#Disney opens ‘park-hopping’ amid new COVID-19 strain in Florida

Disney is back to “park-hopping” in Orlando, even though the new highly contagious COVID-19 strain has popped up in Florida.

Guests now can jump between Disney World, Animal King and Epcot in a single day — something the entertainment bigwigs put a stop to months ago to keep coronavirus from spreading, local ABC affiliate WFTV reported. Visitors had been limited to taking in one park a day.

But park-hopping isn’t exactly the same as before: Guest have to make a reservation for a park, then visit it before going to another one; no hopping until 2 p.m.; and no hopping to a park that has reached capacity.

Disney reinstated park hopping on Friday, the day after the highly contagious new covid strain was diagnosed in a Martin County man in his 20s.

In July, Disney World was criticized for reopening during a spike in COVID cases. And in December, after a public outcry, the theme park stopped doctoring photos to make guests on rides look like they were wearing face masks. Since the start of the pandemic, Disney has lost a staggering $5 billion – mostly due to park closures.

To date, Florida has had over 1.2 million cases of COVID and the state’s death toll stands at 21,672.