Coronavirus

Will Florida’s Disney World be a COVID vaccine site like California’s Disneyland? 

Will you be able to get a COVID-19 vaccine at Disney World like thousands are doing at Southern California’s Disneyland Resort?

Maybe.

Walt Disney World Resort is having conversations with the state on how the House of Mouse can help support Florida’s vaccination efforts.

Unlike its Anaheim, California, sister, Disney theme parks in Florida reopened in July at limited capacity and with a new reservation system to control how many people are inside the parks at one time. Disney also instituted new social distancing rules to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading among visitors and employees (guests and cast members in Disney talk).

Its two water theme parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, remain closed. One of the parks, Blizzard Beach, is expected to reopen March 7, 2021.

If talks between Florida and Disney go well, maybe we’ll see our first “super” COVID-19 vaccination site.

A perfect storm of circumstances has to happen for a “super” site to open. One of the most important factors is whether the site could safely administer thousands of vaccinations. In California, Disneyland has been closed since March due to the pandemic and has more space to allocate than its sister park, Disney World, which is still open.

California had more than 2.9 million diagnosed COVID-19 cases as of Friday, the highest number in the country, according to the New York Times database of U.S. COVID cases.

Disneyland is offering its parking lots for the vaccination space and Disney World could do the same for its closed properties like Blizzard Beach. But while Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are not open at full capacity, the parking lots look full due to Disney mandating a parking space between each car.

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California’s Disneyland ‘super’ vaccination site opens to long lines, high demand

About 3,000 people were vaccinated Wednesday during Disneyland’s “super” COVID-19 vaccination site opening, according to CBSN Los Angeles.

Officials call it one of five “super” sites because it’s expected to vaccinate thousands of people each day.

Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park remain closed. So are the hotels at Disneyland Resort though the Downtown Disney District has begun a phased reopening.

This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 5:31 PM.

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Michelle Marchante
Miami Herald
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.  Support my work with a digital subscription
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