Universal Orlando Resort held its grand reopening to the general public on June 5, after shuttering for more than two months due to COVID-19. After several days of previews for employees ("team members") and annual pass holders, Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure are now welcoming all guests back. (Universal's Volcano Bay water park has also reopened, but here we'll be focusing on the two theme parks.)

The theme park experience is understandably vastly different post-COVID outbreak, with a number of extensive new safety guidelines now in place. We previously wrote about what it was like to visit Disney Springs, Walt Disney World's shopping, dining and entertainment district and the first part of Disney World to reopen. We headed to Universal Orlando during a team member preview June 2 and on opening day June 5 to see what it was like to visit the reopened theme parks. Here's an inside look.

To keep guests and team members safe, Universal is focusing on three key components: screening, sanitation, and spacing.

All guests must undergo a temperature screening and anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or higher will not be allowed to enter the park. Signage also denotes that guests must be able to confirm they are not experiencing any of the following symptoms: cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell. Additionally, guests must be able to confirm they have not been in contact with someone with known or suspected COVID-19 symptoms and that they are not under any self-quarantine orders.

In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Universal Orlando is enhancing its sanitation measures by "increasing our already-aggressive cleaning and disinfection procedures, and frequently cleaning all high touch surfaces." We saw this in action throughout the parks, everywhere from escalator railings and benches to trash cans and ride vehicles.

To further support frequent hand washing and sanitizing, hand sanitizer stations are present throughout the parks and resorts-particularly at entrances to stores and restaurants. We did notice quite a few that were empty soon after park opening, so hopefully Universal stays on top of keeping those refilled. One significant new step we are big fans of is that guests are given a squirt of hand sanitizer to clean their hands before boarding every ride. This will help reduce the spread of germs on high-touch ride vehicle surfaces like the laser guns on Men in Black: Alien Attack and the motorbike handlebars on Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

It's no surprise that social distancing is a key component of reopening safety procedures. The ground is covered in distance markers denoting where guests should stand to promote distancing, particularly in attraction and restaurant queues, and while watching outdoor performances.

Officially, daily parades and nightly shows, which tend to draw large crowds, have been suspended. But, you can still catch your favorite characters and parade floats throughout the day. Individual floats come out over the course of the day and team members, with the help of signs and distance markers, ensure that guests don't get too close.

Characters are still present throughout the park and interact with guests-at a safe social distance, of course. Distance markers denote where guests can stand to take a selfie with their favorite characters posing behind them. A team member accompanies each character to ensure adequate social distance is maintained.

Guests age 2 and up and all team members (even performers!) are required to wear facial coverings at all times with three exceptions-while eating or drinking, on water rides, and in designated "U-Rest" areas, locations throughout the parks where safe distancing is maintained and guests are able to take a break and remove their masks.

If you're worried about what it's like to wear a mask on a ride, for the most part, it didn't bother us too much! The only time masks caused us trouble on rides was when we were also wearing 3D glasses. Our masks caused the 3D glasses to fog every time, making it a lot tougher to enjoy the ride!

Virtual queues are being utilized on a need basis on many attractions when the number of guests in a physical queue begins to exceed the amount that enables team members to ensure safe social distancing. Guests can launch the Universal Orlando app and select a ride return window (for parties up to 10). Guests are able to hold two virtual queue passes at a time as long as the return windows don't overlap. You can also launch the app and join the virtual queue by scanning the QR code at the entrance to any ride currently utilizing a virtual queue.

In addition to distance markers and spacing throughout ride queues, ride vehicles are not being fully loaded in order to support social distancing. Groups are seated together but rows are left open between groups.

Taking a break for a meal or snack is one of your best opportunities to get that mask break. Hand sanitizer stations are present throughout dining locations and social distancing markers ensure spacing in the queues. Guests are encouraged to utilize Universal's Mobile Order system in order to reduce time spent in queues as well as contact and interaction from ordering and payment. For guests not utilizing Mobile Order and digital menus, disposable paper menus are provided.

We know that in order to control capacity, Disney is planning to implement a theme park reservation system, requiring guests to secure a reservation for a particular date to visit a park. We were nervous that without a system like this, Universal's theme parks could quickly end up at capacity. Note: Universal is allowing guests staying at a Universal resort to enter the parks an hour earlier than official park opening, which should help ensure onsite guests secure park access.

Universal's opening day June 5 was surprisingly light on crowds. After an initial small morning surge at park opening, there were no lines at all to enter either park by 10 am.

As for the crowds inside the parks? On opening day, they were nonexistent. It remains to be seen how they might increase over the weekend and as travel restrictions continue to ease and guests get more comfortable venturing out into large public spaces like theme parks. But, for now, we found a trip to Universal Orlando Resort to be a low-density, low-stress experience. If you don't mind wearing a mask and taking some extra precautions, now could be a great time to visit a theme park!