News Round Up 2020

[rteetz]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/27/media/disney-world-open-bob-chapek/index.html

 

[Katrina Y]

I think Disney is making opening as unattractive as possible to cause people to want to cancel their reservations instead of Disney having to decide who gets cancelled.

My trip is from July 7 to July16 at the Fort Wilderness Cabins, the system has been down most the day, so changes can’t be made. All I want to do is take off the 1st 3 days of the trip, but the cast member said if I do that then I will probably lose the free dinning plan. I would even add those days to the end, but he thinks any changes will make you lose the dining. I have until June 7th to decide whether to cancel or I will have to pay the $250 dollar fee for canceling within the 30 day window. As of right now they aren’t even waving that fee.

Update: Talked to a different cast member and they said balance isn’t due until 7 days before check in. It doesn’t sound like we will be charged the fee.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I wonder what this all means for things like the Halloween parties. I know they stopped sales of all tickets but if there's going to be no character meets, parades and fireworks will they just cancel the parties?

My information is purely based on what I’m seeing on the Disney website right now.

I’m looking at our September dates and as of right now, Halloween Parties are still displayed. Park hours have changed a bit in that the park now closes to day guests at 7:00 rather than 6:00.



It also appears that they may be staggering the park opening times. Disney’s Hollywood Studios appear to be opening at 10am with some 9am EMH days.





Epcot may not open until 11:00am


Also, Blizzard Beach is now displaying park hours after Sep 12th. Prior to the shutdown BB was not displaying any park hours after Sep 12th which matched the refurbishment shutdown date in 2019. Happy to see there are hours there now!



We’ll see what happens but these appear to be some of the Sep projected hours as of today.

 

[rteetz]

My information is purely based on what I’m seeing on the Disney website right now.

I’m looking at our September dates and as of right now, Halloween Parties are still displayed. Park hours have changed a bit in that the park now closes to day guests at 7:00 rather than 6:00.

View attachment 497517

It also appears that they may be staggering the park opening times. Disney’s Hollywood Studios appear to be opening at 10am with some 9am EMH days.


View attachment 497518


Epcot may not open until 11:00am
View attachment 497519

Also, Blizzard Beach is now displaying park hours after Sep 12th. Prior to the shutdown BB was not displaying any park hours after Sep 12th which matched the refurbishment shutdown date in 2019. Happy to see there are hours there now!

View attachment 497520

We’ll see what happens but these appear to be some of the Sep projected hours as of today.

Halloween parties are rumored to be not happening for August at least.

Water Parks have not been given an opening date and Disney is updating park hours right now.

Epcot yes is opening at 11AM.

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265863284101611520

 

[dina444444]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265863284101611520

That looks cool. I can’t wait to see what the land looks like here in Hollywood.

 

[Tiki Birdland]

Glad we pulled the trigger and cancelled before this announcement was made. 2 parks only open and dressed to go into surgery just to walk on property is sounding worse every time I think of it. We would have been there during the first week of this too. We still don't know what attractions or events will be available at the two parks they did say were open. Maybe the magic will return for next year.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265863284101611520

Sort of sad that my first thought seeing that is "looks cool but how do you keep social distancing in there?"

 

[MommaBerd]

With the talk of re-opening, my biggest question is: are tickets prices going to remain the same? I believe the value for the price of admission is there...when the parks are all open and fully operational. However, if I had a trip in July for which I had already purchased tickets, I would not be happy. I mean, I guess Disney could say, “Don’t come if you don’t feel it’s worth it,” but I think that would hurt the brand.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I looked this morning and Blizzard Beach hours Sep 13 and later have been removed again. At this time Typhoon Lagoon hours are still there.

I understand water park reopening dates have not officially been announced but Disney is still playing around with them on their site.

 

[Moliphino]

With the talk of re-opening, my biggest question is: are tickets prices going to remain the same? I believe the value for the price of admission is there...when the parks are all open and fully operational. However, if I had a trip in July for which I had already purchased tickets, I would not be happy. I mean, I guess Disney could say, “Don’t come if you don’t feel it’s worth it,” but I think that would hurt the brand.

My worry is park hoppers. If park hopping isn't allowed what options will there be? Can I buy a new non-hopper ticket and save the hopper for later? Get a refund for the price difference?

 

[MommaBerd]

My worry is park hoppers. If park hopping isn't allowed what options will there be? Can I buy a new non-hopper ticket and save the hopper for later? Get a refund for the price difference?

Great point!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My worry is park hoppers. If park hopping isn't allowed what options will there be? Can I buy a new non-hopper ticket and save the hopper for later? Get a refund for the price difference?

And what happens to people who purchased through 3rd party already? It puts those people in a bind.

 

[Moliphino]

And what happens to people who purchased through 3rd party already? It puts those people in a bind.

I'm in that boat, too. Mine are from Undercover Tourist. I'm glad to have tickets to be able to plan, not happy if I have to use them for a much lesser experience.

 

[BrianR]

I would hope they treat unused media as basically a gift card to apply to a future ticket. Now granted the price could go up and you'd be out another couple of bucks, but at least you wouldn't lose it. That way it fixes the third party problem.

 

[sara_s]

My worry is park hoppers. If park hopping isn't allowed what options will there be? Can I buy a new non-hopper ticket and save the hopper for later? Get a refund for the price difference?

I wonder what it means for AP too. I was waiting to make a decision on whether to get a refund or let them add on the days, but with a ticket reservation system, what does that mean for AP? The beauty of it is you can hop from one place to another and not have to plan extensively (we're somewhat local so we like the flexibility). Hopefully they explain this reservation system soon. I imagine if they're rolling current reservations over to it, there must be a plan in place.

 

[James Rhoades]

I think Disney is making opening as unattractive as possible to cause people to want to cancel their reservations instead of Disney having to decide who gets cancelled.

My trip is from July 7 to July16 at the Fort Wilderness Cabins, the system has been down most the day, so changes can’t be made. All I want to do is take off the 1st 3 days of the trip, but the cast member said if I do that then I will probably lose the free dinning plan. I would even add those days to the end, but he thinks any changes will make you lose the dining. I have until June 7th to decide whether to cancel or I will have to pay the $250 dollar fee for canceling within the 30 day window. As of right now they aren’t even waving that fee.

completely agree. We were scheduled for April, had to cancel obviously. Then we rescheduled for August and will be cancelling our BWV week bc of all in the restrictions.

 

[fatmanatee]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265863284101611520

Weirdly, as far as I know there still isn't an opening date on this one (they didn't announce one before the virus and obviously they weren't going to announce anything since).

Was planning on making a trip this fall.

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1265970312941834241

 

[scrappinginontario]

Our Sep trip is a FD BB which meant we had to purchase the PH to qualify for Free Dining. Given the reduced park hours it will be much more challenging to utilize the PH even if we're able to based on availability to enter different parks.

Add me to the list of those waiting to find out how they will handle all of this.