Editor's Note — Julie Tremaine entered the Magic Kingdom just after 9 a.m. Saturday for CNN. She's an award-winning food and travel writer, and her work appears in Travel + Leisure and Forbes among others. Read her at Travel-Sip-Repeat.com.
Orange County, Florida (CNN) — The wait is over.
After closing because of the coronavirus pandemic, Walt Disney World Resort has officially reopened two of its four parks -- Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. (Epcot and Hollywood Studios are set to reopen Wednesday).
Over the past week, all eyes have been on Disney World as it prepared for its reopening -- one day shy of four months since it closed.
With Florida's recent surge in Covid-19 infections, some have questioned whether the park should have postponed opening day. But on Saturday morning, thousands of fans walked through the gate to be among the first to reenter the Magic Kingdom.
The park they walked back into, though, is not the same park they left.
Old vs. new Magic Kingdom
Disney World is reopening as coronavirus cases are rising in Florida. Still, some park-goers say they feel safer at theme parks than anywhere else. CNN's Natasha Chen reports.
The old park thrived on quantity, cramming as many people as possible into ride queues and rewarding those who lined up early in the morning with coveted boarding passes to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disney's Hollywood Studios.
That park would let you run up to Mickey and hug him, even with no clear idea of who had just done the same thing or when that suit had last been cleaned. That park didn't have to worry about whether the invisible spray from someone screaming with delight on a roller coaster would unintentionally infect the person in the next seat.
This new park is different.
The biggest difference: crowd size. Disney doesn't release attendance numbers, but The New York Times estimated that the park would allow less than half of its capacity in the park to start.
First thing you'll notice about the new look -- it's not crowded in the Magic Kingdom.
Julie Tremaine for CNN
As of July 10, Disney had reached its maximum reservations for Magic Kingdom park tickets for opening day.
Here's what we're seeing so far:
Temperature, bag checks and safety measure
All guests will be required to undergo temperature screenings before entering a theme park at Walt Disney World Resort.
David Roark/Walt Disney World Resort
For the reopening, each guest is required to have his or her temperature checked, not at the park gate, but to get on the transportation that brings you to the park. The process is quick and simple.
Bag checks have been minimized as much as possible. Previously, every bag was thoroughly searched. Now, guests are asked to remove any large metal objects from their bags, then carry those bags through metal detectors.
Face masks are a requirement to enter the park. And Disney has pulled out all the stops on social distancin
