Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[SaintsManiac]

Some places are already making plans for fans in the stands. If you have a 50,000 seat arena, they will try and get 15-20 thousand in there and socially distance the seating.

Not for the NBA, but for football season etc

Depends on the team and the amount of season tickets. Not going to work everywhere.

 

[Jrb1979]

Oh yeah no doubt I can see that too. But to keep everything 100% closed like a lid? That would be insane.

I'm sure that's part of the reason the NBA picked an enclosed site. To keep players interaction with the outside world to a minimum.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I see ZERO chance of Disney keeping anything closed while Universal is open. For a week or two? Sure. A month? No chance. Esp if Universal allows anyone in, and not only locals

 

[xuxa777]

I agree.

It is currently ok to put people close together on planes right now with masks for hours, putting 50% capacity in arenas for 2-3 hours in masks is not that far a stretch and probably safer, but getting too far OT

 

[cakebaker]

Oh yeah no doubt I can see that too. But to keep everything 100% closed like a lid? That would be insane.

With virtually every other theme park in the area opening to everyone, most likely all in June, the idea that WDW would close to all but locals for anything more than soft openings like Universal is doing, just so the NBA could play there, is beyond insane to me.

 

[Jrb1979]

The same teams will not play back to back, remember there are a lot of teams. Think March Madness style

I doubt they are doing a tournament. They are planning on finishing the season as normal.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I see ZERO chance of Disney keeping anything closed while Universal is open. For a week or two? Sure. A month? No chance. Esp if Universal allows anyone in, and not only locals

I think a month is definitely in the realm of possibility, that puts Disney at an early July opening.

 

[Tjddis]

This article gives a possible for scenario for how the lead up to reporting to WDW might go.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...y-espn-wide-world-sports-complex?platform=amp

Article says games, practices and housing. I hope that excludes park hopping

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I think a month is definitely in the realm of possibility, that puts Disney at an early July opening.

At that point Disney would have to open July 8th because I don't see them reopening for a major holiday weekend

EDIT: July 6th*

 

[Broncho52]

The same teams will not play back to back, remember there are a lot of teams. Think March Madness style

The playoffs aren’t one loss and done in the NBA each round is a 7 game series. They could shorten the first round to 5 like it used to be but I doubt it. It’s nothing like March madness. The playoffs alone will be 2 months. Granted with less and less players at WDW after each round.

 

[gwynne]

Article says games, practices and housing. I hope that excludes park hopping

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...y-espn-wide-world-sports-complex?platform=ampThe article lays out a good possible scenario in the lead up to arriving at WDW. It was interesting to me.

I see private WDW parties in the players future.
A huge reason--the virus has a 35%
asymptomatic spreader rate. There is no good reason for players to be zipping to the park and mix with regular guests who have no idea they are contagious.

 

[cakebaker]

At that point Disney would have to open July 8th because I don't see them reopening for a major holiday weekend

Do you think the other theme parks that are opening in June will shut down for the 4th? They’re reducing capacity, demand doesn’t matter.

 

[xuxa777]

The playoffs aren’t one loss and done in the NBA each round is a 7 game series. They could shorten the first round to 5 like it used to be but I doubt it. It’s nothing like March madness. The playoffs alone will be 2 months. Granted with less and less players at WDW after each round.

Just referencing MM to explain how multiple games are played in a day , not same teams back to back, for the poster.

 

[Pickle Rick]

At that point Disney would have to open July 8th because I don't see them reopening for a major holiday weekend

They could open Sunday the 5th, or Monday the 6th.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

AP article

https://apnews.com/b438c58d36f906fac6d81fd0c94476d6

 

[SmittS]

I’m glad I posted something about the UO hours. Comments put things in perspective. I guess it depends on how limited the capacity really is. Leaving around 6 does sound more relaxing, but I’d miss the TS dinners in AK and Epcot.

 

[andyman8]

I know as Disney fans we think WDW=parks, parks, parks, but the reality is that the NBA isn’t looking for a vacation for their players and employees. They’re looking for a space where they can execute total control of who comes in and out, where they know who has been tested and when, and where they can get in and out of as quickly as possible (the shorter time the “bubble” lasts, the less time there is for the virus to emerge and spread). This is about using sports facilities and hotel facilities. They could be in the middle of Idaho and it would be the same experience. That’s it.

To fully understand what a bubble league entails, I suggest watching John Oliver’s latest segment on it. They’re not just housing players and coaches; they’re housing league staff, referees, attendants, production crews, and anyone those individuals come into contact with (hotel staff, bus drivers, dining staff, etc...). Families and any non-essential personnel have not been included in any proposals so far. This is the ultimate “secure circuit.” Nobody in that circuit comes out of it until the season is over (or they’ve been eliminated). It’s not just about testing (rapid tests are still in very limited supply and are also being shown to sometimes be less accurate than the longer ones). Unless Disney dedicates a whole team of park CMs to an after hours shift and houses, isolates, and tests them, the NBA is not going to want their players in the parks, even without guests. From Disney’s perspective, it’s much easier to just house and test CMs for one resort then it is for an entire park or multiple parks. There’s just no way Disney is going to do that when they could just be open for the general public, while keeping the NBA confines to WWoS and a hotel. Perhaps they’ll offer teams some time in the parks after their last game after they’ve left the “bubble” but haven’t left Florida, but I don’t think the NBA decision will drastically impact WDW’s reopening calculus. It might a bit, but as a previous poster said, these games will go until at least September so they’re not going to wait until it’s over to reopen.

 

[JacknSally]

Wait a minute here, maybe its just me, but are we to believe that Disney is going to come straight out and say we are not opening because the NBA needs to play here?

- 60,000 workers not coming back to work
- 4 theme parks and 2 water parks not opening
- 40,000 hotel rooms not opening
- hundreds of restaurants and stores not opening
- keeping 10 DVC resorts closed to their members (which would most likely cause a class action lawsuit at that point)

ALL of this because the NBA is going to play there?

I am sorry I just see no way no how no chance Disney would do that.

I don't know that any of us here think that or have said that. I've seen plenty posters saying that no way does Disney stay closed until the NBA's season is over, but I haven't actually seen anyone say that they would. Maybe I missed it, this thread has moved really quickly some days. Disney is in talks with the league, though, and they do have a lot of arrangements to figure out both with the laegue and with general operations.

Maybe the NBA decides to play a seriously abbreviated season like they've never done before, so WDW decides to wait to reopen to everyone until that's over, since it would just be a few weeks.
Maybe the NBA plays a seriously abbreviated season and WDW opens to APs until that's over and the general public after that.
Maybe the NBA plays a full season and don't have access to the parks except for special after-hours NBA-only parties.
Maybe the NBA stays at 1-2 WDW properties and WDW fully closes those resorts to other guests.
Maybe the NBA stays at 1-2 WDW properties and WDW only closes off sections of those resorts to other guests.
Maybe the NBA stays off property and WDW doesn't close any resorts to guests and the NBA only accesses WWOS.
Maybe the NBA needs to use some Disney transportation and Disney needs to figure out what they can allocate to the NBA and what they can allocate to guests.
Maybe the NBA has their own transportation but WDW needs to figure out bus parking at the resorts. Idk.
Maybe the NBA is limited to only being at the resort or at WWOS so Disney needs to figure out food supply issues.

My point is, what WDW does with reopening the parks and resorts to guests may depend on what they have to do to satisfy this deal with the NBA - but the NBA deal also may not have any impact on reopening the parks/resorts at all. No one knows. There are a ton of possible scenarios and I'm sure WDW is looking at every one of them.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

As the regular season plays out & teams are eliminated and leave - the resorts may be impacted for a week or two. No reason to close off parks, WWoS is a massive self contained entity, even the MLS players won’t cross paths with the NBA Teams...

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

How much will NBA pay Disney for this? I would assume a pretty penny