Rumor about “modified experiences” when Disney reopens (read 1st post for potential modifications being considered)

[xuxa777]

They can get rid of all that (coffee maker etc) but what about the remote for the tv, that is the most touched item in hotel rooms

 

[AmberMV]

I'm willing to give my opinion, but please remember, that's all it is. I'm an emergency medicine nurse practitioner of 20 years. Folks, in 20 years none of us in healthcare have seen anything like this, and we, like the CDC are learning new things and tactics each day. Disney is too I have no doubt.

Now, we always stay at Fort Wilderness, we take camper everywhere we go. Why? My cooking is better, but mainly because my wife is not fan of staying in hotels or other beds where unknown folks have stayed. (No offense to anyone)

We have our trip planned June 4th-11th. I am still holding onto this reservation despite all that is going on. I am willing to go, and take my wife and kids. Again, I worry more about the people who are not showing any signs and symptoms than those who are coughing or sneezing. I am willing to go to Disney even under the proposed phases, however, what I am NOT willing to do is to pay full price and then have no fireworks for the kids, no parades, several of the indoor attractions very limited or not open at all, no character meet and greets. It's not fair to expect us to pay full price and face these limits. That is the only reason I would cancel the trip. I already have another trip booked in October at Fort Wilderness with several other Disers so it is a backup plan already in place if needed.

Lets face it, theme parks are built around packing as many people as possible into them. Social distancing is not possible, even at 50% capacity, but it can certainly help. I don't mind wearing a mask. Since I work in healthcare I wear it everywhere but I do that to help protect all of you I come in contact with due to my exposures at work. Folks just need to be mindful and do their best to protect themselves, but also others.
If we would all do this I think it will work out well, but it WILL NOT work out fast. We're are just going to have to be patient with them. They are having to completely rewrite how they do things, just like we have had to do in healthcare.

Everyone be safe.

Thank you for giving your opinion on this. I appreciate these types of responses because you are on the "front lines" of this and I know you have a better understanding of it than those of us hiding out in our houses.

I have been struggling with all of this because I see both "sides" of the argument. We can't stay closed as a society and economy forever. That's a sure way to destroy our lives. Florida still hasn't processed unemployment benefits for people who filed 1.5 months ago. Absolutely unacceptable. There is no way with that type of poor economic infrastructure that we can stay closed up much longer with people not having any money to buy food or keep their lights on. On the other hand, I do have some experience in healthcare (8 years in animal hospitals and college classes in microbiology, among others of the type) and know that this is an unprecedented situation and has no easy outcome. A lot more people will die. A lot more people will get sick. It's a virus we have no existing data for. We don't know what to expect, and new research comes out every day about it, so we can't predict how to navigate it.

I told my husband tonight that the sad reality is that we just have to start taking the next steps, which are starting to reopen businesses and cross our fingers that the people we love and care about can make it through this. Personally, my husband and I have been quarantined in our home with our children since our last Disney visit on Feb 18. We have 3 toddlers (2 year old and 1 year old twins). I am a stay at home mom so being home with 3 toddlers nonstop is not new to me, but when things got stressful or we got stir crazy we knew we could take a day off and drive to Disney (less than 2 hour drive) to unwind or visit my parents. It has been very hard emotionally to keep 3 toddlers, who can't communicate their feelings, cooped up for over 2 months straight. They don't understand. We do it because we feel, as hard as it is, that it is best for our family. We will continue to quarantine as long as we can, but we know we can't stay home forever.

 

[jade1]

I wonder how they will handle rides where there will be screaming unless people will have to wear masks. Wasn't that choir practice found to be one of the most prolific methods of spreading (shouting/singing)??

I also imagine there will be no preshows. Like at Haunted Mansion they will leave the stretching room open to just walk through.

Well at least on ToT were shaken not stirred.

 

[anthony2k7]

I'm going to address the elephant in the room and mention the age limit for CMs outlined in the guidelines reported on today. Seems a line in the sand was drawn at age 65 - any CM of that age or higher should not return at this time. Doesn't this bespeak a bit how these theme parks believe their safety methods measure up against reality and that even they don't think they will be that effective?

Good point.

 

[anthony2k7]

Haha yeah it was meant to be dramatic. But seriously, if you're in Disney and someone near you sneezed or coughed what would you do?

Well.. some might pick a fight over it, which of course would be ridiculous for various reasons.

But CMs probably will have a lot of extra confrontational guests to deal with fron this. Stress levels are going to be far higher than normal for everyone.

 

[WonderlandisReality]

I’ll be needing this on a shirt please.

Can I get it on a matching coffee maker and mug? Gonna need it...

 

[atkinstogram]

Haha yeah it was meant to be dramatic. But seriously, if you're in Disney and someone near you sneezed or coughed what would you do?

Only slightly overdramatised recreation...

 

[lilypgirl]

That’s part of my concern too b/c DS gets scared when we wear them too. Plus 2 year olds usually require a lot of redirection & you can’t understand ppl well with a mask on.

A close friend flew from DTW to MSY yesterday and there were no covid screenings at either airport and mask were not mandatory at either or on flight.

 

[nkereina]

They can get rid of all that (coffee maker etc) but what about the remote for the tv, that is the most touched item in hotel rooms

The TV remote will have to be treated like other fixtures that can't be removed, like the faucet, drawer handles, light switches, etc. Housekeeping will have to be diligent about sanitizing between guests. And as a guest, it would behoove you to bring your own Lysol wipes to wipe these things down when you get in the room and throughout the week. One tip for the remote though is to bring a gallon size zip lock bag and put it in there to use it. It will keep you away from the germs of the remote, but remember to wash your hands so you don't contaminate the bag.

 

[nkereina]

Thinking about theme parks opening at 50% capacity.... could that mean 50% ride capacity? For example every one row on Big Thunder.

That would just lead to other challenges. If they are not limiting capacity at the entrance gates, but operating rides at 50% capacity, then that means stores, restaurants, and queues would be all the more crowded. Which is probably worse than seating every row on Big Thunder would be. So I think capacity at the entrance gates will be cut, and maybe we'll see spacing on rides where its easier to do - for instance, on Star Tours, leaving a seat empty between parties. Or on the Safari, not seating other parties in the same row. Things like that.

ETA: If they do some spacing on rides, I wonder what that will mean for single rider lines!

What I'm curious about is what level of capacity Disney operates at throughout the year. We know the parks can reach 100% capacity around the holidays, but what do they reach in September or October? 50% capacity may not be too drastic of a difference for some of us to notice.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

They can get rid of all that (coffee maker etc) but what about the remote for the tv, that is the most touched item in hotel rooms

I would think they could put a plastic covering over it and replace that between guests - almost like the type of thing that comes on electronics when you first get them and have to peel them off

 

[SierraT]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned here, sorry if it’s repeating previous info and the comment doesn’t belong here. JetBlue is requiring masks to fly.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That would just lead to other challenges. If they are not limiting capacity at the entrance gates, but operating rides at 50% capacity, then that means stores, restaurants, and queues would be all the more crowded. Which is probably worse than seating every row on Big Thunder would be. So I think capacity at the entrance gates will be cut, and maybe we'll see spacing on rides where its easier to do - for instance, on Star Tours, leaving a seat empty between parties. Or on the Safari, not seating other parties in the same row. Things like that.

What I'm curious about is what level of capacity Disney operates at throughout the year. We know the parks can reach 100% capacity around the holidays, but what do they reach in September or October? 50% capacity may not be too drastic of a difference for some of us to notice.

I saw some numbers either earlier in this thread of another that said max crouws at MK (so like New Year's Eve) is 100k and on a typical day they are at ~65k

So if they are just doing 50%of the 100k then that doesn't seem like a big reduction to a typical day. Why I would think they would start with 50% of the 65k and ramp up over time. But guess we shall see

 

[Flapdoodle]

I apologize if this has already been discussed or if I am posting in the wrong thread but has park opening/rope drop crowds been discussed on how that will be handled regarding social distancing. I assume there will be no more rope dropping but how does Disney control the crowds that line up to get in? I am sure they have thought about it but I did not see anything mentioned.

 

[yulilin3]

I apologize if this has already been discussed or if I am posting in the wrong thread but has park opening/rope drop crowds been discussed on how that will be handled regarding social distancing. I assume there will be no more rope dropping but how does Disney control the crowds that line up to get in? I am sure they have thought about it but I did not see anything mentioned.

Disney has not released any operational updates yet, the 118 pages on this thread is all hypothetical scenarios

 

[BryGuy415]

Accoring to Theme Park Tourist (2018 data), The Magic Kingdom averages just over 57k visitors a day. Obviously time of year is a big factor, but if the capacity of magic kingdom is 100k, depending on when you go, 50% capacity may not feel much different (or less frustrating) than what you're used to.

 

[anthony2k7]

Accoring to Theme Park Tourist (2018 data), The Magic Kingdom averages just over 57k visitors a day. Obviously time of year is a big factor, but if the capacity of magic kingdom is 100k, depending on when you go, 50% capacity may not feel much different (or less frustrating) than what you're used to.

Exactly.

Feels like an artificial number put out there to appear to be doing something but actually they'll be lucky to get close to 50% for a while.

ETA: having said that, if this I'd still going on by Christmas then they are gonna have quite an interesting challenge managing down those numbers to 50% max capacity.

 

[woody337]

Disney has not released any operational updates yet, the 118 pages on this thread is all hypothetical scenarios

Aren't you going to miss this?

 

[nkereina]

Feels like an artificial number put out there to appear to be doing something but actually they'll be lucky to get close to 50% for a while.

Good point. But @TheMaxRebo makes a good point that perhaps they will be relegated to 50% of their average daily attendance. So if they're averaging 57k visitors per day normally, perhaps they will be required to cap it at 27k for the first phase. That would be a noticeable difference and allow for a slow build to their new procedures, as well as guest spacing.

But that said, if the state mandate is only 50% of their operating capacity, I can't see Disney turning people away by limiting capacity more than the state requires. While it would be a best practice for them to do that, they are going to be hurting for that revenue by then.

 

[JPM4]

Exactly.

Feels like an artificial number put out there to appear to be doing something but actually they'll be lucky to get close to 50% for a while.

ETA: having said that, if this I'd still going on by Christmas then they are gonna have quite an interesting challenge managing down those numbers to 50% max capacity.

We were there Christmas this year and at MK on Christmas Eve. After the parade we literally could not move for ten minutes it was shoulder to shoulder. I can’t imagine being there like that now. 50% less than that sounds good for a normal environment but even then that’s still “busy”. It’s going to have to be more like 25%. I do think a lot of people will stay away due to fear and/or funds however. This is the biggest thing in my opinion is people who can afford it at this point. I just don’t see a ton of people flocking down there just cause there open. Most beaches are free or minimal to go to. Disney springs is another story all together I can just imagine the pictures of that place being a mad house where as the parks are not.