Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[yulilin3]

You speaking from the future there? What “fun” surprises does the rest of 2020 hold? Did new magnets get released?

Lol, it's been that type of week, I'll fix it

 

[DanSchwartz]

Looks like new reservation procedures for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance ride begins next week.

 

[yulilin3]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1321879403429810176

Makes sense, if you get bg 1 through 10 you'll be called before 11am

 

[rteetz]

View attachment 535357

Looks like new reservation procedures for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance ride begins next week.

Yep, Nov. 3rd. Being heavily discussed here already. It will help alleviate crowding at opening.

 

[mattpeto]

You still have to have a park reservation. Theoretically everyone with a reservation could be in the park at 10AM prior to this.

Right...

People with Reservations > People that Entered the Park before opening.

More overall competition for the 7 am BG.

 

[yulilin3]

I guess now we'll see how popular MMRR really is

 

[rteetz]

Right...

People with Reservations > People that Entered the Park before opening.

More overall competition for the 7 am BG.

I don’t think it will make much of a different overall actually. You’ll still have people that don’t know, forget, sleep through, etc.

 

[Mit88]

I guess now we'll see how popular MMRR really is

MMRR gets too much flack because of what it replaced. It’s a perfectly fine addition. Would I wait 75 minutes for it now that I’ve ridden it? Almost certainly not. But I’ll probably ride it every time I’m in the park, something I didn’t do with GMR, and I really liked GMR. They could have done far worse as a replacement

 

[twinmom13]

I don’t think it will make much of a different overall actually. You’ll still have people that don’t know, forget, sleep through, etc.

Agreed. I expect many people who did not find it worth it to be at HS at 10 will also not find it worth it to be up and on MDE at 7. It will definitely save everyone a lot of stress, though.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Lol, it's been that type of week, I'll fix it

Lol I hear that, I had to really sit and think about if December 2020 has come and gone yet before I said anything.

 

[Mit88]

Lol I hear that, I had to really sit and think about if December 2020 has come and gone yet before I said anything.

I didn’t even think twice until you said something. What is time anymore?

 

[Shelby Schroepfer]

Agreed. I expect many people who did not find it worth it to be at HS at 10 will also not find it worth it to be up and on MDE at 7. It will definitely save everyone a lot of stress, though.

The thing is with our plan to take the skyliner from AOA we would've had to be awake by 7 am anyway just to get in the park by 10! Now we can sleep in lol

 

[rpb718]

Just back from our 9 day trip and a few notes...

We started Monday and Tuesday at Universal and spent quite a bit of time in HP as well as Seuss lands. HP lands in both parks are quite crowded.

We went to EPCOT on weekdays (not Friday-Sunday) so we only got a Taste of a Taste of F&W rather than a Taste of F&W. Felt like at least a quarter of the food kiosks are closed during the week and only available on weekends - at least 4 we wanted to try were. Couldn't get a BG for ROTR in the 2 days we tried. Heard about the layoffs while we were there but only catching up now on the Disboards. (We did see the Green Drummers in the cavalcade on Tuesday - hoping they weren't part of the layoff.) We did run into the closed standby line for MMRR but just went to TSL instead and returned later. Did MK and AK over the weekend. Both seemed fairly crowded. If you get a chance to do Chef Mickey before it reverts back to character breakfast - do it. Topolino's character breakfast was very well done (and not loud at all).

This trip brought to the fore something we hadn't considered. When we first went to WDW years ago, it was all about the rides, shopping and food and the entertainment was secondary. Sure we'd watch a parade or nighttime fireworks or do a M&G if we wanted, but it wasn't a priority. While we still enjoy the shopping and the food (especially the food), our trips have evolved over time to focus a bit away from the rides and more on the WDW experience - key to that is the entertainment. Staying over at BC or BW, you could hear a lot of what was going on over at EPCOT or even the stuff happening on the Boardwalk. There was an eerie and unnatural silence in the evenings this trip. I know there are folks here that don't particularly care for these intangibles at this point in their lives, but to paraphrase from "Miracle on 34th Street" - "Someday you're going to find that your way of touring WDW isn't enough. And when you do, don't overlook those lovely intangibles. You'll discover those are the only things that are worthwhile."

A while back I said that the recovery at WDW will not be swift. Various news over the past month make it more likely that this time next year folks will need to be content to enjoy a "Taste of 50th Anniversary" as I contemplate whether a return in 2023 may be too soon.

ETA - There's a certain level of cruelty to having all the Friendship boats go out mid-day to go through their paces running and docking at the various docks between EPCOT and HS and not being able to get on them. We saw that every day we were around BW or EP on our trip.

 

[Lilias]

Someone in a facebook group of mine said they talked to a Disney rep and got this: "Response from Disney... For the first boarding group, you can be located anywhere as long as you are on Disney property. If you are at a different Walt Disney World® theme park or resort, you will still be able to join the boarding group there. We would recommend coming to the theme parks by 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in order to join the boarding queue. If you have resort reservations here at Walt Disney World®, you will be able to join the boarding group since you are within the Walt Disney World® vicinity. This simply means that you are on Disney resort property to join the boarding group. However, if you miss the first boarding group, you will need to be in Disney's Hollywood Studios® in order to join the second group. "

How would they even enforce that unless you had to be on the Disney WiFi or something? My first HS day is from a Universal Hotel, soooo

 

[rteetz]

Someone in a facebook group of mine said they talked to a Disney rep and got this: "Response from Disney... For the first boarding group, you can be located anywhere as long as you are on Disney property. If you are at a different Walt Disney World® theme park or resort, you will still be able to join the boarding group there. We would recommend coming to the theme parks by 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in order to join the boarding queue. If you have resort reservations here at Walt Disney World®, you will be able to join the boarding group since you are within the Walt Disney World® vicinity. This simply means that you are on Disney resort property to join the boarding group. However, if you miss the first boarding group, you will need to be in Disney's Hollywood Studios® in order to join the second group. "

How would they even enforce that unless you had to be on the Disney WiFi or something? My first HS day is from a Universal Hotel, soooo

Yeah that doesn’t make any sense.

 

[Lilias]

Yeah, I guess we'll wait and see what happens on Tuesday! I will try not to stress out until then

 

[jemtx]

Will the ride still start at 10 am or will people who got boarding groups start at 9 am the days the park opens at that hour?

 

[andyman8]

...If you are at a different Walt Disney World® theme park...

Why would anyone be at a different Disney theme park at 7am? There's no Park Hopper. That response doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm still going to guess that as long as you have an active park reservation for that day, you'll be able to claim a BG. There could be problems with that, but we'll see.

 

[rteetz]

Will the ride still start at 10 am or will people who got boarding groups start at 9 am the days the park opens at that hour?

It would begin when the park opens as long as the ride opens with the park. There are days where due to technical issues the ride has delayed openings.

 

[JacknSally]

Someone in a facebook group of mine said they talked to a Disney rep and got this: "Response from Disney... For the first boarding group, you can be located anywhere as long as you are on Disney property. If you are at a different Walt Disney World® theme park or resort, you will still be able to join the boarding group there. We would recommend coming to the theme parks by 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in order to join the boarding queue. If you have resort reservations here at Walt Disney World®, you will be able to join the boarding group since you are within the Walt Disney World® vicinity. This simply means that you are on Disney resort property to join the boarding group. However, if you miss the first boarding group, you will need to be in Disney's Hollywood Studios® in order to join the second group. "

How would they even enforce that unless you had to be on the Disney WiFi or something? My first HS day is from a Universal Hotel, soooo

Maybe I'm misunderstanding it, but that seems ilke they'll likely use geofencing and if location services indicate you're not on property or within a certain radius of DHS, I guess the app wouldn't allow you to attempt to join a group.