What Will Be Open?

Updated on May 16!

Florida started Phase One of the reopening process on May 4. Stores are restaurants are allowed to open again, as long as they follow certain guidelines. This includes limiting capacity. Even though Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort remain closed, there are stores and restaurants at both resorts that are third party owned. Several of these establishments at Disney Springs will reopen on May 20. At CityWalk (Universal’s dining and shopping district), some places will reopen on May 14! When I learned about both phased reopenings, I immediately wondered what will be included. Here is what I have been able to find out.

I’ll start with Universal CityWalk, because that will open first. Universal Orlando Resort has made it easy for us, because they included the information on the website. They also included the time that CityWalk will be open, which is 4:00-10:00 each evening. The following restaurants will be open: 

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant and Market

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville

Red Oven Pizza Bakery

Voodoo Doughnut.

The merchandise locations will be:

Airbrush

Hart & Huntington Tattoo Company (retail only)

Universal Studios Store

Select merchandise carts

Hollywood Drive-In Golf will be open as well.

Disney could learn a thing or two from Universal, because it has been a lot harder to find out what will be open there. Disney Food Blog has put out a fantastic list. You can read it here. I encourage you to take a look at it, because they have put a lot of work into it, and getting a lot of views on the page is a great reward. They are updating the list when they receive more information. 

Here are the Disney Springs restaurants that will be open on May 20. The hours vary. They are in alphabetical order:

4 Rivers Cantina Barbacoa Food Truck

Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza

The BOATHOUSE

Chicken Guy!

Earl of Sandwich

Erin McKenna’s Bakery NYC

Frontera Cocina

Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream

Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea Company

Planet Hollywood

The Polite Pig

STK Orlando

Sunshine Churros

Wine Bar George

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill

YeSake

Morimoto Asia will reopen on May 22

I haven’t been able to find any information on Disney Springs stores that plan to reopen. My guess is that at least some of the third party kiosks will be open. It should be easy to stay away from others at a kiosk.

Both CityWalk and Disney Springs will be a good test for how guests behave. Face masks and social distancing will be required at both. Universal has released requirements that guests must comply with. Those are the screenshots that I’ve added. The requirements are simple; “face coverings required”, “temperature check required”, “wash hands often”, “social distancing”, “floor markings”, and “avoid contact with people who are sick”. If we can follow these easy rules, maybe we’ll get our theme parks back sooner, rather than later.