Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[TheMaxRebo]

Have crowds really gotten bigger?

Definitely seems busier, at least at MK on the weekends. Still light compared to "normal" but just in variously reports seems not nearly as "dead" as earlier

 

[TheMaxRebo]

FoP is at 35 minutes. 7x the normal wait time its been for the last 14 days

Ugh, now I am scared to even look at the wait time for the Carpets of Aladdin!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I really don’t think crowds are increasing by that much. Weekends of course are going to be busier with locals coming.

Yeah, that is what it looks like - like in "normal times" weekends are more crowded than midweek and this seems like similar percentage increase over the midweek crowd levels. BUT to me does make it seem like locals liked what they saw from reports and ok coming now .... if that wasn't the case then wouldn't see any increase

 

[Mit88]

Ugh, now I am scared to even look at the wait time for the Carpets of Aladdin!

They’ve been setting the wait time on CoA lower than the actual wait so that guests don’t get intimidated by the posted wait time. Once you’re in line, the adrenaline of riding on the carpets is already too high to notice the 5 minute posted wait time is actually a 75 minute line

 

[TheMaxRebo]

They’ve been setting the wait time on CoA lower than the actual wait so that guests don’t get intimidated by the posted wait time. Once you’re in line, the adrenaline of riding on the carpets is already too high to notice the 5 minute posted wait time is actually a 75 minute line

Plus, it all gets muddled as whether it is a 75 min wait or a 5 minute wait it feels waaaaay too long!

 

[Mit88]

Plus, it all gets muddled as whether it is a 75 min wait or a 5 minute wait it feels waaaaay too long!

Whether you wait 5 minutes, or 500 minutes, the minute you step off the ride you hear only “Well that was worth the wait, lets get back in line”

 

[Helvetica]

Inaccurate as they may be, there are still more rides posted at above 20 minutes than under and this is the first time I’ve seen that since they’ve opened.Doesn’t mean the parks are wall to wall packed, and yes it’s a weekend, but its tough to deny that you’re seeing at least a steady climb in attendance at the parks as we get further from the opening.

I can only report what I’ve seen from this past week. The crowds have been very strange. At times, it seems busier. At other times, the park is dead. Some areas of a park may feel busy, but in another area there’s absolutely no one. I don’t know how to explain it.

Maybe there are more people, but it’s by no means exponential growth. They’ve also been opening more shops and doing more things. For example, one of the Friendship boats is operating today. I don’t remember them doing that last Sunday. Last Sunday they had a long posted wait for Frozen that went into the World Showcase that I know scared people away, but it was actually just 25 minutes and it stayed that way for most of the day.

 

[Makmak]

That's the trouble with relying on what others say to make your future decisions lol. People say, "low crowds, it's a great time to visit" and people decide to come but they come in droves and now it's not "low crowds" anymore. I hope it's just a case of it being a weekend and not indicative of a higher crowd trend. I really expected to see low crowds for at least as long as the situation in FL is what it is.

We met families from Utah, Georgia and many other states that said they were there because they saw low crowds on the news and booked last minute trips so I was thinking the same thing...that if everyone shows up for low crowds they create a big crowd haha

 

[LaDonna]

We are scheduled to arrive end of September but my son (age 8) is really unsure if he wants to go because he has to wear a mask, so we are back and forth on if we should keep our reservation. What masks are your kids using that they are tolerating in the heat? Also, are you feeling like the overall experience (and expense) is worth it with all the current changes? Hope your family continues to have a great trip!

Ive been hearing/reading a lot of threads/boards and most say the disposable ones are so much better in the heat. Most are saying they are doing fine with masks that it’s already super hot and the masks don’t make much difference.

 

[Mit88]

We met families from Utah, Georgia and many other states that said they were there because they saw low crowds on the news and booked last minute trips so I was thinking the same thing...that if everyone shows up for low crowds they create a big crowd haha

I think some people are in denial that there are some people choosing to go about life as normal as they can, taking vacations being one of them. People outside of Florida choosing to go to WDW was inevitable, especially as we get further from the opening.

Are there going to be 50,000 people in MK next week? No, because there are capacity limits. But just because they’re not hitting capacity day in and day out doesn’t mean there aren’t more people that were on the fence about going to Disney that are now deciding that its a calculated risk that theyre willing to take

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Ive been hearing/reading a lot of threads/boards and most say the disposable ones are so much better in the heat. Most are saying they are doing fine with masks that it’s already super hot and the masks don’t make much difference.

We went to a theme park when it was 95 degrees out and honestly I preferred the cloth ones. I tried a disposable one and felt better breathing in but breathing out it felt like it trapped more of the hot breath.

I definitely agree that more than anything it was just hot all over more than the mask specifically being an issue

 

[Vern60]

I can only report what I’ve seen from this past week. The crowds have been very strange. At times, it seems busier. At other times, the park is dead. Some areas of a park may feel busy, but in another area there’s absolutely no one. I don’t know how to explain it.

Maybe there are more people, but it’s by no means exponential growth. They’ve also been opening more shops and doing more things. For example, one of the Friendship boats is operating today. I don’t remember them doing that last Sunday. Last Sunday they had a long posted wait for Frozen that went into the World Showcase that I know scared people away, but it was actually just 25 minutes and it stayed that way for most of the day.

View attachment 513297

Awesome to see the friendship boats starting to operate!
I wonder if the monorail will begin operation between the TC and Epcot or will that likely require park hopper to be reinstituted first I wonder?

 

[JM23457]

We are scheduled to arrive end of September but my son (age 8) is really unsure if he wants to go because he has to wear a mask, so we are back and forth on if we should keep our reservation. What masks are your kids using that they are tolerating in the heat? Also, are you feeling like the overall experience (and expense) is worth it with all the current changes? Hope your family continues to have a great trip!

We use the paper ones. They're more comfortable to us than fabric.

 

[Jrb1979]

Catch 22. It’s much safer with low crowds, but its less money coming in for Disney, which could result in budget cuts where Disney fans don’t want to see them. They can survive with the very low crowds we’ve been seeing for a certain amount of time, but after a while, the repercussions of it will come into play affecting the parks experience when it does get back to “normal”

Sorry to break it to you a lot of things are already being cut cause of the shutdown.

 

[Mit88]

Sorry to break it to you a lot of things are already being cut cause of the shutdown.

You don’t say?

How heavy was that rock that you’ve been under?

 

[andyman8]

Yeah, that is what it looks like - like in "normal times" weekends are more crowded than midweek and this seems like similar percentage increase over the midweek crowd levels. BUT to me does make it seem like locals liked what they saw from reports and ok coming now .... if that wasn't the case then wouldn't see any increase

It appears to be more of a result of "reallocating" some reservations spots from the Theme Park Ticketholder bucket to the AP bucket. There's quite significant demand right now for WDW among local AP holders, hence why availability has been such a challenge, so while capacity may be the same, more "spots" are being used by AP holders since more have become available to them. Of course, Disney's not thrilled about it, because (especially with all these extensions), they're not making a lot of gate revenue on those guests. Plus, these are guests who don't usually for 8-10 hours, like regular "day guests" or hotel guests. The crowd patterns today aren't actually all that different from what we've been seeing on Saturdays at MK. Higher waits than most of us would like in the late morning into the afternoon, but waits generally have been taking a turn around 4pm or so, so we'll see if that happens today.

Awesome to see the friendship boats starting to operate!
I wonder if the monorail will begin operation between the TC and Epcot or will that likely require park hopper to be reinstituted first I wonder?

My understanding is it could be some time before the Epcot Monorail starts running. They may be waiting until all of the monorail resorts are fully open, which would be September 21, to consider reopening it since (without Park Hopping) that would be its only use. The FriendShip boats, on the other hand, will be resuming operation between Epcot, DHS, and the resorts on Wednesday with the reopening of the Dolphin.

ETA: The FriendShip boats will only be operating between Epcot, Disney’s BoardWalk, Dolphin, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Turn it into Rocket Rods!

Just kidding?

I miss those things!! I was lucky enough to get to ride them one trip and they were the coolest Disney ride!

 

[Farro]

We went to a theme park when it was 95 degrees out and honestly I preferred the cloth ones. I tried a disposable one and felt better breathing in but breathing out it felt like it trapped more of the hot breath.

I definitely agree that more than anything it was just hot all over more than the mask specifically being an issue

At this point I'm just planning to pack every type of mask I have and just go crazy!

We go late April/early May, so hopefully won't be as hot as now.

 

[nkosiek]

Inaccurate as they may be, there are still more rides posted at above 20 minutes than under and this is the first time I’ve seen that since they’ve opened.Doesn’t mean the parks are wall to wall packed, and yes it’s a weekend, but its tough to deny that you’re seeing at least a steady climb in attendance at the parks as we get further from the opening.

I was there opening day. Around 12:30 that afternoon, everything other than Figment and SSE was over 20 minutes. Both Land rides were 35+, TT was 40, Frozen was 45, and 3Cabs was 25. I remember this specifically because I was thinking most people would be there for the Food and Wine stuff and that didn't appear to be the case (of course it didn't help most of the booths were not open yet.).

 

[Helvetica]

At this point I'm just planning to pack every type of mask I have and just go crazy!

We go late April/early May, so hopefully won't be as hot as now.

You can never have enough masks. I packed a ridiculous amount of cotton masks and I’ve ended up having to put them in the laundry. I’ve just been replacing them more than I initially anticipated.

I think this will be the last Disney trip I ever take in July. It’s just been way too hot for me. (I was originally scheduled for May)