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

[yulilin3]

My AP expires May 16th, and this is scheduled to be my last trip with my friend who is also an AP. If Disney decides to close the parks, I feel that they would have to extend APs for whatever time the park is close? This means we may be able to re-schedule our trip for June. But this is a big if.

Disney doesn't HAVE TO do anything as it's all in the fine print of everything they do. They could extend in some way the issue I see with the talks on closures is for how long? the most smallest fraction of population has been screened, if more testing is done the number will rapidly balloon, if they close now they are not going to reopen when the numbers are larger.
So I would not expect DIsney to extend AP in this situation

 

[jbish]

Just in case people haven’t purchased park tickets yet and are wondering about UT policies.. here is their email response to my questions about refunding tickets.


“Currently the parks have not put any new/special procedures in place, so everything is still running by the normal rules of our contracts with them. For the Disney e-tickets, those unfortunately are non-refundable, as per our contracts with Disney. The dates though can be changed through the My Disney Experience. As long as it is at least the day before your selected start date, you would be able to make that change through the MDE. You would just go to the "Tickets and Memory Maker" section on your MDE account, and there will be a change ticket link. Through that, it will give you the ability to change the start date, add days, or add options, and then will just charge you the difference between what you have, and what you are wanting. And if for some reason the date is not changed before your currently chosen start date, the tickets can be used as trade-in value, when there at the parks.“

Just realized we bought our tickets through UT so I guess I'd better pay attention to this. LOL So what if we don't have new dates yet? My start date is still three weeks out so I have a little bit of time to figure this out, but not much.

 

[pinkle]

If they are open and my flight isn’t cancelled I will be there! We will continue to be careful and wash our hands and use wisdom

 

[yulilin3]

And just a favor for anyone cancelling, remember to cancel those fps, you will make someone visiting the parks very happy

 

[jbish]

I hope you have some good options where if you have to cancel, it can be refundable or rescheduled.

Offtopic: I hadn't heard about Loudoun! I wonder if Fairfax (hi neighbor!) isn't far behind? Been receiving 2-3 emails a day from FCPS about COVID19 and 2 days ago they announced a closure for Monday to prep. I wonder if this will be extended?
DH told me this morning the Metro is making some sort of announcement today.

Hi neighbor! I'll wave to you from afar, as we can not get near each other - lol. I think you guys are going to be right behind us. We have had only one "presumptive positive" case in the county, not necessarily related to the school system, and yet they still shut down. Fairfax announced it's Monday closure earlier this week, right? And we were going to have next Friday off (the 20th) - that was just announced I think yesterday. This decision happened very quickly so, clearly, things are escalating very quickly.

 

[jbish]

And just a favor for anyone cancelling, remember to cancel those fps, you will make someone visiting the parks very happy

I get the feeling that there will be plenty of FP options opening up very soon. I was in the "I'm going until Disney tells me I can't go" camp until just last night. If I'm considering it, I know many others will be, too.

 

[JillyMouse]

A suggestion to those who live driving distance to Orlando. (I consider NY to Orlando close enough to drive)

I am a born and raised New Yorker who now lives in Florida. I made the drive to Florida from NY at least 100 times.

Think about that option if you can. YES its a long drive but it is not as bad as people think it is. Having a car on property during these times can be a real advantage.

This is just an option for those people who can do it so they dont have to cancel their entire trip.

Agreed! We are flying to WDW from Milwaukee on Sat. Last couple trips we have rented a car. More flexibility, and we are not big bus people. And heaven forbid if something happens, we could drive home if needed.

 

[kylenne]

I think a lot of us are probably in similar circumstances. Watching the news, monitoring professional resources, balancing plans already made vs cancelling, etc. No right or wrong answers for anything given the situation at hand.

DW leaves today for a girl's WDW weekend. Lifelong friends and they've had this "no kids" weekend circled for a long time. Not that it qualifies one with any expertise, but one is an ER nurse. They all independently "voted" and opted to keep the trip. They are excited, but with a bit of caution.

We're also scheduled for a cruise later in the spring - first time I've ever had a paid-in-full vacation to anywhere (what timing!). We have time/flexibility to continue to monitor and make a decision there.

Yesterday I made a 'backup plan' reservation at WDW for the cruise week for a Ft Wilderness cabin. We've always wanted to stay in one anyway and the lower cost helps offset the already sunk cost of the cruise, if we end up rescheduling. We are not in a "no travel" mindset right now and would like to make 'something' out of our spring break time depending on conditions.

Having APs and room only reservations allows for plenty of flexibility for us, fortunately.

We will continue to monitor developments and make any adjustments that make sense for our personal circumstances.

Personally, I have more anxiety about the economy in general and our leisure spending choices than I do about specifically traveling to WDW (or anywhere) right now. We take care of ourselves and all the hand washing/cleaning are things we do anyway. Hate to generalize, but people in a theme park (and crowds in general) can be kind of gross - we're very used to taking matters in our own hands and don't rely on Disney (or any other destination) to necessarily do that for us. We will make the best decisions for ourselves and the world in general when needed.

Just sharing our personal circumstances/thought processes at the moment.

We also have a room only reservation. I have an AP, gf has a 10 day hopper through the Canadian resident offer last fall.

We’re going to monitor the situation but I am not feeling good about it this morning. The local news in NYC this morning has been all over the story of a JetBlue passenger from NY who flew to West Palm FL and they tested positive. I have to urge calm as a matter of course but it’s not me I’m worried about, it’s my partner, who has a chronic medical condition. My rationale thus far has been that we can get it just as easily at home, but is taking on extra unnecessary risk really worth it?

Right now I’m not so sure. We are going to have a long talk after consulting with doctors and our TA, but at this point I’m leaning on the side of postponing until 2021. It sucks and I hate it but I’m at a loss. As an aside, it’s been terrible for my mental health, as someone with anxiety and ptsd. If I didn’t have a new hire class right now I would have called out today. I nearly had a panic attack getting ready. But it is what it is.

 

[cakebaker]

And just a favor for anyone cancelling, remember to cancel those fps, you will make someone visiting the parks very happy

I just took a look at FP availability for next week when we'll be there. I've been watching it closely, looking to move up our SDMT time and it's much more open than it has been in recent weeks. Was able to make the change this morning. I honestly didn't think a significant number would cancel so close to going, but it sure seems like at least some are- enough to change the outlook on FP availability. A little good news I guess with all the bad lately.

 

[mantysk8coach]

I get the feeling that there will be plenty of FP options opening up very soon. I was in the "I'm going until Disney tells me I can't go" camp until just last night. If I'm considering it, I know many others will be, too.

Yep, this exactly. Haven’t cancelled quite yet, but it’s day to day right now.

 

[Deb1993]

We have a room only trip (we have AP) at Beach Club 4-6 thru 4-12 after a 3 day stay at Vero Beach. I had thought about cancelling as I can get all my money back but were gonna go unless they close down the parks. Even if the parks are closed if the resorts stay open, we will still go. None of us have any health issues so we will just be extra careful. What we (Me, wife and 2 girls 6 and 8) plan on doing.

-Wipe everything down upon arrival to our room, including the door knob on the outside and inside.
-Wipe the finger scanner myself with a Clorox wipe before we touch it.
-No buffet meals
-Hand sanitizer after every ride que and ride.
-Wash hands after every meal.
-Wash after bathroom but we do that anyway.
-Use magic band for all financial transactions.
-Wipe down personal items after going through metal detectors.

Now I have to convince my wife to take a small bag or go without a purse if possible. She does have a really small Minnie Mouse purse but I would rather her not carry one at all. I can carry the wipes in my back pocket and we clip the hand sanitizer to our belt. I'm paranoid about bag check. Though security wears gloves, they just touched how many hundreds of other peoples personal belongings before they touch ours? No thank you. Plus the tables are probably crawling with germs.

Edit: Forgot the most important thing. -Drink lots of beer

Wash hand BEFORE you eat as well.

 

[Spridell]

Agreed! We are flying to WDW from Milwaukee on Sat. Last couple trips we have rented a car. More flexibility, and we are not big bus people. And heaven forbid if something happens, we could drive home if needed.

That right there IMO is the biggest advantage.

 

[e_yerger]

Disney doesn't HAVE TO do anything as it's all in the fine print of everything they do. They could extend in some way the issue I see with the talks on closures is for how long? the most smallest fraction of population has been screened, if more testing is done the number will rapidly balloon, if they close now they are not going to reopen when the numbers are larger.
So I would not expect DIsney to extend AP in this situation

Shanghai extended their APs by the length that the park was closed.

 

[eeyoreland]

I truly feel for all of you with upcoming trips. I honestly don't know what I would do in your situation. That said, we were at WDW last week. Obviously before it was declared a pandemic so I didn't have a lot of angst about it (not that I couldn't have been exposed). I agree with a PP who stated they would likely cancel to help flatten the curve. Good luck to all of you, whatever you decide.

 

[Lisa Pesce]

Just realized we bought our tickets through UT so I guess I'd better pay attention to this. LOL So what if we don't have new dates yet? My start date is still three weeks out so I have a little bit of time to figure this out, but not much.

It seems if you have the e-ticket it follows the same guidelines and policies as buying direct from Disney site. I called Disney tickets helpline and was told the value of my ticket purchases will never change so I can apply it to new trip and I can change the date as many times as I would like. The non-refundable part applies to if your new dates are cheaper then what you paid for ticket(value) you won’t get the difference back. And if new dates cost more then the value of tickets you purchased then you will pay the difference/balance. It sounds the same for UT e-tickets. But if you received mailed tickets from UT you have 90 day window to return unused ticket for refund. That’s how I understand their reply. We haven’t purchased but would need to by Sat so I can fast pass for upcoming April trip. But I am thinking of postponing at this point given our schools are preparing to close and take away April break.

 

[yulilin3]

Shanghai extended their APs by the length that the park was closed.

Shanghai is a whole different operations, Disney only owns part of it, the rest is owned by local company. I'm not saying the won't extend I'm saying not to expect that they will

 

[Dawn Peterson]

Im going to MK tonight, haven't seen HEA in a while so I'll report back if I see any change in crowd or crowd behavior. Depending on time i leave i might swing by DHS first.
Tomorrow myself, and friends are still planning to go to universal Mardi gras concert, Luis Fonsi is performing and we've been excited about it since they announced he's coming,

I am definitely curious about this. With so many concerts cancelling I am wondering if the Mardi Gras celebration and concerts will be nixed first. We arrive on Sunday.

 

[jbish]

It seems if you have the e-ticket it follows the same guidelines and policies as buying direct from Disney site. I called Disney tickets helpline and was told the value of my ticket purchases will never change so I can apply it to new trip and I can change the date as many times as I would like. The non-refundable part applies to if your new dates are cheaper then what you paid for ticket(value) you won’t get the difference back. And if new dates cost more then the value of tickets you purchased then you will pay the difference/balance. It sounds the same for UT e-tickets. But if you received mailed tickets from UT you have 90 day window to return unused ticket for refund. That’s how I understand their reply. We haven’t purchased but would need to by Sat so I can fast pass for upcoming April trip. But I am thinking of postponing at this point given our schools are preparing to close and take away April break.

We got the e-ticket and since it was over the week leading up to Easter, we have paid the highest daily rate. Maybe we will be able to get a longer trip out of this as I only bought for 3 days given how expensive these were!

Good luck on your decision, too. Things are just really fluid now. Given all the news from last night (I mean, Tom Hanks???? He's a national treasure!! ☹) circumstances have really changed.

 

[masupo]

Yes, but then you still have to touch the baggies to get your stuff out.

Or you we could disinfect the surface of the baggies. Better that than disinfecting every item in your bag.

Edited to change you to we - I'm planning to try this out on my trip starting 03/27

 

[Brett Wyman]

Shanghai is a whole different operations, Disney only owns part of it, the rest is owned by local company. I'm not saying the won't extend I'm saying not to expect that they will

We are going to lose our rears on APs this year even if they add back a couple months. No fault of Disneys and I'm not seeking a refund. Just not a great year to spend 3k on APs!