Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[merry_nbright]

earl to mid July i think.

That’s what we’ve been thinking this entire time, but I sit in my quiet corner, hoping to finally be able to reschedule my June 13th trip soon.

 

[Duck143]

It depends on how incomplete it is. I can live without fireworks, parades, and character M&G. I can also live without TS. I cannot live with only some parks being open or lots of attractions being closed.

I agree with the above, except I would like TS open. Our dinners as a family are a big part of our trips. I don't want them to open until all 4 parks can be open and most attractions. Any of GE being closed would be a huge disappointment. I'm almost hoping for some sort of announcement letting the parks stay closed until they can open all of them. We have a reservation for second week of June and its pretty torturous waiting for any info.

 

[Mit88]

If it’s May 23rd, is a week long enough? I feel like the chatter was that they’d be called back 3 weeks before the parks would open though I can’t remember where I heard that.

Really depends on how much really needs to be trained, and how many CMs are being brought back to work. Putting social distancing markers, and sneeze guards by registers would take a day or two. Rides have already being been running periodically.
I don’t think it would take CMs a week to be trained, but I assumed it would be a ~10 day process.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I don’t have a trip booked but I would be okay with paying current prices for limited experiences if I was a local or close to it. The tickets are a relatively small portion of our expenses, it’s the travel to get there and the accommodations that really kill us. It would be hard to justify flights at like $700-800 per person to get there for a lesser vacation.

That said I would be surprised if Disney gives credits/refunds for people who do end up going. They may be hoping the prices serve as a deterrent like masks and possible limited experiences will be. Maybe they’d offer a really good bounceback to those who come.

 

[ScubaCat]

I agree with the above, except I would like TS open. Our dinners as a family are a big part of our trips. I don't want them to open until all 4 parks can be open and most attractions. Any of GE being closed would be a huge disappointment. I'm almost hoping for some sort of announcement letting the parks stay closed until they can open all of them. We have a reservation for second week of June and its pretty torturous waiting for any info.

It's going to take some time to bring back the cultural staff (if they even can), so EPCOT will be a while. Hopefully the other 3 will be open sometime before the fall.

 

[CheshireCas]

For the ones who have vacations booked for June. I am curious, do you feel comfortable paying full price for an incomplete experience?

I would hope Disney would be lowering many of those prices, esp if buses don't run, monorails, certain rides, no parades, no fireworks, not all restaurants open, no pools, not all parks open etc etc ( if indeed these things aren't open )

Id hope they give credits to fully paying guests

The Disney fan in me would go June 1 if they opened and not be upset at all over limited experiences despite what we paid. I'm so desperate to get back into the parks, I wouldn't even think about the fact that we paid for the full experience.

I also believe this would differ if this is your once in a lifetime, once every so many years, etc. kind of trip.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I agree with the above, except I would like TS open. Our dinners as a family are a big part of our trips. I don't want them to open until all 4 parks can be open and most attractions. Any of GE being closed would be a huge disappointment. I'm almost hoping for some sort of announcement letting the parks stay closed until they can open all of them. We have a reservation for second week of June and its pretty torturous waiting for any info.

I just think that closing TS creates a real problem with feeding people in a timely manner. I'm not sure the QS restaurants at reduced capacity could handle demand. But maybe the attendance will be so low that it wouldn't be a problem. All speculation at this point.

 

[ScubaCat]

I just think that closing TS creates a real problem with feeding people in a timely manner. I'm not sure the QS restaurants at reduced capacity could handle demand. But maybe the attendance will be so low that it wouldn't be a problem. All speculation at this point.

Definitely. Buffets are a different story, and I've not heard anything on what will happen with them or how they'll be run, but regular sit-down restaurants will certainly be open.

 

[cakebaker]

For the ones who have vacations booked for June. I am curious, do you feel comfortable paying full price for an incomplete experience?

We have a long trip that spans the end of June into July. We have a split stay, so of the parks don’t open in June, a good portion of our stay wouldn’t be cancelled- assuming a July opening.

We have a couple friends going with our family that have never been so our limits are different. They most likely won’t come if there are any cuts. It’s just not the way to experience Disney for the first time. As for the rest of us, we have AP’s- price is what it is. If there are enough cuts - no shows, no fireworks etc, we’d scale back the trip, probably just keeping the Riviera portion of our stay in a July. I couldn’t care less about dining options, characters meets aren’t a big factor either. But yes, I’m fine with paying our already discounted resort rate for less than the full experience, we just wouldn’t stay as long.

 

[RWinNOLA]

We are DVC are reserved a Poly Bungalow for two nights and Riviera for 5 nights starting June 17.

We were planning to spend most of our time around the resort for the two Poly nights so I would hope the pools are open.

For the rest of the trip, I could live with a reduced experience mainly because I am just ready to get out of the house and due to our schedules, don’t really know of another time before next summer that we could use the points.

I would miss Epcot the most because we spend almost every night there walking around World Showcase.

 

[Sarahslay]

Doing a party like VAH with all the protocols in place would be nearly impossible. They wouldn’t be able to provide you with the rare character M&G, the stage show, the DJ dance party, or the Cursed Caravan. So they’d be charging you $145 for 3 hours and provide you with just the exclusive treats, and ride overlays. There’s no way they’d be able to justify that party taking place, even for half the amount they’re charging.

Not to mention having to get people out of the park, clean the park, and then bring people back in for the event.

They don't do character meet and greets at VAH (the other stuff yes). I go to VAH for the atmosphere and lower attendance, I don't care about the other stuff at all, and I know I'm not the only one. I already have tickets for July 10 so I really am hopeful it's still a go, because even with things removed I still want to go and will enjoy it (I get an AP discount though, I can see where paying $145 wouldn't jive well with some folks)

 

[Carol_]

“Walt Disney World Vice President Reiterates That July Reservations Are Not Indicative of a Reopening Date” - WDWNT
*sigh* :/

 

[SierraT]

For the ones who have vacations booked for June. I am curious, do you feel comfortable paying full price for an incomplete experience?

I would hope Disney would be lowering many of those prices, esp if buses don't run, monorails, certain rides, no parades, no fireworks, not all restaurants open, no pools, not all parks open etc etc ( if indeed these things aren't open )

Id hope they give credits to fully paying guests

I will go without character meets, fireworks, or parades (we only participate in fireworks if we are watching them from a distance anyway). With the exception of Magic Kingdom, we don’t take the bus transportation either so I guess we could live without that too. I think the Yacht Beach Club Boardwalk boats could be easily set up to ride safely.

Deal breaker is table service restaurants (we don’t do buffets) and pools. I’d also like to have the ability to go to all 4 parks even if some of the attractions aren’t operating, but would have to see which parks may or may not be opened to decide. I would hope Disney releases a list of what is opened/closed in each park though.

We are super easy to please. Just need to get out of the house!!!

Phew, thinking of the logistical planning going into all these facets must be stressful and I bet those folks are working to ensure everything is covered.

 

[Mit88]

“Walt Disney World Vice President Reiterates That July Reservations Are Not Indicative of a Reopening Date” - *****
*sigh* :/

What are they supposed to say? July IS indicative of a reopening date? Even if they were planning on opening June 1st, they’d say the same thing about June reservations not being indicative of a reopening date, because if that say on May 13th that they’re opening on June 1st and there’s an enormous spike in cases in CF on May 25th, and they’re forced to pull back then you have a big PR issue

 

[abnihon]

I will go without character meets, fireworks, or parades (we only participate in fireworks if we are watching them from a distance anyway). With the exception of Magic Kingdom, we don’t take the bus transportation either so I guess we could live without that too. I think the Yacht Beach Club Boardwalk boats could be easily set up to ride safely.

Deal breaker is table service restaurants (we don’t do buffets) and pools. I’d also like to have the ability to go to all 4 parks even if some of the attractions aren’t operating, but would have to see which parks may or may not be opened to decide. I would hope Disney releases a list of what is opened/closed in each park though.

We are super easy to please. Just need to get out of the house!!!

Phew, thinking of the logistical planning going into all these facets must be stressful and I bet those folks are working to ensure everything is covered.

I agree with TS and pools as the major deal breakers for us.
And masks required/enforced for kids. My son wouldn’t wear one all day and I can just imagine the meltdowns.. not worth it..

 

[skeeter31]

While it’s nice to hear what everyone’s specific deal breaker is for going to Disney this really isn’t the place for that.

 

[cakebaker]

While it’s nice to hear what everyone’s specific deal breaker is for going to Disney this really isn’t the place for that.

I’m sure if the moderators object, they’ll let us know and I’ll be happy to do as they say.

 

[ScubaCat]

“Walt Disney World Vice President Reiterates That July Reservations Are Not Indicative of a Reopening Date” - *****
*sigh* :/

Mid-July is still the earliest feasible time for a reopening, and that's not guaranteed. The current covid19 infection rate doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the ability to operate a large theme park and hotel complex without significant risk, even with masks, social distancing, etc. in place. You can be sure that Disney's health staff evaluates all available data much more than we can just by browsing the internet, so any opinions to the contrary won't change their calculation on this. The numbers simply have to drop a lot more or there has to be a more certain treatment before things can happen.

 

[Krandor]

For the ones who have vacations booked for June. I am curious, do you feel comfortable paying full price for an incomplete experience?

I am not booked until September right now but if I was a june reservation for me I'd probably be fine. However, like I said in a post last night I don't spend the huge money on disney like many do. I'm close enough to drive so transportation costs are low. I go solo most of the time and stay in value resorts (mainly pop) and don't do a lot of ADRs. So my costs are mainly just value report, tickets, and beer money (though GE took a good bit of my money in January). So since I am not paying huge money I'd be fine with reduced experience and since I can drive I have a car so don't need disney transportation (but I normally use it because it is convenient and if I want to drink I don't have to worry about it). For my january trip the only time I drove was to hollywood studios in the morning for boarding groups since I didn't want to rely on disney transportation to get me there on time but after I did my BG I took it back to the resort and went back to disney transportation. but f disney transportation isn't running I CAN drive so status of transportation wouldn't affect me.

Now if they stop serving beer, we have a problem.

 

[mshanson3121]

While it’s nice to hear what everyone’s specific deal breaker is for going to Disney this really isn’t the place for that.

This isn't really the place for 99% of what's on this thread. Why stop now?