Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Angel Ariel]

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

And that’s only if the rate stays at that level - the exponential growth here is where I think a large part of the disconnect is for many.

 

[seascape]

There has been too much discussion on what should or should not have been done, with people showing little understanding or compassion for any opposing POV. The fact is that we are all under restrictions of varying degrees. And since none of us can see the future, it is time to focus on the here and now.

Updates on new restrictions, easing of restrictions, increased or decreased cases, and how we are dealing with things on a day to day basis will be allowed, and even encouraged.

Circular arguments with predictions about how this will end, are we doing too much/not enough, along with politics and unproven theories, will not be allowed.

People are very stressed right now, and tempers are very short. Please do not continue arguments that do nothing but rile each other up.

We all have different experiences - some may even be dealing with extremely ill family and friends, and others may have already lost someone close to us. Some of us are dealing with economic hardships caused by attempts to deal with this.

It is a difficult time for all of us, but getting into heated arguments about what is our new reality only makes the situation worse.

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.

 

[wdwmagic]

I guess the free dining offer is a nice gesture, but it’s really the same old offer, and I’ve never found any value in it vs. the way we “do Disney.” I tend to think I’m going to save more by paying 25-30% off rooms (whether with FL resident or AP discount) and buying meals as we see fit.

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.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

I have rational thinking. The governor is not going to allow Disney or Universal to open up if the virus does not make substantial decreases. We have not hit the bell curve yet which is predicted to be now through mid April. I do think by early may we will see some things opening back up.

As for the Orlando stay at home. No one is following it. I was out on Alafaya last night and it was packed like a regular Saturday night.

Then Disney might not open until September if people aren’t following guidelines. No way anyplace should be packed.

 

[Lilofan]

I will tell you all how are family is dealing with being at home. Each has their chores and good part of that is cleaning. The house and the washing and waxing of my vehicles have never ever looked cleaner. And the jungle gym playground down the street, for kids I used to always look at, it's a great place to do pull ups and inclined push ups for adults.

 

[EmmieSue]

Im confused. If you have an annual pass and a trip cancelled, you don’t get free dining?

Correct. You have to purchase at least 2 days worth of tickets.

 

[Polynesia]

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.

I agree. Everyone is under so much stress. And it’s great to be able to connect with fellow Disney lovers. We all want this to conclude quickly with the best possible outcome. Then we can find our new normal and once again enjoy Disney.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

I guess the free dining offer is a nice gesture, but it’s really the same old offer, and I’ve never found any value in it vs. the way we “do Disney.” I tend to think I’m going to save more by paying 25-30% off rooms (whether with FL resident or AP discount) and buying meals as we see fit.

Yeah, Free Dining for AP's - I've never been able to make the math work.

 

[Polynesia]

I will tell you all how are family is dealing with being at home. Each has their chores and good part of that is cleaning. The house and the washing and waxing of my vehicles have never ever looked cleaner. And the jungle gym playground down the street, for kids I used to always look at, it's a great place to do pull ups and inclined push ups for adults.

As silly as this sounds we made Christmas cookies the other day. We were in the middle of selling our house in December and didn’t have time at Christmas for a lot of baking. It was a fun afternoon and helped our mental state.

 

[Flugell]

Free dining plan is great if you’re staying for a long time, we’re booked in July, since last May, 3 weeks of free dining is well worth it ! 2-3 days probably less so. Sadly don’t think we’ll be there in June- July, coming from U.K. and husband deemed at high risk.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

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?

 

[21stamps]

Correct. You have to purchase at least 2 days worth of tickets.

I just read the terms and conditions.. I thought it was just something thrown in, but apparently it’s similar to the normal free dining offers. My parents have a Cars suite at AoA currently for 4/19-4/25. They added the DDP, but I know they had a discount on the room. 3 grandkids will be in the room.. my son turns 10 on 4/18, other 2 are still “kids”. The free dining might work out better for them, they’ll have to do the math.. looks like it’s only the quick service dining, so they’d have to upgrade anyway.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

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?

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".

 

[GoofGoof]

I guess the free dining offer is a nice gesture, but it’s really the same old offer, and I’ve never found any value in it vs. the way we “do Disney.” I tend to think I’m going to save more by paying 25-30% off rooms (whether with FL resident or AP discount) and buying meals as we see fit.

Agreed. I was thinking the same thing. This won’t be enough to bring big crowds back, but maybe they don’t want full crowds for a little while. If they want to fill all those resorts they will need to discount the rooms a bunch and the problem with free dining is you have to book a full price package to take advantage of it. This may just be the first offer. Hope they get some takers and then discount from here.

 

[Smooth]

Out of curiosity I looked up some of the top diseases in the world. Tuberculosis is number one. About 10,000,000 people get it every year. Over 10% die. About 1.7 million people died last year. Wow

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Agreed. I was thinking the same thing. This won’t be enough to bring big crowds back, but maybe they don’t want full crowds for a little while. If they want to fill all those resorts they will need to discount the rooms a bunch and the problem with free dining is you have to book a full price package to take advantage of it. This may just be the first offer. Hope they get some takers and then discount from here.

I would think the low hanging fruit would be the locals. There will probably be some really good offers on rooms. Since many locals are APs, they'd be focusing on spend. Disney's gonna have to sit up first - then crawl, then walk, before they can run.

 

[bubbles1812]

The survival rate for Coronavirus is 98.2 at this point . The odds are in our favor. Also there are numerous articles on the effects of a a world wide economic recession you can do your own research.

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.

To give 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?

 

[21stamps]

Agreed. I was thinking the same thing. This won’t be enough to bring big crowds back, but maybe they don’t want full crowds for a little while. If they want to fill all those resorts they will need to discount the rooms a bunch and the problem with free dining is you have to book a full price package to take advantage of it. This may just be the first offer. Hope they get some takers and then discount from here.

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?

 

[DCBaker]

As for the Orlando stay at home. No one is following it. I was out on Alafaya last night and it was packed like a regular Saturday night.

But we've been told Floridians are following the guidelines... Imagine that.

 

[Polynesia]

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?

There is no perfect solution. I was at a Disney hotel and park the middle of January and a few days later was very ill. Went to the ER and tested negative for the annual flu. Eventually I ended up in the hospital with a cough, high fever, nausea and pneumonia. You can catch anything anywhere. I assume Disney will wait until the numbers go down and then go from there.