News Walt Disney World theme parks increase capacity but see longer waits and less physical distancing

[giantgolfer]

I’ll leave the moral shaming up to you. You are very good at it. It’s not in my personality to go around telling other people what to do. We all got our roles and that’s not mine.

We all clearly see what you feel your role is. It figuratively punches all of us in the gut.

 

[Miss Bella]

....so about those theme park capacity limits.

Didn’t you start a vaccine thread on the resorts board? Just pointing for people that want to discuss vaccines.

 

[gerarar]

 

[Touchdown]

That’s a lot of added weight, fill those boats and they may ride the bottom...

 

[GoofGoof]

Interesting. I wonder if the glare is a lot worse on video vs how it looks live. I guess if you mostly look sideways at the scenes it’s not an issue it’s probably only bad when you try to look forward toward the next room as you enter. Either way it’s not perfect but will allow more ride capacity which I think is the name of the game. I also think as we see more rides getting this treatment it’s obvious that Disney doesn’t see a quick end to Covid restrictions at the parks. If they thought things would be pulled way back in a few months there would be no reason to invest time and money on this now.

 

[Jrb1979]

Interesting. I wonder if the glare is a lot worse on video vs how it looks live. I guess if you mostly look sideways at the scenes it’s not an issue it’s probably only bad when you try to look forward toward the next room as you enter. Either way it’s not perfect but will allow more ride capacity which I think is the name of the game. I also think as we see more rides getting this treatment it’s obvious that Disney doesn’t see a quick end to Covid restrictions at the parks. If they thought things would be pulled way back in a few months there would be no reason to invest time and money on this now.

I agree with them thinking Covid restrictions will be around for awhile. I disagree with them doing this safety theatre. That's all it is now. I still don't agree with parks being open but since they are I expected better from Disney. At the beginning I thought they were setting the standard but now they don't seem to care except for their bottom line.

 

[Miss Bella]

Interesting. I wonder if the glare is a lot worse on video vs how it looks live. I guess if you mostly look sideways at the scenes it’s not an issue it’s probably only bad when you try to look forward toward the next room as you enter. Either way it’s not perfect but will allow more ride capacity which I think is the name of the game. I also think as we see more rides getting this treatment it’s obvious that Disney doesn’t see a quick end to Covid restrictions at the parks. If they thought things would be pulled way back in a few months there would be no reason to invest time and money on this now.

They probably need to increase capacity ASAP. The lines must be getting to long.

 

[GoofGoof]

They probably need to increase capacity ASAP. The lines must be getting to long.

Right now for IASW it’s just 1 test boat so I don’t think it has anything to do with current holiday crowds. They are probably starting to ramp up capacity on as many attractions as they can for the future when they expand park capacity and start re-opening more resorts.

I agree with them thinking Covid restrictions will be around for awhile. I disagree with them doing this safety theatre. That's all it is now. I still don't agree with parks being open but since they are I expected better from Disney. At the beginning I thought they were setting the standard but now they don't seem to care except for their bottom line.

I honestly don’t know whether the science behind it is that much worse. The plexiglass prevents a direct spray of spit particles coming directly from behind or in front of you so it probably does something. It certainly has a psychological impact. I’ve seen schools using the face shields and plexiglass for teachers too. I still think it’s probably better than just loading all the rows with no plexiglass.

 

[Jrb1979]

Right now for IASW it’s just 1 test boat so I don’t think it has anything to do with current holiday crowds. They are probably starting to ramp up capacity on as many attractions as they can for the future when they expand park capacity and start re-opening more resorts.

I honestly don’t know whether the science behind it is that much worse. The plexiglass prevents a direct spray of spit particles coming directly from behind or in front of you so it probably does something. It certainly has a psychological impact. I’ve seen schools using the face shields and plexiglass for teachers too. I still think it’s probably better than just loading all the rows with no plexiglass.

I agree with it being better then no plexiglass. I just think they are dropping too much too soon.

 

[GoofGoof]

I agree with it being better then no plexiglass. I just think they are dropping too much too soon.

Fair enough. I’m in a wait and see kinda mode with timing. It has to start some time and I am assuming it will be gradual as they ramp up. As I said earlier I think the distancing on rides is the “low hanging fruit” of Covid restrictions that is one of the easiest things to remove that also for Disney has a large bang for their buck. What I mean by that is each safety protocols has both a value for safety and a negative towards operations. So I would say something like temp checks is probably adding very little to the safety (anyone with a fever can just pop a Tylenol before heading to the parks) but it also has very little impact on operations or crowd level or profit so no reason to remove it. Distancing on rides is one of the most distributive things to increasing overall park capacity. So if you try to balance safety with economics for Disney the safest thing would obviously be to close the parks, but that has the worst economic impact. Then you go dpwn the list and look at what’s needed and what could be pulled back first.

When we look at Covid safety issues it’s best if an activity is outdoor, people wear masks, people are distanced 6 feet apart and the contact lasts less than 15 mins. So with rides, most are indoor so fail that, but you have short duration, masks and distancing. If you remove distancing you still have 2 of the previous 3 mitigating factors. In the case of IASW and several other rides now they added in plexiglass to replace distancing. In other cases, like coasters, they didn’t. Where they added plexiglass they still have masks and short duration going for them as well. As we have seen from various demonstrations if 2 people are both wearing a mask it’s more effective than just 1 or none. So in this case both parties are still in masks and have a sheet of plexiglass between them and it’s still for less than 15 mins. I know it may not be as good as keeping distancing or adding plexiglass and keeping distancing, but that comes back to the risk/reward proposition. The economic benefit of adding back that capacity is huge.

I don’t see this as Disney just throwing away all restrictions and focusing only on profits, I see it as a way to get more of the business open in what will hopefully be a safe manner. I see this as a gradual start. If next week or even next month they pull back many other safety protocols without a significant drop in cases then I will agree it’s bad timing. For now it’s just a small change that’s relatively benign. If they tried to remove distancing in restaurants or remove mask requirements that would be a different story.

 

[gerarar]

Interesting. I wonder if the glare is a lot worse on video vs how it looks live. I guess if you mostly look sideways at the scenes it’s not an issue it’s probably only bad when you try to look forward toward the next room as you enter. Either way it’s not perfect but will allow more ride capacity which I think is the name of the game. I also think as we see more rides getting this treatment it’s obvious that Disney doesn’t see a quick end to Covid restrictions at the parks. If they thought things would be pulled way back in a few months there would be no reason to invest time and money on this now.

Disney did a similar slow rollout with MMRR and RoTR; test one or two ride vehicles, then expand it to the rest. Still glad they're looking for ways to increase ride capacity *safely*.

 

[Jrb1979]

Disney did a similar slow rollout with MMRR and RoTR; test one or two ride vehicles, then expand it to the rest. Still glad they're looking for ways to increase ride capacity.

I'm not. Boosting capacity over lowering restrictions should only be happening once the Covid is under control.

 

[GoofGoof]

Disney did a similar slow rollout with MMRR and RoTR; test one or two ride vehicles, then expand it to the rest. Still glad they're looking for ways to increase ride capacity *safely*.

I think it was inevitable. For some people it may cause more pause in deciding to go, for others it won’t change anything.

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm not. Boosting capacity over lowering restrictions should only be happening once the Covid is under control.

I can’t argue with that. It’s a fact that FL just had it’s all time highest case number in this whole pandemic yesterday so maybe not a great time to start removing restrictions, but these are longer term plans and they need to start some time soon if they want to ramp up into Spring.

 

[Chi84]

If COVID is going to be around for awhile (and it looks like it will be) that will be all the more incentive for Disney to find a way to require proof of vaccination to enter. No way they’ll ever return to the kind of capacity they need (and provide the type of experiences they’re known for) unless they can drop the restrictions.

It won’t matter if some people find a way to cheat the system. That’s always the case, and hopefully the system Disney chooses will be a good one. Most will just get the vaccine to comply.

Entertainment venues will likely be the first to try vaccine requirements because they are unquestionably nonessential.

 

[lazyboy97o]

No way they’ll ever return to the kind of capacity they need (and provide the type of experiences they’re known for) unless they can drop the restrictions.

The Magic Kingdom was designed to handle 10 million guests per year and was doing double that with marginal gains in capacity and in the case of dining, less capacity than 30 years ago. The parks of Walt Disney World have been operating well over a guest-oriented capacity for years now. The parks can provide a profitable business without the sort of deliberate overcrowding that Disney long desired.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I'd ask to wait the extra few minutes to sit up front.

 

[GoofGoof]

Proof of vaccination may happen at some point at WDW but that can only happen after the vaccine is widely available to everyone and has full FDA approval. Right now large groups of people in Disney’s primary demographic like kids under 16 and pregnant women are not authorized for vaccination. Pfizer said they plan to start a trial for kids 5-11 some time soon and a trial for kids under 5 and/or pregnant women at a later time. The goal is to have school age kids all vaccinated by the start of the next school year. If it’s still deemed necessary by the fall I could see Disney implement a requirement for park entry then and maybe just exclude kids under 5 from the requirement if they aren’t authorized to get the vaccine yet (hopefully they will).

IMHO between now and then there will be a gradual easing of restrictions. I think this is a start of that, really already started a little while back. Depending on the success of the vaccine rollout I think Disney would like to remove the majority of restrictions by the summer, but it will also depend on case numbers and the general environment. I don’t think its a firm date.

 

[Jrb1979]

I can’t argue with that. It’s a fact that FL just had it’s all time highest case number in this whole pandemic yesterday so maybe not a great time to start removing restrictions, but these are longer term plans and they need to start some time soon if they want to ramp up into Spring.

I don't see spring being any different then now. Most experts figure things won't be much better til fall.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Didn’t you start a vaccine thread on the resorts board? Just pointing for people that want to discuss vaccines.

Is this the one millionth attempt in this forum to imply travel isn’t at the will of the medical situation?

Maybe it’ll stick this time