With the ramp up to Spring Break beginning to be felt in the Walt Disney World theme parks, Disney has made a recent operational change to the Barnstormer roller coaster in the Storybook Circus land of Magic Kingdom.
While social distancing markers remain in place, an influx in crowds is putting strain on the surrounding physical space of many attractions. In the case of Barnstormer, queues extended into walkways and are routed through the closed Fantasyland train station before even reaching the intended extended queue.
In the load station, plexiglass barriers are installed between rows, seemingly giving Disney the go-ahead to load every row. When Disney previously started loading every row with roller coasters at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, they cited high backs on the seats as a barrier for COVID-19 transmission. In the case of Barnstormer, there are no such high backs. That said, Disney is seating parties elbow-to-elbow on the Flight of Passage attraction, citing a CDC guideline that says it’s relatively safe to be close to others in periods of less than 15 minutes – which just about every attraction at Disney World is less than. In all cases, guests are required to wear face coverings throughout the entire attraction.
For a more in-depth discussion on capacity and crowds, check out our earlier post:
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
Wonder how “relatively safe” works with the more-transmissible variants now taking hold