Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[LSUmiss]

This x 1000 ! And I will add - taking their money so that people buy tix to book FPS for rides and/or attractions that probably (and Disney has to know this by now, one would thnk) won't even be open for the dates that the FPS are booked for !

True the effort & time put into planning trips that won’t happen.

 

[TISHLOVESDISNEY]

I know my risks with a summer trip. I am not entitled, nor will I go against the rules.
As far as people not accepting reality- seeing MDE open for all bookings, experiences, dining etc, it gives people a false sense of normal and excites expectations.
I guess if they have no intentions of opening and know it, they should announce and close off all bookings/extras/dining, instead of allowing all the bookings still. I feel bad for people thinking they are planning a fun-filled trip with all that shows available...

 

[tinkerhon]

Isn’t anyone who buys tickets now making their own personal choice to purchase tickets for a park that is closed until further notice?

Yes --- and no -- like many others, I bought my tix in order to book FPS - and I totally get the uncertainty- but Disney needs to relax the "no refund" policy right now, as far as tickets go -

if someone bought their tix PRIOR to the pandemic, obviously, they were expecting the "regular" 100% Disney experience - if, understandably, it can't be offered right now, refund the money

 

[MickeyWaffles]

But what about people who bought tickets way before March?

I’m talking about people who are still purchasing tickets now, as that is what I thought the poster I quoted was referring to.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

And THAT will be interesting to see. Media coverage of tons of people being turned away from Universal will not be a good look for them and something Disney, I assume, will be watching closely.



WDW and DL have significantly changed their cancellation and modification policies to ensure no one will lose money on room-only and package reservations. I canceled my package reservation 5 days prior to check-in and received 100% of my money back including my deposit, which, at that time, they were not obligated to refund. If people want to be outraged over travel companies holding on to huge deposits, playing chicken with cancellations and forcing people to either PIF or taking future travel credits, I invite them over to the DCL and ABD threads. WDW could have been major jerks about package deposits and force people to either cancel and lose $200 or reschedule at possibly higher vacation costs so as not to lose $200, but they didn't. If you look around the current climate in the travel industry, what WDW did in modifying their policies is the exception, not the rule.

I have said time and time again WDW has been doing a great job when it comes to refunding people and loosening cancellation policies.

Our airfare has turned into a ton of $$$ in credits that have an expiry date. So that’s fun, considering we likely will not be traveling by air anytime soon thanks to this pandemic.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I’m talking about people who are still purchasing tickets now.

The flip side of “stop reservations and sales now when you won’t be open!” is that you also have people who have no problem taking the gamble on whether or not they will be open and want to book vacations and buy tickets.

 

[tinkerhon]

I know my risks with a summer trip. I am not entitled, nor will I go against the rules.
As far as people not accepting reality- seeing MDE open for all bookings, experiences, dining etc, it gives people a false sense of normal and excites expectations.
I guess if they have no intentions of opening and know it, they should announce and close off all bookings/extras/dining, instead of allowing all the bookings still. I feel bad for people thinking they are planning a fun-filled trip with all that shows available...

So true, and I will add - we are booked for July 14 - and the free dining for 6/1 that was offered for those looking to rebook a cancelled trip , also gave ppl (myself included) a sense of hope and/or false security

 

[DGsAtBLT]

But what about people who bought tickets way before March?

Again, there have been reports of people getting tickets refunded by Disney, not just the extension or a credit.

Does not hurt to try.

 

[cakebaker]

Isn’t anyone who buys tickets now making their own personal choice to purchase tickets for a park that is closed until further notice?

They are if Disney has no clue when they plan on opening. I’ve always said this is a book at your own risk situation, but if Disney has an opening date and it’s not as of now, June 14th, then it’s dishonest to book rooms when you know you aren’t going to be open.

Ive always wanted the option to book if there was a chance they’d be open, however slim it was. But there needed to be a chance.

 

[Mzpalmtree]

Again, there have been reports of people getting tickets refunded by Disney, not just the extension or a credit.

Does not hurt to try.

This won’t work for us. We have military tickets. Disney’s policy on those is that we have to deal directly with where we purchased them from as they are considered a “vendor” which I don’t buy because what other vendor’s tickets are advertised on Disney’s website? Our only option is to get them converted to tickets for next year and pay the difference when/if they come out again in Sept/Oct. So yes I agree they are flexible in most situations but not ours

 

[Bjn10]

Kinda curious if they decide to host the NBA where are they putting those guest who are at whatever hotel they use? My intuition says NBA stays at Coronado Springs, lots of room, not connected to any other hotel or park close to WWOS. I also see that it is blocked for July and August I’ve searched several dates and while I can’t say I’ve tried all the combos it’s looking like this would be the hotel. In addition while not a certain sign it looks like Contpo is also blocked so I’m guessing some guest will be moved there. I don’t see Disney downgrading anyone. However I can see them offering POP + free dining to some

 

[rteetz]

and correct me if I’m wrong, but universal doesn’t have any sort of plan to limit capacity (other than assuming lots of people won’t come for various reasons), correct? I was blindsided by that, and my guess is Disney found that decision to be surprising.

They did say they will limit capacity but didn't give numbers.

 

[dmband]

This won’t work for us. We have military tickets. Disney’s policy on those is that we have to deal directly with where we purchased them from as they are considered a “vendor” which I don’t buy because what other vendor’s tickets are advertised on Disney’s website? Our only option is to get them converted to tickets for next year and pay the difference when/if they come out again in Sept/Oct. So yes I agree they are flexible in most situations but not ours

Imo Disney should be extending ALL tickets for at least a year AND for the same cost originally purchased.
Teachers, Military and such can’t just reschedule by 12/15 and as more and more time goes by, that “extension” is less and less time, ie not that impressive.
Then they say you can still get credit for the ticket but now pay us more as the price has changed.

Should also honor someone’s discount, imo.
if you booked a room via a 15% code, that code should be good for an extender period of time.

10k in hand by honoring prices is better than 0 because you trying and milk an extra 1k.
good will pr

 

[cakebaker]

Should also honor someone’s discount, imo.
if you booked a room via a 15% code, that code should be good for an extender period of time.

In our case, we’re booked using a 40% off AP discount. If they don’t open by July 9, that goes away. That alone will cause us to cancel. The price difference is huge on our resorts for the length of time we’re staying and no way they’re going to extend it to a new reservation.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Imo Disney should be extending ALL tickets for at least a year AND for the same cost originally purchased.
Teachers, Military and such can’t just reschedule by 12/15 and as more and more time goes by, that “extension” is less and less time, ie not that impressive.
Then they say you can still get credit for the ticket but now pay us more as the price has changed.

Should also honor someone’s discount, imo.
if you booked a room via a 15% code, that code should be good for an extender period of time.

It would sure make things a lot simpler if they stated tickets purchased for dates parks are not open would turn non expiry.

I’m wondering if there will be an adjustment to December 15th once they know when they’re actually opening. That date was picked months ago and things have obviously changed since.

 

[atricks]

And THAT will be interesting to see. Media coverage of tons of people being tur1ned away from Universal will not be a good look for them and something Disney, I assume, will be watching closely.

I don't think that will be much of a problem, even if they close 1 of their parks to capacity, they can shuffle to the other, they could do things like treat all tickets like a multipark/hopper until capacity is normal. It'll be treated like holiday phase closures (or capacity limits at stores) where they stop letting people in until enough people exit, then start letting folks back in. So at worst you have to hang around until enough folks leave. Volcano bay often fills up during the summer too in normal times (Watch weather radar and for thunderstorms to time going there right when the thunderstorm dissipates).

They have added virtual queues to A LOT of their rides in the Universal mobile app within the last few days that didn't have them before, and that's something you can check out right now. If there's a silver lining, this is probably going to be a permanent change even if things go back to "normal".

 

[MaC410]

The majority of people that think its over are the ones that also think it never began. There are a lot of people, like myself, that know how real and dangerous this virus is, but also know that its either live inside for the next 2-3 years, or move on with their lives and know its out there and to stay vigilant. A vaccine isnt coming to save us, not anytime soon, no matter how hard the possibility of one is being shoved into our heads by the media

I agree with what you are saying. We need to be able to move on with our lives. It's just, my own personal vigilance only goes so far. This is something we all need to stay vigilant together for. We are already seeing people not care about things like wearing a mask and something like that doesn't just affect themselves it affects others. Obviously there's nothing we can do about people who refuse to care about others but it's just concerning.

 

[xuxa777]

If Disney is holding back opening the parks for the NBA, lets just say there will be some management shakeups. Chapek will not be CEO for long if that is the case. This is why I think the whole NBA thing is way overblown regarding to park opening.

With news getting better and numbers still trending down, with no indications of it changing, being closed at while Universal even though smaller can figure it out will look worse optically every day.

Just this week a study showed no infection from asymptomatic case spread from people exposed for long periods of time to that asymptotic case. Hopefully we will learn more info like this. Very promising and will make opening even easier.

Tokyo Disney should open real soon as well, they are probably going to drop state of emergency in the next few days, and they had a loose lockdown at best, with businesses still staying open.

 

[dmband]

They did say they will limit capacity but didn't give numbers.

Word is MK capacity is around 95k.
We don’t know general day averages but what people seem to forget is 50% of 95k is still a lot.
I don’t think the limited capacity will be as “uncrowded“ as some think and that’s coming from a person who has been at MK many times when it was closed down to phase 3
Of course hitting capacity will be easier but as long as all parks are open it shouldn’t be a huge issue most days

 

[Mit88]

I agree with what you are saying. We need to be able to move on with our lives. It's just, my own personal vigilance only goes so far. This is something we all need to stay vigilant together for. We are already seeing people not care about things like wearing a mask and something like that doesn't just affect themselves it affects others. Obviously there's nothing we can do about people who refuse to care about others but it's just concerning.

Absolutely there are concerns with what other people will do. There are a large portion of people that theres no amount of convincing that will have them put on a face covering, and to a point, thats their right. But its also the right of businesses not to let them in. I personally havent seen anyone without a mask on in my 4 trips to the grocery store, but I see people while I’m walking my dog without wearing one. Those cases I’m not too worried about as our street isnt filled with people so theres really not much of a necessity to wear one. I’d love it if everyone could come to solidarity and do this one thing for the betterment of the entire community, but its just unrealistic, unfortunately. Its just best to attempt to avoid the ones not following the guidelines, though at times its tough to.

Word is MK capacity is around 95k.
We don’t know general day averages but what people seem to forget is 50% of 95k is still a lot.
I don’t think the limited capacity will be as “uncrowded“ as some think and that’s coming from a person who has been at MK many times when it was closed down to phase 3
Of course hitting capacity will be easier but as long as all parks are open it shouldn’t be a huge issue most days

This is what I thought a few weeks ago, but was corrected. Yes, the number is rumored to be around 95-100k, but thats never been, and likely never will be a confirmed number. But its also not a good number to base capacity levels on as the average day at MK only sees about 40-50k people. So in all likelihood their capacity limit would be based on that number, and not necessarily the ~90k number. So a 50% limit would be more like 25k, which is still a lot of people, but theyd easily be able to obtain that number if they desired. It will probably be around 18-20k to start, depending on when they reopen.