Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Eric Smith]

So for those saying EMH and FP may be gone...how do you justify a $1000 room, other than the "magic" of Disney.

I'm not sure where you're finding a $1,000 room on property unless its a grand villa, the cabins at Wilderness Lodge or the Bungalows at the Poly.

EMH never was a draw for us. It really didn't seem to reduce crowd levels all that much when we went to them and it seemed to increase crowd levels in that park for the rest of the day. The FP perk is nice, but it's not a reason that we ever stayed on property either. We stay on property so that we're in the Disney bubble. We don't need to bother with renting a car or worrying about paying for parking. We can go wherever we want whenever we want using the Disney provided transportation and if that doesn't make sense at the time we can use an Uber or Lyft pretty cheap. It's a nice way to stay somewhat isolated from the outside world and normal life for a trip.

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

Now change your choice to FW or DVC. And you have the only real shot at going to the parks, getting a park reservation, by staying on site. For kicks FW is booked out for your dates. Demand is high so DVC is rack rate. Do you book DVC and go?

Imho that’s a scenario a lot of people will be looking at...

according to a previous post above, you need to pay for this upgrade--do we think that this is going to be the case for everyone who is in a value or moderate resort for the summer?

That would be one way to thin out the number of reservations...

 

[Marionnette]

Surely they are not planning on keeping all the resorts closed except DVC and FW until next year?

I think those are the only ones that they have some assurance that they will be open. Disney is taking a lot of heat for booking reservations when they probably should have had an inkling that the resort would be closed. DVC resorts and FW would be the last to be closed on the list of closure priorities.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I feel like you're talking about me.

I mean I know you did lol, on a personal level I’ve been majorly impacted as a DVC renter (which is of course not Disney’s fault) and there’s so many of us who are out actual money and lots of it right now, but I was mostly thinking of the thousands of people who would have been booked from mid March up until now who may or may not have rebooked like you did, but also lost out on trips and discounts through no fault of their own.

It sucks to have your vacation cancelled due to COVID. I know you and I both know that feeling. I still think they have to draw that line right now on dealing with guests differently pre opening date and post opening date. I don’t think June cancelled guests are all that different from March, April, or May.

 

[rteetz]

Tokyo prepping distancing measures

https://twitter.com/x/status/1268663030889369600

 

[focusondisney]

I'm not sure where you're finding a $1,000 room on property unless its a grand villa, the cabins at Wilderness Lodge or the Bungalows at the Poly.

Rack rate for many club level rooms is over $1000 some nights now. Don’t ask how I know....



Edit to add: quick check shows a standard room at YC for Christmas week is $846 rack rate. Taxes will take a standard room to over $1000 a night. Other deluxe resorts have comparable rates. So $1000 rooms aren’t hard to find.

 

[cakebaker]

I'm not sure where you're finding a $1,000 room

Rack rate? Lots of them. Mostly you have to go to a 1 br villa to hit that mark, but it's easy. 2 br villas can certainly hit that mark and higher. The cheapest DVC's are OKW and SSR, but even those can easily run over 1k. Grand villas can run several thousand dollars a night. And that's just DVC. I can show you dozens of rooms on property that run well over 1k a night.

 

[cakebaker]

Rack rate for many club level rooms is over $1000 some nights now. Don’t ask how I know....

I wouldn't know anything about that...I promise. That said, it's why I love the AP discount. I can look at an insane price and say, yeah, but look how much I'm saving! #disneymath101

 

[Lewisc]

Yes, this exactly. I can’t find any mention of anyone else being cancelled for July dates (other than my TA) and you would expect there to be some reports of people in a similar situation on here.

Disney is probably going to cancel resort reservations for stays prior to parks opening. Is it giving Disney systems too much credit to think they might be giving international guests more notice.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Rack rate? Lots of them. Mostly you have to go to a 1 br villa to hit that mark, but it's easy. 2 br villas can certainly hit that mark and higher. The cheapest DVC's are OKW and SSR, but even those can easily run over 1k. Grand villas can run several thousand dollars a night.

Yeah they exist. Primarily large rooms at certain deluxe resorts or specialty rooms.

But I’m going to guess most people booking them especially at rack rate aren’t swayed by a 60 day FP window and minimal EMH and would stay offsite if not for that. It’s the rack rates at the values and mods that can start looking inflated if they chip away at onsite benefits IMO. As people are more willing to pay for the more expensive Disney resorts, they’re going to be doing it for reasons beyond the generic onsite benefits.

 

[vinotinto]

My TA is reporting the same thing. As of this morning, guests with check-ins from June 5 - June 21 can modify, but only to dates from July 11 - December 31, 2020 and only DVC or Ft. W. No 2021 reservations at this time.

So, let me see if I got this right.

On the one hand, we don't know if and when regular non-DVC/non-FW resorts will open. Disney has not come out and said if they will reopen on July 11th, and if so, which ones will reopen. There is rampant speculation that not ALL those reservations will be able to be maintained in the initial weeks after reopening, if they are going to ensure resort guests have access to the parks. Or maybe not everyone with a room reservation will have daily access to the parks?

On the other hand, now they are allowing the June cancelled folks to rebook to the resorts that we do know will be open - DVC and FW - including allowing rebooking during the initial weeks after reopening that are the ones that allegedly have too many reservations for the park capacity.

These two things don't seem aligned to me.

 

[Farro]

Maybe they are only allowing booking at specific resorts through the end of the year because most resorts are already pretty filled up through the end year, which is normal.

 

[Hummingbird]

So for those saying EMH and FP may be gone...how do you justify a $1000 room, other than the "magic" of Disney.

Everyone has followed up this question with $1000/nt but this just says $1000 room.
If you stay a week at a Value it's $1000+

Either way though, we've stayed on site alot and EMH and FP never even played a part in the decision to. It's all about the transportation and "bubble" for us.

 

[cakebaker]

I mean I know you did lol, on a personal level I’ve been majorly impacted as a DVC renter (which is of course not Disney’s fault) and there’s so many of us who are out actual money and lots of it right now, but I was mostly thinking of the thousands of people who would have been booked from mid March up until now who may or may not have rebooked like you did, but also lost out on trips and discounts through no fault of their own.

It sucks to have your vacation cancelled due to COVID. I know you and I both know that feeling. I still think they have to draw that line right now on dealing with guests differently pre opening date and post opening date. I don’t think June cancelled guests are all that different from March, April, or May.

I count myself lucky not to have lost a ton of money over all this, I really do. DVC renters got the worst of it, no doubt about it.

 

[Eric Smith]

As a cash package at a moderate, this makes me nervous. I continue to think since our trip isn't until week after Labor Day that things can still change. But the fact that these latest June cancellations can only modify to DVC or FW through the end of the year?! And for an upcharge no less? Oh boy. I've seen various secondhand info under the "Resort Changes By Disney" thread (one of the latest being a late July res being walked from CBR to a DVC not of their choice...told to them by their TA...post #238 on that thread). But it's truly a guessing game until Disney officially lets everyone know what's going on. Feeling for everyone who is uncertain and just hoping for a little light at the end of the tunnel after this dumpster fire of a year! ☹

I don't think you have much to be concerned about this point. What they're charging for at this point is moving people to new dates at different hotels. They're not charging for moving people to different hotels on the same dates as the original reservation. It's also very possible that your resort will be open by labor day. Everything we're seeing right now is focused around the initial opening.

 

[The Pho]

News

Kings Island is suing Ohio, asking to be allowed to reopen immediately.

https://www.fox19.com/2020/06/04/ki...y-acton-warren-county-health-district-reopen/

Cedar Point has now joined the lawsuit as well.

https://fox8.com/news/cedar-point-kalahari-resorts-kings-island-file-suit-against-dr-amy-acton/

 

[Disneylover99]

It sucks to have your vacation cancelled due to COVID. I know you and I both know that feeling. I still think they have to draw that line right now on dealing with guests differently pre opening date and post opening date. I don’t think June cancelled guests are all that different from March, April, or May.

Intent is the one difference I see with some of the later bookings.

I do know some people who booked Disney vacations in early June after all the March/April cancellations and offers of free dining went out, hoping to get some kind of future offer themselves, with no intention of actually going in June.

 

[Bjn10]

We don’t no for sure if no Mods or values will open this summer it maybe that they are maxed out to there capacity and they are only allowing changes for those who were canceled on before the opening

 

[Dis5150]

Apparently those with the free dining promo who choose to modify are not being offered any discount like the 35%. I think that's a little sad, but if you are trying to control capacity, I get it.

Where are you seeing this? And did those people have an email telling them they WOULD get the 35%?

 

[aweehughes]

I really can't imagine anyone staying in a value being willing to rebook at DVC (although I really think it means the deluxe resort attached) at rack rate. Most studios aren't even available for those dates and I just can't imagine someone willing to book a 1 bedroom or higher if they were booked in a discounted value.

We would. We are both teachers with two weeks of online learning left--we need a break. We need something to look forward to.