Different perspective on park openings.

I totally agree they need to let folks know if June 1 is happening or not happening.
 
I totally agree they need to let folks know if June 1 is happening or not happening.
This was really on my mind today. Balance for my Disneyland trip is due June 7th, and frankly I feel that I should have more information from Disney before that date. It's starting to feel like Disney is playing chicken with June reservations, daring people to cancel so if Disney isn't open there will be fewer customers they will have to offer a rebook offer. More over giving no guidance on what will actually be open if they do open on June 1st, means it's quite a gamble for those with reservations.
 
Well - just learned something. I am a travel specialist for another company (wishing I was a Dreams Unlimited Travel Agent hint hint)... and I just learned that guests with trips booked between 5/31 - 6/6 will be receiving communication that their trip has been impacted. Not sure of any details of an alternate offer at this time. So now we know nothing is opening until AT THE EARLIEST 6/7.
 
My trip beginning 6/1 was cancelled by Disney today. They said I can cancel/rebook or they'll cancel for me. No mention of transferring our free dining.
 


I hope this is the right forum. I love the shows, have used dreams unlimited, and just made my first magic candle company purchase, literally right before I posted this. I'm a father of 2 and we live in the northeast and I have a west coast vacation that includes Disneyland booked for early July. Just a bit of background before I offer a different perspective on the parks and resorts opening.

My view is that unlike Shanghai where the government is a partner, in the US federal and local governments will set a baseline, but Disney will make decisions unilaterally. I don't think the parks will open until there is much greater testing and contact tracing or some other change in circumstance such as significantly diminished transmission in the summer or an effective treatment or vaccine. I think Disney is preparing for the best, but expecting the worst, by taking reservations and booking fast passes in June.

Diminished capacity means diminished revenue, and the precautions necessary require additional operational costs (e.g. more cleaning supplies, more staff to clean, masks and gloves for staff, etc...). I see opening in June offering little reward to Disney while coming at great risk to the brand. While my kids have been to WDW this would be their first trip to Disneyland and I would bet like me Disney is considering whether a magical experience is possible with such tight restrictions. More importantly by opening to early there is great risk of "super spreader" events.

I haven't cancelled my trip but it's hard for me to see how any US parks can open while testing capacity is so low, and when we do ramp up to the capacity of China, it will still take a few weeks to actually perform the required testing and contact tracing. I know my view is more pessimistic than Pete's, but please don't take it as entirely negative - I think the parks will reopen and I for one will appreciate them even more, but it will require a lot more testing.
Totally agree with you.
 
I had an early June trip scheduled and had already canceled my hotel reservations a month ago. My mom is a physician and my uncle works for public health in a city that was hit hard by COVID-19...at this point even *if* the parks opened in June, I wouldn’t go.

I got an email yesterday from Disney canceling a dining reservation in the parks that had completely slipped my mind. That one was for June 6th, and it referenced the fact that it was “due to the temporary closure,” so I’m guessing the June 1st opening is out.
 
I had an early June trip scheduled and had already canceled my hotel reservations a month ago. My mom is a physician and my uncle works for public health in a city that was hit hard by COVID-19...at this point even *if* the parks opened in June, I wouldn’t go.

I got an email yesterday from Disney canceling a dining reservation in the parks that had completely slipped my mind. That one was for June 6th, and it referenced the fact that it was “due to the temporary closure,” so I’m guessing the June 1st opening is out.
Sorry about your trip, hopefully you will have an even more magical one in a safer future! Also - please thank both your Mom, an your Uncle for what they do!
 


Sorry about your trip, hopefully you will have an even more magical one in a safer future! Also - please thank both your Mom, an your Uncle for what they do!

That’s very kind of you! ❤️

I’m bummed, but in some way it helps to know that it’s an issue the entire world is facing together, you know? I look forward to a day when we can all enjoy our trips again without fear, even if our visits do end up looking a bit different than they used to.
 
Our trip was June 1-8 Disney World. Haven't received any cancellation notice yet but my son received one I called Disney to confirm. It is cancelled. I cancelled our trip Son still trying to make up his mind if he wants to reschedule or get money back.
 
That's nice your husband is in a location that didn't get hit that hard. I have a different perspective as someone who has been working directly with COVID patients in a location that was a hotspot and it has been a nightmare. There are no days where we have no COVID patients, even now. I do NOT want to go back to another peak. I want to practice my specialty again. We are only just restarting elective surgeries. We still don't know if infected people even have immunity or for how long. We do not need to rush people into crowded locations unnecessarily. People who have been lucky enough to not be in a hotspot don't know how bad this can get. I think my state has been handling things quite well. But the problem is that people travel from state to state, and you cannot control everyone. I agree we should be reopening, slowly, in stages, now. Business and even restaurants that can allow for physical distancing should slowly be reopening over the next month or so. I do not agree that we need to be putting people in crowds at this point. Germany has been doing great, and even they canceled Oktoberfest.
Traveling seems to be the issue with this. I live in a state next to one that is a hot spot. So many out of state plates are seen every day here. Our Gov. says you can't block travel but people should be listening to the stay at home orders. Our state relies on tourism and many people cross the border because we have no sales tax. The county with the most cases is the one on the border of the hot spot state. Grrr.. I keep saying when people move the virus moves. People want to escape the hot spots and come this way to their summer houses etc. In one of my Disney Alumni groups a women was asking how the rules in FL were because she was sitting in an apartment in NYC while they were the hot spot. She wanted to rent a place in FL for the stay at home period. Grrr. Some people told her to stay put. I thought maybe it would have been better to have just held most people to a certain mile radius from their house except if you were going to a job. We have places like parks, beaches, etc closed because people from other states were coming here to use our beaches etc.

As far as what I've seen from Covid 19 it doesn't match up with what my family members told me about their cases. My brother-in-law (they live in same town) was diagnosed mid March. His started out as muscle aches etc. He was lucky to be tested because he is assistant manager at a grocery store. My older sister was diagnosed a few days later and she had sore throat and coughing up stuff. The 2 year old spiked a high fever and the 7 year old still doesn't know she had it. (mom didn't want to scare her.)My younger sister had no contact with the other family and had different symptoms. None of them ended up in hospital really sick. I was actually surprised when I had to get my labs done and I asked the girl if the hospital had been busy and she stated they are the only hospital in the state that hasn't had to lay people off. The next week the hospital started elective procedures since that is where the money is.

As for Disney I think they should start with local people and then regional. Once you bring more people in from all over the place the easier the germs spread. Crossing my fingers things are up and running again.
 
If you read the article it is because some states still have criteria limiting who can be tested and there are some other issues with related supplies.

While most states say they are now able to test people in hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and other front-line settings, many continue to be hampered by a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), nasal swabs and reagents, the chemicals necessary to process tests.

As much as I'd like to visit WDW again, I know I won't be traveling until testing, tracing and isolating become routine, hospitalization rates go down and we have access to proven therapies.
 
Wanted to share a different spin on a different perspective of park opening.

Our local amusement park is opening this weekend with a reservation system. I called my BF immediately after the announcement (we always get APs together) and as we discussed it, neither of us felt good about it. And our park is just small potatoes in comparison.

I really want to say, I hope the Dis crew doesn’t feel pressure to go to create content if they are not ready.

Anyways, I plan to keep supporting the Dis either way as they make the same choice for themselves.
 
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