Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[mmackeymouse]

I'm sorry, @yulilin3, to hear about your evening. Why are people so rude?

I just don't understand why Disney Springs can't get its act together. I know that it is desperately needed income. And, I know that they are dealing with not only their own buildings, but also many, many third parties as well, so they have to get people in the doors for those vendors. And, I get that it is an open-air environment.

But, DS has been an issue from the jump, just about. Surely, they could have come up with some creative way to manage the crowds by now.

 

[Vern60]

Unfortunately the laughing emoji is probably the worst of the choices Disboards has under the like option. It’s almost never used by someone genuinely laughing with the poster at a joke, and only used by people laughing at a poster’s opinion.

Well that's rather annoying to hear, I honestly have never even thought about using it for anything other than chuckling at someone's joke, huh. Maybe I'm naive. I tell ya, political correctness, so now I can't use the laughing emoji to laugh at a joke for fear of offending something thinking I'm laughing at their opinion, again, huh.

 

[Vern60]

Ah, okay - there are ppl on here that continue to react with a laughing emoji whenever someone expresses concerns about crowds and it's just really getting on my nerves. It's passive aggressive and rude in my opinion.

Well, you should call them out by name, otherwise you're giving the rest of us who may want to laugh at a joke a bad rap!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Hi broken record here. I get complaining about crowds in the context of boo this sucks I wanted short waits, but I really think that if it makes someone uncomfortable from a pandemic perspective considering postponing might be a good idea. Whether the parks themselves are crowded or not there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be in a crowded situation temporarily.

People seeing low crowds on social media and then choosing to come because of those when they otherwise would not feel safe shouldn’t feel duped or deceived by Disney if they see heavier crowds or if Disney does publicly increase capacity.

 

[skeeter31]

Hi broken record here. I get complaining about crowds in the context of boo this sucks I wanted short waits, but I really think that if it makes someone uncomfortable from a pandemic perspective considering postponing might be a good idea. Whether the parks themselves are crowded or not there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be in a crowded situation temporarily.

People seeing low crowds on social media and then choosing to come because of those when they otherwise would not feel safe shouldn’t feel duped or deceived by Disney if they see heavier crowds or if Disney does publicly increase capacity.

Precisely. If you’re worried about the walkways and bathrooms and such being a bit congested, that’s going to be the case at some point regardless of what capacity the parks are at and this isn’t the best time for you to go then. If you’re having reservations about the congestion, back out now rather than getting there and realizing you’re not comfortable. However, if you know you’ll be ok in those situations, as infrequent as they may be, then now is the best time to go.

People using the term, madhouse, to describe the parks, even people who post on Disboards is difficult to judge at this time. People saying that may not have been to the parks in a year or so and were seeing the pictures of the parks completely empty but had a few instances of congestion and broke out the madhouse word. Others may have been going regularly since reopening, enjoying the lower crowds, and the first sign they start picking up they immediately overinflate their judgement of it and call it a madhouse. Others may just want to scare others off from coming so more park reservations open up for them. You can never know.

But the moral of the story is, if looking at the pictures and reading the reports at this point make you upset and worried and all you want to do is complain about it on a message board, it probably isn’t the best idea to visit Disney right now.

 

[Dentam]

Well, you should call them out by name, otherwise you're giving the rest of us who may want to laugh at a joke a bad rap!

I have in the past but my post was deleted. lol

It's pretty obvious when someone is laughing at a joke vs. laughing at someone's genuine concerns about returning to the parks.

 

[Dentam]

But the moral of the story is, if looking at the pictures and reading the reports at this point make you upset and worried and all you want to do is complain about it on a message board, it probably isn’t the best idea to visit Disney right now.

Sorry, but this attitude of if you have an issue with it, don't come, doesn't fly with me. It's the same kind of argument ppl who don't want to wear masks use. Everyone should be following the rules about wearing masks and social distancing and Disney should be enforcing these rules. It sounds like they've been doing a pretty good job of it up to this point, but it should be pointed out when they aren't and to do so isn't just "complaining".

 

[mellvswdw1]

Hi all...I’ve been following this thread for a bit for our July/August trip. I never reported back. So, I’m a DVC owner and an AP holder. I will say that while we were there for 8 days I was super impressed with the cast, the cleanliness of the parks and DS and people for the most part. I’m really not a mask lover however I follow the “rules” and respect the businesses that implement those and social distancing. We(my 4 & 6 year old) complied and worked hard at making sure we didn’t make people feel uncomfortable. There were a few times that I can count on one hand that I was super annoyed or put off by others behavior.

So, we had a Disney Cruise that got canceled in mid October. Knowing this was a possibility I went ahead and booked the time we would have been on the cruise with points. We we’re planning on taking our daughter out for three school days(approved by the principal) so we could do land and sea. I’ve now moved the points around so we will be able to go late Thursday night through Labor Day and we will take a mid October trip, basically the same way as the September trip. So now she will only have one day out of school.

I’m fully expecting the September trip to be more crazy than July and possibly October. Having just experiencing Disney a few weeks ago, I’m feeling good about both trips. I recently went into a local grocery store and was more disturbed than any day at Disney. I won’t let my guard down we will be doing everything we did in July. My thought is even if it’s busier it still won’t be as bad as it has been in the last 10 years I’ve gone in October. I’m super excited that we may be able to see our “friends”(equity actors) on the streets of MK and DHS, and live shows.

I will say that even though everything was basically a walk on at times it was depressing. Like seeing people take their own luggage up atJambo house and nothing being open, and AK was soooooo dead, it just hurt my heart to see cast members asking us to stay on triceratop spin a few times to give them something to do. I know we want to be safe but I’m ready and hoping to have things back to a more normal way of business.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

September/October has actually become much busier over the last few years. I started doing those trips yearly about 5 years ago. 2015-2016 was basically walk on for every ride, non-congested theme parks. Then in 2017 it picked up. I assumed at the time it was just because of Pandora. Then 2018 was even busier. And last year I went in September and October and both were crazy busy. I dont think it’ll be “busy” this fall, but its certainly not the slow season it once was.

I agree on late September and October, but isn’t early September after Labor Day still pretty quiet? We used to be September people until our trip was derailed by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and we swore not to go during peak hurricane season again, no matter how tempting the lower crowds were. Haven’t been in September since then.

 

[skeeter31]

Sorry, but this attitude of if you have an issue with it, don't come, doesn't fly with me. It's the same kind of argument ppl who don't want to wear masks use. Everyone should be following the rules about wearing masks and social distancing and Disney should be enforcing these rules. It sounds like they've been doing a pretty good job of it up to this point, but it should be pointed out when they aren't and to do so isn't just "complaining".

I’m not talking about masks at all though. I meant it solely from a perspective of if looking at pictures of larger crowds at Disney makes you feel uncomfortable, then going to Disney right now isn’t the right choice.

 

[Vern60]

Sorry about your job interview. I've been quietly looking also but not much out there.

Sadly the general public can be disappointing, at best.

Find a good movie to watch tonight. Any suggestions?

Yes, I watched with my kids on Disney+ "The Black Hole", man, probably one of the best movies I've ever seen! NOT!!! haha. Was a little humorous though as I kept thinking the little robot was almost a precursor to R2D2

 

[Dentam]

I’m not talking about masks at all though. I meant it solely from a perspective of if looking at pictures of larger crowds at Disney makes you feel uncomfortable, then going to Disney right now isn’t the right choice.

I didn't say you were talking about masks. Sigh

 

[Dentam]

I agree on late September and October, but isn’t early September after Labor Day still pretty quiet? We used to be September people until our trip was derailed by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and we swore not to go during peak hurricane season again, no matter how tempting the lower crowds were. Haven’t been in September since then.

Yes, I've always preferred Labor Day week for the lower crowds. Hoping it will be that way again this year once the holiday weekend is over. It sounds like it should be based on Disney's decision to shorten park hours the day after Labor Day which I'm guessing is based on their assessment of bookings.

 

[New Mouse]

I'm sorry, @yulilin3, to hear about your evening. Why are people so rude?

I just don't understand why Disney Springs can't get its act together. I know that it is desperately needed income. And, I know that they are dealing with not only their own buildings, but also many, many third parties as well, so they have to get people in the doors for those vendors. And, I get that it is an open-air environment.

But, DS has been an issue from the jump, just about. Surely, they could have come up with some creative way to manage the crowds by now.

You manage the crowds at springs by opening up boardwalk, waterparks allowing park hopping and keeping parks open later.

 

[Mit88]

Hi broken record here. I get complaining about crowds in the context of boo this sucks I wanted short waits, but I really think that if it makes someone uncomfortable from a pandemic perspective considering postponing might be a good idea. Whether the parks themselves are crowded or not there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be in a crowded situation temporarily.

People seeing low crowds on social media and then choosing to come because of those when they otherwise would not feel safe shouldn’t feel duped or deceived by Disney if they see heavier crowds or if Disney does publicly increase capacity.

Always the voice of reason.

I agree on late September and October, but isn’t early September after Labor Day still pretty quiet? We used to be September people until our trip was derailed by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and we swore not to go during peak hurricane season again, no matter how tempting the lower crowds were. Haven’t been in September since then.

We went 10 days after Irma and it was crowded. But that was technically the end of September, and it was very slow before and after the Hurricane hit up until we arrived because I remember looking at wait times and trip reports saying that people were cancelled on/cancelling due to Irma and the parks were desolate due to that. I do believe theres an early September pocket where parents just wont let their kids miss school and the parks die out, but from what I’ve seen, after about midway through the month, business picks up. Obviously thats all irrelevant when looking at potential crowds this year. It could really go either way. I wouldnt bank on it being dead because of the reduced hours, you just never know

 

[osufeth24]

I didn't say you were talking about masks. Sigh

So why bring it up

 

[mmackeymouse]

Precisely. If you’re worried about the walkways and bathrooms and such being a bit congested, that’s going to be the case at some point regardless of what capacity the parks are at and this isn’t the best time for you to go then. If you’re having reservations about the congestion, back out now rather than getting there and realizing you’re not comfortable. However, if you know you’ll be ok in those situations, as infrequent as they may be, then now is the best time to go.

People using the term, madhouse, to describe the parks, even people who post on Disboards is difficult to judge at this time. People saying that may not have been to the parks in a year or so and were seeing the pictures of the parks completely empty but had a few instances of congestion and broke out the madhouse word. Others may have been going regularly since reopening, enjoying the lower crowds, and the first sign they start picking up they immediately overinflate their judgement of it and call it a madhouse. Others may just want to scare others off from coming so more park reservations open up for them. You can never know.

But the moral of the story is, if looking at the pictures and reading the reports at this point make you upset and worried and all you want to do is complain about it on a message board, it probably isn’t the best idea to visit Disney right now.

But not everyone can "back out now" without repercussions. It's not as cut and dry as "stay home or get over it." For us, we had till the 30 day mark to make a decision, and at the 30 day mark, things still seemed pretty reasonable. At this point, cancelling would mean a loss of thousands of dollars (2 BR at VGF)

I agree on late September and October, but isn’t early September after Labor Day still pretty quiet? We used to be September people until our trip was derailed by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and we swore not to go during peak hurricane season again, no matter how tempting the lower crowds were. Haven’t been in September since then.

So, we did Labor Day weekend a few years ago. We had always heard that Labor Day was such a good time to go, and looked at the crowd calendars and what not. It all got rave reviews. Well, we went and the parks were jam-packed. Looked at TP when we got home, and they had listed the crowds at the parks as 7-8s.

So, I'm not sure about Labor Day anymore. I still hear it's a good time to go. Looking at the historical calendar, the Sunday of Labor Day MK in 2017 was an 8, so....I don't really know.

 

[choirfarm]

nm

 

[yulilin3]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1294731809243181056

 

[mmackeymouse]

You manage the crowds at springs by opening up boardwalk, waterparks allowing park hopping and keeping parks open later.

I mean.....maybe. Although I tend to think a bulk of the crowds coming are locals, and I don't know that they would go to water parks, BW, etc instead of Springs. That may help with resort guests and maybe AP holders.

Deni said it before....there is no investment in going to Disney Springs. So people go just to go, and they aren't too concerned about being "kicked out" because they haven't spent money on admission the same way they would in a park.

Maybe impose a temporary parking fee? Resort guests and AP holders get free parking. Or maybe some sort of time limit? I dunno how to logistically make any of this work...I just wish they'd come up with something.