Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[John park hopper]

Universal, saying closed at "least" through May 31 leaving the door open for longer closure. Fully expect WDW will be extending the closure to May 31 as well

 

[GoofGoof]

Universal, saying closed at "least" through May 31 leaving the door open for longer closure. Fully expect WDW will be extending the closure to May 31 as well

Agreed. They indirectly did that already by not taking hotel reservations until 6/1 but now that the labor issues are mostly worked out they will probably make it official.

 

[dhslxop]

Universal, saying closed at "least" through May 31 leaving the door open for longer closure. Fully expect WDW will be extending the closure to May 31 as well

Disney is currently "until further notice" - there is no date on it at all.

 

[peter11435]

Universal, saying closed at "least" through May 31 leaving the door open for longer closure. Fully expect WDW will be extending the closure to May 31 as well

I fully expect WDW to remain vague and continue with the “until further notice” verbiage. I do not expect them to announce any date not even a tentative one.

 

[deeevo]

Agreed. They indirectly did that already by not taking hotel reservations until 6/1 but now that the labor issues are mostly worked out they will probably make it official.

My vacation is May 28th. Guess it's time to cancel. Bummer.. book the cabins for $300 a night.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Disney is currently "until further notice" - there is no date on it at all.

Disney will follow suit, just announce at a later date. I would be shocked if either of them opened June 1st.

 

[Polynesia]

Disney will follow suit, just announce at a later date. I would be shocked if either of them opened June 1st.

I will be shocked if they don’t open June 1. We’ll just have to wait and see what transpired over the next seven weeks or so.

 

[John park hopper]

Disney is currently "until further notice" - there is no date on it at all.

Universal at "least date" puts a damper on further speculation opening would be earlierI know many were thinking end of April --mid May

 

[Calmdownnow]

Just wondering, from over the pond, have there been any virus related illnesses connected with Universal, Seaworld, Bush Gardens, Discovery Cove, Legoland or any other popular tourist destinations? The idea that there are none from WDW or the competition is, to my mind, unbelievable. Or needs investigating immediately to see what could be causing this lack of spread as a source of information for the world. Any thoughts?

As the infections progressed, contact tracing seems to have been given up -- or at least disappeared from mention in public statements -- in the UK. I am sure virus detectives are testing samples to try to track progressions/origins/mutations etc, but checking on infection status of co-workers, casual contacts, and origins of infection seems to have gone by the board weeks ago. This is partly due to the absence of really widespread testing. It is a major point of failure in terms of the prospects for a reduction of the lock-down measures because the extent of community spread can only be measured by hospital admissions and people are not getting admitted unless they are really sick.

 

[John park hopper]

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?

 

[peter11435]

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?

They aren’t staying idle.

 

[John park hopper]

They aren’t staying idle.

They have crews running them?

 

[DisneyCane]

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.

I'm sure both will file chapter 11 to renegotiate leases and discharge other debt. I guess the Irony is that Wanda Group (Chinese conglomerate) is the largest shareholder in AMC.

While the industry is bigger than AMC+Regal, all of the mergers and acquisitions give them a huge percentage of US locations and screens. If they just closed up operations (without locations being taken over by other operators), the industry would not survive.

The concept of a movie would forever be changed without a movie theatre industry. Big budget tent pole movies can not be profitable if they are released as streaming/PPV only. Lower budget productions can do it but there would be no more Marvel/Star Wars type budget films. The acceptable price point for PPV movies is too low. Not enough people would be willing to pay a high enough premium just to watch the "first run" when they can watch for much less in the same living room on the same TV screen a few weeks later.

 

[Calmdownnow]

Leaving the school year in limbo was the reason there wasn’t a firm plan. How much do you dedicate to distance learning if it ends in a few weeks? Now they know it goes for the remainder of the school year. There needs to be a firm plan. If they don’t have one then that’s on the district or schools that fail to make one. Distance learning sucks, but at least we aren’t waiting around for the other shoe to drop.

Of course, if there are concerns that kids' learning has fallen behind, there is nothing to stop the distance learning school year continuing through the summer months if lock down measures remain in place. There is nothing, other than tradition, that says school stops on a particular date.

 

[GoofGoof]

Disney will follow suit, just announce at a later date. I would be shocked if either of them opened June 1st.

I will be shocked if they don’t open June 1. We’ll just have to wait and see what transpired over the next seven weeks or so.

It’s too early to say. Lots can change in 7 weeks, positive and negative. Think about where we were 7 weeks ago.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

I will be shocked if they don’t open June 1. We’ll just have to wait and see what transpired over the next seven weeks or so.

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.

 

[John park hopper]

Of course, if there are concerns that kids' learning has fallen behind, there is nothing to stop the distance learning school year continuing through the summer months if lock down measures remain in place. There is nothing, other than tradition, that says school stops on a particular date.

Not to many kids need to be home in the summer working the farms any more

 

[Calmdownnow]

There are 8 billion people on the planet so lots to vaccinate. For once a bulk of the resources and focus of the governments around the world is on working together to do something to benefit mankind.

Just flagging up that the vaccine then needs to be affordable, capable of being mass produced, and accessible in all countries.

 

[peter11435]

They have crews running them?

They have skeleton crews available to do what’s necessary to maintain what amounts to billions of dollars in assets around the property.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

It’s too early to say. Lots can change in 7 weeks, positive and negative. Think about where we were 7 weeks ago.

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