Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Wendy12]

I remember reading here recently that characters were going to randomly pop up at resorts. Anyone know if this has been happening?

Goofy and Pluto were at Stormalong Bay on Monday.

Does anyone know what time Epcot is "opening" these days? A friend of mine who works in Future World mentioned they were opening as early as 45 minutes before posted "park open" some days. Has that been anyone's experience?

We were let in around 40-45 minutes early Monday with a 10:00 opening. This was at IG.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We have asked to have space between us and other people on Livin with the Land, Rise of the Resistance, and the Safari and were cheerfully accommodated. Well, Rise wasn’t cheerful due to staying in character but we were accommodated without a fuss. Omnimovers we didn’t realize distancing was eliminated til it was too late. Nemo, there were empty cars everywhere, we skipped a car and assumed the party behind us would too but they didn’t; clearly from now on we’ll have to advocate for our safety on omnimovers, if we even go back before our passes expire. Safari and Land they place you at the very front or very back and leave the next row empty.

This is very helpful - we have been skipping Safari because I'm not comfortable but didn't realize they were open to leaving extra space. When we are back in a couple weeks, we'll have to go! I think my 1 year old would love it Thanks!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

For MFSR when you reach the holding room (chess table room) you're asked by cm if you're ok being engineers (if you're a group of 2) you're spaced in that room with the rest of the crew (up to 4). If you're uncomfortable riding with someone else you can request to ride alone and cm will accommodate you. You'll wait maybe a minute more to load.
The accessible pods are the only ones that don't have the plexiglass and will remain 1 party at a time.
The main complaint so far has been taking a good picture of the cockpit

I am glad that is the case but really makes me wonder just how much extra capacity they are really going to add then

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I am glad that is the case but really makes me wonder just how much extra capacity they are really going to add then

None. they will soon realize they wasted money on the plexi. People are going to figure out they can still ride alone.

 

[karmacats]

Just realize your mileage may vary when requesting space. We had a terrible experience on the safari and felt very unsafe last week. Despite being a walk-on they were seating every row, so I asked for space and the CM kept saying "but there's dividers for safety", and i kept saying "but we would like a row between us and others because we don't feel safe even with the dividers." After 3 requests she finally said ok and directed us to row 7, which we took because there was no one in 6 or 8. As soon as we sat and got settled, she loaded people in those 2 rows (it was definitely the same CM) and as i was saying to DH we should get off, away the vehicle went and we were stuck for 20 minutes (or maybe more - we had a rhino traffic jam!).

To add insult to injury, row 9 was left empty; they could have put us there, and the row 8 family in row 7, and had the same number of people in the vehicle but complied with our request.

The row 8 family had an unmasked child right behind me who kept leaning out of the vehicle and forward so she was almost even with us (I'm shocked the driver didn't say anything - that kid was out of the vehicle from her knees up, only being held by one adult arm), and another adult in their party took her mask off and the driver said nothing so finally i had to ask her to put her mask on. I am not confrontational and this was way outside my comfort zone. The kid looked under 2 so not breaking rules there, but seating an unmasked person behind someone who's asked for space seemed pretty uncool on the CM's part, and then between the kid leaning around the divider and the adult unmasking, it was very uncomfortable.

I know many people on here have reported having luck asking for extra spacing, but it clearly doesn't always happen. Just be prepared to stand up for yourself. We had similar issues at FoP that day (unmasked guy behind us for 30 min in line and no one said a word) and the next day at epcot (placed every row on LwtL and guy in front of me took off his mask, and again i had to ask him to put it on). We actually skipped our next park day after that because we felt so stressed about the lack of safety, though we went to MK a couple days later right before we left and it was much better.

I'm sad, because we were going to come back in feb or march, but after those AK and EP days, there's just no way I'm setting foot in the parks again anytime soon. We may do a resort stay at the FW cabins, but that's about it. I think disney is really dropping the ball on safety; in addition to the incidents above, there were just scads of unmasked people and not enough CMs to monitor. They need to hire back CMs and put them on enforcement and monitoring. I loved how every DVC sales booth had at least 2 CMs shooting the breeze, but there weren't sufficient CMs to monitor the crowds or rides. You can tell what's important to the company, and it's not safety.

Sorry for the novel. We were just really disappointed and surprised at how many unmasked people there were, and especially with the CM's attitude at KS.

 

[yulilin3]

I am glad that is the case but really makes me wonder just how much extra capacity they are really going to add then

some capacity will be added if people don't need to go alone or in their own group. I always use myself as an example, I almost always go alone so now instead of sending a pod with just me they could send a pod with 5 people (me plus 4) loading a pod every 45 secs those extra people do make a difference.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

some capacity will be added if people don't need to go alone or in their own group. I always use myself as an example, I almost always go alone so now instead of sending a pod with just me they could send a pod with 5 people (me plus 4) loading a pod every 45 secs those extra people do make a difference.

right, so a little, but that only helps with groups that fit that - so one up to 4 and one up to 2, and only if there are enough groups willing to share

So while there definitely will be an uptick in capacity, just feels like it will be pretty minimal for the downside impact (to the guests and the CMs)

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Just realize your mileage may vary when requesting space. We had a terrible experience on the safari and felt very unsafe last week. Despite being a walk-on they were seating every row, so I asked for space and the CM kept saying "but there's dividers for safety", and i kept saying "but we would like a row between us and others because we don't feel safe even with the dividers." After 3 requests she finally said ok and directed us to row 7, which we took because there was no one in 6 or 8. As soon as we sat and got settled, she loaded people in those 2 rows (it was definitely the same CM) and as i was saying to DH we should get off, away the vehicle went and we were stuck for 20 minutes (or maybe more - we had a rhino traffic jam!).

To add insult to injury, row 9 was left empty; they could have put us there, and the row 8 family in row 7, and had the same number of people in the vehicle but complied with our request.

The row 8 family had an unmasked child right behind me who kept leaning out of the vehicle and forward so she was almost even with us (I'm shocked the driver didn't say anything - that kid was out of the vehicle from her knees up, only being held by one adult arm), and another adult in their party took her mask off and the driver said nothing so finally i had to ask her to put her mask on. I am not confrontational and this was way outside my comfort zone. The kid looked under 2 so not breaking rules there, but seating an unmasked person behind someone who's asked for space seemed pretty uncool on the CM's part, and then between the kid leaning around the divider and the adult unmasking, it was very uncomfortable.

I know many people on here have reported having luck asking for extra spacing, but it clearly doesn't always happen. Just be prepared to stand up for yourself. We had similar issues at FoP that day (unmasked guy behind us for 30 min in line and no one said a word) and the next day at epcot (placed every row on LwtL and guy in front of me took off his mask, and again i had to ask him to put it on). We actually skipped our next park day after that because we felt so stressed about the lack of safety, though we went to MK a couple days later right before we left and it was much better.

I'm sad, because we were going to come back in feb or march, but after those AK and EP days, there's just no way I'm setting foot in the parks again anytime soon. We may do a resort stay at the FW cabins, but that's about it. I think disney is really dropping the ball on safety; in addition to the incidents above, there were just scads of unmasked people and not enough CMs to monitor. They need to hire back CMs and put them on enforcement and monitoring. I loved how every DVC sales booth had at least 2 CMs shooting the breeze, but there weren't sufficient CMs to monitor the crowds or rides. You can tell what's important to the company, and it's not safety.

Sorry for the novel. We were just really disappointed and surprised at how many unmasked people there were, and especially with the CM's attitude at KS.

You should send your feedback to Disney, they should know that there’s a lot of guests out there that do want space still on rides. And the way that CM treated you is inexcusable.

We had the same issues with Living with the Land- the entire row in front of us sat down and promptly removed all their masks. When I asked them to put them back on they rolled their eyes and ignored me.

When we came in November part of what made me feel so confident is their precautions. If I was planning a trip now and hearing these stories? I’d probably second guess it.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Just realize your mileage may vary when requesting space. We had a terrible experience on the safari and felt very unsafe last week. Despite being a walk-on they were seating every row, so I asked for space and the CM kept saying "but there's dividers for safety", and i kept saying "but we would like a row between us and others because we don't feel safe even with the dividers." After 3 requests she finally said ok and directed us to row 7, which we took because there was no one in 6 or 8. As soon as we sat and got settled, she loaded people in those 2 rows (it was definitely the same CM) and as i was saying to DH we should get off, away the vehicle went and we were stuck for 20 minutes (or maybe more - we had a rhino traffic jam!).

To add insult to injury, row 9 was left empty; they could have put us there, and the row 8 family in row 7, and had the same number of people in the vehicle but complied with our request.

The row 8 family had an unmasked child right behind me who kept leaning out of the vehicle and forward so she was almost even with us (I'm shocked the driver didn't say anything - that kid was out of the vehicle from her knees up, only being held by one adult arm), and another adult in their party took her mask off and the driver said nothing so finally i had to ask her to put her mask on. I am not confrontational and this was way outside my comfort zone. The kid looked under 2 so not breaking rules there, but seating an unmasked person behind someone who's asked for space seemed pretty uncool on the CM's part, and then between the kid leaning around the divider and the adult unmasking, it was very uncomfortable.

I know many people on here have reported having luck asking for extra spacing, but it clearly doesn't always happen. Just be prepared to stand up for yourself. We had similar issues at FoP that day (unmasked guy behind us for 30 min in line and no one said a word) and the next day at epcot (placed every row on LwtL and guy in front of me took off his mask, and again i had to ask him to put it on). We actually skipped our next park day after that because we felt so stressed about the lack of safety, though we went to MK a couple days later right before we left and it was much better.

I'm sad, because we were going to come back in feb or march, but after those AK and EP days, there's just no way I'm setting foot in the parks again anytime soon. We may do a resort stay at the FW cabins, but that's about it. I think disney is really dropping the ball on safety; in addition to the incidents above, there were just scads of unmasked people and not enough CMs to monitor. They need to hire back CMs and put them on enforcement and monitoring. I loved how every DVC sales booth had at least 2 CMs shooting the breeze, but there weren't sufficient CMs to monitor the crowds or rides. You can tell what's important to the company, and it's not safety.

Sorry for the novel. We were just really disappointed and surprised at how many unmasked people there were, and especially with the CM's attitude at KS.

I would write Disney. Especially about KS. It is absolutely inexcusable to sit you like that. They could have continued to say No and then you could have left but deciding to lie to get you to sit was wrong.

 

[gottalovepluto]

You should send your feedback to Disney, they should know that there’s a lot of guests out there that do want space still on rides. And the way that CM treated you is inexcusable.

We had the same issues with Living with the Land- the entire row in front of us sat down and promptly removed all their masks. When I asked them to put them back on they rolled their eyes and ignored me.

When we came in November part of what made me feel so confident is their precautions. If I was planning a trip now and hearing these stories? I’d probably second guess it.

LwtL obviously has a problem then. There are cameras watching guests on all rides, Disney is dropping the ball if guests have figured out which rides Disney isn’t bothering to monitor so the guests know they can go maskless

 

[New Mouse]

You should send your feedback to Disney, they should know that there’s a lot of guests out there that do want space still on rides. And the way that CM treated you is inexcusable.

We had the same issues with Living with the Land- the entire row in front of us sat down and promptly removed all their masks. When I asked them to put them back on they rolled their eyes and ignored me.

When we came in November part of what made me feel so confident is their precautions. If I was planning a trip now and hearing these stories? I’d probably second guess it.

They dont care, Ive emailed and then got a canned phone call response.

They do have a lot of staff doing literally nothing, where they could reassign an entire enforcement team.

 

[Wreckem]

Today is by far the least busiest day this week at Universal.

 

[yulilin3]

right, so a little, but that only helps with groups that fit that - so one up to 4 and one up to 2, and only if there are enough groups willing to share

So while there definitely will be an uptick in capacity, just feels like it will be pretty minimal for the downside impact (to the guests and the CMs)

And the CM and coordinators and trainers know this. This decision came from above. They are basically operating under the "it'll last if not enough people complain or if there isn't really a decrease in wait times"

 

[andyman8]

And the CM and coordinators and trainers know this. This decision came from above. They are basically operating under the "it'll last if not enough people complain or if there isn't really a decrease in wait times"

This seems to be how a lot of Park Ops decisions are being made right now. That’s not to say it doesn’t usually sort of work like this but they usually lean a little more on area leadership. Since their reopening, it’s seems to be “here’s what you’re doing; we don’t care what you say.”

 

[yulilin3]

This seems to be how a lot of Park Ops decisions are being made right now. That’s not to say it doesn’t usually sort of work like this but they usually lean a little more on area leadership. Since their reopening, it’s seems to be “here’s what you’re doing; we don’t care what you say.”

Exactly. The people who should have the biggest input are the cm that work these places day in and out. I bet they have way better ideas than someone who maybe only set foot on them twice or three times a year

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Exactly. The people who should have the biggest input are the cm that work these places day in and out. I bet they have way better ideas than someone who maybe only set foot on them twice or three times a year

I could it just being a big spreadsheet and they see which attractions are running with the biggest gap to max capacity and say "fix it" - whether is practical or not

 

[yulilin3]

I could it just being a big spreadsheet and they see which attractions are running with the biggest gap to max capacity and say "fix it" - whether is practical or not

Could be.
Especially when it was beating records in hourly capacity compared to DL's

 

[Oldnewfan]

Exactly. The people who should have the biggest input are the cm that work these places day in and out. I bet they have way better ideas than someone who maybe only set foot on them twice or three times a year

You know I read where Walt made the Parks Operations folks go through the lines, eat in the park... Basically talk to the employees and see the experience from the guest's perspective. Think that ever happens anymore?

 

[rpb718]

You know I read where Walt made the Parks Operations folks go through the lines, eat in the park... Basically talk to the employees and see the experience from the guest's perspective. Think that ever happens anymore?

I'm sure it does. It can't just be Josh doing that from time to time. Josh should be sending out his folks periodically as attendance hits closer to their targets to get a sense of the experience. It's a fine line wanting to gauge the guest experience without putting your corporate/salaried employees in harms way, so to speak.

 

[yulilin3]

A bit of info on park hoping
Along with what we already know
• Guests must have a Disney Park Pass reservation for the first park they want to visit.
• Guests must enter that first park before visiting another park.
• Guests may visit another park starting at 2 p.m.–park close.

This I believe is new news
Park-to-park bus transportation will be available each day shortly prior to the start of Park Hopper hours.
Cast Members will verify Guests have a ticket or pass with Park Hopper benefits before they board.