Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[John park hopper]

You are correct, so much can change. This second wave is scaring me a bit if we rush things.

I read there is a city on the China /Russian boarder that is lock downed due to virus out break don't know how true it is

 

[pdude81]

The governor (NJ) wasn't able to say with certainty that school would start back up in Sept. Northern part of the state is slowing infections but it's coming down to the south now from people looking to escape their locale and idiot locals who have decided recently they won't want to stay home anymore. If the governor has said he'll let everybody know by 4/17 and we're still going to be in the ballpark of our peak then, you can guarantee school will be closed for the rest of the year. It's not unlike when he told everybody he wanted to close schools but made them all get their contingency plans together before mandating it.

We were set to head to WDW just after the school year ended, but I don't have a ton of hope for late June at this point.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

I read there is a city on the China /Russian boarder that is lock downed due to virus out break don't know how true it is

Also have been reading about 50 something South Koreans that supposedly tested positive for a 2nd time. Now of course they are taking a hard look to see if they just weren’t still infected and tested positive again or whether they did contract it again. There’s still a lot of unknowns so glad the parks are not thinking about rushing things.

 

[Lilofan]

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Great deal for Universal Orlando staff. Even though part timers are furloughed after April 19, after April 20, salaried and full time hourly staff are paid 80% of weekly pay during the closure. They don't have to deal with unemployment.

 

[Polynesia]

I’ve heard there’s no way they won’t open by April 1st. Followed closely after it didn’t by.. mid April looks like the time. Followed closely by May 1st for sure. I think we all know the month of May is not happening now with universal staying closed. The posts for June 1st will start now. Don’t me wrong, wish any of these were correct but I am glad they are hopefully being very safe about this. Amusement parks are different animals then anyplace else. We will see but like I said hundreds of posts ago, July or August is not out of the question. Hope I’m wrong.

I’d be ok with July. Who knows how long it’s going to take for the cast members to get things up and running again. There will be new training procedures regarding health precautions, doing test and adjust on the rides, etc

 

[DCBaker]

Great deal for Universal Orlando staff. Even though part timers are furloughed after April 18, after April 20, salaried and full time hourly are paid 80% of weekly pay during the closure. They don't have to deal with unemployment.

Part time hourly workers are furloughed starting May 3rd.

 

[peter11435]

Great deal for Universal Orlando staff. Even though part timers are furloughed after April 18, after April 18, salaried and full time hourly are paid 80% of weekly pay during the closure. They don't have to deal with unemployment.

Is it a great deal though? I mean sure it’s nice that they don’t have to deal with the unemployment system. But most of them will now see a pay cut of around $400 per month. Which might make it a struggle to pay bills. Alternatively on unemployment they would have seen an increase.

 

[natatomic]

I’ve heard there’s no way they won’t open by April 1st. Followed closely after it didn’t by.. mid April looks like the time. Followed closely by May 1st for sure. I think we all know the month of May is not happening now with universal staying closed. The posts for June 1st will start now. Don’t me wrong, wish any of these were correct but I am glad they are hopefully being very safe about this. Amusement parks are different animals then anyplace else. We will see but like I said hundreds of posts ago, July or August is not out of the question. Hope I’m wrong.

Just 5-6 weeks ago, I was firmly in the “Disney isn’t gonna close for this pseudo-flu,” camp. Lesson learned! You won’t catch me making any more predictions about re-opening dates. I don’t wanna eat yet another humble pie. I’m not at all enjoying this first one.

 

[Josh Hendy]

You are correct, so much can change. This second wave is scaring me a bit if we rush things.

I have no idea what the real numbers are, but I suppose that because of isolation and social distancing, at least 1/2 the population has had no exposure yet to CV-19.

To relax restrictions in the absence of a vaccine or a really effective treatment and without having demonstrated that the round 1 victims even have lasting immunity, is to kick the door open for round 2.

Since every city now has CV-19 carriers present, it could be a nationwide situation resembling Seattle before halting travel from China, NYC before St Patrick's Day or Nawlins before Mardi Gras. Are there enough new ventilators, masks, drugs etc. in place for that?

 

[flynnibus]

I keep seeing people yelling doomsday for the movie theater industry because AMC and Regal could go bankrupt while their theaters are still shuttered.

News flash, people: the industry is bigger than AMC and Regal. It can survive without them. AMC and Regal were mismanaged garbage dumps even before the crisis. Much of their issues are entirely of their own making. If they had made smarter investment decisions (and paid attention to their debt) they wouldn't be in this mess.

It seems you forgot the entire industry was facing pressure before this crisis - which is why you had the consolidations happening. Such concerns aren't just about AMC and Regal - but about 1) who survives the crunch 2) what does this industry look like if social distancing sticks around 3) how does an industry already searching for how to stay relevant comes through a crisis like this 4) millions are turning to streaming more now than ever...

Attendance was down nearly 10% last year. Studios are getting into the streaming game direct. Studios like Disney are dictating even worse deals for theaters. And many other concerns.

Noise now is about this virus kicking a dog while he's down. Not people just fixated on AMC or Regal.

 

[Lilofan]

Is it a great deal though? I mean sure it’s nice that they don’t have to deal with the unemployment system. But most of them will now see a pay cut of around $400 per month. Which might make it a struggle to pay bills. Alternatively on unemployment they would have seen an increase.

Just hearing horror stories on people trying to apply for FL unemployment , then waiting for stimulus checks who knows when it will come, hearing different versions. 80% of weekly pay to salaried and full time hourly staff and these groups not being furloughed (yet) , while Universal closed= great deal.

 

[Slpy3270]

Clownfish TV capitalizing on anti-Disney furor as usual, falsely calling the furloughs at the studio "layoffs" among other things.....


And if you think this is bad, look at their other video thumbnails regarding Disney in "crisis" mode. It reads like a dudebro bachelor party.

 

[GoofGoof]

I have no idea what the real numbers are, but I suppose that because of isolation and social distancing, at least 1/2 the population has had no exposure yet to CV-19.

To relax restrictions in the absence of a vaccine or a really effective treatment and without having demonstrated that the round 1 victims even have lasting immunity, is to kick the door open for round 2.

Since every city now has CV-19 carriers present, it could be a nationwide situation resembling Seattle before halting travel from China, NYC before St Patrick's Day or Nawlins before Mardi Gras. Are there enough new ventilators, masks, drugs etc. in place for that?

The hope is that we can react faster to a second wave. When the first cases rolled around in the US we didn’t have test kits at all then we had some but testing was very limited. If they had acted quickly and isolated the sick and traced all of their contact back and tested those people and isolated the sick the virus could have maybe been contained. You need extensive and immediate testing as well as thorough contact tracing. If social distancing and lock downs allowed us to hit the reset button it’s possible we can avoid a full blown second wave if people are much more careful and testing is much better organized. 2 big ifs.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Just hearing horror stories on people trying to apply for FL unemployment , then waiting for stimulus checks who knows when it will come, hearing different versions. 80% of weekly pay to salaried and full time hourly staff and these groups not being furloughed (yet) , while Universal closed= great deal.

The unemployment mess is terrible. We've been waiting for a call back for over a week. We're in MA. (the only way to reach them is to fill out a form and be put on a call back list).

 

[WDWTrojan]

I have no idea what the real numbers are, but I suppose that because of isolation and social distancing, at least 1/2 the population has had no exposure yet to CV-19.

To relax restrictions in the absence of a vaccine or a really effective treatment and without having demonstrated that the round 1 victims even have lasting immunity, is to kick the door open for round 2.

Since every city now has CV-19 carriers present, it could be a nationwide situation resembling Seattle before halting travel from China, NYC before St Patrick's Day or Nawlins before Mardi Gras. Are there enough new ventilators, masks, drugs etc. in place for that?

The point of social distancing is only partially to keep people from getting the virus. An equal reason is to keep the healthcare system from getting completely overwhelmed, both so COVID-19 patients can get the treatment they need and those who need treatment for other illnesses can get proper care.

 

[Piebald]

....

We were set to head to WDW just after the school year ended, but I don't have a ton of hope for late June at this point.

June ? I dont have a lot of hope for September let alone June.

 

[flynnibus]

Any engineers and electronics people out there---- question the longer all the attractions stay idle is it harder to get them up and running again?

It's not something you can generalize. Different ride systems have their own maintenance life cycles and each has their own concerns. One assumes Disney still has staff keeping an eye on critical stuff... and maybe cycling stuff or doing the period based stuff when necessary. There will likely always be gremlins when things are idled... dust... temperatures... etc. But these things are not like your grandpa's car in the garage for 20 years. These things have very well defined maintenance schedules that could easily be worked through to ensure items are up to spec when needed.

One can probably wager the reduced cycles is actually easier on everything in the long run.. and gotchas can be easily addressed.

I'd be more interested in the Animatronics systems or things like the jungle cruise... where cycling is probably a key part of their normal upkeep.

 

[Rich Brownn]

Clownfish TV capitalizing on anti-Disney furor as usual, falsely calling the furloughs at the studio "layoffs" among other things.....


And if you think this is bad, look at their other video thumbnails regarding Disney in "crisis" mode. It reads like a dudebro bachelor party.

That site just posts negative crap about everything.

 

[Polynesia]

Great deal for Universal Orlando staff. Even though part timers are furloughed after April 19, after April 20, salaried and full time hourly staff are paid 80% of weekly pay during the closure. They don't have to deal with unemployment.

Very true unless you need 100% of your salary to live which unemployment would now give you. Being furloughed still gives you health insurance free to the employees, too. And of course there’s no guarantee after that date you’ll be paid and if you’ll be called back. Like Disney there will be positions that won’t be necessary right away. So many things up in the air right now.

 

[Polynesia]

Just hearing horror stories on people trying to apply for FL unemployment , then waiting for stimulus checks who knows when it will come, hearing different versions. 80% of weekly pay to salaried and full time hourly staff and these groups not being furloughed (yet) , while Universal closed= great deal.

Not really if you need your money. The system will catch up eventually. Already improvements have been made. Much has changed in a few days. Stimulus checks are supposed to start next week