Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Farro]

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

I saw that yeats ago and agree!

We decided on Howard.
Okay, first minute and I already teared up.

 

[Dentam]

So why bring it up

I was comparing it to when ppl who don't want to wear masks tell others just to stay home if it makes them uncomfortable. Not sure what about that comparison was unclear.

 

[Dentam]

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.

Labor Day weekend is the last holiday weekend of the summer and is busy. It's the week after that is nice and quiet normally. I had an entire elevator to myself on ToT when I went that week in 2018! I had never seen the parks so empty and it made for an amazing and relaxing trip.

 

[hereforthechurros]

And most of the crowd’s are still leaving mid-day? I planned my reservations around the resorts I’m staying at. Poly villas, I’m going to MK and EPCOT/DHS while I’m at BCV so we’re still able to take an hour or two break for the pool and not have to worry about not getting things done with the current wait times as is. Only tough one to take a break is Animal Kingdom, and thats the hardest to plow through an entire day during the summer

We found that the first hour and last 2-3 hours of each day were the best for lower crowds. Heat definitely chases people away by 5 pm or so.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

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.

Yeah, I said the crowds were usually low AFTER Labor Day. I think the actual Labor Day weekend has always had typical holiday weekend crowds. We always arrived on Labor Day when we went, stayed a week and usually crowds were very very low during our trips after the holiday weekend passed.

 

[Hettie]

This won't help you now but just wanted to mention that you can book AP rates at UO hotels before you actually buy/upgrade to an AP. Not sure your exact situation with your package but just wanted to mention it in case it might help in the future.

That’s a great tip, I’m a TA, so I knew about that, but not everyone would be aware. I was sad because if I had gone ahead and applied the AP and AP room rate to my package before SF was announced to close, I would have saved $200 since they were honoring the booked rates. I’ve been having this timing issue with everything lately, seems to be a phase. But I suppose I am not psychic after all.

 

[LaDonna]

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

for many years now our county here in Georgia has had a fall break for schools very last week of September.... We’ve been going to Disney a lot during this time..... Over the last several years a lot of other counties in the state have also adopted this fall break time..... I have noticed that Disney has also gotten a lot more crowded that last week, I don’t know if that’s any correlation could be(Fyi our normal school start time is around 1st of August)

 

[KBoopaloo]

Labor Day weekend is the last holiday weekend of the summer and is busy. It's the week after that is nice and quiet normally. I had an entire elevator to myself on ToT when I went that week in 2018! I had never seen the parks so empty and it made for an amazing and relaxing trip.

I was also there that week and the Tuesday and Wednesday after Labor Day were the two quietest days I’ve spent at a Disney park in years. I was the only person eating upstairs at Columbia Harbour House on my MK day.

 

[Mit88]

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

Is it April 1st? Because I was told here that there is “No Demand” for theme parks. So theres no way this can be true

 

[Dentam]

I was also there that week and the Tuesday and Wednesday after Labor Day were the two quietest days I’ve spent at a Disney park in years. I was the only person eating upstairs at Columbia Harbour House on my MK day.

I went to MNSSHP on Labor Day that year and even that wasn't very busy at all. It was so much fun and I had planned to do the same party this year... oh well... maybe in 2021.

 

[Mit88]

We found that the first hour and last 2-3 hours of each day were the best for lower crowds. Heat definitely chases people away by 5 pm or so.

The heat never bothers me, Ive never had an issue when I go down there other than at Animal Kingdom. I usually take mid-day breaks just to get away from people for a little while. So early mornings and the last 2-3 hours works perfectly for my usual schedule

 

[Leigh L]

I miss nighttime shows and events in general so much. Also, park-hopping. Sweet, sweet, park-hopping.

You don't know what you've got until it's gone

THIS. We wrap up our trip today and this was the biggie for us. We like parades, shows, character meets, etc, but the hopping we missed the most - and I wasn't sure we would ultimately miss it so much but we did.

Crowding at DHS is already an issue inside the entrance early morning with everyone there trying to get into a BG. They need to solve that before they allow even more people into that situation by increasing capacity.

We were at DHS on Thursday and was kind of worried about what we might find in the morning. It honestly wasn't bad. Pulled up to toll booth line shortly before 9, they opened at 9:12. Parking, temp check, security, and tapping in were all a breeze and not the typical rope drop experience or people running around trying to get in first. Not getting into the capacity debate, but this is what our experience was -

We found that once we moved out of the center of the park after tapping in, there was plenty of space to move about. We walked right into Galaxy's Edge, wasn't crowded there, mobile ordered some breakfast and sat at a table until we got our BG at 10 am. No lines for tables when we arrived or left. We also walked into Toy Story land after, enough room to walk around. Slinky had a line but it was easily social distanced walking through the land. The gathering seemed to be around MMRR. I'd guess a Sat or Sun would be busier than a Thursday (we avoided the parks on weekends after last Sunday at UO), but I didn't see any big mess at DHS that morning. If people didn't want to be in the a.m. crowd (we didn't), there were ways around it.

We did DHS mornings twice in late January, this was a very different experience.

 

[Jennasis]

Just back from Disney Springs, definitely busier than normal. weekday or even morning weekends. Mask compliance way down, I was there for a job interview that didn't pan out and was pretty upset, going back to the car an entire family with masks on their chins were blocking the escalator up to lime garage, I stopped myself from speaking up cause it could've gotten ugly and only managed to say "excuse me" they looked at me up and down (sure dressed in business casual during a 106 degree heat) and slowly moved out of the way
So avoid if you can the weekends

We left springs right after that empty pic I took around 3:30 at Wine Bar George. The place was filling up, noses were abundant, and social distancing had gone out the window. We also ran into a log jam of idgits at the Lime garage escalator where all piling onto the escalator with no spacing. It wasn't until DH and I stopped and waited for a good 10 feet of space that everybody else sheepishly backed off.

 

[Mit88]

Due to a lack of a lack of demand for theme parks, Universal has not only extended hours today, but for the next 2 weekends as well.

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'm seeing a lot more reports of people needed to go to the cooling tents at the entrances. Just be aware that it is happening frequently and don't freak out if if happens to you. Everyone that I've seen have to go to the tent has been fine withing 5 minutes.

 

[chicagoshannon]

View attachment 518814


Due to a lack of a lack of demand for theme parks, Universal has not only extended hours today, but for the next 2 weekends as well.

hopefully they extend for Labor Day weekend too!

 

[Mit88]

hopefully they extend for Labor Day weekend too!

They’ll probably extend them as long as people are coming in in droves. I wouldnt be surprised if Disney follows suit.

 

[Eric Smith]

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 disagree. If the crowd levels this weekend make someone uneasy, it’s probably a good idea to postpone the trip. I would hate to spend the kind of money it costs to go to Disney and just be anxious the whole time. It’s basically the reason that we cancelled our September trip.

 

[TwoMisfits]

It's funny folks are posting bad experiences at Disney Springs today. Just saw a pic from my brother on Facebook, since his family made an unexpected trip down and hit TRex for dinner...Total wide spacing at the dinner hour in front of the place and every random nobody in the 2 pics posted (1 by the restaurant and 1 on a random spot) were all masked.

Just like the parks - it seems time and place may matter a lot to your experience...

PS - He and his family had a spectacular time...

 

[Farro]

I saw that yeats ago and agree!

We decided on Howard.
Okay, first minute and I already teared up.

Oh my god.

Everyone stop what you are doing and go watch
Howard. Now.