What a trip to the reopened Disney Springs is really like

Finally, we were heading back to Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. It had been two months since we visited. The last time I was there was for dinner at the brand-new City Works Eatery and Pour House just a few days before the shopping district closed due to the coronavirus, and it had been packed.

Today, Disney Springs reopened with 44 stores and restaurants (more will open in the next week), social distancing signage, temperature checks and face covering requirements. And it was empty. This reopening is a baby step. No Disney-operated stores, which are probably the biggest draw, were open. It felt like a day for locals to visit and test out this “new normal.”

The visit started with a trip to the Orange garage, and it was a detour from where I usually go. If you are coming off I-4 or normally drive east on East Buena Vista Drive, you are going to have to go past the garage and make a U-turn to get to the entrance.

After parking, we put on our masks and headed for the escalator. Prior to getting to the entrance you need to go through a chute to the temperature check area. This went smoothly — again, not a lot of people. You stand there as a cast member scans your forehead, and if you are good, they say “you’re good” and you walk on in. If your temperature is above 100.4 degrees, you are taken to the side for rescreening after a few minutes to cool down. If the temperature is too high you are asked to leave.

So, now you are at Disney Springs, and wherever you go, you see people in face masks and people standing in lines. Lines to get into restaurants, and lines to get into stores. There is one place where there were no lines: the bathrooms.

You might find that some of the store entrances have changed. Uniqlo, for example, has created one entrance and one exit. At each location, a staff member counted how many people were entering and how many people were leaving. If the store reached capacity, the person at the entrance asked people to wait outside until there was room. Outside the store were strips indicating where people should stand while waiting.

These strips could be seen outside every establishment. And when the line got too long and there were no more strips for the line, people on their own stood a respectful 3 to 6 feet away from the party in front of them. This was evident in the Chicken Guy! line, which wrapped around the building and past the still-closed Tommy Bahama shop.

Markings on the ground in smaller areas indicated which direction to walk, trying to keep everyone moving forward on the right. Hand sanitizer dispensers could be seen at certain locations, you can actually smell them before you ever get to them. And we noticed one hand washing station, which we thought was a fail.

We tried the hand washing station. You need to pump the water with a foot pedal for it to work and as soon as we started, the soap dispenser cover fell off. I give them points for trying this, but they are a bit flimsy and there’s nothing wrong with bringing a small bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket, purse or pack instead.

And if you need to throw something out, you no longer need to push open the trash cans, they have kept the lids pushed back and propped open. I’ve been waiting that for years.

We went for lunch at the Polite Pig and again, we stood outside until the line let us in to order. Right now, restaurants can accommodate 50% of their indoor capacity, and we could tell tables had been removed. In addition, about a half dozen exterior tables were added across the walkway. We noticed guests kept their masks on until sitting down. And when people stood to get refills from the soda dispenser, they put their masks on, got the refill, and kept them on until they sat back down. This was true even for the kids we saw.

Let’s be real about this all, it is no major hardship to wear a mask while shopping for going to a restaurant. It was a hot, sunny day today, and while the face mask was a bit uncomfortable, it wasn’t overbearing.

The real question is going to be, what will this look and feel like when more stores open and more people are walking around? There have been times when walking around Disney Springs that it’s almost like a slalom run, having to avoid the walls of people around you.

While the first step toward opening seemed to go well, the next test will be May 27 when the World of Disney opens. The real test, of course, will be when tourists return to area.

In the meantime, we will be heading back for another meal and keeping you updated.