Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[kylenne]

Once capacities return to normal at the parks (and once DLR is allowed to open and then open at full capacity), it theoretically shouldn’t have to be a choice between locals and the higher spending vacationers.

If we’re talking long term program here which it sounds like we are and not just temporary something to get through the initial crush, I think whatever this program is will be good at getting the max amount of money out of people as Disney does, but I do not think they’re going to be attempting to push out locals. There will be room for everyone to hand their cash over eventually.

I think the issue out west is that despite the fanatical following it has among Disney People(tm), Disneyland really isn’t a tourist destination in the same way as FL. Even the 1 time I went there, as a kid, it wasn’t for the parks, we just happened to be visiting people in LA and went with them. They can’t push out locals entirely. The Once in a Lifetime crowd aren’t heading there, they’re spending a week in FL making it rain in the Emporium and asking where Harry Potter Land is

No matter what kind of chicanery they try to pull to rein in their “AP problem” it’s always going to exist just because of the nature of Disneyland tbh

 

[hereforthechurros]

OT, but after a few safe trips this fall/winter including to WDW and doing everything pretty close to right for 10 months my husband caught COVID during a visit to the ER last week and has given it to my son and I. Hoping it’s a mild case. Stay safe friends!

 

[Disney Bobby]

Once capacities return to normal at the parks (and once DLR is allowed to open and then open at full capacity), it theoretically shouldn’t have to be a choice between locals and the higher spending vacationers.

If we’re talking long term program here which it sounds like we are and not just temporary something to get through the initial crush, I think whatever this program is will be good at getting the max amount of money out of people as Disney does, but I do not think they’re going to be attempting to push out locals. There will be room for everyone to hand their cash over eventually.

Maybe they are trying to weed out the people that don't spend money in order to limit crowds to provide a better experience for the people that do drop a lot of money. That would kind of make sense knowing that they aren't planning to have night time extra magic hours anymore. No need to close at 11pm to 1am if the parks aren't overcrowded.

 

[karen4546]

What annoys me is paying several hundred dollars per night for a hotel room, then having a $3o-ish daily parking fee tacked on, while a person who parks there just to eat at a resort restaurant (and maybe then secretly go off to a nearby park using my resort's superior location or monorail or skyliner transportation) doesn't have to pay anything.

It's made me a bit cynical. I never before have booked a restaurant reservation at Contemporary just to be able to park there & walk over to MK for the day, but now I'm considering it. Since it's just a money game to the powers that be, and they don't really seem to care.

Good luck trying that. It would be easier just to park at TTC and and use the Monorail to resort hop and go to the park. I really think the Contemporary has a smaller lot and they monitor it closely.

I completely understand your frustration though. We stay onsite. Never once stayed off site while visiting WDW. We are AP holders, DVC owners, TIW members, Disney stock holders-everything except the elusive Club 33. I want to enjoy Disney for many more years with my children and grandchildren, but until we "life" is back to normal in a few years, then we can all expect changes.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

What annoys me is paying several hundred dollars per night for a hotel room, then having a $3o-ish daily parking fee tacked on, while a person who parks there just to eat at a resort restaurant (and maybe then secretly go off to a nearby park using my resort's superior location or monorail or skyliner transportation) doesn't have to pay anything.

It's made me a bit cynical. I never before have booked a restaurant reservation at Contemporary just to be able to park there & walk over to MK for the day, but now I'm considering it. Since it's just a money game to the powers that be, and they don't really seem to care.

The ship has obviously long since sailed but it really pissed me off at the time that the obvious solution to alleviate crowding at the small and conveniently located resort parking lots is to charge day guests too and not just overnight guests.

To bring it back to present day issues, I wonder if the loss of DME is going to measurably impact parking lots, once resort occupancy is back up too I guess. The busier lots might get even worse.

 

[Eric Smith]

The ship has obviously long since sailed but it really pissed me off at the time that the obvious solution to alleviate crowding at the small and conveniently located resort parking lots is to charge day guests too and not just overnight guests.

To bring it back to present day issues, I wonder if the loss of DME is going to measurably impact parking lots, once resort occupancy is back up too I guess. The busier lots might get even worse.

I don't think it will. It'll be much more cost effective to use Uber/Lyft or some type of shuttle service than it would be to rent a car for the vast majority of guests. I don't think you'll see much of a rise in demand for parking.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I don't think it will. It'll be much more cost effective to use Uber/Lyft or some type of shuttle service than it would be to rent a car for the vast majority of guests. I don't think you'll see much of a rise in demand for parking.

Might not be a question of price but one of logistics. I know it’s been touched on somewhere in one of these threads at some point since the announcement, but they’re not a great or even possible option sometimes for families with car seat age kids.

With WDW attracting so many families with young kids I’m curious what ends up happening. Time will tell I guess.

 

[Cheburashka]

To bring it back to present day issues, I wonder if the loss of DME is going to measurably impact parking lots, once resort occupancy is back up too I guess. The busier lots might get even worse.

Undoubtedly.

 

[Mit88]

I wouldn't read too much into the timing of that. You wouldn't think they would full restore the huge salaries of execs right before they laid off tens of thousands of people in the middle of a pandemic, but they did.

I wasn’t really taking it in any way other than irony.They didn’t manufacture the pins this morning. The thing I took away more is that little quote on the bottom that assures you that they do care that they have APs whether or not the APs want to believe they do or not.

 

[Eric Smith]

Might not be a question of price but one of logistics. I know it’s been touched on somewhere in one of these threads at some point since the announcement, but they’re not a great or even possible option sometimes for families with car seat age kids.

With WDW attracting so many families with young kids I’m curious what ends up happening. Time will tell I guess.

I'd be shocked if they didn't have some means to get families with small kids to property. Probably not for free though. We'll just need to see how it plays out.

 

[Mit88]

If what was said in the other thread was true;

Disneyland’s capacity is ~10% of the number of Disneyland Passholders could 100% be the reason for this change.

Even if DL reopens this summer, I seriously doubt they reopen at 100% regardless of the state of the virus/vaccine. Let’s say they start at 25% capacity. That’s about 30,000 guests allowed into BOTH DCA and DL in total. And if that 10% stat is to be believed that would mean there are close to 1 million DL APs. Let’s just say only 25% of that number are 1, local and able to go to DL on a whim and 2, willing to go right when they open the doors back up. That’s a couple hundred thousand APs scratching and clawing for ~30k spots every day between 2 parks. And that’s not including non APs that want to buy tickets and go when they reopen. WDW did not, and does not have that issue. The demand has always been higher for guests to return to DL when they reopen. There Is no way around that being a complete and utter disaster for at least the first couple of months.

So here we are, you put everyone on an even playing field to make reservations. You get money on individual day tickets. Guests get to be back in Disneyland and when the capacity is back to normal, then you reintroduce APs in whatever tiered system they have planned

 

[gottalovepluto]

I know not wdw but it might affect us

https://twitter.com/x/status/1349831165532803073

Just think, only a few days ago we thought MDE being shutdown come 2022 sucked. I’m a wee bit terrified of what the Friday afternoon news drop might bring

 

[gottalovepluto]

If what was said in the other thread was true;

Disneyland’s capacity is ~10% of the number of Disneyland Passholders could 100% be the reason for this change.

Even if DL reopens this summer, I seriously doubt they reopen at 100% regardless of the state of the virus/vaccine. Let’s say they start at 25% capacity. That’s about 30,000 guests allowed into BOTH DCA and DL in total. And if that 10% stat is to be believed that would mean there are close to 1 million DL APs. Let’s just say only 25% of that number are 1, local and able to go to DL on a whim and 2, willing to go right when they open the doors back up. That’s a couple hundred thousand APs scratching and clawing for ~30k spots every day between 2 parks. And that’s not including non APs that want to buy tickets and go when they reopen. WDW did not, and does not have that issue. The demand has always been higher for guests to return to DL when they reopen. There Is no way around that being a complete and utter disaster for at least the first couple of months.

So here we are, you put everyone on an even playing field to make reservations. You get money on individual day tickets. Guests get to be back in Disneyland and when the capacity is back to normal, then you reintroduce APs in whatever tiered system they have planned

As far as reintroduce- DLR APs are donezo. Gone. Bye-bye. That sun ain’t rising again. “membership” is what they said they are looking at now. A fancy word like that and you know it’s gonna be more expensive and have my rules

 

[gottalovepluto]

OT, but after a few safe trips this fall/winter including to WDW and doing everything pretty close to right for 10 months my husband caught COVID during a visit to the ER last week and has given it to my son and I. Hoping it’s a mild case. Stay safe friends!

Thoughts and prayers for quick recoveries for you all!!!

 

[Funfire240]

OT, but after a few safe trips this fall/winter including to WDW and doing everything pretty close to right for 10 months my husband caught COVID during a visit to the ER last week and has given it to my son and I. Hoping it’s a mild case. Stay safe friends!

Prayers for a smooth and healthy recovery.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I think the issue out west is that despite the fanatical following it has among Disney People(tm), Disneyland really isn’t a tourist destination in the same way as FL. Even the 1 time I went there, as a kid, it wasn’t for the parks, we just happened to be visiting people in LA and went with them. They can’t push out locals entirely. The Once in a Lifetime crowd aren’t heading there, they’re spending a week in FL making it rain in the Emporium and asking where Harry Potter Land is

No matter what kind of chicanery they try to pull to rein in their “AP problem” it’s always going to exist just because of the nature of Disneyland tbh

Yeah but when they first open demand will be CRAZY for months. California has been so shut down for so long- look at Downtown Disney when they reopened that people ciricling in their cars for a couple hours hoping to get in. And let’s be real- Downtown Disney sucks. I’m terrified to think of what the line up will be for the actual parks!

“But you have to pay for the parks!” I know- BUT CA has a huge budget surplus despite COVID shutdowns, apparently because high income folks kept their jobs. I absolutely don’t think that is a coincidence to the timing of this announcement, I believe they are Disneyland’s target audience upon reopening (which imho is Fall at the earliest). And I believe the new membership opportunities will roll out after that wave of demand is done.

 

[Mit88]

As far as reintroduce- DLR APs are donezo. Gone. Bye-bye. That sun ain’t rising again. “membership” is what they said they are looking at now. A fancy word like that and you know it’s gonna be more expensive and have my rules

And that’s perfectly fine. Being able to go to the parks on a consistent basis is whats most important. Will it be more expensive? Almost definitely. Is it going to be as expensive or as exclusive as something like Club 33? No. Will you be able to walk into the parks 365 days a year? Possibly not. But let’s be honest for a second. If you’re local to either WDW or DLR and able to go to the parks for however many years you’ve (general, not you specifically) been a passholder, who has gotten the better end of the deal, the customer, or Disney? There have been people that have gone to WDW parks in 2021 that well beyond pay for an entire years worth of an AP and then some. The fact that I can go down to Florida twice a year and the AP pays for itself is enough to know it’s a steal, even with the price increases. And that’s not including discounts for food/merch/rooms etc

I can only speak for myself, but if one of these “memberships” suddenly became let’s say $3,000 a year. If I were a local, I would pay that in a heartbeat.

 

[SunnyBunny33]

Does this foreshadow Walt Disney World ending Passholders program next year? They’re not selling new ones. Will APs not be able to renew next year?

 

[Krandor]

Does this foreshadow Walt Disney World ending Passholders program next year? They’re not selling new ones. Will APs not be able to renew next year?

Nobody knows. It is possible whatever new AP program is rolled out at DLR gets rolled out at WDW too when people renew. Also possible DLR and WDW keep completely separate programs that are not the same at all.

 

[Eric Smith]

Does this foreshadow Walt Disney World ending Passholders program next year? They’re not selling new ones. Will APs not be able to renew next year?

Doubt it. They’re letting people renew. There aren’t nearly as many APs at Disney World relative to park capacity.