Do you think that Disney world will reclose its gates due to the rising number of COVID cases in Florida and around the country?

[Turtlekrawl]

It's really getting out of hand. I don't want to put down the southern states, but they are really mismanaging the pandemic.

Maybe.
They did pretty well in March/April/May. Their death totals are still far below New York/New Jersey/Illinois/Michigan. So we’ll see how things look a few months from now, and will be better able to judge. There are still so many unanswered questions regarding the virus and it’s spread. Virtually every major country saw a surge at one time or another. Maybe it was inevitable...

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

To answer the original question?

YES.

Not that I agree with that. But I appreciate the attempt to get the thread back on the rails. As for me: I'm going to go with a very non-committal "Maybe".

 

[rabidstoat]

To answer the question, I don't think WDW is going to close because of rising cases in Florida, but here are some circumstances where I could see them closing.

1. If the state ordered them to close, they would close. I can't see this happening as Governor DeSantis wants tourist dollars.

2. If at some point in the future they studied their profit-loss statements and decided that reopening was doing more harm than good to them economically. This might happen if it seems like the virus is going to continue for many more months and the situation in Florida or the country as a whole is such that not enough tourists will go to the parks and resorts to make opening them financially viable. They'll take some short-term loss in the hopes of ramping up numbers and turning a profit, but that can't go on indefinitely.

3. If the damage to their reputation is so great that they consider the potential long-term damage to not be worth any short-term profits they're making. I think this would only happen if there were many cases that were traced back to Disney and it got spun up in the media really bad for an extended period of time. They're helped a little in the fact that Florida contact tracing is really awful, so it'd be hard to pin anything on them. But other states are doing a better job of contact tracing. There is an instance right now where New York has traced an outbreak in one of their counties from people who traveled to Georgia and brought it back.

 

[TrojanUSC]

To answer the question, I don't think WDW is going to close because of rising cases in Florida, but here are some circumstances where I could see them closing.

1. If the state ordered them to close, they would close. I can't see this happening as Governor DeSantis wants tourist dollars.

2. If at some point in the future they studied their profit-loss statements and decided that reopening was doing more harm than good to them economically. This might happen if it seems like the virus is going to continue for many more months and the situation in Florida or the country as a whole is such that not enough tourists will go to the parks and resorts to make opening them financially viable. They'll take some short-term loss in the hopes of ramping up numbers and turning a profit, but that can't go on indefinitely.

3. If the damage to their reputation is so great that they consider the potential long-term damage to not be worth any short-term profits they're making. I think this would only happen if there were many cases that were traced back to Disney and it got spun up in the media really bad for an extended period of time. They're helped a little in the fact that Florida contact tracing is really awful, so it'd be hard to pin anything on them. But other states are doing a better job of contact tracing. There is an instance right now where New York has traced an outbreak in one of their counties from people who traveled to Georgia and brought it back.

Agreed with all of this. However, I do think there is also a possibility where Orange County shuts down again, much like Miami-Dade recently did. Obviously Disney is the 800lb gorilla in the room, so they would be consulted on this, but at some point if hospitals become so overwhelmed in the area that a shut down is the only option, they would have no choice.

 

[Sparksfly]

I guess it turns out Universal wears the pants in this relationship huh?

Universal helped lead Disney right off a ledge and Disney played right into it....now they get all the bad press as they open in the middle of the biggest surge during this pandemic the world has seen yet.

Speaking of...I'm wondering if we should start calling it "the most infected place on earth".

Btw... I say this with a heavy heart as Disney's always been a magical place for my son and I. It was his safe haven and his escape. It's been just as hard on us as it has been on every one else to not be there this year. It's going to be painful in the coming years as what they did during this pandemic dulled the spark we once saw in Disney. My son has asked me a few times already why Disney doesn't care, to which I always try to find an excuse to lift his spirits that I know are falling on deaf ears and make me feel nauseous to even spit out. The pandemic will hopefully be controlled sooner or later, but how they handled it will leave a scar on this park and the company for years to come. It was a sad day when they decided to open up despite the effects it could, and most likely would, have on human life.

 

[legwand77]

I've just incidentally noticed that most of the strong proponents were planning to go for opening. It's a similar phenomenon to those who speak the loudest about refurbs when it falls during their planned vacation.

Agenda is a strong word, more like an indirect bias. If one had a trip planned - it infers they strongly wanted WDW to open for their individualized priority.

We all have bias; many many competing layers. I fully admit some bias that I want the US to get things under control so that it's both safe and feasible to travel there. Of course that does not also mean I want people to be healthy and thrive by simply controlling the pandemic. I do not want the border to open until those metrics are met so that my country can more safely remain open. Likewise I'm naturally biased that COVID closures do not impact my job security, in-fact risk of quarantine would impact me more than mandated closures.

I could go on and on, but the people who were going on or near opening were definitely biased.

uh okay? Not sure what you are getting at here. I got an annaul pass preview slot and went , wasn't planning on going so not sure what you are inferring

 

[mickeymiss]

uh okay? Not sure what you are getting at here. I got an annaul pass preview slot and went , wasn't planning on going so not sure what you are inferring

I have a trip planned and of course I'm biased but I also don't think it's wrong to feel safe at Disney. I felt safe pre-covid. It means a lot to my family and me. I have serious anxiety and Disney was the first place I went to face my fear of germs. It was successful and a huge step in my recovery. We wouldn't go if they weren't taking this seriously. Backsliding into a crippling fear of germs would do so much harm and Disney has surpassed any safety standard I could have imagined.

 

[YodaMan]

I don’t see how Disney doesn’t shut down in about 2 weeks. Either Orange County is out of hospital beds and demands a shutdown, or Disney realizes there isn’t money to be made and determines it’s cheaper to close back down. I don’t see any other scenario prompting a closure, but I think both scenarios are coming sooner rather than later with the high rate of hospitalIzations and incredibly low ticket sales after the first week.

 

[WDW Pro]

Walt Disney World won't shut down unless it is absolutely, 100% necessary.

WDW brings in something like 16-20% of the company's entire profit depending on the year. That's 3-4x DLR's pull. Besides WDW, they've got much less lucrative international parks and Disney+ (which still loses money in the short term).

 

[LapsedWDWFan]

That’s not even close to a good analogy. Neither balconies nor guardrails inherently fail or their structural integrity tested with each use. We wouldn’t allow hotel balconies if each time one was used there was a chance it would just fail.

I think it's a darn good analogy. You're suggesting that every guest will push the 6 foot limit and push the mask limit. Some may, but I'd wager that's about the same as the number of people testing the limits of hotel balcony railings.

Look, if you think it's unsafe, then that's cool. That's your opinion and if you think it's unsafe so don't go. All I'm trying to say is that I've looked at the math and as long a you keep 6 feet and wear masks as a backup to when you can't, it's reasonably safe. It doesn't matter if you are at your local restaurant or Disney, UO, Seaworld or whatever. Is the risk 0? No. But close enough. But neither is driving your car to work.

I get the anxiety. It's new. It's another risk on top of the risks we already take going out in the world. You can't leave your house without taking a risk. You may get into a car accident. You may slip and get run over by a bus. All of the people who have died in Disney rides because they had a condition they didn't know they had Blah Blah Blah. Life has risks. This is a just a new one we aren't used to.

So we are left with a choice. Believe in the safety measures or not. Just like trusting that balcony railing will hold my weight or not if I lean on it.

 

[Getachew]

Walt Disney World won't shut down unless it is absolutely, 100% necessary.

WDW brings in something like 16-20% of the company's entire profit depending on the year. That's 3-4x DLR's pull. Besides WDW, they've got much less lucrative international parks and Disney+ (which still loses money in the short term).

Just curious, but what would have to happen for this to be the case? What is "100% necessary"?

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think it's a darn good analogy. You're suggesting that every guest will push the 6 foot limit and push the mask limit. Some may, but I'd wager that's about the same as the number of people testing the limits of hotel balcony railings.

Look, if you think it's unsafe, then that's cool. That's your opinion and if you think it's unsafe so don't go. All I'm trying to say is that I've looked at the math and as long a you keep 6 feet and wear masks as a backup to when you can't, it's reasonably safe. It doesn't matter if you are at your local restaurant or Disney, UO, Seaworld or whatever. Is the risk 0? No. But close enough. But neither is driving your car to work.

I get the anxiety. It's new. It's another risk on top of the risks we already take going out in the world. You can't leave your house without taking a risk. You may get into a car accident. You may slip and get run over by a bus. All of the people who have died in Disney rides because they had a condition they didn't know they had Blah Blah Blah. Life has risks. This is a just a new one we aren't used to.

So we are left with a choice. Believe in the safety measures or not. Just like trusting that balcony railing will hold my weight or not if I lean on it.

A guard rail is designed to a specific criteria. If properly designed and installed it does not just fail. It does not have a probability of failure with every use. They’re not effective x% of the time. Regardless of their efficacy, every single breath is an opportunity for a mask or social distancing to fail. Interactions among more people are more opportunities for failure and spread.

 

[LapsedWDWFan]

A guard rail is designed to a specific criteria. If properly designed and installed it does not just fail. It does not have a probability of failure with every use. They’re not effective x% of the time. Regardless of their efficacy, every single breath is an opportunity for a mask or social distancing to fail. Interactions among more people are more opportunities for failure and spread.

OK fine. Admit you're paranoid about it. You're not the only one and won't be the last. I have my own about this thing. I think a lot of people do. So much back and forth in the media. Lots of sensationalist headlines. I've been saying for weeks that the only thing anyone is sure of is the no one is sure of anything. So for me, despite my own level of anxiety I've decided to put my trust in the experts that believe 6 feet and masks are reasonably safe. I'll go to places that enforce it and leave places that don't and so far I haven't gotten sick. If the theme parks enforce it I'll feel safe there too. And if they don't in certain situations it is my option to leave that area.

My point in the thread was I don't care if cases are surging in Levy, Miami-Dade, Walton or even Orange county FL with the context of the theme parks. The theme parks have opened following all of the CDC recommended guidelines for doing so. If you or anyone else doesn't trust the CDC guidelines or any theme parks ability to enforce it, then you be you and do what you have to do. I just don't believe that any business, Disney, UO, or the local Outback Steakhouse, should be forced to close in spite of the fact they opened within the guidelines provided to them to do so. Under those guidelines we as individuals make own own decisions what we feel comfortable with or not.

 

[Mouse Trap]

Not sure if this was discussed, but the spike today was due to a massive testing bottleneck and backlog (one lab alone reported 50,000 test results today). FL does not have the daily testing capacity that was reported today.

Positivity rate dropped to its lowest point in two weeks which is a dim bright spot.

But the headlines love to skip over this.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

Not sure if this was discussed, but the spike today was due to a massive testing bottleneck and backlog (one lab alone reported 50,000 test results today). FL does not have the daily testing capacity that was reported today.

Positivity rate dropped to its lowest point in two weeks which is a dim bright spot.

But the headlines love to skip over this.

The media, as usual, never provides context if it doesn’t fit the bias.

 

[Mouse Trap]

The media, as usual, never provides context if it doesn’t fit the bias.

Orange County reported almost 11,000 test results today when they normally average around 3,000ish.

But that wouldn’t make for a trending discussion on Twitter.

 

[LapsedWDWFan]

Orange County reported almost 11,000 test results today when they normally average around 3,000ish.

But that wouldn’t make for a trending discussion on Twitter.

And from the Splash Mountain thread, we know the Twitter mob rules the country these days.
Oppppsss......was that too political?

 

[HongKongFooy]

They have storage units stuffed full of dead bodies out here in california and arizona

Stuffed full.......
Nice piece of exaggeration.

If you're going to exaggerate why not just do it the right way and say the storage units are so full with dead bodies that it's hard to close roll up metal doors due to arms and legs sticking out.

 

[mickeymiss]

OK fine. Admit you're paranoid about it. You're not the only one and won't be the last. I have my own about this thing. I think a lot of people do. So much back and forth in the media. Lots of sensationalist headlines. I've been saying for weeks that the only thing anyone is sure of is the no one is sure of anything. So for me, despite my own level of anxiety I've decided to put my trust in the experts that believe 6 feet and masks are reasonably safe. I'll go to places that enforce it and leave places that don't and so far I haven't gotten sick. If the theme parks enforce it I'll feel safe there too. And if they don't in certain situations it is my option to leave that area.

My point in the thread was I don't care if cases are surging in Levy, Miami-Dade, Walton or even Orange county FL with the context of the theme parks. The theme parks have opened following all of the CDC recommended guidelines for doing so. If you or anyone else doesn't trust the CDC guidelines or any theme parks ability to enforce it, then you be you and do what you have to do. I just don't believe that any business, Disney, UO, or the local Outback Steakhouse, should be forced to close in spite of the fact they opened within the guidelines provided to them to do so. Under those guidelines we as individuals make own own decisions what we feel comfortable with or not.

I agree with this. We have choices from start to finish. Our choices don't end when we enter the park. You can do what makes you comfortable. For example, I probably won't enter an indoor ride line if I feel like it might be too long of a wait. I won't buy food from a food handler that also touches money without separate gloves or washing. I can leave if I don't like my surroundings.

 

[kong1802]