Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[magickingdomprincess]

Theme park reopenings are built on hope.

July 4th is within the realm of possibility in my opinion.

For the record I need it to be open July 1st and 2nd so fingers crossed

 

[figmentfinesse]

Checking the calendar for our upcoming trip at the end of the month, and the Magic Kingdom is staying open on weekends until 9:00pm. Any chance this means they might bring back fireworks sooner than later?

You know what's weird? Saturday the 23rd- 9pm. Sunday the 24th- 7pm. Saturday the 30th, 8 pm. Sunday the 31st- 9 pm. What gives, especially with that last one lol?

 

[Mit88]

I know I'm late to commenting about this and I agree that your response makes total sense but again it goes back to messaging. If this is the reason for the change then say it. "Due to COVID when the parks reopen we know we won't have capacity for our APs and rather than take money for a pass you can't use we will refund all now and when park operations return to normal we will start to sell them again."

But they aren't saying that and they will definitely use this opportunity to have guests pay more and get less. If I was a Disneyland AP holder I would be pissed too...

Im not saying AP holders should be happy, they should be pissed. But this ends up being two-fold. Theyve Wanted to change the AP tiers for a long time, and this is their opportunity. There’s no denying that an AP to Disney, or Universal or any park is an absolute steal for the guest. They made it extremely accessible with payment plans. As we can see, there’s a big issue when it comes to Capacity vs Amount of Passholders. They will sell APs, or “Memberships” when capacity is back to normal, but it’s just going to be different, and very likely to be more expensive. There’s been a lot of money left on the table for Disney this year having DLR closed. I know it’s against the rules to cry poverty for a corporate Juggernaut like Disney, but they need to make up for what they lost from those parks this year, and it’s going to take a long time, not just until things are back to normal.

 

[Disney Bobby]

I guess I am in the minority in thinking DL will open sooner than later. With new administration in DC, I can see a better co operation between Ca Gov and DC to get things opened up, not just for Disney but all businesses. I am sure Capacity will be restricted, have no clue or prediction on what it will be. Anything will be a great relief to not only the Execs, but the CMs who will finally be able to get back to work.

DC was doing everything they could to get places like Cali to open back up. Place like Cali refused, yet still ended up with virus issues just the same if not worse than other areas. Those decisions were 100% on the leaders in those states.

 

[Mit88]

DC was doing everything they could to get places like Cali to open back up. Place like Cali refused, yet still ended up with virus issues just the same if not worse than other areas. Those decisions were 100% on the leaders in those states.

Youre right. But they also tried to do the same to NY the last 9 months and NOW is when they’re deciding to stretch the reopening in NY to include events with fans/spectators. So I do think the new regime will have an impact on where the country goes going forward. Whether or not California obliges the way NY is will be another story.

 

[hertamaniac]

TPAS poster just shared a link from TB Times saying WDW AP going away. I don't believe it. I know they have stopped new sales for the time being, but not going away permanently.

 

[Krandor]

TPAS poster just shared a link from TB Times saying WDW AP going away. I don't believe it. I know they have stopped new sales for the time being, but not going away permanently.

I read the TB Times article and it doesn't say that. Simply says california is going away and you can't buy new AP in WDW right now so encouraging people not to let it lapse.

Nothing new there.

 

[mattpeto]

call me crazily optimistic (I know, not really my "thing" of late) but I could definitely see Disneyland being open in July - with significant restrictions most likely. Probably not a lot before then, but I think you can still hold out hope

The implementation to this is going to be interesting.

I'd think guest attendance to F! would require a park or an "additional experience reservation" of some kind to control the demand, especially with PH in effect.

Otherwise, the other way to spread out guests is to add another nighttime spectacular at the same time. EF last stand?

Quoting myself earlier, this is semi-confirmation from the source at another forum:

 

[Sarahslay]

I think you are thinking way too low on the cost they are going to charge for this membership. I think if you want an idea of what they are going to charge per month
look at the value they put on the 10 day park hopping ticket at $600+ and apply around a third off that price. I think we are talking around $400 a month for a year long commitment for something similar to the current platinum pass, maybe more. I do think this would include some heavier discount than we currently see on hotels, food and merch to reward those members that spend money at the parks and resorts. I think the discounts could end up getting the cost down to something close to the current level cost for a platinum pass for people that spend at WDW.

I think they will offer something at the $200 dollar per month range, but when you get below that top level I think we will be looking at limits on how many days per month the members are allowed in the parks. Something like 8 days total with a further limit placed on weekend days and a strait blackout for other days. They would probably add a feature that if you have a resort stay during a 30 day window that extra days of admission would be added to match the resort stay for that 30 period during non blackout time. I think this would, also, include some kind of discounts that are better than those currently offered for spending money in the parks and at the resorts, but those discount would drop at each level you go down.

I assume we will see some kind of discounted membership levels for blue card DVC holders to be somewhat similar to the current gold annual pass and maybe even some form of membership level included for a year for people buying direct DVC points at certain point levels. That would help explain the aggressive price increases we are currently seeing with DVC direct points.

A system like that would leave people that spend money at the parks, spend at the resorts and buy DVC direct points feel like they are being rewarded and feel like they are part of this special club that gets all these deals while they end spending more money than they would have before. It would allow Disney to hold back some on regular admission price increases which have only resulted in more crowded parks as people have bought annual passes to somewhat avoid those price increases and then justified their annual pass purchases by spending more days in the parks than they would have otherwise. Those ticket price increases lead to Disney being labeled elitist and even though Disney knows all too well that at stay at their resorts and parks has become less and less accessible to the masses, holding the line on regular ticket prices for a while can make it look like they care about Joe Six Pack by not gouging the family that wants to go to WDW once a year to generate new revenue. They can then use their new membership system to increase revenue while reducing park crowding.

I think you're diving way too deep in to something that we have no idea about yet. I mean, all they did was stop DL APs and say something new is coming, I mean, going down this road is just leading to a dead end IMO. We know absolutely zero about what they have in mind, they might not even know 100% yet, and I don't think we'll know for a while. I mean, this is "Disney soon", worrying about it now is too much when there is so much else going on and we don't even know when DL is reopening anyway.

 

[Eeyore daily]

https://www.tampabay.com/life-cultu...y-stops-selling-new-annual-passes-in-florida/
This is the article but it's already information most people already knew... They're slow at reporting Disney news.

 

[Sarahslay]

Checking the calendar for our upcoming trip at the end of the month, and the Magic Kingdom is staying open on weekends until 9:00pm. Any chance this means they might bring back fireworks sooner than later?

Just means they're expecting more people on the weekends and want to spread out the crowd a bit more, the more crowded it looks like it's going to be (and weekends are) the later the parks are open. It's the one reason I don't like seeing hours expanded over my trip dates right now.

 

[rteetz]

Hours changing again

https://blogmickey.com/2021/01/disn...ing-weeks-magic-kingdom-collects-lions-share/

 

[hertamaniac]

https://www.tampabay.com/life-cultu...y-stops-selling-new-annual-passes-in-florida/
This is the article but it's already information most people already knew... They're slow at reporting Disney news.

Yeah and it appears that post was removed from the forum. I knew it wasn't accurate as titled.

 

[hertamaniac]

A Disney team visited Orange County Convention Center today to observe vaccination protocols/procedures. Local television reported they are likely preparing for a closed pod distribution onsite at WDW.

 

[Jessica Geisler]

We are travel soul mates. I have my household bubble and my Disney bubble. The kids also come with me and we make my husband live in the basement when we get back since he is an essential worker in our family business that supplies an essential industry (but he is not customer facing, only to his 2 direct reports.)

Perhaps I am fooling myself but I consider the way I do pandemic Disney pretty safe. I drive, I wear a KN95, and I don't eat inside anywhere but my hotel room. This whole pandemic besides my one trip to Disney (another in a week) I stay at home and do not see anyone outside my household, and work 100% virtually. I quarantine from the rest of my household when I get home and I get tested twice in those 14 days. I definitely see a lot of people who don't care about covid going to Disney, but I'm sure there are plenty others like me.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

A Disney team visited Orange County Convention Center today to observe vaccination protocols/procedures. Local television reported they are likely preparing for a closed pod distribution onsite at WDW.

Once again I wish that WDW and DLR weren't both in/near and Arrange County

 

[rteetz]

Once again I wish that WDW and DLR weren't both in/near and Arrange County

At least in Anaheim that one is the Anaheim convention center so it’s easier to decipher

 

[Mit88]

Wait, so the Disney team came up here to NY to the Orange County Convention Center to check out vaccine stuff? Seems odd they’d travel so far. Wonder if they’re checking out the new LegoLand while they’re here

 

[Cheburashka]

ITs not just Disney! Stay at any hotel close to Disney or Disney springs and there is a resort fee of at least $25 per day that includes parking

The first part of my sentence said, "paying several hundred dollars for a Disney resort", and no, the nearby resorts don't cost nearly as much. The only exception is Four Seasons Orlando, which is in a completely different league from the other resorts in the Disney area.

 

[osufeth24]

Wonder how bonkers the line is for Gideons at DS is already