Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[rpb718]

Probably best to wait until the 19th - all the vloggers will need to get their photos on the 18th

Maybe they'll have a soft opening tomorrow?

I'll just see myself out...

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Nice! Will be cool to at least get into the new area a bit. Plus, those Morocco restrooms definitely need a refurb. Some of the worst on property.

Yes. Thank goodness they’re refreshing the Morocco restrooms and not delaying that. Last February while we were waiting for Epcot Forever to start I took the kids in there to go. Really bad condition. Worst I’d seen - with a 5 year old and newly potty trained 3 year old on our last trip we toured quite a few restrooms. These desperately need an update.

 

[Poohbear538]

As someone who went to Gideons yesterday for the grand opening, and this is the first time in my 47 years I have ever done something like that, I would not have gone had it not been for the virtual queue. Them deciding to do that was the only reason I went. I got in line about 9:10, gave my number at about 9:40, I was quoted 4 hours but it actually turned into 6. I went with one of my friends and my brother and sister-in-law. We wandered the Springs, had lunch at the food trucks, had a drink at House of Blues, got our steps in for the day. I am generally in the same camp as people who think it’s crazy to wait in line, let alone 2, for 6+ hours. As I said, for at least my group, the virtual queue and being able to walk around was the deciding factor to do it.

 

[LSUmiss]

Will old magic bands automatically work to get us into the parks or do we need to do something at guests services? They’re just from this past Nov.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Will old magic bands automatically work to get us into the parks or do we need to do something at guests services? They’re just from this past Nov.

As long as they are still connected to your My Disney Experience and same with your tickets, you should be fine

Magic Bands basically just point to your account - and you can have 1 or 10, from this year, from 3 years ago, whatever pointing

 

[Yooperroo]

We are here now (staying at OKW) and we just waited 40 minutes for an MK bus (and we didn't see a single HS bus during that time either. Both have 9am openings). We were told by a bus driver that today they started a "new system" but didn't elaborate on what that meant aside from it's been a mess all morning and the bus drivers don't know what's going on.
Edited to add we were waiting at the Peninsular bus stop so we were the first pick up. So its not because they were filling before they reached our stop.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We are here now (staying at OKW) and we just waited 40 minutes for an MK bus (and we didn't see a single HS bus during that time either. Both have 9am openings). We were told by a bus driver that today they started a "new system" but didn't elaborate on what that meant aside from it's been a mess all morning and the bus drivers don't know what's going on.
Edited to add we were waiting at the Peninsular bus stop so we were the first pick up. So its not because they were filling before they reached our stop.

Hopefully that just means "it will take a bit for the drivers to get comfortable with the new system and then everything should be fine/even better than before!" and not "the new system = less buses"

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I saw a post on Facebook that the standby line at Gideon's closed 24 minutes ago and now into virtual queue

So definitely not nearly as crazy as yesterday ... be interesting to watch how it "normalizes"

 

[osufeth24]

I saw a post on Facebook that the standby line at Gideon's closed 24 minutes ago and now into virtual queue

So definitely not nearly as crazy as yesterday ... be interesting to watch how it "normalizes"

Ya I'm gonna wait to get one for my birthday (early Feb) and I'm doin 2 days of parks (decided to not make it a staycation since I is poor lol), and trying to decide if I should go there first or try after I'm done with parks. May bring a cooler with ice packs so I can keep it in my car.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hopefully that just means "it will take a bit for the drivers to get comfortable with the new system and then everything should be fine/even better than before!" and not "the new system = less buses"

The only point of a new system right now would be to save money. Saving money = less buses + less drivers.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The only point of a new system right now would be to save money. Saving money = less buses + less drivers.

ture - though could also be restructuring to be more efficnet ... so even with an absolute cut in busses running they could handle more people more efficiently

 

[TheMaxRebo]

not really news, but another example of the new style character interactions going on - and it's just adorable and we probably could use to add some positivity into these threads (I know, not really my shtick of late)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1350671446960467969

 

[chicagoshannon]

I"ve also seen reports of Anna meeting in Epcot outside the village and the step sisters outside of the princess meet buildings.

 

[rteetz]

I"ve also seen reports of Anna meeting in Epcot outside the village and the step sisters outside of the princess meet buildings.

Yep Anna and Elsa have been doing this for a while now. I saw them both in Norway while I was there.

 

[LSUmiss]

So I know I could probably search & find this, but y’all are my quickest resource. To park hop, we don’t need a reservation as long as we went to our reservation park first, correct?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So I know I could probably search & find this, but y’all are my quickest resource. To park hop, we don’t need a reservation as long as we went to our reservation park first, correct?

Correct - you do have to physically go into the park you have your reservation first. Then you can hop ones it hits the appropriate time (2pm)

 

[yulilin3]

The only point of a new system right now would be to save money. Saving money = less buses + less drivers.

Not sure about this cause they are internally hiring bus driver trainers. To me this means more bus drivers in the future OR more cm that are transferring to being bus drivers and need training

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We are here now (staying at OKW) and we just waited 40 minutes for an MK bus (and we didn't see a single HS bus during that time either. Both have 9am openings). We were told by a bus driver that today they started a "new system" but didn't elaborate on what that meant aside from it's been a mess all morning and the bus drivers don't know what's going on.
Edited to add we were waiting at the Peninsular bus stop so we were the first pick up. So its not because they were filling before they reached our stop.

I saw a FB post I think yesterday saying someone waited 80 mins at Coronado for an MK bus, and another post today from a family who waited 2 hours at Pop for an MK bus. The poster who waited at Pop said the bus line was almost to the entrance of Pop (I've never stayed there so I'm not sure how long that is); and said that multiple empty DS buses stopped in that time.

 

[LSUmiss]

I saw a FB post I think yesterday saying someone waited 80 mins at Coronado for an MK bus, and another post today from a family who waited 2 hours at Pop for an MK bus. The poster who waited at Pop said the bus line was almost to the entrance of Pop (I've never stayed there so I'm not sure how long that is); and said that multiple empty DS buses stopped in that time.

Ftr, knock-on-wood, we are at Poly right now & have had excellent bus service so far.

 

[jlwhitney]

Has any one heard in any rumblings of what the rules will be for the water parks? We got our water park annual pass extension and hoping we can actually use it.