No SCREAMING on Disneyland Rides?! Here’s What the Recommendations Say

Screaming and roller coasters go hand in hand right? It might be pretty tough to ride the Matterhorn or the Incredicoaster without letting out a little (or a BIG) yell.

Part of the fun of walking past Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and other rides is hearing guests yelling! But…that might soon change! 

At the moment, Disneyland will be reopening on April 30th. When the theme parks reopen, many things will be different than how they were before, and one thing that might change has to do with…screaming?

According to the Orange County Register, the Blueprint for a Safer Economy regulations for California “calls for California businesses to limit activities like shouting and raised voices that are known to cause increased spread of COVID-19.” For theme parks, one big spot where there is shouting and raised voices are those roller coasters and other high-speed rides.

The California Attractions and Parks Association (CAPA), which represents Disneyland, Universal Studios, and other theme parks in California, has indicated that in order to address things like shouting and raising your voice, face covering usage and/or modifications to ride loading patterns will be required. CAPA indicates that these things can “mitigate the effects of shouting.” 

Additionally, CAPA has noted that on rides, guests generally face in one direction. These guidelines would apply to outdoor and indoor rides, as well as shows. Individual theme parks are not, however, required to adopt the recommendations.

So, will Disneyland ask its guests to NOT scream while plummeting down on Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT or making those turns on Space Mountain? It’s possible, but nothing of the sort has been announced yet. It wouldn’t be the first time that a no-screaming rule is imposed in a theme park though. As the OCR notes, a Japanese theme park industry group had also proposed a ban on screaming on roller coasters to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We shared a look at Japanese theme park guidance last year, which did state that guests would not be able to shout or cheer during entertainment.

That’s when we got the phrase some of you may have heard — “scream inside your heart.” It was an instruction given to coaster riders in one Japanese amusement park which went viral. Another amusement park in Japan even offered screaming stickers for guests to put on their masks instead of actually yelling.

Why is screaming a concern? Well, according to the OCR, the concern is that microscopic droplets of saliva that are released from riders’ mouths as they scream could fly onto riders in the rear seats. 

Again, at the moment Disneyland has not made any official announcements indicating that you won’t be able to scream on Splash, Space, or Thunder Mountain when the parks reopen. Right now, it seems CAPA, which represents Disneyland, is only suggesting changes in loading patterns and required mask usage. But, we’ll keep an eye out for more details!

Update: CAPA has issued a series of updates via Twitter. Specifically, as we’ve noted above, CAPA has noted that it has not recommended limiting or prohibiting yelling or screaming on amusement park rides as a way to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Instead, CAPA shares that the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy identifies a range of risk criteria for all industries to address including the ability to limit activities that are known to cause the spread of COVID-19, like shouting.

CAPA shares that its own guidelines address that risk criteria by noting that face covering usage and/or modifications to seat loading patterns will be required on amusement park rides to mitigate the effects of shouting. And, CAPA has noted that guests generally face in one direction, which could also mitigate the effects. But again, CAPA clarified that it has NOT recommended limiting shouting or screaming on park rides.

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for any more updates about this situation as Disneyland’s eventual reopening gets closer.

Could you ride Disneyland’s roller coasters without screaming? Tell us in the comments!

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