News Disney mask policy at Walt Disney World theme parks

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Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
Nobody has to go to a Disney park. It's not like a grocery store removing the mask mandate. If people are as concerned as these headlines suggest, they shouldn't be visiting the parks. I still believe that Disney will remove the mask mandates sooner rather than later.

Some people have expressed concern because they have young kids who can't be vaccinated yet (for example), felt the conditions were safe, and are now facing a situation where masks could be gone using strictly an honour system, and that concerns them. They may have already booked a trip.

Should Disney give people at least a little bit of notice before changing the rules, or should people already know that the rules in place today could be gone tomorrow?

At this point the writing is on the wall, and people should plan accordingly. I wouldn't be going without a vaccination.

Either way, the situation isn't quite black & white in terms of choosing not to go.
 

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
View attachment 562712
When the media is putting stuff out like this, don’t expect Disney to get rid of masks for a very long time, unless the local and/or state government get involved. Masks will be gone entirely by October 1st, but I wouldn’t even guarantee them being gone before the summer stretch is over at this point.
Universal has forced their hand, these headlines will make a 0% impact on their policy changes and when they decide to go maskless, which sounds like fairly soon.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Universal has forced their hand, these headlines will make a 0% impact on their policy changes and when they decide to go maskless, which sounds like fairly soon.

We've been hearing "Universal has forced their hand" a bunch in regards to the pandemic and rules, but Disney has consistently been more strict than Uni or other parks and lagged behind them regularly when making changes.

I don't know when the mask rules will change for Disney, but I don't think that they feel any pressure from what other theme parks are doing.
 

Horizons '83

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
We've been hearing "Universal has forced their hand" a bunch in regards to the pandemic and rules, but Disney has consistently been more strict than Uni or other parks and lagged behind them regularly when making changes.

I don't know when the mask rules will change for Disney, but I don't think that they feel any pressure from what other theme parks are doing.
We can disagree here, that is fine, but do you really think there isn't any pressure on them to remove the requirement? I didn't expect them to remove them the next day after Uni's announcement, mainly because there seems to be more red tape they have to go through to make a decision like that but otherwise they are on notice right now. As mentioned a few posts, it won't be much longer before they are gone.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
We can disagree here, that is fine, but do you really think there isn't any pressure on them to remove the requirement? I didn't expect them to remove them the next day after Uni's announcement, mainly because there seems to be more red tape they have to go through to make a decision like that but otherwise they are on notice right now. As mentioned a few posts, it won't be much longer before they are gone.

I think there is pressure to remove the requirement. I do not think there is pressure to do so because Universal or any other theme parks are doing so. The pressure is just due to general trends in the country. Disney would be perfectly content to do their own things despite other theme parks if a lot of places still require masks and/or social distancing.

It's also worth noting that despite Florida's rules, there is a lot of variation in mitigation rules throughout the country. WDW draws from all over and it's a lot easier to appeal to the most "safe" level than it is to be aggressive in returning to normal.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
Would be nice but I've been seeing this so much lately. Given the crazy crowds that seem to have entered the last couple of days I'd be surprised at this point tbh. I'm also not seeing people being jerks about masks as some have reported.

To be fair masks indoors doesn't suck. Not at all.

I trust and appreciate @MansionButler84 but I'm skeptical about Disney totally getting rid of any mask mandates "soon". Unless by "soon", he means mean like August or something like that. And I agree that indoor mask wearing really isn't a big deal anyway.

Maybe if and when the CDC comes out and says that unvaccinated kids do not need to wear masks at all. But with young children being such a big part of the guest numbers for Disney, it's hard for me to see them abolish masks entirely as long as the principle is "unvaccinated should still wear masks to mitigate spread" (or until children under 12 are eligible for the vaccine).
 

legwand77

Well-Known Member
Some people have expressed concern because they have young kids who can't be vaccinated yet (for example), felt the conditions were safe, and are now facing a situation where masks could be gone using strictly an honour system, and that concerns them. They may have already booked a trip.

Should Disney give people at least a little bit of notice before changing the rules, or should people already know that the rules in place today could be gone tomorrow?

At this point the writing is on the wall, and people should plan accordingly. I wouldn't be going without a vaccination.

Either way, the situation isn't quite black & white in terms of choosing not to go.
It is stated very clearly when you buy a ticket that things can change at any time and "By visiting Walt Disney World Resort you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19."
 

Disney Glimpses

Well-Known Member
The reality is when we look back on this, Disney will have removed masks probably within a month after Universal. It's really not much different, just have to wait a bit longer.
 

MaryJaneP

Well-Known Member
Is there some financial cost (maybe not insurance since allegedly self-insured) but other dollars and cents cost that is driving the mask decision. For example, if any other entity that was not self-insured would pay x premium while indoor face covering but significantly more $ if no indoor face coverings? Maybe leave the PR hit for a different discussion. Things like costs to completely replace all HVAC systems in every ride in all parks at WDW would seem like a deterrent. Looking for categories rather than sharp pencil numbers.
 

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
It is stated very clearly when you buy a ticket that things can change at any time and "By visiting Walt Disney World Resort you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19."

Of course, but like I said, it's not so simple. People feel that the current conditions at Disney are safe, and Disney I'm sure wants to find the balance between adjusting to new information and meeting guests expectations.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
but it really is that simple. I would say the majority of guest probably expect no masks indoor/outdoor at this point.
I think it’s very dependent on where you are living. Where I am everyone still generally masks up inside stores. And kids are still wearing masks in schools. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think Disney has the same protocols at this time.

Furthermore some people would probably feel less at ease without safety protocols at a crowded place with people from all over like WDW than they do at their local grocery store.

Note: personally I don’t care if WDW got rid of masks ASAP. Wouldn’t worry or bother me if I were there. But I think some here are overselling how commonplace it is that mask mandates have stopped. There still a lot of places that have them in place and a lot of people who would feel uncomfortable without them indoors.
 

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
The only way it stays is if they decided to use it as a tool to shoehorn lower priority/low spend guests (non-resort guests, possibly Gold APs) into parks with less people, but that would be unprecedented. In that scenario it's likely that resort guests and high tier APs become exempt from the system altogether.
Non-resort Guests are not the "lower priority/low spend guests". I'd call them middle priority. They spend a lot on their daily ticket and almost certainly a lot on food and souvenirs.

From his statement at last month's J.P. Morgan conference, it's clear who Chapek thinks (knows) who are low priority Guests:

We took the opportunity to revisit sort of our legacy operations to improve the yield because it is the ultimate in a capacity-constrained environment but also to improve our guest experience where we've had an opportunity to look at things like pricing and ticketing outside the constraint of an ongoing concern and ongoing business when we shut down for a year. So that really gave us the opportunity to say, when we emerge, how do we want to emerge and how does that fit our yielding strategy and our guest experience strategy? Things like annual pass. There's probably no better example here than annual pass, where it's a legacy system, and people keep signing up year after year after year, which may or may not play into your yield management strategy in an ideal way. So we had a chance to thoughtfully and thoroughly reconsider that.​
Annual Pass Holders who do not stay onsite are in Chapek's crosshairs. Chapek is looking at these with a microscope.

With no blockout dates, a "high tier AP" just makes the parks more crowded on what should be Disney's most profitable days. Don't fool yourself into thinking that Chapek values an offsite Platinum APH anywhere near as much as he values an onsite Resort Guest who between hotel, ticket, and food, is spending hundreds of dollars per person each day.
 

seascape

Well-Known Member
Non-resort Guests are not the "lower priority/low spend guests". I'd call them middle priority. They spend a lot on their daily ticket and almost certainly a lot on food and souvenirs.

From his statement at last month's J.P. Morgan conference, it's clear who Chapek thinks (knows) who are low priority Guests:

We took the opportunity to revisit sort of our legacy operations to improve the yield because it is the ultimate in a capacity-constrained environment but also to improve our guest experience where we've had an opportunity to look at things like pricing and ticketing outside the constraint of an ongoing concern and ongoing business when we shut down for a year. So that really gave us the opportunity to say, when we emerge, how do we want to emerge and how does that fit our yielding strategy and our guest experience strategy? Things like annual pass. There's probably no better example here than annual pass, where it's a legacy system, and people keep signing up year after year after year, which may or may not play into your yield management strategy in an ideal way. So we had a chance to thoughtfully and thoroughly reconsider that.​
Annual Pass Holders who do not stay onsite are in Chapek's crosshairs. Chapek is looking at these with a microscope.

With no blockout dates, a "high tier AP" just makes the parks more crowded on what should be Disney's most profitable days. Don't fool yourself into thinking that Chapek values an offsite Platinum APH anywhere near as much as he values an onsite Resort Guest who between hotel, ticket, and food, is spending hundreds of dollars per person each day.
We are DVC owners and Platinum Plus Annual holders. We visit 4 times a year and spend tons in the stores and restaurants. If we couldn't have an annual pass we would probably stop going. I certainly hope Disney appreciates us snd understands that it is mutually beneficial.
 

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
We are DVC owners and Platinum Plus Annual holders. We visit 4 times a year and spend tons in the stores and restaurants. If we couldn't have an annual pass we would probably stop going. I certainly hope Disney appreciates us snd understands that it is mutually beneficial.
You are in a different category. You not only stay on property, but are DVC owners. DVC is a cash cow for Disney. Those are not the people they are talking about. They are concerned about the annual pass holders who stay off-site.
 

Bullseye1967

Is that who I am?
Premium Member
We are DVC owners and Platinum Plus Annual holders. We visit 4 times a year and spend tons in the stores and restaurants. If we couldn't have an annual pass we would probably stop going. I certainly hope Disney appreciates us snd understands that it is mutually beneficial.
Seems a lot of people think all APH live within 10 miles of WDW and go 3 times a week. Ok, I was that guy (and spent a ton on dining and drinks) but the last break down I saw on APH was that less than 15% were local, many were DVC and of the Florida resident APH, something like 47% stay on property when they visited. The rumors I was hearing pre COVID were they were looking for more APs. I think @marni1971 has shared something similar.
 
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