Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[anthony2k7]

I just saw a video on twitter from Epcot's american gardens theater where Mariachi Cobre was playing to no audience, only the CMs working, I cannot imagine this no hopping to Epcot situation will be in place for much longer

Must be pretty depressing for those guys playing to no audience

 

[BorderTenny]

The website still says it's on, but they don't have participating restaurants yet, let alone menus, so that's a very bad sign for it...https://www.visitorlando.com/en/magical-dining/restaurants

I read that website as "Visitor Lando" instead of "Visit Orlando." What does that say about me? That could make for some interesting promotional material, though.

 

[LSUmiss]

We were always able to game FP+ too. I will never understand the excitement over giving Disney money for something that used to be included with the price of a ticket and/or resort stay.

The things is as more ppl have caught on to FP+, it has become less & less effective so the only way to make it exclusive again is to offer a paid service. I’m not sure I would be happy to pay now in the Covid era, but if/when things get back to how they were crowd-wise right before Covid, I would be interested in paying depending on what is being offered.

 

[BrianR]

I read that website as "Visitor Lando" instead of "Visit Orlando." What does that say about me? That could make for some interesting promotional material, though.

 

[Runnsally]

The things is as more ppl have caught on to FP+, it has become less & less effective so the only way to make it exclusive again is to offer a paid service. I’m not sure I would be happy to pay now in the Covid era, but if/when things get back to how they were crowd-wise right before Covid, I would be interested in paying depending on what is being offered.

I agree that a paid ride reservation service is likely coming, but the reason is not because more people got efficient at using FP+. From an operations standpoint, FP+ has greater utility when as many people as possible are utilizing it.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

I agree that a paid ride reservation service is likely coming, but the reason is not because more people got efficient at using FP+. From an operations standpoint, FP+ has greater utility when as many people as possible are utilizing it.

FP+ is trash and I will be happy to dance on its grave. I think we mostly agree that an egalitarian solution for guests as a baseline for park enjoyment (i.e. a certain # of free fast passes or easy access) is fair and necessary, but a paid solution for additional convenience that's between free FP+ and $700/hr private VIP tour is a huge opportunity and I am eagerly anticipating them offering something in that sweet spot.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Over on the RotR thread someone reported they were allowing people to park hop to epcot in the evening because of the ride being down due to lightning strike

Intriguing. So they must have enabled something ticket wise for the evening to allow hopping, at least from DHS... I wonder if folks who had done other parks would have been able to get into EP as well?...

 

[Brianstl]

Who is going to pay for a paid reservation system right now? In six months? In a year? The wait times aren't long enough and won't be long enough for a long time. Set aside all the ways FP+ drove revenue for Disney, there just isn't going to be the demand needed at the parks to make a paid reservation system viable for Disney for the foreseeable future.

 

[yulilin3]

Intriguing. So they must have enabled something ticket wise for the evening to allow hopping, at least from DHS... I wonder if folks who had done other parks would have been able to get into EP as well?...

There has also been a first hand report on the "just back" thread on TPAS about someone complaining this weekend at MK that it was too crowded and being allowed to go to Epcot, she was at MK and went to GR

 

[Brianstl]

Intriguing. So they must have enabled something ticket wise for the evening to allow hopping, at least from DHS... I wonder if folks who had done other parks would have been able to get into EP as well?...

They probably just issued comp tickets for admission to EPCOT.

 

[RamblingMad]

I agree that a paid ride reservation service is likely coming, but the reason is not because more people got efficient at using FP+. From an operations standpoint, FP+ has greater utility when as many people as possible are utilizing it.

Rolling out a new IT system so quickly is going to have a lot of bugs. Be prepared.

 

[Ariel 1715]

Do we know if they are going to have a paid fast pass system or is this just speculation?

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Do we know if they are going to have a paid fast pass system or is this just speculation?

Speculation.

But ... a very reliable insider from another board has shared that the FP+ system as we know it is not coming back. People are speculating from there. The base is rooted in solid insider info.

 

[Brocktoon]

Do we know if they are going to have a paid fast pass system or is this just speculation?

Everything is speculation at this point, but we do know Disney spent a lot of resources in developing the Genie app that was supposed to launch this year. The Genie looked to be trending towards Disney's in-house attempt to battle the 3rd party planning guides, with rumors of monetized FPs as an option. With Covid thrown into the mix, there's a strong possibility of the FP+ system being replaced with an entirely new platform built around the Genie they were working on

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1293558425557794819

 

[Helvetica]

Who is going to pay for a paid reservation system right now? In six months? In a year? The wait times aren't long enough and won't be long enough for a long time. Set aside all the ways FP+ drove revenue for Disney, there just isn't going to be the demand needed at the parks to make a paid reservation system viable for Disney for the foreseeable future.

For lots of people time is money, so once major attractions are longer than a 30 minute wait, I'd argue that a paid system is viable. I'd also argue that one reason why wait times are so low is because there's no fast pass. Allowing people to cut the standard que has a negative impact on the standard que and once they add something back in, wait times will be going up. There's lots of ways that they could implement it and they're still using the fast pass system for things like guest recovery, disability services and (I think) rider swap. I mean, they could use it as an incentive to stay at a Walt Disney World Hotel. Say 1 anytime fast pass per day for staying at a value, 2 for moderates and 3 for deluxe. They already did something similar for people staying concierge.

Under that criteria, I'd say that it would currently be viable at Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios. They don't even necessarily need a high tech solution right now, they could just as easily give people lanyards with the date on it. They could easily just say that they system is evolving right now, so people know it's not necessarily going to be something that they do long term. Just the advantage of not being in a que with a lot of other people may be enough to get people to pay for front of the line access, it was for me when I went to Dollywood this July when the longest wait was 30-45 minutes. The advantage to a low tech, front of the line system is that it's almost all pure profit.

It will be interesting to see what they do, but I don't think it's going to be exactly the same as it was before. COVID has cost them way too much money for them not to try to find new ways to make money.

 

[Sarahslay]

It's pretty dated now to be future world. This park has turned into an expensive beer crawl or a place to dine. It needs serious updating. I'm sad that Mary Poppins is no longer happening.

Can you really say something is dated when it's not even really there anymore? Just gotta get rid of all the 80's structure detail and coloring and they're good to go, but first they have to put the remaining buildings back together.

 

[CastAStone]

Who is going to pay for a paid reservation system right now? In six months? In a year? The wait times aren't long enough and won't be long enough for a long time. Set aside all the ways FP+ drove revenue for Disney, there just isn't going to be the demand needed at the parks to make a paid reservation system viable for Disney for the foreseeable future.

People buy Universal’s Express Pass and Cedar Point’s Fast Lane on days when the parks are absolutely dead. Who knows why people spend money the way they do. But even if crowds in the busy season wind up like September 2019 crowds, there’s still a big benefit to line skipping, especially with young kids. It doesn’t take a ton of people at Magic Kingdom to put one hour plus wait times on seven dwarves mine train. i’m not paying three grand for a VIP tour, but i’ve have been/was planning on paying several hundred dollars extra to stay on site to get 60 day FP+ access, which is the same thing to me.

 

[Brianstl]

For lots of people time is money, so once major attractions are longer than a 30 minute wait, I'd argue that a paid system is viable. I'd also argue that one reason why wait times are so low is because there's no fast pass. Allowing people to cut the standard que has a negative impact on the standard que and once they add something back in, wait times will be going up. There's lots of ways that they could implement it and they're still using the fast pass system for things like guest recovery, disability services and (I think) rider swap. I mean, they could use it as an incentive to stay at a Walt Disney World Hotel. Say 1 anytime fast pass per day for staying at a value, 2 for moderates and 3 for deluxe. They already did something similar for people staying concierge.

Under that criteria, I'd say that it would currently be viable at Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios. They don't even necessarily need a high tech solution right now, they could just as easily give people lanyards with the date on it. The could easily just say that they system is evolving right now, so people know it's not necessarily going to be something that they do long term. Just the advantage of not being in a que with a lot of other people may be enough to get people to pay for front of the line access, it was for me when I went to Dollywood this July when the longest wait was 30-45 minutes. The advantage to a low tech, front of the line system is that it's almost all pure profit.

It will be interesting to see what they do, but I don't think it's going to be exactly the same as it was before. COVID has cost them way too much money for them not to try to find new ways to make money.

FP+ back up issues were caused by high attendance increases and the fact to try to please on site guests they issued them in numbers for in demand attractions higher than they should have. You aren't going to have high attendance for the foreseeable future and the fact that a cost is added onto a reservation you really cut into the amount of people who get them. Basically this system won't result in any significant increase in wait times for standby given crowd levels. There really is no reason to purchase this product for the foreseeable future.

 

[Brianstl]

People buy Universal’s Express Pass and Cedar Point’s Fast Lane on days when the parks are absolutely dead. Who knows why people spend money the way they do. But even if crowds in the busy season wind up like September 2019 crowds, there’s still a big benefit to line skipping, especially with young kids. It doesn’t take a ton of people at Magic Kingdom to put one hour plus wait times on seven dwarves mine train. i’m not paying three grand for a VIP tour, but i’ve have been/was planning on paying several hundred dollars extra to stay on site to get 60 day FP+ access, which is the same thing to me.

I just think the paid reservation system right now and for the foreseeable future is Disney chasing after pennies on the ground while they are ignoring the stacks of dollars on the shelf. The big money maker when it comes to park guests for Disney will always be on site guests because of the massive resort operations that charge a huge premium. Anything that devalues that is going to be a huge long term negative and is even a bigger negative when they can't come close to filling the reduced number of rooms they will be operating at for a long time. Having park guests stay at their resorts instead of offsite options should be their number one concern. Anything that makes staying offsite look more attractive to park quests should be a non starter for Disney.