Wilson
Walt Disney World
Image from 2010

As of today, Walt Disney World is open to the public.  The footage coming out of the park is terrifying. Y’all need to stay home.

Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland were scheduled to open over the next few days, but Disneyland pushed back its date to unspecified point in time in the future.  If I had to guess why one park opened and the other didn’t, it’d be because of the push from the employee unions in California, but that’s just a guess.  Either way, Florida is far worse off per capita than California, but the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom have opened their gates.

Whereas I was super excited when Shanghai Disney Resort opened, I’m watching this with a deep sense of dread.  The below first hand accounts from Twitter shows the large lines and crowding both inside and outside the park, with very little social distancing between guests.  The only blessing is that most people seem to be wearing masks, but it’s the combination of masks and distance that will keep people safe.  If one is missing, the risk of transmission will go significantly up.

The most disturbing thing I came across is a video of streamers who admit they were violently ill the night before visiting the park.  They stress that it wasn’t COVID-19 and threaten their followers who dare to mention that it could be the virus that they ‘won’t be in the group’ anymore if they mention it.

They state that they wouldn’t go to the park if they ‘even had one symptom’ of the virus, but supposedly admitted to coughing and a shortness of breath, which have been symptoms from the very beginning of the outbreak.  You can’t even blame that on new symptoms that we didn’t know about before now, because it was one of the original Big Three Symptoms.

The Twitter user who posted the video states that the streamers say it’s a tree nut allergy, but after allergy medication and an epi pen didn’t fix it, they were encouraged to go to the emergency room, which they refused.  They then went to the Magic Kingdom today, and will visit the Animal Kingdom tomorrow.

The park simply should not be open right now.  Most people on Twitter who are watching these events unfold seem to be similarly baffled at how such a thing can happen.  

Some people have been posting pictures and video that show a more vacant park. It seems like once you get past certain bottlenecks like entrances to places or the initial rush at the beginning of the day as people flood down Main Street, it’s perhaps not as bad as those few images portray? I still feel like the bottlenecks are an issue that need to be addressed, but to be fair, I’ll be sharing the ‘in between’ images from Twitter as well.

Important to note, though, is that regardless of whether you think this is a good idea or not, the employees don’t have a choice.  No matter what happens, it’s not their fault and anyone who takes anything out on them from either side of the fence should just sit the heck down.

Disney World should not be open. But it is.  And it’s horrifying.  This really shouldn’t be a thing, guys.  Just stay home.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.


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