No Covid-19 outbreaks attributed to Orlando theme parks

With Universal Orlando being open now for two months, I consider this great news. It also reinforces the idea that we don't have to stay locked in our homes and there are ways to return to certain forms of recreation in a safe manner. It makes me happy to see (most) of the major players in the industry doing such a good job keeping things safe with reopening.

I made the mistake of asking how team members feel about tourists on the UniversalOrlando subreddit and got one team member response saying he's going to get coronavirus and kill his mother because of selfish people like me.

I made the mistake of mentioning in a larger group that I had visited parks, which turned into a debate about mental well being at this stage of the pandemic, which turned into this person shaming everyone for stepping out of their home for anything other that groceries or work:

One person's well being will always be less important than the well being of the masses. Your mental health is your responsibility, it is up to you to adjust and do what you need to take care of yourself. You do not get to cite mental health needs as an excuse to leave your home in any non-essential manner to infect and kill countless other people, it just doesn't work that way.

Unfortunately this is why places like Coasterbuzz have actually become a place for the most practical and productive conversation. To me an attitude and mindset like this where everyone else is automatically a murderer for going out to eat or to a theme park is just as selfish as the way in which this person feels seemingly everyone else is being by entering society.

Here's a more practical reddit thread that gives UO the edge to WDW for their COVID protocol:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UniversalOrlando/comments/hz4nke/wdw_vs_us...ands_down/

As always moderation is key. There’s a happy medium somewhere between locking yourself in your basement and clubbing on Miami Beach

Universal’s handling of the situation is one of the reasons we are still considering our September trip. I was more curious about how employees feel about tourists. I got a few more reasonable responses since then.

It's been six years this month that I ended my time as a Cast Member at WDW, but I still am friends with a few and keep in touch with several on occasion or through social media, and I also am friends/social media friends with a handful of UO Team Members.

Overall everyone feels safe and feels relatively good about being at work. Many were so thrilled to be called back and are now thankful for pre-COVID everyday annoyances like getting scheduled the closing shift too often or dealing with a Karen because their kid is an inch too short to ride Test Track. Some have very valid concerns about being in such a public facing job in the midst of a pandemic that's blowing up here in Florida. But I personally don't know any that are on the same spectrum as the reddit post (I think I found your question when I did a search). I'm sure they are there because I have a few at my job, but I don't think it's any different than the non-theme park jobs. Most are happy to be working again and are confident with the precautions.

Thanks for the feedback. I just got called a Karen in that thread... lol.

That's surprising, because it seems like the mitigation protocol is pretty well settled and relatively understood. But this is our society, right? There's no room for nuance or variability.

BrettV said:

I made the mistake of mentioning in a larger group that I had visited parks, which turned into a debate about mental well being at this stage of the pandemic, which turned into this person shaming everyone for stepping out of their home for anything other that groceries or work:

One person's well being will always be less important than the well being of the masses. Your mental health is your responsibility, it is up to you to adjust and do what you need to take care of yourself. You do not get to cite mental health needs as an excuse to leave your home in any non-essential manner to infect and kill countless other people, it just doesn't work that way.

Unfortunately this is why places like Coasterbuzz have actually become a place for the most practical and productive conversation. To me an attitude and mindset like this where everyone else is automatically a murderer for going out to eat or to a theme park is just as selfish as the way in which this person feels seemingly everyone else is being by entering society.

And yet if we change a few words and just take the adjective "mental" out of the sentence and it becomes "Your health is your responsibility it is up to you to adjust and do what you need to take care of yourself" it is the perfect argument for the other side, the one where we can actually leave our houses and do stuff and people at risk adjust their lifestyles for a while. "One person's well being being less important than the masses" as an ideology can be applied in the opposite direction as well. I find it kind of amusing the person says to do what you need to do to take care of yourself while also insisting that what you are doing to take care of yourself is unacceptable...It's sad that we've reached a point that I actually wonder before I post a picture of me doing something or going somewhere on my facebook page I wonder if anyone is going to lecture me for not staying home.

The "people at risk" is the variable that you can't control though. You don't know if you're high risk until you get the disease. The perfectly healthy young people with "long covid," as they're calling it, are going months with illness. Forget the "stay home or else" people, they're not out in the world anyway. It's the chin mask people who half-ass it that we have to get through to.

There's no changing anyone's minds. They will not care until affects them or their direct family.

I'm not so sure even that will change some minds. Look into the story of Texas Congressman Louie Ghomert.

eightdotthree said:

As always moderation is key. There’s a happy medium somewhere between locking yourself in your basement and clubbing on Miami Beach

I believe you mean dry humping on Miami Beach.

Damn it. I'm just not clever enough.