Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[MickeyMinnie1971]

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[DGsAtBLT]

He said Disney didn’t want to reopen until at least September because they were scared about enforcing mask requirements then got “blindsided” by UOR announcing an early June reopening so they suddenly lost all their fears about face masks and immediately announced a reopening...for July. He also said they were going to reopen TL. He then said that Disney may only open the back half of Epcot and all of DHS. I can tell you that there are a lot of inaccuracies (the least of which being that Disney wasn’t “blindsided” by UOR’s announcement) and inconsistencies in what he’s posted throughout this closure. Also, FWIW, not a whole lot of people would be aware of a high-level meeting like that. Given how sensitive its content would be to the stock price, that’s not information that even most WDW execs would be privy to. Unless his “sources” are super close to Chapek and Iger (and are okay knowing that those leaks would be easily traced), they’re likely basing their reports on hearsay or second or third hand information rather than direct knowledge.

While I have no doubt that there is still a 50-50 chance that Disney postpones the parks’ reopening, I’m not sure WDWPro would be the definitive source for that info. And don’t think that any sort of AP payment activity, blog post, MB order status, etc... is an indication that the opening is absolutely going to happen. Those sorts of decisions take place at a lower level than a decision as large as postponing the reopening would happen at. Like I said, my assessment is still 50-50 chance it doesn’t happen.

Wow, you think the odds are that high that they don’t open? Care to share why? Totally understand if you don’t want to.

 

[cakebaker]

I’m not sure WDWPro would be the definitive source for that info.

I’m not vouching for him, just relaying what he said. As I said, I don’t put much stock in what any source says except Disney themselves. They’re all wrong at some point.

 

[dislee1164]

They did not stay silent in the day or two leading up to the initial closure announcement, even promoting things going on in the parks like Food and Wine at DLR. There are different things to consider now than in March so take it for what it’s worth, but it was business as usual on social media before anything was official then.

Makes sense, and anything can still happen of course, but back when they closed in March things were much more unknown than they are now. Plus, this is directly from the President of WDW, not just scheduled social media posts from a marketing campaign. I also think it’s interesting he specifically says “preparing to open the parks next week” He could have stopped that sentence before the words “next week”. Who knows, we shall see soon!

 

[gottalovepluto]

WDWPro from wdwmagic posted this:
I'm told the meeting is still underway over Disney's reopening WDW or postponing. I'll let you know as soon as I know what the word is.

Anyone heard of this meeting?

This is how I’m picturing part of it going down...

“Great news team! We billed all the monthly payment people so we’re good to put it off a couple weeks if we want!”

“Sorry bob, they noticed. We had to refund.”

“Just furlough the refund team again. Do I have to tell you how to do everything?!”

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Makes sense, and anything can still happen of course, but back when they closed in March things were much more unknown than they are now. Plus, this is directly from the President of WDW, not just scheduled social media posts from a marketing campaign. I also think it’s interesting he specifically says “preparing to open the parks next week” He could have stopped that sentence before the words “next week”. Who knows, we shall see soon!

Without the words next week we would have been freaking out as to why they were left out .

Who knows is right lol.

 

[Runnsally]

They are very good at not revealing their plans. I think they’re set on opening, I hope they’re not. But if they did delay, I think it will be just as abrupt as when they shut down. They certainly didn’t remain silent last time.

agree. given the current case # in Florida opening Disney (or keeping Universal open, etc.) makes zero sense...rationalize however you want, but it’s still nuts.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

This is how I’m picturing part of it going down...

“Great news team! We billed all the monthly payment people so we’re good to put it off a couple weeks if we want!”

“Sorry bob, they noticed. We had to refund.”

“Just furlough the refund team again. Do I have to tell you how to do everything?!”

This is how I legitimately picture a lot of the “glitches” though

“Crap, the Internet noticed again! Pull it back, pull it back! How fast can we get Stitch to eat all the pages??”

 

[hertamaniac]

The EU has started to get the cruise line ball rolling with some initial recommendations. It appears that the CLIA (Cruise Line Industry Association) has also supported these recommendations (the document is 49 pages in length). These are just recommendations at this time and are not binding.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/eu-releases-guidance-for-resumption-of-cruising
European Union's Healthy Gateways working group released interim advice for the resumption of cruise ship operations. The group's recommendations are comprehensive, covering everything from voyage planning and infection prevention through public health response measures. They include:

- A gradual overall approach to restarting operations, with shorter voyages of 3-7 days and a limited number of port calls;
- A written outbreak management and contingency plan;
- Prior arrangements with ports of call for medical treatment, ambulance transport, quarantine, air evacuation and other services that might be required in the event of an onboard outbreak;
- Ensuring availability of access to repatriation flights in the event of a partial or complete ship evacuation. This would include at least one port on the itinerary with international flight service allowing passengers and crew to go home - a significant challenge in recent months;
- Pre-approved onshore quarantine arrangements for known close contacts of COVID-positive individuals;
- Shoreside isolation arrangements and facilities for people who test positive but do not have symptoms;
- Adequate testing capacity, either on board or by arrangement with a shoreside lab;
- Pre-departure lab testing for all crewmembers, followed by routine health monitoring and periodic surveillance testing;
- Regular tabletop exercises with cruise ship crews for contingency drills;
- Formal assurances and procedures for informing the next port of call about an onboard outbreak;
- Reducing capacity to allow for social distancing, including an allowance in berthing capacity to isolate individuals in single cabins;
- Reduced face-to-face contact between passengers and staff, including altered arrangements for booking and reception;
- Universal use of face masks in indoor areas by both passengers and crew;
- Continuous ventilation of all occupied spaces;
- Physical distancing of 1.5 meters in most indoor spaces and entertainment venues;
- and limits on the usage of pools and hot tubs, including the closure of indoor pools.

 

[AmberMV]

I have often wondered how credible that person is

He has been wrong about lots of things

 

[andyman8]

Wow, you think the odds are that high that they don’t open? Care to share why? Totally understand if you don’t want to.

It's a personal feeling, not based on anything I've heard. As far as I know, it's full speed ahead towards 7/11, but like I said, that kind of decision would be made at such a high-level that very few would have any sort of advance notice for it. At the end of the day, the whole reopening thing boils down to a PR problem, and let's be honest, Disney cares a lot about PR and perception. I'm not going to get into the case numbers argument and rehash what has been discussed at length here, but knowing how Team Disney Burbank thinks, I'd imagine they're worried about the disproportionate level of attention (and potentially criticism) they're going to receive, especially if something doesn't go as planned. It's a logistics vs. PR debate, and I don't know who comes out on top. Trust me, I really want them to reopen 7/11, as I have reservations for opening weekend. I hope they do, and I think they'll do everything in their power to make it safe, but I think it could go either way at this point. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Doingitagain]

It's a personal feeling, not based on anything I've heard. As far as I know, it's full speed ahead towards 7/11, but like I said, that kind of decision would be made at such a high-level that very few would have any sort of advance notice for it. At the end of the day, the whole reopening thing boils down to a PR problem, and let's be honest, Disney cares a lot about PR and perception. I'm not going to get into the case numbers argument and rehash what has been discussed at length here, but knowing how Team Disney Burbank thinks, I'd imagine they're worried about the disproportionate level of attention (and potentially criticism) they're going to receive, especially if something doesn't go as planned. It's a logistics vs. PR debate, and I don't know who comes out on top. Trust me, I really want them to reopen 7/11, as I have reservations for opening weekend. I hope they do, and I think they'll do everything in their power to make it safe, but I think it could go either way at this point. We'll just have to wait and see.

I think the higher numbers in Florida will force strict compliance with masks and social distancing. Anyone not on board with that should postpone.

 

[disland7]

Just like a shuttle launch!!!

Like the control board in inside out.

 

[fla4fun]

Agreed. That's a pretty big FUBAR move.

A similar thing happened to our company recently that wasn’t even our fault. Our credit card processing company did an update that caused a bunch of transactions from 2007 to be re-billed to the customer cards. All of a sudden we were hit with this wave of customers disputing charges we couldn’t find in our point of sale (we had changed point of sale systems several years ago and no longer had access to the old system). It all got straightened out, but it was a mess for a while. The processing company took care of any expenses to the customers since it was their fault.

Things like this are why I would never put a recurring auto payment on a debit card. Even though things usually turn out OK in the end, it’s a real pain if your bank account is wiped out in the meantime.

 

[rockpiece]

Is there rumors about when the California Grill might reopen. We just changed our resort from Boardwalk Inn to Contemporary for August and was hoping to eat there if it was open.

 

[1GoldenSun]

Sometime back someone posted a link for masks made out of a chiffon type material that had an extension piece of material that covers your neck and chest. I bought some and cut the extension part off so they are just the mask part left. I live in Arkansas. Currently 94 degrees and 50% humidity so feels like 102. We just spend 4 hours at the zoo and tried them out to practice for our Disney trip in 11 days. They were fantastic. My kids are ages 5, 8, and 10. Kept them on the whole time no problem and no complaints. Highly recommend if you have kids you are concerned about with mask compliance! Search for chiffon silk mask neck gaiter. If your kids are smaller, be sure and get the kind with the adjustable ear loops.

Those masks are AWESOME! I wear mine for full days at Universal and I forget I'm wearing it. Vivian & Vincent has them for 2 for $12.99 with a coupon for an extra 10% off for new customers. I was thinking about ordering more but we each have two and that's really all we need. Once you wash one, it's dry in about 10 minutes so two each is plenty.

Also, you don't need kid sizes because they have an adjustable thingy on the ear strap--at least the Vivian & Vincent ones do; I don't know about all of them.

 

[cakebaker]

I think the higher numbers in Florida will force strict compliance with masks and social distancing. Anyone not on board with that should postpone.

I think they’ll be strict when they see it, but there’s no way they can be everywhere all the time. People need to expect to see people not complying.

I was watching a live stream at Sea World today. They were in line and someone getting off the ride had taken off their mask after the ride started. They were escorted away, who knows what happened, but it doesn’t change the fact that for the duration of that ride, someone was not wearing a mask.

If you go, you might as well accept you’re likely to be in contact with people not wearing masks.

 

[yulilin3]

Been away from the boards, just noticed they finally took the water parks hours off

 

[constanze]

It's a personal feeling, not based on anything I've heard. As far as I know, it's full speed ahead towards 7/11, but like I said, that kind of decision would be made at such a high-level that very few would have any sort of advance notice for it. At the end of the day, the whole reopening thing boils down to a PR problem, and let's be honest, Disney cares a lot about PR and perception. I'm not going to get into the case numbers argument and rehash what has been discussed at length here, but knowing how Team Disney Burbank thinks, I'd imagine they're worried about the disproportionate level of attention (and potentially criticism) they're going to receive, especially if something doesn't go as planned. It's a logistics vs. PR debate, and I don't know who comes out on top. Trust me, I really want them to reopen 7/11, as I have reservations for opening weekend. I hope they do, and I think they'll do everything in their power to make it safe, but I think it could go either way at this point. We'll just have to wait and see.

PR is why I feel Disney's park capacity is going to be even lower than what people are expecting. If parks open to extremely low capacity, with everyone social distancing and wearing masks etc---and Disney shows they can pave the way with public health and safety showing that we can live in the days of this new way of living in this new Normal...etc...

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Makes sense, and anything can still happen of course, but back when they closed in March things were much more unknown than they are now. Plus, this is directly from the President of WDW, not just scheduled social media posts from a marketing campaign. I also think it’s interesting he specifically says “preparing to open the parks next week” He could have stopped that sentence before the words “next week”. Who knows, we shall see soon!

You never know what’s really happening internally. Jeff Vahle could be very supportive about opening next week, wants to move full steam ahead, other powers at be may be more hesitant.

Opening is happening until they say it’s not. Everyone is publicly acting that way, because that’s what’s been announced. But I don’t think it really matters what anyone from Disney posts right now ... I think it’ll be happy, upbeat, positive stuff. But I think the situation could change at any time regardless of what any one executive posts or what scheduled posts go out from the official accounts.