I need all of my fellow Disney nerds' advice. We're scheduled to leave March 25. We're really struggling with whether or not to move the trip to September, not so much out of fear for ourselves, but fear that we may get there and have the place operating with limited offerings or shutting down while we're there. My husband and I are completely torn (especially because his 30th birthday is the 30 - which is why we were going). What would you do in my shoes?
As I posted in the operation thread: but in your case if you want to go March 25th:
I can't say to not expect the worst, but all I can say is to prepare for it. but to continue going on as normal. As of now, I expect them on just reducing hours and limiting the number of attractions or modifying them in a manner to limit touching. Attendance projections are now lower than what they we're before and this data that was estimated prior to the Oval Office Address last evening. I am actively checking with sources, and those whom have gotten back to me haven't heard anything. That being said, given that Orlando is the in the top 5 of most heavily visited areas of the United States. Its actually astounding that we have not had any positive cases at all for now.
I would say as of the current landscape, with those that I have talked to. If they do not cut hours, they will be 100% less staffed due to lower estimated numbers, which will also limit the risk of infection. I would not be surprised to see them take the approach of Sea World as they are whipping down their ride vehicles after every cycle and are seeing an effect on the wait times by at most 5 minutes. I can see as a first level that attraction cycle times will be affected, such as having a gap in the design lab at Test Track to have cast wipe down the most commonly touched objects to Space Ship Earth where if they can wipe the touch screen down after every ride or number of rides. The non-omnimover attractions will be better off as they have an easier time to manage those, those continuous ride systems (Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid, Space Ship Earth, Buzz Lightyear) will be harder to wipe down unless they were to have multiple CMs wiping down the most commonly touched areas unless they would go to a slower loading speed which while does increase attraction time does give them more time to clean what they need to. Attractions like Rise of the Resistance and Mission Space, due to their nooks and crannies, could limit the overall loading where they can pulse each turn table so they can clean one down while the other works, and in a case like that, they can still have the sides open. Another case I can see for an attraction like Mission Space is that they opt to rather use spray instead of wipes for the bottoms and still only have a sightly longer time between cycles that can really affect at most 5-10 minutes for the attractions.
I think one of the more drastic ones will be to limit the areas for parades, and shows like Happily Ever After if they don't suspend them at all due to guest crowding areas.
What I mean though this ramble of what I've seen, I can't say to not expect the worst, but all I can say is to prepare for it. but to continue going on as normal and to practice proper hygiene.
