Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[glocker]

Then why are they doing it? Just to piss off their guests at BC, BW, Swan and Dolphin? Yeah, I’m sure that’s why they did it and absolutely not for safety reasons.

Your "safety" argument is ludicrous. Has it been an issue in the past? People climbing fences or structures to use waterslides? If it's about that, then you could erect a fence at the gate to the waterslide tower. This has everything to do with the NBA being on site. Is it for their safety? Maybe so. But now we're back to screwing the regular guest to satisfy the big money deal.
Let's move off this line of argument, so that people can get back on track. I just posted to vent a bit as I am extremely disappointed. Give a guy a break.

 

[HorizonOne]

Your "safety" argument is ludicrous. Has it been an issue in the past? People climbing fences or structures to use waterslides? If it's about that, then you could erect a fence at the gate to the waterslide tower. This has everything to do with the NBA being on site. Is it for their safety? Maybe so. But now we're back to screwing the regular guest to satisfy the big money deal.
Let's move off this line of argument, so that people can get back on track. I just posted to vent a bit as I am extremely disappointed. Give a guy a break.

You can’t fault Disney with the NBA and MLS agreement. In a time they have lost all revenue for the last several months... now Disney gets to host the NBA and MLS championships! The TV revenue alone helps ESPN, the rental of the properties and venues. Heck Las Vegas is so excited they can have regular sports betting!

So serious money is riding on this season resuming and I can’t fault Disney for wanting to protect this investment by putting up deterrents for the good of the players.

Yes it’s disappointing with what you are going through and I’m really sorry it’s happening. For Disney it’s just to big of PR and financial gain for them to turn down.

 

[Marthasor]

Everytime I see him talk about Epcot I wonder if he would have been disappointed at what WDW has turned into, and how since his death there have been 4 (right?) additional MK like parks built around the world.

They strayed from his plans decades ago.

For sure on EP - they strayed FAR from Walt's vision. If he were alive we wouldn't have movie sequels either!

 

[one_cat]

We don't go until September so we are lucky that we are able to wait and watch the July/August folks. We continue to go back and forth as far as cancelling our trip but we keep thinking if not Disney then where? Many destinations don't want tourists at all and many (Nevada) are as strapped for amenities as Disney is. What would make us cancel at this point would be if the experience just becomes too poor to make it worth the travel to Disney even to sit in a beautiful room and spend a bit of time in the parks. We are already planning to rent a car - something we haven't done since the '90s. However we are waiting for news on the ADRs. We are counting on ADRs to give us some relief from the heat, much more so than usual with the mask requirements. If ADRs are severely limited or impossible to come by, we will probably cancel. If they start limiting entry into Disney Springs we may cancel as well. With severely shortened park times and no hopping DS is really the only nighttime entertainment. We have been to Disney going on 20 times since our first in 1998 and have been DVC owners since 1999 so this is not our first rodeo and certainly we will be back so we are willing for this to be a different kind of trip. But we are also planning and expecting that Disney even with the times and the pandemic will try to make our expensive trip magical.

 

[Mit88]

For sure on EP - they strayed FAR from Walt's vision. If he were alive we wouldn't have movie sequels either!

What would scare me is if Walt didnt pass away, and EPCOT was built as planned, how long would it have truly been sustainable? He had plans to keep it sustainable for a long time, but would it have survived time without it being under construction non-stop?

And if he were alive to see the demise of one of his most passionate projects, how would that have impacted him?


If he were alive, he wouldn’t have purchased Marvel and the MCU would have ended after Captain America:The First Avenger because Paramount was looking to get out of their MCU commitments due to their inability to secure certain characters. I’m not sure another movie studio would have allowed the MCU to carry on 10 movies, let alone 22 with very little input of their own

 

[Broncho52]

Your "safety" argument is ludicrous. Has it been an issue in the past? People climbing fences or structures to use waterslides? If it's about that, then you could erect a fence at the gate to the waterslide tower. This has everything to do with the NBA being on site. Is it for their safety? Maybe so. But now we're back to screwing the regular guest to satisfy the big money deal.
Let's move off this line of argument, so that people can get back on track. I just posted to vent a bit as I am extremely disappointed. Give a guy a break.

You are choosing to go when everyone knows it is different. Acting like it was the NBA or guests is shortsighted. It’s pretty clear there are not enough guest interested in going so Disney was smart to get some extra revenue from the NBA and MLS. And that revenue is not coming from what they are paying for the resort. It’s coming from the TV ad dollars Disney won’t lose because the playoffs and finals will happen and a majority of that is on ESPN/ABC. The ads from the finals alone which is all on ABC is around 300 million.

Also pretty much everyone knows that timeshares have their headaches. This is one. As much as everyone on here thinks they are a “owner” you will never be treated that way. Disney is going to do what they want with their properties. You just paid a bunch of money up front for the right to stay at nice hotels and if you do it enough it may save some money.

 

[Brianstl]

For sure on EP - they strayed FAR from Walt's vision. If he were alive we wouldn't have movie sequels either!

Son of Flubber?

 

[Dentam]

I think it's interesting that people are so upset by the NBA being at Disney. This is a deal that could potentially save a lot of the experiences we value in the parks. Without this income, Disney would no doubt need to make even more cuts down the road, including laying off CM's, which has already happened at Universal. This could still happen of course, but just think how much worse it could be if they didn't have this deal with the different sports teams. I honestly think this is a win-win situation for them and that any minor inconveniences caused by the few months these teams are on property will be well worth it in the end.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I think it's interesting that people are so upset by the NBA being at Disney. This is a deal that could potentially save a lot of the experiences we value in the parks. Without this income, Disney would no doubt need to make even more cuts down the road, including laying off CM's, which has already happened at Universal. This could still happen of course, but just think how much worse it could be if they didn't have this deal with the different sports teams. I honestly think this is a win-win situation for them and that any minor inconveniences caused by the few months these teams are on property will be well worth it in the end.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

I said the same thing weeks ago and got laughed off stage.

That money coming in is good for us fans.

I also wish it was shocking that 10 pages of this thread have been about a fence.

 

[curse reversed]

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

I said the same thing weeks ago and got laughed off stage.

That money coming in is good for us fans.

I also wish it was shocking that 10 pages of this thread have been about a fence.

That's what I was going to say as well. Remember early on when Disney said they have to take into consideration whether or not it makes financial sense to open the parks. They're likely making so much money from the NBA and MLS that it doesn't matter how much the parks take in. If one or both of them cancel due to the uptick in cases here in Florida then Disney would have to revisit the viability of the parks. I also think it would have looked bad if the parks were closed to the public but a bunch of highly-paid athletes were using the complex.

 

[wareagle57]

Has there been any news about preview sign ups? I’m surprised we haven’t heard anything yet. I try to keep up with this thread but it’s such a catch all of everything.

 

[JacknSally]

Has there been any news about preview sign ups? I’m surprised we haven’t heard anything yet. I try to keep up with this thread but it’s such a catch all of everything.

No, nothing yet.

 

[Tjddis]

You are choosing to go when everyone knows it is different. Acting like it was the NBA or guests is shortsighted. It’s pretty clear there are not enough guest interested in going so Disney was smart to get some extra revenue from the NBA and MLS. And that revenue is not coming from what they are paying for the resort. It’s coming from the TV ad dollars Disney won’t lose because the playoffs and finals will happen and a majority of that is on ESPN/ABC. The ads from the finals alone which is all on ABC is around 300 million.

Also pretty much everyone knows that timeshares have their headaches. This is one. As much as everyone on here thinks they are a “owner” you will never be treated that way. Disney is going to do what they want with their properties. You just paid a bunch of money up front for the right to stay at nice hotels and if you do it enough it may save some money.

I think he’s just upset with what he perceives as all this being another in a long line of money grabs that he feels has negatively affected the value of/enjoyment of his investment and he wanted to vent. I sympathize with his sentiment. I can choose to cancel my trip to a better time. he’s invested in dvc for the long haul. You are right as rain as far as going during these times. That’s a reason why I’m not...

 

[wareagle57]

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

I said the same thing weeks ago and got laughed off stage.

That money coming in is good for us fans.

I also wish it was shocking that 10 pages of this thread have been about a fence.

I don't see how the NBA coming isn't anything but a positive thing for all of us. That said, I think maybe people are weary of just how exactly the extra cash will be used. Yes, Universal just layed off some TMs. But can we really discount the CPs, IP, and entertainers that were laid off back at the very beginning? I don't have the numbers, but I suspect it was way higher than Universal's layoffs.

Even pre-covid I think many of us were fed up with the way Disney was using it's cashflow, cutting experiences, and leaving areas dormant indefinitely, and intentionally leaving capacity unutilized like Primeval Whirl. Reskinning rides instead of building new things where space is being wasted.

 

[yulilin3]

We don’t know that yet until whoever took the pic gets us one from the other side. If all of YC is blocked off like I think it will be, guests of a BCV will be going over to the BW side if they’d like to take the boat to HS.

Does the fence mean that guests at the Poly will not have access to the boat to GF?

Not even to the parks?

Ive heard no boats at all at the beginning phase. Only transportation will be ferry, monorail, bus and skyliner

Has anyone been to Universal at rope drop? Anyone have any thoughts or guesses how that will work at Disney?

I think Disney will be prepared to open the gates when capacity fills the courtyard at each park, I'm interested to see if mk main street opens an hour before like it used to
Universal rope drop has been a breeze

 

[Dulcee]

What do we think about places like Garden Grill, if they still do breakfast, being open before park hours?

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

Hmm... So, bus only at WL? That sucks. A lot.

 

[apcrabtree]

Is anyone else missing the park reservations that they made under "My Plans"?

 

[cakebaker]

Hmm... So, bus only at WL? That sucks. A lot.

It really sucks for FW Cabins. I'm not a fan of that resort to start with, but to have to deal with their bus system and no other option would make me stay home. I'm just not seeing the safety reasons for not running boats. They seem a lot safer to me than enclosed, air conditioned busses.

 

[Llama mama]

Is anyone else missing the park reservations that they made under "My Plans"?

No mine are still there.