Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[New Mouse]

Disney is giving me the full year I paid for, which is all I expected from them. I’ve been a FL resident AP for a looong time, and Disney has given me an extra month here and an extra month there over the years. I will be thrilled if they do that this time, but they have no obligation to do so. I never thought I’d be in a place where I’d be genuinely worried about Disney’s survival, but the global pandemic has made everything seem more fragile. Disney needs to do what they need to do to survive, and I’m ok with that. I called before I renewed, and I was told that I’d get an extension for the number of days they were closed. That’s what I got, and I’m fine with that. As for the rumored limit on the number of reservations that an AP can have per month, I’m waiting for an announcement from Disney. Even if it’s true, I don’t expect that I’ll be wanting to go more than once or twice a month for a while anyway.

So at the beginning and end of your post, you are saying complete opposite things. Disney gave me a full year...but Disney still may or may not limit how many days I can go. Thats not a full year.

Disney can easily afford to give ap a full year until this thing clears up, stop the clock until you use it or numerous other more friendly solutions Its got nothing to do with their survival, its got to.do.with making the shareholders and execs more money.

 

[zumfelde]

They are doing nothing differnet then many other parks. I'm a six flags diamond elite member and I'm getting very little and in fact even worse then what disney is doing. They are doing reservations and members have to do reservations. They actually never actually stopped the clock but I get one or two extra perks like one extra skip the line pass. I actually only get the extra months when I cancel... then they will tack on the extra months for the closure.

1) they could do but for how long? no hopping and reservations look to be around for a while
2) not a possibility
3) not happening either. Very few AP holders visited 365 days even though they could so to make it 365 visit days would never work.

Now if park hopping is not allowed (which looks likely), there should be some refund to AP members to account for that benefit being removed or an extra extention to the passes.

APs are tough for every park right now.

Cedar Fair is making all AP good through all of next year

 

[cakebaker]

and it's a two hour for people arriving from Monday through July 11th with only DVC and Fort opened. Imagine the mess once more people are trying to book. It's such a disappointing nose dive this company has had

This was just so predictable and sadly so. They know what demand is and they don’t care. People are desperate to give them their money and their response is if you want to spend money with us, you’re just going to have to wait for hours to do it.

 

[zemmer]

Wow, 2 hours? I was on hold 25 minutes and got all 3 reservations I wanted. Beaches and Cream, The Wave, Whispering Canyon Cafe breakfast. Good luck to everyone else!

 

[princesscinderella]

I’m still on hold and I hit the call button at exactly 7:00. I am enjoying playing name that Disney tune. There are a few of the instrumentals that I cannot figure out which ride I’ve heard that on

 

[Princess Merida]

I haven't heard a message yet I'm 50 minutes on hold so far.

 

[Leigh L]

just go the message "due to high call volume the wait time is 2 hours" followed by "want to save time, book online it's quick and easy" smh

Oh good grief. C'mon Disney!

Good luck to everyone this morning with getting the reservations they want (and hopefully with shorter hold times!)

 

[yulilin3]

I’m still on hold and I hit the call button at exactly 7:00. I am enjoying playing name that Disney tune. There are a few of the instrumentals that I cannot figure out which ride I’ve heard that on

Probably Impressions of France

 

[pixiedaisy]

You summed up my thoughts perfectly. I was nearly crucified on a FB group for saying as much, but the lack of communication is unacceptable. Disney is a business, not my friend. I’m going to hold them to the same standard as other businesses, which have communicated. If I were not on these boards or FB groups, I’d likely have no idea that my late July POP reservation will not go forward as planned. Guests should not have to rely on rumors and message boards to get info. I’ve been loyal to Disney for 30+ years, but I’m starting to feel like that loyalty is taken for granted. Telling me I should be grateful for anything Disney gives me would only fly if it were free. I don’t expect anything, other than communication telling me my resort will be closed, if I will be cancelled, and what my rebooking options will be.

And therein lies the problem. When paying customers set the bar this low, that’s the bar they’ll meet. They don’t need to be transparent, they don’t need to be fair- just open the gates and let us in. Any price, any conditions- doesn’t matter.

I’ve been visiting WDW as an out of state AP for decades. They’ve been riding their own coat tails for a long time, and as customers we’ve been letting them get away with it, and now it’s being excused because it’s not their fault, it’s the pandemic that’s to blame. It’s not, the pandemic has just pulled the veil away.

They can do better, but there’s no need to when people will settle for less. But when they can alienate a guest like me- a dedicated on site guest, visiting for decades, buys every up sell they offer and a unapologetic pixie duster- maybe they’ve gone too far. Maybe.

All I know is that by my own choice, I’m not sitting on hold this morning excited to finally get to book something for a trip that was running me upwards of 10k and the only one that cares that I’m not, is me. That says everything.

 

[pixieprincess925]

I haven't heard a message yet I'm 50 minutes on hold so far.

unbelievable - and it's only for the period "prior to park opening". I wish they could just give us a "special" link to do this online. Its not like they don't know if we're coming during that period or not...

 

[Anna_Sh]

So at the beginning and end of your post, you are saying complete opposite things. Disney gave me a full year...but Disney still may or may not limit how many days I can go. Thats not a full year.

Disney can easily afford to give ap a full year until this thing clears up, stop the clock until you use it or numerous other more friendly solutions Its got nothing to do with their survival, its got to.do.with making the shareholders and execs more money.

When I renewed, I expected there to be a reservation system. I knew exactly what I was buying, and I got exactly what I paid for—an entire year of admission with a reservation policy. If I didn’t like the idea of a reservation system, I would have either cancelled my pass or let it expire. I’m completely happy with my purchase. Maybe they can afford to give all APs an extra year and maybe they can’t, but I think that’s a completely unrealistic expectation. If Disney wants to give me something extra, I’ll be grateful, but I refuse to get mad because it doesn’t look like they’re going to give me something for free.

 

[OKW Lover]

Just another data point: I'm a FL resident Platinum AP holder. My expiration date remains the same. I just checked it a few minutes ago.

For those commenting about a potential lack of park hopping ability or even not being able to get into any park because of capacity restrictions my view is that the AP never guaranteed you park hopping or even park admission. If a park is closed due to capacity restrictions then that is it. They aren't going to change the capacity to X-number plus any AP holder that want to come.

 

[Tiki Birdland]

My eyesight is bad and that is a fuzzy picture but I know enough Latin to think that may not all be gibberish...I think I catch the phrases for network management and maybe “procedures”. Can anyone help?

What you're seeing is paragraph placeholders when one is prototyping GUIs. The phrases are used regularly when doing them. I think you're seeing early MDE protoytypes. I'd get fired if stuff like that leaked in my company.

 

[cakebaker]

For those commenting about a potential lack of park hopping ability or even not being able to get into any park because of capacity restrictions my view is that the AP never guaranteed you park hopping or even park admission.

No ticket of any kind guarantees you access. There are always exceptions. But they most certainly advertised the ability to park hop as a benefit of having an AP.

“Disney Platinum Pass

Visit more than one theme park on the same date”

 

[Eric Smith]

You really put a lot in perspective here. And you are exactly right on everything. To add to it and I know people will say they are different places but Universal is open now and they arent really sacrificing the guest experience at all. Sure there are some things toned down which is to be expected but overall its the same park many love going to. Disney on the other hand is trying their hardest to strip its core dna away and leaving little left at all. Its very disappointing to say the least.

Universal doesn't have the demand that Disney does. They've also put in the vast majority of restrictions that Disney is talking about. There's a pandemic going on, people need to reconcile what is going on in that light.

 

[Eric Smith]

No ticket of any kind guarantees you access. There are always exceptions. But they most certainly advertised the ability to park hop as a benefit of having an AP.

“Disney Platinum Pass

Visit more than one theme park on the same date”

They're going to cut park capacity drastically due to a pandemic that is going on. How could park hopping possibly work under those circumstances?

 

[JM23457]

Telling me I should be grateful for anything Disney gives me would only fly if it were free.

This. That's what I think of whenever I hear, "Even a bad day at Disney is better than a day at work." Um, I get paid for working, whereas I pay through the nose for our Disney vacations. I'd rather be at work earning money than on a disappointing trip that I overpaid for.

 

[andyman8]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1273593205724975105

 

[aweehughes]

On hold with Disney dining, cannot remember the last time I had to call at 7am for anything

1999–reservations for CRT, party of 15. Mom made me unplug the internet cable and plug in a hospital phone, so we had two chances of getting through the minute reservations opened. We got our reservation.

 

[yulilin3]

Universal doesn't have the demand that Disney does. They've also put in the vast majority of restrictions that Disney is talking about. There's a pandemic going on, people need to reconcile what is going on in that light.

Honestly tell me if you think this is ok
The company tells people arriving from the 22nd to the 10th (that's 3 weeks) that you can make dining reservations, only if you are arriving those days,, for only DVC properties and FW
You call right at 7am and you are in a 2 hour hold. Not only that the message cheerfully tells you that you can skip the waiting and book online

Is that ok to you?