Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[LSUmiss]

Question - to those cancelling trips this summer due to the mandatory mask rule, where are you coming from? I’m from Massachusetts where the expectation is you don’t leave your house to walk your dog without wearing a mask. So this whole mandatory mask thing literally is no different than what we are dealing with right now, plus the uncomfortable Florida heat added to it. But I get that and am prepared for that extra element.

I’m interested in understanding if people cancelling due to this are from states where mask use is more flexible or not as vastly used.

I’m in New Orleans & it’s up to businesses to decide on masks & I would say it’s about 60/40 here. Newly opened up things likes salons are 100%, but things like Target & Walmart are about 60/40 (at best) NO masks. There were a lot more ppl with them before it got hot. And ppl rip them off as soon as they walk outside no matter what business it is. I think that’s what I have the issue with is wearing them outside in wdw or anywhere. Seems like overkill. Very few ppl wear them outside here especially when they’re able to social distance themselves.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

Seriously. For the first time in two months, yesterday I didn’t disinfect my groceries when I came home. It was liberating. Hoping the latest findings from the CDC are correct, and my groceries aren’t actually going to kill me.

I’m eager to watch from afar to see how everything goes at WDW!

Same here this morning - I was able to put things away so much faster!!! Find joy in the small things!

 

[Karin1984]

And more news from Disneyland Paris. France has announced some easing of measures. They work with zones in France, green, orange and red. The Paris area was changed from red to orange. This means they could technically reopen from June 22nd. No news yet if they will.

In Green zones from June 2nd schools, restaurants, bars, shows, sporthalls, swimming pools can reopen. In the orange zones the businesses have to wait till June 22nd.
Also the restriction to don't travel more than 100km (60 miles)

As Disneyland Paris has a very small Downtown Disney (Disney Village ), and it's over an hour outiside of the city, I expect Disneyland Paris to reopen with Disneyland Park and Disney Village at the same time. I suspect The Studios will open later, due to the combination of many refurbishments and shows, there is only a handful of rides left.


As a coincidence I decided to call today, to a. see if I could upgrade from a value to a moderate resort (unfortunately not) for my September visit, and b. I've splurged on the Disneyland Hotel for a visit in October one of the bigger family rooms, with a terrace! I'm so excited! So I can't go to Disneyland Anaheim, DisneyWorld and my Disney Cruise as planned, but I'm sure going to catch up on my visits to DLP ;-) I had 2 trips cancelled for DLP in March and May.

 

[jenjersnap]

I assumed water parks were closed due to staffing issues. Aren’t the lifeguards mostly CP?

 

[Mit88]

These increasingly frequent games of operational change or It update are starting to really bum me out!

I'm looking forward to more official news. I'm genuinely curious how they are going to handle everything.

Remember, it’s not “official” until DeSantis signs off on it. Even though its going to get passed, they can’t really get into deep detail until it’s officially approved. Just like Universal didn’t make an official announcement until DeSantis signed the proposal

 

[casaya95]

For our trip (July 15-22), we booked a room on Hotel Plaza Blvd just in case the Disney resorts don't open how we want them to. Should be interesting to see how that all shakes out.

 

[casaya95]

I assumed water parks were closed due to staffing issues. Aren’t the lifeguards mostly CP?

I can speak for BB, where it's about 50/50, but for other areas like QS, the vast majority of CMs are PT/FT.

 

[tlmadden73]

and a cautionary tale not to base "new" WDW demand on July 11 and 15. Will be lots of people wanting to be able to say they were there on day 1.

They people that want to be there day 1 are probably vloggers or travel agents and will probably be invited to a "media preview" a day or two before.

 

[Sandiz08]

Does anyone think it’s possible non dvc resorts stay closed through July?

 

[indylaw99]

On a lighter subject, which is tough for me sometimes, I am amazed at the efficiency of DVC members. Availability has been tight for the foreseeable future at WDW. Then I decided to check my dashboard for availability 30 minutes after the July 11th date was announced....every resort was WIDE open prior to the July 11th date, where they were booked solid for the longest time.

I'd just like to say, well done, that really impressed me how on top of and passionate people are about the parks and not necessarily staycations at Resorts.

I was one of those!! I was watching the livestream of the Task Force and as soon as they announced the date, I was already moving my July 5 trip to July 26 (the only week my family can go before my daughter leaves for college).

I've seen a lot of people talking about how they don't understand how anyone would go to Disney with everything being scaled back so much. We're DVC and AP and I will admit there are trips where we literally do 3 FP in the morning, have a nice lunch somewhere, then go back to our room and nap and hang out. Then head out somewhere (back into a park, Disney Springs, Boardwalk, etc) to have a nice dinner. We have enough Southwest points not to pay for our flights. DVC for our room. Annual Passes we paid for in February. Taking aside safety issues (which is a completely different conversation), we'll get our money's worth in only really paying for food and a rental car. Just smelling the Disney smells....seeing our favorite sights...being in our favorite hotel (that of course we call "home") will hopefully be enough to scratch our Disney itch until we can go back again.

 

[jenjersnap]

The app shows nothing for me either, but the website says "We cannot display your FastPass+ details right now. You can still add or modify other plans." (Sorry can't screenshot)

I have had that message pretty frequently the past few years and they have always re-appeared. Fingers crossed for usual IT problems.

 

[Mal6586]

Remember, it’s not “official” until DeSantis signs off on it. Even though its going to get passed, they can’t really get into deep detail until it’s officially approved. Just like Universal didn’t make an official announcement until DeSantis signed the proposal

Do you have any idea of how soon that will happen? Wasn't it just a couple of days later for Universal?

 

[andyman8]

I could list them all off, but then you’d respond how it’s all safety, then I’d give you all the reasons it’s not.

But, here’s 1- a water park. There is no proof that water parks are more risky open than theme parks. In fact, they’re probably safer. They aren’t keeping them closed for safety’s sake.

But here’s the thing - don’t you think they could be watching to see what happens with Volcano Bay? Perhaps we will see a water park announcement before July 11. Is it a sure thing that they won’t open a water park up?

There are a number of reasons the water parks are not reopening with the parks. The three main ones are logistics, safety, and cost.

Logistically, that's a lot to handle. Bringing four parks online within five days is no easy undertaking. Most didn't expect it to happen that quickly, and I can tell you that was not the original plan. The current plan seems to be to draw staffing from many of the still-closed areas (mainly the shuttered water parks and resorts) to fill roles that were left vacant with the suspension of the DCP and the Disney International Programs. They aren't operating with a full workforce upon reopening, so they need allocate and distribute their current labor capital to where it is most needed. This is a temporary solution until Disney feels safe bringing back CPs and IPs.

Safety-wise, there are still some unanswered concerns. For one, Cory Martin of the DIS Unplugged podcast brought up a valid point about social distancing in areas like wave pools. An even larger concern is Florida's summer weather patterns. With the typical afternoon thunderstorm, Disney doesn't seem to know how they'd responsibly promote social distancing when everyone needs to seek shelter for safety. Neither of the Disney Water Parks are built with the indoor capacity for the whole park on a regular day, let alone when everyone needs six feet of space. They'd have to limit capacity to the point where there are questions about even breaking even. Disney decided early on they were going to take a very cautious approach to any sort of reopening. They are in the for the long haul. Within Disney, any large set of cases linked to WDW is viewed as the worst case scenario. It's not only their largest resort (that generates the most money) but it also gets the most media attention of any of their parks. Its reopening proposal led the front page of CNN.com yesterday. There are still TWDC executives who get chills thinking about the Measles outbreak at DLR a few years ago; this would be much, much worse.

Finally, finances are part of the equation as well. Disney is a business after all, and the business losses they've suffered this year are historic for the Company. I wouldn't put these cuts in the same bucket as I might put the annual entertainment cuts. Disney is still hemredging money right now, and even though they have sort of a roadmap to reopening for their largest resort, they are going to be recovering from the tremendous losses for some time. The water parks will absolutely return; it's just a matter of when. I put it in the same bucket as keeping some of the Disney Resorts closed for some time. They'll absolutely reopen at some point; it's just a matter when the economics make sense.

Well these people wont be able to get in “Day 1“ Unless they have a reservation now

I do think there's going to be a lot upset bloggers/vloggers/lifestylers that they won't be able to get in on opening day. Disney will likely try to curtail some of that with a "media" preview day, but many of these folks will also want to be there on the official reopening day.

 

[casaya95]

Do you have any idea of how soon that will happen? Wasn't it just a couple of days later for Universal?

I would expect to see approval by the end of the week, but that's just speculation on my part.

 

[Krandor]

I had a great set of passes booked for my whole trip in July. Here's to hoping it's just a conversion thing vs. jacking systems up without communicating the details of the plan.

If they are making changes to how FPs work I'm sure they'll communite them once the work is complete

 

[StephenM84]

July 18-24th and my fast passes are gone as well.

I was already assuming they would stop the FP system. At this point I have FP for rides during hours the parks are closed, I have prepark 8am reservations for park openings at 11am now, etc...

I'm at the point if they plan on doing dinning and fast passes they should reset the entire system and everyone starts fresh 30 days out now.

 

[Mit88]

Do you have any idea of how soon that will happen? Wasn't it just a couple of days later for Universal?

Should be either today or tomorrow, I believe DeSantis signed off on Universal the Saturday morning after their proposal on Thursday. I wouldnt expect any major announcements in regards to more details for Disney until at least next week. I think they’ll give a little detail sprinkled over the next few weeks

 

[SheHulk]

People with July 11th reservations, are you keeping them? I'm really torn because if I had to pick 2 parks to do for an entire trip, I wouldn't pick MK & AK. I'm at a Skyliner resort too, which just makes it seem even more pointless, haha. On the other hand, it's a fun thought that I'd be there on the day they reopen. I will be really bummed at no SWGE, though.

Our arrival day is July 11, staying until the 16th. We go quite a bit with our younger DS but older DS still hasn't seen SW:GE and that is the only reason he is coming this time. We are keeping our reservations for now but if we don't get an "advance reservation" to get into HS on one of our 2 days it will be open, or if for some reason that section isn't open, we will cancel.

Also we will be keeping our eyes on COVID numbers both where we live and in FL, and see how Universal is going. We don't mind canceling last minute because we don't intend to fly.

 

[jsand99]

Question - to those cancelling trips this summer due to the mandatory mask rule, where are you coming from? I’m from Massachusetts where the expectation is you don’t leave your house to walk your dog without wearing a mask. So this whole mandatory mask thing literally is no different than what we are dealing with right now, plus the uncomfortable Florida heat added to it. But I get that and am prepared for that extra element.

I’m interested in understanding if people cancelling due to this are from states where mask use is more flexible or not as vastly used.

I'm from South Carolina, right on the Georgia border. I have to go to Kroger and find an employee to see someone wearing a mask. And half of them have it down on their chin. All businesses here are open, restaurant dining rooms are open, people are having birthday parties, pool parties, etc. It's pretty much like February here.

 

[zumfelde]

Where did they say that? I turned in to the various meetings/interviews yesterday and didn't hear them say that you were required to wear a mask in the pool area.

DVC said all common areas at resort.