Disneyland Reopening Speculation Superthread

[taaren]

Did you see that Trop is running a $99 Facebook special for July 13-31?

Thank you for this! I've been looking for something to potentially replace my July 19-21 VGC reservation since we have plane tickets. Still not sure we're going to go, it'll depend on how the reservation system works. If I can't get 2 days I don't think it'll be worth flying for. I would not have minded a resort-only stay at the Grand, or one day in the parks if we were staying there, but since the hotels are closed and they'll likely be cancelling my on-site soon it would take two park days to make it worth it.
There are a lot of days available now for this Fb special!

So with two parks either open (SDL) or about to be open this week (HKDL), here are my working assumptions about DLR ahead of any official announcement:
3) On-park hotel guests will have park ticketing priority

Open question: what about on-park hotel guests who are AP holders? Same priority, or are APs elevated to the AP queue regardless?​

Reasoning: current SDL published policy, WDW initial email (I have not personally seen it) confirmed by mods​

I'm curious how something like an on-site hotel priority system would work for the week that the parks are open but the hotel is not. This seems easy to do at WDW, but since the order of opening was reversed at DL ... ? Not saying you should have the answer, just a weird thought exercise.

For anyone who has to call about on-site hotel reservations, I called Saturday to try to move my July DLH reservation to October, and there was no hold, went straight to CM, which was nice. They were not able to give any discounts for a moved booking though, the CM tried several different methods for me.

 

[UK-Simon]

I'm curious, but why should there be a separate policy for international APs? It's not Disney's decision the border is closed. I agree it would be nice, but it seems like it would be over and above what they are doing for everyone else.

I think really because it's morally the right thing to do. By the letter of their policy do they have to? Absolutely not. But I see a full shut down of the border as considerably different than choosing not to go. I have an Airbnb property here in Canada and I've given 100% refunds to every single guest who can't get here because of the border closure. Why? Because it's the right thing to do.

 

[CastAStone]

Interesting stuff here... looks like resort guests will book separately from day ticket holders... https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...4th-to-july-16th.963870/page-281#post-9268224

 

[mentos]

Interesting stuff here... looks like resort guests will book separately from day ticket holders... https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...4th-to-july-16th.963870/page-281#post-9268224

Dang, I was trying to poke around cold-typing potential ticketing/info URLs. The lorem ipsum placeholder is instructive. The real gold is right here:

Select the Park & Time You’ll Visit

Resort Guest Reservation
Single Ticket Reservation
Passholder Reservation

Timed entry, and separate park treatment (!!)

Also, on park guest priority.

Wow.

 

[StarlitNight05]

Interesting stuff here... looks like resort guests will book separately from day ticket holders... https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...4th-to-july-16th.963870/page-281#post-9268224

Thanks for sharing! I wonder if the resort specific bookings will apply to those with convention booked onsite reservations? We are going for Gay Days (fingers crossed it's not cancelled) in October.

 

[CastAStone]

Thanks for sharing! I wonder if the resort specific bookings will apply to those with convention booked onsite reservations? We are going for Gay Days (fingers crossed it's not cancelled) in October.

I have a Dapper Days booking so I have the same wonder. I can’t figure out how to link the Dapper Days booking directly to my Disney account so they know it’s me and that I already have tickets!

 

[EmJ]

Dang, I was trying to poke around cold-typing potential ticketing/info URLs. The lorem ipsum placeholder is instructive. The real gold is right here:


Timed entry, and separate park treatment (!!)

Also, on park guest priority.

Wow.

Timed entry is interesting. I hadn’t really considered that, but it makes sense. On a muuuuuuch smaller scale, both our botanic gardens and zoo are requiring entry with timed entry tickets, as they are only permitted by health codes to admit so many people per hour.

Depending on how they structure the times, this might not be the worst thing. Certain people want to be up at the crack of dawn and at the gates an hour before the park opens (*cough*me*cough*). Others prefer to sleep in on vacation and arrive just before lunch. Even others like the park in the late evening and night. APs, as I understand it, often come after work.

It’s a given that whatever system DL comes up with is not going to please 100% of visitors, but... maybe this could work?

 

[Katie Count]

Timed entry is interesting. I hadn’t really considered that, but it makes sense. On a muuuuuuch smaller scale, both our botanic gardens and zoo are requiring entry with timed entry tickets, as they are only permitted by health codes to admit so many people per hour.

Depending on how they structure the times, this might not be the worst thing. Certain people want to be up at the crack of dawn and at the gates an hour before the park opens (*cough*me*cough*). Others prefer to sleep in on vacation and arrive just before lunch. Even others like the park in the late evening and night. APs, as I understand it, often come after work.

It’s a given that whatever system DL comes up with is not going to please 100% of visitors, but... maybe this could work?

It’s our first trip to Disneyland so I want to rope drop every day possible

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thank you for this! I've been looking for something to potentially replace my July 19-21 VGC reservation since we have plane tickets. Still not sure we're going to go, it'll depend on how the reservation system works. If I can't get 2 days I don't think it'll be worth flying for. I would not have minded a resort-only stay at the Grand, or one day in the parks if we were staying there, but since the hotels are closed and they'll likely be cancelling my on-site soon it would take two park days to make it worth it.
There are a lot of days available now for this Fb special!

I'm curious how something like an on-site hotel priority system would work for the week that the parks are open but the hotel is not. This seems easy to do at WDW, but since the order of opening was reversed at DL ... ? Not saying you should have the answer, just a weird thought exercise.

For anyone who has to call about on-site hotel reservations, I called Saturday to try to move my July DLH reservation to October, and there was no hold, went straight to CM, which was nice. They were not able to give any discounts for a moved booking though, the CM tried several different methods for me.

I don’t remember the cutoff date for the 35% off rebooking offer but it was right near the beg of Oct. Did you try end of Sept by chance?

 

[crystal1313]

We are rope drop people too. And usually never go back to the hotel room. But with us being moved over the GCH, I would imagine we might go back to our room at least once? Do you think they will limit how many times you enter or exit?

 

[mrsw94]

We are rope drop people too. And usually never go back to the hotel room. But with us being moved over the GCH, I would imagine we might go back to our room at least once? Do you think they will limit how many times you enter or exit?

We only stayed there once (FIL paid for the accommodations), but in my opinion, you are REQUIRED to ride Grizzly River Run, get soaked and then either go jump in the pool or back to your room to change, simply because you can!

 

[BellaandMickey]

I agree; I actually told my husband this morning that the last-minute notice might be a feature, not a bug, intended to depress demand.

That said, if Disney is serious about wanting to discourage out-of-state travelers, then they need to do something about previously purchased multi-day tickets, which expire in January. It is not those ticket holders' fault that the tickets were not used this summer, and they are literally the only class of pass/ticket holders that have not even been mentioned by Disney in all their refund and expiration accommodation offers. Yes, the tickets hold their value, and yes, they can be applied to new tickets in the future, but at higher cost--and potentially a much higher cost. It's really quite unfair for Disney to say, we closed down the parks for three months, then purposefully created rules making it really hard for you to come at all once it reopened, and we compensated literally every other class of guest, but your tickets are expiring and now you get to pay an extra $50 per head or whatever we decide if you come back in the future.

I agree completely! We are in the same boat and I don’t think it’s right if we’re forced to pay more money to use these tickets that we’re being forced to sit on.

 

[audrey2580]

Timed entry is interesting. I hadn’t really considered that, but it makes sense. On a muuuuuuch smaller scale, both our botanic gardens and zoo are requiring entry with timed entry tickets, as they are only permitted by health codes to admit so many people per hour.

Depending on how they structure the times, this might not be the worst thing. Certain people want to be up at the crack of dawn and at the gates an hour before the park opens (*cough*me*cough*). Others prefer to sleep in on vacation and arrive just before lunch. Even others like the park in the late evening and night. APs, as I understand it, often come after work.

It’s a given that whatever system DL comes up with is not going to please 100% of visitors, but... maybe this could work?

I’m thinking this is more like how Shanghai is doing it. Example: 9:00-9:15 arrival or 9:15-9:30 etc. The goal would be to stagger it so not everyone is waiting together at the bag check and turnstiles upon arrival. I’m guessing you could arrive later just not earlier. As far as people coming after work, I bet it will be like WDW and the parks will close by 7pm.

 

[mentos]

I’m thinking this is more like how Shanghai is doing it. Example: 9:00-9:15 arrival or 9:15-9:30 etc. The goal would be to stagger it so not everyone is waiting together at the bag check and turnstiles upon arrival. I’m guessing you could arrive later just not earlier. As far as people coming after work, I bet it will be like WDW and the parks will close by 7pm.

are the WDW hours official? Holy cow, we’re late risers + mid afternoon nap people, and ever since my kid was 4 we would push all the way to midnight.

granted, that was the only time Fantasyland rides were walk-on (except Peter Pan)

 

[CastAStone]

are the WDW hours official? Holy cow, we’re late risers + mid afternoon nap people, and ever since my kid was 4 we would push all the way to midnight.

granted, that was the only time Fantasyland rides were walk-on (except Peter Pan)

WDW is staggering, presumably to enable social distancing on buses. So AK is 8-6, MK 9-7, DHS 10-8, Epcot 11-9.

Hopefully DLR has longer hours and nothing like 11-9

 

[GoofLove]

I am so hoping AP‘s will be available for purchase as well by October. I did not choose to extend mine past my December expiration, becasue I know I will not be able to return by April. I do however feel sad at the thought of not being able renew when I am ready.

Gosh I really hope so. One of my favorite things is to visit DL during the holidays and my pass expired mid-October. I'm going to be heartbroken if I can't renew my pass for that time of year

 

[Kelly014]

This is simultaneously both comforting and terrifying, lol.

I think the thing I've hated most about this whole pandemic experience is the emotional roller coaster. I'm trying to use only the analytical part of my brain in planning this trip and not let myself get to excited, or even really think that it might actually happen. It's not worth the heartache if/when it gets cancelled, you know?

Completely agree. The idea of Disney having to close down a park for 72 hours due to a guest or CM testing positive seems insane - wouldn’t it happen all the time? And does that mean you could fly out to Disney with a three day park reservation/ticket in hand and mid flight they close for 72 hours because someone tested positive? On the other hand, thinking about people actively infected with COVID also makes me feel a bit crazy, so it’s a lose lose

Ultimately I think we will go and make the best of it, but in my mind I’m not doing much planning just in case it does get cancelled. And our kids will get a surprise trip if it does happen...and if we cancel they will be none the wiser. I’m 50% thrilled to get my Disney fix and 50% heartbroken that it won’t be “normal” and that there’s a change it won’t happen. Ugh.

 

[EmJ]

Completely agree. The idea of Disney having to close down a park for 72 hours due to a guest or CM testing positive seems insane - wouldn’t it happen all the time? And does that mean you could fly out to Disney with a three day park reservation/ticket in hand and mid flight they close for 72 hours because someone tested positive? On the other hand, thinking about people actively infected with COVID also makes me feel a bit crazy, so it’s a lose lose

Ultimately I think we will go and make the best of it, but in my mind I’m not doing much planning just in case it does get cancelled. And our kids will get a surprise trip if it does happen...and if we cancel they will be none the wiser. I’m 50% thrilled to get my Disney fix and 50% heartbroken that it won’t be “normal” and that there’s a change it won’t happen. Ugh.

Here here. I’m doing no planning at all, except that I will try to make advance reservations for the SWGE activities, to the extent we can. I do wish we could get confirmation that SWGE will be fully operational.

We also aren’t telling our son we are trying to go. I did tell him, weeks ago, that if he wanted to go to Disneyland at all this year, he had to show me he could wear his mask nice and not complain. He has done so well. This weekend he wore it for two hours while biking on a bike course in 90 degree heat and didn’t complain once. He’s earned it But, assuming this works, I plan to pack in chunks after he’s in bed; he will find out we’re going somewhere when we arrive at the airport.

 

[gabbyenovak]

I'm hoping that since I will be staying at GVC Labor day week, we will be able to get tickets for at least one day! My friend's dad works for DL but, not sure if he will be able to give us tickets. Would seem unlikely.

 

[Kelly014]

Here here. I’m doing no planning at all, except that I will try to make advance reservations for the SWGE activities, to the extent we can. I do wish we could get confirmation that SWGE will be fully operational.

We also aren’t telling our son we are trying to go. I did tell him, weeks ago, that if he wanted to go to Disneyland at all this year, he had to show me he could wear his mask nice and not complain. He has done so well. This weekend he wore it for two hours while biking on a bike course in 90 degree heat and didn’t complain once. He’s earned it But, assuming this works, I plan to pack in chunks after he’s in bed; he will find out we’re going somewhere when we arrive at the airport.

That’s our plan too. Poor guy - the masks can be hard for kids! My kids (10 and 5) do okay with masks, but I know they will suck it up for Disney. We are actually yearly Disney World people, we have never been to Disneyland. We had a fall trip to New Zealand planned for my step-brother’s wedding, but once we knew that way a no-go I had to book a Disney trip! We felt a bit safer with Disneyland, smaller and way less transportation...and if I’m being honest I trust CA more than I do FL. Really hoping it works out for both of us!