Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[sullivan.kscott]

I wouldn’t read too much into it. I believe they were still going to do some base infrastructure for any sort of future development.

Yes. Not sure what was already completed, but now that the land is clear it makes sense to maintain that clarity. Also, now that land is clear, extending utilities to the site would make a lot of sense.

 

[osufeth24]

whooa, those wait times at HS currently

 

[Mit88]

I know the fort wilderness crowds don’t want a hotel on the river country plot of land, but there’s a lot of potential for an incredible resort. I think they were close to having something great with reflections, and think they can improve on that idea and revisit the plans in the future. I think its only a matter of time before they propose a new hotel there. Probably another year or two. But they also need Riviera to sell in order to justify another DVC hotel

 

[anthony2k7]

whooa, those wait times at HS currently

AK and MK look fine though. Just everyone wants to be at HS as usual.

 

[Karin1984]

Iv seen several people on twitter suggesting they really should just close WDS for now to allow construction to proceed easier.

I kinda agree with them. Although the way covid is surging in France its getting more likely the entire DLP will end up reclosing at some point in the future again.


On the new hours, the big shocker for me is Village is now only open from 5pm to 10pm I believe? Imagine if Downtown disney or Disney Springs when to 5pm to 10pm only!

I didn't see anything about the Village, but yes, that wouldn't surprise me. With only 2 hotels open at the moment... I'm on the fence about the opening hours of the Studios, I would say, open it from 8:30 - 14:00 or something, to keep the EMH and indeed for construction it would be better. From 8:30 - 11:00 in the new opening hours, how much work can construction workers do.

There is some more news about Halloween & Xmas:
Halloween:
- Halloween-themed selfie spots
- Extra decorations in Frontierland, including 3m/10ft high Catrinas (skeletons inspired by Mexican culture, so I presume in line with the Coco decorations)

Christmas:
- No shows (Boo )
-Santa Claus will have a place in Videopolis
- Christmas themed selfie spots
- Mickey will be meeting in Christmas outfit
- Characters from Mickey and the Magician will meet (so my assumption is that currently they are out with the new hours in the Studios)
- Surprise outings of character and princesses

Disney + is also finally available for the remaining countries in Europe, like Belgium and Portugal were still out.

Oh, and the last bit of good news is personal: My 10 days of isolation are over after my DLP trip, so I can go where I want again (And I could finally post some pictures on social media ;-) )

 

[anthony2k7]

I didn't see anything about the Village, but yes, that wouldn't surprise me. With only 2 hotels open at the moment... I'm on the fence about the opening hours of the Studios, I would say, open it from 8:30 - 14:00 or something, to keep the EMH and indeed for construction it would be better. From 8:30 - 11:00 in the new opening hours, how much work can construction workers do.

There is some more news about Halloween & Xmas:
Halloween:
- Halloween-themed selfie spots
- Extra decorations in Frontierland, including 3m/10ft high Catrinas (skeletons inspired by Mexican culture, so I presume in line with the Coco decorations)

Christmas:
- No shows (Boo )
-Santa Claus will have a place in Videopolis
- Christmas themed selfie spots
- Mickey will be meeting in Christmas outfit
- Characters from Mickey and the Magician will meet (so my assumption is that currently they are out with the new hours in the Studios)
- Surprise outings of character and princesses

Disney + is also finally available for the remaining countries in Europe, like Belgium and Portugal were still out.

Oh, and the last bit of good news is personal: My 10 days of isolation are over after my DLP trip, so I can go where I want again (And I could finally post some pictures on social media ;-) )

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305849759559802881

These were the new hours I had seen.


On more positive news, DLP appears to have much more Halloween decorations up than Wdw MK has.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

If they do not fix and reopen the Peoplemover eventually I swear I’ll come back as soon as I would have regardless, but I’ll be really sad. And mad.

 

[Farro]

here is one photo that shows Tron and the People Mover in the background.

My big question is how people will get to Tron - some sort of elevated walkway I think would be needed to get over the train tracks, and then how does the People Mover impact that ... and (much smaller thing) but just sightlines from that central area near the stage, looking at Tron would be completely broken up by the People Mover track

View attachment 526228

What is the yellow line? The train tracks? Maybe they will build a train crossing!

Maybe they aren't worried about sightlines because the canopy will be so big that you will be able to see it from anywhere?

I really know next to nothing about Tron except that I want to ride it!

 

[Chris Ehlers]

Is this starting to seem like a Primeval Whirl situation or is the work actively being done?

when we were there first week in August and waiting for COP, I saw several folks from the engineering team ( Dont Ask Me how I know them) inspecting the vertical support columns and noting and pointing to areas that def had cracks and loose concrete. sadly this is my one must do ride every time we go.....

 

[Karin1984]

On more positive news, DLP appears to have much more Halloween decorations up than Wdw MK has.

Interesting, I assume also Starbucks will be open in the morning. Last two times I was there it was crazy in the morning. And the Starbucks at Cheyenne and Santa Fe are so slow. The hot breakfast they sell really slows them down. Plus only having one member of staff... also doesn't help.

Yeah, I saw plenty of pumpkins in DLP on social media.

My next visit is planned in 4 weeks, and I need France to do a little better, otherwise we would have to cancel Isolation upon return is not a problem for me in NL, but my friend in Belgium has a problem now if she wants to go France. Belgium said no to visiting France.

 

[anthony2k7]

Interesting, I assume also Starbucks will be open in the morning. Last two times I was there it was crazy in the morning. And the Starbucks at Cheyenne and Santa Fe are so slow. The hot breakfast they sell really slows them down. Plus only having one member of staff... also doesn't help.

Yeah, I saw plenty of pumpkins in DLP on social media.

My next visit is planned in 4 weeks, and I need France to do a little better, otherwise we would have to cancel Isolation upon return is not a problem for me in NL, but my friend in Belgium has a problem now if she wants to go France. Belgium said no to visiting France.

Yeah the village hours are only for Disney shops/restaurants so doesn't include starbucks/mcdonalds. No idea about rainforest etc.

I cant see france improving their situation quickly this time. It sounds like with most of Europe people have just lost interest in compliance. Stop complying, it comes back and will keep doing so until we have a vaccine fully rolled out.

 

[sullivan.kscott]

this is based on nothing, but I wonder if the Tron construction impacts things - and would they want to change the path of the People Mover at all because of it?

I would think they would have known already? Or maybe yeah, it would be dangerous to have the people mover go past construction, so they are "delaying" until safe?

(I have no idea if people mover comes anywhere near the construction...)

This kinda makes sense. And the photo that @TheMaxRebo posted shows just how close the active construction site is. Maybe a footer or some other structure got disturbed and they can't/won't address it until more Tron work is complete?
Or, perhaps, the PeopleMover comes too close for filming comfort and WDW doesn't want too many "influencer" videos re: construction? Originally slated to be further along. As the construction delays more fully flesh out they need to push back reopening just a bit further.

 

[Mit88]

They’re replacing the peoplemover vehicles with ECV’s. It gives people the views that people love from that track, and an alternative, and possibly more exciting one to the Tomorrowland Speedway.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Word to the wise...

We arrived at HS early to try for a boarding pass (didn't succeed) and the lines were crazy so we headed back to BWV. Thought we'd jump on Skyliner to save the walking; got on at 10:30 when Epcot line opened and we are currently still in line at Caribbean Beach to transfer... 45 minutes and counting. Line is long, winding, and mostly in the sun.

Not sure if it's usually like this? But we are wishing we had just walked

(They were sending tons of empty ones "so the other end would have some to use")

 

[mouselovenfamily]

Word to the wise...

We arrived at HS early to try for a boarding pass (didn't succeed) and the lines were crazy so we headed back to BWV. Thought we'd jump on Skyliner to save the walking; got on at 10:30 when Epcot line opened and we are currently still in line at Caribbean Beach to transfer... 45 minutes and counting. Line is long, winding, and mostly in the sun.

Not sure if it's usually like this? But we are wishing we had just walked

(They were sending tons of empty ones "so the other end would have some to use")

It does seem to be pretty busy. We got boarding group 15 and the ride has broke down so we are now going to Olga's and we'll go back after our reservation. Seems to be very crowded. Much more than I thought it was going to be. Glad to see people are coming back to Disney!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Word to the wise...

We arrived at HS early to try for a boarding pass (didn't succeed) and the lines were crazy so we headed back to BWV. Thought we'd jump on Skyliner to save the walking; got on at 10:30 when Epcot line opened and we are currently still in line at Caribbean Beach to transfer... 45 minutes and counting. Line is long, winding, and mostly in the sun.

Not sure if it's usually like this? But we are wishing we had just walked

(They were sending tons of empty ones "so the other end would have some to use")

Wow.

Granted my only experience is pre-pandemic and midday but we were consistently a little less than 20 mins end to end.

 

[Mit88]

Character Warehouse has reopened

 

[Pyotr]

Has there been any rumblings on Woody's Lunchbox reopening. Seems like a real missed opportunity to keep that place closed.

I heard that the reason it’s not open is that the Kitchen was too small for adequate social distancing.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Word to the wise...

We arrived at HS early to try for a boarding pass (didn't succeed) and the lines were crazy so we headed back to BWV. Thought we'd jump on Skyliner to save the walking; got on at 10:30 when Epcot line opened and we are currently still in line at Caribbean Beach to transfer... 45 minutes and counting. Line is long, winding, and mostly in the sun.

Not sure if it's usually like this? But we are wishing we had just walked

(They were sending tons of empty ones "so the other end would have some to use")

Man. The Epcot line was less than 5 minutes for me at CBR a few weeks ago at opening, walk on from Pop to CBR. That's a big difference. They send the empty ones for people at Riviera, otherwise they would never be able to get on to go to Epcot

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Word to the wise...

We arrived at HS early to try for a boarding pass (didn't succeed) and the lines were crazy so we headed back to BWV. Thought we'd jump on Skyliner to save the walking; got on at 10:30 when Epcot line opened and we are currently still in line at Caribbean Beach to transfer... 45 minutes and counting. Line is long, winding, and mostly in the sun.

Not sure if it's usually like this? But we are wishing we had just walked

(They were sending tons of empty ones "so the other end would have some to use")

wow, 45 mins is long for the Skyliner! When we were there in February it would back up - especially the EPCOT line at around 4pm each day (double especially on weekends) but even when it did, it took like 20 mins (line looked really long but moved well) so 45 mins seems really long