Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Remy is Up]

I am.. Any idea if stays impacted by the shutdown will get to book before they open to the public?

I'll answer simply. Yes

 

[jsand99]

We're DVC and are booked at AKV at the end of September. We haven't purchased any park tickets yet because our fp window doesn't open until the end of July. How will this new reservation system work for those of us who have a resort booked but haven't purchased park tickets yet?

 

[Remy is Up]

Do we think resorts guests will have top priority as far as capacity in this new reservation system? Or APs?

Resort guests then aps then everyone else

 

[wisteria1019]

I am dismayed by the anger expressed here for a company...a product that I believed we all love and support. We are all experiencing an unprecedented phenomenon. Yet, we expect Disney to have all of the answers; solutions to satisfy everyone’s personal desire/preferences. People all over our country are dying; suffering in a multitude of ways. My daughter is a nurse on the frontlines and I hear firsthand accounts of the daily struggle, devastation and frustration. I have lost acquaintances to this pandemic and know others who have pulled through after weeks of torment. Friends have lost businesses, income and live with uncertainty. I have lost have of my self employment income.
Those of you on the fence about canceling or putting up with having to consider the safety of your fellow humans, please be grateful that is what you wrestle with today. Your income must be secure, you aren’t saying goodbye to a beloved via FaceTime. You don’t want to wear a mask, don’t go this year. Simple. Disney isn’t conspiring behind the scenes to ruin your vacation plans.
I will be there with bells on (unless there is a major spike) in November with my hero daughter, granddaughter to enjoy any amount of Disney Magic that is available and will be appreciated.

 

[tinkerhon]

I'm not exactly sure what it has to do with safety necessarily. If 10,000 people are able to go into the MK, then 10,000 people are going in, whether the park hours are 9-7 or 9-10. Now, there may be other legitimate reasons for it. But, I don't know that short hours are inherently safer than longer hours.




It makes me chuckle, this inside joke. Years from now, on these boards, there will be mentions of Sven/Finn, and a small gaggle of us...it will be our "Where were you when" moment.




Absolutely. Bare bones Disney can absolutely be magical. But...we pay a lot because we GET a lot. Even relative to inflation, we are paying more now than we did then, because we get more during the experience. A streamlined old-school Disney experience is fine, and I'd be all for it....but at half the price a ticket.

It would be like a car company selling a new car with no airbags and the window crank and 8 track tape player. Could it be nice? Could it be charming? Sure. Would I buy it? Maybe. But, not for 40K a pop. If I'm spending 40K on a car (which I never would by the way), I want the GPS and the backup camera and the airbags and seat warmers and the whole jazz. That's the best comparison I can give.





So I have two complaints here. And, if people want to call me entitled, fine. I'm entitled. But, my two complaints: one is personal and one is logistical.

Logistically first, those of us familiar with the parks know there is what we'll affectionately called a rope drop crowd and the sleep in crowd. So, by nature, this already creates a sort of easing/thinning of the crowds. At DHS and Epcot especially, you are going to see both rope drop and sleep in people arriving at essentially the same time. Which, in my mind, creates more of a crowd, more of a logjam, more of a mess, than opening earlier and allowing the natural "trickle in" (as if anything at WDW trickles ha) of guests. To me, having all these people arriving at the same time sounds like an absolute nightmare waiting to happen.

Also, even for the earlier openings...I could see people who are normally sleep in people actually arriving at rope drop, specifically because they know they are on limited hours, and they want to get their money's worth. So, I think even the early entrance times could see more of an increase at park opening. Again, isn't this what Disney doesn't want? Likewise, I think a lot of the mid-day break people, you may see less of that, because again, when you are spending $120+ a ticket, it's not very palatable to spend 3-4 hours of your park day...not in a park, especially when park hours have been reduced.

This brings me to the personal side of it. We are mid-day break people. And with two littles, it's absolutely essential. I won't get into the details, but we have a multi-day park hopper. I find it difficult to spend that multi-day park hopper on reduced experiences AND reduced hours. I was actually willing to bite the bullet on the reduced experiences side of it. I had made my peace with it. But, call me entitled, but reduced hours directly affects the value of our ticket purchase. It just does. And, on top of that, if we need a break in the middle of the day, that would be even more of a dagger to take. I'd almost feel obligated to stick it out in the park all day to make sure I get my money's worth. And with little ones, I'm just not sure that's the best option.

Put us in the sleep in late crowd - especially in the summer - later to parks - later FPS - these hours are tough for us -
We LOVE Ak at dusk - 6 is so early !

 

[Krandor]

We're DVC and are booked at AKV at the end of September. We haven't purchased any park tickets yet because our fp window doesn't open until the end of July. How will this new reservation system work for those of us who have a resort booked but haven't purchased park tickets yet?

Today you can't buy tickets if you don't have them yet. People will tickets will have first shot at reservations before you can get tickets. At least that is how it looks right now. But we don't know all the details on stuff like that.

 

[e_yerger]

I think a lot of people are angry right now because we don’t have answers.

Answer will come. Patience.

 

[Remy is Up]

We're DVC and are booked at AKV at the end of September. We haven't purchased any park tickets yet because our fp window doesn't open until the end of July. How will this new reservation system work for those of us who have a resort booked but haven't purchased park tickets yet?

The fp system will be very different but you have to have a valid part ticket to reserve a day once the system is up and running. Based on what I'm aware of

 

[Krandor]

I think a lot of people are angry right now because we don’t have answers.

Answer will come. Patience.

Yep. There are a lot of details for WDW to work through. Probably the next thing we will see are people that already have tickets being contacted about reservations since they have to do that before they can start selling tickets again. We might even see that tomorrow along with what is likely a bloodbath of cancellation emails.

 

[Remy is Up]

I think a lot of people are angry right now because we don’t have answers.

Answer will come. Patience.

Thats the only answer at the moment. This is a whole new system with all new rules and procedures

 

[tinkerhon]

As far as you know (and thanks for the info!) will you have to book your day THAT day ? No days in advance ?
(For on-site ? ( Or off-site, for that matter)

 

[Krandor]

As far as you know (and thanks for the info!) will you have to book your day THAT day ? No days in advance ?
(For on-site ? ( Or off-site, for that matter)

It sounds like reservations will be done in advance due to the comment about reaching out to people with existing tickets and letting them in phases make their reservations before allowing new tickets to be purchased.

 

[tinkerhon]

It sounds like reservations will be done in advance due to the comment about reaching out to people with existing tickets and letting them in phases make their reservations before allowing new tickets to be purchased.

Thanks much ! So, pretty safe to assume all current FPS and ADRS will basically be useless right now - ?

 

[Ariel 1715]

We're DVC and are booked at AKV at the end of September. We haven't purchased any park tickets yet because our fp window doesn't open until the end of July. How will this new reservation system work for those of us who have a resort booked but haven't purchased park tickets yet?

We are in the same boat and when I called they basically said they know nothing other than resort guests with tickets and AP ticket holders will go first in a phased booking and then we would be able to try to get reservations for each park once opened. Not really sure how that will work!

 

[xuxa777]

IMHO By the time they open in mid July , masks will only be recommended and fireworks and parades will be back. Barring a crazy spike in hospitalizations and deaths, which there have been zero indications of that happening, they will occur. Even Fauci is changing his language today, claiming a second wave may not happen, the virus will still be around but not a wave. A little less than two months is a long time in the scheme of things.

 

[Krandor]

Thanks much ! So, pretty safe to assume all current FPS and ADRS will basically be useless right now - ?

That we don't know yet. Any FPs outside of new park hours are done. How ADRs will work with reservations especially if ADR is in a different park we dont know yet.

I wouldn't cancel any at this time but wouldn't count on them staying the same either.

 

[e_yerger]

Thanks much ! So, pretty safe to assume all current FPS and ADRS will basically be useless right now - ?

Maybe. Maybe not. We dont know

 

[Krandor]

IMHO By the time they open in mid July , masks will only be recommended and fireworks and parades will be back. Barring a crazy spike in hospitalizations and deaths, which there have been zero indications of that happening, they will occur. Evan Fauci is changing his language today, claiming a second wave may not happen, the virus will still be around but not a wave. A little less than two months is a long time in the scheme of things.

So despite what they said today there will be fireworks and parades on July 11th?

 

[tinkerhon]

That we don't know yet. Any FPs outside of new park hours are done. How ADRs will work with reservations especially if ADR is in a different park we dont know yet.

I wouldn't cancel any at this time but wouldn't count on them staying the same either.

Thanks again, but pretty sure I can cancel my dessert party for July 20

 

[fla4fun]

Yep. There are a lot of details for WDW to work through. Probably the next thing we will see are people that already have tickets being contacted about reservations since they have to do that before they can start selling tickets again. We might even see that tomorrow along with what is likely a bloodbath of cancellation emails.

They may still do the cancellation emails weekly, figuring that people have technically been notified already through today’s announcements. I would assume that the emails regarding park reservations will go out weekly as well, so that they can start scheduling people who already have resort reservations that include July 11 and later. Or, if they include a link for us to use on MDE, they may send out a bulk email pointing us there to do the park reservations. I don’t always get emails so I will be watching the DIS like a hawk until the park reservations open, to find out what the procedure is.