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

[disjuniorfansx4]

Nope: the official disney parks website has clarified this somewhat: you still need a reservation if you already have a date-based ticket, but you'll get priority (together with APs) over people who have not yet booked tickets. Here's the relevant quote from disney:

"Because theme park capacity will be significantly limited as we welcome guests back to the magic, we will manage attendance through a new theme park reservation system that will require all guests to obtain a reservation for park entry in advance. At this time, we are temporarily pausing new ticket sales and Disney Resort hotel reservations so we can focus on guests with existing tickets and reservations (Disney Vacation Club members can still make new reservations). Existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders will be able to make reservation requests in phases before new tickets are sold; we’ll be reaching out to these guests soon to provide additional details."


Unfortunately your question is a bit moot now because WDW is not accepting any new resort or ticket reservations right now to give priority to guests with existing reservations.

 

[Tess]

I have a trip planned for August. I wonder if people, like myself, who have unactivated annual pass vouchers will be able to try to reserve park days? I'm guessing probably not.

Well you better be able to reserve because ours are also not currently active (we bought new APs rather than renewing to take advantage of a pre-price hike lower rate last fall--been AP holders for 20+ years) and I sure as heck better be able to reserve. Activation for us was supposed to happen in May when our trip was cancelled. They are valid APs, paid and linked to MDE; all that is required is a start date, i.e., activation with guest services. To be honest, I didn't even question our APs or the validity for making reservations. Our daughter and her S/O are going with us, have rooms reserved, but did not buy tickets because they were waiting for an opening date before investing the money. Obviously we have on site reservations. Still--not sure about their ticket purchasing--we usually get their PHs from UT.

We have time since we aren't going until October. I'm sure it will all shake out in the end and who knows what another two months or more will bring.

So many questions unanswered in this whole mess.

 

[ugagal07]

Interesting- this is the first time I've seen "face coverings" defined. What I had planned to use (a cooling cloth gaiter) would not pass muster because it does not have ties or ear loops.

Same here. I just ordered those for my kids to keep them cool and to avoid knots if they tried tieing/untieing on their own...

 

[disjuniorfansx4]

Nope: the official disney parks website has clarified this somewhat: you still need a reservation if you already have a date-based ticket, but you'll get priority (together with APs) over people who have not yet booked tickets. Here's the relevant quote from disney:

"Because theme park capacity will be significantly limited as we welcome guests back to the magic, we will manage attendance through a new theme park reservation system that will require all guests to obtain a reservation for park entry in advance. At this time, we are temporarily pausing new ticket sales and Disney Resort hotel reservations so we can focus on guests with existing tickets and reservations (Disney Vacation Club members can still make new reservations). Existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders will be able to make reservation requests in phases before new tickets are sold; we’ll be reaching out to these guests soon to provide additional details."


Unfortunately your question is a bit moot now because WDW is not accepting any new resort or ticket reservations right now to give priority to guests with existing reservations.

Interesting... Then it is very misleading on websites to let people book WDW trips on upcoming dates. I will be waiting. Sorry if I posted in the wrong spot.

 

[Shelley3577]

Hi. I know no one has exact answers yet, but any ideas on how it impacts tickets that are NOT date specific? We had an April trip that we rescheduled to the fall, but the tickets are MWR army base tickets— they do not have specified dates. You just buy a certain number of days, for example 5 day. You don’t select exact dates like when you buy them through Disney’s website. If you schedule fast passes you pick a day, but if not, you just show up to the park any day you want. I don’t know how that would work with this and capacity limits etc. seems like they would need to know when we were coming. Thanks!

 

[SarahC97]

Same here. I just ordered those for my kids to keep them cool and to avoid knots if they tried tieing/untieing on their own...

I did the same. Thought it might be more tolerable for them than a cloth face mask.

 

[MomOTwins]

Interesting... Then it is very misleading on websites to let people book WDW trips on upcoming dates. I will be waiting. Sorry if I posted in the wrong spot.

What websites? The Disney World website currently does not let you make resort/package reservations or ticket purchases for any upcoming dates. If you're going through a travel agent or other third-party site I suspect they just have not had time to adapt yet since the reservation halt was announced only a couple hours ago.

 

[Nick6300]

I guess I don't understand why all fireworks, parades, meet and greets, and certain high crowd attractions can't be offered? Which attractions might not make the cut for reopening? If it's the shows like Beauty and the Beast, why can't they tape off every other row, and every few seats?

The re-opening video for SDL showed the taped boxes on the pavement for distancing when viewing a character greet show. Why can't they have cast members direct spectators for fireworks/parades and character shows (from a distance) by having the designated spaces? There would be lower crowds to help allow for the spacing, and there already was a bunch of CMs directing traffic during the fireworks. With how small the viewing areas are (i.e. Main St. USA), it could be more difficult to arrange than I'm thinking, but I hope the real reason isn't a cost saving measure.

 

[nkereina]

Interesting- this is the first time I've seen "face coverings" defined. What I had planned to use (a cooling cloth gaiter) would not pass muster because it does not have ties or ear loops.

That's big since that rules out almost all gaiters

Interesting. It sounds like bandanas would still work since they would tie, but IMO those are less protective than a gaiter would be since they are open at the bottom.

 

[rdaky]

You could take your temp before you go and see how it goes and maybe take an ibuprofen LOL

UGH. That's what people do when they send their sick kids to school. 2pm rolls around and the fever is back. Unfortunately people are going to do this.

 

[Sandiz08]

So I have more questions than answers now, I have date based tickets purchased separately of which the opening date falls under . My room only will be canceled but my tickets are going to be the problem.

 

[Eastern]

I guess I don't understand why all fireworks, parades, meet and greets, and certain high crowd attractions can't be offered? Which attractions might not make the cut for reopening? If it's the shows like Beauty and the Beast, why can't they tape off every other row, and every few seats?

Fireworks and parades are not social distancing friendly. I guess the actors in the show would have to wear masks? Meet and greets are just too close, you'd have kids grabbing at the characters.

 

[MomOTwins]

I've been kind of replying to things piecemeal, but after taking a step back, I think I've boiled it down to a few questions that Disney will need to answer before I can decide on whether to pull the plug on our August trip:
(1) Water Parks and/or resort pools--will they be open? If both will be closed, that will be tough because we had planned to use pool/water parks days to get a break from the mask-wearing and cool off in the summer heat. I could live if it is just the pool or just the water park that is open though, but not having somewhere to cool off would be awful.
(2) Restaurant reservations--are they going start cancelling people's reservations if they are over capacity? I don't mind halting new reservations, but with our package we have the dining plan plus and that would be a huge waste if we can't keep our reservations.
(3) What will be open in the parks? I think they should be able to provide a list of closed attractions and entertainment. If they are ruling out most of the indoor options, that would make August heat unbearable.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

They may be updating the park calendar at the moment. MK now shows closed through 7/10, and then 7/11+ hours at 9am-7pm.

The other parks haven't been changed/updated at the moment (a lot of times when hours change it takes awhile to roll through)

I was worried about the hours.

 

[MomOTwins]

Fireworks and parades are not social distancing friendly. I guess the actors in the show would have to wear masks? Meet and greets are just too close, you'd have kids grabbing at the characters.

Well, some of the nighttime spectaculars are social distancing friendly. Epcot's World Showcase is HUGE, so markers could easily placed for families to stand apart from one another around the lake, assuming lower attendance/capacity than usual. Fantasmic and Rivers of Light both have massive seating areas, so if park capacity is very limited, spacing out guests shouldn't be too hard.

 

[emtgirl4]

We have a 4 day ticket but was planning on upgrading to a 7 day ticket wonder if this would still be allowed 8/17-8/24

I have the same question. We had a trip planned in April followed by a Disney cruise so we only got a 3 day ticket. we were going to change it to a 6 day for our September trip. I hope they will allow this.

 

[mhowens]

I definitely have more questions now too! We have DVC stay beginning 07/17 on rented points. I did not purchase tickets yet because things have been so up in the air. I also have a one night stay on 07/20 booked through hotels.com. I had not yet linked that to MDE. Not sure I can even link that at this point if I get the Disney reservation number from hotels.com. No way to buy tickets now and no guarantee we will be given to option to purchase them for our trip.

 

[MomOTwins]

They may be updating the park calendar at the moment. MK now shows closed through 7/10, and then 7/11+ hours at 9am-7pm.

The other parks haven't been changed/updated at the moment (a lot of times when hours change it takes awhile to roll through)

I was worried about the hours.

Oh yikes. It is 7pm closure through August too. That is nuts. I could understand no fireworks but to not have the parks open after dark at all.... there really will be no escape from the heat.

 

[Eastern]

Well, some of the nighttime spectaculars are social distancing friendly. Epcot's World Showcase is HUGE, so markers could easily placed for families to stand apart from one another around the lake, assuming lower attendance/capacity than usual. Fantasmic and Rivers of Light both have massive seating areas, so if park capacity is very limited, spacing out guests shouldn't be too hard.

Even if you space them out for the show, what happens when it's time to leave? It would be extremely hard to control how people were exiting the area. Plus they are basically having a big expensive production for a limited amount of people.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

I wanted to check something on the WDW website about an existing reservation later this year, and I have encountered the Millennium Falcon waiting screen. Anyone else currently having this issue?