Rumors for Remaining part of 2020

[Magic Feather]

With Florida’s recent movement to phase 3, is there any chance or rumors of Disney moving forward with reinstating park hoppers, relaxing masks, relaxing capacity limits, etc before then end of the year. I was just curious bc I was thinking MVMCP tickets and park hoppers may give them a small shot in the arm financially, but honestly any shot in the arm would benefit them at this point. I hate to be a pessimist but I look at the Old Republic of Star Wars and there is so much money just being left on the table, if done right, I’m just not optimistic about there handling a return to normalcy and profitability.

A great big and hard no to the entire first sentence, especially the last two things. Park hoppers are weird, and there is a desire to reinstate, but last I checked, it was kind of low on the pecking order of "desired reservation system modifications," and a few things that are definitely in front of it still have not been done.

Weirdly enough, current GE is appearing to have become a star in the pandemic. Turns out that its demand is slightly more inelastic, making it comparatively one of the most popular offerings, drawing people into DHS.

Personal guesses...

• Of the 4 parks, we may see an increase in attendance at 3 of them before the year's end.
• What you have been seeing this September & October will be what you see for Thanksgiving and Christmas which will be very strange.
• Leading into 2021 will be a wait and see to see how the flu season and COVID interact. We might see more things open up, but procedures will be in place. Park hoping may be an option on a limited scale.
• March 2021, if all is well, we may see some relaxing of CDC guidelines with social distancing helping with capacities. Masks will still be in place. Temp checks may be relaxed. FastPass will be reintroduced as MaxPass.
• Summer 2021, masks may begin to be relaxed, but encouraged if we are looking good. APs go back on sale.
• Park Pass remains in place indefinitely.

This is more optimistic than any internal timeline I have seen.

 

[fgmnt]

I'm not entirely convinced park hopping will really ever be the same when its all said and done. Seems like from a operations planning point of view, the reservation system just makes too much sense to give up.

in a battle for simplified operations vs free money, the company will take free money every time*

*barring a pandemic

 

[havoc315]

In this discussion, there are a couple points to keep in mind:

1. 25% capacity does not mean 25% of normal attendance. They rarely hit 100% capacity, only around Christmas and sometimes Easter. I'm sure others know the figures better than me, but I'd guess that on average, the parks operate at about 60% capacity. Thus, even increasing capacity to 50% would actually be pretty close to normal operations for most of the year.
2. Not all cuts are really about the pandemic. Many of the cuts are cost-savings. (more indirectly tied to losses from the pandemic). For example, there is no reason they can't operate Extra Magic Hours right now. There is nothing about EMH that makes it more difficult under the current restrictions. It's really more a budget cut than anything else, for now.
3. Pay careful attention to MDE, particularly the MDE app. Almost all references to Fastpasses are gone. But there is a whole section for virtual queues.

Some conclusions:
- Instead of progressing towards "normal," you may gradually see a rollout of "new permanent." For example, you might gradually see more virtual queues over the next few months.
- "100% capacity" is not something they really even need to think about until Thanksgiving 2021. I wouldn't be surprised if they are internally hoping to get to 50% capacity by Easter 2021. But that will depend on the virus numbers by that point.
- Some things can come back at almost any time, it really being a monetary decision. They could bring back EMH as an on-property enticement. Fireworks may come back first to Epcot to spark some evening attendance and restaurant usage, particularly as Epcot has the most space for social distancing while watching fireworks.

 

[mattpeto]

I don’t see much changing this year. I see some theater shows resuming closer to the holidays. Its a no for the holiday party. Masks aren’t going away anytime soon. I don’t see park hoping coming back until next year sometime.

I know like it seems that demand is way up, but in reality's it's not.

Besides the pandemic fear, the economy is also struggling. Unemployment rising. There are still domestic quarantine requirements and international restrictions.

Things won't get back to normal until there's a vaccine or a therapeutic drug. Masks will eventually go away, but in a post vaccine state.

 

[TTA94]

A great big and hard no to the entire first sentence, especially the last two things. Park hoppers are weird, and there is a desire to reinstate, but last I checked, it was kind of low on the pecking order of "desired reservation system modifications," and a few things that are definitely in front of it still have not been done.

Weirdly enough, current GE is appearing to have become a star in the pandemic. Turns out that its demand is slightly more inelastic, making it comparatively one of the most popular offerings, drawing people into DHS.



This is more optimistic than any internal timeline I have seen.

Any internal discussions on nighttime shows?Not until a vaccine?

 

[Magic Feather]

Any internal discussions on nighttime shows?Not until a vaccine?

Don't hold your breath

 

[TTA94]

Don't hold your breath

Well, for the rest of this year I know it’s not happening lol. Even though I was secretly hoping for a small Christmas project show at MK lol.

 

[Jrb1979]

I know many are itching for things to come back but I can't see much changing til they rise capacity back to closer to what it used to be before Covid

 

[Riverrafter21]

From Bob's CNBC interview it sounds like if it's not on Disney+ it ain't happening in 2020

 

[Ldno]

Well, for the rest of this year I know it’s not happening lol. Even though I was secretly hoping for a small Christmas project show at MK lol.

Me too buddy, me too...

From Bob's CNBC interview it sounds like if it's not on Disney+ it ain't happening in 2020

I knew Chapek was a penny pincher, but damn, this hit me hard, that was the ultimate nail in the coffin for me, you know they don’t care about the parks at all... well, so much for anything going on for the rest of this year. Lights get replaced for projections, oh because were “focusing” on streaming.

I get Disney’s play, they would rather invade your TV sets than from us to invade their parks, but at which point do they out balance it each other, those layoffs, resorts, I will not be surprised if we get our Disney Parks experience from a VR headset in a decade from Disney +

Josh D’s our only Hope

 

[pixie225]

As far as park-hopping goes - we have cancelled 2 Disneyworld stays in the past 3 months, with a third booked vacay coming up next week, which we will also cancel. As we are from NY, we can't quarantine 14 days upon return from Florida. I was looking at dates in May, and went through a mock booking to get a final price. I was shocked to see the Park Hopper Option available as an add-on. I am hoping this will stay, but doubt it, as the park reservation system seems to be working. We loved going to one park in the am, and another in the pm. This would also probably help the restaurant bookings, as you can't make a reservation for a restaurant in a different park than you reserved at this point. (ex: going to MK in the am, and having dinner at Epcot)

 

[wishiwere@wdw]

As others have stated, I also have no insider information but still a very interesting question. That said, I can say with near certainty that even if Disney wanted to relax things, increase capacity, open more rides and shows, it wouldn’t matter until the travel restrictions are lifted as they aren’t going to throw money down the drain until it’s even feasible for these locations to visit.

Being originally from NJ myself, I have countless friends and family still up north that can’t and won’t visit. And it isn’t out of fear of the virus... it’s all about the return quarantine as people are genuinely fearful of losing their jobs if they don’t abide by the rules (and either don’t have the vacation time or can’t afford the additional 2 weeks without pay upon return for the quarantine).

Disney is very strictly controlling the cash flow and until these travel bans are lifted; especially internationally, it just doesn’t make sense IMO to change much from what they are doing right now. Of course I hope I’m wrong .

 

[Kamikaze]

Local college scheduled Good Friday as the entirety of spring break 2021.

Its going to be interesting to see if after the pandemic ends, 'breaks' are even a thing any more.
Snow days certainly aren't going to be, as 'distance learning' (stupid term) can be used to teach on those days.
But are the scheduled weeks for winter and spring break might be unnecessary. Their primary purpose was to allow for any illnesses being spread around the schools to dissipate with the 9 days of kids not being in the classroom. But if they can just teach the kids remotely for those weeks, they can shorten the school years by two weeks, getting the kids out much earlier.
I'd imagine the Christmas -> New Years week vacation would remain unchanged no matter what.

 

[larryz]

But if they can just teach the kids remotely for those weeks, they can shorten the school years by two weeks, getting the kids out much earlier.
I'd imagine the Christmas -> New Years week vacation would remain unchanged no matter what.

Conversely, they can lengthen the school year to absorb those inter-semester breaks.

 

[granfiesta]

Personal guesses...

• Of the 4 parks, we may see an increase in attendance at 3 of them before the year's end.
• What you have been seeing this September & October will be what you see for Thanksgiving and Christmas which will be very strange.
• Leading into 2021 will be a wait and see to see how the flu season and COVID interact. We might see more things open up, but procedures will be in place. Park hoping may be an option on a limited scale.
• March 2021, if all is well, we may see some relaxing of CDC guidelines with social distancing helping with capacities. Masks will still be in place. Temp checks may be relaxed. FastPass will be reintroduced as MaxPass.
• Summer 2021, masks may begin to be relaxed, but encouraged if we are looking good. APs go back on sale.
• Park Pass remains in place indefinitely.

We can only hope that WDW will introduce MaxPass. It is absolutely awesome.

 

[EngineerMom]

Based on what I read Disney doesn't have everything open at Epcot. I love Epcot but if I have to ONLY go to Epcot I might only go 1 day on a trip if I can't park hop. If we can park hop then we go a bunch for food. We have popped over there for lunch and gone back to Studios. We have had 2 dinners there, etc.

I don't think we are unique. Disney makes lots of money on merchandise and money so I would think they would want folks hopping to Epcot. Right now they have a bump in locals with food and wine. I don't know if locals will keep places full if out off town folks cannot hop.

 

[RollerCoaster]

Park hopping is unlikely to return until reservations are no longer required. Of course, you can park hop right now. Just buy a ticket to each park.

 

[Shouldigo12]

Its going to be interesting to see if after the pandemic ends, 'breaks' are even a thing any more.
Snow days certainly aren't going to be, as 'distance learning' (stupid term) can be used to teach on those days.
But are the scheduled weeks for winter and spring break might be unnecessary. Their primary purpose was to allow for any illnesses being spread around the schools to dissipate with the 9 days of kids not being in the classroom. But if they can just teach the kids remotely for those weeks, they can shorten the school years by two weeks, getting the kids out much earlier.
I'd imagine the Christmas -> New Years week vacation would remain unchanged no matter what.

Snow days might still be a thing. Teachers can't just flip a switch and move everything online, if the lessons was prepared with the idea that it would be taught in class then it can't be expected for them to switch everything over in, what, an hour or less? Depending on how far ahead of time the school knows the weather will prevent kids from making it to class. Then there's the issue of some classes being near impossible to replicate online (like any science class with a lab) and some students not having access to WiFi at home. Online learning has its advantages but I doubt many teachers and schools will be eager to make much use of it.

 

[Kamikaze]

Conversely, they can lengthen the school year to absorb those inter-semester breaks.

I don't think extending the school year is something that anyone wants to do, anywhere.

 

[seabreezept813]

Its going to be interesting to see if after the pandemic ends, 'breaks' are even a thing any more.
Snow days certainly aren't going to be, as 'distance learning' (stupid term) can be used to teach on those days.
But are the scheduled weeks for winter and spring break might be unnecessary. Their primary purpose was to allow for any illnesses being spread around the schools to dissipate with the 9 days of kids not being in the classroom. But if they can just teach the kids remotely for those weeks, they can shorten the school years by two weeks, getting the kids out much earlier.
I'd imagine the Christmas -> New Years week vacation would remain unchanged no matter what.

They still haven’t switched our snow days to remote days even though we’re in a hybrid model. So frustrating.