Universal Orlando Resort Officially Open – Our Opening Day Videos From the Parks!

It wasn’t very long ago that it seemed like theme parks might not reopen before the end of summer. And many people were speculating that theme parks would not be able to reopen until next year. But yesterday, Universal Orlando Resort reopened with the Studios park, Islands of Adventure, and Volcano Bay once again available to guests. While Universal CityWalk has already been open for some time now, Universal Orlando is the first major theme park resort to fully resume operations. Let’s take a look at what this reopening has in store for guests!

You’ll see a LOT of changes from the normal operations before the shutdown. The most obvious are the blue tape markers on the ground to help guests keep their physical distance from others. There are signs posted all over the place reminding you to keep your distance, wash your hands, etc.  Additionally, there are hand sanitizers in all restaurants, shops, and at the entry and exit to all attractions. You’ll also notice that all guests and crew members are wearing face coverings.

While we’ll have some detailed photo reports coming for you shortly, I wanted to share two video walk-throughs of the parks with you. These were initially done as Facebook Live videos, and I’ve saved them for you to watch if you weren’t able to join the live feed. Consider these personal tours of Universal Orlando with Dusty Sage. I do my best to describe the experience and show you all the changes. 

Universal Studios Opening Day Video

Islands of Adventure Preview Video

Dusty’s Thoughts

I’ll be upfront, I wasn’t 100% sure I was comfortable with theme parks reopening so soon. But it’s my job to cover the theme parks and I felt like I owed it to our audience to be there when history happened. Thanks to our travel partners at Get Away Today, I was able to pull together a trip at the last minute. 

I arrived at Universal’s new Endless Summer resort hotel and was almost immediately put at ease. Signs asked guests to have their masks on before entering the hotel. Friendly security staff greet you at the entry and take your temperature with one of those touchless gun things. They give you a wristband to put on that shows you’ve been screened and you don’t have to do the temperature check again until the next day. 

My room was super clean looking and smelling. There were notes to let me know that housekeeping wouldn’t be making up the room, but if I wanted additional sheets or towels, they would leave some for me in a sealed bag. If you need additional housekeeping, you just give them a call. And, only one party at a time is allowed on the elevators. So the hotel felt very safe to me. 

But I wasn’t sure if the parks would be as able to keep a handle on things. For the most part, they did! Guests and team members all had masks on. There were some singing performers who did not wear masks, but others who did. Even some face characters were in masks.  

There are a few occasions that you don’t need to wear your mask. For instance, you take your mask off to eat. And there are also “U-Rest” areas where you can relax and take off your mask. They are huge areas with lots of extra social distancing to help make up for masks being off. Surprisingly, very few guests seemed to be using these areas, though I found them VERY helpful.  I’m from Southern California and the Orlando heat and humidity can be daunting for me —even under normal conditions. Although, after a few awkward hours struggling with my mask, it started to become invisible to me. I bought a drink and forgot I even had the mask on. Which meant I got butterbeer foam all over my mask and clothes! 

I also found that because guests were trying to keep their distance, the pace of walking in the parks was slow and comfortable, instead of the sometimes pushy crowds you’d find in normal times.  Though there was much less talking in lines, there were many more gestures of kindness than I’m accustomed to in the theme park setting. 

Many of the things you know and love about the parks are either missing or changed for the time being. The nighttime spectacular was canceled. As were most of the indoor shows. Playgrounds were also closed.

But, there were far more characters out and about than we had anticipated. Universal placed parade floats and stages in strategic areas for characters to use. They really help liven up the park and bring a smile to guests’ faces.

They ran the individual SpongeBob float out to an open area and waved to guests and sort of danced a bit.  It’s magical to just come upon something like this happening rather than finding it on a schedule and waiting in line. 

You are also encouraged to take a selfie with the characters from a distance. Seeing Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. crew made me very happy.

Doc Brown from Back to the Future seemed to be everywhere. He had invented a new face shield to protect himself from the virus. He was a hoot.

I saw Marilyn Monroe do both a stage show with singing and dancing and a glamorous drive by in her vintage car. The use of characters and unannounced street performances was very well executed. 

And the biggest bonus of all is that crowd levels were quite low. Opening day was about half the attendance of the two passholder preview days that preceded it.  I was able to ride just about anything with minimal wait.

And many of the popular attractions also offered virtual queuing so Universal could assure social distancing in line. The key advantage for you to use virtual queuing is that you can enjoy other things in the park until it’s your time to ride. The system is a little bit difficult to figure out the first time, but once you’ve fumbled with finding and then making a reservation, you’ll be set.  

Would I return? Under these conditions, I’d absolutely return. I felt safer in the Resort area than anywhere else in town (most folks in the rest of Orlando aren’t wearing masks at all). But the Universal employees were constantly cleaning, reminding guests where they could stand, to reposition their masks, to accept a squirt of hand sanitizer, etc. It felt strangely reassuring and I didn’t find it at all annoying. 

We’ve detailed more of the new procedures in the article below: 

Universal Orlando – Our Preview Day Thoughts!

Are You Ready To Visit? 

Let’s Hear From You

We met so many tourists this week who are huge Disney fans and were taking their first Universal-only trip. Did you watch the videos? Would you travel to Orlando to visit Universal in the near future? Now that you’ve seen the new procedures in action, do you like them or at least think you can live with them? Please let us know in the comments below. 

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