Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Farro]

As I was typing that she got back to me lol (told you she was fast). Apparently it's looking like I may be moved to CR...or interestingly, YC, but they're currently working with Disney right now and she will keep me updated. It seems as if Disney is looking to move those guests similar to what happened with the folks who were moved from BC to the Poly. Maybe because it's an agency booking? I wasn't booked on an exclusive rate though like the BC group, just the normal Disney AP discount. I wonder if they're just handling all guests thru the agency as a group.

I have to admit, if it's CR I may end up cancelling. Not sure I'd dig that for 6 days with no fireworks.

Maybe you can get a Yacht Club water view. The new rooms look so nice and Yacht Club is one of my favorite place to stay!

 

[Brianstl]

Oh man. I wonder what the chances of SAB opening are now.

I think SAB opens with Yacht Club. I could see them closing Luna at Boardwalk and making SAB available to guests at Boardwalk Villas like Luna is currently available to Beach Club Villas guests. Luna just isn't big enough for Yacht Club, Beach Club Villas and Boardwalk Villas.

 

[Jrb1979]

This article is garbage. A guy who didn’t want to go to WDW and had never been is sent in the middle of a pandemic. The Disney media is ripping it a part on social media.

First Disney is the standard so of course they will always be picked on. He could have went to any amusement park and would have said the same thing. My friends ask me all the time how anyone could enjoy going theme parks having to stand in lines for a 2 minute ride.

 

[skeeter31]

Holy Bananas!!!

I just read on, ahem, Facebook (yes, I know) that a person got upgraded from Poly hotel side to the Bungalows for 9 nights!!!

I’m wondering if that’s one of the instances of someone that had multiple rooms booked for a single family got moved to a bigger room. There were instances of that in the original switch, people with 2 rooms getting moved to a 2 bedroom. This was probably someone with 2 CL rooms getting moved to a Bungalow. Still an amazing upgrade (and those bungalows are very hard to get over once you’ve stayed in them, trust me). But I highly doubt it was a regular run of the mill Poly room getting bumped to bungalow.

 

[yulilin3]

A friend of mine had a AoA little mermaid room reservation and got upgraded to the cabins at FW, she's very happy I told her to call
Just got back from Sea World where mask adherence was a about a 90% BUT the people who were breaking the rules were going all out. I was waiting for the dolphin show and they are leaving one row empty to social distance along with markers every 3ft on the seats for parties to separate in the same row. Anyways this huge group comes and the first person gets so close to me I had to ask her to move away a bit, then when their entire group couldn't fit all in the ron the remaining people sat in the row directly in front, clearly marked as not available, then they all decide to take off their masks, well SW is doing a fantastic job, 2 Ambassadors came over asking them to put their masks back on and not use the row clearly marked. I thanked the ambassador that was closest to me and he seemed exhausted already.
Also they have their own enforcement team, they walk around with signs reminding about masks and social distancing and are very colorful so you can't miss them
They also have a great way to unload their theaters with each row at a time. Going back Saturday night for their Electric Ocean event.
Tomorrow I'm headed to Volcano Bay, interested to see if their crowds are back

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1287819374544527360

 

[yulilin3]

Here's a video entertainers made, against the Union video published a couple of days ago

 

[rteetz]

First Disney is the standard so of course they will always be picked on. He could have went to any amusement park and would have said the same thing. My friends ask me all the time how anyone could enjoy going theme parks having to stand in lines for a 2 minute ride.

You missed the point. No first timer should go right now. Especially an adult who is there for a job. Context is everything. This article doesn’t deserve clicks.

 

[OKW Lover]

I know this is wild thinking, but is there any chance the whole BC/BWV thing has anything to do with Ratatouille?

The International Gateway is a straight shot to the France pavilion, so maybe they are wanting to control those crowds at IG, so that there isn't a social distance unfriendly swarm toward RAT?

Can't see that this would have any impact on Disney's decision on what resorts to open.

 

[OKW Lover]

I've been noticing some posts in this thread with "odd" capitalization. Did I miss some new trend? If so, I'm glad I missed it.

 

[andyman8]

Thanks for the always informative behind-the-scenes perspective. I know you mentioned "warning signals" about several things, do you think (in your opinion obviously) that Disney is so far under the demand they expected that they may close again? Or are they still making enough to get by and weather this storm?

Also, I might add that if they are truly desperate for visitors they could lift block-out dates to get more blocked APs to visit...

I wouldn't say that the situation is dire enough to warrant considering re-closing the parks. At this point, it seems that the only reason the parks would close again would be for public health reasons. Attendance-wise, they still have some backstops left, and I'd argue that they could see improvements to onsite occupancy levels (cash-side) if they adjusted their rates to be more competitive with what; available elsewhere at the moment, so I *personally* think that if another closure were to happen it would be because of COVID-19 getting out of control (more so than it already is/was). For those wondering, WDW (not DL necessarily) appears to be using statewide COVID-19 data (not just Central Florida) and specifically looking at the death count and ICU bed availability. Again, who knows where the fall and winter will bring us? As always, anything is possible.

Oh, one more thing, @andyman8 do you have any insights to the amount of APs who have canceled so far? Is Disney happy about it, upset about it, or it's exactly as they expected? It seems like a LOT of APs canceled their passes so far and I presume more will as the deadline approaches.

I don't know about AP cancellations. Much like attendance figures at the moment, Disney is keeping that very, very close to the vest.

Makes me wonder, if they need people in the parks, why still limit APs to a rolling 3 days? I'd go a lot more often if it was higher. But I have 3 days saved for HS in Sept for when friends are coming into town

I think one thing us AP holders don't like to think about is that we're a long-term investment for Disney. The way the profit model for APs work is that you essentially get a large sum of money at the start, make some money on incidental expenses (merchandise, dining, etc..), and then incentivize a renewal to restart the cycle. The key to this profit model is to raise the base price of everything in the model each year (at a rate that outpaces inflation of course), so that you essentially force a single Guest to spend more money each year even if they're buying literally the same stuff (and therefore the production costs are relatively even). The more times the cycle repeats, the more money you make on the Guest. Many are shocked to find out (and Disney will tell you this) that daily guest spending levels are drastically higher amongst resort guests, DVC members, and even most multi-day ticketholders. As a result, they can't really make money if the park is full of just AP holders. That is hugely exacerbated by the fact that the whole profit model for APs has been thrown into chaos by these 4 (or now 5) month extensions. From Disney's perspective that means, at least another 4-5 months of no revenue from AP renewals. Under normal circumstances, that might not be a huge deal and they they may be willing to take a loss and let as many APs in as is responsible and wait it out until some sense of normalcy returns (a little money is better than no money), but given the losses they've just suffered, they need money in the bank. My guess is that they'll continue dropping tidbits of AP availability until they can find a happy medium. I'd also say that, on weekdays, AP availability is decent (except at DHS) at the moment, and as we've discussed, there's more concern over weekday attendance in the parks at the moment.

This is great information, thank you. As far as adding more things when they can afford to, it's sort of chicken and egg. Many aren't going because the lack of fireworks, parades, M&Gs, dining... but those things can't restart until things are safer and more profitable. Tough spot to be in to say the least. I can see September being extremely low but hopefully October-December will surprise them. Especially if we can make headway on the virus.

While I certainly think there are some (many folks here) who have been dissuaded by the absence of certain experiences, I think the majority of causal Guests likely are wary of trip because of the current COVID-19 situation in Florida. The hope is obviously that we start to see a more sustained and significant downward trend in cases nationwide, but even that's not the answer to everything. I have one Disney friend who mentioned a concern over what happens if things actually do start to improve significantly in other parts of country to the point where offices start bringing people back in. Unless the post-FL vacation quarantine requirements are dropped, suddenly those quarantine requirements have a lot more ramifications if someone's 5 day WDW vacation now has to be a 19 day vacation from work. I personally don't think that's a strong likelihood (as we head into the fall, I wouldn't be surprised to see things in Florida get better but things in the Northeast get worse), but a lot of what's going on at WDW is scenario planning: if A happens then we do B. If C happens, then we do D. They've been doing this basically since the start of the closure -- now, it's just about operational adjustments rather than reopening timelines. At the moment, the consensus seems to be that there is a lot of uncertainty about where things will be even in a month, let alone three, so they seem to just want to hold things steady, try to gin up attendance in increments (more AP spots trickle out, more room discounts, etc...), and get to the other side of September when not only things hopefully are in a better place but there also on the other side of the 2020 fiscal year.

I know this is wild thinking, but is there any chance the whole BC/BWV thing has anything to do with Ratatouille?

The International Gateway is a straight shot to the France pavilion, so maybe they are wanting to control those crowds at IG, so that there isn't a social distance unfriendly swarm toward RAT?

Unfortunately, I'm not quire sure Disney even knows when Ratatouille will open.

 

[Farro]

I’m wondering if that’s one of the instances of someone that had multiple rooms booked for a single family got moved to a bigger room. There were instances of that in the original switch, people with 2 rooms getting moved to a 2 bedroom. This was probably someone with 2 CL rooms getting moved to a Bungalow. Still an amazing upgrade (and those bungalows are very hard to get over once you’ve stayed in them, trust me). But I highly doubt it was a regular run of the mill Poly room getting bumped to bungalow.

Nope, just says "husband and I".

I hope it's true! That would be awesome for them.

 

[kylenne]

Maybe you can get a Yacht Club water view. The new rooms look so nice and Yacht Club is one of my favorite place to stay!

I would really prefer that truth be told. I liked that BC was closer to the IG at the end of the night when every step counted but I went over to YC for food a bunch and I believe those rooms are fresher. And I learned the hard way on my last trip not to book Standard at YC/BC. I had that awful roof view at BC! Though it evened out because they gave me a corner king room and my other window looked out on SAB!

If Crew's Cup opens with the resort and I can have my burger I'll be a happy camper.

 

[anthony2k7]

So, just seen elsewhere (the place that shall not be mentioned) that disney table service rules have been updated and you will be required to pass temperature screening before you eat. Is that new?

 

[IceSkatingPrincess]

As I was typing that she got back to me lol (told you she was fast). Apparently it's looking like I may be moved to CR...or interestingly, YC, but they're currently working with Disney right now and she will keep me updated. It seems as if Disney is looking to move those guests similar to what happened with the folks who were moved from BC to the Poly. Maybe because it's an agency booking? I wasn't booked on an exclusive rate though like the BC group, just the normal Disney AP discount. I wonder if they're just handling all guests thru the agency as a group.

I have to admit, if it's CR I may end up cancelling. Not sure I'd dig that for 6 days with no fireworks.

It sounds like we are in the same magical bucket. I was told most likely CR garden wing but they are working on it with Disney now (and that it could take a few DAYS ). She said it is possible it could be different because the pandemic has changed things, but she felt CR garden wing was the most likely. Kind of a bummer coming from Poly.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So, just seen elsewhere (the place that shall not be mentioned) that disney table service rules have been updated and you will be required to pass temperature screening before you eat. Is that new?

yup - reported by Blog Mickey and Rteetz linked to a tweet above referencing this as well

 

[Farro]

Is Disney really against room discounts/deals for general public?

I mean if at a later date capacity restrictions can be relaxed a bit, but people still aren't booking, do we still think they wouldn't offer a room discount to general public?

 

[Farro]

I would really prefer that truth be told. I liked that BC was closer to the IG at the end of the night when every step counted but I went over to YC for food a bunch and I believe those rooms are fresher. And I learned the hard way on my last trip not to book Standard at YC/BC. I had that awful roof view at BC! Though it evened out because they gave me a corner king room and my other window looked out on SAB!

If Crew's Cup opens with the resort and I can have my burger I'll be a happy camper.

Ah, you had the "pebble beach" view! We had that once!

 

[Mit88]

First Disney is the standard so of course they will always be picked on. He could have went to any amusement park and would have said the same thing. My friends ask me all the time how anyone could enjoy going theme parks having to stand in lines for a 2 minute ride.

But he didn’t go to any amusement park. He went to Disney...for the first time...and didn’t want to go....with the mindset of the company for him to write the exact article that he wrote.

Other journalists that have gone to Disney that may not have been comfortable did it for work, and because they love Disney and know how to navigate the property that if they felt in the least bit of danger, knew the quickest ways to get out of it. They went to write about what people should expect should they decide to go down.

This guy has no knowledge of Disney outside of the brand name. This was a click bait narrative based article, and it was never planned to be anything but from the inception of the plans to do this piece

 

[OnceUponATime15]

So, just seen elsewhere (the place that shall not be mentioned) that disney table service rules have been updated and you will be required to pass temperature screening before you eat. Is that new?

Yes.. rteeze posted a link a few posts back.