As local theme parks add hand sanitizers, visitors play it cool

Hand sanitizer stations have quickly popped up throughout Orlando’s theme parks, from the meet-and-greet areas at the Magic Kingdom to the Simpsons ride at Universal as the tourism industry remains on alert for the coronavirus.

On Thursday, six Orlando Sentinel staffers fanned out to Central Florida’s biggest tourist attractions to get a snapshot of how the parks are preparing for the virus and to gauge visitors’ moods.

Several people told the Sentinel they wouldn’t let it disrupt their vacation plans or keep them stuck at home wasting their annual passes.

Minnesota tourist Chris McKeever said

he wasn’t that worried on his Universal trip with his wife and two children.

“We’re not licking any of the escalators or rails or anything," he joked.

Use of sunscreen was more evident than hand sanitizer at Magic Kingdom on Thursday, as parents sprayed down their children.

Only one person — a child who belonged to a family that didn’t speak English and couldn’t answer questions at Universal — was observed wearing a surgical mask.

Florida has three confirmed coronavirus cases and already, a domino effect has hit Orlando and the rest of the state. A major health conference that was expected to draw 44,000 people, including President Donald Trump, was canceled at the Orange County Convention Center while a Miami music festival was also axed.

Disney and Universal already have closed their theme parks in Asia, a move that will cost them millions of dollars. Locally, many in the theme parks industry are worried whether the virus, its path unpredictable, could strike Orlando, where tourism is king and Spring Break is not far away.

Motley Fool analyst Rick Munarriz, who called the coronavirus “a slow-moving storm,” said it’s not inconceivable that Disney World would have a contingency plan to close Disney World if the U.S. deaths jump significantly in the coming weeks after the company already took the unprecedented steps of closing its international parks. The panic will intensify if deaths occur in Florida or in Osceola and Orange counties, he said.

“You do get to a point if things get out of hand, it’s inevitable. I hope it doesn’t get to that point,” Munarriz said. “At some high or low level at Disney, I’m sure those talks are happening.”

Disney did not respond to questions about its emergency plans Thursday but said in a statement the company has added more hand sanitizers and is reminding employees about illness prevention.

Spokespeople at Disney, Universal and SeaWorld have previously said they are monitoring the situation and staying in communication with state and federal health officials.

Several tourists acknowledged the virus has made them more aware of washing their hands.

Right when Orlando resident Ashley Collins walked through the SeaWorld gates, she realized she forgot her personal hand sanitizer in her purse. She made the mental note to buy some inside the park or wash her hands after rides.

At the theme parks, so much depends on touch, which reminded Collins of the countless people who lined up before her. Visitors use fingerprints to enter the turnstiles at some parks, clutch roller coaster safety bars and grip basketballs for carnival games. It goes on and on.

“It makes you think now how much you’re actually touching,” said Collins, 34.

Yet in reality, it wasn’t enough to stop Collins from visiting, especially on a beautiful day like Thursday. “I have to get out of the house,” she said. “I’m not going to be a hermit.”

Around them, employees seemed calm but mindful.

At a Guest Relations kiosk, one Epcot employee wore a personal hand sanitizer strapped onto her backpack but said apologetically she wasn’t allowed to share it with guests. Instead, she gave directions to the nearest free hand sanitizer by Spaceship Earth.

One SeaWorld employee, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, said, “I get afraid sometimes, but if I catch it, I catch it.”

The 21-year-old was a parttime worker, so she didn’t qualify for paid sick time, she said.

One of the best ways to protect yourself is to wash your hands, experts advised.

At the beginning of the week, few, if any, hand sanitizers were installed at the Magic Kingdom, the world’s busiest theme park that draws in more than 20 million a year.

But by Thursday morning, all Magic Kingdom visitors passed by one of two stands located in entrances that go under the park’s railroad station.

“People expect it at this point — it’s the new normal,” Munarriz said.

The white, 4-foot-tall podiums were sprinkled throughout the park, including at restaurants in Liberty Square and Tomorrowland, and outside the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster and at Princess Fairytale Hall, a character meet-and-greet area.

In SeaWorld, hardly any hand sanitizers appeared near the rides Thursday or at the restaurants and Sesame Street Land where children splashed in a water play area. Several gift shops sold travel-sized hand sanitizers.

SeaWorld Orlando spokeswoman Lori Cherry said the park is in the process of adding new temporary sanitation stations that should be up by Friday.

The plan is to put them in the employee areas, guest culinary locations and all cash register locations.

The lack of hand sanitizers wasn’t a surprise since SeaWorld’s visitors are heavily local or from Latin America, which has been less affected by COVID-19, Munarriz said. Disney World and Universal are more likely to draw other international tourists, he said.

At Epcot, employees were not seen wiping off the fingerprint scanners in between patrons Thursday morning. But hand sanitizers were placed throughout the park, outside the ride exits and inside restaurants with warnings reminding visitors to cover their mouths and noses and clean their hands often.

The Magic Kingdom’s massive gift shop on Main Street USA sold out of hand sanitizer, one employee said.

Just past security at Universal, four hand sanitizer stations were placed by the moving walkways that are essentially the front door to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. In some theme parks, the stations were visible in food areas but less so on the main pathways.

“For the comfort and convenience of our guests, we are increasing the number of hand sanitizer units in our parks. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and be ready to act as needed,” Universal spokeswoman Alyson Lundell said in a statement Thursday.

As tourists visited ICON Park on International Drive, their search for sanitizers took them either into the building that houses Madame Tussauds wax museum, Sea Life Aquarium and The Wheel or to other establishments around the 20,000square-foot campus. There was none in the outdoor areas.

Restaurants like Tapa Toro supplied their own sanitizer. Operations Manager Alex Attart said it was made available after hearing of increased numbers of coronavirus cases in Florida.

“We don’t want it to be worse,” he said. “When you start seeing cases in the U.S., that’s when you could start seeing it in the tourist areas.”

“It makes you think now how much you’re actually touching.” Ashley Collins, Orlando resident