Walt Disney World Park Hours cut starting September 8 2020

[Parker in NYC]

I would allow it in this case. Maybe not the stuff about the Halloween houses but Universal is the closest comparable to a Disney park so expanding/contracting their hours open is pretty much on topic.

I just read them as "blah blah blah, Universal has customers which means there's demand for everything to reopen again at full capacity and blah blah Disney isn't doing this so why not?! Things are back to normal dammit!" Or at least, that's the subtext.

 

[TTA94]

I'll be at Epcot open to close ( and beyond ) tomorrow.
Perhaps I need to hang around the perimeter 'after hours' now....



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Im tempted as well but according to @marni1971 this test doesn’t mean much of anything, right now. To early for a full testing of Harm. And no indication of any fireworks returning.

 

[legwand77]

I just read them as "blah blah blah, Universal has customers which means there's demand for everything to reopen again at full capacity and blah blah Disney isn't doing this so why not?! Things are back to normal dammit!" Or at least, that's the subtext.

To be clear, that was not the intention or subtext of my post all.

 

[giantgolfer]

To be clear, that was not the intention or subtext of my post all.

Yes it was. You’ve been posting about Universal increasing capacity for over a month now to prove that Disney needs to follow them. That’s your whole agenda here. You are a troll. No need to lie about it. Own it.

 

[legwand77]

As far as creating an environment for Disney open more things up as an example, Indiana is moving to Stage 5 Saturday , pretty much fully open. Only requiring masks and social distancing, everything can operate at 100%, water parks, amusement parks, conventions, sports events, fairs, festivals, the state fair etc.

This should help Disney have more PR cover when they open up more.

 

[spectromagic04]

As far as creating an environment for Disney open more things up as an example, Indiana is moving to Stage 5 Saturday , pretty much fully open. Only requiring masks and social distancing, everything can operate at 100%, water parks, amusement parks, conventions, sports events, fairs, festivals, the state fair etc.

This should help Disney have more PR cover when they open up more.

How do you socially distance when they’re operating at 100%? That makes zero sense and not possible.

 

[GoofGoof]

How do you socially distance when they’re operating at 100%? That makes zero sense and not possible.

You don’t. Disney is going to do what Disney is going to do. They are not going to feel pressure because an amusement park in Indiana is open with no restrictions. They have competitors in their own backyard with far less restrictions and they haven’t budged. Disney is doing it right.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

How do you socially distance when they’re operating at 100%? That makes zero sense and not possible.

As some posters have already said, it’s impossible to socially distance right now if 100% open. It’s impossible to totally socially distance now in Disney. Give most people credit for doing the best they can down there though. Your hearing from the few here again, that there’s no fire.. nothing to see.. move right along.. everything should be back to normal. Still saying this stuff in the middle of a pandemic with hundreds of thousands dying. But fireworks should be open.

 

[legwand77]

You don’t. Disney is going to do what Disney is going to do. They are not going to feel pressure because an amusement park in Indiana is open with no restrictions. They have competitors in their own backyard with far less restrictions and they haven’t budged. Disney is doing it right.

I agree that Disney will not be pressured at all by Indiana, but with more states opening up, it will help the overall pr that Disney is not moving too fast etc. when they do relax restrictions. I do think they are already quietly increasing capacity.

 

[412]

I agree that Disney will not be pressured at all by Indiana, but with more states opening up, it will help the overall pr that Disney is not moving too fast etc. when they do relax restrictions. I do think they are already quietly increasing capacity.

While there's a large PR component, I genuinely don't think Disney's leadership views COVID as a primarily PR problem.

 

[JoeCamel]

I agree that Disney will not be pressured at all by Indiana, but with more states opening up, it will help the overall pr that Disney is not moving too fast etc. when they do relax restrictions. I do think they are already quietly increasing capacity.

You keep pushing that while being told it is not happening yet. Tough to take no for an answer?

 

[GoofGoof]

I agree that Disney will not be pressured at all by Indiana, but with more states opening up, it will help the overall pr that Disney is not moving too fast etc. when they do relax restrictions. I do think they are already quietly increasing capacity.

All summer long and into the fall various states opened up (many it turns out went too fast). Disney didn’t budge. When Universal had their shotgun opening Disney didn’t budge and waited over a month to open. I just don’t think Disney needs or wants to be compared to anyone. They are the gold standard. When Disney says they are reducing restrictions it should be competitors following them not the other way around.

As far as capacity, we don’t really know exact numbers. We know from recent news stories that the FL governor is unhappy with Disney not opening more. They are certainly not restricted from expanding capacity by the government. The plan was always to expand capacity as time went on and the situation improved. The only problem with that plan is the situation in FL got way worse right around opening so they never had a shot to implement that plan before the summer ”busy season” was over. Cases and stats did start trending down at the end of August, but recently that trend has stalled and very recently reversed some with percent positive over 5% now multiple days in a row. Tough for Disney to follow their plan when the numbers don’t support it. If/when the situation is right I do think they will expand capacity more and with it hours and offerings, but it won’t be until FL (and the rest of the country) meets the requirements Disney has.

 

[GoofGoof]

You keep pushing that while being told it is not happening yet. Tough to take no for an answer?

• Water parks closed at least until March
• No word on an opening date for remaining resorts that don’t already have a known date
• Poly closure and refurb extended into the summer with monorail station closed until July
• Swan and Dolphin announcing the layoff of 1,100+ workers starting in November due to historically low occupancy
• Park hours still held to at most 10 hours a day into December now (including Thanksgiving week usually filled with 10 crowd days in pre-Covid times)
• Marathon weekend cancelled in January
• Holiday “stuff” announced but no sign of fireworks, parades or usual parties

An ominous list. There‘s no sign from the actual people who run WDW that there is any need to expand park capacity. If demand from tourists returns at all I think the first move will likely be to put restrictions back on AP holders. They would rather fill the parks with people paying full price for tickets and staying at the resorts and eating most of their meals on property than extend hours and expand capacity. I think at this point unless things improve rapidly, Disney may be waiting for a vaccine and shooting for a Spring/Summer move towards expanding offerings.

 

[giantgolfer]

I agree that Disney will not be pressured at all by Indiana, but with more states opening up, it will help the overall pr that Disney is not moving too fast etc. when they do relax restrictions. I do think they are already quietly increasing capacity.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

• Water parks closed at least until March
• No word on an opening date for remaining resorts that don’t already have a known date
• Poly closure and refurb extended into the summer with monorail station closed until July
• Swan and Dolphin announcing the layoff of 1,100+ workers starting in November due to historically low occupancy
• Park hours still held to at most 10 hours a day into December now (including Thanksgiving week usually filled with 10 crowd days in pre-Covid times)
• Marathon weekend cancelled in January
• Holiday “stuff” announced but no sign of fireworks, parades or usual parties

An ominous list. There‘s no sign from the actual people who run WDW that there is any need to expand park capacity. If demand from tourists returns at all I think the first move will likely be to put restrictions back on AP holders. They would rather fill the parks with people paying full price for tickets and staying at the resorts and eating most of their meals on property than extend hours and expand capacity. I think at this point unless things improve rapidly, Disney may be waiting for a vaccine and shooting for a Spring/Summer move towards expanding offerings.

February rundisney events also going to virtual. They do not want huge crowds yet and really, no one should blame them for it.

 

[legwand77]

• Water parks closed at least until March
• No word on an opening date for remaining resorts that don’t already have a known date
• Poly closure and refurb extended into the summer with monorail station closed until July
• Swan and Dolphin announcing the layoff of 1,100+ workers starting in November due to historically low occupancy
• Park hours still held to at most 10 hours a day into December now (including Thanksgiving week usually filled with 10 crowd days in pre-Covid times)
• Marathon weekend cancelled in January
• Holiday “stuff” announced but no sign of fireworks, parades or usual parties

An ominous list. There‘s no sign from the actual people who run WDW that there is any need to expand park capacity. If demand from tourists returns at all I think the first move will likely be to put restrictions back on AP holders. They would rather fill the parks with people paying full price for tickets and staying at the resorts and eating most of their meals on property than extend hours and expand capacity. I think at this point unless things improve rapidly, Disney may be waiting for a vaccine and shooting for a Spring/Summer move towards expanding offerings.

• Water parks closed, not a big deal usually one is closed this time in a normal year
• No need to provide date they will open as needed
• Poly closure needed to happen to have refurb anyway, great time to do it.
• Swan and Dolphin, of course they laid off it is a convention hotel, also not Disney run
• Marathon too many unknowns for that type of event. They have to plan that starting yesterday
• No sign of fireworks? Should be a few videos tonight of a sign.

If they restrict APs even more, would be a really bad move on Disney's part.

 

[legwand77]

You keep pushing that while being told it is not happening yet. Tough to take no for an answer?

not from posters from a message forum.

 

[GoofGoof]

• Water parks closed, not a big deal usually one is closed this time in a normal year
• No need to provide date they will open as needed
• Poly closure needed to happen to have refurb anyway, great time to do it.
• Swan and Dolphin, of course they laid off it is a convention hotel, also not Disney run
• Marathon too many unknowns for that type of event. They have to plan that starting yesterday
• No sign of fireworks? Should be a few videos tonight of a sign.

If they restrict APs even more, would be a really bad move on Disney's part.

Testing for a future show isn’t a sign that fireworks are coming back soon. Get real.

On the other points, yes I agree there’s no need to provide a date because they aren’t opening any time soon. Poly certainly did not need to close for a refurbishment. Do you think this Is their first refurb since 1971? Every resort has had full refurbs with active guests on site. Standard practice. They don’t close whole resorts to refurb rooms. Swan and Dolphin aren’t run by Disney but still laying off large number of people. Yes, they do convention business, but there are plenty of non-convention guests who stay there too.

 

[techgeek]

I do think they are already quietly increasing capacity

You keep pushing that while being told it is not happening yet.

There‘s no sign from the actual people who run WDW that there is any need to expand park capacity. If demand from tourists returns at all I think the first move will likely be to put restrictions back on AP holders.

There has been visibly longer wait times reported - in some parks but not in all, and not consistently. Epcot's times have barely blipped off their averages since re-opening. MK and AK have been up, in some cases (looking at thrill-data.com information) 15-25% overall considering month over month averages. HS has been.. erratic. One day will be pretty 'normal' looking, the very next will be 'record' triple digit wait times for Falcon.

None of our insiders have so much as hinted at overall capacity increases, yet clearly parks full of 'walk-ons' are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, even during the week. It's natural to assume this is because there's more people in the park, but it's unlikely that it's because overall park capacity has in fact been increased. For starters, MK and AK never have exceeded their weekend peaks, which have become pretty consistent. The larger weekday attendance seems to be coming from better 'juggling' of the buckets: there has been a *lot* of AP availability dumped into park pass over the last few weeks, and cast members have regained some access also. Actual resort guest booking is also likely creeping up, albeit clearly much slower than Disney would have preferred or originally assumed otherwise more resort capacity would be scheduled to come online.

There's more people in the park, yes, but it's because they are now coming more consistently closer to hitting their originally desired caps.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of HS and its very erratic wait times over the last few weeks, but it's quite possible technical challenges have been influencing that. If a turntable or 2 go down on Falcon, or a shaft on Tower... it's still 'up', but at significantly reduced capacity. In a park already running to the wire on thin capacity margins, this quickly forces guests to the C and D tickets. With how twitchy the new kids RotR and MMRR have been, there's just no way they are actually dumping more people into the park then they were back in August. There's just no where to put them. There's no expanded food service capacity to serve them. There's no place to put longer lines. There's nothing for them to do if they aren't in a line. Maybe if/when they bring some large-cap shows like Indy back on-line... but they seem in no rush for that either.

not from posters from a message forum.

Seriously, what's your angle?

 

[GoofGoof]

There has been visibly longer wait times reported - in some parks but not in all, and not consistently. Epcot's times have barely blipped off their averages since re-opening. MK and AK have been up, in some cases (looking at thrill-data.com information) 15-25% overall considering month over month averages. HS has been.. erratic. One day will be pretty 'normal' looking, the very next will be 'record' triple digit wait times for Falcon.

None of our insiders have so much as hinted at overall capacity increases, yet clearly parks full of 'walk-ons' are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, even during the week. It's natural to assume this is because there's more people in the park, but it's unlikely that it's because overall park capacity has in fact been increased. For starters, MK and AK never have exceeded their weekend peaks, which have become pretty consistent. The larger weekday attendance seems to be coming from better 'juggling' of the buckets: there has been a *lot* of AP availability dumped into park pass over the last few weeks, and cast members have regained some access also. Actual resort guest booking is also likely creeping up, albeit clearly much slower than Disney would have preferred or originally assumed otherwise more resort capacity would be scheduled to come online.

There's more people in the park, yes, but it's because they are now coming more consistently closer to hitting their originally desired caps.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of HS and its very erratic wait times over the last few weeks, but it's quite possible technical challenges have been influencing that. If a turntable or 2 go down on Falcon, or a shaft on Tower... it's still 'up', but at significantly reduced capacity. In a park already running to the wire on thin capacity margins, this quickly forces guests to the C and D tickets. With how twitchy the new kids RotR and MMRR have been, there's just no way they are actually dumping more people into the park then they were back in August. There's just no where to put them. There's no expanded food service capacity to serve them. There's no place to put longer lines. There's nothing for them to do if they aren't in a line. Maybe if/when they bring some large-cap shows like Indy back on-line... but they seem in no rush for that either.



Seriously, what's your angle?

Parks are more crowded (mostly on weekends) because they removed the AP restrictions that were put on over the summer when they re-opened. The hours are also reduced so more people in the parks at the same time. I have no idea what the capacity caps actually are, but I doubt there’s been a major increase since there’s nothing that has changed to prompt that ( no increase in attractions or offerings). I agree that it’s likely that especially on weekends they are coming closer to the capacity limits set resulting in longer lines.