Disneyland Reopening Speculation Superthread

[audrey2580]

It’s a catch 22 with the resort + tickets. If Disney doesn’t guarantee it, there’s almost no incentive to book. If they do guarantee it, you risk people reserving a hotel, reserving tickets, and cancelling their hotel/keeping the tickets.

The only way around this is being able to buy tickets at the check-in desk up to the capacity of the room.

Also, not guaranteeing reservations works for GCH (you’ll know about it before payments are due), but less so for VGC (< 31 days cancellation puts you into holding, and anything 31 days to 7 months it’s practically impossible to rebook — let’s hope you’re early in your UY or can still bank).

I’m throwing my hat behind the Shanghai Disneyland plan, which gave on-site hotel guests guaranteed admission at the front desk.

The language could also be because out of state visitors can book a room but only California residents can enter the park.

 

[jodybird511]

WDW definitely has the same "not guaranteed" language, but resort guests are bucketed separately, so there is an allotment of park reservations set aside for resort guests. Their system also allows you to check your days before booking and/or before buying park tickets, so you know whether or not your days are available. You do have to have tickets hanging out in your My Disney Experience account attached to the guests you are making the reservations for. So that means that previously bought tickets are usable for this purpose. You can also purchase new tickets and immediately link them to a reservation. I anticipate that DLR will use the same system, b/c why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to? As it gets closer in time to reservation dates, Disney redistributes the allotments among the groups--I would think this is likely related to how many are in the resort group, but I don't know this for sure.

 

[jodybird511]

What might seem easy and makes sense (just using the WDW system for linking) is probably a massive IT undertaking, especially for something temporary/short lived.

I really think the solution will be super low tech—let anyone book the hotels (OOS included), ample warnings on who can enter the parks, then ticket sales at the front desk (with proof of residency).

I don't know how temporary the park reservation system will be though, b/c WDW has already announced that it will remain in place there until at LEAST early 2023....

 

[Epicnemesis]

If they find it isn’t a deterrent to ticket sales once they are back to fully open you can bet Disney will keep the reservation system. From an operations standpoint, the information gleaned from the system is too valuable to let go of.

 

[taaren]

I totally agree - right down to not feeling like the splurge on the Grand is worth it. Our week offsite is the cost of 1 night at the Grand - and even when if we pay for parking, it's not comparable. I'll save an onsite stay for when it's worth it again. But except for proximity and a nice pool (do we know if that's reopening?), I don't see the benefit.

The pools of the Grand Californian will be open. In the VGC thread, and a few others, the letter that was sent to members was posted which indicated that more amenities would be available since the hotel was opening, and pools were mentioned.

 

[kucanhead]

Did anyone notice this in Legoland's re-opening announcement? This can be found at the bottom of the page. Sounds like they aren't enforcing California only visitors?

**Advanced reservations are required and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Recommended for guests within the state of California.

Legoland re-opening announcement

 

[AZMermaid]

Yes. My AZ sister has reservations for April.

 

[brightlined]

Did anyone notice this in Legoland's re-opening announcement? This can be found at the bottom of the page. Sounds like they aren't enforcing California only visitors?

**Advanced reservations are required and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Recommended for guests within the state of California.

Legoland re-opening announcement

I feel like somebody over there missed a memo.

From their reopening FAQ:

"Priority access will be given to LEGOLAND Hotel Guests, active Pass Holders, and existing Day Ticket holders. It is recommended that residents of the state of California within 120 miles are given access in the red tier. Advanced reservations are required for all guests."

Not only does that not match the guidelines (even the old version), the second sentence doesn't make sense.

Then there's this on the reservation page:

"Advanced reservations are required and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Theme Park access for guests within the state of California requirement applies."

 

[DLgal]

I feel like somebody over there missed a memo.

From their reopening FAQ:

"Priority access will be given to LEGOLAND Hotel Guests, active Pass Holders, and existing Day Ticket holders. It is recommended that residents of the state of California within 120 miles are given access in the red tier. Advanced reservations are required for all guests."

Not only does that not match the guidelines (even the old version), the second sentence doesn't make sense.

Then there's this on the reservation page:

"Advanced reservations are required and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Theme Park access for guests within the state of California requirement applies."

Yep. While in Red tier, they are still recommending that CA residents not travel more than 120 miles from home, in line with the travel advisory.

 

[brightlined]

Yes. My AZ sister has reservations for April.

She may want to make a phone call before heading over to make sure they'll let her in.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Yep. While in Red tier, they are still recommending that CA residents not travel more than 120 miles from home, in line with the travel advisory.

Does that recommendation still hold for orange tier too?

 

[DLgal]

Does that recommendation still hold for orange tier too?

I believe so.

 

[Kender]

Did anyone notice this in Legoland's re-opening announcement? This can be found at the bottom of the page. Sounds like they aren't enforcing California only visitors?

**Advanced reservations are required and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Recommended for guests within the state of California.

Legoland re-opening announcement

Looks like it's been fixed to follow state guidelines. I see this now on the linked page:

 

[brightlined]

They changed the FAQ page as well:

"Priority access will be given to LEGOLAND Hotel Guests, active Pass Holders, and existing Day Ticket holders. Theme Park access is for residents in the state of California within 120 miles of the Resort in the red tier reopening requirement. Advanced reservations are required for all guests. "

 

[TikiTikiFan]

They changed the FAQ page as well:

"Priority access will be given to LEGOLAND Hotel Guests, active Pass Holders, and existing Day Ticket holders. Theme Park access is for residents in the state of California within 120 miles of the Resort in the red tier reopening requirement. Advanced reservations are required for all guests. "

Interesting- does this mean people not within 120 miles will be turned away?

 

[brightlined]

Interesting- does this mean people not within 120 miles will be turned away?

No idea.

Honestly, it almost seems unenforceable, unless they figure out which zip codes are within 120 miles and only accept billing addresses with those zips. (Or maybe ids, too, I guess. I'd hate to be the employee with the spreadsheet.)

The advisory says "should" not "must", so, theoretically, they wouldn't have to.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

No idea.

Honestly, it almost seems unenforceable, unless they figure out which zip codes are within 120 miles and only accept billing addresses with those zips. (Or maybe ids, too, I guess. I'd hate to be the employee with the spreadsheet.)

The advisory says "should" not "must", so, theoretically, they wouldn't have to.

Here's hoping that travel advisory gets tossed out soon. All the language there is "should" for the 120 mile limit and "strongly discouraged" for the out of state restriction.

I would think if the state said the 120 mile rule had to be enforced, we'd have seen Disney mention it. They always toe the line. Maybe San Diego county is just taking a more conservative approach? I haven't really followed anything they've done during this saga so no clue.

The state website still says the full updated theme parks guidelines are "coming soon" so who knows what will be in that final text.

 

[DLgal]

Here's hoping that travel advisory gets tossed out soon. All the language there is "should" for the 120 mile limit and "strongly discouraged" for the out of state restriction.

I would think if the state said the 120 mile rule had to be enforced, we'd have seen Disney mention it. They always toe the line. Maybe San Diego county is just taking a more conservative approach? I haven't really followed anything they've done during this saga so no clue.

The state website still says the full updated theme parks guidelines are "coming soon" so who knows what will be in that final text.

Disney hasn't yet released their reservation system or said anything at all about ticket sales yet. They can very well announce a 120 mile radius requirement still. It may very well be part of the red tier, although there is really no chance of OC still being in Red tier on April 30 whereas San Diego County will most definitely still be Red tier on April 1.

 

[DLgal]

Not again with the "soon" word!!

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[TikiTikiFan]

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