Since Disney World reopened several months ago, we’ve seen the crowd levels change.

Crowds in Disney World

Particularly around holiday weekends, we’ve seen Park Pass Reservations filling up and we expect it will be a similar situation as we approach Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Recently, Governor DeSantis announced that Florida would be moving into Phase 3 of the reopening plan, and now we’ve got an update on DeSantis’ view of the new rules and how they apply to major events in Florida.

According to MSN and a tweet from reporter Andy Slater, a spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has indicated that the Miami Dolphins NFL football team has been given “clearance to go to full capacity at 65,000 fans at Hard Rock Stadium.” Governor DeSantis’ spokesperson reportedly then followed up with Slater to make it clear that after the “governor recently dropped COVID-19 restrictions, all Florida stadiums were able to go to full capacity.”

©Hard Rock Stadium

Near the end of September, Governor DeSantis announced that Florida would be moving into Phase 3 of the reopening plan, which means:

• Businesses like restaurants and bars can operate at 100% capacity, with limited social distancing protocols,
• Theme Parks may return to normal operations with limited social distancing protocols in place and no mandatory capacity caps, and
• Large spectator sporting events should consider reducing capacity with limited social distancing protocols.

Thus, large sporting events may consider operating at a reduced capacity, but any such restrictions are not required. It seems the statement made by Governor DeSantis’ spokesperson confirms this.

Florida Sunset

According to Andy Slater, however, the Dolphins have stated that their current plan of having 13,000 fans in the stadium remains the same for their next home game, which is set to take place on October 25th.

© Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Disney responded similarly to the state’s transition to Phase 3 by noting that it would be evaluating the Governor’s executive order, but would not currently be making any changes regarding capacity limits. We’re still seeing capacity limits imposed through the Park Pass Reservation system and we’ve seen limited capacity at shows and other areas around the parks.

Disney World

So, even though the new rules allow both theme parks and large spectator sporting events to operate at full capacity, it does not necessarily mean that they will do so. We anticipate that this situation and questions regarding capacity limits will continue to develop. We’ll keep our eyes out for more updates and let you know what we find.

We asked our readers: Would you go to Disney World restaurants if they increased to 100% capacity? Here’s what they said.

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