Disney was just Disney. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

It was fun and exciting and crowded and hot and tiring and exhilarating.

I know. I was there.

At least, that’s how the last three days at Disney World in Orlando seemed to me as I walked through the parks, rode the rides, ate the food, never distanced myself 6 feet from anyone and watched my daughter’s high school band march in a parade. On Monday, all Disney parks closed in response to the growing COVID-19 concern.

I’m not a Disney regular but I’ve been enough to know what a seemingly routine day looks like. And Friday, Saturday and the final day on Sunday seemed as routine as our lives once did.

Now that we're all a danger to each other, nothing is normal. We're learning new terms like social distancing, we're (hopefully) now washing our hands while singing 20 seconds of a song, we're (hopefully) coughing into our elbows and we're (hopefully) praying this madness known as COVID-19 ends soon.

Unless, of course, you spent the weekend at Disney.

Related: AL.com’s coronavirus coverage

If you hung out with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, COVID-19 didn't exist. Well, sure, it technically existed but only if we checked our cell phones. And that was kind of the weird part.

If you ever wanted to see thousands of people figuratively stick their heads in the sand, you should have been at Disney. As the deadly virus has relentlessly spread across the world is, it’s no match for the thousands trying to win a lottery to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or buy the greatest souvenir or simply get a picture with Goofy.

Even Disney joined in the head-in-the-sand fun with its guests. While the company made it widely known that it would have the park in as pristine condition as possible and there would be hand sanitizing stations widely available, that simply wasn’t the case.

I noticed three such stations at Animal Kingdom – Disney’s largest theme park that covers 580 acres. And that seemed to be an abundance of such stations compared to other parks.

At the Magic Kingdom, I saw one such station and it was so hidden, Mickey himself probably didn't know where it was. At Hollywood Studios, I never saw such a station – and I was actually looking for them.

On Saturday at the Magic Kingdom, Disney guests were greeted just inside the park entrance by a cast member armed with about six bottles of hand sanitizer – giving out squirts to anyone who offered their hands. Praiseworthy as that was, I expected seeing see more of that throughout all the parks all weekend. Instead, that one instant only reminded you of what you weren't getting the rest of the day.

Yes, there were reports of tears and an emotional goodbye at the end of the final day on Sunday at the Magic Kingdom as COVID-19 conquered even the Happiest Place on Earth.

But mostly, it was just weird. As our lives are essentially suspended at this point, so was reality at Disney – and not just for the storybook magical experience. We knew COVID-19 was out there, most certainly even among us within the Disney parks.

We just ignored it or didn't think about it or, at the very least, didn’t let it encroach on our fun.

Or we tried anyway. On every attraction at Disney, inevitably there will be a pathway framed by rails. Nothing is more intuitive than putting your hands on those rails. If you let your mind race in the wrong direction, you could look down at your hands after touching those rails and almost see the coronavirus crawling across your palm.

And suddenly you had a strong desire to wash your hands.

But only after standing in line with those rails for another 45 minutes so you can ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.

Disney World began what’s expected to be the longest closure in its history on Monday. The day before, though, Disney was still Disney for all the world to see. There was an ample supply of food, hand soap in the bathrooms, sanitizer if you could find it and, yes, even toilet paper.

On that weird day, we had everything. Except COVID-19.