Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[jdrasin]

They’d never have a loyalty program. They want people to buy DVC. Thats their loyalty program.
UO doesn’t have one either.

Lowes absolutely has a loyalty program.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Lowes absolutely has a loyalty program.

I thought Loews terminated their loyalty program?

 

[Mit88]

Those dividers are going to make people car sick! Can't wait for the first person to puke on the monorail. Dumbest timing ever. Lets up virus theater just as vaccines are rolling out. Such a waste of money and time.

At least with these, they can remove them whenever they want but just cutting the zip ties and pulling the pieces off the monorail. They can’t stop the theater just because the vaccine is rolling out. There are still a lot of people that aren’t really aware WDW is open, and that do that aren’t avid Disney fans have only heard the bad things that have happened ie;

7DMT incident
Guest services congestion re-opening weekend
Rollercoasters packing the vehicles with no plexiglass

etc.

Disney doesn’t want the general audience to think that they aren’t taking this seriously, and the best way to do that is to stay away from being a Twitter hashtag or a news outlet’s headline, and you do that through theater. The last thing Disney needs is heading into their 50th with bad PR regarding the safety of guests during a pandemic, because even if we get to 75-80% of the country vaccinated by the summer/fall, there are still going to be a large number of people weary of traveling, especially to places that draw large amounts of people like WDW

 

[hereforthechurros]

At least with these, they can remove them whenever they want but just cutting the zip ties and pulling the pieces off the monorail. They can’t stop the theater just because the vaccine is rolling out. There are still a lot of people that aren’t really aware WDW is open, and that do that aren’t avid Disney fans have only heard the bad things that have happened ie;

7DMT incident
Guest services congestion re-opening weekend
Rollercoasters packing the vehicles with no plexiglass

etc.

Disney doesn’t want the general audience to think that they aren’t taking this seriously, and the best way to do that is to stay away from being a Twitter hashtag or a news outlet’s headline, and you do that through theater. The last thing Disney needs is heading into their 50th with bad PR regarding the safety of guests during a pandemic, because even if we get to 75-80% of the country vaccinated by the summer/fall, there are still going to be a large number of people weary of traveling, especially to places that draw large amounts of people like WDW

It's ALL to avoid liability should someone try to pin catching the virus at WDW because Disney was being negligent.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Staying at Jambo right now (and we go a LOT since we're semi-local) - previous trips (as recent as right before gold blackouts in Dec), guests were 1 party per monorail car with the divider in between. So we had 2 benches of our own. This morning, I was assigned a car with another party so we were sitting on benches across from each other.

The monorail on the platform with us had the dividers already and they looked similar to the plastic on the buses, almost like urinal stalls.

My DH hates the buses but I convinced him to give it another try yesterday morning and we waited.... and waited... and waited.... another couple had been waiting for 45 minutes before we got there and we waited another 40 with them. Every other park had 2-4 buses go by before a HS one arrived. It was completely full; every seat was taken and we were sitting directly across from other parties. I was not overly comfortable being so close to others but went with it. Oh - DH said never again on the buses

Rode Rise again yesterday; I was in the room with two parties of 3 and me (ride swap). They put the two parties of 3 in the same car and me alone. I've yet to ride it with another person! DH rode in the 2nd row with a party of 2 in front of him and said the plexiglass wasn't a big deal.

 

[hertamaniac]

I thought Loews terminated their loyalty program?

Isn't their MVP active under rewards?

https://loews.corerewards.com/SecureNewPageTemplates/Secured/Login.aspx?PageID=289

 

[Farro]

NBA G-League to be housed at the Casitas at CSR. Regular guests will be in the Tower or moved to Cabanas.

Very curious how the "bubble" will work with players and guests at same hotel.

 

[rteetz]

NBA G-League to be housed at the Casitas at CSR. Regular guests will be in the Tower or moved to Cabanas.

Very curious how the "bubble" will work with players and guests at same hotel.

Walls/fencing. They did the same at GF.

 

[Farro]

Walls/fencing. They did the same at GF.

Except, how? Tower is connected to the where the food is and 3 Bridges is in the lake. They would literally have to just fence off the entire Casitas section on all sides? Is there a pool in that section players can use?

Just thinking out loud.

 

[Eric Smith]

Generally Disney starts allowing booking for the next calendar year in June-July correct?

We got a ton of time...

Generally, yes but DVC can book in 2022 starting in February.

 

[rteetz]

Except, how? Tower is connected to the where the food is and 3 Bridges is in the lake. They would literally have to just fence off the entire Casitas section on all sides? Is there a pool in that section players can use?

Just thinking out loud.

Casitas does have a pool. This is the G league, they don't need a lot. They will likely have convention center access of course which would house food services for them just like the NBA. Regular guests would likely only be able to access Three Bridges from 1-2 of the bridges.

 

[Mit88]

It's ALL to avoid liability should someone try to pin catching the virus at WDW because Disney was being negligent.

Well yeah, that too.

 

[princesscinderella]

Right .. it all depends on supply.

Trains can only run so many trains a day (there are only so many "rails" for it to run on).

So, how many trains will be running a day? MOST "commuter" trains in the US only run a few times a day .. some as little as once or twice a day. Are people going to want to sit at a train terminal for potentially hours while waiting for a train to take them to Disney Springs (and then wait for another transport to take them to their hotel?) .. probably not. They'll probably just take an Uber or Taxi or some other shuttle service that isn't restricted by rails or time schedules.

I have my doubts the train will cost less than an Uber for a family of four .. and even if it was, the Uber would be significantly faster (when you calculate in wait time).

The brightline trains are very fast on the tracks. So fast when they started running from WPB to Miami people kept getting hit by them on the tracks. They put up caution road work type signs at all the train crossings to not linger on the tracks or block them, the train is too fast to stop in time. Thankfully everyone has gotten used to them and it has not been an issue as of late. If the Disney stop is the only one between MCO and Tampa it could have a stop there every hour sometimes going to Tampa and sometimes going to MCO. It would also open up more air travel possibilities if you could fly into Tampa instead and hop on the train over Disney Springs. As a South Floridian I am very excited about the possibility of quick train ride to WDW & Tampa I hate driving alligator alley.

Is the $40 bus transfer fee each way or is it a round trip fare? That can get expensive quickly for a large family.

 

[Tiggr88]

It's ALL to avoid liability should someone try to pin catching the virus at WDW because Disney was being negligent.

Except isn't loading more people in with worthless plexiglass more negligent than loading fewer people without? Seems to me they are being more negligent now.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

I thought Loews terminated their loyalty program?

That's how I understood it when I stayed 5 nights in November. Loews First was no more. I think the rewards program that they have now is geared towards companies that hold events and their attendees, not individual travelers.

 

[xuxa777]

Casitas does have a pool. This is the G league, they don't need a lot.

G league is lucky to have a pool

 

[figmentfinesse]

There is nothing, I repeat nothing over a 30 minute wait in Magic Kingdom right now. I can only hope this will be the case at the end of the month too.

 

[SaintsManiac]

There is nothing, I repeat nothing over a 30 minute wait in Magic Kingdom right now. I can only hope this will be the case at the end of the month too.

I was watching the times earlier and following some Instagram accounts. So jealous of those waits!

 

[osufeth24]

There is nothing, I repeat nothing over a 30 minute wait in Magic Kingdom right now. I can only hope this will be the case at the end of the month too.

Hoping wait times remain low for my birthday in Feb. Thought about making a staycation out of it (was going to pre pandemic at Beach Club, but that got canceled) by myself, but I'm just gonna go over each day. I think i've probably been on like 3 rides since September. Wait times were just too high for me.

 

[skeeter31]

I’m at SSR right now and DS was very empty today. Even now we were looking across the lake and there’s not even the evening herd there. But a lot worse mask compliance than the last time I was on property during Election Day. Only did DS and wandering around SSR today but lots of faces out in DS and much worse compliance on the resort grounds than I’m used to.