Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Spaceguy55]

As far as the People mover...I'm sure those induction motors are not just sitting on a shelf somewhere, at least not enough.
It does take time to build those out in enough quantities that they need.
But when they do have enough it should be fairly fast to get them installed, with the extension maybe they will refurbish the vehicles.

 

[Pizzaman12]

With the current situation adding FP would increase wait times. In a normal full capacity situation no it would change too much but because of the lower capacity attractions right now it would only hurt it more. I think we see some sort of virtual queues before anything else.

There seem to be reasonably reliable rumors about Disney working on expanding virtual queues. I don't know how well the app can withstand more weight on top of it, but virtual queues could benefit a park like MK. Still, as many have noted, there still needs to be something to occupy those folks while they're in a virtual queue. Only so many Dole Whips they can hand out.

 

[Pizzaman12]

A whole lot of stores are still closed, too, not just kiosks (Epcot seemed especially bad - most stores in Germany/Italy/France/UK/Canada were not open). There just aren't enough places for people to go when they aren't in line/on a ride right now.

Without Food & Wine I think EPCOT would be as bad as MK right now. The food booths can suck up a decent amount of capacity.

 

[Farro]

Fall 2022????

Ridiculous. Do they not plan to open the stores either in Epcot?

Why can Universal manage to open almost everything, yet Disney can't. Is Disney really that broke? Is this really because of Disneyland staying closed?

I can't fathom everything being pushed back two years.

Yes, I definitely don't think the Poly needed to be refurbished right now. Those funds could have been reallocated elsewhere.

 

[Pizzaman12]

I have been an avid reader of the boards for years. Love Disney and go two or three times a year for the past 15 years. Such great information!

I just got back yesterday from a 6 day trip. On Thursday at Magic Kingdom, I witnessed something that was disappointing. This was while waiting in (a long) line for Winnie the Pooh. The group in front of us had their masks pulled under their noses. Their little girl in the stroller did not have on a mask at all. A Cast Member walked up and asked how old the little girl was. The father responded very loudly that she was one. My husband and I thought that was funny because we have five kids and this child was at least 3, maybe even 4. The Cast Member then pointedly asked again how old the child was. The father very loudly said "Leave Us Alone". He was very rude. The Cast Member had a little black iPad type device. She was typing furiously. She kept standing kind of near the line. My family thought for sure they were going to be asked to leave. Sure enough, a couple minutes later two security guards showed up. However, they never spoke to the man or the family. They were actually two families traveling together and they both had strollers. They actually had both the strollers through the entire queue. I thought that was also odd, because i have always been told to park my stroller if I even got close to an entrance of a ride in the past. The two dads waited until was almost time to get on the ride and then they lifted the strollers over their heads and left the lines. The mom then put a mask on the little girl. We got off the ride right after them. I wanted to see what happened and nothing ever did. The security guards never said anything. We watched the families go about their way and the security guards stayed put.

The first part of the trip was great. Crowds increased steadily over the week. Saturday was the worst day we have ever had at a Disney park. Stayed at the Beach Club. The lack of food offerings started getting old by the end, but mobile ordering was efficient. We left MK on Saturday because I have never seen it so crowded and we definitely had waits over an hour for Splash and 7DMT. Even Small World was posted at 45 minutes. Half of the times the lines moved faster than posted for us, several times it was as posted or longer.

As much as I love Disney, we won't be back until they figure something out about the wait times. It is just too expensive (we have to get either two rooms or a two bedroom villa) and too difficult to get there for the experience for us at this time.

We were in MK briefly on Friday and Saturday. It was...ugly. Definitely some of the worst traffic flow you've seen. Given the persistent drum beat on masks, I'm honestly surprised to hear they didn't yank them out of line.

 

[rteetz]

There seem to be reasonably reliable rumors about Disney working on expanding virtual queues. I don't know how well the app can withstand more weight on top of it, but virtual queues could benefit a park like MK. Still, as many have noted, there still needs to be something to occupy those folks while they're in a virtual queue. Only so many Dole Whips they can hand out.

Disney has been exploring the expansion of virtual queues for some time.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Fall 2022????

Ridiculous. Do they not plan to open the stores either in Epcot?

Why can Universal manage to open almost everything, yet Disney can't. Is Disney really that broke? Is this really because of Disneyland staying closed?

I can't fathom everything being pushed back two years.

Yes, I definitely don't think the Poly needed to be refurbished right now. Those funds could have been reallocated elsewhere.

I think universal is following Florida guidelines which is everything goes. Full capacity, no social distancing, etc. I don’t follow universal much but it seems to be working for them. Attendance looks good for them.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Same poster said Ratatouille is in ride testing.

Well I like that idea so I’ve decided they are obviously right!

 

[Pizzaman12]

Thanks for sharing - and i think your last line is really important and making me think

I know people point to pre-FP times and how these wait times really aren't bad comparatively but: a) it didn't cost nearly as much to got o Disney then as it does now and b) the park hours were much longer then - so even if lines were longer you could get more done in a day ... so the value I think was higher then

Dont' get me wrong, I think oe can still have a great time and for many it might still be worth it, but I think (obviously) ok, to just want to hit pause on your WDW trips until things evolve a bit more

I just had friends who needed to pivot this week to celebrate their honeymoon at Disney due to some logistics issues. I helped get them squared away with hotel reservations and park tickets. On their first day, they won't get to Orlando until 1pm but they really want to go to the parks. That's a tough spot when a ticket is $125++. Crowds + shortened operating hours + park ticket pricing definitely make it much harder to get great value for the "once a year" or "once every two years" crowd.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

Ugh. I know there are more important things, but all this news is so disheartening. I’m definitely concerned about PeopleMover and will be so disappointed if it’s so bad that it’s permanently closed. It’s such a good relaxing midday ride, even though the lines had gotten longer recently. And I knew there’d be delayed ride openings with the closures, but that long for TRON?! And who knows about Guardians. Disney World’s 50th is really going to be a major downer.

 

[Farro]

I think universal is following Florida guidelines which is everything goes. Full capacity, no social distancing, etc. I don’t follow universal much but it seems to be working for them. Attendance looks good for them.

Well I don't think Disney should do that.

But, I feel as if Disney relies so heavily on the idea that people will just wait forever for them. But people won't.

HBO Max never reached a deal with Roku or Firestick so none of us get it (although we do through x-box, but I digress). Turns out people didn't care. HBO is losing money because most Roku/Firestick users didn't bother trying to get it another way.

My point being that people get used to not having things and move on.

 

[Pizzaman12]

This is from poster Seanual757 at WDWmagic.

Seeing I am a vendor who sends product to the job site we have been told from the GC and they are pulling crews out.... We have nothing scheduled for the rest of 2020 heading to the site.

TRON WILL NOT open fall of 2021. The exterior will be completed to clean up the area (still tons of work to be done). December will end the construction on this project and it will be suspended until October 2021. The outdoor canopies will continue to go up during the winter and into 2021. Depending on how the economy and attendance goes construction will pick back up fall of 2021. Plan on Spring/Summer 2022 for an opening.

The more I think about it, the less surprising this seems. 2021 may not be a "lost year" for Disney World, but a new attraction isn't likely to drive as much incremental revenue as other new attractions in previous years. Especially if wait times stay where they are, I imagine people who already wanted to visit will still come. And, someone who's just casually thinking of a Disney trip probably isn't swayed by Tron opening.

 

[Eric Smith]

There seem to be reasonably reliable rumors about Disney working on expanding virtual queues. I don't know how well the app can withstand more weight on top of it, but virtual queues could benefit a park like MK. Still, as many have noted, there still needs to be something to occupy those folks while they're in a virtual queue. Only so many Dole Whips they can hand out.

The app handles FastPass alright, and I don't see a virtual queue system being any more taxing than that.

 

[Pizzaman12]

Fall 2022????

Ridiculous. Do they not plan to open the stores either in Epcot?

Why can Universal manage to open almost everything, yet Disney can't. Is Disney really that broke? Is this really because of Disneyland staying closed?

I can't fathom everything being pushed back two years.

Yes, I definitely don't think the Poly needed to be refurbished right now. Those funds could have been reallocated elsewhere.

Universal is managing to open everything because they're using an entirely different set of guidelines. They have a much lower staffing ratio from our observations in the parks. There are also retail stores open at Universal which would never be open under current Disney guidelines (not trying to make a political argument, just an observation). Honey Dukes at Universal was packed yesterday, no spacing, not even in line to purchase. No capacity controls for the store whatsoever, a common observance.

 

[Eric Smith]

The more I think about it, the less surprising this seems. 2021 may not be a "lost year" for Disney World, but a new attraction isn't likely to drive as much incremental revenue as other new attractions in previous years. Especially if wait times stay where they are, I imagine people who already wanted to visit will still come. And, someone who's just casually thinking of a Disney trip probably isn't swayed by Tron opening.

They also may be trying to space out the impact of the new attractions. I don't see Disney starting up any major new attractions for a few years so they may want to stretch out the impact of the ones that have already started. It also probably helps them to slow down major expenditures in their current fiscal climate.

 

[jlwhitney]

Well I don't think Disney should do that.

But, I feel as if Disney relies so heavily on the idea that people will just wait forever for them. But people won't.

HBO Max never reached a deal with Roku or Firestick so none of us get it (although we do through x-box, but I digress). Turns out people didn't care. HBO is losing money because most Roku/Firestick users didn't bother trying to get it another way.

My point being that people get used to not having things and move on.

Universal is still above Florida guidelines and for the most part hasn’t lost as much of its identity. They are doing fine and Disney could be doing more but they choose not to.

Yes people will lose interest and move on and find new things they enjoy.

 

[Jrb1979]

Fall 2022????

Ridiculous. Do they not plan to open the stores either in Epcot?

Why can Universal manage to open almost everything, yet Disney can't. Is Disney really that broke? Is this really because of Disneyland staying closed?

I can't fathom everything being pushed back two years.

Yes, I definitely don't think the Poly needed to be refurbished right now. Those funds could have been reallocated elsewhere.

Seeing the laid off 28,000 CM's and delaying new attractions, they are in survival mode right now. They aren't going to go bankrupt but are doing what they can go save money til things get better.

 

[Pizzaman12]

The app handles FastPass alright, and I don't see a virtual queue system being any more taxing than that.

Not to go down a rabbit hole, but I've seen consistent, frequent anomalies, app crashes, etc related to FP+ selection. I don't think it's terribly robust given the load it needs to handle.

 

[yulilin3]

I think universal is following Florida guidelines which is everything goes. Full capacity, no social distancing, etc. I don’t follow universal much but it seems to be working for them. Attendance looks good for them.

They aren't operating at full capacity, you can see them closing every weekend because they have reached the limited capacity. Also there are social distance markers in the entrance and before the temp checks and bag checks.

 

[rteetz]

I think universal is following Florida guidelines which is everything goes. Full capacity, no social distancing, etc. I don’t follow universal much but it seems to be working for them. Attendance looks good for them.

They have no opened everything up. They still very much have distancing and capacity limits.