Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Eric Smith]

Its amazing how Universal is handling things much better. Just cause it's Disney people won't keep coming. Its sad that the top brass think so.

Except it will. Universal isn’t as large as Disney, doesn’t have the number of attractions, doesn’t have nearly the quality of dining and doesn’t have nearly as good of theming. Universal hadn’t announced anything a month before they reopened. They announced their reopening on May 21 for a June 5 reopening. People have really short memories. Universal didn’t really put out a ton of info until about a week out. They didn’t announce that their hotels would be opening until within a week.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Remember what happened last time they incentivized rescheduling? Free dining if you rescheduled for summer? That was a terrible mistake.

The covid situation is still too precarious. They’re not going to incentivize rebooking if they don’t even know if they can deliver what they’re offering. What if there’s a major outbreak among CMs and they have to close? What if there’s a huge spike in cases in November, or or or or? I think they already learned their lesson on incentivizing rebooking. Future is still too uncertain.

Okay but there are ways to do it that would work better. Think of it like airlines that give vouchers for getting bumped.

If they take voluntary re-schedules.....let's say into 2021. Voluntary re-schedules into 2021....they give you 4 5 day hoppers to be used anytime between now and 2030. Or a $500 gift card which you can then use on a subsequent visit.

Sure, the dining plan thing was a cluster. But, remember, with that, they were driving people to stay sooner. They capped it at September 30th. If they would have lengthened the re-scheduling window, likely many people would have re-scheduled further out, perhaps dining plan may have been back by next year, and there would have been a lot fewer people to deal with. Yes, it was a cluster, BUT....there could be other ways to do it.

 

[skeeter31]

Except it will. Universal isn’t as large as Disney, doesn’t have the number of attractions, doesn’t have nearly the quality of dining and doesn’t have nearly as good of theming. Universal hadn’t announced anything a month before they reopened. They announced their reopening on May 21 for a June 5 reopening. People have really short memories. Universal didn’t really put out a ton of info until about a week out. They didn’t announce that their hotels would be opening until within a week.

I agree that Disney will be fine in the long run, but UO could afford to make announcements closer to opening as they’re not a destination that’s built upon needing to plan everything beginning 6 months prior to the vacation. Going to be a much harder adjustment for people used to planning everything so far in advance.

 

[Ariel 1715]

Except it will. Universal isn’t as large as Disney, doesn’t have the number of attractions, doesn’t have nearly the quality of dining and doesn’t have nearly as good of theming. Universal hadn’t announced anything a month before they reopened. They announced their reopening on May 21 for a June 5 reopening. People have really short memories. Universal didn’t really put out a ton of info until about a week out. They didn’t announce that their hotels would be opening until within a week.

I agree, you cant compare apples to oranges and Disney and Universal are very different!

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Only thing is if I can’t get park reservations for all my days, I might cancel so I would like to know ASAP. Also, for us, we are staying in a cash reservation at a DVC resort so don’t expect to be moved. My other big question is pools. Ugh!

Those are completely legitimate concerns that I am sure many echo. However, I think there are probably more people on cash reservations outside of DVC resorts than in them, which is why I feel the non-DVC resorts piece is so important. Also, I would think the resort moves (if they continue) could/will lead to a lot more cancellations, so it would make sense to get at least the early batch of those out of the way before letting all of those people (many of whom may cancel) clog up the park reservation system.

 

[Breezy2]

We had planned/hoped to have a couple of nice meals on our trip— Jiko and Cali Grill. Both of those look unlikely since we are there 7/5-7/13, before most of the parks are open.

I hope it works out for you. We are staying at The Fort the first week of September and Disney cancelled all our dining reservations. Starting to look like the DW strategy for guests is little to no advance planning and major changes to the way we plan trips. Foreseeing requirement to be on-site before any planning takes place just like ROTR Boarding Groups. They were giving us a big clue into the future with that one.

 

[yulilin3]

Except it will. Universal isn’t as large as Disney, doesn’t have the number of attractions, doesn’t have nearly the quality of dining and doesn’t have nearly as good of theming. Universal hadn’t announced anything a month before they reopened. They announced their reopening on May 21 for a June 5 reopening. People have really short memories. Universal didn’t really put out a ton of info until about a week out. They didn’t announce that their hotels would be opening until within a week.

The difference is that universal has never encouraged their guests to plan months ahead of time, and i understand this is a new world but they should know their guests expect a level of communication that has simply not been there and with each announcement the restrictions keep coming with not a lot of "magic" involved.
As to lack of theming and lower food quality you clearly have not visited IOA, actually built by imagineers with the same level of detail.
But that's ok cause we all know where you stand on the universal property
Disney should be more forth coming, universal stopped taking reservations when they knew the parks and hotels wouldn't open, and reopened them only when they knew they could
Universal kept constant communication with their guests, actually being able to solve problems
And for the obvious comeback that Disney is a bigger property, that is true but that's by their own design, if you continue to take guests money you should at least provide a clearer path forward

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I don’t think its all on Disney. I think there are still people who haven’t let go of the idea of what a Disney vacation looked like before this. These people are going to be upset no matter when Disney says something or what they say. I see it in every Disney group I’m in and it kind of blows me away how people think they’re going to go and pretty much do it all like normal just in a mask. I think there is a small minority of people planning on going this summer who actually seem to realize it possibly will be limited compared to before and are okay with it. Near everyone else keeps on waiting for Disney to announce its all coming back mid July like normal. They want to know they can eat in their favourite restaurants, stay where they’re booked, resort hop, get on all their favourites like they would have with FP, etc. It’s particularly bad on Facebook groups where people don’t seem to eat sleep and breathing the rumours like we do here.

I get it, partially. So many people have decided they pandemic is over, so what the heck is Disney’s hold up?? I want my vacation! Even as someone who very much believes this is not over, its hard to grasp that Disney really will be different for a time after it opens. I can’t imagine it’s easier for someone who thinks it’s an issue that’s behind us.

 

[AmberMV]

The difference is that universal has never encouraged their guests to plan months ahead of time, and i understand this is a new world but they should know their guests expect a level of communication that has simply not been there and with each announcement the restrictions keep coming with not a lot of "magic" involved.
As to lack of theming and lower food quality you clearly have not visited IOA, actually built by imagineers with the same level of detail.
But that's ok cause we all know where you stand on the universal property
Disney should be more forth coming, universal stopped taking reservations when they knew the parks and hotels wouldn't open, and reopened them only when they knew they could
Universal kept constant communication with their guests, actually being able to solve problems
And for the obvious comeback that Disney is a bigger property, that is true but that's by their own design, if you continue to take guests money you should at least provide a clearer path forward

That and also the very first communication about new reservations for their resorts was announced for June 1 waaaaay ahead of their actual park reopening announcement they made at the May task force meeting...and they stuck to it.

 

[MrsSmith07]

Where is @Remy is Up ?? I'm starting to imagine Remy in Disney jail somewhere under MK. Or the "Soon" isn't panning out and they just don't want to have to face us? But, you need to come back! You were our Disney dealer and we need our fix.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I will say this....as someone with both a WDW vacation and a DCL vacation....

The level of communication from DCL makes WDW's information seem like Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Seriously. Think of the communication from Disney on operations. Think of the low bar. Now go below that by about half. And there you have DCL.

 

[CastAStone]

I mean they have IT issues each time they've done ap/dvc previews, that's just a small amount of what im sure they expect for a whole, 4 park reservation system.
They have issues when they release free dining or any other bookable thing

I know. It’s just, it’s incredible that a company that just successfully stood up Disney+ with basically no issues that were resolved within a week can’t get this side of the operation right.

They just built a theme park reservation system for the Disneyland Flex pass! Last year!

 

[e_yerger]

Questions Disney has yet to answer that are crucial for July 11th:

1. When other resorts will open
2. When park reservation system will be accessible
3. Which restaurants will be open
4. When ADRs will be accessible
5. How are the APs actually going to be restarted

Did i miss anything?

 

[AmberMV]

Where is @Remy is Up ?? I'm starting to imagine Remy in Disney jail somewhere under MK. Or the "Soon" isn't panning out and they just don't want to have to face us? But, you need to come back! You were our Disney dealer and we need our fix.

I think @yulilin3 is right, the park reservation system isn't working the way it needed to and they are scrambling now for a backup plan. Remy DID mention a couple weeks ago that Disney was having trouble with it, and that could be the reason for his silence lately.

 

[gatechfan99]

The difference is that universal has never encouraged their guests to plan months ahead of time, and i understand this is a new world but they should know their guests expect a level of communication that has simply not been there and with each announcement the restrictions keep coming with not a lot of "magic" involved.
As to lack of theming and lower food quality you clearly have not visited IOA, actually built by imagineers with the same level of detail.
But that's ok cause we all know where you stand on the universal property
Disney should be more forth coming, universal stopped taking reservations when they knew the parks and hotels wouldn't open, and reopened them only when they knew they could
Universal kept constant communication with their guests, actually being able to solve problems
And for the obvious comeback that Disney is a bigger property, that is true but that's by their own design, if you continue to take guests money you should at least provide a clearer path forward

This exactly!

Disney needs to realize they've spent years "teaching" all their guests to plan so far in advance. Book hotel a year out. Book dining 6 months out. Book exactly where you want to be standing in which park at a certain minute 2 months out. There's a whole cottage industry that has developed on how to explain and train guests on what all they have to do far in advance before a Disney trip.

So yes, the idea of not even knowing if you'll be at a hotel, combined with not knowing if you'll even be in a park (much less which ride or restaurant you'll be at) is just getting more infuriating by the day when we're now less than a month away.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I know. It’s just, it’s incredible that a company that just successfully stood up Disney+ with basically no issues that were resolved within a week can’t get this side of the operation right.

They just built a theme park reservation system for the Disneyland Flex pass! Last year!

Is it that people would cancel Disney+ if it wasn’t working correctly?

We all mock Disney IT but it doesn’t stop us (most) from handing over our cash.

 

[Breezy2]

We had planned/hoped to have a couple of nice meals on our trip— Jiko and Cali Grill. Both of those look unlikely since we are there 7/5-7/13, before most of the parks are open.

I hope it works out for you. We are staying at The Fort the first week of September and Disney cancelled all our dining reservations.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Questions Disney has yet to answer that are crucial for July 11th:

1. When other resorts will open
2. When park reservation system will be accessible
3. Which restaurants will be open
4. When ADRs will be accessible
5. How are the APs actually going to be restarted

Did i miss anything?

If we can't park hop... can we bar hop?

The people need confirmation.

 

[rteetz]

 

[MrsBooch]

Where is @Remy is Up ?? I'm starting to imagine Remy in Disney jail somewhere under MK. Or the "Soon" isn't panning out and they just don't want to have to face us? But, you need to come back! You were our Disney dealer and we need our fix.

I literally just came here to ask - did I hallucinate @Remy is Up or was that a real exchange that was happening pretty regularly. And now - nothing...?
If we look into our mirrors and say his screen name three times does he appear?