Chumpieboy
Platinum Member
- Aug 19, 2016
- 261
- 441
Spent the weekend at Universal after 4 separate visits to Disney since re-opening. I'll be honest.. Universal is NOT doing as good of a job in any aspect.
Mask compliance was much worse than Disney... understandable when there's A LOT MORE people and a higher concentration of these people in small spaces. One guy or girl on the blvd with a sign in not sufficient to patrol this. There were noses everywhere. Disney doesn't let that fly at all and it seems every CM is tasked to enforce this. Universal saw a lot of TMs turning a blind eye and not policing. I'd say Disney is at 99% mask compliance while Universal guests are at 60%. Pretty sure the rule at Disney is it can be removed while eating or drinking while stationary. This is not the case at Universal. People constantly had them off while walking. If this not the case... again... TERRIBLE JOB policing.
Also, the waits were ridiculous on Saturday. Saw Gringotts go up to 210 minutes and was regularly above 170 minutes... Not sure how they are distancing on this ride but the only visible coaster, HRRR, was seating every row. Shrek went up to 125min and stayed consistently over 100min. Mummy, Minions, and Fallon were virtual line all day so couldn't tell you how long the waits were but they had both run out and asked you to check back at 2pm and 4pm. (This was at noon).
With so many virtual lines, where does that leave people? Yup.. IN THE STREETS. Not the ideal time to have so many attractions on virtual without policing and enforcing distancing. Hand sanitizer not as widely available as Disney. Yes, fingerprint scanning is back and they are cleaning it with what looks like a dirty rag in between parties.
If you feel uncomfortable with the idea of going to theme parks in a pandemic, Universal on a weekend is not the way to go right now. I would start with Disney, though I understand they've steadily increased capacity. The only time it felt remotely uncomfortable was at MK when everyone heads down the exits at closing time. Monorail line looked just like after a regular park night. Even with "sold out" days at DHS or MK, it never feels half as crowded as it did at Universal.
My experience the last two weeks has been the opposite. (My anecdote cancels out your anecdote nyaah nyahh nya nya nyahh!)
I've seen more TMs call people out for nose violations; you are forced to have sanitizer squirted in your hands before boarding any Uni ride.
I've seen more broken/empty sanitizer dispensers at WDW. Less enforcement from CMs.
In both places, social distancing outside of lines has been horrible. If there are no spacers on the ground, people don't know what to do. There was a line at DS to get into the huge Disney store there. The line stretched out to the parking lot and along the parking lot walkway for a good bit. Every few minutes we would move one or two spaces. Worked like a charm. Once inside the store however, it was a free-for-all. People crowding around displays, walking in different directions into the common central walkways, etc. I felt unsafe there. (Same as the Halloween popup store in US)
It's a mixed bag for both properties. Each does good things on paper and enforcement varies moment by moment and people will still be people (insert quote from the MIB movie about crowds).