Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Farro]

If they want less people at DHS, they just need to lower the capacity number. If they want to spread crowds out, they just need to adjust those capacity numbers... increase the numbers at AK, decrease the numbers at DHS. Or increase the hours at DHS, so maybe the full capacity of guests will pace themselves on arriving & leaving the parks. I still don’t see how hours at other parks will decrease numbers at DHS. I do think fixing the issues with ROTR would help. As long as you need to be in the park at a certain time to have any chance of riding, guests will keep packing the park first thing in the morning.

I don't know! I'm just guessing.

 

[osufeth24]

Has anyone who's been to the parks in the last few days seen any other new masks that are of the new material (interested in the new marvel and star wars ones) Would rather not buy online if I could get any from parks or DS

 

[Jrb1979]

As far as drawing crowds away from DHS, it won't be from Remy. According to Martin at WDWmagic, there is no plan to open it this year. IMO it makes sense as it the same with most parks across the US in opening new attractions. Most have pushed them til next year in hopes things will be better and they can use them to draw people back to the parks.

 

[Mit88]

As far as drawing crowds away from DHS, it won't be from Remy. According to Martin at WDWmagic, there is no plan to open it this year. IMO it makes sense as it the same with most parks across the US in opening new attractions. Most have pushed them til next year in hopes things will be better and they can use them to draw people back to the parks.

Or it’s because internal work on the ride hasn’t restarted since the reopening of the parks. All the work on the ride and expansion area has been outdoors, everything inside the attraction has been untouched since March. Has nothing to do with opening the ride to draw people back

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Listening to WDW Prep Patron podcast and they said the lines at the MK yesterday were insane. Obviously social distancing plays a part in that, but I am trying to imagine HM being almost to Country Bears. It's wild to visualize that!

I saw someone post on Facebook today the line for HM (the post was from today but perhaps the picture was taken yesterday) and it looked like they were standing pretty close to wear Country Bears are - or at least Diamond Horseshoe or Shootin Arcade (they didn't show that view)

BUT they also said that the wait time was posted at 50 minutes but only took 35 minutes - so even thought it was crazy, crazy long, "size wise" it wasn't crazy long "time wise"

 

[DGsAtBLT]

As far as drawing crowds away from DHS, it won't be from Remy. According to Martin at WDWmagic, there is no plan to open it this year. IMO it makes sense as it the same with most parks across the US in opening new attractions. Most have pushed them til next year in hopes things will be better and they can use them to draw people back to the parks.

I saw that from they who must not be named too, but admittedly did not click the link so I have no idea if they were just referencing the same source.

 

[rteetz]

I saw that from they who must not be named too, but admittedly did not click the link so I have no idea if they were just referencing the same source.

Martin is his own source.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Martin is his own source.

Sorry worded that poorly, I meant if they were just referencing WDWmagic in an article or if they had that coming from somewhere else too.

 

[Farro]

With all the talk about lines, crowds, people wanting to avoid people....I honestly think it would be such a money-maker to bring back some after-darks at this point.

There doesn't need to be fireworks or character meets. People will go just to have short lines and feel like it's "empty".
Even more limited people.
No lines.
Easy social distancing.
Masks still required.
Be in parks at night.
Offer some popcorn...

If they offer this in May I will pay for one at each park.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

With all the talk about lines, crowds, people wanting to avoid people....I honestly think it would be such a money-maker to bring back some after-darks at this point.

There doesn't need to be fireworks or character meets. People will go just to have short lines and feel like it's "empty".
Even more limited people.
No lines.
Easy social distancing.
Masks still required.
Be in parks at night.
Offer some popcorn...

If they offer this in May I will pay for one at each park.

With all the attention grabbing pictures and complaining online, I really wonder how much of an issue it is for the people who are already going or willing to go (because while not July, a lot of people are still reporting reasonable actual waits) and if it’s enough to make it worthwhile for Disney to staff and take on the increased expenses of something like that.

Cannibalizing ticket sales from day guests with increased staffing costs is how my glass half empty self sees after hours stuff at this point.

 

[Farro]

With all the attention grabbing pictures and complaining online, I really wonder how much of an issue it is for the people who are already going or willing to go (because while not July, a lot of people are still reporting reasonable actual waits) and if it’s enough to make it worthwhile for Disney to staff and take on the increased expenses of something like that.

Cannibalizing ticket sales from day guests with increased staffing costs is how my glass half empty self sees after hours stuff at this point.

If they only do one or two parks a week, I'm sure they can swing the staff. Besides, they will make MONEY on it.

I believe enough people would buy the tickets. With all the parks still closing by 7 most nights? I think people would jump on a "party" to be in the parks well after dark.

 

[Justrose]

I would totally buy tickets to an after-hours event.

 

[Farro]

I would totally buy tickets to an after-hours event.

Alright! Now there's 2 of us!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I don’t think the question is would people go, it’s would enough people go on top of paying to be there on a regular ticket.

 

[Farro]

I don’t think the question is would people go, it’s would enough people go on top of paying to be there on a regular ticket.

Why would it be different than pre-covid? If crowds go up even more, I think it would be their money to lose at that point.

Locals can go if they want for a night out.
I bought hoppers, I'd still pay for an after-dark. Just like I did for the parties. And I know I'm not the only one.
Or people can not use a park ticket for the day and buy after dark instead. I'm sure others would take their place during the day at the parks.

If the crowds go away again, then they wouldn't do it again.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Why would it be different than pre-covid? If crowds go up even more, I think it would be their money to lose at that point.

Locals can go if they want for a night out.
I bought hoppers, I'd still pay for an after-dark. Just like I did for the parties. And I know I'm not the only one.
Or people can not use a park ticket for the day and buy after dark instead. I'm sure others would take their place during the day at the parks.

If the crowds go away again, then they wouldn't do it again.

Different than pre Covid, IMO:
-Already limited capacity in the park on a regular day, I don’t know that the day touring and event touring crowds would feel as different as they did (for the after hours event, not something like MNSSHP)
-Day touring not nearly as intense as it once was, without the need for planning
-Along the same line, actual wait times are not as high as before
-Some of the special draws of after closing events not happening at this point

I think that a lot of reasons for going to those events AND going during the day do not exist right now. I think it would be a lot more of people forgoing day in MK for night, as an example. JMO of course. That’s obviously not to say the idea of night touring alone wouldn’t be enough to move the needle for some, I just think there’s different considerations now especially on Disney’s side when it comes to the overall benefit of doing it. I think that people replacing day with night would be an overall not good thing for them at this point in time.

ETA - so much better than mask talk

 

[Farro]

Different than pre Covid, IMO:
-Already limited capacity in the park on a regular day, I don’t know that the day touring and event touring crowds would feel as different as they did (for the after hours event, not something like MNSSHP)
-Day touring not nearly as intense as it once was, without the need for planning
-Along the same line, actual wait times are not as high as before
-Some of the special draws of after closing events not happening at this point

I think that a lot of reasons for going to those events AND going during the day do not exist right now. I think it would be a lot more of people forgoing day in MK for night, as an example. JMO of course. That’s obviously not to say the idea of night touring alone wouldn’t be enough to move the needle for some, I just think there’s different considerations now especially on Disney’s side when it comes to the overall benefit of doing it. I think that people replacing day with night would be an overall not good thing for them at this point in time.

ETA - so much better than mask talk

Well, I disagree. Tell people "experience the park with extreme social distancing!"

I'm sure they won't do it because the CDC didn't say they could (kidding, kidding ) - but I do think there would be enough people to pay for it that would make them a profit.

And people could still do it the way we did it pre-covid- go to one park during the day with your regular ticket, then the after-hrs park at night. Besides complaints of long-lines and too many people, I read a lot of people complaining about nothing to do at night...

I mean, they were a success before and there really were no extra draws - just you were in the parks with hardly anyone.
No party, no parade, no night show.

Oh well.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I thought that too, but it's still the most crowded park. I don't see how the hours really discouraging people when they don't seem to be extending them at all there, even over this weekend when it was holiday crowds. Would be nice if it was open as long as some of the others.

But is it crowded during the last hour of operation?

 

[LSUmiss]

This. 6' of distance between parties means longer lines, but not necessarily longer time waiting: those are two distinctly different things, but a lot of folks don't seem to be separating them. I've heard so many friends talk about how "crowded" the parks are because they saw a line stretching far longer than usual - but they totally missed the fact that it was continually moving and was all of a 15-minute wait. And there's also the fact that on continuous loaders, like HM for example, 6' between parties means not being able to efficiently load every ride vehicle - that means rides operating at reduced capacity, which further extends lines and may increase wait times. And then you also have attractions not operating at peak efficiency because that requires more labor, which WDW is trying to reduce to save on costs: if only one side of Space is running, that reduces the number of Guests who can ride per hour.

I've been visiting the WDW parks since the late 70s and regularly for 3 decades now, so I've pretty much seen it all: from the emptiest of empty days, to the most crowded of holidays, from ride tickets to all-day passes and no FP, to OG FP to FP+, and everything in between. The group psychology of theme park visitors is endlessly fascinating! In the days before FP, hour-long waits for rides was common - that was why FP was met with such enthusiasm! On a very slow day in the Olden Days, I'd ride every ride with no real wait and backtrack to do some rides multiple times, but on busy days, I might only experience half the attractions. My first times riding Space and Splash involved 3-hour waits in line. That's just the way it was and if we wanted to ride something, we dealt with the wait. FP reduced wait times, making it easier to do more in less time. FP+ continued that trend. It seems to me we now have a big group of WDW visitors who have never known life before FP and their expectations (created by Disney, to be clear) are entirely at odds with how a park works without FP. I completely understand why to many of them, the current situation feels too busy, too crowded, too little value for the output of time and money. For me, it's full circle: it's 1995 again and if I want to visit on a busier day, I know I'll have to choose between waiting a while or skipping some rides, or I can opt for a slower day and wait less, do more.

Yes but I went in July when they first reopened & was there this past weekend & it was noticeably substantially more crowded.

 

[gottalovepluto]

With Chapek indicating that capacity will not increase at Disney World and is locked in at 25%, I think it's safe to say that park hopping and all of the likely dependencies (such as the Epcot Monorail Loop, and the Dining Plan) aren't close to being back.

Then it's really crappy of Disney to keep selling Park Hopper tickets to people booking trips in January. It doesn't take a genius to know COVID numbers will only go up once holidays hit so if hopping is linked to the capacity limitation no way in heck will people be hopping on New Years Day.