Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[SwirlTheCitrus]

Do you think it would be possible that NO value resort will be open by September?

I didn`t go to WDW until 2010 (being born in Eastern Europe wasn`t really my choice to wait until then though) so have no knowledge how was it after 9/11? Were the resorts closed for an extended period?

No, no resorts were closed at all-- the parks were closed for one day (sent everyone home on 9/11). I remember going there as a kid in the summer of 2002; we were walking through Epcot and we saw three other people in world showcase. I didn't make the connection for why it was so empty until years later.

 

[DisneyEater]

You’ll have normal hours, fireworks, parades, and character meet and greets by October the latest.

This October? I'd be willing to wager against that.

 

[Eric Smith]

I'm not sure it will ever be exacttly like it was before especially on the business side. A lot of bsusinesses have seen how much can be done remotely witth zoom, webex, etc. without needing the expense of flying people down for an in-person meetings. Some I'm sure will still happen but I'd be surprised if business travel ever goes back to what it was before though people being able to stay home with their families vs travelling is probably a good thing in the end.


Lesure travel will recoverr but wlll take time. What effect less business travel will have on prices and availablity is definitely a question

I wouldn't be so sure about that. There are many things that are much easier to accomplish in a face to face meeting instead of a video call.

 

[Eric Smith]

No doom and gloom talk! This is my happy place to get my Disney fix

I sort of had an “aha!” moment yesterday. I was reading one of Tom Bricker’s latest posts and a light bulb went off regarding Disney’s new cancellation policy (basically can cancel up until check-in through October 3)....I’m wondering if they’re hoping to have operations back to normal around then. Give people the option to cancel without penalty while there are major cuts/changes and then once it’s business as usual, go back to normal policy. Now, this could be similar to the June 1 booking fiasco, but at least for now it’s giving me some hope for Fall reservations!

I think they plan to be at a point where everyone who wants to get in to a park can get in to a park on a normal day.

 

[Mit88]

This October? I'd be willing to wager against that.

I wouldnt put money on any scenario regarding if/when things will or wont resume. Everything is changing on a daily basis. I could see things like the fireworks being back by October, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they’re not back until next year.

If we dont see a huge spike in cases, and I’m not saying a couple hundred, I’m talking thousands, into the tens of thousands of new cases from these protests, then its a safe bet that it doesnt spread as much as it did in March and April. We’re talking crowds of 60,000+ people shoulder to shoulder, face to face where a mask isnt going to protect you

 

[firefly_ris]

No, no resorts were closed at all-- the parks were closed for one day (sent everyone home on 9/11). I remember going there as a kid in the summer of 2002; we were walking through Epcot and we saw three other people in world showcase. I didn't make the connection for why it was so empty until years later.

French Quarter closed for 6 months in November 2001 and portions of Riverside were also closed.

 

[Jacq7414]

I wouldnt put money on any scenario regarding if/when things will or wont resume. Everything is changing on a daily basis. I could see things like the fireworks being back by October, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they’re not back until next year.

If we dont see a huge spike in cases, and I’m not saying a couple hundred, I’m talking thousands, into the tens of thousands of new cases from these protests, then its a safe bet that it doesnt spread as much as it did in March and April. We’re talking crowds of 60,000+ people shoulder to shoulder, face to face where a mask isnt going to protect you

I agree. If there are no spike in cases, I don’t see why there would be a need for very strict restrictions. I’d like to hope that fireworks and character meets & greets would at least be back by early 2021.

 

[yankeesfan123]

I wouldnt put money on any scenario regarding if/when things will or wont resume. Everything is changing on a daily basis. I could see things like the fireworks being back by October, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they’re not back until next year.

If we dont see a huge spike in cases, and I’m not saying a couple hundred, I’m talking thousands, into the tens of thousands of new cases from these protests, then its a safe bet that it doesnt spread as much as it did in March and April. We’re talking crowds of 60,000+ people shoulder to shoulder, face to face where a mask isnt going to protect you

I think we need to keep an eye on when CP get “called back” as to have some sort of idea when things might start to resemble something close to normalcy in the parks.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I actually think the reduced hours will disappear pretty quick once the COVID fear has parted because of the economy. The extra hours give them extra time to pull in more guests to the parks and gives the guest at the parks more time to spend more money at the parks. What I do think we will see happen because of the economy is a resort or two being shuttered and major cutback on park investment.

Although it felt like Disney was reducing hours already before any of this started, at least compared to 5-10 years ago, so not sure they will be so quick to go back to where they were. I do think we could see a normalizing of the hours (so not the staggarge open and close like we have now) and the return of the paid extra hours events sooner rather than later though (like, Sept)

 

[tlmadden73]

I actually think the reduced hours will disappear pretty quick once the COVID fear has parted because of the economy. The extra hours give them extra time to pull in more guests to the parks and gives the guest at the parks more time to spend more money at the parks. What I do think we will see happen because of the economy is a resort or two being shuttered and major cutback on park investment.

Increased hours is to help Disney spread out crowds. If Disney is going to be limiting capacity with the reservation system, they may not have increased hours because they will know EXACTLY how many people to expect during a given day. If they further limit park hopping, again -- no need for increased hours.

I could see more "marginal" attractions shuttered and move to seasonal operation (like Stitch was). I am surprised they are picking the construction back up for the Star Wars hotel .. if the economy is in the tank for a while, I can't see many people splurging for an extra luxury experience in an already luxury vacation.

 

[wareagle57]

You are going to be disappointed then. While fireworks may come back within a year. It’s going to take the travel and leisure industry 3-5 years to get back to something resembling pre Covid.

The US is in a recession bigger than the Great Recession and the world as a whole is in a recession bigger than anything seen since 1870...

At minimum we are likely looking at reduced hours at Disney and a Universal for years, not months. Other cutbacks are likely to linger for years as well.

Things that are limited by social distancing won’t linger as long as things impacted by financial realities. So we will probably have fire works and character meet and greets by next summer.

I think this is possibly a bit of an overreaction. This is very different from past recessions and I think it’s likely we recover from it much quicker. Of course anything is possible.

Also, the more we learn about the virus, the better we are getting at knowing how to live with it. And if the WHO statement yesterday about asymptomatic transmission being rare is true, then things could go back to normal much quicker.

Though I do really hope we keep practice social distancing most of the time. I’ll squeeze in for parades or fireworks for a short amount of time but I hope we never return to the days of “move allllll the way forward in line. Fill in alllll available space.”

I know we probably won’t keep the 6 foot space markers, but I really enjoyed waiting in line with them. It was almost like a game, and you get to appreciate the queues in ways that I normally don’t.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Increased hours is to help Disney spread out crowds. If Disney is going to be limiting capacity with the reservation system, they may not have increased hours because they will know EXACTLY how many people to expect during a given day. If they further limit park hopping, again -- no need for increased hours.

I could see more "marginal" attractions shuttered and move to seasonal operation (like Stitch was). I am surprised they are picking the construction back up for the Star Wars hotel .. if the economy is in the tank for a while, I can't see many people splurging for an extra luxury experience in an already luxury vacation.

I agree about more attractions going seasonal - especially ones for which social distancing would be harder and ones that require more CMs to operate, etc.

I think the Star Wars hotel is just a unique situation - it is very small, so not like you need thousands of people to fill it up all the time. Plus it was going for a specific clientele that could afford those prices to begin and I think a lot of people in that bracket were impacted to a lesser degree than those in lower paying jobs. Heck, some people are actually better off now as their income didn't change but their spending went down due to being home bound.

If this was a regular, large hotel I fully expect they would not be continuing working on it (e.g., when they shuttered the other half of Pop Century for all those years)

 

[Krandor]

No doom and gloom talk! This is my happy place to get my Disney fix

I sort of had an “aha!” moment yesterday. I was reading one of Tom Bricker’s latest posts and a light bulb went off regarding Disney’s new cancellation policy (basically can cancel up until check-in through October 3)....I’m wondering if they’re hoping to have operations back to normal around then. Give people the option to cancel without penalty while there are major cuts/changes and then once it’s business as usual, go back to normal policy. Now, this could be similar to the June 1 booking fiasco, but at least for now it’s giving me some hope for Fall reservations!

Have we not learned our lesson about using reservation and cancellation dates to deduce when things are going to open?

 

[Brianstl]

Increased hours is to help Disney spread out crowds. If Disney is going to be limiting capacity with the reservation system, they may not have increased hours because they will know EXACTLY how many people to expect during a given day. If they further limit park hopping, again -- no need for increased hours.

I could see more "marginal" attractions shuttered and move to seasonal operation (like Stitch was). I am surprised they are picking the construction back up for the Star Wars hotel .. if the economy is in the tank for a while, I can't see many people splurging for an extra luxury experience in an already luxury vacation.

You can say increased hours are to spread out crowds, but Disney was decreasing hours while they were having more admissions over a period of years. Disney started cutting operating hours majorly at Magic Kingdom after attendance reached 20.5 million in 2015. That was a 27% increase on attendance in 2010. With more people in the park there is more people to spend more money over a shorter time. When crowds decrease you need to give the people in the parks more time to spend money to reach the same sales volumes. The biggest reasons places like WDW and Universal are reducing hours now is to meet the staffing levels needed to operate the parks with all the new things in place. As the guidelines change over time the staffing levels needed will decrease for every hour of operation. Allowing them to redeploy staff for longer operating hours.

 

[Mit88]

I agree. If there are no spike in cases, I don’t see why there would be a need for very strict restrictions. I’d like to hope that fireworks and character meets & greets would at least be back by early 2021.

Disney will have the current restrictions they announced in place for at least a month no matter what. But even though we’re seeing new cases and new spikes, they’re occurring mostly in cities and states that haven’t had a spike yet. If I’m 2 weeks New York doesn’t see sizable spikes from the protests/reopening then it’ll be a good sign that either the spread is slowing, we’re hitting an increase in herd immunity, or the mutation of the virus is weakening at a much higher rate. And I’m not talking 100 new people contracting the virus. There needs to be a huge spike from these instances the last few weeks to stay consistent with alarming contraction rates that we’ve seen previously

 

[Lewisc]

No, no resorts were closed at all-- the parks were closed for one day (sent everyone home on 9/11). I remember going there as a kid in the summer of 2002; we were walking through Epcot and we saw three other people in world showcase. I didn't make the connection for why it was so empty until years later.

Port Orleans FQ resort was temporarily closed. The capacity of Riverside was slashed. Other resorts had sections temporarily closed

 

[SaintsManiac]

I flew into MCO yesterday around 5. Oh my goodness what a ghost town.

No one but my plane on the concourse. nothing open in the food court on the B side. No line at all for security. No one else waiting for luggage at United. Alamo closed on the B side.

I live in Colorado now, but this is my hometown. i have never seen that airport that empty. No idea how Orlando survives this.

And yet, they will.

 

[stayathomehero]

No, no resorts were closed at all-- the parks were closed for one day (sent everyone home on 9/11). I remember going there as a kid in the summer of 2002; we were walking through Epcot and we saw three other people in world showcase. I didn't make the connection for why it was so empty until years later.

I went in December 2001. Ghost town indeed. My family and friends thought me and my parents were lunatics for even taking a plane. MCO was empty, with armed military holding AKs. Disney was super quiet and tons of rides were walk ons all day...except Peter Pans Flight.

I got to ride the Haunted Mansion like 10 times in a row.

 

[tlmadden73]

I flew into MCO yesterday around 5. Oh my goodness what a ghost town.

No one but my plane on the concourse. nothing open in the food court on the B side. No line at all for security. No one else waiting for luggage at United. Alamo closed on the B side.

I live in Colorado now, but this is my hometown. i have never seen that airport that empty. No idea how Orlando survives this.

It is STILL very early. Only this week is there REASONS to travel to Orlando for vacation. Disney opening in July will definitely hurt the Orlando tourism for June.

Who knows when people will be comfortable doing vacations again. A lot of people are ready to get out there (as indicated by my local beaches) . .but a lot of people (even those that are young and healthy) are not and may not be until there is some sort of "protection" from the virus.

But some are planning vacations this summer .. some "normal" .. some "modified"
I have a friend who is planning on going to Yosemite next week with his family as they have originally planned (with some modifications (no side-trip to San Fran).
My brother-in-law bought a camper for a different style of vacation this summer (though they do plan on taking it down to Ft. Wilderness .. but probably not this year).
I was set to come down to Orlando next week .. and I am almost tempted to still come down just to do LegoLand or Universal (at record low crowd levels) instead of Disney, but we'll probably opt for more local weekend trips to Myrtle Beach or other places within a days drive .. mainly due to the restrictions in place that may make a theme park vocation less than nominal.

 

[Gentry2004]

Well I just pulled the trigger to cancel all of our disney resort reservations (we didn't have tickets yet anyway.) I doubt that helps anyone but I wish everyone luck. Maybe we'll try again next year. Its a shame because we haven't been since 2018.