What is it like as select restaurants and stores at Universal CityWalk reopen, thus signaling the beginning of the end of Universal Orlando’s coronavirus-pandemic shutdown? Starting Thursday, the shopping and dining complex will have limited operations from 4-10 p.m. daily.
As with other businesses that have and will reopen, expect things to look and be different. CityWalk employees and customers will be asked to wear face coverings that cover mouth and face, per CDC guidelines. Employees and visitors will also be subject to temperature checks. Visitors who record temperatures of 100.4 or higher will not be allowed to enter CityWalk.
Here’s what we saw, heard and experienced on the first day back at CityWalk.
3:30 p.m.
About 100 cars are lined up as the gates to Universal’s parking garage are opened. Display screens that normally show hours of operations and parking fees instead show safety tips through graphics. The cars file into the King Kong section of the structure.
Visitors emerge with masks and take pictures.
There are more safety signs near the moving sidewalks (which aren’t moving) and stickers on the floor indicating where to stand while queuing up for temperature checks.
4 p.m.
Visitors pass through temperature check, which takes a few seconds per person, then travel down to the usual bag check area. The usual traffic jam for fetching belongings from the X-ray machine doesn’t happen as folks maintain the distance.
Universal employees are wiping down guard rails and other surfaces. Other team members greet arrivals with a loud “Welcome back!” The song “Glad You Came” by the Wanted plays overhead.
As guests approach CityWalk, two other Universal workers make announcements about what is and isn’t open and other restrictions. No parties of more than six will be seated at restaurants. Two stiltwalkers wander the plaza and wave. Three news helicopters hover.
5 p.m.
Visitors are allowed to walk all the way around the CityWalk lagoon even though the only thing happening on the far side is that the big Universal globe is spinning. But walkers help spread out the crowd. If it were a normal pre-pandemic day, you’d say it was dead here.
The Universal Studio Store is selling face coverings for $6 apiece. They’re not branded. The choices are pink abstract and green camo designs.
The busiest places early are the Margaritaville bar and Voodoo Doughnut, where customers are leaving with a coveted pink box or two.
The announcers remind folks to keep 6 feet apart. That’s “about the length of three minions or one baby raptor,” they joke.
6 p.m.
There’s been no surge of visitors although more people are lining up for dinner. A few folks who are seated have taken off their masks despite not having their food yet, sort of violating the spirit of taking it off “only when eating.” But overall, people have kept their masks in place at a high rate. I saw one woman who absent-mindedly had her nose sticking out.
Those who have shown up have spread out. Most are walking and wandering. Some peer into the empty theme parks.
Less than half the chairs and tables are taken though visitors are taking over the Adirondack chairs outside Margaritaville, the tables at (closed) Starbucks and the dining area near the upstairs sushi place.
Families in clumps are waiting their turn at the miniature golf place while four drummers above the Universal Orlando logo make a racket that welcomes arrivals, some of who break into dance.
News copters continue to hover, sometimes drowning out the piped-in music.
7 p.m.
The sun is setting, heading behind Hard Rock Live’s coliseum building. More people are gathering in the sunshine on the amphitheater across the lagoon.
Tom Williams, president of Universal Parks & Resorts, and Bill Davis, president of Universal Orlando, have been walking through CityWalk today with other execs. They were all wearing masks, of course.
Some things are very different today. The roaring coasters are quiet. It’s hard to tell if your masked friends are smiling at you. Universal workers are stationed outside closed restaurants, turning folks away. There aren’t big groups of cheerleaders or Brazilian teens romping through.
But some things are the same. Kids still run through the prancing waters on the plaza. Adults have a beverage under the Lone Palm prop plane. Faux smoke is coming out of the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. Universal is taking a survey. Mom and dad push the kid around in the stroller.
And the world keeps turning.
What to expect if you go
Universal officials say the resort is “increasing our already-aggressive cleaning and disinfection procedures.” Tables and chairs will be cleaned and disinfected after every seating, and “high-touch surfaces” also will be disinfected frequently. There will be cashless payments available at the venues. In addition, parking in Universal Orlando’s garages will be free. There will not be a valet-parking option. Businesses scheduled to be open Thursday include:
Hollywood Drive-In Golf, which is nestled beneath the walkway that connects the parking structures to CityWalk
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant
Red Oven Pizza Bakery
Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville (outdoor seating and Lone Palm areas only)
Voodoo Doughnut
Auntie Anne’s
The retail shop of Hart & Huntington Tattoo Company
Universal Studios Store
Select merchandise carts
The restaurants will have limited menus and capacity. Seating will be arranged so that face coverings can be removed while eating. Universal will have masks available for purchase.
The resort will ask guests to maintain the recommended social-distancing 6 feet of space between traveling parties. It asks visitors to wash hands frequently.
The complex’s nightclubs, as well as the Blue Man Group theater and Universal Cinemark movie theaters will remain temporarily closed at this time, Universal says.
Universal says it will monitor the conditions, consult with health experts and go by CDC guidelines moving forward. More venues could be added later, resort officials say, and hours of operation could be adjusted.
No reopening dates for Universal’s theme parks, water park and hotels have been announced, although the company has said they will remain closed “at least” through May 31.
Disney Springs, the shopping and dining complex at Walt Disney World, will begin limited operations on Wednesday, May 20.
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