Safe Travel to Universal Orlando

Travelling can be stressful during a normal year, but even thinking about travelling during a global pandemic can seem frightening. Safe travel can occur.

If you are like most of us travel enthusiasts plans for travel were made in 2019 and then were drastically changed in 2020.

I personally had two cruises cancelled that were total bucket list items for us. First, our annual Spring Break trip which consisted of sailing on the new and exciting Carnival Vista was gone in a flash, and followed by our Canada/New England family cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas faded away. We had planned for both of these for a long time and they both went up in flames along with everyone else’s pre-COVID 19 travel plans.

But not to our dismay the world began to open up again and we were once again blessed with travel opportunities. Thanks to our agency being one of Universal Orlando’s Preferred Travel Partners we were given a FAM trip to the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. Our trip was sponsored by Universal Orlando so that we could report back to you on how they are implementing safe travel. You can watch our live video here. And yes… we were very impressed by all the precautions they are taking to make travel fun and safe for you and your family.

AIRPORT SAFETY

We flew out of Bentonville, AR (XNA) on December 9, 2020 on United Airlines. One perk of having travel plans cancelled earlier in the year is you will often have flight credit to redeem for a later trip.

All of the airports we used (XNA, Houston, MCO) required masks to be worn at all times and had social distancing signs and markers in place. The only time we felt like the airport was crowded was in the Houston airport when we had to change flights. Normally we would fly direct from XNA to Orlando using Allegiant Air, but we had flight credit on United so this is what we used.

The United agents were very nice at XNA and Morgan earned her wings and a sticker for flying. Once on the plane we were given alcohol wipes to use on our seat, trays, and hands. On one flight United did serve snacks and beverages in individually wrapped packs.

They were not skipping middle seats or rows on any flight we were on and we had frequent texts and emails from the airlines offering us the opportunity to change flights since the ones we had chosen were quite full. We did not change since these flights fit with our schedules, but we did feel that it was good of them to offer. Masks were worn during the whole flight with the exception of actively eating or drinking.

HOTEL SAFETY

Upon arriving at the hotel you must undergo a daily temperature check by Universal security. Each day you are given a colored bracelet. You will not be admitted into any hotel, bus, City Walk, or theme park without one. The colors change daily and are consistent throughout the resort so you can’t cheat the system. Family units are seated together on buses and are seated by number. There are no standees on these buses. Buses are not overcrowded. They run frequently between the resorts and City Walk so you shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable or wait long.

THEME PARK SAFETY

At the theme parks masks must be worn at all times, except when eating or drinking while stationary or in a designated U-Rest area. Check out the Universal Orlando page for more official Universal policy information. Like most people, we were concerned about wearing a mask in a Florida theme park all day. Honestly, we didn’t really notice them once we got used to them. Even my 6 year old was ok wearing it.

Universal did a good job of reinforcing all of their policies too. They had signage up everywhere. Employees would kindly ask people to show their color temp check bracelets or to pull up masks if needed. I only saw one disgruntled guest during the entire trip. Most guests were respectful and appreciative of the policies put in place.

RESTAURANT SAFETY

One of our favorite parts of vacation is experiencing different foods. At Universal there are so many choices you will never be hungry! Some of the restaurants had mobile ordering in place or provided QR codes for contactless menus. The mobile ordering for us seemed to take a little longer to navigate, but we understand the safety precautions and had no trouble following them. The employees were there to offer assistance if needed.

The Universal Orlando Resort App had all that we needed to order. You tell them your table number, and pay without any contact. Restaurants were seating groups with space in between. Some restaurants even provided us with baggies for our masks so we didn’t have to lay them on the table. We ate at Antojitos. We were impressed by the set-up they had allowing waiters to still make guacamole at the table in a safe way.

MEETING CHARACTERS DURING SAFE TRAVEL

Morgan loves to meet characters at theme parks. Even though it is different this year, it is still possible to have fun while doing it. Most face characters now wear masks and stand away from the guests. Guests are still required to wear