Travel As Disney stages controversial park reopenings, some Disney influencers are rushing back. Others are questioning the Magic Kingdom.

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© Provided by INSIDER As Disney influencers return to the beloved Magic Kingdom, they have to manage followers' concerns and expectations. @itsdarlingnikki/@michaeldoesdisney/Instagram

• Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, reopened its theme parks this month for the first time since March, a decision that has sparked intense debate as coronavirus cases increase in the state.
• Disney influencers who have built their brands on their devotion to the parks are now grappling with how to approach the reopening.
• Some have already returned and taken followers along for the ride, while others are holding off because of safety concerns.
• One influencer said he felt a responsibility to attend reopening events and share the reality with his audience.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

After months of inactivity during the coronavirus pandemic, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, recently reopened to the public, spurring an intense debate about public safety and corporate and individual rights.

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The reopening has delighted some Disney fans eager to return to normal life but horrified others who worry about exacerbating the pandemic in a state where COVID-19 cases are surging.

The Disney discourse has been particularly polarized online, with fans gleefully livestreaming their trips and critics sharing edited Disney videos urging people to stay home. Public health experts have also weighed in on the decision to reopen — Dr. Anne Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, tweeted that Disney World is, indeed, "the happiest place on earth... for the coronavirus," later telling Variety that Disney's decision was was "inviting disaster."

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As a debate about reopening theme parks rages, influencers who have shaped sometimes lucrative digital brands around Disney magic are faced with tough questions: Do they return to the beloved attractions on which they built their loyal followings? How do they ensure their safety? And how should they address the hot-button topic with their thousands of followers?

Like many online creators, influencers in the Disney community have incorporated pandemic realities into their content — sharing sponsored posts for masks and home-cooking subscription boxes — but they are taking varied approaches to navigating the park's reopening.

Some Disney influencers were eager to return to the parks and to share the experience with followers

For Yeskel Cortes, known as @mrs.everydaymommy on Instagram, the decision to return to Disney World was a simple one. Before the days of social distancing and closed public attractions, the Orlando-based blogger would take her 6-year-old daughter to visit the park at least once a week.

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Cortes, 37, said that a trip to Disney for her family is like a trip to a public park for other families — made easier by the fact that she lives only minutes from Cinderella's Castle.

Still, she had some concerns about the park's reopening. Her daughter has mild asthma, a condition the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests may increase the risk of getting severely ill with COVID-19, so she wondered about the safety of returning to a public attraction.

"There were actually some mixed feelings because I didn't know what to expect and I didn't know how things were going to be handled," she said. "But I knew I really wanted to take my daughter. My first reaction was just happiness. I was like, 'Oh, the magic's back.'"

Cortes said she decided to return with her daughter after hearing the specifics of the park's safety precautions from fellow Disney fans who attended preview events.

On Monday, the two attended the Hollywood Studios cast-member preview.

Throughout the day, Cortes updated her followers on safety protocols — from distance markers in ride queues to plastic-glass dividers on the rides themselves — via her Instagram story.

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© @mrs.everydaymommy Yeskel Cortes posted photos of the reopened park on Instagram this week. @mrs.everydaymommy

Ultimately, she said that she was impressed by the park's safety efforts and she stood by her decision to bring her daughter.

As for addressing her followers' concerns about her return to Disney, Cortes said she wasn't worried.

"I haven't gotten any negative feedback," she said. "Obviously people have their stressor points, and some tell me that they don't feel ready to go back. And I tell them that I understand and I respect that."

One influencer said she went back after thinking about Disney employees' finances

Like Cortes, Nikki, a Disney influencer who goes by @itsdarlingnikki on Instagram and asked to keep her last name private, was eager to return to Disney World but worried about logistics and safety.

"I was definitely excited," the 28-year-old told Insider. "And then a part of me was like, 'OK, a lot of the cases are steadily climbing in Florida. Is this a good idea? Is this a good decision?'"

While some critics of the reopening have argued that visiting theme parks during a pandemic reeks of privilege and selfishness, Nikki sees it differently. She said her financial security is a privilege that not all Disney employees have been afforded, as many have been furloughed. By visiting Disney World, she said, she's allowing them to resume working.

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"I don't have to worry about being able to make ends meet — I'm one of the people who's very fortunate during this time to not have to worry about those things," she said. "So I made the decision to go after hearing cast members' feelings about the situation being furloughed and wanting to go back to work."

Nikki said that she was impressed with the park's precautions and that she behaved responsibly, bringing her own Lysol spray and hand sanitizer and wearing a mask at all times.

"I am really glad that I went, despite that internal struggle with myself," she said.

Some are informing fellow Disney fans of the realities of returning

Michael W., who's known as @michaeldoesdisney to his 55,000 Instagram followers and who also chose to keep his full last name private, said that despite his confidence that Disney would enforce appropriate safety measures, he was concerned by the park's reopening.

An annual pass holder since childhood, Michael said that he admired Disney's procedures and that as a company, Disney "does things right." But unprecedented circumstances were cause for concern.

"I was more worried than excited," he said of the reopening. "But I knew I was going to go because I was here in the state of Florida." (Michael and his husband, who typically live in Chicago, had been staying with his family during the pandemic and observing a strict quarantine, he said.)

His visit, he said, was largely to relay information to his followers.

"It was really about the reporting component. I knew that I essentially wanted to cover it for my followers," he said. "One thing that I pride myself on is that I don't go and sugarcoat things."

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In a series of detailed Instagram posts and stories, he laid out pros and cons of returning to the park.

He said in a post that he was impressed by the implementation of physical distance markers, temperature checks, dividers, and face-covering requirements — but remained concerned about the limited enforcement of these guidelines and wary of the possibility of interacting with asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19.

"You're allowed to pull your mask down while you're eating or drinking, and I noticed that a lot of folks were using that as an opportunity to just not wear a mask," he said.

However, Michael said that the precautions within the park were far more thorough than at some other public places in the state.

"It might be safer to go to Walt Disney World if you're in the state of Florida than it would be to go to your local grocery store," he said.

Still, he said he thought Disney reopened parks "too soon." And he encouraged out-of-state Disney fans to skip the trip.

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"I would not recommend traveling to the epicenter [of surging coronavirus cases] to go to a theme park right now," he said. "In my opinion, that's common sense. Because ultimately they have the potential to contract the virus and bring it back to their home states."

Other Disney influencers, particularly those outside Florida, had major concerns

Sabrina Lizette, who lives in California and previously visited Disneyland in Anaheim "literally every other day," said she worried about the reopening in Orlando.

"It's scary times," she told Insider, adding that the number of COVID-19 cases in Florida "is very high — they're obviously having a surge right now."

"I just think it's too soon to reopen," she said, "and I feel bad for the cast members."

Lizette, who said she also makes biannual trips to Orlando, has no plans to return to Disney World — and she said she'd be cautious about returning to Disneyland when it reopens. (A reopening planned for July 17 was recently delayed indefinitely.)

"Even if they opened next month, I wouldn't go," she said. "I would need to assess everything — to look at the numbers and see what's going on with vaccines, cures, all that stuff."

Aware of the polarized dialogue online, Lizette discussed her perspective with her 64,000 followers, sharing her plan to stay home and even posting Instagram stories polling her followers on their opinions about returning to the parks. She said 80% agreed that Disney fans should stay home.

Lizette said that, in conjunction with Disney's mission of entertaining and inspiring, it's important to her to respect differing opinions and facilitate a respectful discourse online.

"It's tough because we're Disney people — there's a perception that we're friendlier and there's this magic and we're all fun and whatnot. So when you see people going at it online, it's disappointing," she said.

"Obviously there are a lot of people with pent-up frustrations right now. But it's tough when you see someone with a username like '@magic245disney' posting pictures of pixie dust but then yelling at someone about how they're not going to wear a mask and no one's going to tell them what to do."

Erika Kurzawa, who lives in California and is known as @erikaenchanted to her 16,000 followers, echoed Lizette's safety concerns and said she had no plans to travel to Orlando. Her hesitance, she said, stemmed from thinking not just of her own safety, but of the safety of park employees.

"I worry about the exposure of the cast members; they don't have a choice," she said. "People have to live, so they have to go to work to pay their bills. I just wonder how comfortable they feel having to be there."

Kurzawa says she thinks fellow theme park enthusiasts should hold off on planning trips.

"All of the magic will still be there after the pandemic," she said. "So listen to the CDC, listen to the World Health Organization, and pay attention to what they're advising us to do. I just don't think theme parks are essential right now."

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