Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[choirfarm]

nm

 

[fsjking]

So does this mean that they won’t cancel someone’s reservation and then re-open for those dates 7 days later? I.e. they’ll know 7 days ahead of when they’re finally ready to open?

It says within 7 days of your check in date. I read that as up to 7 days after.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I think Disney will reopen in 2020...but I think it will be a Discovery Cove experience for 2020. I'm sure a lot of smart corporate people are figuring out how Disney can make money, but keep to needed health and sanitation.

I totally see an open of a single park for a guided or pre-set experience - with people driving in, parking, walking in, and staying in groups under 10...and possibly staying for a limited amount of time.

If I was guessing which park could do this 1st...I'd actually think Animal Kingdom. I mean, the animals and trails are there anyway...and they are all outside...

And I think these would be "tours" and "tour priced", and possibly for only those 18+ (aka, those who can keep their hands to themselves). Designed for local folks only (so no flying, no hotels, etc)...

 

[Tandy]

My guess is that we should take this new announcement to be, we are closed until we announce we are not. They will need some lead time to power up. So let's say Florida peaks in middle of April and by middle of May they are seeing numbers declining substantially, they will announce they are opening June 9th. That is once they have cleared it with the governor, CDC, etc.

Honestly, this is all Disney can do. So many unanswered questions for them.

Don’t think they can do that. People have reservations. They can’t wait day before to cancel flight or hotels off property or whatnot. It will have to be incremental but definite

 

[eliseisawkward]

They did say something like that. Indefinite and they are automatically cancelling reservations within the next 7 days. So, cancellations on a rolling weekly basis.

“If no action is taken by you before your check-in date for arrivals during the closure period, Disney will automatically cancel your reservation within 7 days of the original check-in date and process any refund due to the original form of payment.”

Edit to add: @Krandor beat me by 1 minute! ;-)

It says within 7 days of your check in date. I read that as up to 7 days after.

I also read it as 7 days after check in date.

 

[fsjking]

Don’t think they can do that. People have reservations. They can’t wait day before to cancel flight or hotels off property or whatnot. It will have to be in incremental but definite

They just set down that they can. They are closed indefinitely. Up to June 30th, you can cancel any time you want. If you don't they will cancel you within a week of your stay. As of now, they are closed till June 30th unless something changes and they can open earlier. If it gets extended past June 30th, they'll make an announcement about that then. Probably in June.

 

[Krandor]

So does this mean that they won’t cancel someone’s reservation and then re-open for those dates 7 days later? I.e. they’ll know 7 days ahead of when they’re finally ready to open?

It will take time to get things started back up with ordering supplies, calling CMs back, creating schedules, etc. I expect we'll know 7 days ahead of when they are opening when those kind of things start happening. The minute schedules go out with attraction CMs having hours, it will hit this site almost immediately.

 

[Remy is Up]

It will be open in less than six months at the latest. If containment doesn’t work in this country, by that point there would be herd immunity with how fast this spreads.

I'm still.leaning to july

 

[Remy is Up]

I am sure that's a huge part of it. But one CM did an online chat with Guest Services...and even Guest Services had no info beyond the press release. I just don't understand why they waited this long to make the announcement if they had NONE of the logistics figured out. And I felt so bad for the CMs. They just sounded so confused and tired.

Every part of the call center, even from home talk.to one another through chat module and at the moment noone knows a thing.

 

[;-)]

I hate to say it but the ripple effect hasn’t even begun across the US, which they are expecting it to. It’s bad here in NY. But the time we start to get better it will get worse in other states; it will take a long time to completely settle down in our country. Florida isn’t in the state yet, It really is uncertain and no telling what is going to happen. We’re supposed to go to Disney in August, and just canceled our Aruba trip for this spring, but the way it’s looking day by day who knows what will happen. I never thought it would come to this. I never thought a city like NY would ever shut down the way it has. A week ago I said “this sucks I have to cancel Aruba...at least there’s Disney is August!” It’s months away, right? But we are so in the dark. I swear day to day things are getting worse. Taking it out is good therapy, when it comes down to it we all have our opinions but in reality NO ONE knows what the future holds!

 

[choirfarm]

nm

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I think you might have misunderstood me. In my example, Disney gave 3-4 weeks notice before they opened. ( if it looks good mid-May, start ramping up to open mid June). That way people can make reservations. They can hire back who they need, etc. Otherwise, they have told you they are cancelling 7 days before unless you choose to cancel earlier.

Also it helps with a gradual opening if people who have to travel to get there don’t have a ton of lead time, meaning it would be more of a slow trickle of larger crowds and the early ones would consist of mostly locals.

It would not be a good idea to have a grand opening date of sorts that people actually have time to plan to take advantage of, IMO.

 

[meremac]

Honestly, this is all Disney can do. So many unanswered questions for them.

I have to respectfully disagree here. They didn't have to give us a reopening date because that just might not be possible (and I respect that), but there's a lot more they could have done. They could have prepared their call center CMs to answer basic questions (again, not faulting the CMs here). They could have given TAs a heads up prior to the press release so we didn't have find out about this from our clients or on a discussion board (as an aside, we STILL haven't received an e-mail about the press release). They could have reassured us like Universal did by letting us know that they will be paying our commission for PIF reservations through X date but that they couldn't promise anything beyond that (or at least tell us "sorry, but we can't pay you at all from here on out"). As it stands now, we are spending yet another weekend in the dark in complete uncertainty. I'm sorry, but that just isn't fair to folks who have spent years and years supporting a company's bottom line and who have, more importantly, believed completely in a company.

Edit: I really do apologize for my intensity today. It's just been a really emotional week for lots of reasons. I know in my heart that we will learn more in the coming days and weeks. I'm just a bit frayed, as we all are.

 

[whiporee]

Let me clarify. I was responding to the person who asked about her later trip and CL extra FPS.
I have several people close to me who work for Disney or Universal, in management and in other positions, 3 are relatives.

As far as an announcement from Disney on reopening or extending the closure, from the 2 people in management I speak to regularly, as of yesterday one of them had no communication from those above her other than they had been told they would receive further information today. One of them has been involved in discussions on plans as to what to do moving forward but what he told me I cannot relay because that would be inappropriate.

As far as call centers, my daughter works in one of the centers and they were given Thursday-Sunday off and will be working from home starting Monday. They had to do some extra training and find enough hardware to allow the CMs to work from home. There is a HUGE backlog of emails they will be going through and the phone qeue is crazy 2 minutes after lines open so you have to be patient. Waits have been up to an hour. It is not they dont have enough people, but, noone couldve prepared for this and the mass amounts of calls are overwhelming. Yes it is frustrating but they cant just move other people into those positions because A. Not enough hardware and B. the training for the call center varies by department and can be up to 8-12 weeks before they are even allowed on the floor.

And lastly my reasoning for believing this goes into June/July is having a several friends in the healthcare industry, inclusive of a spouse, who KNOWS what the hospital and social situation is in Florida right now and having a brother higher up in Universal management who has already been told not to expect any reopening until Memorial Day or afterwards. They are playing it by ear and are hoping for sooner, but, based on the environment here in Florida, they are preparing for longer.

Hope that clarifies my statement

Re: CL FP booking for June -- I did get an email back this afternoon that said they understand my concerns, and as soon as they are back and running they'll address them. Not what I had hoped for, but all I could reasonably expect.

 

[dieumeye]

I think Disney will reopen in 2020...but I think it will be a Discovery Cove experience for 2020. I'm sure a lot of smart corporate people are figuring out how Disney can make money, but keep to needed health and sanitation.

I totally see an open of a single park for a guided or pre-set experience - with people driving in, parking, walking in, and staying in groups under 10...and possibly staying for a limited amount of time.

If I was guessing which park could do this 1st...I'd actually think Animal Kingdom. I mean, the animals and trails are there anyway...and they are all outside...

And I think these would be "tours" and "tour priced", and possibly for only those 18+ (aka, those who can keep their hands to themselves). Designed for local folks only (so no flying, no hotels, etc)...

This is a really interesting idea for an initial opening. Like, you have a “reservation” for a guided small group tour that will lead you through the park. Extremely limited capacity. Groups timed to avoid each other. It’s almost as if they would only be running guided VIP tours with no “free roaming” guests.

The question is how much it would cost to operate the parks in this manner versus how much they could charge for this experience. Conceptually I think it would work, and it would be a neat experience, but I imagine the cost would require insanely expensive tickets to operate a park that way.

 

[mshanson3121]

No, every investor in the world already figured out they are closed indefinitely.

I was mostly just repeating what others had speculated - that they were waiting until late Friday to minimize impact. I agree, they should have already known. But.... there are a lot of things people should already be realizing these days and aren't

Bold prediction: Disney World is not re-opening in 2020.

I wouldn't go this far. I think it'll be well into summer before the parks open in any form, and I think it will be a very minimal experience for quite awhile. But...to be fair, I suppose it's possible. Let's be realistic - crowded venues that hold tens of thousands of people are going to be the very last thing to re-open.

 

[fsjking]

I was mostly just repeating what others had speculated - that they were waiting until late Friday to minimize impact. I agree, they should have already known. But.... there are a lot of things people should already be realizing these days and aren't ☹



I wouldn't go this far. I think it'll be well into summer before the parks open in any form, and I think it will be a very minimal experience for quite awhile. But...to be fair, I suppose it's possible. Let's be realistic - crowded venues that hold tens of thousands of people are going to be the very last thing to re-open.

Major league baseball may have something to say about that. I can't see them forcing a whole season to be scrapped.

 

[andyman8]

Interesting email I received from Universal Orlando today about my AP. They are suspending monthly payments, effective today, and will announce at a later date when they will resume. Gotta wonder if Disney will follow suit.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Major league baseball may have something to say about that. I can't see them forcing a whole season to be scrapped.

They can play without fans in the stands. They make a lot of money from the tv rights.

 

[fsjking]

They can play without fans in the stands. They make a lot of money from the tv rights.

true. People would lose their minds though.