Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[JoeCamel]

Hello again! I am so pleased and relieved to share with you that my husband and I have had our results today (turn round of about 30 hours) and are both negative. Our son is so happy that he hasn’t passed it on to us although he is still feeling rough and has no sense of taste or smell. We will continue to self isolate, as instructed but just feel so lucky.
Thanks again to everyone for all your kindness, compassion and support. It’s been a very scary few days but I really felt the virtual hugs and appreciated all the advice and reassurance. Just got to get our son back to health and then onwards and upwards till we can visit the USA and WDW again.

While I am very happy to hear this news please consider getting another test in 2 -3 days. Thanks for the update

 

[Flugell]

While I am very happy to hear this news please consider getting another test in 2 -3 days. Thanks for the update

Will do if we get any symptoms. They won’t prioritise us without! I suppose that’s fair enough. Great advice though!

 

[JoeCamel]

Will do if we get any symptoms. They won’t prioritise us without! I suppose that’s fair enough. Great advice though!

Wow, I would want a double check without symptoms. Guess those who control the purse strings control who can be tested.
Situation here is if I think I need a test I can go to a tent site or a local pharmacy and get it drive thru. No restriction about priority.

 

[DCBaker]

"In a roundtable discussion today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he will be lifting restrictions that limit the capacity of restaurants in the state.

When questioned about restrictions in the state, DeSantis said that he’d be lifting state-level capacity limitations on restaurants and actually going a step further to prevent local governments from closing them.

DeSantis pointed to Miami-Dade and Broward counties as an A-B test of the effectiveness of restaurant closures, saying that he doesn’t believe that closing restaurants was effective. DeSantis said that each restaurant would be able to operate at a level that they’re comfortable with."

"Beyond the restrictions on restaurant capacities, DeSantis briefly talked about the Disney World theme park capacity limitations. He noted that the capacity limitations put in place via the Disney Park Pass system are “self-imposed” limitations, and that he is “supportive of them going to a greater capacity”, and that he thinks that they should to it."

Florida Governor Talks Disney World Capacity Limitations, Will Remove Restaurant Capacity Limits

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

 

[Flugell]

Wow, I would want a double check without symptoms. Guess those who control the purse strings control who can be tested.
Situation here is if I think I need a test I can go to a tent site or a local pharmacy and get it drive thru. No restriction about priority.

I think it’s fine because they told us to continue to isolate for the full fourteen days (because we have been in direct contact with a confirmed case) but to be retested if we show any new symptoms. We are both retired so isolating is not a problem and now a way of life!

 

[Andrew C]

DeSantis pointed to Miami-Dade and Broward counties as an A-B test of the effectiveness of restaurant closures, saying that he doesn’t believe that closing restaurants was effective

Did he elaborate on this point? Also, I imagine social distancing requirement inside still need to be maintained.

 

[drizgirl]

Wow, I would want a double check without symptoms. Guess those who control the purse strings control who can be tested.
Situation here is if I think I need a test I can go to a tent site or a local pharmacy and get it drive thru. No restriction about priority.

This varies a LOT based on where you are. Lots of places aren't prioritizing people without symptoms. You know, unless you play basketball or football or something else critical like that.

 

[GoofGoof]

Did he elaborate on this point? Also, I imagine social distancing requirement inside still need to be maintained.

Why keep the social distancing? Doesn‘t the same logic apply? They implemented social distancing at restaurants and the virus didn’t vanish in Miami so that’s proof that social distancing doesn’t work either (the A-B test?). Logistically it’s not possible for most restaurants to open at 100% capacity and still keep tables 6 feet apart. He said it’s up to whatever the restaurant feels comfortable with so I assume that applies to capacity and distancing. I imagine this will make many people happy and others not so much.

 

[Andrew C]

hy keep the social distancing? Doesn‘t the same logic apply?

Not necessarily. As I said, I was hoping there was an elaboration on what he said. Maybe someone in the media will ask.

 

[Nutso4Disney]

Why keep the social distancing? Doesn‘t the same logic apply? They implemented social distancing at restaurants and the virus didn’t vanish in Miami so that’s proof that social distancing doesn’t work either (the A-B test?). Logistically it’s not possible for most restaurants to open at 100% capacity and still keep tables 6 feet apart. He said it’s up to whatever the restaurant feels comfortable with so I assume that applies to capacity and distancing. I imagine this will make many people happy and others not so much.

Social Distancing, wearing of a mask, limiting people to eating in a restaurant or not is not going to make the virus vanish. The point of all of this is to slow down the spread of the virus and not to make it vanish. Doing these things like not social distancing, not wearing masks, going into crowded places is just increases the chances of spreading the virus. If you look at other countries who followed the methods of social distancing and wearing masks and complied with all of this there issues in the majority of places are way less then what they are within the United States right now. There is absolutely no conformity to any of what this country is doing at the moment. Unfortunately until there is we will continue to see rises and falls throughout the country.

 

[GoofGoof]

Not necessarily. As I said, I was hoping there was an elaboration on what he said. Maybe someone in the media will ask.

The official statewide requirement for restaurants says:

• Limit indoor occupancy to no more than 50% of their building occupancy with appropriate social distancing

In his comment from the round table he said he would be lifting restrictions and that “each restaurant would be able to operate at a level that they’re comfortable with." I take that to mean it’s up to the restaurant to decide how many people to allow and what rules to follow.

 

[Nutso4Disney]

The official statewide requirement for restaurants says:

• Limit indoor occupancy to no more than 50% of their building occupancy with appropriate social distancing

In his comment from the round table he said he would be lifting restrictions and that “each restaurant would be able to operate at a level that they’re comfortable with." I take that to mean it’s up to the restaurant to decide how many people to allow and what rules to follow.

Let me ask you a question. If you are a businessman and you own a restaurant that is in the midst of this pandemic and have been afloat of 50%of capacity for sometime and now this ruling comes down by the Governor what are you going to do to help your business succeed?

 

[GoofGoof]

Social Distancing, wearing of a mask, limiting people to eating in a restaurant or not is not going to make the virus vanish. The point of all of this is to slow down the spread of the virus and not to make it vanish. Doing these things like not social distancing, not wearing masks, going into crowded places is just increases the chances of spreading the virus. If you look at other countries who followed the methods of social distancing and wearing masks and complied with all of this there issues in the majority of places are way less then what they are within the United States right now. There is absolutely no conformity to any of what this country is doing at the moment. Unfortunately until there is we will continue to see rises and falls throughout the country.

The governor of FL does not agree with you. He just said he feels that the restrictions in Miami didn’t help so that’s his logic for removing the restaurant capacity restrictions.

 

[Nutso4Disney]

The governor of FL does not agree with you. He just said he feels that the restrictions in Miami didn’t help so that’s his logic for removing the restaurant capacity restrictions.

I understand that perfectly well. Honestly it still comes down to what the people think and what they are comfortable with or not comfortable with. People will either choose to go or not regardless what the capacity is.

 

[GoofGoof]

I understand that perfectly well. Honestly it still comes down to what the people think and what they are comfortable with or not comfortable with. People will either choose to go or not regardless what the capacity is.

I don’t disagree. If the packed bars and lack of any real distancing that happened before the summer spike in FL are any indication I’d say there‘s a good chance plenty of people will go and plenty of restaurants/bars will pack them in if left on their own. As far as Disney goes, I don’t see them budging on their own plan. They’ve been independent of the FL government from the time they voluntarily closed up to now.

 

[Lora Baines Bradley]

I went to the parks the last two days (realized my AP was still valid, lol). First of all, I had a great time. My boyfriend and I rode every headliner we wanted to (I could definitely write up a trip report if y'all wanted). However, the parks were much busier than I thought they would be. I have no clue how Disney would socially distance with increased capacity in queues, because the line for Slinky at one point was almost to One Man's Dream, and that was about an 80 minute wait (posted wait time- everything we rode had a much lesser wait time than what was posted). I'm not sure how much capacity the parks were at when we went, but we didn't have a problem getting a reservation. I think a virtual queue system is a possible solution, but that's people walking through the park instead of in a line and socially distancing, so where do they go? I'm interested to see where they go from here.

 

[techgeek]

The official statewide requirement for restaurants says:

• Limit indoor occupancy to no more than 50% of their building occupancy with appropriate social distancing

In his comment from the round table he said he would be lifting restrictions and that “each restaurant would be able to operate at a level that they’re comfortable with." I take that to mean it’s up to the restaurant to decide how many people to allow and what rules to follow.

I can count the number of times I’ve had a sit down meal at a restaurant since March on one hand, so perhaps I’m not the best judge... but anecdotal evidence I’ve gleaned observing parking lots and talking to others around the Orlando area tells me restaurants in general here are still having the ‘Disney problem’ of not being able to max out their current capacity because of lack of demand. So what is increasing limits supposed to do exactly?

Giving individual operators the ability to interpret their own rules sounds like a fantastically bad idea to me. There was never any enforcement, so many independents were already playing fast and loose with the rules. I already was being very conscious of what kind of management was driving the establishments I chose to drive at. Now the customer is being forced to figure out if their own risk level is compatible with an establishments, before sitting down to have the experience. In some cases, like on Disney property and with national chains, I can still have faith there’s a policy and some oversight... but this is going to make it harder to make individual judgements.

I’d be all for this if the numbers supported it... but we are in what could at most generously be described as a plateau with still moderate transmission occurring statewide, and at worst may be the start of a more serious wave. I think the timing on this is suspect, and I’m not buying Ron’s Brevard / Miami-Dade A/B theory.

 

[Nutso4Disney]

I don’t disagree. If the packed bars and lack of any real distancing that happened before the summer spike in FL are any indication I’d say there‘s a good chance plenty of people will go and plenty of restaurants/bars will pack them in if left on their own. As far as Disney goes, I don’t see them budging on their own plan. They’ve been independent of the FL government from the time they voluntarily closed up to now.

And look at how Disney and their plans have worked so far. There has not been much negative said since Disney reopened the gates to the parks. Now if you are correct and the bars get filled again around Florida and the cases start to rise again there is no one else to blame other than the top officials.

 

[GoofGoof]

I can count the number of times I’ve had a sit down meal at a restaurant since March on one hand, so perhaps I’m not the best judge... but anecdotal evidence I’ve gleaned observing parking lots and talking to others around the Orlando area tells me restaurants in general here are still having the ‘Disney problem’ of not being able to max out their current capacity because of lack of demand. So what is increasing limits supposed to do exactly?

Giving individual operators the ability to interpret their own rules sounds like a fantastically bad idea to me. There was never any enforcement, so many independents were already playing fast and loose with the rules. I already was being very conscious of what kind of management was driving the establishments I chose to drive at. Now the customer is being forced to figure out if their own risk level is compatible with an establishments, before sitting down to have the experience. In some cases, like on Disney property and with national chains, I can still have faith there’s a policy and some oversight... but this is going to make it harder to make individual judgements.

I’d be all for this if the numbers supported it... but we are in what could at most generously be described as a plateau with still moderate transmission occurring statewide, and at worst may be the start of a more serious wave. I think the timing on this is suspect, and I’m not buying Ron’s Brevard / Miami-Dade A/B theory.

I think the big problem is surges at popular places. I agree that at a lot of restaurants demand probably isn’t there. If you stop in at 3pm on a Tuesday you might have the whole place to yourself, but for other establishments (bars/clubs especially) they may be inclined to pack people in on a Friday night and with no restrictions they would be within their legal rights to do so (as long as they serve food they are considered a restaurant). Obviously, the downside is if there is another spike in cases it hurts all businesses including places like WDW that are trying to do the right thing.

 

[Kevin_W]

I can count the number of times I’ve had a sit down meal at a restaurant since March on one hand, so perhaps I’m not the best judge... but anecdotal evidence I’ve gleaned observing parking lots and talking to others around the Orlando area tells me restaurants in general here are still having the ‘Disney problem’ of not being able to max out their current capacity because of lack of demand.

Well, recent reports seem to indicate that Disney isn't having that problem any more. Shorter hours, little to no entertainment, and long lines with no FP+ does not sound like a great time.