Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[hertamaniac]

Not my forum. I moderate the TPAS board only.

Of which, I think you do an excellent job (especially in light of the situation we're in at Orlando). You are impartial, fair and set the baseline of what a moderator should be. Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks!

 

[C&Jx2]

All the mods are doing great! It’s hard to keep track of which COVID threads you’re reading, or posting in, and it’s even harder not get sucked into all of the off-topic discussions. So thank you

 

[hertamaniac]

I realize I'm biased in this, but I am hoping Disney and Universal extend all annual passes out an extra year. I think the closures are going to be longer than most people here think though. I think with every passholder impacted, and the season of the year when we prefer to visit impacted, I think it would be a gesture of goodwill and positive press, and will help with passholder retention.

It may be a pipe dream, but that's what I would like! Universal already gave me 6 months free on my last pass, and renewals add three months. I always stay onsite and buy plenty of meals and merchandise, I'm hoping the economics work out for them to offer this. Of course I understand that the parks division is hemorrhaging money as it is and this might not be feasible, financially. My mother in her 60s also has an annual pass right now, and unless they extend it appreciably, we won't be able to come back even if they open in fall. It's just not worth the risk.

We're in the same boat. We purchased our AP on opening day for MMRR (best attraction at WDW) and then a few weeks later our passes were "furloughed". I chose the partial refund, but feel they should extend our pass for X period of time even with the refund. This would give us locals (at least the one's I personally know that aren't in the vlogging or TA business) a good feeling for repetitive AP purchases.

You bet we have health apprehensions about visiting again, regardless of the safety measure being employed.

 

[Jetku]

Not quite Floridia, but Sesame Place finally sent AP holders their handling process. It’s absurd. No extension and no refund. They’ve been charging people on the monthly plan this whole time. They’re going to give “Sesame Cash” of an undisclosed amount to use in the park this year (no opening ETA) and an upgrade of your pass to the next tier.

 

[Yarbogash]

There seems to be a lot of opinions and anecdotal stories of why things won't work and "I've seen people do this" when they re-open.
"All" of them are based on a normal operating WDW..
When they re-open the ratio of CM's to guests will be a lot higher and these stories of this and that will not be like it has been.
Expect extra CM's and security just like you would see on an opening day of a new land like GE , Pandora and TSL.
They will have control in a way that will negate a lot of these issues....They absolutely have to protect the CM's and guests....whatever it takes.

They are going to try. But I feel for those cm’s. On a good day they are tasked with dealing with the occasional difficult, demanding and stressed out guest while the cm is expected to be consistently helpful and cheerful. And the cm’s almost always do that perfectly.
But at some point the cm’s will do the same while also dealing with worrying about the virus, dealing with virus policies and interacting with guests who are risking the cm’s safety and will resist correction (because no matter what the plan is that is gonna happen regularly).
I’ve seen cm’s lose it (relative to Disney standards) in normal difficult situations. I can’t imagine dealing with guests after reopening while there is still a health emergency. I hope management truly has some magic they can put into protecting and supporting their cm’s without every day becoming a complete stress bomb.

 

[yulilin3]

They are going to try. But I feel for those cm’s. On a good day they are tasked with dealing with the occasional difficult, demanding and stressed out guest while the cm is expected to be consistently helpful and cheerful. And the cm’s almost always do that perfectly.
But at some point the cm’s will do the same while also dealing with worrying about the virus, dealing with virus policies and interacting with guests who are risking the cm’s safety and will resist correction (because no matter what the plan is that is gonna happen regularly).
I’ve seen cm’s lose it (relative to Disney standards) in normal difficult situations. I can’t imagine dealing with guests after reopening while there is still a health emergency. I hope management truly has some magic they can put into protecting and supporting their cm’s without every day becoming a complete stress bomb.

unfortunately every day as a CM is a stress bomb, they get, at best, yelled at daily, at worst, well many other things
CM are aware of what they will have to deal with, it won't be new to them. Most of them just want to get back to work at this point

 

[LSUmiss]

No CM schedules yet. They usually release every Sunday by the time I get up, it's posted. This also happened at the beginning weeks of closures, then the schedule eventually came out I believe it was Tuesday or Wednesday.

So is this different from what you have been seeing the past few Sundays? I’m a little confused.

 

[Cramden]

Maybe a delay because of Mother's Day, who knows. Which reminds me, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

 

[rpb718]

unfortunately every day as a CM is a stress bomb, they get, at best, yelled at daily, at worst, well many other things
CM are aware of what they will have to deal with, it won't be new to them. Most of them just want to get back to work at this point

This is when "Have a magical day" becomes the equivalent of "Bless your heart".

 

[SaintsManiac]

So Shanghai DL opens at what time? We are 13 hours behind here in central time zone. It's midnight there now...

edit: I found it, 9:30am.

 

[andyman8]

Fantasy and Dream are still floating off the coast of Cocoa Beach. There are some pretty cool cruise ship tracker websites where you can see the locations of all the current ships. Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Celebrity are all clustered together in a very small area in the Bahamas to stay out of shipping lanes. There aren’t enough ports in the Caribbean for all the cruise ships to be docked simultaneously, so these ships are having to free float with a skeleton crew.

Yes, I am aware of the various cruise tracker sites. That's how I know the Fantasy remains in Cape Canaveral, as you mentioned. As I said in my OP, in the next few days, the Fantasy is supposedly heading out to the Caribbean to drop off crew. That's the rumor, but it hasn't left yet.

 

[juice0358]

unfortunately every day as a CM is a stress bomb, they get, at best, yelled at daily, at worst, well many other things
CM are aware of what they will have to deal with, it won't be new to them. Most of them just want to get back to work at this point

Agree, CMs deal with a lot and deserve a ton of credit. Some people go to Disney and think they can say and or do anything they want. I always try to go out of my way to show appreciation (communicating to supervisors and management) for awesome CMs that make the Disney experience what it is. They are a HUGE part of what differentiates Disney from other theme parks.

 

[michellej47]

Dear CMs,

My family is easy to please and never get rude with CMs. If you need a family to practice a soft opening on, we would gladly make that sacrifice!!

 

[MMSM]

so that leaves out a looooooooootttttt of people who won't be entering into Dis park and spending $$$$$

Please continue to keep us posted on this. I called MCO To get some info about this and then was transferred to florida health line in regards to this process I’m in a rural area and would fly from buffalo. They said all of Ny. So crazy. I am hoping this unconstitutional executive order is released by phase 2. Because I’m with the OP it’s not on Disney it would be on the state of Florida. Therefore I don‘t think loss of AP or even being able to go would be something to argue with disney about. But if Disney is open and rumors of Cheer Summit are true (June 19) restrictions would have to be done. How could they hold a summit and not allow people from these states. BTW I’ve been working from home w my family and in quarantine for 2 months. And NY cases continue to decline while others increase.

 

[WallEFan00]

I watched the new video about how social distancing measures are being implemented in Shanghai. In the video, they show how all of these pieces of tape and stickers will show guests where to stand and where not to stand. That’s all fine and dandy for adults. But, I don’t see how guests with children or larger groups will manage within these guidelines. I have 3 children of school age. When we have gone before, keeping kids within a contained area and not touching handrails is nearly impossible. Also, most rides exit through the gift shop. How do they expect children to not touch things when they want to grab and show Mom/Dad the prize they want. I just don’t see it working. I also don’t want a Disney World without children in it. Thoughts?

 

[shh]

i dunno...when I watch older news footage and videos of early '70s era families in the parks, littler kids (3-10+) were remarkably controlled...stayed very close to their parents, weren't running around on their own in inside places like ride lines, gift shops, eateries, etc. Could we go back to that in today's more relaxed society where kids are given much more latitude, if it was required for health/safety reasons? I'd guess probably not, as most parents won't tolerate not allowing their kids to roam freely and it would be a nightmare for CMs to enforce. Will be interesting to see.

 

[Krandor]

They did say in the Shanghai video that they could exit the rides outside the gift shop if gift shop got crowded.

 

[WallEFan00]

They did say in the Shanghai video that they could exit the rides outside the gift shop if gift shop got crowded.

But does WDW have that option? I’m thinking of rides like Pirates and Space Mountain where the ride exits into the gift shop and I don’t know if there is an alternate exit.

 

[andyman8]

But does WDW have that option? I’m thinking of rides like Pirates and Space Mountain where the ride exits into the gift shop and I don’t know if there is an alternate exit.

I know Space has that option. Years ago, they refurbished the gift shop and let guests out on the other side of the tracks and had them walk across the tracks (CM stationed there to stop traffic when trains were crossing) to get back to Tomorrowland. They did something similar two years ago when they redid the exit of the ride.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

Please continue to keep us posted on this. I called MCO To get some info about this and then was transferred to florida health line in regards to this process I’m in a rural area and would fly from buffalo. They said all of Ny. So crazy. I am hoping this unconstitutional executive order is released by phase 2. Because I’m with the OP it’s not on Disney it would be on the state of Florida. Therefore I don‘t think loss of AP or even being able to go would be something to argue with disney about. But if Disney is open and rumors of Cheer Summit are true (June 19) restrictions would have to be done. How could they hold a summit and not allow people from these states. BTW I’ve been working from home w my family and in quarantine for 2 months. And NY cases continue to decline while others increase.

I know someone who flew from NY to Orlando last week and they had to fill out forms on the plane with all their info and had to say they would quarantine for two weeks

1 person on the plane was refusing to fill out the form and they were not allowed off the plane. My friend doesn’t know what happened since they were off.

Edit: Dont remember if it was Orlando airport now, was Florida though. Will update when I find out exact airport. I believe its all of Florida anyway though from NY