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

[jpeterson]

I know someone posted about this much much earlier in this thread, but I thought I would share my experience this morning.

We had a trip for mid-April rescheduled for June. We are passholders with passes expiring April 30th. I don't want to renew until I'm sure I have to, if the parks are closed through April 30th, it would cover my trip. I called passholder services today about what to do about my 60-day fastpass window coming up. After a bit of a hold they were about to put placeholders on my account to allow us to make fastpasses, but we would need to be sure we had valid admission once we get to the park.

Super helpful CM who understood my situation, it's always frustrating when someone doesn't seem to get what you are asking. That didn't happen here at all.

 

[Duck143]

I know someone posted about this much much earlier in this thread, but I thought I would share my experience this morning.

We had a trip for mid-April rescheduled for June. We are passholders with passes expiring April 30th. I don't want to renew until I'm sure I have to, if the parks are closed through April 30th, it would cover my trip. I called passholder services today about what to do about my 60-day fastpass window coming up. After a bit of a hold they were about to put placeholders on my account to allow us to make fastpasses, but we would need to be sure we had valid admission once we get to the park.

Super helpful CM who understood my situation, it's always frustrating when someone doesn't seem to get what you are asking. That didn't happen here at all.

This is good to know. Our AP's expire on May 10th and we have a May trip scheduled, but we have a backup scheduled for June. I have to call and have them put in placeholders so I can book FP.

 

[Ellie Webbs]

Does anyone know if disney are refunding magic bands? We bought the upgraded ones...

 

[AmishGuy91]

Does anyone know if disney are refunding magic bands? We bought the upgraded ones...

They are supposed to be, assuming you didn't receive them. I had some I was scheduled to pick up at my resort on 3/20 that have not been refunded yet.

 

[Krandor]

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-...-order-requiring-residents-to-limit-movements

 

[shonadamson]

We have a trip planned May 31- June 8. Today was our 60 days. There were no fastpasses for any park on May 31. I thought the June 1st date was more of a place holder. Does this mean they aren't going to do any fastpasses before that.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We have a trip planned May 31- June 8. Today was our 60 days. There were no fastpasses for any park on May 31. I thought the June 1st date was more of a place holder. Does this mean they aren't going to do any fastpasses before that.

They have done 'something' to FP inventory for dates 5/31 and before. Reports have been extremely limited and odd availability, and reports like yours of seeing none at all. 6/1+ has been 'normal' in terms of FPs from reports. Not entirely sure of what they're up to, but seemingly part of some sort of plan to stop/limit FP booking through 5/31. Along related lines, you can't buy park tickets or book ADRs prior to 5/31 either.

 

[Ellie Webbs]

They are supposed to be, assuming you didn't receive them. I had some I was scheduled to pick up at my resort on 3/20 that have not been refunded yet.

We weren't meant to be arriving until 23.04, sorry 04.23 so I'm not sure whether I need to call them... an extra 30 quid would come in very helpful right about now!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Discussion of Florida's stay at home ban and speculation on theme park operations can occur on the Rumors and News Board: Walt Disney World and Disneyland Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

Thank you.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I know this is pretty insignificant, but I was wondering if they’ll continue to allow the refillable popcorn buckets and mugs after they reopen. Seems unlikely, at least for a while.

 

[disneyin3]

We rescheduled our March trip to 5/30-6/6. Would it be safe to understand the latest operational update to mean that Disney will not book any new travel dates for prior to June 1st, not that the parks will definitely be closed until that date? We are thinking of shifting our dates by a day and check in that Sunday, 5/31 and leave the following Sunday. That would still give us the same amount of nights and park days. Even if the parks didn't open until that Monday, 6/1, would the resorts themselves be open a few days earlier? I know this is speculation and no one really knows, but just trying to get some thoughts and opinions. Still trying to get our trip in this year while also planning around summer sports workouts for my daughter. Of course her Senior school year starts in the Fall so trying not to cause her to miss days there.

Omg! Sounds like you are in my head!! We were booked to check in 5/31 and I just got too nervous, bit the bullet and moved check in to 6/1 and added a night on the end. I was afraid they will not let resort reservations start until 6/1. Part of me thinks if all goes as planned they will open up mid May with a soft opening. Limited numbers into park, only certain attractions open. I have a son who plays college basketball so another trip after summer would just not work this year. Have driven myself crazy the past 2 days trying to rearrange reservations and guessing what’s going to happen. Stressful but nice distraction from all the covid19 worries

 

[subtchr]

We weren't meant to be arriving until 23.04, sorry 04.23 so I'm not sure whether I need to call them... an extra 30 quid would come in very helpful right about now!

On the Disney website:

 

[dtstampz]

So what will happen to those of us who ordered and already received our upgraded Magic Bands?
Will we be charged extra for the full price of the bands???

 

[SMRT-1]

Since most of the news reports just say the FL stay-at-home order starts "midnight Thursday" (which is ambiguous), I started digging to find out if they meant late Thursday evening (i.e. really 12:00 am Friday), or if it really meant 12:00 am on Thursday morning.

Eventually I just went to the source - the actual document of the order. The text of the order makes it clear that it begins at 12:01 am Friday April 3. However, while reading the order, I found other information that conflicts with what's being reported. Many news reports are saying that the order is for 30 days through May 2. However, the actual order states that it expires April 30, not "after 30 days."

In the end it's only a matter of a couple of days difference, but it would be nice if news outlets actually took the time to get the facts right. It makes a difference for those of us with arrival dates at the beginning of May. "Closed through May 2" converts my tickets to "use by 12/15", and opens up my options with our 3rd-party TA for re-booking our new dates in the fall. "Closed through April 30" means I have to continue to wait anxiously until who knows when for Disney to extend the closure dates into May before I can finalize my reservation changes. I know; I know - just be patient.

 

[jpeterson]

So what will happen to those of us who ordered and already received our upgraded Magic Bands?
Will we be charged extra for the full price of the bands???

I would doubt that. If you had received normal magic bands before cancelling they wouldn't charge you for those. We got upgraded bands for our now-cancelled April trip. We are just going to use them for our next trip and decline magicbands for that one.

 

[bavarian princess]

We weren't meant to be arriving until 23.04, sorry 04.23 so I'm not sure whether I need to call them... an extra 30 quid would come in very helpful right about now!

I was supposed to arrive on 23.04. as well (yes I say that too ) and was waiting for Disney to cancel my trip. Since they haven't announced a closure date yet I decided to call today and ask them to cancel my booking and transfer the money back to my account.
I have no idea whom to contact regarding my magic bands though as they are waiting for me at the resorts...

 

[fsjking]

Since most of the news reports just say the FL stay-at-home order starts "midnight Thursday" (which is ambiguous), I started digging to find out if they meant late Thursday evening (i.e. really 12:00 am Friday), or if it really meant 12:00 am on Thursday morning.

Eventually I just went to the source - the actual document of the order. The text of the order makes it clear that it begins at 12:01 am Friday April 3. However, while reading the order, I found other information that conflicts with what's being reported. Many news reports are saying that the order is for 30 days through May 2. However, the actual order states that it expires April 30, not "after 30 days."

In the end it's only a matter of a couple of days difference, but it would be nice if news outlets actually took the time to get the facts right. It makes a difference for those of us with arrival dates at the beginning of May. "Closed through May 2" converts my tickets to "use by 12/15", and opens up my options with our 3rd-party TA for re-booking our new dates in the fall. "Closed through April 30" means I have to continue to wait anxiously until who knows when for Disney to extend the closure dates into May before I can finalize my reservation changes. I know; I know - just be patient.

Well they won't go from "stay at Home" to "WDW is open" in 2 days no matter what. Disney has pretty much said all they are going to say with "closed until further notice." They will not be making a separate announcement based on the stay at home order unless it runs into/through June. Per their PR, your reservation will be cancelled by Disney sometime(assuming May 1st arrival)between April 23rd and May 8th. They said within 7 days of your reservation, so it could go either way. If you had gone through Disney you could cancel and rebook now. But through a third party, you are probably stuck until they actually cancel your reservation.

 

[SMRT-1]

Well they won't go from "stay at Home" to "WDW is open" in 2 days no matter what. Disney has pretty much said all they are going to say with "closed until further notice." They will not be making a separate announcement based on the stay at home order unless it runs into/through June. Per their PR, your reservation will be cancelled by Disney sometime(assuming May 1st arrival)between April 23rd and May 8th. They said within 7 days of your reservation, so it could go either way. If you had gone through Disney you could cancel and rebook now. But through a third party, you are probably stuck until they actually cancel your reservation.

You're right, they aren't making separate announcements when they extend park closures, but they have been quietly updating park hours on the website and in MDE (currently the parks show closed through 4/18 even though that was never announced), with FP+ for those days being already having been cancelled, so it seems likely that they will update the hours again to match the new stay-at-home order.

As you said, they're not going to go from zero to open in 2 days, so we'd already written off the May trip regardless, and had started preparing to move everything to the fall. However, we need Disney to officially cancel before we can re-book through our TA. We could re-book now ourselves, but it would cost significantly more to do so. I'm guessing many here would say "just deal with it and wait." Unfortunately, for me it's not that simple, as my brain's atypical neurology doesn't handle uncertainty well, so having potentially another 3 weeks of not knowing when we might be able re-book is not going to be easy. Not to mention having to wait means another 3 weeks for availability to disappear.

 

[JB17]

We weren't meant to be arriving until 23.04, sorry 04.23 so I'm not sure whether I need to call them... an extra 30 quid would come in very helpful right about now!

We were supposed to arrive on March 20th from Canada, and didn’t receive our magic band refund until a couple of days ago. It was definitely much later than we received our trip refund. So you may need to follow up if you would like the refund sooner.

 

[Ellie Webbs]

On the Disney website:

View attachment 484932

Thank you!