Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Brianstl]

I am the lone wolf in our usual travel party who thinks it’s a waste of time, money, and a Disney meal. I talked everyone out of it for our last trip, and then the trip didn’t happen lol. I didn’t find it to be terrible, but even by DHS food standards just no.

We did the character breakfast there once and it was decent enough for a buffet. It was not close to Tusker quality, but is was much better than Chef Mickey's.

 

[yulilin3]

Do we think H&V will have a meal like Chef Mickey’s?

ETA - I mean family style. For breakfast. I thought CM price for family style breakfast was very reasonable

I'm not sure they are doing breakfast for this, I think it's lunch and dinner only. And yes its family style

 

[sullivan.kscott]

It’s nice to see some life coming back to the parks! My thought is that it must speak to extended ramping of capacity, that they think they’ll fill, or they wouldn’t open additional offerings. Also telling that Epcot and AK didn’t get any new announcements today (not sure what’s not open at AK, tbh).
Would the next logical step be more food offerings/shops opening, or extended evening hours?

 

[skeeter31]

It’s nice to see some life coming back to the parks! My thought is that it must speak to extended ramping of capacity, that they think they’ll fill, or they wouldn’t open additional offerings. Also telling that Epcot and AK didn’t get any new announcements today (not sure what’s not open at AK, tbh).
Would the next logical step be more food offerings/shops opening, or extended evening hours?

It all depends on how things do after Labor Day. Given that it’s the slowest period of the year for Disney, they may not rush to reopen or extend more hours until closer to thanksgiving.

 

[yulilin3]

DeSantis talking in Daytona with VisitFlorida, they are launching a new campaign
https://thefloridachannel.org/VisitFlorida says that tourism industry has been decimated but people right now even though are ready to travel they are traveling closer to home
They are launching incentive to travel for locals (Floridians)
And very soon they will be launching new incentives for national travel and that the tourism industry will bounceback hopefully in a matter of years

 

[TakesFaithTrust&PixieDust]

DeSantis talking in Daytona with VisitFlorida, they are launching a new campaign
https://thefloridachannel.org/VisitFlorida says that tourism industry has been decimated but people right now even though are ready to travel they are traveling closer to home
They are launching incentive to travel for locals (Floridians)
And very soon they will be launching new incentives for national travel and that the tourism industry will bounceback hopefully in a matter of years

How do you find out when the governor is giving briefings? I only hear about them on here. Than you in advance

 

[yulilin3]

How do you find out when the governor is giving briefings? I only hear about them on here. Than you in advance

I just have Orlando Sentinel on alert so got the alert while sitting by the laptop

 

[yulilin3]

DeSantis just said that the Government has not capped capacity for theme parks, and it's each park's decision to increase capacity

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1301251637487505408

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1301255144156299265

 

[Mit88]

Sounds to me like Disney is pressing him and he’s trying to resist as long as he can. Disney isn’t as needed for the state as much as it is for Florida or id assume DLR would be open by now

 

[gottalovepluto]

Sounds to me like Disney is pressing him and he’s trying to resist as long as he can. Disney isn’t as needed for the state as much as it is for Florida or id assume DLR would be open by now

I still think they need to talk to the movie theater industry to find out what magic one needs to employ to get Newsom's blessing. For heaven's sake even they, an indoor setting where people sit for a couple hours, got a path forward for re-opening.

 

[TakesFaithTrust&PixieDust]

Sounds to me like Disney is pressing him and he’s trying to resist as long as he can. Disney isn’t as needed for the state as much as it is for Florida or id assume DLR would be open by now

You’re probably right. As others mentioned it’s a local favorite. When I’ve been there you can just feel a different vibe. So DL would do pretty well with just locals. I hope though that they open soon. Cast members need a salary to live.

 

[andyman8]

Sounds to me like Disney is pressing him and he’s trying to resist as long as he can. Disney isn’t as needed for the state as much as it is for Florida or id assume DLR would be open by now

I didn’t read it that way at all, actually. Sure, Disney is applying pressure, but they don’t cary the clout they do in FL (where, ironically enough, they didn’t need to apply really any pressure) and let’s just say TWDC and Newsom have a very comfortable relationship. It’s a negotiation and a political one at that. He wants to satisfy them and the local economy but also not appear to like he’s playing favorites (CA has a far more ehhh “diverse” array of theme park operators so they all shouldn’t be held to the same standards as Disney imo). It’s a game of politics, and I think we as fans can lose sight of that. Disney doesn’t operate in a vacuum at all.

I actually thought this comment was quite encouraging. This indicates to me, as we’ve discussed, that a DL reopening (while maybe not immediately imminent) is coming sooner rather than later. The governor wouldn’t be entertaining those discussions (or certainly talking about that publicly) if he didn’t think something tangible would come with them.

I’m not a DL/CA expert by any means, but it seems like OC may be able to move into the next “tier” as early as next week. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was coupled with an approval for an extremely limited reopening of the parks (maybe not an announcement) or at least the impetus for approval (like we saw in FL). My guess is that the biggest point of contention is the exact details of those limitations. How “excited” the Governor is about a DL reopening largely probably is up to the interpreter and the political leanings of that interpreter. That’s all I’ll say on this so this doesn’t get to a more political place. I’d ask others also refrain from going there as well.

 

[mmackeymouse]

first stop for me on Friday

I'm so torn: cinnamon roll or LeFou's Brew. Cinnamon roll or LeFou's Brew....

Yes, there are people who would say to do both, but...there's a lot of stuff in the World to eat/drink, and I need to pace myself.

 

[Goofy2015]

I know it isn't as pressing at the moment, it sounds like everything is struggling at WDW. I am just curious if there is any wind of any restaurants opening up any time soon that have been closed?

Like half or most of the Boardwalk is closed. Like ESPN Club, any word on these places and more possibly opening up?

 

[cdobert]

My son and I ate at Tony's in July; it was pretty good.
We started and ended with Chef Mickeys - that was really good. I hadn't planned on ending there, but my son asked, it was that good.

 

[skeeter31]

I know it isn't as pressing at the moment, it sounds like everything is struggling at WDW. I am just curious if there is any wind of any restaurants opening up any time soon that have been closed?

Like half or most of the Boardwalk is closed. Like ESPN Club, any word on these places and more possibly opening up?

Nothing official. Not even any rumors of them reopening. The only one we saw anything on was Ohana having the chefs out front seeming to be speaking about how to adequately space people out in the waiting room. But now with the news that Poly May be closing the GCH for an extended period of time, they may have been discussing things for next summer.

 

[andyman8]

I know it isn't as pressing at the moment, it sounds like everything is struggling at WDW. I am just curious if there is any wind of any restaurants opening up any time soon that have been closed?

Like half or most of the Boardwalk is closed. Like ESPN Club, any word on these places and more possibly opening up?

The original plan (from late June/very early July) was to reopen remaining resort restaurants when their “cash-side” reopened. For example, BLT at Contemporary reopened on 6/22 with The Wave and Contempo Cafe then when the actual hotel reopened on 7/10, CG and CM came back. Given that attendance hasn’t been where they expected (and resort occupancy has been disappointing), that plan has basically been thrown out. Hotel reopenings were called off. When CBR reopened, Sebastian’s Bistro didn’t reopened (and may never, based on some unconfirmed rumors). When YC reopened, YS and Crew’s Cup stayed closed (even though they had configured and marked up the spaces for social distancing), much to the surprise of many who worked. The hope with those two is that maybe they’ll come back later this year, depending on how Resort occupancy and attendance goes.

With no official reopening date set for BWI at the moment, the pessimistic answer is that neither of those locations you mentioned will be back anytime soon. Some on the Dining Boards reported that Yelp has November reopening dates listed for them, but I wouldn’t put any stock in that. Those type of third party sites have been all over the place with these closures. That said, with BW, I could see a scenario where DVC demand picks up in October and perhaps they open at least one of those restaurants. If things go really well in October, it’s also possible that maybe they’ll open up BWI (or BC) for Thanksgiving and/or the December holidays and maybe those restaurants reopen with it. As I’ve said before, October is going to be an important month in determining what the remainder of the year and early 2021 look like.

Short answer: as of now, not anytime soon, but there’s a not impossible chance (hopefully) that will change. We probably won’t get a lot of notice.

 

[Rebma512]

Just thought I’d share....
Booked for a trip 9/28-10/6 to stay at AKL I have an autistic 5yo and a 3yo that I haven’t been able to get acclimated to wearing a mask yet. Had to ask my TA to bump our trip to November. Which she kindly did and I believe I was able to keep my recovery discount from our original trip that was supposed to happen in April. So that’s good news. Ready for the horrible news? Apparently Disney said that if I kept my sept dates they’d move us to the Grand Floridian at no charge.

...stupid kids...

I emailed my TA and said if she’d be willing to watch my maskless children while we go into the parks we’d be there! I would even eat the kids tickets. She’s a great TA but no fairy godmother I suppose.