Universal Parks has been accused of removing its social distancing markers at Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread throughout the United States.
What’s happening:
- Universal Parks News Today — a new and information website dedicated to Universal parks — shared a photo over the weekend from the line at Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, accusing the company of removing the markers.
- A provided photo doesn’t show any social distancing markers on the ground. People in the photo appear to be wearing masks and keeping their distance from each other.
All of the social distancing markers near the load area at Hagrid’s are gone. There’s also a Team Member yelling “fill in all the available space”... pic.twitter.com/Idw7ZHibUD
— Universal Parks News Today (@UniNewsToday) June 13, 2020
- The post accused a team member of telling guests to “fill in all the available space” at the ride, too.
- Universal Parks News Today provided a video of the team member yelling those words:
Here’s the Team Member yelling pic.twitter.com/rsoLUEWTxF
— Universal Parks News Today (@UniNewsToday) June 13, 2020
How people felt when it reopened
- The photo and video above comes about two weeks after people began returning to the park. Universal became one of the first major theme parks to reopen amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Associated Press.
- The park reopened with social distancing guidelines, temperature checks and the requirement that people wear masks.
- Guest Donna Walters told the Associated Press: “We feel like all the precautions were up to snuff. We felt super safe to come here. Yeah, the masks. It’s Florida, so it’s hot. But it is what it is, and it does protect other people.”