Hey Mickey! Disney World Plans To ReOpen Parks In July

My Disney-lovin' heart is so happy right now! The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando presented its plan to Orange County officials Wednesday morning setting a plan in motion to reopen the gates on July 11.

The move will end a multi-month closure (the longest in Disney's history) that's left the Disney company feeling the effects. The reopen will happen in a set of phases - with Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening July 11, followed by EPCOT and Hollywood Studios opening July 15.

Now if you're as excited as I am, here's where the catch happens - well, not so much a catch, just where we can expect changes to be made. These are the biggest changes coming to your Disney vacation for the time-being:

• ALL employees and guests are required to wear masks and get temperature checks at park entrances.
• Guests will need to make reservations for park entry in advance, in order to help keep park capacity down.
• There will be no parades, fireworks or any activity that creates crowds for the foreseeable future.
• Meet-and-greets with characters have been suspended.
• The resort will also enable cashless transactions by expanding contactless payments.
• Disney will also increase the number of available hand-sanitizing stations.

According to AECOM, Disney World's Magic Kingdom, which houses trademark attractions like Cinderella's Castle and Space Mountain, is the world's most-visited theme park, accounting for more than 20 million visitors in 2018.

"The theme parks define Disney for millions of its fans around the world," Robert Niles, editor of ThemeParkInsider.com, told CNN Business. "Returning its parks to operation signals that Disney is coming back to full speed as a company again."