Anyone else concerned about the crowd increase?

[yulilin3]

Yikes! I just realized how badly I conveyed what I meant to say with that last post. My deepest apologies. My hope is that Disney doesn't let up on these guidelines. Plain and simple and regardless of what DeSantis has opened up. Not that they are making bad decisions right now because you are right, they aren't. Again, my deepest apologies if this has offended anyone. That was not the point I was trying to make, and the statement was entirely false.

no apologies needed

They seem to be relaxing part of the guidelines: capacity. At reopening, the capacity limits were pretty strict. What has changed in Florida to justify using much higher capacity? Have things improved that much?

Also, speaking of capacity, is Disney now running rides at full capacity? A quickly moving line in the queue is good for social distancing (and happy guests!).

No one, other than Disney management knows what sort of capacity numbers have been put in place. We don't know what percentage they opened with and we don't know if they ever hit those numbers at the beginning, if I had to guess I would say they never reached capacity numbers at the beginning. People are now more comfortable traveling or their states might be a little more flexible in quarantine, and now people are coming in larger numbers, which we have seen a couple of days hitting capacity, have they upped the numbers? we don't know
Disney is not running rides at full capacity, which is one of the biggest issues in terms of queues being so long. Aside from KS all the rides that are running at full capacity have normal wait times. I can tell you from personal experience visiting the parks 3 times a week people for the most part are abiding by the social distance queuing which is contributing to the long lines we see, not in terms of wait times but length. Could Disney open the parks to full capacity and rides to full capacity? yes, they could but they choose not to.
Some people seem to want queues to behave how they used to pre covid and that is simply not realistic right now, it's not gonna happen. If anyone is thinking of coming for sure read recent reports, watch videos and live streams to have a good idea of what's happening.
I was at AK this morning, rope dropped (in the park by 8:50am) walked on to KS, no wait, walked around Gorilla Falls trail, no issues with crowding, walked by the KS queue at 11, it was all the way to FotLK entrance, EE was all the way to the entrance of FNtM, both queues said 35 min wait. To a casual observer, seeing a line that long might feel horrible, but people were social distanced all the way through (hence the long line)
Aside from that, walking around the park there was really no issues with distancing, very easy to do, and you don't have to take my word for it, just watch the live stream, no edit, no lie.

 

[plutolovr]

Disney has never stated the capacity, and I'm hearing from very reliable sources that they have been at the same percentage since reopening. Keep in mind that if a park's 100% capacity is 60,000 and they opened at 25% capacity, this would allow up to 15,000 guests. In the early months, maybe only 5,000 people were going to that park....it will feel very empty. I was there a few times in July/August, and this is how it was. Now if it is closer to the 15,000, it is definitely going to feel more crowded, especially with social distancing.

 

[nickg420]

We will be there the first week of December, which has traditionally been a pretty slow week in most parks. I'm hoping that is the same trend this year.

 

[DisLiss]

Disney has never stated the capacity, and I'm hearing from very reliable sources that they have been at the same percentage since reopening. Keep in mind that if a park's 100% capacity is 60,000 and they opened at 25% capacity, this would allow up to 15,000 guests. In the early months, maybe only 5,000 people were going to that park....it will feel very empty.

I agree that it has to do with more people opting to go. Either people were waiting for the holiday season (Halloween decorations marking the start if that) or they rescheduled to to these dates earlier in the year, or they just decided they are sick of waiting---I don't know. But I have heard a few times now is that Disney hadn't reached their new social distancing capacity until Labor Day weekend, but have reached it at least a few times since. Because the sign has been up telling people there are no more park passes available on certain days. So that fits right in with your example of only a portion of their new capacity being reached in the early weeks.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I’ve been here this week...it feels pretty much like normal times with everyone wearing a mask and everyone being super respectful. I did not feel uncomfortable, at all.

 

[MomOTwins]

I agree that it has to do with more people opting to go. Either people were waiting for the holiday season (Halloween decorations marking the start if that) or they rescheduled to to these dates earlier in the year, or they just decided they are sick of waiting---I don't know. But I have heard a few times now is that Disney hadn't reached their new social distancing capacity until Labor Day weekend, but have reached it at least a few times since. Because the sign has been up telling people there are no more park passes available on certain days. So that fits right in with your example of only a portion of their new capacity being reached in the early weeks.

I also attribute some portion of the rising crowds to "some people" booking last-minute trips to escape "remote learning" (who, me? no I said "some people"--I LOVE having my kids screaming and pounding their school-provided computers with their fists because the stupid links to the 50-million websites they need navigate to in order to "learn" remotely don't work while I'm on work calls with senior management at my company. Yay.... "spending more time with family" because schools are closed is truly the silver lining on 2020 ).

 

[LizzyDragon]

I’m semi surprised Disney has not increased ride capacity. I know that would maybe make some people feel uncomfortable but the definition of close contact is 15 min or more in close proximity to someone. With everyone wearing masks and most rides not even close to 15 min it does seem they would be well in line with health guidlines to fill the rides rather then skip rows. I think this may come sooner rather then later if the lines keep increasing. Like I said that will spook some people which they will have to weigh especially seeing there are people on here that are spooked waking past someone for 5 seconds within 6 feet.

Did I also read somewhere UO has started doing this?

UO is now filling every row on Rip Ride Rockit and the Hulk. They also added plexiglass between rows on Kong (similar to what Disney did with Safari) and is now filling every row. More info at Inside the Magic: https://insidethemagic.net/2020/09/universal-no-longer-social-distancing-ad1/

 

[Miffy]

We have a trip planned for December, booked last December as a bounceback. We haven't canceled yet but we probably will.

I have confidence in all the measures Disney's taken--they're thorough and impressive. If I lived locally, I'd probably be there frequently.

But to come from a distance is another story. Not even thinking about the 14-day quarantine after returning, I'd have to contend with the trip to the airport here in NYC, being at the airport before the flight, etc. WDW is probably a safe place to be but is the local airport? And once I got to WDW, I'd be sharing a room with my sister, who lives in a different state. We haven't seen each other since last December and we couldn't social-distance while sharing a room or touring the parks or eating together, etc. Sure, we could both get tested before the trip, but what if one of us got infected en route?

These are the kinds of things that make the trip seem impossible to me. Also, if I did go and I was in the park of the day (no hopping) and I started feeling uncomfortable for whatever reason, I'd probably want to leave. I mean, this has happened to me during pre-covid trips, that I'd get to a park and it'd be insanely crowded, for example, and I didn't want to stay. But since there's no park hopping now, what would I do? Do I really want to spend thousands of dollars to be at the resort? A resort, btw, where there's currently only one restaurant open (AKV).

These are the sorts of things I've been thinking. No doubt other people who aren't local are contemplating the same things. Locals, I envy you! Enjoy the parks! Enjoy them extra for me!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Hey, I just got attacked on another thread for posting up how crowded it is today so I’m gonna try to get attacked on this thread lol. Social distancing is a joke, crazy crowds and long lines at HS today. Flame me!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Hey, I just got attacked on another thread for posting up how crowded it is today so I’m gonna try to get attacked on this thread lol. Social distancing is a joke, crazy crowds and long lines at HS today. Flame me!
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Looks fine to me. People walking with their masks on. There is no way you can social distance 100% of the time at a theme park with thousands of people. I don’t know what people expect when they go to a theme park.

 

[yulilin3]

Hey, I just got attacked on another thread for posting up how crowded it is today so I’m gonna try to get attacked on this thread lol. Social distancing is a joke, crazy crowds and long lines at HS today. Flame me!
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I cannot read how you got attacked, I'm sorry. You provide an opinion and others disagree, that's not an attack
Yes lines are long and it's crowded but i see distancing and people wearing masks

 

[Figvention]

I also attribute some portion of the rising crowds to "some people" booking last-minute trips to escape "remote learning" (who, me? no I said "some people"--I LOVE having my kids screaming and pounding their school-provided computers with their fists because the stupid links to the 50-million websites they need navigate to in order to "learn" remotely don't work while I'm on work calls with senior management at my company. Yay.... "spending more time with family" because schools are closed is truly the silver lining on 2020 ).

Ohh I’m going to murder a 6th grader over comma rules, 5 weeks in and I need a vacation!

 

[Leigh L]

Hey, I just got attacked on another thread for posting up how crowded it is today so I’m gonna try to get attacked on this thread lol. Social distancing is a joke, crazy crowds and long lines at HS today. Flame me!
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It does look busy, but in these images, social distancing looks pretty good to me and I see lots of masks? Not trying to attack, but I don't see it?
When we went in mid-August to WDW and UO, there were definitely some crowded days and we were caught up in some lines outside (we left one indoors queue we felt unsafe in because the people in front of us decided to un-mask and eat), but other than that, it was easy to social distance when necessary for the most part.

 

[lcc2]

Hey, I just got attacked on another thread for posting up how crowded it is today so I’m gonna try to get attacked on this thread lol. Social distancing is a joke, crazy crowds and long lines at HS today. Flame me!
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Looks fine to me.

 

[Newbie500]

Disney has never stated the capacity, and I'm hearing from very reliable sources that they have been at the same percentage since reopening. Keep in mind that if a park's 100% capacity is 60,000 and they opened at 25% capacity, this would allow up to 15,000 guests. In the early months, maybe only 5,000 people were going to that park....it will feel very empty. I was there a few times in July/August, and this is how it was. Now if it is closer to the 15,000, it is definitely going to feel more crowded, especially with social distancing.

Back in May 2020 Touring Plans was reported to have stated estimated pre-covid capacity of MK at 90k, AK at 60k, EP at 110k and DHS at 60k.

 

[Rich M]

I am heading there two weeks from today and although I am concerned with the crowds with lines more than social distancing. I am a firm believer that if you protect yourself that you can prevent getting Covid. We are going in with the mindset of that we will wait in line fore what we want to go on and if lines are too long for what we don't want to wait for then we won't. We go about once a year so its easy to skip things. We are only going because Disneyland still hasn't open. I wish they would do FP or virtual ques for everyride. We will enjoy our time.

 

[Naomeri]

Hey, I just got attacked on another thread for posting up how crowded it is today so I’m gonna try to get attacked on this thread lol. Social distancing is a joke, crazy crowds and long lines at HS today. Flame me!
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Looks less crowded than HS when I was there in January, and I don’t see any issues with being able to distance from people. I’m excited to be there in 17 days, thanks for sharing!

 

[nickg420]

I've had several friends that have returned from trips and all have said pretty much the same thing. While it LOOKS very crowded and the lines LOOK really long, the posted Wait Times are no where near accurate and you are constantly moving in the line. Popular rides will still take longer of course but it's not near as bad as photos would make you believe at all.

 

[MomOTwins]

I agree that the photos show pretty decent compliance, but they also show a LOT of people, and just statistically some of them must be contagious. I do think that given current attendance levels and wait times, virtual queues or fastpass should be implemented. If you are indoors for an hour in line, it doesn’t matter if you are 6 feet away from the next group, that is a really prolonged exposure and there are always some nose peekers, walk-and-drinkers, or pull-down-to-talkers in line adding droplets to the indoor air. Fastpasses would give people an option to shorten their indoor exposure to 15 mins or less.

To quote Rafiki, “It is time.”

 

[nickg420]

I agree that the photos show pretty decent compliance, but they also show a LOT of people, and just statistically some of them must be contagious. I do think that given current attendance levels and wait times, virtual queues or fastpass should be implemented. If you are indoors for an hour in line, it doesn’t matter if you are 6 feet away from the next group, that is a really prolonged exposure and there are always some nose peekers, walk-and-drinkers, or pull-down-to-talkers in line adding droplets to the indoor air. Fastpasses would give people an option to shorten their indoor exposure to 15 mins or less.

To quote Rafiki, “It is time.”

I would say if anyone is that concerned they should probably just not go in the first place.

You can ensure practically 0 Exposure by just staying home. Disney is not forcing anyone to take any amount of risk at all.