Universal Orlando Resort theme park reached its maximum capacity just 10 minutes after opening on Wednesday morning at 8 am, despite the increase in COVID-19 cases that have been reported in Florida and across the country.
Photos taken from inside the theme park on Tuesday show large crowds gathered inside the resort.
Theme parks did not release figures showing the exact number of visitors, and DailyMail.com asked Universal Orlando Resort for information on their precise capacity levels before and after the pandemic.
Both Universal Orlando Resort and Disney resumed service at the limited-capacity theme park this summer after being closed for two months at the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
Images taken by a visitor to the Universal Orlando Resort program filled crowds at the theme park on Monday, despite the continuing pandemic of COVID-19
Guests who purchased tickets to the theme park reported having been rejected on Tuesday morning because the park reached capacity within minutes of opening at 8 am.
Both Universal Orlando Resort and Disney resumed service at the limited-capacity theme park this summer after being closed for two months at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. The image above, taken on Tuesday, shows Universal Orlando Resort
This image posted on social media shows a long line of people waiting to enter the King Kong attraction at Universal on Monday
Disney initially operated at 25% capacity, but recent reports indicate that it has quietly increased capacity to 35%.
It is not clear whether Universal did the same.
“We have been working to offer our guests a great experience while managing park attendance and access to our attractions as part of our COVID health and safety protocols,” Universal said in a statement.
‘We are doing the best we can during a busy vacation, while making sure not to compromise our strict protocols and ask guests for their patience and understanding.
‘While in our parks, we encourage visitors to use our app and see if we open additional virtual line time frames and real-time ride waiting times.’
Wednesday marks the second day in a row that the theme park reached capacity shortly after its opening.
Both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure posted a tweet at 8:32 am Eastern time on Tuesday, stating that they had reached maximum capacity and were forced to refuse anyone who bought the tickets.
“We don’t expect to reopen and we encourage you to visit us another day,” said the tweet.
On Wednesday morning, University Orlando Resort again reached its maximum capacity 10 minutes after opening, although it added that ‘we plan to reopen in the late afternoon.’
So far this month, there have been more than 287,000 reported COVID-19 infections. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 1.3 million Floridians have been infected with the coronavirus
On Wednesday, at least 21,409 Floridians died of COVID-19
The latest data indicates an increase in the number of hospitalizations in Florida
Despite the increase in the number of infections, the Florida governor has resisted the imposition of blocking measures
Lisa Nathan, a visitor from Michigan, told WOFL-TV on Tuesday that she bought tickets for Universal, but was declined at 8:30 am because she was told that the theme park could no longer receive visitors.
‘By the time we walked to Islands of Adventure, which was supposed to open at 8am … We walked around 8:15 or 8:20 and they were already full and we couldn’t get in,’ said Nathan.
– From what you could see, people were waiting in line. It was unbelievable. ‘
Universal does not use a ticket reservation system like the neighboring Disney World theme park.
The holiday season is a particularly busy time for theme parks and this year is no exception, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida officials reported 13,871 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, the third highest daily increase in new COVID-19 cases to date.
Wednesday’s count increased the state total to 1,306,123 cases.
The Department of Health also reported another 137 confirmed deaths.
Overall, 21,546 people died in the State of the Sun of COVID-19.
This total does not include 311 deaths among non-Florida residents.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 6,280 people were hospitalized because of the virus.
Also on Tuesday, about 150,000 people received the coronavirus vaccine.
Alarmingly, visitors are flocking to theme parks, despite the fact that Florida is seeing record high positivity.
Health officials reported that Tuesday showed a positivity rate of 26.29 percent. Monday’s positive percentage rate was 22.75.
This means that more than 1 in 4 coronavirus tests performed has given a positive result.
It should be noted that public health experts said there is no evidence that outbreaks of COVID-19 have been associated with any theme parks.
“Our concerns are not really big parks,” Dr. Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, told ClickOrlando.
“These parks are open spaces and this is less conducive to transmission.
‘Our concern is for smaller parks that may not have the resources that Disney and Universal or SeaWorld have.
‘Our outbreaks, we were unable to connect to specific places in the big parks.’
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has resisted the imposition of blocking measures, including closing companies, as have other states like California and New York.
DeSantis said he believes the closings don’t work and are detrimental to the economy.