Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Bill in Atlanta]

Check-in June 27! Can't wait! No South American student tour groups. Almost zero scooters. About .28% of the guests will be positive. That comes out to 140 of the projected 50,000 people in the MK having it. The odds of me standing within 6 feet of one of them for 15 minutes are exponentially minimal. My family and I are young, fit and have no pre-existing conditions. The parks will be cleaner this June/July than they've ever been. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO! Keeping my fingers crossed that this happens.

I love the optimism. We are in a similar boat, except shooting for the fall. We have always been germaphobe/constant hand washers anyway, so our habits shouldn't have to change too much.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

The problem is the CDC and federal guidelines are a decrease in cases for a 14 day period, then to start slowing opening. Right now there are 10 states starting to open that the cases are going up in. I think we all want to open safe, whether that’s tomorrow or 6 months from now.

 

[GoofGoof]

The problem is the CDC and federal guidelines are a decrease in cases for a 14 day period, then to start slowing opening. Right now there are 10 states starting to open that the cases are going up in. I think we all want to open safe, whether that’s tomorrow or 6 months from now.

Don’t forget the federal guidelines in phase 1 call for restrictions on group gatherings over 10 people and no non-essential travel. In phase 2 non-essential travel is allowed again but group gatherings are still limited to 50 people. Nobody has been able to explain to me how any theme park can possibly meet the federal guidelines before phase 3. Unless things go incredibly smooth in the next month is there any chance FL is in phase 3 by June 1? Disney is under no obligation to actually follow the federal guidelines, but they could face a lot of media scrutiny and PR backlash if they ignore them completely.

 

[lewisc]

Thank you, have never stayed and seldom visited the resorts. Was not sure if there was a plaid there or if they left it to the front desk.

You need to have tickets attached to your DME account to reserve FP. I suspect relatively few guests wait until they arrive to purchase tickets.

 

[Seanual757]

Don’t forget the federal guidelines in phase 1 call for restrictions on group gatherings over 10 people and no non-essential travel. In phase 2 non-essential travel is allowed again but group gatherings are still limited to 50 people. Nobody has been able to explain to me how any theme park can possibly meet the federal guidelines before phase 3. Unless things go incredibly smooth in the next month is there any chance FL is in phase 3 by June 1? Disney is under no obligation to actually follow the federal guidelines, but they could face a lot of media scrutiny and PR backlash if they ignore them completely.

Per the task force put together by the Florida Governor these are the guidelines set fourth for a Phase 1 what the president had advised is out the window we will know shortly what the Governor will say but we will be opening.

"
Mandates for large theme parks (Disney, Universal, SeaWorld)

• All employees must wear face masks.
• Touchless hand sanitizer must be stationed at each ticketing entry/turnstile.
• Touchless hand sanitizer at each attraction entrance and exit.
• Temperature checks for staff prior to shift. (Those with temperatures over 100.4 will not be allowed to enter premises.)
• All employees with flu-like symptoms will be advised to stay at home.
• Wipe down all railings and surfaces after every use.
• Phase 1: 50% capacity
• Phase 2: 75% capacity

Guidelines for large theme parks:

• Tape marking 6 ft apart in attraction queues.
• Staff to regularly wipe down surfaces at random.
• Phase 1 and Phase 2: Staff 65 years or older are encouraged to stay at home.

The task force separated Central Florida's smaller theme parks, like Gatorland and FunSpot into a second category with a different set of guidelines and recommendations.

The suggestions and mandates for the smaller parks were for the most part the same as those made for large parks.

The suggestions shared by the Orange County task force look similar to what was discussed last week by the Reopen Florida Task Force.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Here is the link to the full Orange County task force meeting from this morning if you wanted to watch -

During this meeting there was a lot of debate is over temp checks and if temp checks are going to be a recommendation or a mandate

What this means really will it be mandatory to check temps or not. If temp checks end up to be a recommendation, they simply won’t happen period. In this meeting, this debate was not resolved, they just talked around it; Drs says it’s a must, business owners say it can’t be properly enforced so it must be only a recommendation, and thereby ignored.

There are good arguments on both sides. I have said this before, if Someone dropped 7K and flew 1000 miles for their WDW vacation, a 99.5 fever is not going to stop them from going to WDW! And to stop them at the tapstyke and say they can’t get in, they are going to go crazy!

On the other hand, someone with a fever is the most contagious if it’s COVID, the Dr in the meeting said breathing spreads COVID.

No easy answer here.

 

[Parker in NYC]

Per the task force put together by the Florida Governor these are the guidelines set fourth for a Phase 1 what the president had advised is out the window we will know shortly what the Governor will say but we will be opening.

"
Mandates for large theme parks (Disney, Universal, SeaWorld)

• All employees must wear face masks.
• Touchless hand sanitizer must be stationed at each ticketing entry/turnstile.
• Touchless hand sanitizer at each attraction entrance and exit.
• Temperature checks for staff prior to shift. (Those with temperatures over 100.4 will not be allowed to enter premises.)
• All employees with flu-like symptoms will be advised to stay at home.
• Wipe down all railings and surfaces after every use.
• Phase 1: 50% capacity
• Phase 2: 75% capacity

Guidelines for large theme parks:

• Tape marking 6 ft apart in attraction queues.
• Staff to regularly wipe down surfaces at random.
• Phase 1 and Phase 2: Staff 65 years or older are encouraged to stay at home.

The task force separated Central Florida's smaller theme parks, like Gatorland and FunSpot into a second category with a different set of guidelines and recommendations.

The suggestions and mandates for the smaller parks were for the most part the same as those made for large parks.

The suggestions shared by the Orange County task force look similar to what was discussed last week by the Reopen Florida Task Force.

Who will be governing/enforcing these mandates? Not the poor CMs, I hope.

 

[GoofGoof]

Per the task force put together by the Florida Governor these are the guidelines set fourth for a Phase 1 what the president had advised is out the window we will know shortly what the Governor will say but we will be opening.

"
Mandates for large theme parks (Disney, Universal, SeaWorld)

• All employees must wear face masks.
• Touchless hand sanitizer must be stationed at each ticketing entry/turnstile.
• Touchless hand sanitizer at each attraction entrance and exit.
• Temperature checks for staff prior to shift. (Those with temperatures over 100.4 will not be allowed to enter premises.)
• All employees with flu-like symptoms will be advised to stay at home.
• Wipe down all railings and surfaces after every use.
• Phase 1: 50% capacity
• Phase 2: 75% capacity

Guidelines for large theme parks:

• Tape marking 6 ft apart in attraction queues.
• Staff to regularly wipe down surfaces at random.
• Phase 1 and Phase 2: Staff 65 years or older are encouraged to stay at home.

The task force separated Central Florida's smaller theme parks, like Gatorland and FunSpot into a second category with a different set of guidelines and recommendations.

The suggestions and mandates for the smaller parks were for the most part the same as those made for large parks.

The suggestions shared by the Orange County task force look similar to what was discussed last week by the Reopen Florida Task Force.

Go back a few pages. The release from the same task force this morning says Disney will be setting their own plan for re-opening not the plan laid out yesterday. That is apparently out the window.

 

[Jrb1979]

Go back a few pages. The release from the same task force this morning says Disney will be setting their own plan for re-opening not the plan laid out yesterday. That is apparently out the window.

I'm guessing what Disney and Universal have planned is a lot stricter then what the Task force released.

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm guessing what Disney and Universal have planned is a lot stricter then what the Task force released.

We are back in a holding pattern on what things will look like. My gut feeling when I read the release this morning was they didn’t like some of the requirements because they would be too strict but it’s equally likely they felt they were too loose. The guidelines released by the county left a lot of open questions, but they seemed like a good basis for discussion. I guess we will see.

Edit:there was in a line in there talking about how the rules laid out by the task force were not meant to be punitive. That’s where I think I got the idea there was some perception of them being too strong.

 

[trainplane3]

AMC Theatres commits corporate suicide, says "we aren't going anywhere" while jumping off building

AMC Theatres Refuses to Play Universal Films in Wake of ‘Trolls: World Tour’

AMC Theatres on Tuesday delivered a blistering message to Universal Pictures, saying the world's largest cinema chain will no longer play any of the studio's films in the wake of comments made by NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell regarding the on-demand success of 'Trolls World Tour.'

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I doubt they would pull this same move with Disney and I don't think this is a smart move. It also affects their foreign theaters as well. Still an interesting situation if they follow through on it and how it'll affect future releases in general.

 

[seascape]

AMC Theatres commits corporate suicide, says "we aren't going anywhere" while jumping off building

AMC Theatres Refuses to Play Universal Films in Wake of ‘Trolls: World Tour’

AMC Theatres on Tuesday delivered a blistering message to Universal Pictures, saying the world's largest cinema chain will no longer play any of the studio's films in the wake of comments made by NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell regarding the on-demand success of 'Trolls World Tour.'

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I doubt they would pull this same move with Disney and I don't think this is a smart move. It also affects their foreign theaters as well. Still an interesting situation if they follow through on it and how it'll affect future releases in general.

I disagree. AMC will be fine. excluding Universal Pictures. They will still have all the other movie studios and independent movies. Plus they could also show foreign movies. The bigger question is what will the other major theater chains do?

 

[Patcheslee]

There are good arguments on both sides. I have said this before, if Someone dropped 7K and flew 1000 miles for their WDW vacation, a 99.5 fever is not going to stop them from going to WDW! And to stop them at the tapstyke and say they can’t get in, they are going to go crazy!

Some may weigh if the possibility of not being able to enter if they have a "fever" is vs rescheduling to when it's not required. The fact that some airlines are requiring masks just to fly may keep some families from making the trip. Airlines are also pushing for TSA to perform health screenings including temp checks.
Husband resting temp is 99.1, once he's out in summer is raises to as much as 100.8, which for him is the normal. For us it wouldn't be worth a 7k risk.

 

[Seanual757]

I'm guessing what Disney and Universal have planned is a lot stricter then what the Task force released.

A representative from both Disney and I believe Universal are on that taskforce. This gives them guidelines to move forward Disney and others can alter them for more strict but not less. Again we will see what happens Disney and the rest are waiting for the Governor to release the Stay at Home then they can go to work on what plan they already have in place and YES they have a plan already in place that have been working on it for weeks. Disney and the other parks need to get open especially more so now that CM’s cannot are being denied the states unemployment.

Now what I do have an issue with is what to do with International Travelers when to allow them to come then again into the US. IMHO due to the spread overseas as well as the US I would not allow International Travelers unless they share dual citizenship allowed into the US at the earliest January 2021. The last thing we need is for someone infected to fly over and get more sick or for them to come here to the US healthy and bring something back it’s just too much of a risk.

Also what is interesting is that Emirates Airlines is testing every passenger before each flight, each passenger is administered the 15 minute Covid-19 test still not sure why we cannot.

Again we will know sooner than later on Disney’s, Universals, and Sea Worlds plans for opening. I think within the next 24/48 hours as long as the Governor ends the mandatory stay at home order.

 

[lewisc]

During this meeting there was a lot of debate is over temp checks and if temp checks are going to be a recommendation or a mandate

What this means really will it be mandatory to check temps or not. If temp checks end up to be a recommendation, they simply won’t happen period. In this meeting, this debate was not resolved, they just talked around it; Drs says it’s a must, business owners say it can’t be properly enforced so it must be only a recommendation, and thereby ignored.

There are good arguments on both sides. I have said this before, if Someone dropped 7K and flew 1000 miles for their WDW vacation, a 99.5 fever is not going to stop them from going to WDW! And to stop them at the tapstyke and say they can’t get in, they are going to go crazy!

On the other hand, someone with a fever is the most contagious if it’s COVID, the Dr in the meeting said breathing spreads COVID.

No easy answer here.

The Mandates as posted only talk about temperature checks for staff. I understand temperature checks won't catch a lot of cases but it will catch some. The worse thing for Disney is an infected CM spreading the virus to hundreds of guests who then infect friends and relatives when the go home. I think CM rules regarding masks, temperature checks etc will be strictly enforced.

I don't think Disney can half way rules to guests. Either enforce them severely or don't bother having a rule.
edited to add
Disney is in the business of taking reservations and accepting $$$. I suspect Disney will defer to Federal policy regarding international guests. Is it possible the guests country will impose a quarantine requirement upon return. I'd be surprised if international guests arrive in any significant numbers this year.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Some may weigh if the possibility of not being able to enter if they have a "fever" is vs rescheduling to when it's not required. The fact that some airlines are requiring masks just to fly may keep some families from making the trip. Airlines are also pushing for TSA to perform health screenings including temp checks.
Husband resting temp is 99.1, once he's out in summer is raises to as much as 100.8, which for him is the normal. For us it wouldn't be worth a 7k risk.

It seems this is still up in the air in these meetings. My feeling is, in the end for the parks, there will be temp checks for cast menbers, but not for guests. You bring up a good point, folks will not be happy either if they are stopped from getting into a plane destined for their WDW vacation either.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

The Mandates as posted only talk about temperature checks for staff. I understand temperature checks won't catch a lot of cases but it will catch some. The worse thing for Disney is an infected CM spreading the virus to hundreds of guests who then infect friends and relatives when the go home. I think CM rules regarding masks, temperature checks etc will be strictly enforced.

I don't think Disney can half way rules to guests. Either enforce them severely or don't bother having a rule.

That's the problem though. Asymptomatic spread WILL happen at Disney parks, and with contact tracing occurring, it will become known. Temperature checks will help...but there's too big of a window in which people are infected and don't show symptoms, and we still have no clear idea of how many get infected and never develop any symptoms at all. This isn't just a problem for Disney, either...this is a world-wide problem, and is why re-opening needs to go VERY slowly. Any potential hot-spots won't be seen for as long as 2-3 weeks after things are first loosened up a little.

 

[sndral]

The CDC is publishing data on deaths and shows COVID-19 related and also total from all causes starting the week ending 2/1. The most recent data is incomplete but is is interesting to compare the "baseline" of the first few weeks against the peak COVID-19 related weeks. It seems to be about a 10% uptick over normal.

CDC Mortality Data

The excess death numbers will probably, ultimately, be the only way we’ll really know how bad Covid-19 was, given the failure to test and thus collect the data. Interesting to contrast the CDC’s 10% uptick for the entire country with the far higher uptick in areas experiencing robust Covid-19 community spread, NY city, for example, is over 300% above normal mortality. Here’s a link for several countries. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html
I’ve read some counties in CA w/ robust Covid-19 transmission also have high excess mortality numbers, but not as high as N.Y.

 

[DisneyCane]

Don’t forget the federal guidelines in phase 1 call for restrictions on group gatherings over 10 people and no non-essential travel. In phase 2 non-essential travel is allowed again but group gatherings are still limited to 50 people. Nobody has been able to explain to me how any theme park can possibly meet the federal guidelines before phase 3. Unless things go incredibly smooth in the next month is there any chance FL is in phase 3 by June 1? Disney is under no obligation to actually follow the federal guidelines, but they could face a lot of media scrutiny and PR backlash if they ignore them completely.

It depends upon how a "gathering" is defined. A theme park is operationally more like a mall or shopping center than a church service (with the exception of theater shows like Philharmagic).

AMC Theatres commits corporate suicide, says "we aren't going anywhere" while jumping off building

AMC Theatres Refuses to Play Universal Films in Wake of ‘Trolls: World Tour’

AMC Theatres on Tuesday delivered a blistering message to Universal Pictures, saying the world's largest cinema chain will no longer play any of the studio's films in the wake of comments made by NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell regarding the on-demand success of 'Trolls World Tour.'

www.hollywoodreporter.com

I doubt they would pull this same move with Disney and I don't think this is a smart move. It also affects their foreign theaters as well. Still an interesting situation if they follow through on it and how it'll affect future releases in general.

This is not only a smart move, it is an absolutely necessary move. In normal times, studios need the marketing effect of the theatrical run to create the demand for PPV, streaming, etc. Right now, especially with a kids movie there is abnormal home viewing demand because kids are stuck at home so much. It's the same reason why Disney+ has so many more subscriptions than forecasted.

$19.99 PPV is not "premium" pay per view. It's cheaper than buying a blu-ray of Frozen 2. It doesn't matter how good the experience is, no movie theater will be able to stay in business competing with a simultaneous home release that costs half or less per person. For a family of 4, $19.99 is only $5 per "ticket." If studios did a "day and date" release in theatres and on PPV at $19.99, there would still be enough ticket sales for marketing publicity but it would cut into the sales too much for the theatre business to be viable.

For some kind of early release premium pay per view to exist with theatres in business, the PPV would have to be at least $50, probably more so that it would cost less for a family of 4 to go to a theatre (don't start the concession price discussion because it is not a required purchase).

These same "spats" have happened before with a studio saying they were going to do a day and date home release, the theatre chains refusing to play the title and the studio giving in. The same will happen again. The movie studio business model of big budget blockbusters can not sustain itself on a home release only strategy. If studios put movie theatres out of business, the type of movies that are made will be changed. "Movies" will be more like shortened and self contained TV shows.

 

[DisneyCane]

The excess death numbers will probably, ultimately, be the only way we’ll really know how bad Covid-19 was, given the failure to test and thus collect the data. Interesting to contrast the CDC’s 10% uptick for the entire country with the far higher uptick in areas experiencing robust Covid-19 community spread, NY city, for example, is over 300% above normal mortality. Here’s a link for several countries. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html
I’ve read some counties in CA w/ robust Covid-19 transmission also have high excess mortality numbers, but not as high as N.Y.

Some of it has to do with a high percentage of nursing home deaths combined with a high total in NY. The nursing home deaths are largely "accelerated" fatalities more so than for any other group.