Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[GoofGoof]

When I wrote that all days of the week suddenly became interchangeable I was thinking so much bigger than work schedules and working at home, but I hear ya.

Under quasi house arrest all days are more or less the same:

No Friday night outing at Hooters

No Saturday 9am 3 year old ballet and tap dance for the daughter at the local studio

No Sunday 10 am gatherings at St. Micheal's to witness "altar ego" and confess to Friday night's ogling of a Hooter server.

No Tues evening AA meetings to tell the group about a relapse from last Fri night at Hooters

No Wednesday early am laying in bed feeling lethargic and pitiful about an empty life only to be yelled at from 2 rooms away by Wife "you're gonna be late for work; get your _ss outa bed, NOW"

Ya, life sucks now!

I was just saying this the other day. Never thought I’d miss the kids’s activities and random stuff that filled my weekends in the past and seemed like a hassle.

 

[Josh Hendy]

We should be going on known facts, not just what sounds good to us. Why are dozens of Chinese textile workers not among the hospitalised in Italy if this theory has any legitimacy?

I have no information. If there were no Chinese textile workers among the earliest hospitalized patients in Italy or very few of them (you make it sound like this is a fact, do you have a source?) it is possible that many younger factory workers are carriers of the disease but few of them are victims. It is a well known theory that there could be a vast number of asymptomatic carriers.

The reason why we need better information about Italy is so that our own countries, states and provinces can avoid the mistakes that were made there. Mistakes that might include, insufficient or tardy travel bans, lack of social isolation, insufficient testing of people with mild or no symptoms, failure to publicize information on known clusters or community hotspots, and so on.

 

[GoofGoof]

I believe Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong will be the last to reopen their parks. Not just from the epicenter of disease sense, but authoritarian government and economic buiness sense. They were a bit of a money pit for the company prior to this so it will not be a priority compared to WDW, DL, DLP and Aluni.

Shanghai started phased re-opening. Just the shopping district and hotel for now but the park is rumored to be coming soon. Hong Kong will probably open when casinos do.

edit from Shanghai website:
Shanghai Disneyland Remains Temporarily Closed Until Further Notice
Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel Re-open with Limited Operations - March 22, 2020
Shanghai Disneyland remains closed as we continue to closely monitor health and safety conditions and follow the direction of government regulators. However, as the first step of a phased reopening, Shanghai Disney Resort will partially resume operations on March 9, 2020 with a limited number of shopping, dining, and recreational experiences available in Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. Each of these resort locations will operate under limited capacity and reduced hours of operation. The Disney Car and Coach Park and the Disneytown Parking Lot will also reopen.

The resort will provide an extensive range of measures, designed to ensure a safe and healthy experience for all guests, Cast Members and Disneytown tenant employees, including strict and comprehensive approaches on sanitization, disinfection and cleanliness. In accordance with relevant regulations, every guest entering Shanghai Disney Resort will be required to undergo temperature screening procedures and present their Shanghai QR Code. Only guests with a green Shanghai QR Code will be allowed to enter the resort. Guests must wear a mask during their entire visit (except when dining), and will also be reminded to maintain respectful social distances at all times while in stores, queues and restaurants.

Please refer to the Shanghai Disney Resort official website and app for the operation hours of Disneytown and Wishing Star Park

 

[21stamps]

You are advocating that, at least to a certain extent.

You say you're not, but if you want to leave non-essential businesses open, that's what you're advocating. Because that means their employees go in to work, and it also means that whoever is hiring them, shopping there, etc. is also still interacting with them. I don't know how you don't see that.

The non essential businesses who have the ability to practice the recommended in office procedures during this time. Ohio’s Governor has laid out the rules. He has told us that he will not shut all non-essential businesses as of yet, but he will if they do not follow his rules.

A lot of us are thinking about people.. trying to maintain their health and their livelihoods. The people who work under me aren’t minimum wage and they aren’t rich- the two easiest reboundable categories during a recession. They’re middle class with annual incomes range between $80k - $150k per year.. if they lose their jobs they will not be easily able to find another. These are real people, real decisions... where we can try to protect them while protecting the general health of the population. Not just protect them, but make sure that companies aren’t forced to do so many layoffs moving forward, crushing our economy.

There are no easy decisions here.

 

[esskay]

If the parks reopen in, say, early May

Honest opinion time. They arent even going to be close to ready to opening in May. I'm thinking more July, August, and even then limited opening. The worlds changed. This isn't just going to go away quiclky, despite what some governments keep irresponsibly saying.

I'm in the UK and can see that our government whilst struggling like hell are at least putting things in place to make sure everyones (or as many people as possible) got protected income, with businesses being allowed to essentially 'pause' employment, and the government will cover 80% of each persons wages - this is a huge thing to do and totally unprecidented for our country. As someone who isn't a fan of the current leadership I do have to say they've done a good job this week, especially given how awful their initial response was.

The whole point of lockdowns isnt to stop you getting it, its to slow it down. In 30 or 60 days it wont 'magically' disappear, this is here for a long time, and for some reason the US seems to be running signficiantly slower at managing the situation than most other countries. I don't know if its a lack of understanding and realising the gravity of the situation, or an issue with resources. Either way though, I wouldn't be at all surprised if within 30 days the epicenter is no longer Italy - a country which is in total lockdown.

Here in the UK, yesterday all restaurants and pubs were told to close, and if they want to can switch to takeaway and delivery only. By this time next week we'll most likely be in a lockdown state (i.e no non-essential travel).

For the parks to open in May the entire US would need to be locking down yesterday. It doesn't matter if a state or county has little or no cases - thats not at all how this thing works. May is only 41 days away. 41 days ago there were no (known) cases in the US.

TL;DR to open in May the US would need to be doing a China style lockdown immediatly.

 

[thomas998]

Easy for you to say from your Golden Oak mansion!

It really is a matter of how risk adverse you are... imagine you have a button that randomly zaps you dead 15 percent of the time and one that only zaps you 1.5% of the time... now would you rather have to push the 15% button one time and never again or go about pushing the 1.5% button every year until you died. You know that at some point the every year button going to be more likely to zap you than the one time 15% button unless you are already pretty old and don't expect to live that long regardless.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

What are y'all have been doing this past week? Are you doing anything productive at home? Do you guys just watch the news constantly?

Since gyms are closed, I have been working out more at home so I can eat more without the guilt of gaining weight.

I’m a marketing consultant who works from home anyway (and has since 2011), so I’ve spent most of this week on calls and working with clients to communicate with key stakeholders and create a strategy to get through this in the right way.

 

[celluloid]

Shanghai started phased re-opening. Just the shopping district and hotel for now but the park is rumored to be coming soon. Hong Kong will probably open when casinos do.

edit from Shanghai website:
Shanghai Disneyland Remains Temporarily Closed Until Further Notice
Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel Re-open with Limited Operations - March 22, 2020
Shanghai Disneyland remains closed as we continue to closely monitor health and safety conditions and follow the direction of government regulators. However, as the first step of a phased reopening, Shanghai Disney Resort will partially resume operations on March 9, 2020 with a limited number of shopping, dining, and recreational experiences available in Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. Each of these resort locations will operate under limited capacity and reduced hours of operation. The Disney Car and Coach Park and the Disneytown Parking Lot will also reopen.

The resort will provide an extensive range of measures, designed to ensure a safe and healthy experience for all guests, Cast Members and Disneytown tenant employees, including strict and comprehensive approaches on sanitization, disinfection and cleanliness. In accordance with relevant regulations, every guest entering Shanghai Disney Resort will be required to undergo temperature screening procedures and present their Shanghai QR Code. Only guests with a green Shanghai QR Code will be allowed to enter the resort. Guests must wear a mask during their entire visit (except when dining), and will also be reminded to maintain respectful social distances at all times while in stores, queues and restaurants.

Please refer to the Shanghai Disney Resort official website and app for the operation hours of Disneytown and Wishing Star Park

It is a lot cheaper and profit margin based to operate a resturant and hotel resort with limited capacity than it is to operate theme park attractions that require more employees and maintence. If you limit so many people into a theme park, you lose money fast.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

The people who work under me aren’t minimum wage and they aren’t rich

They've capped the 1k payout to people who make under $99k per year. Which is going to be a huge issue. Do you realize how many people work on commission / tips who make over that. So if someone had a good year and made $105k last year on commission. And now - because they are a straight commission employee - they drop to zero. They get nothing.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Honest opinion time. They arent even going to be close to ready to opening in May. I'm thinking more July, August, and even then limited opening. The worlds changed. This isn't just going to go away quiclky, despite what some governments keep irresponsibly saying.

I'm in the UK and can see that our government whilst struggling like hell are at least putting things in place to make sure everyones (or as many people as possible) got protected income, with businesses being allowed to essentially 'pause' employment, and the government will cover 80% of each persons wages - this is a huge thing to do and totally unprecidented for our country. As someone who isn't a fan of the current leadership I do have to say they've done a good job this week, especially given how awful their initial response was.

The whole point of lockdowns isnt to stop you getting it, its to slow it down. In 30 or 60 days it wont 'magically' disappear, this is here for a long time, and for some reason the US seems to be running signficiantly slower at managing the situation than most other countries. I don't know if its a lack of understanding and realising the gravity of the situation, or an issue with resources. Either way though, I wouldn't be at all surprised if within 30 days the epicenter is no longer Italy - a country which is in total lockdown.

Here in the UK, yesterday all restaurants and pubs were told to close, and if they want to can switch to takeaway and delivery only. By this time next week we'll most likely be in a lockdown state (i.e no non-essential travel).

For the parks to open in May the entire US would need to be locking down yesterday. It doesn't matter if a state or county has little or no cases - thats not at all how this thing works. May is only 41 days away. 41 days ago there were no (known) cases in the US.

TL;DR to open in May the US would need to be doing a China style lockdown immediatly.

Governor of Florida has said restaurants in Florida to be take out only until possibly may 7. Disney would be hard pressed to open with those restrictions. No place to eat except for whatever take out you could get. No meeting Mickey and pals or anyone else. Who here would go with all that? Better to stay shuttered until we have a good grasp on this whole thing.

 

[UNCgolf]

The non essential businesses who have the ability to practice the recommended in office procedures during this time. Ohio’s Governor has laid out the rules. He has told us that he will not shut all non-essential businesses as of yet, but he will if they do not follow his rules.

A lot of us are thinking about people.. trying to maintain their health and their livelihoods. The people who work under me aren’t minimum wage and they aren’t rich- the two easiest reboundable categories during a recession. They’re middle class with annual incomes range between $80k - $150k per year.. if they lose their jobs they will not be easily able to find another. These are real people, real decisions... where we can try to protect them while protecting the general health of the population. Not just protect them, but make sure that companies aren’t forced to do so many layoffs moving forward, crushing our economy.

There are no easy decisions here.

The issue is that everything you're worried about is going to happen anyways if US outbreaks reach the level of northern Italy.

I understand all those concerns and have thought about them myself, but at least some of those businesses will survive if they're forced to close for a couple of weeks or a month. If they aren't, and the pandemic worsens (and the chances of that are very high), none of them will. It won't be a recession; it will be an all-out economic collapse along the lines of the 1930s.

 

[larryz]

If the parks reopen in, say, early May, are we looking at shortened hours or other operational modifications? Or will it be fully back to normal to all intents and purposes?

Yes.

The interrogator in me made me say that.

 

[thomas998]

Honest opinion time. They arent even going to be close to ready to opening in May. I'm thinking more July, August, and even then limited opening. The worlds changed. This isn't just going to go away quiclky, despite what some governments keep irresponsibly saying.

I'm in the UK and can see that our government whilst struggling like hell are at least putting things in place to make sure everyones (or as many people as possible) got protected income, with businesses being allowed to essentially 'pause' employment, and the government will cover 80% of each persons wages - this is a huge thing to do and totally unprecidented for our country. As someone who isn't a fan of the current leadership I do have to say they've done a good job this week, especially given how awful their initial response was.

The whole point of lockdowns isnt to stop you getting it, its to slow it down. In 30 or 60 days it wont 'magically' disappear, this is here for a long time, and for some reason the US seems to be running signficiantly slower at managing the situation than most other countries. I don't know if its a lack of understanding and realising the gravity of the situation, or an issue with resources. Either way though, I wouldn't be at all surprised if within 30 days the epicenter is no longer Italy - a country which is in total lockdown.

Here in the UK, yesterday all restaurants and pubs were told to close, and if they want to can switch to takeaway and delivery only. By this time next week we'll most likely be in a lockdown state (i.e no non-essential travel).

For the parks to open in May the entire US would need to be locking down yesterday. It doesn't matter if a state or county has little or no cases - thats not at all how this thing works. May is only 41 days away. 41 days ago there were no (known) cases in the US.

TL;DR to open in May the US would need to be doing a China style lockdown immediatly.

Well even if the US did a China style lockdown, and even if the US was able to completely eradicate the virus from the country by doing so... the US would then have to be a locked down country allowing no foreign travellers to visit the US until the rest of the world was virus free.

 

[larryz]

Sick staff members contributed to 30 COVID-19 deaths at Washington nursing home: CDC report

Staff members who worked while sick at multiple long-term care facilities contributed to the spread of COVID-19 among vulnerable elderly in the Seattle area, federal health officials said Wednesday…

ktla.com

The same is true about 4 deaths in the Miami area - sick workers who came on site anyway.

I hope that this pandemic causes businesses to take a second look at providing sick days off with pay. Many people go into work because they don't have sick pay, and can't afford to take time off. We're seeing the results of many businesses being "penny wise and pound foolish."

I have a feeling sick days will become part of business regulations.

 

[21stamps]

They've capped the 1k payout to people who make under $99k per year. Which is going to be a huge issue. Do you realize how many people work on commission / tips who make over that. So if someone had a good year and made $105k last year on commission. And now - because they are a straight commission employee - they drop to zero. They get nothing.

Yes, I fully realize it, and it breaks my heart. The 100-160k income folks are going to be so hardly hit in so many professions.

 

[LittleBuford]

Next I'll tackle the fountain - give it a good cleaning- and thin out the cast iron plants.

I’m stumped by the bolded. What does it mean?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Governor of Florida has said restaurants in Florida to be take out only until possibly may 7. Disney would be hard pressed to open with those restrictions. No place to eat except for whatever take out you could get. No meeting Mickey and pals or anyone else. Who here would go with all that? Better to stay shuttered until we have a good grasp on this whole thing.

Huh? The governor wouldn’t allow a theme park to be open if a restaurant can’t be open.

 

[21stamps]

The issue is that everything you're worried about is going to happen anyways if US outbreaks reach the level of northern Italy.

I understand all those concerns and have thought about them myself, but at least some of those businesses will survive if they're forced to close for a couple of weeks or a month. If they aren't, and the pandemic worsens (and the chances of that are very high), none of them will. It won't be a recession; it will be an all-out economic collapse along the lines of the 1930s.

To the bold- we don’t know that will happen. We are trying to take precautions to find a balance. We will see if it works, or not. We don’t know either way right now.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Yes, I fully realize it, and it breaks my heart. The 100-160k income folks are going to be so hardly hit in so many professions.

And that will cause an even bigger separation. Soon it'll be do you make $70k a year or $500k a year. There'll be no in-between.

 

[TheDisneyDaysOfOurLives]

They've capped the 1k payout to people who make under $99k per year. Which is going to be a huge issue. Do you realize how many people work on commission / tips who make over that. So if someone had a good year and made $105k last year on commission. And now - because they are a straight commission employee - they drop to zero. They get nothing.

It’s based on your AGI. Someone who made $105K (and it depends if they’re married or not, the cutoff is $150K for married couples) is probably closer to $93K based off of standard deduction alone and probably less than that.

Tipped employees are probably not reporting everything they get.