A/S Music May Not Open On Time- Rumor with my personal clue

[BridgetBordeaux]

I had a ressie for A/S Music in late October.

I just got a call and was upgraded to AoA family suite for the same price.

I think that A/S Music will not be open during my October visit.

The rumor says it will open in December and not the original September date.

Park attendance is waaay down..........Stupid Covid!!

 

[BrianL]

On the plus side, that's a nice upgrade for you!

 

[rstevens333]

yeah, free Skyliner!

 

[I_love_Cruising]

Does Disney contact guests directly or trough the TA for the upgrades?

 

[THEDISNEYTHREE]

Thanks for the heads up. I have a reservation for the beginning of October. I have not received a call yet. With the 50th going on, I sure hope they have some place to put us.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Park attendance is waaay down..........Stupid Covid!!

Could also be people cancelling and changing to off-site accomodations since there's not really a whole lot of benefit to staying at the bus only value hotels now given the elimination of nearly all on-site perks.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I had a ressie for A/S Music in late October.

I just got a call and was upgraded to AoA family suite for the same price.

I think that A/S Music will not be open during my October visit.

The rumor says it will open in December and not the original September date.

Park attendance is waaay down..........Stupid Covid!!

is spark attendance really way down?

if so, its probably not covid this time around.

 

[StarrySkye21]

I know park attendance is down now because of the COVID numbers and masks, but by October/November, I would think attendance would greatly increase. By then COVID numbers will probably (hopefully) be down again and many are waiting for the 50th celebrations.

 

[StarrySkye21]

is spark attendance really way down?

if so, its probably not covid this time around.

why wouldn’t it be COVID this time around? Delta numbers in Florida are through the roof.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I know park attendance is down now because of the COVID numbers and masks, but by October/November, I would think attendance would greatly increase. By then COVID numbers will probably (hopefully) be down again and many are waiting for the 50th celebrations.

I had read on another website that the on-site hotel occupancy rates were way down. Something like two weekends ago Disney expected an occupancy rate north of 90 percent but ended up with an occupancy rate of 65 percent or something like that. It's not surprising that they would postpone the opening of some of their hotels. I do hope this causes them to rethink their stripping of all onsite benefits and the lack of any genie+ benefits for onsite stays.

 

[ChipnDale79]

why wouldn’t it be COVID this time around? Delta numbers in Florida are through the roof.

i mean maybe it is...but i also got a feeling all the negative press disney has been getting with their price gouging, that's playing a part in it also.

people flocked to disney this summer with covid.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

i mean maybe it is...but i also got a feeling all the negative press disney has been getting with their price gouging, that's playing a part in it also.

people flocked to disney this summer with covid.

I think it is three things:

1. Covid is really bad right now in Florida;
2. Loss of on-site perks; and
3. The "revenge-travel" bubble may already be popping. I hope Chapek didn't assume he would just fill up all his parks and hotels at whatever price because of "unprecedented demand" with diminished services forever. If so the company may be in for a rude awakening.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I think it is three things:

1. Covid is really bad right now in Florida;
2. Loss of on-site perks; and
3. The "revenge-travel" bubble may already be popping. I hope Chapek didn't assume he would just fill up all his parks and hotels at whatever price because of "unprecedented demand" with diminished services forever. If so the company may be in for a rude awakening.

this i can agree with. when i said it wasnt covid, i think i responded too quickly, because yeah i agree its probably a part of it, but i dont think its the whole picture right now.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

this i can agree with. when i said it wasnt covid, i think i responded too quickly, because yeah i agree its probably a part of it, but i dont think its the whole picture right now.

I watched a livestream of Epcot last night. I know that these August weeks are pretty slow normally, and it was raining, but Epcot was just dead last night. Frozen was a walk-on with partially empty boats launching. 3 Caballeros was so empty the streamer had her own boat, with empty boats in front of and behind her.

Edit: The Touringplans Historical Crowd Data Tracker bears this out as well:

8/24/21: Expected Crowd Level: 3, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/23/21: Expected Crowd Level: 4, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/22/21: Expected Crowd Level: 2, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/21/21: Expected Crowd Level: 3, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/20/21: Expected Crowd Level: 2, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/19/21: Expected Crowd Level: 3, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/18/21: Expected Crowd Level: 3, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/17/21: Expected Crowd Level: 3, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/16/21: Expected Crowd Level: 4, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/15/21: Expected Crowd Level: 2, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/14/21: Expected Crowd Level: 2, Observed Crowd Level: 1
8/13/21: Expected Crowd Level: 2, Observed Crowd Level: 1

That is 11 days in a row of Crowd Level 1 observations. That is unheard of. Here's the comparable 11 days in 2019:
8/24/19: Observed Crowd Level: 4
8/23/19: Observed Crowd Level: 2
8/22/19: Observed Crowd Level: 3
8/21/19: Observed Crowd Level: 4
8/20/19: Observed Crowd Level: 3
8/19/19: Observed Crowd Level: 5
8/18/21: OCL: 4
8/17/21: OCL: 6
8/16/21: OCL: 4
8/15/21: OCL: 5
8/14/21: OCL: 6
8/13/21: OCL: 5

Disney World is absolutely dead right now.

 

[Aprilshack]

If by some mere miracle, the usa let me in begining of December, i wonder where i will be put. I have a split stay at pop...

 

[rangerxenos]

is spark attendance really way down?

if so, its probably not covid this time around.

I have two co-workers that cancelled mid September trips solely because of Covid.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Does Disney contact guests directly or trough the TA for the upgrades?

I had booked online quite a while ago and Disney called me directly.

 

[cakebaker]

Park attendance is waaay down..........Stupid Covid!!

I don't think you can discount the fact that a lot of people who were desperate to go no matter what the park conditions were, have gone- I know we did and we're over it. Wanting to stay on site and having to book at rack rate with the cuts in housekeeping? Nope. We also want the parade, the shows, decent park hours, dessert parties, after hours events and character meets back before we spend that kind of money again.

I do think health concerns are the majority of the issue, but there's more than just that. If they had all the offerings back, we'd have a trip on the books at least and right now, a trip is not even on the horizon.

On the bright side, if people stay away, discounts and incentives will come. I'm glad to see the parks are empty. Disney needs a message sent that they can only cut so deep and charge so much before people say enough.

 

[Shelby Schroepfer]

I've been watching wait times all week and it's VERY slow. And I know it's back to school and also the loss of fast plus makes lines shorter but the vlogs and pictures also show very low crowds across all parks. I think Disney ticked a lot of people off and they're taking a stand. We also did the "let's just go and see how it is" Covid trip in November of last year and we agreed without lowered prices for the lack of things open, or those things completely reopened, we wouldn't be back. When things started to look up we scheduled for January of 2022 but who knows what that will look like now. We are staying at POP and I check daily for discounts. I feel like Disney is gonna use a free dining or room discount to try and entice people AFTER the 50th. The way I see it is we have 18 months to celebrate, why rush and go now when things are still unopened and Covid is going crazy again? If they want sell outs THIS year, they're gonna have to give us something.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I don't think you can discount the fact that a lot of people who were desperate to go no matter what the park conditions were, have gone- I know we did and we're over it. Wanting to stay on site and having to book at rack rate with the cuts in housekeeping? Nope. We also want the parade, the shows, decent park hours, dessert parties, after hours events and character meets back before we spend that kind of money again.

I do think health concerns are the majority of the issue, but there's more than just that. If they had all the offerings back, we'd have a trip on the books at least and right now, a trip is not even on the horizon.

On the bright side, if people stay away, discounts and incentives will come. I'm glad to see the parks are empty. Disney needs a message sent that they can only cut so deep and charge so much before people say enough.

Did i write this? sure sounds like what i would have said exactly.

I wont be back for awhile, Disney used Covid to take advantage of guests. (lack of fast passes during the summer crowds)