Our guide to Orlando theme parks, summer 2021 edition

All of Orlando’s theme parks still have bag checks at their entrances, but security procedures have changed.

Bags and all contents from pockets go through a machine; people walk through a metal-detecting gateway then fetch their belongings on the other side.

On the face-covering front, visitors who have been fully vaccinated now have the option to go without masks … for the most part.

Other experiences, such as “A Celebration of the Festival of the Lion King” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, were altered in COVID precautionary ways.

The parks have unveiled creative ways to let folks see them: atop balconies, floating past on floats or flotillas, frolicking in fields behind a fence.

The streets appear more congested, and this may be attributed to fewer big-crowd-suckers, such as shows, being open.

It’s more pleasant and less stressful than trying to do that in the heat and with a glare on the screen.

At Disney World, “Happily Ever After” returns to Magic Kingdom on a nightly basis beginning July 1, the same evening that “Epcot Forever” comes back to Epcot.

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