Poll: What Will Disneyland's Operating Hours Be This Summer?

[TP2000]

I just posed this question in the massive Covid thread, but then I thought it would be fun to do a poll instead!

Assuming their "Proposed Reopening" (the language currently on Disneyland.com) is approved by Governor Newsom, Disneyland and DCA will obviously have drastically reduced operating hours. What do you think the hours will be? Back to a circa 1980's off-season of 10AM to 6PM daily? Or something slightly more like an only slightly shortened off-season weekday from 2019, like a 10AM to 8PM or a 9AM to 7PM? Or do you think they just say to heck with the budget and pretend like everything is totally normal with a 7AM to Midnight daily operation?

I think its a given that Magic Mornings are gone, at least through the end of the year. And obviously parades, fireworks, water shows and major entertainment has all been shelved for this year.

My vote is for a 9AM to 7PM daily operation this summer for both parks. Although my second guess would be for the staggered version where DCA does a 10AM to 8PM to capture dinner and booze sales.

I'm thinking they try that approach because it would allow TDA to throw some dinner and booze business to their Downtown Disney tenants in an attempt to keep that mall afloat for awhile longer, and make the Resort seem more lively and normal when it's really not. The Downtown Disney restaurants and shops are going to be hurting with severely reduced capacity and foot traffic, so anything will help. This would also keep Downtown Disney alive as viable option for the entire Anaheim Resort District as GardenWalk's tenant list collapses this summer and fall.

Don't forget to vote!

 

[NateD1226]

I'm gonna go with the staggered 9am to 7pm and 10am and 8pm. It just makes the most sense to stagger it out for capacity. It would really help the tram loading area so it doesn't fill up with people so quickly.

 

[CastAStone]

I'm going to say 8:30AM to 7:30PM for Disneyland and 9:30 AM to 8:30 PM for DCA, with both parks closing 30 minutes to an hour later Friday and Saturday. I think 11 hours is probably right.

 

[LightningMcSteve]

From everything I’ve reviewed and looked into I think the start time would be staggered with 8am being the first time in. Closing time, I can only assume it would be something like 10pm or 12midnight.

 

[TP2000]

I'm gonna go with the staggered 9am to 7pm and 10am and 8pm. It just makes the most sense to stagger it out for capacity. It would really help the tram loading area so it doesn't fill up with people so quickly.

I hadn't thought of that, but it's a good point. The tram system will be very problematic for them, as if it hasn't already been a big problem for 15 years, ever since the 50th Anniversary.

I can't imagine they will use the Toy Story Parking Lot as an option this summer. They have more than enough capacity at just Mickey & Friends, and that way they can keep as many people as possible moving through Downtown Disney.

 

[TP2000]

I'm going to say 8:30AM to 7:30PM for Disneyland and 9:30 AM to 8:30 PM for DCA, with both parks closing 30 minutes to an hour later Friday and Saturday. I think 11 hours is probably right.

I think 11 hours is just a touch too much for their extremely limited capacity, and they'll be trying to cut costs everywhere. My bet is on a 10 hour operating day for both Anaheim parks, as that will appear better than an 8 hour day.

From everything I’ve reviewed and looked into I think the start time would be staggered with 8am being the first time in. Closing time, I can only assume it would be something like 10pm or 12midnight.

I'm afraid the days of 16 hour operating days at Disneyland are gone for now. If/when the park reopens they are only going to keep the parks open for 9 or 10 hours per day. And with no nighttime entertainment - no fireworks, no night parade, no Fantasmic!, no World of Color, there's no need to keep the parks open past 7pm or 8pm.

They are going to adjust the early closing times to funnel as many people as possible into Downtown Disney restaurants for dinner, just to try and keep as many of those businesses open as possible so Downtown Disney doesn't have to suffer through a raft of closures later in 2020 and 2021.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

My guess is still 8am-10pm for both parks but since that is not a option i went with 9am-7pm for both on the poll but i think the hours will be different than the options above.

 

[TP2000]

My guess is still 8am-10pm for both parks but since that is not a option i went with 9am-7pm for both ont he poll but i think the hours will be different than the options above.

Noted!

Now that I think about it, the limited poll options don't offer the mid-range hours of a 9pm or 10pm closing for a 12 to 14 hour operation.

But that's because I offered more options at the more restrictive end, with mainly a 10 hour operation.

I just think they can't/won't go beyond a 10 hour long daily operation, especially because they can't do any major entertainment and almost all of that stuff happens after sundown. They only have one daytime major entertainment; Magic Happens Parade, and they can't even do that.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Noted!

Now that I think about it, the limited poll options don't offer the mid-range hours of a 9pm or 10pm closing for a 12 to 14 hour operation.

But that's because I offered more options at the more restrictive end, with mainly a 10 hour operation.

I just think they can't/won't go beyond a 10 hour long daily operation, especially because they can't do any major entertainment and almost all of that stuff happens after sundown. They only have one daytime major entertainment; Magic Happens Parade, and they can't even do that.

You do make a good point. But I took into account it's summer so I can't see the park closing before 10 on a summer's day of operation.

 

[Rich T]

A lot of this depends on the IQ and consideration of the people who show up. If too many donkeys ignore the rules and we see a spike in illness 2 weeks after the reopening, we could see resort hours drop to... CLOSED.

 

[Rich T]

You do make a good point. But I took into account it's summer so I can't see the park closing before 10 on a summer's day of operation.

This is summer during a huge global health crisis that is far from over. Normal rules don’t apply. A few months ago no one could imagine the resort shutting down.

 

[lumberguy5]

They should go back to the 60th anniversary December schedule. Run 3 different parades, World of Color, Fantasmic, and fireworks multiple times a day. Yes, they experimented with Forever into PtN into Forever again into PtN again with Fantasmic running off on the side. The good old days of breaking attendance records for 18 months.

Probably going to get weekend 9am-9pm in DL and 10am to 8pm in DCA until they can get a nighttime spec. back as World of Color and MSEP were run in DCA just to get people to stay in the evening. Since the reservations give times people can show up, I expect the discount convention twlight tickets (ie afternoon-evening only) to be sold to the public freely. Also i suspect that DCA tickets will be lower tiered than Disneyland tickets as the attraction imbalance between the parks without shows is abysmal.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

Staggered hours.

 

[TP2000]

You do make a good point. But I took into account it's summer so I can't see the park closing before 10 on a summer's day of operation.

I'm just afraid that we all don't realize how dire the situation is for the Walt Disney Company as a whole, and their theme park division specifically.

I can't imagine they'll be able to pull off more than a 10 hour operating day. And even with that, they'll be losing money and just doing this to try and get back in the game and maintain a base level of Cast Member community as well as trying to keep the entire Anaheim Resort District on life support for the next few months.

This is an extremely dire situation. Short of global thermo-nuclear war, I can't imagine a situation more dire than the current one. Even the Big One, an 8.0 earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, wouldn't have shut down Disneyland for four months without warning. The Big One would close the place for two months maybe, a month more likely, but at the same time the five other park properties around the world would have stayed open, plus movies, and sports, and cruises, and Disney Stores, etc.

So there's really no good reason why they would operate more than an 8 hour day upon reopening, but I think they are going to go for 10 hours a day just as a loss leader and a bold bet that they'll still be in operation six months from now.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

I'm just afraid that we all don't realize how dire the situation is for the Walt Disney Company as a whole, and their theme park division specifically.

I can't imagine they'll be able to pull off more than a 10 hour operating day. And even with that, they'll be losing money and just doing this to try and get back in the game and maintain a base level of Cast Member community as well as trying to keep the entire Anaheim Resort District on life support for the next few months.

This is an extremely dire situation. Short of global thermo-nuclear war, I can't imagine a situation more dire than the current one. Even the Big One, an 8.0 earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, wouldn't have shut down Disneyland for four months without warning. There's really no good reason why they would operate more than an 8 hour day upon reopening, but I think they are going to go for 10 hours just as a loss leader and a bet that they'll still be in operation six months from now.

Keep the faith. Disneyland shall not fall, not on this year!

 

[dmeets]

Don't want to be a downer but my hunch is N/A (at least until Labor Day), if the unions have appealed to the Governor to stay closed.

 

[oceanbreeze77]

Don't want to be a downer but my hunch is N/A (at least until Labor Day), if the unions have appealed to the Governor to stay closed.

Id say safest bet is late 2020/early 2021. Right now the spikes are bad, but they're also giving us a glimpse into what the expected "second wave" and the corona/flu combination that experts are warning about could look like. Things went quiet, the virus only kind of declined, we opened, and BAM, we are in this situation. It'll keep doing that for a while.

Not to mention the PR nightmare Disney faces if they go against the wishes of their cast members.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Not to mention the PR nightmare Disney faces if they go against the wishes of their cast members.

None of them are contractually obligated to come back to work.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

I'll be SHOCKED if either of the parks are open for more than 10 hours. Isn't cost-cutting one of $hapeks specialties?

 

[smooch]

I initially had 10 AM to 8 PM both parks because I figured staggering would just cause all the DLR parkgoers to flood DCA for an hour and crowd the place and make the problem worse, but I just realized a few days later I didn't remember that admission is to one park only, so I changed to 9 AM to 7 PM DLR and 10 AM to 8 PM DCA because it would stagger incoming and outgoing guests at open and close a bit and reduce crowds even a little bit. I don't know if I agree with those exact times but I will definitely bet my money on DLR opening first and closing first so DCA can try to capitalize on operating later and getting late night alcohol sales and dinners, but I guess we'll all have to wait and see. I wish the parks would be open longer than 10 hours but I could easily understand if they need more time at night for the cleaning crew due to new COVID-19 sanitation procedures. I know that when my office reopens if anyone finds out they have COVID-19 they have to shut the office down for a cleaning procedure that will take about 48-72 hours (I forget which one of these it was exactly, I think 48) and then from there we will assess reopening, potentially testing whoever had been in the office with them recently. I know Disney has to basically clean everything assuming someone is asymptomatic and has transmitted the disease, and more likely that multiple people are and surfaces all over the park are contaminated so they must all be cleaned and that can definitely add hours of extra work.