Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[SleeplessInTO]

Questions Disney has yet to answer that are crucial for July 11th:

1. When other resorts will open
2. When park reservation system will be accessible
3. Which restaurants will be open
4. When ADRs will be accessible
5. How are the APs actually going to be restarted

Did i miss anything?

I’m being selfish here but I want to know when SAB will be open

 

[gotomu212]

Meh. A Disney cruise is all inclusive, so it doesn't require the level of planning that a Disney World trip requires. You don't have to choose a hotel, reserve ADRs, or strategically plan for access to rides. It's a whole different ballgame from planning a WDW trip. That's why the lack of communication about WDW is so hard for those of us with July trips. We might have a hotel, but noyhing to do all day, or no restaurants to eat at. On a Disney cruise, food & activities are constantly availabile once you're onboard.

But the cruises have much earlier Pay In Full dates and really strict cancellation terms. Theres way less flexibility with a cruise and DCL is releasing next to no information but continuing to hold the cancellation clause on September cruises. People are stuck holding past further cancellation penalties or taking a loss now and cancelling- all for cruises DCL KNOWS they aren’t sailing.

 

[JM23457]

But the cruises have much earlier Pay In Full dates and really strict cancellation terms. Theres way less flexibility with a cruise and DCL is releasing next to no information but continuing to hold the cancellation clause on September cruises. People are stuck holding past further cancellation penalties or taking a loss now and cancelling- all for cruises DCL KNOWS they aren’t sailing.

If those cruises don't sail, then those people will get their money back. DCL has also tended to refund guests who cancelled & incurred fees shortly before DCL cancelled a cruise.

Unlike with the parks, I think Disney honestly doesn't know when cruising will resume. They have much less control over that then they do over their parks reopening.

 

[LSUmiss]

What I find interesting is that for the longest time people were saying “I want a date! All I need is a date! Just give us some idea of when you’ll be open.” And so, they did. As it turns out, everyone needed much more than just the date.

Would people have preferred they hold off an announcing a date until 2 weeks before parks open if that meant getting all the details at once? That would mean that today we still wouldn’t know when parks open. Truly honestly wondering.

B/c ppl didn’t expect they would get date & also be told ADRs & fast passes would be wiped out & only DVC hotels would open. They gave a date BUT added that info that no one saw coming.

 

[wdwoutsider]

I think that Disney is far superior to Universal and will argue that until my dying breath, but the thing is is that we have cut Disney slack and they abused our trust. We've given them time, but they still have not given us information, and Chapek has had this arrogant, cavalier attitude that just isn't acceptable. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but they have made so many errors in this process that it's really hard to at this point.

Disney has delayed and being very quiet on purpose. I know mice are suppose to be quiet but this is so ridiculous that no information is out! Only goal was/is to keep reservations on the books and cash in their hands as long as possible. They needed to stop mass cancellations until the NBA deal was announced and are still just keeping that strategy because why not. This was all to save their stock price from crashing too much, and they really don't care about customers right now which is sad. Anyone who listened to the last quarterly earnings call would understand Chapeck, he is all about the brand being so strong they can get away with anything right now and will do every and anything to return to profitability ASAP. Priority is to be profitable ASAP not offer a world class magical customer experience. For the prices disney charges i think they need to start being more customer focused here fast or they might permanently lose alot of loyal visitors and never get them back.

 

[RamblingMad]

Didn’t they outsource a lot of their IT a few years ago? Could their constant IT issues be related to that? I don’t think there would be much crossover between parks and Disney+ since they’re in totally different parts of the company.

My understanding is that they got the tech for Disney+ from a sports related acquisition.

 

[Karin1984]

Disneyland Hong Kong opens on Thursday!

Also Disneyland Paris is now officially in a 'green' zone, which is a week ahead of schedule. So it's looking good. But the rumours for reopening is still July 15th.
Same for travelling to France, several EU can go to France already.

 

[koszmok]

So...any guesses to when (or if) Disney will release additional information this week? We’re less than 30 days out and surely enough people have canceled by now. Bring on the reservation system already!

I think the new reservation system will be live earliest on the 28th of June.

Why? I know the UK market is small but in the UK we were given the choice to cancel/comfirm/rebook to 2021 our bookings and we have to do this by 27th June.

In case someone won`t get back to them by then the reservation will be automatically cancelled.

If the onsite guest with ticket reservation will get first pick to reserve a day (which I think and hope will happen) it means after the 27th spots will open up.

In theory on the 28th will be more available spots than before.

Which kinda mean the UK guest have to decide to cancel/book/rebbok to 2021 before they knew If they get a reservation for the park. But the other hand it doesn`t really mean it because If you confirm still can cancel until 3rd of October thought...

That`s just my thoughts...

 

[Tiki Birdland]

Is it that people would cancel Disney+ if it wasn’t working correctly?

We all mock Disney IT but it doesn’t stop us (most) from handing over our cash.

Good news is that a lot of people didn't actual PAY for Disney+

 

[koszmok]

For those in the UK or any other country that the US has a travel ban on currently that are worried about Disney’s actions. Instead of fretting what Disney is or isn’t doing you should be concerned more about the US Government. It appears the current travel ban may be through the remainder of the year. At the very least it appears they will all continue to exist through September.

I do think it will continue until September. But at some point they should realise that most of the banned countries have lover infection rate. At some point the banned countries can start to put restrictions on the US. At this moment there are countries who are not on the banned list and are in far more serious situation than those are on the banned list. But that`s politics and I don`t understand/do politics

 

[mmackeymouse]

Meh. For one thing, DCL is constrained by the CDC, which hasn't even indicated when it will allow cruising to resume. DCL literally can't give a clear timeline when they have no way of knowing themselves. Their operations when they do resume will probably differ from the parks- for example, cruise guests probably not forced to wear masks most of the time, and the contrast between that & the required masks at WDW is probably something Disney doesn't want emphasized & politicized right now as they're beginning their reopening.

For another thing, a Disney cruise is all inclusive, so it doesn't require the level of planning that a Disney World trip requires. You don't have to choose a hotel, reserve ADRs, or strategically plan for access to rides. It's a whole different ballgame from planning a WDW trip. That's why the lack of communication about WDW is so hard for those of us with July trips. We might have a hotel, but nothing to do all day, or no restaurants to eat at. On a Disney cruise, food & activities are constantly availabile once you're onboard.

DCL cancelled my July cruise last month & gave me a 125% future cruise credit for my trouble. I also had a Disney World vacation booked for July, and all I've gotten for that is strung along.

Of course. The CDC decision is part of it of course. But, the CDC order is extended until July 24th, and they have cruises still on the books starting July 31st. Surely you can't find it appropriate that DCL wait till July 25th to give these people some sort of information? People have lives. People have plans. They deserve to know something so they can make the appropriate decision for their families.

That said, I am sure that by this point DCL has at least SOME idea about their path forward. While nothing may be set in stone, they probably have ideas about what restrictions will be in place, what dining modifications will take place, what cuts to entertainment could occur. They probably have an idea on whether sailings will be limited to 3/4 day sailings for the immediate future.

With WDW, long before an opening date was announced, there were leaks out there about what the experience might entail and how it may change. Some came to happen, some didn't. But, it at least gave guests an idea on what to expect. Why couldn't DCL do this? Even if they don't put out an official statement, they could leak a list of the things that are currently on and off the table, things they are considering. And then let the guests make the decision for themselves whether to sail or not.

Through my various cruise groups, there have been many people who have cancelled; and do you know what the most cited reason for cancelling is? Fear of Covid? Nope. The explicit lack of communication from DCL.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

B/c ppl didn’t expect they would get date & also be told ADRs & fast passes would be wiped out & only DVC hotels would open. They gave a date BUT added that info that no one saw coming.

Exactly. If you have a resort reservation at a hotel that's not DVC, you still don't have an open date. If you have a handful of restaurant experiences that are important to you (that you've now gotten up at dawn and booked 3 different times, but I'm not bitter LOL), you still don't have an open date.

 

[Dulcee]

Outside the bubble of these boards the vibe towards disney is very different...at least in the handful of other groups I'm in. Those people aren't "die hards." Many take multiple trips but wouldn't consider themselves obsessed. The vibe is "its a pandemic, times are strange everywhere." No anger, just, it is what it is. Many have cancelled trips but they aren't rebooking elsewhere, they just aren't traveling. Of those who had trips for this reopening period almost no one kept them. I think the group hanging on to reservations, waiting for a drop of news, wondering about ADRs and boarding groups and park hours, is a very, very small group compared to the big picture.

 

[choirfarm]

There is a lot of information they can give us that would help them. Like when the hotels will open, when will the reservation system go live etc. They don't care. I've read of at least 5 people today that decided to cancel their Disney trips in favor of Universal in September because of lack of information!

They just really don't care what people assume at this point.

No, they don't because what they care MOST about is the safety and health of their employees and cast members. They probably are not giving out numbers because Florida is looking worse and worse as far as numbers go... I half wonder even if they get to open, if they will have to close again. Actually at the very least, I foresee shutting down one of the parks because some employees got it so they shut down Magic Kingdom for a day or two to really clean. Then the next week it happens at Epcot. How will they handle cast members getting it, because with so much community transmission now in Floriday, they will. This is SO SO SO complicated for Disney.

 

[LSUmiss]

Outside the bubble of these boards the vibe towards disney is very different...at least in the handful of other groups I'm in. Those people aren't "die hards." Many take multiple trips but wouldn't consider themselves obsessed. The vibe is "its a pandemic, times are strange everywhere." No anger, just, it is what it is. Many have cancelled trips but they aren't rebooking elsewhere, they just aren't traveling. Of those who had trips for this reopening period almost no one kept them. I think the group hanging on to reservations, waiting for a drop of news, wondering about ADRs and boarding groups and park hours, is a very, very small group compared to the big picture.

Perhaps, but my experience is just the opposite. I know a good amount of ppl not on these boards who had/have trips booked who are also very frustrated with Disney right now for all the same reasons most of us are.

 

[LSUmiss]

No, they don't because what they care MOST about is the safety and health of their employees and cast members. They probably are not giving out numbers because Florida is looking worse and worse as far as numbers go... I half wonder even if they get to open, if they will have to close again. Actually at the very least, I foresee shutting down one of the parks because some employees got it so they shut down Magic Kingdom for a day or two to really clean. Then the next week it happens at Epcot. How will they handle cast members getting it, because with so much community transmission now in Floriday, they will. This is SO SO SO complicated for Disney.

Yeah right. They care most about $$$ & PR.

 

[woody337]

Yeah right. They care most about $$$ & PR.

Be careful with that. I said something similar several weeks ago and I got blasted by everyone.

 

[MMSM]

They will start to care more when the NBA backs out of their deal and they need more revenue.

 

[SierraT]

Be careful with that. I said something similar several weeks ago and I got blasted by everyone.

People can say Disney puts out a superior product and still agree that they care most about money and PR. It’s true, you are right.

None of these theme parks or any other travel destination which takes your money are non-profits or charities. It just so happens that Disney Parks (and Universal and Busch Gardens, and...) cater to families so people tend to look at them that way.

 

[e_yerger]

disney needs to give ya’ll some news for the sake of your mental health