News Walt Disney World's COVID-19 reopening plans announced - July 11

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Honestly I feel it's about caution. They know there are more that are grasping at a chance to visit than they can accommodate, and are hoping that by making everything seem like less of a value they won't have to directly turn as many guests away that are trying to book a daily park reservation.

That could be...valid point.

I don’t think Disney wants to open at all. One of the people I was talking to is a travel agent and his take was that he thought they wanted to write the year off.

They can afford it and the closed time allows them to implement the new park systems and change how they operate all at once. Rip off the band aid.

He also thought vacation club is wrecked and they may get sued In class action. Which I was onboard with in March. Closing was not something they could handle. It’s “oversold” in that it has zero flexibility for disruption. It’s been a mess.

 

[disneygeek90]

is it true wearing masks in hot and humid environments increases the risk of heat related illnesses? unnecessary and bad policy for disney?

I've walked around at Disney Springs several times and Universal the past two days. No issues. Wear a mask and drink water if you're feeling dehydrated. It's summer in Florida which is going to be hot and uncomfortable, mask or no mask.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Because COVID-19? The whole setup they're going to be operating under initially is not ideal, for the guests or for Disney. They'll scrap it in favor of whatever they view as the long-term "new normal" paradigm the instant they're able to. In the meantime, doing things vastly differently from how they've ever run the parks is par for the course.

Boy...that’s not gonna allow the ability to rake huge sums of guaranteed cash anymore.

It’s also possible that they think sit down dining is going to become far less popular?

 

[Ravenclaw78]

Boy...that’s not gonna allow the ability to rake huge sums of guaranteed cash anymore.

It’s also possible that they think sit down dining is going to become far less popular?

Right now, they're not even trying to rack in huge sums of cash. They're just trying to reduce their losses and avoid as much bad press as possible. I'm sure they'll be back to trying to squeeze every penny they can out of park guests again as soon as they're comfortable opening the parks and resorts back up to full capacity.

You may be right about table service being less popular, at least for a while. There are going to be a lot of changes in societal preferences as a result of Covid, some temporary and some permanent, but I don't have a prediction of how that will play out.

 

[Giss Neric]

I know this is Universal but everything discussed in this video I agree with cause I have seen it too when I went. This will mostly likely be the scenario with Disney regarding social distancing and mask wearing.

 

[disneygeek90]

I know this is Universal but everything discussed in this video I agree with cause I have seen it too when I went. This will mostly likely be the scenario with Disney regarding social distancing and mask wearing.

Yes, but that’s not been the case the past 2 days. Could definitely be the weather but today and yesterday were incredibly dead. It’ll take more time to really see what’s going on at universal.

 

[Giss Neric]

Yes, but that’s not been the case the past 2 days. Could definitely be the weather but today and yesterday were incredibly dead. It’ll take more time to really see what’s going on at universal.

What I'm pertaining to is more of people not following social distancing and not wearing masks. The two team members with microphones who are constantly reminding guests are literally calling out people for not wearing their masks. It's funny yet frustrating. I have encountered a bunch not following the distancing and getting too close to me without a mask. Aside from those, it was surprisingly pleasant with a few hiccups on the wait times and the virtual queue boarding process.

 

[disneygeek90]

What I'm pertaining to is more of people not following social distancing and not wearing masks. The two team members with microphones who are constantly reminding guests are literally calling out people for not wearing their masks. It's funny yet frustrating. I have encountered a bunch not following the distancing and getting too close to me without a mask. Aside from those, it was surprisingly pleasant with a few hiccups on the wait times and the virtual queue boarding process.

There’s always going to be some that don’t abide by the rules but I’ll take a majority over none at all every time. I’ve been actually impressed overall with the amount of mask wearing.

Virtual queue hasn’t been an issue for me and I would have snagged a Hagrids tonight if not for the weather.

 

[Gearbm95]

Anyone heard anything on the reopening of Swan or Dolphin? I have a reservation 7/14-16 that I booked about 3 months ago.

I paid $184/night when I booked it, just checked the prices now and they’re up to $734/night for the same room.

 

[Nunu]

If we were going for a resort-only stay, We would've liked to at least, be able to visit/dine at other resorts. I understand Disney's reasons for not allowing it, but I don't think that DVC Resorts are going to be anywhere near capacity, right? Anyway, that'd be an issue for us.

 

[MisterPenguin]

is it true wearing masks in hot and humid environments increases the risk of heat related illnesses? unnecessary and bad policy for disney?

It's true that being in hot and humid environments increases the risk of heat related illnesses... so... from now on, WDW will only be open 2 months out of the year.

Also, anyone who's ever worn black in Florida has no standing about any sort of extra heating that comes from wearing a mask being problematic.

 

[brifraz]

I'm surprised that no one seems focused on the fact that in the announcement today Disney said no in park dining reservations will be offered but will return at a later date.

I noticed that...but I’m not sure what it means?

No reservations to me means quickserve only....

It could mean some or all in-park table service restaurants are still available, but only as walk-up reservations once you're already in the park. They can't have a setup that allows for a guest to end up with dining reservations in a park they can't get a park access reservation at, but once a guest is in the park physically, that's no longer an issue.

Perhaps I'm reading too little into the announcement from yesterday, but IMHO the restaurant announcement is about the 'initial phase' of reopening, which is June 22-July 11. Since the parks aren't open, there is no in-park dining. Seems like something they wouldn't have to announce, but you KNOW there are some people who would be quick to say 'you said dining options would be open, why aren't the ones in the parks open???' I think putting that phrase in there is just CYA by Disney (they've got a lot of lawyers who proofread everything that gets sent out, for sure).

I will preface this with the fact that I have absolutely zero inside information... I suspect that Park Reservations will open up in a couple weeks (I'm guessing June 20-ish), then a couple weeks later In-Park Dining Reservations will open up for those with Park Reservations.

The question of who has earliest access to both of those types of reservations is very interesting to me since the initial notice of cancellation of all ADR, FP+, etc. stated that those with reservations would have priority when booking opens again... We have a split stay from July 19-29, with 6 nights off-site and 3 nights on-site (DVC) with Annual Passes. We 'had' in-park reservations for dining/tours/photo session on almost all of our days staying off-site so my hope (prayer?) is that we can get Park Reservations on those days based off that history. And it is just that... a hope and nothing more - all concept of expectations is gone at this point!

 

[Goofnut1980]

I would think the reduced restaurant comment they mention would be for initial opening. But then I would think based on the distancing requirements all would be open to allow the spacing of guests. Just thinking out loud.

 

[sjhym333]

Here is my opinion. And it's only an opinion. I suspect that the in park dining reservations will come back sometime after the parks reopen but it may take a while. I think that for several reasons. The first is that they may want to get the park reservation system up and running without having the dining reservation system having to interface with it initially. In other words the system won't have to check that you have park reservation to book an in park dining reservation. I also think that Disney is unsure about staffing and other things needed to run a restaurant during this new situation. By not having the pressure of prebooked dining reservations they can adjust dining hours, staffing and other things without having to further cancel reservations. I also wouldn't be surprised if not all sit down restaurants open when the parks reopen.

I would also like to throw out 2 other thoughts. It wouldn't surprise me that initially you won't be able to make attraction reservation times until after you enter the park. Kind of what Universal is currently doing or what they have been doing at the Studios with Rise of the Resistance before all this. I don't think every attraction will need a reservation but the more popular ones will. I kind of look at it as a digital legacy Fastpass deal. Scan your ticket at the turnstiles then book some attractions. With limited capacity it will keep more attraction reservations open for people who are actually in the park at the moment.

Lastly, I have been pondering the word capacity and I think people believe that it's just simple math. Such as a park has a capacity of 60,000 so half is 30,000 and 25 percent is 15,000. I think that Disney is going to look at it differently. How many attractions can we open and under the new guidelines what is the new capacity going to be. Attractions with large queues might have larger availability then smaller queues that can't hold many guests with the social distancing requirements. Also we know there will be less seating, possibly fewer ride vehicles that also may decrease capacity. When you factor in shops that may not reopen, less capacity at food locations you may have a park capacity that Disney is comfortable with that is lower than just a normal 30 percent. Eventually as things shake down you will see Disney adjust and bring back things. But I expect that while they may increase capacity over time, you may see the current reality through August and September. Just my 2 cents.

 

[beertiki]

Before the parks reopen, bus transportation will be available to Disney Springs, and then to the parks once they open.

Looks like they are trying to avoid the crowd at rope drop.

 

[Ali Mouse]

I wonder what percentage of ticket holders have park hopper? We used to get it on each trip, but then we realized that we never used it. We would make a evening dining reservation in the park we were going to that day, and if we did leave the park it was just to go back to the resort for an afternoon rest or swim, then head back to the park for the evening. Be interesting to know those stats.

You should start a thread with a poll...I'm curious to see too!
I only get park hoppers if I'm going with a big group of people or I am only going for a short amount of time!

 

[networkpro]

Pure supposition and speculation.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Just did a trip to universal, 1 day at both parks yesterday. I absolutely loved it! Face masks were literally no issue for us (but we’re also all very young and skinny. But one of us has asthma and he was fine too so idk). It was also not terribly hot since it was so cloudy and wet.

I will DEFINITELY go to Disney if my experience was similar to what we just had a universal. As long as you weren’t in Harry Potter lands, the parks were empty, the rides were walk on, and the mask-off sections were empty and nice as well. Had a great time! My full trip report is in the Universal Orlando section.

 

[mdcpr]

This all sounds like a logistics nightmare for WDW. Our 2021 trip is Universal probably for end of year, definitely skipping WDW.

 

[WondersOfLife]

What I'm pertaining to is more of people not following social distancing and not wearing masks. The two team members with microphones who are constantly reminding guests are literally calling out people for not wearing their masks. It's funny yet frustrating. I have encountered a bunch not following the distancing and getting too close to me without a mask. Aside from those, it was surprisingly pleasant with a few hiccups on the wait times and the virtual queue boarding process.

Had no issues at Universal yesterday except for a couple of kids running around without their parents disciplining them.