WDW COVID-19 Operational Changes- Reservation System-Rope Drop Procedures

[tinkerhon]

We are booked July 11-18. For some reason, I’m not feeling too positive about this. I’m feeling like it’s becoming more and more unlikely. My fast pass date is approaching and I’m feeling blah.

Same ! Normally very anxiously excited, but now --- not so much - we are supposed to leave July 14

 

[yulilin3]

This reminds me of our similar situation.

My daughter is scheduled to play at an ESPN Center volleyball tournament in late June. The current tournament info says there are no plans for cancellation at this time. Many of the thousands of attendees have booked onsite resort reservations.

Does anyone have any info on ESPN and whether they will follow the same schedule and procedures as WDW? Is it actually considered part of the World, or do you think ESPN would possibly have a different opening schedule and procedures? Obviously the resort reservations would automatically be cancelled if the resorts were still closed, but I am wondering if it is possible for events like this one to continue if WDW is still closed.

Wide World of Sports is part of Walt Disney World, they will have same safety procedures as the resort of the property. They might play without a crowd which is what's being floated around for NBA players as well

 

[JaNelson38]

Same ! Normally very anxiously excited, but now --- not so much - we are supposed to leave July 14

July is still 10 weeks away. If WDW is not open in July, I'm confident in saying that the Disney Co. itself will become insolvent and the State of Florida will go bankrupt. And no, I'm not exaggerating. So many people still don't understand that the current economic 'strategy' in dealing with this problem (i.e. lockdowns of undetermined time) are simply not sustainable. The estimate I read a few days ago is that Disney is bleeding $20-30 million per day because of park closures, the lack of movie production, and the pro sports shutdowns.

They'll open shortly after they get the green light from the State of Florida, which probably will come sometime next month, especially if the re-openings in neighboring states of Georgia and South Carolina goes smoothly. Florida will give them the green light privately, Disney will come up with a plan to re-open as safe as possible and announce that plan publicly sometime in the first couple of weeks of May, and spend the second half of May starting to hire back the folks they furloughed. The fact that they are taking reservations for June 1 and later is not an accident...I think June 1 is the target date for a re-opening on a large scale. Maybe they hold back some attendance in hotels and the parks to help with crowd control, but simply put, they have to be open. By the 4th of July, they're up and running 100% in terms of attendance in the parks and hotels. That's my hypothesis on how this will all play out.

I will say that, whenever WDW does reopen, the PR folks at Disney need to have a major spine to stay the course. Because the pushback from the lockdown-until-the-end-of-time crowd will be in full throat. And folks who were thinking/planning on going to WDW this summer/fall need to follow through and go, as long as they can economically do it as I realize lots of folks lives have been turned upside down with job losses.

 

[yulilin3]

July is still 10 weeks away. If WDW is not open in July, I'm confident in saying that the Disney Co. itself will become insolvent and the State of Florida will go bankrupt. And no, I'm not exaggerating. So many people still don't understand that the current economic 'strategy' in dealing with this problem (i.e. lockdowns of undetermined time) are simply not sustainable. The estimate I read a few days ago is that Disney is bleeding $20-30 million per day because of park closures, the lack of movie production, and the pro sports shutdowns.

They'll open shortly after they get the green light from the State of Florida, which probably will come sometime next month, especially if the re-openings in neighboring states of Georgia and South Carolina goes smoothly. Florida will give them the green light privately, Disney will come up with a plan to re-open as safe as possible and announce that plan publicly sometime in the first couple of weeks of May, and spend the second half of May starting to hire back the folks they furloughed. The fact that they are taking reservations for June 1 and later is not an accident...I think June 1 is the target date for a re-opening on a large scale. Maybe they hold back some attendance in hotels and the parks to help with crowd control, but simply put, they have to be open. By the 4th of July, they're up and running 100% in terms of attendance in the parks and hotels. That's my hypothesis on how this will all play out.

I will say that, whenever WDW does reopen, the PR folks at Disney need to have a major spine to stay the course. Because the pushback from the lockdown-until-the-end-of-time crowd will be in full throat. And folks who were thinking/planning on going to WDW this summer/fall need to follow through and go.

You just summed up the entirety of like 3 threads here on the Dis
You can actually listen to the conference calls from the task force to reopen Florida, so the ideas on procedures are not really all that private anymore, but i agree with you, June wil see the reopening, with measures, for both universal and wdw

 

[cakebaker]

The fact that they are taking reservations for June 1 and later is not an accident...I think June 1 is the target date for a re-opening on a large scale.

I've been saying this ever since they released the free dining offer for cancelled guests. Sure, there's a chance they're wrong and won't be able to make that date, but there was something that led them to believe that it was at least more likely than not that they could. I just don't believe they'd put out an offer and target guests who were already disappointed by being cancelled if they weren't very confident they could hit that target date.

 

[JaNelson38]

You just summed up the entirety of like 3 threads here on the Dis
You can actually listen to the conference calls from the task force to reopen Florida, so the ideas on procedures are not really all that private anymore, but i agree with you, June wil see the reopening, with measures, for both universal and wdw

Interesting that you can listen to the conference calls to reopen Florida. I didn't know they were doing that. Pretty cool.

The state will still undoubtedly have private conversations with the Disney folks, because lots of large-scale operations (other theme parks, concert venues, maybe even some sports venues) will take the lead from someone like Disney based on the plans they make. So hopefully they are well thought out and executed. The country's economy depends on it, to be brutally honest.

 

[yulilin3]

Interesting that you can listen to the conference calls to reopen Florida. I didn't know they were doing that. Pretty cool.

The state will still undoubtedly have private conversations with the Disney folks, because lots of large-scale operations (other theme parks, concert venues, maybe even some sports venues) will take the lead from someone like Disney based on the plans they make. So hopefully they are well thought out and executed. The country's economy depends on it, to be brutally honest.

Here's the link if you're interested. Wdw, universal and other local companies are part of the task force https://www.nbc-2.com/story/42030914/listen-live-reopen-florida-task-force-conference-call

 

[SierraT]

July is still 10 weeks away. If WDW is not open in July, I'm confident in saying that the Disney Co. itself will become insolvent and the State of Florida will go bankrupt. And no, I'm not exaggerating. So many people still don't understand that the current economic 'strategy' in dealing with this problem (i.e. lockdowns of undetermined time) are simply not sustainable. The estimate I read a few days ago is that Disney is bleeding $20-30 million per day because of park closures, the lack of movie production, and the pro sports shutdowns.

They'll open shortly after they get the green light from the State of Florida, which probably will come sometime next month, especially if the re-openings in neighboring states of Georgia and South Carolina goes smoothly. Florida will give them the green light privately, Disney will come up with a plan to re-open as safe as possible and announce that plan publicly sometime in the first couple of weeks of May, and spend the second half of May starting to hire back the folks they furloughed. The fact that they are taking reservations for June 1 and later is not an accident...I think June 1 is the target date for a re-opening on a large scale. Maybe they hold back some attendance in hotels and the parks to help with crowd control, but simply put, they have to be open. By the 4th of July, they're up and running 100% in terms of attendance in the parks and hotels. That's my hypothesis on how this will all play out.

I will say that, whenever WDW does reopen, the PR folks at Disney need to have a major spine to stay the course. Because the pushback from the lockdown-until-the-end-of-time crowd will be in full throat. And folks who were thinking/planning on going to WDW this summer/fall need to follow through and go, as long as they can economically do it as I realize lots of folks lives have been turned upside down with job losses.

I think a few of those lockdown-until-the-end-of-time people post on Disney fan sites like this one. I also agree with you 100 percent. Not the same circumstance of course but after 9/11 we were constantly told to continue with life, not be afraid, and take those trips and get on those airplanes. I wouldn’t disparage anyone for taking precautions and don’t blame people for being frightened, but I think in general most people just want to get back to their daily lives. Personally, I can’t live in fear and won’t encourage my family to either. I have a trip planned for June and will go, if they open earlier I may even move it to an earlier date.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I have question

Let’s say Disney really is losing 30 million dollars a day.

They open the park, have staff, food, all rides going, resorts etc etc.

What’s their profit or break even point?

You obviously need to have a set amount of people in the resort to actually make money or break even. Isn’t it possible that opening and not having enough people will actually cost them even more money lost in overhead? 25 percent capacity isn’t going to make profit. 50 probably won’t.

It’s like a 25-50 percent capacity restaurant. Your losing more money being open then actually closed.

 

[yulilin3]

I have question

Let’s say Disney really is losing 30 million dollars a day.

They open the park, have staff, food, all rides going, resorts etc etc.

What’s their profit or break even point?

You obviously need to have a set amount of people in the resort to actually make money or break even. Isn’t it possible that opening and not having enough people will actually cost them even more money lost in overhead? 25 percent capacity isn’t going to make profit. 50 probably won’t.

It’s like a 25-50 percent capacity restaurant. Your losing more money being open then actually closed.

It's been discussed in the rumors board. No one really knows the numbers obviously but the general consensus is that instead of losing 30 mil they might lose less by opening with limited capacity

 

[lovethattink]

Yesterday I caught part of the governor’s response to the re-opening task force. He said their recommendations are due Friday and he’ll be looking at them over the weekend and will address the recommendations Monday.

 

[AllyElly]

I have a ticket question. I bought date specific tickets through Sams Club for a late July trip and linked them in MDE already. We are most likely canceling that trip and moving it to July 2021. I just wanted to make sure we will still be able to use the value of our unused tickets to put towards the cost of new tickets next summer or is that only if the parks are closed due to the virus?

 

[Sophie's Mom]

Personally I'm happy I'm not the one having to make the decision on when is the right time to open. With the answer being somewhere between money and 100% virus containment - I'm not sure with the data that is available how you answer that question. I'm sure no one wants to open just to have to close again if the virus spikes. And obviously staying closed for the entire summer is financially devastating. I work in healthcare in NJ and it has been horrible here. Many of our hospitals have been overwhelmed. Our employees are exhausted, scared and mentally whipped out. The people in charge have a tough to decision to make.

 

[kelsum01]

We have a rescheduled trip from April, due to check in at AKL on 6/8. If they are planning on opening with limited capacity it will be interesting to see how many people are booked the same time we are. I've also heard rumors that they will only allow one resort opened in each category, i.e., value, moderate, deluxe. It is unlikely they will be open for the masses and everything will be "business as usual" by early June, so who will "lose their place in line" so to speak?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

July is still 10 weeks away. If WDW is not open in July, I'm confident in saying that the Disney Co. itself will become insolvent and the State of Florida will go bankrupt. And no, I'm not exaggerating. So many people still don't understand that the current economic 'strategy' in dealing with this problem (i.e. lockdowns of undetermined time) are simply not sustainable. The estimate I read a few days ago is that Disney is bleeding $20-30 million per day because of park closures, the lack of movie production, and the pro sports shutdowns.

They'll open shortly after they get the green light from the State of Florida, which probably will come sometime next month, especially if the re-openings in neighboring states of Georgia and South Carolina goes smoothly. Florida will give them the green light privately, Disney will come up with a plan to re-open as safe as possible and announce that plan publicly sometime in the first couple of weeks of May, and spend the second half of May starting to hire back the folks they furloughed. The fact that they are taking reservations for June 1 and later is not an accident...I think June 1 is the target date for a re-opening on a large scale. Maybe they hold back some attendance in hotels and the parks to help with crowd control, but simply put, they have to be open. By the 4th of July, they're up and running 100% in terms of attendance in the parks and hotels. That's my hypothesis on how this will all play out.

I will say that, whenever WDW does reopen, the PR folks at Disney need to have a major spine to stay the course. Because the pushback from the lockdown-until-the-end-of-time crowd will be in full throat. And folks who were thinking/planning on going to WDW this summer/fall need to follow through and go, as long as they can economically do it as I realize lots of folks lives have been turned upside down with job losses.

Disney is not in a hand-to-mouth financial situation. They have $12+ billion dollars in cash on hand. Even if they are bleeding $20 - $30 million a day, that doesn't put them belly-up by July.

I agree with you that Disney will probably be focusing on very specific markets - drive in states, FL residents - and are throwing all types of ideas on the table to open in stages from opening only to FL residents to only opening a few resorts/park. I'm sure they want to open as quickly, but as safely as possible. It's not just about throwing open doors to stop the hemorrhaging of cash. I would imagine they have their attorneys working overtime trying to come up with a plan that does not open them up to OSHA complaints and lawsuits. We are the land of endless lawsuits and people who refuse to have their behavior mandated and controlled.

I have to totally disagree with your statement that people who are thinking/planning on going to WDW this summer/fall need to follow through as long as they can, economically, for the sake of furloughed employees. Everyone needs to make a personal decision based on their own level of comfort and the state of their own health. I would argue this is not a good time for an immuno-compromised person to schedule a trip to WDW and I can pretty much guarantee you that you will not see WDW marketing to an older demographic for the time being. Some people, economically, may be able to travel, but, medically, should not and that is their own personal decision to make. That doesn't make them a bad person or a "lockdown-until-the-end-of-time" person. It makes them a person who, thankfully, in this country, has the freedom to choose for themselves not to go just as you have the freedom to choose to go.

 

[JaNelson38]

I have question

Let’s say Disney really is losing 30 million dollars a day.

They open the park, have staff, food, all rides going, resorts etc etc.

What’s their profit or break even point?

You obviously need to have a set amount of people in the resort to actually make money or break even. Isn’t it possible that opening and not having enough people will actually cost them even more money lost in overhead? 25 percent capacity isn’t going to make profit. 50 probably won’t.

It’s like a 25-50 percent capacity restaurant. Your losing more money being open then actually closed.

The Disney Co. is more than just the parks. The parks are the biggest stream of their revenue, but right now the company really has nothing going on other than their streaming stuff. The parks themselves wouldnt account for the total losses on a daily basis. But the fact remains is that, because the parks are still Disney's top moneymaker, they have to get them open ASAP in order to stay solvent.

 

[JaNelson38]

Disney is not in a hand-to-mouth financial situation. They have $12+ billion dollars in cash on hand. Even if they are bleeding $20 - $30 million a day, that doesn't put them belly-up by July.

I agree with you that Disney will probably be focusing on very specific markets - drive in states, FL residents - and are throwing all types of ideas on the table to open in stages from opening only to FL residents to only opening a few resorts/park. I'm sure they want to open as quickly, but as safely as possible. It's not just about throwing open doors to stop the hemorrhaging of cash. I would imagine they have their attorneys working overtime trying to come up with a plan that does not open them up to OSHA complaints and lawsuits. We are the land of endless lawsuits and people who refuse to have their behavior mandated and controlled.

I have to totally disagree with your statement that people who are thinking/planning on going to WDW this summer/fall need to follow through as long as they can, economically, for the sake of furloughed employees. Everyone needs to make a personal decision based on their own level of comfort and the state of their own health. I would argue this is not a good time for an immuno-compromised person to schedule a trip to WDW and I can pretty much guarantee you that you will not see WDW marketing to an older demographic for the time being. Some people, economically, may be able to travel, but, medically, should not and that is their own personal decision to make. That doesn't make them a bad person or a "lockdown-until-the-end-of-time" person. It makes them a person who, thankfully, in this country, has the freedom to choose for themselves not to go just as you have the freedom to choose to go.

My larger point was that if things aren't good enough for WDW to be open in July, things will be so bad in this country to where an economic depression will be taking place. At that point, how much cash a business has on hand makes little difference....the longer the rock is allowed to roll down the hill, the more speed it gains and the harder it is for it to be stopped. The Disney Co. is just like every other service industry - they need to have people spend money on their products to survive. And extended economic depression the magnitude of a months-long lockdown would likely end most privately-owned business in this country.

And yes, those with health conditions should definitely factor that in to taking a trip, and I didn't mean to leave that out. By all means everyone needs to make a decision that is right for them. But this is also a very delicate time for not just folks who have suffered physically with this virus. A third of the businesses right now that we all have gotten use to will not make it out of this on the other side...that's just a fact. That's why its vitally important that those people who can support their local businesses the best they can whenever this is allowed to end, and those that can travel - whether its to WDW or somewhere else - do so.

 

[Crazyhorse]

So I suppose we need to start a new thread about how quickly Disney is going to close back down after reopening since everyone here is certain of a June reopening?

Good point!

I think it's overly optimistic to think that the parks will open June 1. They will continue to take reservations, as they did for May trips, only to cancel them. I think people are reading WAY too much into the fact that reservations are able to be made for the month of June. As mentioned, it's up to each individual as to what their risk factors are, relative to following guidelines. The Georgia/S. Carolina people are wary of the crazy notions of what's going to be allowed in a few days. I'll bet there will be some "walking back" by those states very soon.

Believe me, I want nothing more for Disney to reopen and we CAN be sure they will do it safely. I don't think there is enough anecdotal evidence right now that will satisfy the "Powers that be" at Disney that in 5-6 weeks it'll be a good idea to put a bunch of people together. Just sayin'.

 

[goofynut41]

July is still 10 weeks away. If WDW is not open in July, I'm confident in saying that the Disney Co. itself will become insolvent and the State of Florida will go bankrupt. And no, I'm not exaggerating. So many people still don't understand that the current economic 'strategy' in dealing with this problem (i.e. lockdowns of undetermined time) are simply not sustainable. The estimate I read a few days ago is that Disney is bleeding $20-30 million per day because of park closures, the lack of movie production, and the pro sports shutdowns.

They'll open shortly after they get the green light from the State of Florida, which probably will come sometime next month, especially if the re-openings in neighboring states of Georgia and South Carolina goes smoothly. Florida will give them the green light privately, Disney will come up with a plan to re-open as safe as possible and announce that plan publicly sometime in the first couple of weeks of May, and spend the second half of May starting to hire back the folks they furloughed. The fact that they are taking reservations for June 1 and later is not an accident...I think June 1 is the target date for a re-opening on a large scale. Maybe they hold back some attendance in hotels and the parks to help with crowd control, but simply put, they have to be open. By the 4th of July, they're up and running 100% in terms of attendance in the parks and hotels. That's my hypothesis on how this will all play out.

I will say that, whenever WDW does reopen, the PR folks at Disney need to have a major spine to stay the course. Because the pushback from the lockdown-until-the-end-of-time crowd will be in full throat. And folks who were thinking/planning on going to WDW this summer/fall need to follow through and go, as long as they can economically do it as I realize lots of folks lives have been turned upside down with job losses.

I hope your right!!!

 

[yulilin3]

Good point!

I think it's overly optimistic to think that the parks will open June 1. They will continue to take reservations, as they did for May trips, only to cancel them. I think people are reading WAY too much into the fact that reservations are able to be made for the month of June. As mentioned, it's up to each individual as to what their risk factors are, relative to following guidelines. The Georgia/S. Carolina people are wary of the crazy notions of what's going to be allowed in a few days. I'll bet there will be some "walking back" by those states very soon.

Believe me, I want nothing more for Disney to reopen and we CAN be sure they will do it safely. I don't think there is enough anecdotal evidence right now that will satisfy the "Powers that be" at Disney that in 5-6 weeks it'll be a good idea to put a bunch of people together. Just sayin'.

We will find out tomorrow or Monday and then we can all argue about how thre decision made is bad or good