While many Florida residents and park goers in the United States have been excited to go back to theme parks, international fans have also been missing the Cinderella Castle and Butterbeer!

As travelers make their way back to Disney World and Universal Orlando, airports have put new restrictions in place to protect passengers. Previously, guests who were coming from or had recently gone to the UK, Ireland, Europe’s Schengen Zone, Iran, Brazil, and China were required to undergo enhanced health screenings upon their arrival.

However, the CDC just announced that the United States won’t be requiring that international travelers go through COVID-19 testing during their travels any longer. According to Travel and Leisure Magazine, the enhanced screening procedures will be lifted starting September 14th.

International travelers who were making their way through airports were required to land in Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Atlanta, New York JFK, Miami, Los Angeles, Washington-Dulles, Newark, Seattle, or San Francisco airports for these screenings. However, less than 15 of the 675,000 passengers tested positive for COVID-19.

The CDC has stated “symptom-based screening has limited effectiveness” since the passengers who are asymptomatic could still spread the virus, even if they passed the screening. The previous rules will be lifted for both foreign arrivals and Americans returning to the United States from abroad in favor of “more effective mitigation efforts that focus on the individual passenger.”

There will be new health education put in place for travelers, electronic collection of passenger contact information, increased testing and illness response, and enhanced training at U.S. ports of entry at airports instead. These changes will be put in place since airlines “no longer believe that it makes sense to continue screening at these 15 airports given the extremely low number of passengers identified by the CDC as potentially having a health issue” according to a spokesperson for Airlines for America.

So, what does this mean for your next trip to Disney World and Universal Orlando? While the international travel changes won’t change the experiences of many park guests, visitors from around the world may have an easier time visiting U.S. theme parks. Since Disney World has reopened, the cultural representative program has also been suspended.

Although there’s no announcement about how this could change, we will continue to monitor how this could effect international Cast Members and guests returning to the parks. However, international travelers will need to check their country’s restrictions as well to make sure that their round trip will go smoothly.

As travel restrictions continue to change and theme parks see updates for guests, we’ll make sure to bring you the latest news you need to know before your next trip!

Check out the limited Disney Park Pass availability in all four theme parks this upcoming weekend!

What is your favorite theme park to visit? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Post a Comment