Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[constanze]

I know someone who has a reservation at BT starting July 17 for 6 days. She bought points for her stay. She stated that she has advance park reservations for all 6 days. Has anyone else heard about this? I’m wondering if this could be true.

Is her husband in the NBA?

 

[Jacq7414]

Mine was the same way and I agree with him!

We live fairly nearby and like to come up for a day at a time and spend a night or two so we don't have to brave the I-4 traffic the morning of/evening after. We didn't buy APs this year (and I'm pretty glad we didn't) but during all this excitement about the changes I got serious FOMO and bought us 4-day FL resident tickets from Undercover tourist a couple weeks ago--apparently just in time as they stopped selling them the next day. Yesterday I made us a bunch of Dolphin reservations as "placeholders" so we can make park reservations on Monday. Once I see what parks we can get for those dates, I'm going to try to rent DVC points instead and cancel the Dolphin reservations (I may keep one--we like the Dolphin). I'd feel like this is a little unethical except I won't be holding the reservations for long and they seem to have plenty of availability--plus we stay at the Dolphin often so they get a lot of our money.

But for now I've got a couple thousand dollars worth of Dolphin stays booked just so I can get park reservations on Monday. Now I'm watching for when they become linkable. For anyone else who's thinking about booking Swan or Dolphin before Monday do it soon--it takes up to 36 hours for the reservation to process so you can link the confirmation number to MDE.

True. He’s probably right. We are redoing our bathroom, so we are spending some money right now. The bathroom needs to be done because the tiles are gross.

I think we will just get tickets with a package and I can upgrade it to an annual pass I think (hope?) it we want to get one

 

[Tinksbff]

Is her husband in the NBA?

If only

 

[tcherjen]

That is what the WDW website says:
If you have a room-only reservation at a Disney Resort or other select hotel for a stay in 2021, please call the Disney Reservation Center or call your travel professional beginning on June 24 to upgrade to a vacation package with tickets—and then make your theme park reservations.
Want to Book a New Vacation?
By June 28, all Guests will be able to purchase new Disney Resort hotel packages and theme park tickets and make their park reservations for arrivals starting in 2021 as our phased reopening continues. Guests will be able to view park reservation availability online prior to purchasing their tickets.

After reading the last part, I guess going anytime in 2020 is off the table. Would have had to book already for October. That stinks

 

[Sunnywho]

I am shocked about the new virtual ques. You would think that would be the way to get people in and out the fastest. The problem now is even though you will have spacing on the que, there is still the potential for backups and people not obeying that 6 feet. should be interesting to see....

At the Universal reopening, there was commentary that the queues were all successfully social distanced and then you come out into the regular walkways and you weren't able to distance easily. So it might be counterintuitive but guests can be better managed and spaced out when in line than when we are freely wandering the park.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

So I am playing around on the website and noticed that I no longer see prices for the resorts listed. I saw them yesterday. Previously I could see one rate next to the resort name, then would get no availability when I clicked to look at room types. Now, instead of the rate, I just see a blue "check availability" button.

Weird. I also feel like the format looks a little different. I think the images might be smaller?

 

[kdawg954]

Got to give Disney props. I was able to convert a 4 day Park Hopper Plus Discover Ticket, from a third party purchase, with 1 day and 1 water park used, into an unused 4 Park Hopper Plus flex ticket option on file to be used at any time in the future.

Good luck everybody

 

[Aeralie]

I am shocked about the new virtual ques. You would think that would be the way to get people in and out the fastest. The problem now is even though you will have spacing on the que, there is still the potential for backups and people not obeying that 6 feet. should be interesting to see....

I wonder if the system couldnt handle all the attractions being a virtual que. Maybe they should of made the popular rides virtual que.

The thing with virtual queues is that they still create Fastpass-return-style crowds at the entrance to the line. I’d guess many posters have encountered throngs crowding the Fastpass Return entrance with guests hell bent on entering their at their exact time (or exact T-5) to the point where they block guests who are coming, say, right in the middle of their window who can’t enter without a series of polite “excuse me”s.

By avoiding the virtual queues they can at least flex all the additional spacing they’re creating within all these attractions to maximize distancing.

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

Also, I think my magicband order for my July 19 Pop stay changed status recently:
It now says:

Your MagicBand Order Is Being Fulfilled
Review Your Order
We will ship it shortly and provide tracking details.

 

[Amy11401]

Sorry I read some of the posts in this thread but not all because I can't keep up! Anyway....have we figured out if you book a 2021 package for any 2021 date that you can start making park reservations on June 28 or are they going to open the reservation system for later dates on a rolling system? They have said that you can book park hopping again in 2021...how would that work with the reservation system?

 

[npatellye]

I know someone who has a reservation at BT starting July 17 for 6 days. She bought points for her stay. She stated that she has advance park reservations for all 6 days. Has anyone else heard about this? I’m wondering if this could be true.

I find this unlikely to be true. Who did she rent the points from? Maybe it’s just a miscommunication or misinterpretation? I’m booked on our points in August for 9 nights and will be making park reservations Monday.

 

[zemmer]

Also, I think my magicband order for my July 19 Pop stay changed status recently:
It now says:

Your MagicBand Order Is Being Fulfilled
Review Your Order
We will ship it shortly and provide tracking details.

Mine has said that since June 6. They still haven’t shipped and we leave Wednesday morning. However, they did ship a MB from a cancelled reservation.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Got to give Disney props. I was able to convert a 4 day Park Hopper Plus Discover Ticket, from a third party purchase, with 1 day and 1 water park used, into an unused 4 Park Hopper Plus flex ticket option on file to be used at any time in the future.

Good luck everybody

Today? I called yesterday and was told no ticket modifications could be made.

 

[LSUmiss]

So can you book rooms for 2021 yet or is that coming...soon?

 

[one_cat]

Right. Plus without a fast pass window why would you pay onsite prices? Transportation is not worth that much, especially with limited hours/late openings

Because onsite reservations will get you into a park. Stay offsite - no park reservations.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

Epcot first day, AK next, MK & HS at the end. Booking end of trip to the beginning, like fastpasses.

But wouldn't that strategy be out the window if everybody can book their parks for the entire length of stay on the same day? With the fastpasses, you had a better chance the further out at 60+....now it really doesn't matter...unless I'm missing something. If I am, please share, because I'm psyching myself up for Monday morning, LOL!

 

[SaintsManiac]

So can you book rooms for 2021 yet or is that coming...soon?

June 28 you can book through 9/2021

 

[Anthony Vito]

Ok, was caught up last night, but now am way behind again, so I'm not sure if this has been covered. This may also be a kind of "Yeah, duh" thing, but I didn't realize: for those whose APs are not showing the extension yet, try going to "My Plans," then selecting "Tickets & Memory Maker" tab (next to "Daily Itinerary"). The extensions were showing up in my phone app, but not when I selected the Annual Pass page from My Disney Experience drop down on the website. I was told by a CM in chat to check the tab described above in the My Plans, and the extensions are indeed showing up there. He said they've been told that they may not be showing up on the Passholder page but instead showing correctly in Plans. He was correct on that for me at least.

 

[wareagle57]

No virtual queues is interesting

This makes me think maybe they AREN'T expecting the crowds to be an issue. There is a lot of queue at RotR that they haven't used yet, but I can't imagine it being enough to hold everyone that wants to line up for what would be a relatively short standby wait with all the distancing done. You don't want a crowd forming there waiting for the queue to reopen.

 

[RamblingMad]

What if you go to book your park reservations and only one or two parks show available for every day of your trip? Are you prepared for this possibility?