Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

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Beyond when are they opening, what about my dining plans? Who gets to enter a park? What if I don't want to do rope drop, but have dining in a park? Do I miss out? Who decides who gets into a restaurant if they limit the number of guests? Lots of questions for us as we are considering moving our reservation to another date. Shame that we have been planning for over 18 months or more for the June trip. Taking great niece for her First Visit and 4th birthday. Life throws you curve balls at times, we will roll with it.

It’s going to be tough. I bet Disney will change how they do things as they learn what works and doesn’t work for guests. It’s easy to plot it out on paper, but it’s a whole different story when guests show up. The next six months should be super interesting. It’s like buying software in the 90s that was still beta, but it was released anyway
 
I don't think that was his main point. His point is that this economy is all intertwined. We all depend on each other for success. It makes no sense for airlines to operate at full capacity if travel and leisure areas are not open. There's only so much business travel, and even that has basically been eliminated now with so many people moving to virtual meetings....something like that is going to become a lot more commonplace than it used to be.

I don't think its understating it by saying how early the typical travel and leisure spots in America re-open will determine the fate of many airlines in this country.
*sigh* things get lost on the internet, it was a joke sir/m'am.

Even a kid could tell you travel and leisure need to open up in order to get people back on planes.
 
There will be some tweaking, but this "starting block" is going to be really close to what we actually get. We are too close to point when actual money has to be spent and actual preparations have to begin for any kind of reopening at any point in June. The logistics of it all will require them to have final guidelines in place in days not weeks.
Agreed - I think the next week or two are going to be heavy on information coming out of these tasks forces and we'll have procedures in place by Mother's Day for the parks.
 

That is what their temperature cut off is. Here is what their full guidance is:

  • Thermal cameras at every resort entry point, with secondary screening of anyone reading 100.4 degrees or more. Those confirmed with a high temperature will be referred for medical treatment.
  • Hospital-grade disinfectant and UV lights will be used in high-touch areas and items like bell carts and luggage.
  • Providing a face mask for all guests. Guests can also use their own face mask, though masks that obscure the whole face are prohibited. Every guest suite will also receive gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes.
  • Hotel desks and offices will abide by six feet of social distance.
  • Guest queuing areas, like front desk lines or taxi lines, will have markings to encourage social distancing.
  • Hotel elevators will be limiting to four people at a time.
  • Gondola rides will be capped at four riders.
  • All restaurants and bars will have reduced seating.
  • Meeting and convention areas will have seating separated to accommodate social distancing.
  • Pool seating will be rearranged to accommodate distancing between groups.
Thanks!
 
There will be some tweaking, but this "starting block" is going to be really close to what we actually get. We are too close to point when actual money has to be spent and actual preparations have to begin for any kind of reopening at any point in June. The logistics of it all will require them to have final guidelines in place in days not weeks.

Yep. This stuff has been talked about/in the works for a while. It was simply made public for the first time.
 
Beyond when are they opening, what about my dining plans? Who gets to enter a park? What if I don't want to do rope drop, but have dining in a park? Do I miss out? Who decides who gets into a restaurant if they limit the number of guests? Lots of questions for us as we are considering moving our reservation to another date. Shame that we have been planning for over 18 months or more for the June trip. Taking great niece for her First Visit and 4th birthday. Life throws you curve balls at times, we will roll with it.
I think existing reservations is going to be a very tricky area for Disney to deal with if they have to greatly limit capacity, and it's one of the few areas where it kind of feels like it would be "their fault" that they didn't proactively try to address it sooner. I think people are forgiving of cancellations when everything is closed. People might be less forgiving if their reservation is cancelled and other people's are not for the same time. It's the reason I'm doubtful of plans to only open a few hotels, unless they can reasonably accommodate (by moving or upgrading) all resort reservations for that time period. Unless they have sufficient plans to make the excluded whole, that is dangerous from a P.R. standpoint. Likewise, I'm sure since they were made mostly 180 days before, most of the popular restaurants are already booked for well over 50% capacity during the summer. Do they just cancel them at random? Do they cancel them all and then open up a new set of reservations?

It just feels like Disney has been "business as usual" after June 1st, without any clear indication they were trying to reduce capacity from the backend.
 
Disneyland is such a different animal though. Their base is locals and shorter stay vacations whereas WDW is the destination traveler who stays for 4+ days usually.
Definitely true, but I would love to not have to dig around my wallet to pull my ticket out every time I need to enter a fastpass line. I'm also paranoid about losing the ticket. On our first trip, we ended up with paper tickets and those didn't hold up too well.
 
I think existing reservations is going to be a very tricky area for Disney to deal with if they have to greatly limit capacity, and it's one of the few areas where it kind of feels like it would be "their fault" that they didn't proactively try to address it sooner. I think people are forgiving of cancellations when everything is closed. People might be less forgiving if their reservation is cancelled and other people's are not for the same time. It's the reason I'm doubtful of plans to only open a few hotels, unless they can reasonably accommodate (by moving or upgrading) all resort reservations for that time period. Unless they have sufficient plans to make the excluded whole, that is dangerous from a P.R. standpoint. Likewise, I'm sure since they were made mostly 180 days before, most of the popular restaurants are already booked for well over 50% capacity during the summer. Do they just cancel them at random? Do they cancel them all and then open up a new set of reservations?

It just feels like Disney has been "business as usual" after June 1st, without any clear indication they were trying to reduce capacity from the backend.
WDW should first announce what the plans are. Once anything is announced then a chunck of people will start canceling based off of that information.

We are 51% going to not go on our trip no matter what (even if we have to eat our DVC rented points room) but we are holding out for actual information from WDW & FL.
 
Theme parks are different though. A concert or a sporting event or even a movie theater you have a lot of people in close proximity all the time. In a theme park, it is outside, people are moving. There is space. Social distancing is possible.
Eh, I'm not sure that's true. If I go to a baseball game then I'm going to be sitting next to the same handful of people for much of the game, although I'll have to pass a lot of people to get to my seat. At Disney I'm going to be exposed to thousands of people throughout the day--at the resort, on the bus/boat/monorail, at the restaurants, and at the parks themselves. I think Disney can make this work, I just don't think it is any easier than the same thing at a baseball game.
 
Did you have a reservation cancelled? Where was it? I haven't heard anything about my 5/18-5/21 AKL ressie (although we don't expect to be able to go).

People are reporting getting The Email for reservations starting 5/21 and 5/22 in the "List your WDW canceled rooms here for continued resort closure news/updates" thread. Resort reservations won't be automatically canceled until your check in date, though. Fastpasses and ADRs are canceled as Disney extends the closure dates on the calendar (so my stuff for 5/16 is gone, but 5/17-5/24 still shows up).
 
Eh, I'm not sure that's true. If I go to a baseball game then I'm going to be sitting next to the same handful of people for much of the game, although I'll have to pass a lot of people to get to my seat. At Disney I'm going to be exposed to thousands of people throughout the day--at the resort, on the bus/boat/monorail, at the restaurants, and at the parks themselves. I think Disney can make this work, I just don't think it is any easier than the same thing at a baseball game.


Exactly. You will sit next to/near 100 different people on a busy day in the MK. Country Bears, CoP, Philharmagic, Mine Train (if you are an odd number party), etc. Then there are all the people in front of you, behind you. It's crazy when you stop and think about it.
 
Did you have a reservation cancelled? Where was it? I haven't heard anything about my 5/18-5/21 AKL ressie (although we don't expect to be able to go).
Here’s the link the thread where people are posting cancellations. Keep in mind Disney has been a bit hit or miss on sending people email notifications.

TAs were officially notified today reservations up to 5/23 will be cancelled, I’m sorry :(
 
They have improved a lot, but I really wish they would go to Magic Bands. Perhaps this situation will push them to make the change.
If only. I don't think Magic Bands would be a necessity, but it'd certainly be a quality of life improvement, even for locals that visit only on occasion. It's not hard to imagine how crazy APs out here would go for limited edition Magic Bands.
 
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