Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[gottalovepluto]

Chefs de France reservation secured!

 

[Pyotr]

He’s also going to going to make it where local officials cannot restrict restaurant capacity. It will be left up to the individual restaurant to allow what they’re comfortable with.

Replying to myself......

He had another press conference today. From what I got out of it, localities can limit capacity to a minimum of 50%, but they have to show justification and cost for anything under 100%. I’m not sure what it means for Orange County. Regardless, it is highly unlikely Disney would change anything for a while.

Oh. And Florida phase 3 starts now.

 

[Spridell]

Replying to myself......

He had another press conference today. From what I got out of it, localities can limit capacity to a minimum of 50%, but they have to show justification and cost for anything under 100%. I’m not sure what it means for Orange County. Regardless, it is highly unlikely Disney would change anything for a while.

Oh. And Florida phase 3 starts now.

Agree.

I think Disney will stay the way it is now. Maybe DS will change a little.

I think the 50% has more to do with hard hit south florida. I think Orange County will most likely be at 100% capacity for the local restaurants

 

[yulilin3]

Agree.

I think Disney will stay the way it is now. Maybe DS will change a little.

I think the 50% has more to do with hard hit south florida. I think Orange County will most likely be at 100% capacity for the local restaurants

I can say they have changed our added availability to this weekend and to October with more ap spots opening. Again we don't know If this is taking from other pools or adding more availability.

 

[Pyotr]

He also removed any penalties for not wearing the M word. Disney is a private company and doesn’t impact them.

 

[Spridell]

He also removed any penalties for not wearing the M word. Disney is a private company and doesn’t impact them.

M's will be at Disney for a while I think.

Maybe some small adjustments here and there will be made now that Florida is in phase 3 but I think they will be the ones the public wont know about.

 

[sullivan.kscott]

WDW can increase restaurant capacity without filling all their old table space, anyway. There are so many tableservice restaurants that are still closed. I don’t see this impacting them right away.

My biggest question is regarding third-party restaurants within park gates. How does this impact their operations? How much does Disney control aspects of their operations? Honest question that I really don’t know the answer to.

 

[mattpeto]

two things:
1) will the crowds stay if they don't expand offerings further? I think part of the reason crowds picked up is because of the low ait times and now that peoiple see those are gone and still missing other offerings that might de-motivate people to come (though I think the Holiday offerings will help attract people, so might be trade off)
2) Can they increase crowds/capacity at all while still adhearing to safety guidelines (social distancing, etc.) if they don't provide other alternatives to absorb crowds? Like, if 60-90 min (posted) queues are extending this long is there even room to handle 120+ hour long queues?

Great questions..

I think the crowds could stay relatively the same (90% at 25% capacity) through December. Like you said, there is some holiday buzz/magic that will attract the masses.

I think 2021 is a different bowl of wax. Unless you're local, I don't think the people that went in the now-state will rush back again to the current state.

That might be why they are holding off on shows returning and new attractions (Rat, Harmonious). It might help them maintain the 25% capacity until they are able to up it.

 

[vinotinto]

Star Wars A Galaxy Far Far Away show was cancelled pre covid. But I don't understand why they can't bring back VotLM, Frozen Sing Along and Beauty and the Beast. With good social distancing measures they are all doable.

Beauty and the Beast is outside and in a very large space conducive to distancing. If there ever was an attraction that was very suitable for current times it is that one! Also Indiana Jones!

 

[Spridell]

WDW can increase restaurant capacity without filling all their old table space, anyway. There are so many tableservice restaurants that are still closed. I don’t see this impacting them right away.

My biggest question is regarding third-party restaurants within park gates. How does this impact their operations? How much does Disney control aspects of their operations? Honest question that I really don’t know the answer to.

@rteetz might know the answer to this.

It is interesting because they are 3rd party but still operating on Private Property.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great questions..

I think the crowds could stay relatively the same (90% at 25% capacity) through December. Like you said, there is some holiday buzz/magic that will attract the masses.

I think 2021 is a different bowl of wax. Unless you're local, I don't think the people that went in the now-state will rush back again to the current state.

That might be why they are holding off on shows returning and new attractions (Rat, Harmonious). It might help them maintain the 25% capacity until they are able to up it.

that's a good point - given the holiday stuff being provided to attract peole and then holiday vacations in general, they probably have an idea by now who is willing to travel and the likelihood of like doubling the hotel occupancy if they added in a few shows is probably pretty low ... so roll with what they have for now

Then after the new year re-evaluate where things are and if they can expand offerings, bringing back hopping and things like that and then potentially open Rat, etc. to draw some more people and open up more hotel rooms.

OR is there a second wave that comes and then they hold off on all of that and go with the 25% cap for a lot longer.

I am sure the last thing they want to do is increase capacity but then have to go backwards if things starting looking worse

 

[mattpeto]

Beauty and the Beast is outside and in a very large space conducive to distancing. If there ever was an attraction that was very suitable for current times it is that one! Also Indiana Jones!

I don't think it's the crowd that's the problem. The production of the shows would have to heavily modified with masks or social distancing to make it work.

This is not a couple of princesses waiving at the train station apart from each other by 10'.

 

[vinotinto]

I lost track of this thread when we visited WDW July 18 - 26. I am more than 1,000 pages behind! Missed you all!

We had a great time, but not sure if there is enough being offered right now to push me to keep my December stay. If it were one of my first trips, I would definitely go. But, as Passholders, we did 7 onsite stays between March 2019 and July 2020, and many trips before then. We've done all the rides many times. We are missing the non-ride things: shows, fireworks, streetsmosphere/entertainment.

I will continue to keep an eye on this thread for info about future openings / reopenings.

 

[andyman8]

WDW can increase restaurant capacity without filling all their old table space, anyway. There are so many tableservice restaurants that are still closed. I don’t see this impacting them right away.

My biggest question is regarding third-party restaurants within park gates. How does this impact their operations? How much does Disney control aspects of their operations? Honest question that I really don’t know the answer to.

The language in the leases for all Operating Participants is very strict. It gives Disney a lot more leverage than your "average" landlord. For example, Disney requires all OPs to enroll their employees in a "light" Traditions course. While this is true for all of their OP agreements (from the tiny Boardwalk-To-Go stand to Yak & Yeti to massive AMC Theaters cineplex), the language is even stricter for in-park OPs. There's stricter language about operating hours, theming design, and operational considerations (mostly for backstage/supply areas) than for a Disney Spring tenant. My understanding (and I *could* be wrong) is that, within those operational considerations for any OP, Disney does have the right to order the tenant to reduce building capacity for a whole slew of reasons (not just safety). This applies for both DS and in-park OPs. Up to this point, however, Disney has not chosen to exercise any of that leverage. Given that the language is stricter for in-park OPs, it's possible (and I think likely) that they may put more pressure on those OPs to match Disney's practices (there's a lot of language in the in-park OP agreement about consistency, usually around theme, "Disney look," etc... but could also be applied to health and safety protocols).

 

[Pyotr]

M's will be at Disney for a while I think.

Maybe some small adjustments here and there will be made now that Florida is in phase 3 but I think they will be the ones the public wont know about.

I agree. I think the first thing that will change is ride capacity.

 

[twinmom13]

Question regarding transportation at the parks after close: how late do the buses keep running after park close considering they are allowing after close ADRs? We have a Cali Grill ADR the sunday before Thanksgiving at 7:40 and really didn't want to drive or take Uber, but MK closes at 7 so I just wanted to see if there is any way the buses are still running to get back to YC around 9-ish. I know it's unlikely, but park of me is very hopeful so we can have some drinks. Had the thought of doing DS to CR and what not to get around from YC to CR, but that's so time consuming.

They keep running buses until everyone is out of the park. They stop the monorail, so you would probably have to walk from CR to MK, and you would be running the risk that everyone with an after hour reservation is already done and gone by the time you get there, in which case there would not be buses.

 

[rteetz]

@rteetz might know the answer to this.

It is interesting because they are 3rd party but still operating on Private Property.

I would have to guess there are things within their contracts that involve this or at the very least there was some sort of agreement when the parks reopened. Dining inside the parks and even at Disney springs can't just always do whatever they want without some sort of involvement from Disney.

 

[Spridell]

I agree. I think the first thing that will change is ride capacity.

Yes.

There were pictures posted the other day of ROTR ride vehicles with plastic now installed. So it looks like they will start allowing more than 1 group on the vehicles.

So it looks like Disney will be increasing ride capacity.

 

[Disneytrippin']

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ne...ns-on-restaurants/ar-BB19qhV8?ocid=uxbndlbing

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=881858179300405

 

[cranbiz]

Question regarding transportation at the parks after close: how late do the buses keep running after park close considering they are allowing after close ADRs? We have a Cali Grill ADR the sunday before Thanksgiving at 7:40 and really didn't want to drive or take Uber, but MK closes at 7 so I just wanted to see if there is any way the buses are still running to get back to YC around 9-ish. I know it's unlikely, but park of me is very hopeful so we can have some drinks. Had the thought of doing DS to CR and what not to get around from YC to CR, but that's so time consuming.

Buses run until the park is clear of day guests, no matter what the official closing time is. My rule of thumb, from being a bus driver during normal times, is that "All Clear" was usually around 2 hours after closing time.

If closing time is at 7pm, with current park capacity, I wouldn't count on buses available at 9pm. If you don't want to uber, your best bet will be bus to DS and then to your resort.