Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[jerry557]

The general public is not sitting on the edge of their seats awaiting a decision by Disney. To think they are going to bow to public pressure to open is absurd. There is not public pressure. Most people not on this thread are not concerned in the least.

There is pressure from stockholders, DVC owners, and people with reservations in June and July who are not being told anything when the executives know full well whether they will open at all in June or not. These rolling cancellations with no information is really rubbing people the wrong way. And if they are going to prioritize the NBA deal over everyone else (which they seem to be doing), that's going to really get people upset.

This whole thing has not been handled well at all. First in March they cancelled people and offered them the dining package if they reschedule in June. Then they take until the end of May to start cancelling June reservations when they've known for weeks they were not going to open June 1. Sure its understandable that this is an unprecedented time. But the lack of information is unacceptable. Universal said in April they will likely be closed at least through May 31. They are opening to the public on June 5. So they got pretty close to their estimate. Disney in April just said "closed until further notice" and slowly cancelled one week at a time stringing everyone along.

If they don't think they can logistically and safely reopen before August, then say so!

 

[Cfiiitz]

Why are some people so confident that Disney knows the reopen date?? I don’t think there is anything to indicate this other than some government officials indicating that they have “indications” Disney will be presenting a “plan” this week.
Let me throw this out there - what if, on April 1st Disney has said “no more bookings and we are canceling all bookings for the summer”. All the hard planned ADRs and FPS were canceled. People cancelled flights and made other plans. Or even if they said “no more reservations until we know for sure!” Then, on June 1st they said “ok we have more information we are opening June 20th. Surprise!” People would be annoyed then too! Complaining that they had wanted to move their trip to June 20th but they weren’t allowed. How dare Disney not give them advance notice. Now they can’t book FPs or the FPs they had aren’t as good. Disney can’t win.
So they went with a compromise - said they were closed indefinitely. Incentivized rebookings for a time when it might be considered reasonable for them to reopen. But have offered to refund in full if they are cancelled.
Circumstances are changing daily in my boring life. I can’t imagine how they are changing for the parks division of an international corporation who have to organize and try to ensure some level for safety for tens of thousands of staff and guests.
I don’t think they know the date.
(yes, I acknowledge this is different for APs and for DVC. But if you purchased tickets two weeks ago with full knowledge of the uncertainty I don’t think you can complain. That’s like throwing your money into a burning building and then complaining because you assumed the fire department would put it out on time... or something)
I don’t think they know the date.

 

[wendow]

I feel your pain-
I have planned 3 trips now
This will be our 4th.
It takes time and gets disheartening.

Same! I've cancelled 3 trips due to covid. Planning a late July trip and I'm excited but the enthusiasm just isn't there as much as when I planned the others. If I have to cancel July, I'm pretty sure we are sitting out Disney for a long while. I've spent way too much time planning trips that continue to not happen.

 

[Julie Amber]

Since other parks are open or planned to be open such as Universal, Lagoon in Utah, Efteling, I think it's safe to say that WDW will open pretty soon.

Zoos in Utah have been open for a while, Mount Rushmore hasn't closed throughout all this and Rapids City and Deadwood welcome tourist to come stay in hotels and gamble.

I can't see why other parks/attractions would justify not opening. Just my observations.

I'm in Utah, and my friends went to Lagoon amusement park today. They said that masks were only required near the exit/entry areas and then just social distancing. It's fascinating to see how different amusement parks are adapting and planning for their reopening. I'm planning on going to Lagoon myself in a few weeks.

Hopefully by the time I get to Disney in Sept, we'll be in a similar rule realm

 

[Derrrit]

I'm in Utah, and my friends went to Lagoon amusement park today. They said that masks were only required near the exit/entry areas and then just social distancing. It's fascinating to see how different amusement parks are adapting and planning for their reopening. I'm planning on going to Lagoon myself in a few weeks.

Hopefully by the time I get to Disney in Sept, we'll be in a similar rule realm

Yes lagoon appears to not enforce the mask that much even though it is mandated to enter the park. Holiday World and SilverWood aren't requiring mask. I don't know how you would wear a mask in a water park but Volcano bay is also opening along with the Universal Orlando Resort.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Ikspirari at Tokyo Disneyland (their version of Disney Spring/Downtown Disney) set to reopen on June 1st


https://tdrexplorer.com/ikspirari-reopening-tokyo-disney-resort/

 

[andyman8]

The policies somewhat contradict each other as you head into July payments as, though you have until 7 days prior to PIF, the 30-day cancellation seems to kick back in for check-ins starting July 1. WDW definitely needs to either make an announcement or get these policies to jive again by the end of this month.

My understanding is that, with any domestic Walt Disney Travel package, you are only in “penalty phase” (i.e financial penalty for cancellation or changes resulting in lower package price) when you are within your final payment window. By automatically reducing the final payment window to 7 days prior to arrival, they are therefore reducing that “penalty phase” to 7 days before arrival as well. If that’s the case (which I’m 99% sure it is) and given that Disney has been canceling reservations about 3 weeks out, nobody has been reaching “penalty phase,” which therefore makes the June 30 policy moot. Clear as mud haha? It does boggle the mind why Disney hasn’t updated their site with this information or why they haven’t put out some sort of statement (beyond the one sent to TAs) clarifying. I thought WDW initially handled this whole thing wonderfully, but as their initial plans have fallen through, it seems that they haven’t been able to continue that clear, consistent communication.

 

[andyman8]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265245835530510336

I thought it was funny that this was announced on Disney-owned Good Morning America. Also thought it was interesting that they’re using that infrared temperature scanning camera like SDL.

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265251336443949059

 

[DisneyWishes14]

My understanding is that, with any domestic Walt Disney Travel package, you are only in “penalty phase” (i.e financial penalty for cancellation or changes resulting in lower package price) when you are within your final payment window. By automatically reducing the final payment window to 7 days prior to arrival, they are therefore reducing that “penalty phase” to 7 days before arrival as well. If that’s the case (which I’m 99% sure it is) and given that Disney has been canceling reservations about 3 weeks out, nobody has been reaching “penalty phase,” which therefore makes the June 30 policy moot. Clear as mud haha? It does boggle the mind why Disney hasn’t updated their site with this information or why they haven’t put out some sort of statement (beyond the one sent to TAs) clarifying. I thought WDW initially handled this whole thing wonderfully, but as their initial plans have fallen through, it seems that they haven’t been able to continue that clear, consistent communication.

I think publishing this information would immensely lower the stress level of people with packages currently booked. Yes, why they don't communicate this boggles the mind.

 

[Jiminy76]

Why are some people so confident that Disney knows the reopen date?? I don’t think there is anything to indicate this other than some government officials indicating that they have “indications” Disney will be presenting a “plan” this week.
Let me throw this out there - what if, on April 1st Disney has said “no more bookings and we are canceling all bookings for the summer”. All the hard planned ADRs and FPS were canceled. People cancelled flights and made other plans. Or even if they said “no more reservations until we know for sure!” Then, on June 1st they said “ok we have more information we are opening June 20th. Surprise!” People would be annoyed then too! Complaining that they had wanted to move their trip to June 20th but they weren’t allowed. How dare Disney not give them advance notice. Now they can’t book FPs or the FPs they had aren’t as good. Disney can’t win.
So they went with a compromise - said they were closed indefinitely. Incentivized rebookings for a time when it might be considered reasonable for them to reopen. But have offered to refund in full if they are cancelled.
Circumstances are changing daily in my boring life. I can’t imagine how they are changing for the parks division of an international corporation who have to organize and try to ensure some level for safety for tens of thousands of staff and guests.
I don’t think they know the date.
(yes, I acknowledge this is different for APs and for DVC. But if you purchased tickets two weeks ago with full knowledge of the uncertainty I don’t think you can complain. That’s like throwing your money into a burning building and then complaining because you assumed the fire department would put it out on time... or something)
I don’t think they know the date.

Yes I do not believe they have a hard opening date as it is a moving target, but I do believe at any time they can at least say they are not opening up within the next month or so given the information on hand. From the very beginning we knew there would not be a vaccine in place for quite some time and if they were uncomfortable or unable to run the parks under the reduced capacity, increased cleaning, masks and social distancing. I believe they should have been more transparent from the beginning instead of stringing people along and canceling week by week. Yes, if they would of announced a solid date prolonged closure in the beginning such as all of the summer there would have been an uproar, but it would have gradually subsided. This week by week approach just keeps the frustrations going and there is never any resolution and people keep re-booking for a month or two in the future and holding out hope the next reservation will not be canceled. The free dining deal in my opinion was not responsible of Disney to offer such a deal when they had no idea of when they would be able to open. That was a guest recovery fail in every sense IMHO.

At this point we have 6 months left in the year and reservations for 2021 are not open at least on the WDW website. At this point I think they would be better off canceling all cash reservations in 2020. Given what they have been hinting at with experiences changing and such it is apparent the normal planning we do for a Disney vacation such as dining reservations, fast passes and such will greatly change under and new opening conditions. I would think if they simply canceled all reservations and when they were ready to open they would formally announce and start accepting new reservations it would make it easier on them as they can have all the new planning needs in place at booking and would not have to go through all the changes one by one. For instance if they do indeed require reservations for each park this can be incorporated from the beginning on the reservation process instead making people continue to make fast passes and dining reservations knowing these will all have to be changed or canceled at a later date. It just does not make any sense and is only making things harder on Disney's end and making customers angry as they have to continue to play the planning game only to see the reservation end up canceled. More than likely even when they do open it is more than likely any fast passes or dining reservations will be cancelled or greatly modified.

I hope Disney uses this as an opportunity to change the WDW trip planning process going forward, as the 180 days dining reservations and the 60 day fast pass reservation is difficult under normal circumstances to plan. I hope this has opened their eyes and they now see the need to uncomplicated the planning process as any disruptions can create major issues.Whether it is virtual queues, the Disneyland Max Pass or even the old paper fast passes are better than the current fast pass system in regards to having to make operations changes on Disney's end. The current planning they require does not give them much room to make changes on their end.

 

[snappy]

To open no, to announce what they're going to do or a time period that they know theu won't be open, or an opening date...would be considerate. The stringing ppl along week by week is the part ppl. are fed up with.

Brings to mind “death by a thousand cuts.”

 

[xuxa777]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265251336443949059

Lofty goals from my experience with the staffing at Six Flags, but good on them

 

[Jiminy76]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265245835530510336

I thought it was funny that this was announced on Disney-owned Good Morning America. Also thought it was interesting that they’re using that infrared temperature scanning camera like SDL.

Yes saw that as well this morning and thought it was pretty ironic seeing it on ABC.

 

[cakebaker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265245835530510336

I thought it was funny that this was announced on Disney-owned Good Morning America. Also thought it was interesting that they’re using that infrared temperature scanning camera like SDL.

I live about 1 1/2 hrs from Frontier City. Hands down, the worst amusement park I've ever been to. Six Flags bought the owners out last year and I had hoped it would improve. It didn't, it got worse. Rides are down constantly, staff is rude and it's a miserable all around experience. The last time I went, every headliner was down (and I use the term headliner very loosely) and their registers were down most of the day. That meant for AP holders (I was at the time) who had a meal pkg ( I did) could not get food or drinks even though it was pre-paid. They weren't even handing out water and this was in Oklahoma, in July, temps hitting the 100 plus mark. If you wanted a drink, you stood in line at one of the few water fountains they have. Went home, cancelled my AP and never went back. They do have a nice little mini-water park area with a couple of nice slides, but not worth putting up with the conditions to go to. It's a horrid place. I wouldn't count on them actually doing anything they say they're doing and in this state, there is no oversight in re-opening. They're free to do whatever they want.

 

[Sadeesmom]

I don’t understand why people are being so hard on Disney for not knowing exactly what to do in a situation that literally NO ONE has experienced before.
I had an April vacation booked (non-Disney). It was canceled with a week’s notice and they $750 of my paid in full balance and still have not refunded the difference.
I had a June Disney vacation booked. They canceled with three weeks notice, and I already have 100% of my money back.
The difference in these two companies? It made me much more likely to rebook with Disney who has been more understanding of the unprecedented situation and is trying to go with the flow. (In fact, I’ve already rescheduled for July but will likely postpone as I would like for my nephew’s first trip to have character meals and meet & greets, and I don’t see that happening for several months)
I read their response as a company who is trying to open as soon as safely possible and disappoint as few customers as they can.

What would you rather they do? No matter what they say or do, people will criticize it, so of course they’re staying quiet. They’re working with a week at a time so as to keep as many reservations as they can. They’re canceling DVC later than cash reservations because they’re probably going to open DVC properties sooner.
There is no perfect answer or plan right now and people in general need to learn to be more empathetic.

All just my personal opinion of course.

 

[The Pho]

News

Six Flags will be reopening their first park on June 5th. Frontier City.

https://www.thestreet.com/.amp/investing/six-flags-oklahoma-city-to-reopen-in-june

 

[tlmadden73]

I hope Disney uses this as an opportunity to change the WDW trip planning process going forward, as the 180 days dining reservations and the 60 day fast pass reservation is difficult under normal circumstances to plan. I hope this has opened their eyes and they now see the need to uncomplicated the planning process as any disruptions can create major issues.Whether it is virtual queues, the Disneyland Max Pass or even the old paper fast passes are better than the current fast pass system in regards to having to make operations changes on Disney's end. The current planning they require does not give them much room to make changes on their end.

This and virtual queues would be a great positive to the WDW experience that comes from this. Disney probably is a lot bigger mess on how to handle re-opening because of all the reservations people have made a half year or more ago. That's a lot of deposits Disney had in its bank they need to make sure they have cash on hand to refund. Plus just dealing with upset guests because all these well-laid plans are now blown to bits.

Universal, (despite having a few resort hotels) doesn't seem to have that issue and why they just are opening up so soon.

Unfortunately, I think we will see a lot of negatives too .. like the push to more mobile ordering, which would encourage Disney to just hire less people (less people needed to take orders). Or having to make reservations to go to a certain park on a certain day. Or a move to "morning" and "afternoon" tickets to spread out crowds .. etc.

And hopefully, intrusive things like temperature checks won't become a norm.

 

[cakebaker]

News

Six Flags will be reopening their first park on June 5th. Frontier City.

https://www.thestreet.com/.amp/investing/six-flags-oklahoma-city-to-reopen-in-june

I'd put them up against any other amusement park in the country as the worst there is. Their plans sound good, they aren't going to actually do them. You'd have to live here to know just how bad they are.

 

[DisneyElite4]

I live about 1 1/2 hrs from Frontier City. Hands down, the worst amusement park I've ever been to. Six Flags bought the owners out last year and I had hoped it would improve. It didn't, it got worse. Rides are down constantly, staff is rude and it's a miserable all around experience. The last time I went, every headliner was down (and I use the term headliner very loosely) and their registers were down most of the day. That meant for AP holders (I was at the time) who had a meal pkg ( I did) could not get food or drinks even though it was pre-paid. They weren't even handing out water and this was in Oklahoma, in July, temps hitting the 100 plus mark. If you wanted a drink, you stood in line at one of the few water fountains they have. Went home, cancelled my AP and never went back. They do have a nice little mini-water park area with a couple of nice slides, but not worth putting up with the conditions to go to. It's a horrid place. I wouldn't count on them actually doing anything they say they're doing and in this state, there is no oversight in re-opening. They're free to do whatever they want.

I can confirm all of this. I live in OKC - we have been season pass holders to this park for years, because my kids love it. They will most likely enforce very little of this. As cakebaker said, you’d have to live here to understand. The employees and guests alike won’t follow these rules.