Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Josh Hendy]

Yes it isn't a great deal for many, but it is about the only marketing activity that they have at their disposal right now, and it may be enough to get some reservations in the books for the summer.

I don't know ... it seems incredibly unimaginative to me. There are a thousand ways they could attract customers back to the parks if they wanted to. For example by offering better or different discounts, or by enhancing the park experience.

This marketing sounds more like, "We don't have to do anything interesting or innovative to get the parks working financially again except fill the dining trough, so why should we try?"

 

[Polynesia]

. So allow me to give a perspective from a physician's point of view.

I am a family med doc in Northern Indiana. We have 32 cases "officially" [though we received 5 more positives this am so it's not entirely accurate.] Currently, I am sitting in the atrium of our testing facility waiting for people to drive up to be swabbed and so had some down time. Imagine my distress then at reading some of your rather callous comments.

To give you some context, I suspended my family medicine practice so I could come do this at least through the end of April. I am a sub for our urgent care and they needed another physician on the team. So here I am. I see my own patients virtually 1.5 days per week and work urgent care swabbing somewhere between 2-4 days per week/weekend.

I am exhausted. Everyone here is exhausted. Our PPE supply is holding for now but it's not great either. Our two local hospitals are not yet overwhelmed but between the two of them, there are approximately 700 beds to serve a 300-450K population. It won't be enough. And people will die because of it.

Yes, the overall survival rate is 98% and we can't put life on hold forever. Recessions do hurt. I don't think anyone would argue with you. But I'm grateful for our stay at home order currently. And I want it to stay that way. Why? Because if we go back to work too soon, the chances of utter medical system collapse in this relatively small metro area are high. Now magnify that on a global scale.

Do you wish to be Italy? Because we are heading that way. The current orders in place everywhere are not to stop the virus. The virus is here. The measures in place are to try to slow its spread now. And to save the medical system. Not every place will succeed. And certainly not in the US, where I see many people ignoring the stay in place orders.

This thing is NOT the flu. It's highly contagious. The chances you wind up hospitalized are 40-50%, yes, even in a younger and lower risk crowd. There was a story of a 33 year old dying yesterday from this. I am 31. As a health care worker, my risk of getting this and dying from this is higher -- somewhere around 5%. And it will raise if we get back going too quickly. I have swabbed three local physicians in the past day alone.

And yet I still come to work. I know that risk but I take the Hippocratic Oath seriously. So here I am. Serving people as I was trained to do.

So, I'll ask you... Who are you willing to sacrifice to get back to work? Your grandmother? Your parents? Your brothers? And when there is no one like me left to care for you, what then will you do?

Thank you for what you’re doing. My husband is currently working in another state at a hospital. Interesting how you guys really don’t put your well being first. I asked my husband if he’s scared to go to work and he says it’s his job and it needs to be done. Of course lots of guidelines are in place to keep health care workers safe. Again, thank you

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

On the "Free" dining. I don't know about you, but most every time I sit at TS, the waiter/ress asks "Are you on the dining plan" - to which my response is "No" - to which he/she retorts "Great, so you can eat whatever you'd like" -- So many times that I'm convinced this is stock.

Which kinda makes you think. Why wouldn't Disney try to create demand by having the staff push this. If I started getting a waiters/ress that encouraged me to explore the dining plan. Telling me things like "you should really check it out. It's a great value" --- I get none of that. I get "Great. So you can eat whatever you'd like"

 

[wdwmagic]

I don't know ... it seems incredibly unimaginative to me. There are a thousand ways they could attract customers back to the parks if they wanted to. For example by offering better or different discounts, or by enhancing the park experience.

This marketing sounds more like, "We don't have to do anything interesting or innovative to get the parks working financially again except fill the dining trough, so why should we try?"

It needed to be something that could be implemented without any detailed planning or expenditure (so park enchantments are out of the question). And it needed to be something that would sell park tickets and get people in hotels. The Free Dining has a proven track record of doing both, so I'm sure it seemed the logical choice for them.

Not saying I agree with it, but I can certainly understand they why.

 

[xdan0920]

There are so many questions. From lines, to monorails (are they going to disinfect at every stop? - Many people get on and off during a normal round-trip).

What about the buses? Skyliner? Parades? (6 foot distance for a parade - they'll probably have to temporarily cancel that and possibly fireworks). Every morning I wake up thinking. "This is crazy".

Cancel all public transportation I guess

 

[GoofGoof]

Is it even possible to wipe every “safety bar” or other handles after each ride?

When I go back eventually (maybe August) we will find out. My wife is wiping all the grocery packages down with Clorox wipes before putting them away. If it’s not done by CMs she will be doing it on her own.

Give every guest disposable gloves that look like Mickey hands?

Give? More like sell for $39.99 in every gift shop. Maybe masks too.

We know people go to WDW sick all the time, or get a cold while there. You know someone with a dry cough and a mild fever in June who planned the trip last year is going to risk it and go anyway. You know people with no symptoms will innocently go, so even a temperature check at the gate wouldn’t prevent carriers from entering.

How do you manage that? Block everyone from high risk areas?

Even if you stand six feet apart in line, I’m guessing they’d have to leave every other boat/car empty for cleaning between guests?

This is the biggest problem I see. You can’t in any practical way stop the infected from coming in. Even scanning temperatures won’t work. It’s easy enough to just take some Tylenol before getting there to beat the temp test. The 6feet in lines is tough but the 6 feet on a bus or boat or monorail would be virtually impossible.

It would be hard to block people from high risk areas too, because that can change pretty quickly. People book trips in advance so they would not be happy if they arrived and found out halfway through their trip they got banned from the parks. Plus, as things stand right now Florida itself is the 3rd or 4th worst impacted state and the US overall is pretty bad.

 

[easyrowrdw]

I find this site very good to track new cases and other daily numbers.

United States COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

United States Coronavirus update with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, mortality and recovery rates, current active cases, recoveries, trends and timeline.

www.worldometers.info

I use it as a barometer on the situation and make decisions on the facts.

Agree. I've found that site really useful too.

Tracking Covid-19 cases in the US

Track the spread of coronavirus in the United States with maps and updates on cases and deaths.

www.cnn.com

I also thought this was interesting - seeing not just the cases by state, but also per 100k. Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina seem noteworthy. They're relatively populous states with multiple sizeable metro areas, but have some of the lowest infection rates.

Anecdotally, they seem to have been some of places that implemented restrictions sooner (at least at various local levels). That's encouraging to me.

 

[wdwmagic]

On the "Free" dining. I don't know about you, but most every time I sit at TS, the waiter/ress asks "Are you on the dining plan" - to which my response is "No" - to which he/she retorts "Great, so you can eat whatever you'd like" -- So many times that I'm convinced this is stock.

Which kinda makes you think. Why wouldn't Disney try to create demand by having the staff push this. If I started getting a waiters/ress that encouraged me to explore the dining plan. Telling me things like "you should really check it out. It's a great value" --- I get none of that. I get "Great. So you can eat whatever you'd like"

Well the dining plan curtails servers tip making ability and quality of the food, so isn't exactly popular with those working the restaurants.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Cancel all public transportation I guess

I'm not saying that. It is a bit harder to deal with these things than people may realize. Disney can't just say "Hey, were back open - come on in" Each of those things I referenced will probably be discussed and addressed.

 

[21stamps]

Well the dining plan curtails servers tip making ability and quality of the food, so isn't exactly popular with those working the restaurants.

How does it have an impact on their tips? the total bill still prints out. Wouldn’t people tip the same either way?

 

[Lilofan]

Your comments have been very interesting @lilypgirl. So allow me to give a perspective from a physician's point of view.

I am a family med doc in Northern Indiana. We have 32 cases "officially" [though we received 5 more positives this am so it's not entirely accurate.] Currently, I am sitting in the atrium of our testing facility waiting for people to drive up to be swabbed and so had some down time. Imagine my distress then at reading some of your rather callous comments.

To give you some context, I suspended my family medicine practice so I could come do this at least through the end of April. I am a sub for our urgent care and they needed another physician on the team. So here I am. I see my own patients virtually 1.5 days per week and work urgent care swabbing somewhere between 2-4 days per week/weekend.

I am exhausted. Everyone here is exhausted. Our PPE supply is holding for now but it's not great either. Our two local hospitals are not yet overwhelmed but between the two of them, there are approximately 700 beds to serve a 300-450K population. It won't be enough. And people will die because of it.

Yes, the overall survival rate is 98% and we can't put life on hold forever. Recessions do hurt. I don't think anyone would argue with you. But I'm grateful for our stay at home order currently. And I want it to stay that way. Why? Because if we go back to work too soon, the chances of utter medical system collapse in this relatively small metro area are high. Now magnify that on a global scale.

Do you wish to be Italy? Because we are heading that way. The current orders in place everywhere are not to stop the virus. The virus is here. The measures in place are to try to slow its spread now. And to save the medical system. Not every place will succeed. And certainly not in the US, where I see many people ignoring the stay in place orders.

This thing is NOT the flu. It's highly contagious. The chances you wind up hospitalized are 40-50%, yes, even in a younger and lower risk crowd. There was a story of a 33 year old dying yesterday from this. I am 31. As a health care worker, my risk of getting this and dying from this is higher -- somewhere around 5%. And it will raise if we get back going too quickly. I have swabbed three local physicians in the past day alone.

And yet I still come to work. I know that risk but I take the Hippocratic Oath seriously. So here I am. Serving people as I was trained to do.

So, I'll ask you... Who are you willing to sacrifice to get back to work? Your grandmother? Your parents? Your brothers? And when there is no one like me left to care for you, what then will you do?

Your comments have made me feel like my life is worth the sacrifice for your 401[k]. To that I say, how dare you.

I thank you doctor for your dedication. My brother 's friends are RNs in hospitals. It is all hands on deck and are they deathly afraid of getting infected?. YES, but they go to work everyday and do their best to save lives.

 

[wdwmagic]

How does it have an impact on their tips? the total bill still prints out. Wouldn’t people tip the same either way?

People eating on the dining plan stick to what is included in their plan. Those who are paying cash have the ability, and often do, spend significantly more. So a server working a cash table has the potential to earn 18% of a much higher total.

 

[GhostHost1000]

For perspective 9000 deaths in 4 days = 823500 deaths in this year if my maths is correct.

Unless the virus is seasonable like the flu but we don’t know yet

 

[GhostHost1000]

Is it even possible to wipe every “safety bar” or other handles after each ride?

Give every guest disposable gloves that look like Mickey hands?

I am already concerned about touching so many things when I am there that so many others have just touched. I try to grab handles in odd places, including door handles (in everyday life, too.)

We know people go to WDW sick all the time, or get a cold while there. You know someone with a dry cough and a mild fever in June who planned the trip last year is going to risk it and go anyway. You know people with no symptoms will innocently go, so even a temperature check at the gate wouldn’t prevent carriers from entering.

How do you manage that? Block everyone from high risk areas?

Even if you stand six feet apart in line, I’m guessing they’d have to leave every other boat/car empty for cleaning between guests?

theres no way to keep people at WDW 6 ft apart which is why question some of the rumors out there but if they try to do these things it would be more for PR image rather than a health benefit

 

[xdan0920]

I'm not saying that. It is a bit harder to deal with these things than people may realize. Disney can't just say "Hey, were back open - come on in" Each of those things I referenced will probably be discussed and addressed.

Yes I know. I was being facetious. We can extrapolate out our current “orders” and all
It does is lead to us staying indoors perennially.

WDW simply can not operate if they are expected to close their mass transit. Expected to wipe down every surface after every guest. Keep guests apart from each other.

So it’s either gonna be back to normal, maybe a slight uptick in cleaning, or they are gonna fold up shop.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Well the dining plan curtails servers tip making ability and quality of the food, so isn't exactly popular with those working the restaurants.

Tipping? If you thought the political aspect of this thread was bad. Just wait. I'm just kidding.

Seriously, that's why the dining plan has never been appealing to me. Too many limitations. And between the AP discount and TIW, I don't really see the value in DDP.

 

[GoofGoof]

Free dining has never made sense for me either. The room discount is always the better value.
I’m wondering though, with 3 adults and 2 kids if it may make sense. I haven’t looked up the price difference to upgrade from the quick service to the DDP.

The big question is- Are the parks going to be unbearably crowded this summer from normal travelers and people who had to reschedule due to the closure?

I doubt the Parks will be jammed. It’s going to take time for things to return to normal. I personally think the economy has the potential to bounce back a little faster than some people here.

 

[marni1971]

I am sorry I went too far on this particular thread. I certainly agree with you that there is too much stress in the world today. I love the bast majority of posts here. All of us very upset what is happening.

Kudos.

 

[John park hopper]

Your comments have been very interesting @lilypgirl. So allow me to give a perspective from a physician's point of view.

I am a family med doc in Northern Indiana. We have 32 cases "officially" [though we received 5 more positives this am so it's not entirely accurate.] Currently, I am sitting in the atrium of our testing facility waiting for people to drive up to be swabbed and so had some down time. Imagine my distress then at reading some of your rather callous comments.

To give you some context, I suspended my family medicine practice so I could come do this at least through the end of April. I am a sub for our urgent care and they needed another physician on the team. So here I am. I see my own patients virtually 1.5 days per week and work urgent care swabbing somewhere between 2-4 days per week/weekend.

I am exhausted. Everyone here is exhausted. Our PPE supply is holding for now but it's not great either. Our two local hospitals are not yet overwhelmed but between the two of them, there are approximately 700 beds to serve a 300-450K population. It won't be enough. And people will die because of it.

Yes, the overall survival rate is 98% and we can't put life on hold forever. Recessions do hurt. I don't think anyone would argue with you. But I'm grateful for our stay at home order currently. And I want it to stay that way. Why? Because if we go back to work too soon, the chances of utter medical system collapse in this relatively small metro area are high. Now magnify that on a global scale.

Do you wish to be Italy? Because we are heading that way. The current orders in place everywhere are not to stop the virus. The virus is here. The measures in place are to try to slow its spread now. And to save the medical system. Not every place will succeed. And certainly not in the US, where I see many people ignoring the stay in place orders.

This thing is NOT the flu. It's highly contagious. The chances you wind up hospitalized are 40-50%, yes, even in a younger and lower risk crowd. There was a story of a 33 year old dying yesterday from this. I am 31. As a health care worker, my risk of getting this and dying from this is higher -- somewhere around 5%. And it will raise if we get back going too quickly. I have swabbed three local physicians in the past day alone.

And yet I still come to work. I know that risk but I take the Hippocratic Oath seriously. So here I am. Serving people as I was trained to do.

So, I'll ask you... Who are you willing to sacrifice to get back to work? Your grandmother? Your parents? Your brothers? And when there is no one like me left to care for you, what then will you do?

Your comments have made me feel like my life is worth the sacrifice for your 401[k]. To that I say, how dare you.

As many know on this forum my wife is a retired nurse and would go back to work in a minute if it were not for her age and she has some medical issues. The general public I don't think have a full appreciation of the exceptional people who go into the medical field until something like this smacks us in the face. I can't begin to thank you and all those on the front lines fighting this invisible enemy that does not descrimate who it infects. Thank you for your dedication and may you remain safe and healthy with people like you we will beat this

 

[Lilofan]

I doubt the Parks will be jammed. It’s going to take time for things to return to normal. I personally think the economy has the potential to bounce back a little faster than some people here.

I agree. It's a pipe dream to think that the parks will be crowded this summer. There was a member that posted the parks may open in phases, limited offerings and some locations in WDW still closed. This may not bode well for cast members and not all of them may be needed to work.