News Round Up 2020

[pangyal]

https://www.wdwmagic.com/attraction...-parking-garages-reopens-for-cast-members.htm

 

[mollmoll4]

It does seem like extra ticket events would be something they could reasonably do to help income but yes the draws for ticket events (including parties) tend to be parade, show, and meets.

I have no clue when they WILL open, but I assume that events will be canceled for a while even after the parks are operating. They might try some smaller scale events, but they can't cancel SOME existing tickets and not all without royally angering some folks. IF they do events in the near future (IF they open in the near future) I'd expect them to be even more limited than before, and without parades, shows, and meets. Perhaps just extended hours in the parks for a while.

 

[tlmadden73]

Dollywood opens May 16th. It will be interesting to follow how it unfolds. East Tennessee has had very low numbers; hopefully it will be a successful case study of changes to implement to improve virus safety that other parks can adopt best practices from. Very curious about what their approach will be. Edit: It looks like just the water park is opening. That seems even harder to implement social distancing.

Their approach will be interesting. I will have to see when Tweetsie Railroad plans on re-opening .. as it is similar to Dollywood .. a theme park in the middle of the mountains, (not hard hit at all) and not as big a tourist draw (compared to say Orlando).

 

[TheMaxRebo]

NEWS

Marvel Comics will release the first issue of the new Star Wars: Doctor Aphra series digitally on May 4th ahead of its May 27th printed release.

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/new...ar-wars-doctor-aphra-comic-series-on-may-4th/

 

[rteetz]

News

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...rings-star-wars-galaxys-edge-to-life-at-home/

 

[tlmadden73]

NEWS

Marvel Comics will release the first issue of the new Star Wars: Doctor Aphra series digitally on May 4th ahead of its May 27th printed release.

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/new...ar-wars-doctor-aphra-comic-series-on-may-4th/

Interesting .. the local comic store has been hit hard during this (and some may not recover) .. releasing comics digitally first isn't going to help

News

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...rings-star-wars-galaxys-edge-to-life-at-home/

This is nifty! I was just putting in new batteries to our BB unit today to have some "Star Wars Day" fun with the kids.

 

[wareagle57]

Dollywood opens May 16th. It will be interesting to follow how it unfolds. East Tennessee has had very low numbers; hopefully it will be a successful case study of changes to implement to improve virus safety that other parks can adopt best practices from. Very curious about what their approach will be. Edit: It looks like just the water park is opening. That seems even harder to implement social distancing.

IDK while it seems water parks are the ones that will end up staying closed longer, I feel like that's due to perception. I think they'd actually be much safer to open. They are generally less busy and it would be easier to practice social distancing as long as crowds were kept down. The last time I was at Typhoon Lagoon no one else ever even got close to 6 feet from me other than in the wave pool. Slides would probably be the biggest thing, but those have water with chemicals constantly running over them. I think it sounds a lot easier than wiping down each individual doom buggy or splash mountain log.

 

[siren0119]

IDK while it seems water parks are the ones that will end up staying closed longer, I feel like that's due to perception. I think they'd actually be much safer to open. They are generally less busy and it would be easier to practice social distancing as long as crowds were kept down. The last time I was at Typhoon Lagoon no one else ever even got close to 6 feet from me other than in the wave pool. Slides would probably be the biggest thing, but those have water with chemicals constantly running over them. I think it sounds a lot easier than wiping down each individual doom buggy or splash mountain log.

Yeah the water parks thing is a little confusing, since the water chemicals do kill viruses. But I'll bet it's a combination of perception, inability to achieve social distancing in lines and in the water, and difficulty managing the bodies moving in and out of the public restrooms.

 

[tlmadden73]

IDK while it seems water parks are the ones that will end up staying closed longer, I feel like that's due to perception. I think they'd actually be much safer to open. They are generally less busy and it would be easier to practice social distancing as long as crowds were kept down. The last time I was at Typhoon Lagoon no one else ever even got close to 6 feet from me other than in the wave pool. Slides would probably be the biggest thing, but those have water with chemicals constantly running over them. I think it sounds a lot easier than wiping down each individual doom buggy or splash mountain log.

At this point . .it is ALL about perception. We have the same fight here locally over our beaches. They open back up (with no public parking available, no sunbathing allowed, just exercise) and are still flooded with "crowds" .. and there is a vocal minority that complain about that and worry people are "too close" and feel they opened up "too soon" (even though they aren't even fully open yet).

Even though there is a lot of people, no one is really within 6 feet of each other AND are outside in the sun. Outside is arguably more safer to be than a grocery store.

Disney is going to have to fight that perception too whenever they open up. One picture of a "crowd" at Disney will go viral with the "stay locked down until it is "safer"" crowd.

 

[CastAStone]

They might try some smaller scale events, but they can't cancel SOME existing tickets and not all without royally angering some folks

The is a very entitled subgroup of Disney World goers, yes, but Disney should and will do whatever they need to do to make this year work, and if people don't understand, given the situation, that they may draw the short straw and it's not personal, they probably aren't people who were adding to the magic for the other guests anyway.

 

[Brocktoon]

Interesting .. the local comic store has been hit hard during this (and some may not recover) .. releasing comics digitally first isn't going to help

I think Marvel needed something for May 4th Star Wars related and the Aphra relaunch was probably the only new #1 jump on point ready to go. I'm waiting for the print edition ... really hope things keep to the May 20th target to get print comics back to shipping. My shop like many others is doing curbside pick-up, but there's been no new comics to pick-up

 

[TheMaxRebo]

NEWS

Walt Disney World President Josh D’Amaro shares a photo of empty Galaxy's Edge on May the 4th day

https://blogmickey.com/2020/05/walt...25nhR54ZNO3AbnIq20x0ttxlAsKccTlb15WAKpRo7OErQ

 

[only hope]

News

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...rings-star-wars-galaxys-edge-to-life-at-home/

Finally! The lack of an app was the one way in which the Sphero droids were better. I like having a remote but for the price, an app should’ve been included from the start. Thanks for posting. I think my R droid will be coming out of hibernation today.

 

[rteetz]

 

[rteetz]

News

Taika Waititi is making a new SW Feature Film!

https://www.starwars.com/news/taika-waititi-announce

 

[Brocktoon]

News

Taika Waititi is making a new SW Feature Film!

https://www.starwars.com/news/taika-waititi-announce

It's about darn time! ... and 'JoJo Rabbit' was robbed for the Best Picture Oscar (though I haven't seen 'Little Women' or 'Marriage Story')

 

[TheMaxRebo]

News

Taika Waititi is making a new SW Feature Film!

https://www.starwars.com/news/taika-waititi-announce

That should be good - hopefully he is given free reign to do what vision he really has

 

[J-BOY]

That should be good - hopefully he is given free reign to do what vision he really has

I'd imagine he'll get some input from Favreau and Filoni given their collaboration with the Mandalorian. Exciting stuff!

I never expected him to continue making "big budget" films after Ragnarok. During press, he always made it seem like it was a one-time thing. So a couple things: 1) Disney is probably backing up the cash truck directly to his house for all of this, or 2) he genuinely enjoys working with Disney. Or both!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

NEWS

Walt Disney World President Josh D’Amaro shares a photo of empty Galaxy's Edge on May the 4th day

https://blogmickey.com/2020/05/walt...25nhR54ZNO3AbnIq20x0ttxlAsKccTlb15WAKpRo7OErQ

And Disneyland President Rebecca Campbell shares picture of essential workers in Galaxy's Edge

https://blogmickey.com/2020/05/disn...st-members-in-galaxys-edge-for-star-wars-day/

 

[The Pho]

News

It seems Six Flags will be requiring reservations to go to their parks upon reopening. This is found on the park hours section of their site for each park: