Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[jade1]

Open an hour still quiet. Guessing most went to rides.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Hours extended for all of December including on NY Eve

https://twitter.com/x/status/1332364692711411712

 

[jade1]

Another mini parade.

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

With these earlier openings announced, do you think Disney will continue to open the parks earlier still? Ex: DHS 9am, with they start letting everyone in at 8:15?
We will be there 5-10, so trying to figure out our new walking strategy from BLT to MK and YC to DHS.

 

[Mit88]

With these earlier openings announced, do you think Disney will continue to open the parks earlier still? Ex: DHS 9am, with they start letting everyone in at 8:15?
We will be there 5-10, so trying to figure out our new walking strategy from BLT to MK and YC to DHS.

May 10th? Obviously everything depends on what happens the next couple of months, but I would guess the hours will at least be close to normal pre-pandemic hours by then, especially if there’s a vaccine. Don’t want to put the cart before the horse but I’d guess the early opening hours will be there in May.

 

[xuxa777]

Dollywoods Christmas brought back 3 indoor shows with performers not in masks, and a bunch of outdoor and fireworks on the weekend.

Yup that is why the the poster using Dollywood as an example was pretty funny. one side note though is Dolly Parton is a big investor in making the Moderna vaccine possible, to the tune of one million dollars

 

[slyster]

I agree. We were at Dollywood last week and it was wonderful and they don’t have the over the top mask rules. Loved being able to take pictures with them off. They have done so much this year and they fully reimagined the Santa visit which was adorable. They have a little less this year but as the year went on they brought back more and more.

I was at Dollywood in September and after you walked in the park not one single staff member enforced any of the mask rules. I was appalled at the number of people walking with their masks off or under their nose. Within 5 min of being in the park, a family of 4 walked by with no mask on. I looked right at a staff member and said, "are you supposed to say something"? (he saw them) and he said, "no, only security can". I thought ok....well, they will get caught, but then you realize, "what security???" LOL. There was no one dressed as a security officer anywhere.

They fool you into thinking they take it very seriously. You can't get on the tram and move until every person has their face covered. It's a false sense of security until you walk in park. Don't get me wrong...it was a lot, but it was absolutely noticeable. I will never go to Dollywood until COVID is over. I guarantee there is spreading there.

Edited to add: I see someone else say the area is more lax. Absolutely. There were stores that had strict masks rules based on the county ordinance and yet another store wouldn't post the sign and you walk in and no one is wearing mask! I left right away. Some just didn't wear a mask. I have cousins who won't wear them (Knoxville). Well guess what, his high risk father who is HOMEBOUND was just taken to the hospital for COVID 19 and is on a ventilator fighting for his life.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

With these earlier openings announced, do you think Disney will continue to open the parks earlier still? Ex: DHS 9am, with they start letting everyone in at 8:15?
We will be there 5-10, so trying to figure out our new walking strategy from BLT to MK and YC to DHS.

I would expect them to still let you in early - whether it is 15 min or 45 I don't know but I would anticipate at least a bit early

And I assume your mean you are there Dec 5-10th

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

I would expect them to still let you in early - whether it is 15 min or 45 I don't know but I would anticipate at least a bit early

And I assume your mean you are there Dec 5-10th

Yes, sorry, Dec 5-10th. Typed quickly earlier, was on the way out to finish some shopping.
Guess we will walk over and plop ourselves down to wait if need be.

I assume this means heavier crowds than this past week, or they just finally decided to add more hours. We shall see!

 

[HikingFam]

Yes, sorry, Dec 5-10th. Typed quickly earlier, was on the way out to finish some shopping.
Guess we will walk over and plop ourselves down to wait if need be.

I assume this means heavier crowds than this past week, or they just finally decided to add more hours. We shall see!

They’ve been adding hours on a rolling basis for the last few months. I would not take this as a sign of heavier crowds. If arriving by car, plan to arrive 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes prior to the opening time. This worked for us in September and this week. We were the first people in Epcot today (not intentionally- we just got lucky and pulled up to the entrance right when they started allowing cars to line up at 9:45, then we had handicapped parking).

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

They’ve been adding hours on a rolling basis for the last few months. I would not take this as a sign of heavier crowds. If arriving by car, plan to arrive 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes prior to the opening time. This worked for us in September and this week. We were the first people in Epcot today (not intentionally- we just got lucky and pulled up to the entrance right when they started allowing cars to line up at 9:45, then we had handicapped parking).

Thanks! I hope you are right about the crowds not being heavier.

We will be walking to DHS from YC and BLT to MK, both of these now open earlier. I'll just bump our original plans by an hour.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Yes, sorry, Dec 5-10th. Typed quickly earlier, was on the way out to finish some shopping.
Guess we will walk over and plop ourselves down to wait if need be.

I assume this means heavier crowds than this past week, or they just finally decided to add more hours. We shall see!

I don't think it will be heavier than this past week - I think lighter, though heavier than August or something like that .... they have been adding hours a few weeks out for a while now.

Honestly I think you are going a really good time (if someone is to travel/go that would be the time to go) as after the Thankgiving crowns but before the main Christmas crowds - but you still get all the holiday stuff

 

[HokieRaven5]

With these earlier openings announced, do you think Disney will continue to open the parks earlier still? Ex: DHS 9am, with they start letting everyone in at 8:15?
We will be there 5-10, so trying to figure out our new walking strategy from BLT to MK and YC to DHS.

I was there the weekend they first opened at 9am. They were letting folks through the security lines at about 8:15 for sure during that time. So expect to be let through by around 8:15 +/- 5 minutes pending the crowds outside i guess. They started to let folks through the parking lines at 8am. Skyliner started running between 7:20-7:40am to DHS from what I can recall. We showed up at the skyliner station in CBR around 7:45 and it was already going and we were over to DHS a little after 8.

 

[jlwhitney]

I was at Dollywood in September and after you walked in the park not one single staff member enforced any of the mask rules. I was appalled at the number of people walking with their masks off or under their nose. Within 5 min of being in the park, a family of 4 walked by with no mask on. I looked right at a staff member and said, "are you supposed to say something"? (he saw them) and he said, "no, only security can". I thought ok....well, they will get caught, but then you realize, "what security???" LOL. There was no one dressed as a security officer anywhere.

They fool you into thinking they take it very seriously. You can't get on the tram and move until every person has their face covered. It's a false sense of security until you walk in park. Don't get me wrong...it was a lot, but it was absolutely noticeable. I will never go to Dollywood until COVID is over. I guarantee there is spreading there.

Edited to add: I see someone else say the area is more lax. Absolutely. There were stores that had strict masks rules based on the county ordinance and yet another store wouldn't post the sign and you walk in and no one is wearing mask! I left right away. Some just didn't wear a mask. I have cousins who won't wear them (Knoxville). Well guess what, his high risk father who is HOMEBOUND was just taken to the hospital for COVID 19 and is on a ventilator fighting for his life.

Point? You do realize that is why people are also choosing to go to Dollywood? Dollywood and Pigeon Forge area got our money this year and not Disney for a reason. We wore them for the most part but I also didn't fuss a ton when my kids took them off.

 

[andyman8]

NYE hours have been updated and are now reflecting the latest park close being at 11pm (MK). Epcot is open until 10pm, DHS open until 9pm, and DAK until 8pm. While anything could change, this (plus the release of NYE signature dining without any specially priced, prepaid events/menus/parties) seems to confirm no NYE fireworks this year.

 

[xuxa777]

Point? You do realize that is why people are also choosing to go to Dollywood? Dollywood and Pigeon Forge area got our money this year and not Disney for a reason. We wore them for the most part but I also didn't fuss a ton when my kids took them off.

Exactly right

 

[jlwhitney]

Exactly right

Thank you!

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

Sorry I am behind but comparing lay offs at Disney to regional parks is not the same.
Our regional park employees are largely high school students, some as young as 14 who barely plan to work till the end of summer to get their year end bonus. For those who work there that see it as a career it is a very small percent and most are part of the family that owns the park

For Disney, they already removed CP and CRP which represents most of the temporary staff or people who wanted to do it for just a season of life. For many, many of these 32,000 this was their career or long term plan, something they had devoted their lives to.

Layoffs were unavoidable yes; but Disney could have tried harder to keep more and good grief what was this dropping the News about the extra 4,000 at Thanksgiving. Good grief, what Grinch does that??

 

[rpb718]

Not to squash any discussions, and knowing the other layoffs thread has been locked (and for good reason), speculating on why the additional layoffs are being done is a fools errand. Since it's not slated until the start of 2021 we can wish they find a use for these folks and reconsider between now and then, but I think the decision has been made so it is what it is.

I pray each week that the "bad news" stops and we start back on a long and slow upward trend of "good news" on a variety of topics, many which don't belong in this thread, and each week the hole I find myself in gets deeper and the ladder of hope I have isn't able to get me where I can see over the top. I need Santa to give me a taller ladder, I'm just hoping the hole doesn't get much deeper between now and XMAS.

 

[SmartyBacon]

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