Universal Puts Disney's Reopening on Defensive

[larryz]

This whole thread has just become another Disney vs. Universal. The moment I read the thread title I already knew.

Somebody didn’t read the thread.

I've read the whole thread, and I didn't get that vibe either.

 

[larryz]

Maybe this would be more acceptable?
View attachment 472356

Only if that filter cannister is filled with pixie dust.

 

[peter11435]

For one since they are closed til further notice maybe stop taking any reservations. If they know the After Hour parties aren't happening stop selling tickets for them. The big one is they must know by now that when they do open a lot of things will be limited so why keep letting people book as if things were normal. You guys keep defending the precious Mouse.

They do stop taking reservations for periods they generally know they will not be open for. It wouldn’t make sense to cut reservations entirely beyond that. None of the other parks stopped reservations either. But they have been upfront with people making reservations that there is known known date for when they will reopen. Anyone making a reservation at this time should understand that and that we are in the middle of a global pandemic and the period of most uncertainty in modern times.

They don’t know after hours events aren’t happening. There are still too many unknowns between now and then. There are certainly concerns that they may not happen but nothing is certain. Same for HHN.

Their recent message largely addresses your last point by making it clear that things won’t be normal.

 

[Jrb1979]

They do stop taking reservations for periods they generally know they will not be open for. It wouldn’t make sense to cut reservations entirely beyond that. None of the other parks stopped reservations either. But they have been upfront with people making reservations that there is known known date for when they will reopen. Anyone making a reservation at this time should understand that and that we are in the middle of a global pandemic and the period of most uncertainty in modern times.

They don’t know after hours events aren’t happening. There are still too many unknowns between now and then. There are certainly concerns that they may not happen but nothing is certain. Same for HHN.

Their recent message largely addresses your last point by making it clear that things won’t be normal.

I guess my point is that since they don't know what events are happening or what is going to be limited why not take all those things off the table and just leave it open for resort reservations and park tickets only. Take all ADRs and FP off the table for now.

 

[Touchdown]

Sure. But what if it trends back up as states reopen? What if it stays the same throughout the summer? What metric is Disney watching? What number(s) do they deem acceptable? When will it actually be "safe" or "appropriate" to reopen? COVID isn't going anywhere in three months. Or six months. So what have they been waiting on? I suspect there's some PR/image concerns at play here -- as well as there should be. Nobody wants to kill Grandma. Universal had to make the first move and be the bad guy. Now it's time to announce a plan and do it.

If cases go back up, I imagine they won’t open. It is absolutely clear no one followed social distancing anywhere this past weekend and a bunch of people traveled. We may have just had the event that causes a second spike or even a second shutdown, we will know in 3-5 weeks. I know my state has seen an increase in new cases ever since our stay at home was lifted by the State Supreme Court (WI) and it is going to be a very interesting 2-3 weeks here. Chicago, Baltimore and Washington DC are currently really bad hot spots and places WDW draws from, the fact of the matter is that Universal does not have the national draw WDW has and is much more popular with locals.

 

[peter11435]

I guess my point is that since they don't know what events are happening or what is going to be limited why not take all those things off the table and just leave it open for resort reservations and park tickets only. Take all ADRs and FP off the table for now.

Because one day they will be open and someday beyond that things will be back to “normal.”

It’s the same reason nobody else is doing what you’re suggesting. I can book a royal Caribbean cruise for later this year or a flight to Brazil even though it’s highly likely those things won’t happen either.

 

[jinx8402]

I guess my point is that since they don't know what events are happening or what is going to be limited why not take all those things off the table and just leave it open for resort reservations and park tickets only. Take all ADRs and FP off the table for now.

But what if they require adr and still use the fp system when they do open?

As someone stating on site for end of August, if I couldn't make my fp 60+ days out but then they decide to continue using the fp system less than 30 days from my stay, I'd be more ticked that I didn't get my benefit of 60 day to then if they decide to scrap fp for the time being and I lost them after making them.

 

[WondersOfLife]

But will Poseidon’s Fury reopen?

 

[GoofGoof]

I guess my point is that since they don't know what events are happening or what is going to be limited why not take all those things off the table and just leave it open for resort reservations and park tickets only. Take all ADRs and FP off the table for now.

Take everything off-line for all time? That’s pretty impractical. People are booking ADRs for their Thanksgiving trip today. DVC owners are booking spring break for 2021. With Disney you have to plan ahead. Unless they don’t plan to open for the next 11 months they are going to keep the reservations open. Universal didn‘t stop taking reservations at their hotels before they announced a plan. You have to start somewhere on a date you take reservations starting. Universal also never announced anything until 2 weeks before opening. They were also closed until further notice.

There hasn’t been just one opening plan. I‘m sure like everyone else they had multiple plans. Nobody knew how things would progress. In March/April they cancelled a lot of reservations and then set the new first date you could rebook as June 1 under the hopes that things improved faster and the quick open plan happened. They moved it to July 1 when they knew they wouldn’t be open in June. If the July 1 date slips they can move it again. There’s also nothing to stop them from moving the date up. They could open in June still and either reopen reservations or just keep the existing ones (this is unlikely but possible). The point is if you have to be at Disney when it first opens you need to keep watching and potentially rebooking. If you don’t want to deal with it cancel and rebook in the fall or do something else. WDW will be there In the fall and next year.

 

[Jrb1979]

Take everything off-line for all time? That’s pretty impractical. People are booking ADRs for their Thanksgiving trip today. DVC owners are booking spring break for 2021. With Disney you have to plan ahead. Unless they don’t plan to open for the next 11 months they are going to keep the reservations open. Universal didn‘t stop taking reservations at their hotels before they announced a plan. You have to start somewhere on a date you take reservations starting. Universal also never announced anything until 2 weeks before opening. They were also closed until further notice.

There hasn’t been just one opening plan. I‘m sure like everyone else they had multiple plans. Nobody knew how things would progress. In March/April they cancelled a lot of reservations and then set the new first date you could rebook as June 1 under the hopes that things improved faster and the quick open plan happened. They moved it to July 1 when they knew they wouldn’t be open in June. If the July 1 date slips they can move it again. There’s also nothing to stop them from moving the date up. They could open in June still and either reopen reservations or just keep the existing ones (this is unlikely but possible). The point is if you have to be at Disney when it first opens you need to keep watching and potentially rebooking. If you don’t want to deal with it cancel and rebook in the fall or do something else. WDW will be there In the fall and next year.

I'm not saying to take it off the table for all time. Though I would love if Disney went back to the FP was originally. For the summer take it off the table. They must know for sure that if they do open this summer things will definitely not be like normal.

 

[GoofGoof]

Sure. But what if it trends back up as states reopen? What if it stays the same throughout the summer? What metric is Disney watching? What number(s) do they deem acceptable? When will it actually be "safe" or "appropriate" to reopen? COVID isn't going anywhere in three months. Or six months. So what have they been waiting on? I suspect there's some PR/image concerns at play here -- as well as there should be. Nobody wants to kill Grandma. Universal had to make the first move and be the bad guy. Now it's time to announce a plan and do it. I think this is where a lot of frustation is coming from. I'll just leave it at that.

You are assuming nothing changes but that’s not likely to be the case. FL and the whole country is following reopening plans. Nobody has said the restrictions in place today as we just begin reopening will all be around in August or September. If the state and most of the country move to phase 3 there shouldn’t be a need for as many restrictions. Maybe they open without masks or temp screens. When larger crowds are allowed maybe they can open more shows and parades. There is certainly a possibility that the theme park experience will be improved in a few months. Even if the country doesn’t move in a good direction its at least less miserable to be in a mask in the fall vs the hot and humid summer.

 

[Dutch Inn '76]

As of this morning, however, Disney has far... far more to worry about given China's encroachment on Hong Kong. "Owning" parks and more in a potential cold war opponent is something they have little plan for.

I certainly hope that Disney has taken communism into account when considering everything over there. Those guys don't play well with others.

 

[sbunit]

For one since they are closed til further notice maybe stop taking any reservations. If they know the After Hour parties aren't happening stop selling tickets for them. The big one is they must know by now that when they do open a lot of things will be limited so why keep letting people book as if things were normal. You guys keep defending the precious Mouse.

They can't stop taking reservations from a business and fiscal systems standpoint. I own a small business (healthcare) and have been deemed essential but mandated to only do emergency care during the pandemic. That means I had to cancel all elective and routine procedures. However, I didn't just cancel across the board, I proceeded on a week by week basis. I also didn't stop scheduling patients who wanted to make appointments for routine care, I just scheduled them much further out. The point being, from a business standpoint you have to keep the flow of revenue (in my case patients, in Disney's cases vacation clients) in place so when you are ready to finally open or resume business you have an adequate flow of people coming in to justify the resumption of your business. Basically, Disney needs to continue to accept reservations in order to meet minimum occupancy standards/criteria that are a necessary to open. Without a certain number of bookings, opening those resorts is not practicable. So they will continue to accept booking even if they don't plan to open until next year (which I don't think is the case).

 

[Jrb1979]

You are assuming nothing changes but that’s not likely to be the case. FL and the whole country is following reopening plans. Nobody has said the restrictions in place today as we just begin reopening will all be around in August or September. If the state and most of the country move to phase 3 there shouldn’t be a need for as many restrictions. Maybe they open without masks or temp screens. When larger crowds are allowed maybe they can open more shows and parades. There is certainly a possibility that the theme park experience will be improved in a few months. Even if the country doesn’t move in a good direction its at least less miserable to be in a mask in the fall vs the hot and humid summer.

I don't any of that changing for awhile. The only thing I see changing is capacity limits. They wouldn't spend the time and money to put these measures in place to take them away in a month or 2. Don't be surprised that most of this stays in place til a vaccine or treatment comes along.

 

[DisneyDelirious]

I can see this working in theory but the time between exit and entry is very small. So you'd need to mark the cabins at exit so nobody went in on the other side, and then fog the cabin on the trip out... which would be a huge problem if there were any mistakes and they fogged a cabin with people in it.

More realistically they can have people in hazmat suits enter when the guests get off and spray the seats quickly, so you know on the other side which to leave alone. That doesn't seem to me like something people would be accepting of in their vacation though. At least half empty buses can be swapped out or sprayed and left to sit for a few minutes of evaporation between runs. I just don't see the skyliner as a useful transportation tool until or unless CDC says there is no surface transmission, rather than shrugging their shoulders.

I’m not jabbing at you, saying this more for those who haven’t witnessed and might be uninformed. As a Hazmat tech I would be concerned about the PR of this if it was within public view and without a significant education/ notification plan. You just put somebody in a half-face respirator and coveralls and some folks start feeling uneasy pretty quickly. It’s not their fault, they don’t know or understand what they are seeing. Folks out providing treatment for invasive species or some other sort of abatement/ treatment and some well intentioned person think it’s terrorism. Much more prevalent post 9-11. Before that it was just folks who watched Sci-Fi B-movies as a young child that got freaked out by suits

 

[GoofGoof]

I don't any of that changing for awhile. The only thing I see changing is capacity limits. They wouldn't spend the time and money to put these measures in place to take them away in a month or 2. Don't be surprised that most of this stays in place til a vaccine or treatment comes along.

The only thing we know for sure is that we don’t know anything for sure. This whole process is a huge unknown. There’s no way any of us let alone anyone at Disney knows what will happen. Ignoring the possibility of a second wave or a turn for the worse the plan laid out by the government and the CDC calls for a phased approach. By phase 3 of the CDC guidelines there’s only limited physical distancing left. How does that translate to a theme park? Who knows. When will phase 3 happen? Who knows. Considering LEGOLAND nearby and a few other more local type attractions are opening in the current phase as masks recommended not required it’s conceivable that by the fall the mask requirement could be lessened. Phase 3 also removes the 25 person limit on group gatherings. That potentially impacts capacity limits on bus and boat transport and also could allow some form of parades and shows with the limited physical distancing. Either way unless there is a turn for the worse restrictions will lessen.

 

[Jrb1979]

The only thing we know for sure is that we don’t know anything for sure. This whole process is a huge unknown. There’s no way any of us let alone anyone at Disney knows what will happen. Ignoring the possibility of a second wave or a turn for the worse the plan laid out by the government and the CDC calls for a phased approach. By phase 3 of the CDC guidelines there’s only limited physical distancing left. How does that translate to a theme park? Who knows. When will phase 3 happen? Who knows. Considering LEGOLAND nearby and a few other more local type attractions are opening in the current phase as masks recommended not required it’s conceivable that by the fall the mask requirement could be lessened. Phase 3 also removes the 25 person limit on group gatherings. That potentially impacts capacity limits on bus and boat transport and also could allow some form of parades and shows with the limited physical distancing. Either way unless there is a turn for the worse restrictions will lessen.

Which makes sense for Disney to wait as long as possible. Less restrictions means better chance of keeping the Magic in place. A lot of people will be upset if that happens. All I have to say is for those that are upset, do like I'm doing and try other parks.

 

[GladToBeHear]

You are assuming nothing changes but that’s not likely to be the case. FL and the whole country is following reopening plans. Nobody has said the restrictions in place today as we just begin reopening will all be around in August or September. If the state and most of the country move to phase 3 there shouldn’t be a need for as many restrictions. Maybe they open without masks or temp screens. When larger crowds are allowed maybe they can open more shows and parades. There is certainly a possibility that the theme park experience will be improved in a few months. Even if the country doesn’t move in a good direction its at least less miserable to be in a mask in the fall vs the hot and humid summer.

I'm not assuming anything. Anything is possible at this point. But clearly there are plans being discussed and I'm assuming those plans hinge on something. Is there a certain metric that Disney is paying attention to? Universal is announcing dates. So what do they know that DIsney doesn't? Or vice versa?

 

[DisneyOutsider]

A lot of people will be upset if that happens..

I don't think Disney cares... Nor should they. Those people should be the very last thing on their minds right now.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I'm hearing Universal didn't surprise Disney at all with their June 5th reopening date. Both Disney and Universal were on the Governor's Reopening Committee, they both outlined their plans. Universal said June, Disney said end of August. Disney pushed really hard to have Universal blocked from opening in June, but the Governor and Orange Co. officials like the thought of that Summer tourist tax money, so Universal's plan got approved. Now Disney is back to the drawing board trying to figure out what they can can bring on line by mid-June with their now limited staffing resources.

This is not really a case of Disney being "caught flat-footed" as just the fact that the 2 resorts are in much different situations in regards to the ability to reopen.

Universal is still paying all of their full time employees. All they have to do is schedule them to work, train them on new policy procedures, and fling the doors open. It was in Universal's best interest to get the parks open ASAP and stop paying employees with no incoming revenue.

Disney, on the other hand, sent all their international and college program employees home and furloughed almost everyone else. Not to mention that they require 3 times the staff that Universal needs. It simply going to take longer to get the place ready for guests.