Disney Parks May Take Visitors’ Temperatures Upon Reopening

Disneyland and Disney World may use temperature checks for park guests when they open back up.

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Disneyland remains locked amid the COVID 19 pandemic.

Guests eager to hit up Disney parks when said parks are eventually reopened could be in a for a rude awakening in the form of temperature checks that are required for entry.

This topic was broached by a man with the power to actually make that happen, specifically Disney's executive chairman Bob Iger, during an interview that Barron's conducted with him. 

For background, Disney has padlocked their trademark parks since March 14 for the same reason that nearly all entertainment has come to a standstill, namely the continued spread of COVID-19. The original intent was to keep those venues shut through March, but that has since been extended indefinitely.

As Iger sees it, temperature checks would be necessary for park visitors to feel safe in a post-coronavirus world that is yet to clear a vaccine. 

“One of the things that we’re discussing already is that in order to return to some semblance of normal, people will have to feel comfortable that they’re safe," Iger said. "Some of that could come in the form ultimately of a vaccine, but in the absence of that it could come from basically, more scrutiny, more restrictions. Just as we now do bag checks for everybody that goes into our parks, it could be that at some point we add a component of that that takes people’s temperatures, as a for-instance."

Iger went on to state that the entertainment juggernaut has been "studying very carefully" the steps that China has taken to restore normalcy. Temperature checks are just part of the deal. "You can’t get on a bus or a subway or a train or enter a high-rise building there—and I’m sure this will be the case when their schools reopen—without having your temperature taken," he said of that country's citizens. 

Iger went on to state that this potential new normal be an adjustement that we (eventually) no longer find intrusive. To support that argument he pointed out how 9/11 beefed up security procedures, and how everyone now just kind of shrugs and accepts those. “So we’ve asked ourselves the question, let’s prepare for a world where our customers demand that we scrutinize everybody. Even if it creates a little bit of hardship, like it takes a little bit longer for people to get in," he said. "Just as the case after 9/11 where people ultimately lived with the notion that in order for them to enter a building, if you’re in an office building you have to show a picture ID or get your picture taken and be screened. Or in order to enter a park you have to put your bags out there to be checked and you go through some kind of metal detector. Or certainly what’s going on in airports with the TSA.”

This consideration of temperature checks seems like good information to be armed with when planning your next vacation. In order to enjoy things like you would have pre-March 14, simply decide not to have a fever that week. Easy workaround.

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