Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[lazyboy97o]

When the shutdown went into effect mutiple Cedar Fair parks immediately announced a delayed opening as it takes time to prepare the park which would be offsetted by the circumstances.

Im sure they had some idea that the season would be shorten and already had plans to extend passes before anything was said and done. They don't want to cheat their loyalist.

I’m not saying they didn’t expect at least a delayed opening, just that extending 2020 passes to include 2021 might have been driven more by cost and complexity than a belief/knowledge that 2020 is not going to happen. Even at Knott’s Berry Farm passes are tied to the calendar year. Extending passes based on the park’s lost days would mean adding different expiration dates for each park’s passes and figuring out how to extend Platinum Passes. They might have determined it would be cheaper and easier to just add 2021 rather than figure out how to extend by days and then communicate that and any possible changes clearly.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Probably more $$ too. People think airlines will be having fire sales of cheap tickets. If anything the ones that survive this will want to recoup as much as possible especially with reduced capacity. Same for some hotels.

There's a balance that will need to be achieved. They can't charge a premium for airfare or hotel rooms in an effort to recoup lost revenue and expect a ton of sales, unless the record number of unemployed people suddenly are flush with disposable cash once things start re-opening. And don't think that the $600/week in federal unemployment funny money is going to suddenly mean a return to 2019-spending levels.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I’m not saying they didn’t expect at least a delayed opening, just that extending 2020 passes to include 2021 might have been driven more by cost and complexity than a belief/knowledge that 2020 is not going to happen. Even at Knott’s Berry Farm passes are tied to the calendar year. Extending passes based on the park’s lost days would mean adding different expiration dates for each park’s passes and figuring out how to extend Platinum Passes. They might have determined it would be cheaper and easier to just add 2021 rather than figure out how to extend by days and then communicate that and any possible changes clearly.

Extending 2020 APs to include 2021 is an excellent goodwill gesture as well.

 

[DCBaker]

Mayor of Jacksonville - Duval county testing opening up their beaches for exercise only.

 

[JohnD]

Better quality here:

He was asked about the state reopening and said he hadn't made a decision. Moving on. . .

 

[DCBaker]

DeSantis will be live soon. https://www.news4jax.com/news/flori...-desantis-updates-floridas-covid-19-response/

Unless I missed it, there wasn't much in the way of announcements on what is next for Florida to start reopening.

 

[jmp85]

There's a balance that will need to be achieved. They can't charge a premium for airfare or hotel rooms in an effort to recoup lost revenue and expect a ton of sales, unless the record number of unemployed people suddenly are flush with disposable cash once things start re-opening. And don't think that the $600/week in federal unemployment funny money is going to suddenly mean a return to 2019-spending levels.

Yep. Doesn't matter what the airlines or any other business "wants" after all of this. It'll come down to supply and demand.

 

[wdwmagic]

Unless I missed it, there wasn't much in the way of announcements on what is next for Florida to start reopening.

Yep he just seemed to suggest he would use Trump's guide as a baseline, but would likely modify it to Florida. No specifics on any timelines.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Yep he just seemed to suggest he would use Trump's guide as a baseline, but would likely modify it to Florida. No specifics on any timelines.

Sounds like a sensible approach .

 

[lilypgirl]

Yep he just seemed to suggest he would use Trump's guide as a baseline, but would likely modify it to Florida. No specifics on any timelines.

For better or worse? In terms of Disney?

 

[Bill in Atlanta]

What is the consensus estimate on WDW reopening full bore? Are we thinking June/July?

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

What is the consensus estimate on WDW reopening full bore? Are we thinking June/July?

June / July 2021 maybe

 

[Lilofan]

He was asked about the state reopening and said he hadn't made a decision. Moving on. . .

Hoping for some direction moving forward. Looks to be a long hot summer.

 

[Disney Analyst]

No kidding...

Antibody research indicates coronavirus may be far more widespread than known

Initial data from an antibody study in California indicates coronavirus may be far more widespread than the official tally of cases.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Kevin_W]

Interesting development regarding airlines, embedded in this article about Alaska Airlines and Hawaii flights: https://beatofhawaii.com/alaska-airlines-hawaii-no-middle-seats
EasyJet apparently has also announced this change.

Reduced capacity on airlines could result in a reduction in the number of tourists to Orlando theme parks. I wonder how that plays into plans Disney may have for re-opening...

It seems logical that they would still use middle seats for families. (i.e I have a family of 3. In a typical 3-3 seating arrangement it would make sense to still group us all on one side of the aisle.)

 

[Patcheslee]

Indiana governor should be announcing if the stay at home order will be extended today, it expires April 20th.

 

[Polynesia]

No kidding...

Antibody research indicates coronavirus may be far more widespread than known

Initial data from an antibody study in California indicates coronavirus may be far more widespread than the official tally of cases.

abcnews.go.com

An article was earlier released where German scientists claimed the US is only capturing about 1.6% of the cases. That would be about right that it is at least 50 times that number as California is preliminarily showing.

 

[marni1971]

What is the consensus estimate on WDW reopening full bore? Are we thinking June/July?

Like it was 8 weeks ago?

Next year.

 

[Kevin_W]

No kidding...

Antibody research indicates coronavirus may be far more widespread than known

Initial data from an antibody study in California indicates coronavirus may be far more widespread than the official tally of cases.

abcnews.go.com

Interesting to finally find a study on a wider sample. They seem to focus on the negative "Our findings suggest that there is somewhere between 50- and 80-fold more infections in our county than what’s known by the number of cases than are reported by our department of public health," rather than the positive that this would mean mortality rates are 0.05-0.08% instead of the 3.7% currently recorded by their county.

 

[Patcheslee]

It seems logical that they would still use middle seats for families. (i.e I have a family of 3. In a typical 3-3 seating arrangement it would make sense to still group us all on one side of the aisle.)

Wonder what the plan is for narrow body jets. Our Delta flights have always been a 2-3 seating.