WDW to reduce physical distancing in phases?

[tgree9369]

"Interview on CNBC this morning, Chapek says “there’s going to be a lot more comfortable people this summer in Orlando. You can only imagine what it would be like in 95° and 95% humidity wearing a mask, so we’re thrilled to be able to do that”. Of course, he didn’t spell out what, exactly, Disney is thrilled to be able to do, but in the context of the conversation about face masks, it’s clear that he meant relax or remove the face mask mandate."

This is a pretty good indication that we will hear something...really soon!

 

[jpbothwell]

FP+ is a way to get people to stay at hotels. I would imagine if they don't bring it back less and less people will stay on property. I can see tiered system (1, 2, or 3 per day depending on value, moderate, deluxe) or a freemium type model where you get some number per day if you're a resort guest and then can pay more to get additional (without having to do club) or making it a paid option only available to resort guests.

I think the tiered system works but I don't think they can make it paid option for resort guests staying at Deluxe Resorts. Would they really they try to charge people for FP+ who are already paying $500 a night for Poly or GF? Universal offers it for free to guests at their premium hotels. I don't say this often but they really need to copy Universal on this one.

 

[LSUmiss]

"Interview on CNBC this morning, Chapek says “there’s going to be a lot more comfortable people this summer in Orlando. You can only imagine what it would be like in 95° and 95% humidity wearing a mask, so we’re thrilled to be able to do that”. Of course, he didn’t spell out what, exactly, Disney is thrilled to be able to do, but in the context of the conversation about face masks, it’s clear that he meant relax or remove the face mask mandate."

This is a pretty good indication that we will hear something...really soon!

I think so too b/c like ppl have pointed out, it would be weird to say now that they don’t need masks outdoors in July. It’s going to be like the photo mask thing & pretty much effective immediately when they do it I suspect.

 

[jhglassman]

"Would they really they try to charge people for FP+ who are already paying $500 a night for Poly or GF?" on this one.
[/QUOTE]

Isn't this exactly who it would make sense to try to charge?

 

[Krandor]

I think so too b/c like ppl have pointed out, it would be weird to say now that they don’t need masks outdoors in July. It’s going to be like the photo mask thing & pretty much effective immediately when they do it I suspect.

Making it effective immediately when implemented is the only way. If you say "removed on 1 week" then the question will be "why is not having a mask unusafe today but will be safe in a week" and would just cause issues for CMs during the time between announcement and implementation.

 

[shifteru]

I think the lack of fast pass plays a big part into that, but i also wonder if the wait times are shorter also because the limited capacity.

there is no question that when they added fast passes to basically every ride, the wait times increased for standby times.

I yearn for a combination of the old fp and the new fp system.

Yes, this is what I keep wondering. The lower wait times seemed to coincide with the removal of FastPass+, but they also coincided with limited capacity. Obviously both of those things are going to lower attraction wait times. The real question is how much of an effect each really has. Chapek said yesterday that they've already started increasing park capacity (which was I believe 35% before), so let's say it's 40-50% now. It's hard to tell if that's caused wait times to increase noticeably as I'm seeing varying reports there. But if they up to 75% or more, surely that's going to increase wait times regardless of whether FastPass+ stays gone?

Who really knows at this point. We booked a very quick two day trip as an add-on to another trip in early June, so I know FastPass won't be any kind of option by then if it ever does come at all, but I do wonder if we're going to deal with higher wait times due to inevitable capacity increases without the ability to have time to open more shows, etc. to eat the extra people.

 

[PrincessV]

I've been around a while - 30+ years of being local(ish) to and visiting WDW regularly. So I've seen no FP, OG FP, FP+, and pandemic-no-FP in action. I can attest that with no FP, StandBy waits are shorter and the lines move nearly continuously (with exceptions to shows, where a huge number moves in and out all at once, of course.) But by "shorter" I do not mean 10 minutes (though that absolutely did happen on slow days). Back in the Olden Days, a busy day meant deciding whether to wait an hour or more to ride Space Mountain later in the day, get there at opening to have a shorter wait, or skip it. FP/FP+ spoiled us, and I get that it would be really hard for some folks to wait a long time for something they never had to wait long for before. It's an adjustment, for sure.

About % of capacity, you really have to remember that it was very, very rare for parks to ever hit full capacity. And that full capacity is ENORMOUS. MK alone is near 100,000 at full cap. An average not-super-busy-but-not-totally-dead day at MK in non-pandemic times is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50% of total capacity. So if that's where cap is now - say 45%ish - yes, it feels "normal" on a sold-out day... because it is!

I have a lot of faith in WDW's ability to plan for increasing capacity. They've known for a while that more resorts are reopening, so they've had plenty of time to think about how much more needs to be open in parks, and how much more efficiency needs to increase to handle higher capacity. More eateries open = spreading more people around. Increased throughput on rides (reduced distancing in line, seating all seats, loading every vehicle, etc.) = more people moving through an attraction in the same amount of time. These are things they've tinkered with for many, many years to maximize efficiency and reduce costs on a daily basis: they know how it works!

The one big kink in the chain, maybe, is staffing: can they increase staffing adequately to manage more people in resorts and parks? 80% of CMS returning who were asked back doesn't strike me as super great when it's so hard to hire new people right now. That's a big "remains to be seen" for me.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

I've been around a while - 30+ years of being local(ish) to and visiting WDW regularly. So I've seen no FP, OG FP, FP+, and pandemic-no-FP in action. I can attest that with no FP, StandBy waits are shorter and the lines move nearly continuously (with exceptions to shows, where a huge number moves in and out all at once, of course.) But by "shorter" I do not mean 10 minutes (though that absolutely did happen on slow days). Back in the Olden Days, a busy day meant deciding whether to wait an hour or more to ride Space Mountain later in the day, get there at opening to have a shorter wait, or skip it. FP/FP+ spoiled us, and I get that it would be really hard for some folks to wait a long time for something they never had to wait long for before. It's an adjustment, for sure.

About % of capacity, you really have to remember that it was very, very rare for parks to ever hit full capacity. And that full capacity is ENORMOUS. MK alone is near 100,000 at full cap. An average not-super-busy-but-not-totally-dead day at MK in non-pandemic times is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50% of total capacity. So if that's where cap is now - say 45%ish - yes, it feels "normal" on a sold-out day... because it is!

I have a lot of faith in WDW's ability to plan for increasing capacity. They've known for a while that more resorts are reopening, so they've had plenty of time to think about how much more needs to be open in parks, and how much more efficiency needs to increase to handle higher capacity. More eateries open = spreading more people around. Increased throughput on rides (reduced distancing in line, seating all seats, loading every vehicle, etc.) = more people moving through an attraction in the same amount of time. These are things they've tinkered with for many, many years to maximize efficiency and reduce costs on a daily basis: they know how it works!

The one big kink in the chain, maybe, is staffing: can they increase staffing adequately to manage more people in resorts and parks? 80% of CMS returning who were asked back doesn't strike me as super great when it's so hard to hire new people right now. That's a big "remains to be seen" for me.

This! Staffing is a huge issue. And, I think people tend to forget the number of different areas you need staffing. Security, maintenance, custodial, food, attractions, guest services, transportation, etc. etc. WDW is a city on to its own. You simply cannot add 10K - 15K guests without having the staff to meet a guest's basic needs.

 

[LSUmiss]

Making it effective immediately when implemented is the only way. If you say "removed on 1 week" then the question will be "why is not having a mask unusafe today but will be safe in a week" and would just cause issues for CMs during the time between announcement and implementation.

I agree. My new prediction is no masks outside but still 6 ft social distancing & masks indoors but social distancing reduced to 3ft.

 

[OhBother1984]

I agree. My new prediction is no masks outside but still 6 ft social distancing & masks indoors but social distancing reduced to 3ft.

I agree but i think outside social distance will be stated but not enforced since it already hardly is, but the question is more when now.

 

[PrincessV]

FYI: new markers for 3' distancing are going in now, per a CM I know. That's for all attraction queues, indoor and out. 6' still for merch stores and dining.

I spent about an hour sitting near a queue last week, chatting with a friend, and we took a good look at how much space people actually occupy in line, and what that would look like with 3' markers... and concluded that unless you're a party of 1, most parties situated within a 3' space are taking up most or all of that 3' and will be within a foot or 2 of the next party. So, IMO, the new markers are for optics only, as they really aren't going to separate people much, if at all, more than they'd be separated with no social distancing in place.

 

[BrianL]

I feel like 3 feet is almost not necessary as I would rarely stand within three feet of another party, excepting in the "fill in all available space" type situations. Hopefully this will be naturally more followed as I can't tell you how many people were ignoring the 6 feet markers on the trip I just got back from!

 

[Krandor]

FYI: new markers for 3' distancing are going in now, per a CM I know. That's for all attraction queues, indoor and out. 6' still for merch stores and dining.

I spent about an hour sitting near a queue last week, chatting with a friend, and we took a good look at how much space people actually occupy in line, and what that would look like with 3' markers... and concluded that unless you're a party of 1, most parties situated within a 3' space are taking up most or all of that 3' and will be within a foot or 2 of the next party. So, IMO, the new markers are for optics only, as they really aren't going to separate people much, if at all, more than they'd be separated with no social distancing in place.

Oh yeah there comes a point where a small restriction isn't doing anything. Like if a sports stadium or concert did 50% capacity - you're like a foot from the person before you at most so you are not accomplishing much at all.

 

[Moliphino]

FYI: new markers for 3' distancing are going in now, per a CM I know. That's for all attraction queues, indoor and out. 6' still for merch stores and dining.

I spent about an hour sitting near a queue last week, chatting with a friend, and we took a good look at how much space people actually occupy in line, and what that would look like with 3' markers... and concluded that unless you're a party of 1, most parties situated within a 3' space are taking up most or all of that 3' and will be within a foot or 2 of the next party. So, IMO, the new markers are for optics only, as they really aren't going to separate people much, if at all, more than they'd be separated with no social distancing in place.

For us, at least, if a party took up too much of the space between markers we'd stay back an additional marker. Of course, other people ignored the markers entirely, so we'd frequently have people right on our backs.

 

[Chaitali]

A 3 feet separation in line would still be useful. Pre-covid, a lot of times people behind you in line were right on top of you! At least this way you can get a little space. A foot or two is better then before when you had people bumping into you.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Last time I was at WDW, it was just DW and I, I recall telling my DW that WDW needed distancing requirements, because some cute little shortcake grabbed my leg and asked "Dad, can we get ice cream?" I turned around looked at her, she looked at me eyes wide open, then we both looked at her parents behind me and I said "Yeah, Dad, can we get ice cream?" That little girl was red as a beet, but we adults had a pretty good chuckle.

 

[LSUmiss]

A 3 feet separation in line would still be useful. Pre-covid, a lot of times people behind you in line were right on top of you! At least this way you can get a little space. A foot or two is better then before when you had people bumping into you.

Right & it helps with the “fill in all available space in front of you” nonsense!

 

[The WDW 3]

Heard a rumor that they already began to take down the distancing signs and have replaced them with we’re going to pack you in here *** to elbow signs.

 

[Kerr84]

3 feet should be common courtesy. Who wants to stand so close to a stranger that you feel their body heat and bump into them. The people that get too close to you in line are the worst.

 

[Loro]

3 feet should be common courtesy. Who wants to stand so close to a stranger that you feel their body heat and bump into them. The people that get too close to you in line are the worst.

This. Arm's length at least if one can't estimate 3 ft.

I actually like to play games with adults (kids are kids to some extent) who get too close to me on lines at Disney, and let them bump into me since I am a very solid person and it isn't going to hurt me. I got someone to bump into me 3 times in one line once. They apologized each time, but after the third time when their phone went flying they finally realized that maybe they should pay attention and not stand/walk so close to people in front of you.