Universal Puts Disney's Reopening on Defensive

[brianstl]

Nielsen says it is. They know more than you.

Nielsen says what he pulls in on prime time on a Saturday. Nielsen isn’t claiming he his a weeknight late night host like you are.

 

[Giss Neric]

Having been to both today I wouldn't say that Universal is "ahead of the game". Both were the same in terms of the setups they had for screening at CW and DS. But Universal do have several factors in their favor to reopen the parks:

1. Guest attitude. As I already mentioned almost all the guests at Universal were following all the rules today. I haven't done any studies or anything but if I had to guess I would say this is because Uni has never been known as pushovers by locals/APs/guests.

2. Logistics. The central parking garages and security makes the whole thing a lot easier. To get all the parks and resorts open Disney will need to deploy a lot more cast members to screen everyone. Plus the issues with transportation that Universal just doesn't have. Maybe it's time to pave the Seven Seas Lagoon?

3. Scale. Disney's size make their work bigger by an order of magnitude.

But just opening City Walk (with a few stores and restaurants) may not translate into opening two theme parks and a water park safely and with no issues. It will be interesting to see how they handle it.

To summarize, Disney regulars/guests are worse than Universal.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Nielsen says what he pulls in on prime time on a Saturday. Nielsen isn’t claiming he his a weeknight late night host like you are.

Saturday is a pretty competitive night...I never miss the Golden Girls and Empty Nest...

Or at least I didn’t back before they stopped running competitive shows on Saturday 27 years ago

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

To summarize, Disney regulars/guests are worse than Universal.

More entitled?

Based on my experience dealing in a less entitled time - that is actually a rhetorical question.

 

[pdude81]

Ok...I’m gonna “resemble” the following remarks...

But if the “problem” is you’ve had “multiple” trips impacted by a 75 day shutdown and the aftershocks...ya don’t need it.

I’d like to be there and I don’t need it.

And if you do...you’re likely DVC and that’s all sortsa shot to hell. I don’t think they even know how bad?
Side note: my BIL was allowed to bank his expiring 2018 points...that’s terrible. Math won’t work if that becomes a trend.

Well 2 trips in 2 months, probably not. But from what we're hearing WDW may well be down another 6 weeks and who knows on DL. I think a spring break and summer trip wouldn't be too uncommon, and given that most summer on-site stays are in the fastpass window with no idea if the resort will be open, it's got to be freaking out most people.

The banking of old expiring points is kind of screwed up, but I think they figured that they could weather that storm if the resorts aren't shut down forever. The problem is that they sell people on the idea that banking and borrowing is normal and they can count on everything going right as long as they don't cancel too close to the trip. So if they want to sell any timeshares in the future, they can't make that pitch a lie. Now I would have much rather they created some soft of trade in bucket of points that people could use to book cash resorts and leave the regular system alone. But I'm not knowledgeable about the legalities of what they can offer to people in these circumstances.

 

[Giss Neric]

More entitled?

Based on my experience dealing in a less entitled time - that is actually a rhetorical question.

Yes, definitely more entitled I should say. It just sucks that most people think that Universal opened more successfully cause of that one incident of idiots grilling their own food that became viral.

I have been to both City Walk and Springs. Both were very pleasant visits.

 

[brianstl]

Saturday is a pretty competitive night...I never miss the Golden Girls and Empty Nest...

Or at least I didn’t back before they stopped running competitive shows on Saturday 27 years ago

Yeah, it being normally lowest for viewership overall and in the most desired demo groups doesn’t normally lead to great choices.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The banking of old expiring points is kind of screwed up, but I think they figured that they could weather that storm if the resorts aren't shut down forever. The problem is that they sell people on the idea that banking and borrowing is normal and they can count on everything going right as long as they don't cancel too close to the trip. So if they want to sell any timeshares in the future, they can't make that pitch a lie. Now I would have much rather they created some soft of trade in bucket of points that people could use to book cash resorts and leave the regular system alone. But I'm not knowledgeable about the legalities of what they can offer to people in these circumstances.

Not to sidetrack...but you’re dead on.

And the problem is the point math literally won’t work unless large numbers don’t use their full allotment for awhile as the backlog clears.

Sound likely?

DVC...if I recall and I may be shaky...assumes as 97% usage rate in year...with the banking and borrowing ultimately offsetting.

That’s just to accommodate everyone into the rooms they built.

Ruh roh, Raggy

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

More entitled?

Based on my experience dealing in a less entitled time - that is actually a rhetorical question.

The problem is that most humans don’t know how to act in public...courtesy left this place a long time ago. Certain Disney guests are just the far ends of the bell curve.

I was at BC pool, and this life guard is telling a group of teenagers to stop running. He actually puts one of them in “time out” beside him and says either sit here for five minutes or I can tell your parents why your in trouble. The mother came over and said “I paid for this, and he can do whatever he wants...”

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The problem is that most humans don’t know how to act in public...courtesy left this place a long time ago. Certain Disney guests are just the far ends of the bell curve.

I was at BC pool, and this life guard is telling a group of teenagers to stop running. He actually puts one of them in “time out” beside him and says either sit here for five minutes or I can tell your parents why your in trouble. The mother came over and said “I paid for this, and he can do whatever he wants...”

See...I was a GSM at yacht and that might have gotten an ejection.

...but I tended to be more “rogue”...but I was really fast/good with the archaic computer systems at the time and didn’t hide from conflict so they “tolerated me”

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

See...I was a GSM at yacht and that might have gotten an ejection.

...but I tended to be more “rogue”...but I was really fast/good with the archaic computer systems at the time and didn’t hide from conflict so they “tolerated me”

You mean the CM or guest could have been ejected?

 

[Getachew]

I think the fact universal is “walkable” in the end makes a huge difference. Not “comfortably” walkable...but possible.

It's true, both parks are right next to each other where you can easily walk to.

While I know there's many rumors, all ranging from opening all the parks at the same time, to only MK first, and now apparently half of Epcot and DHS first, the one rumor stating re-opening MK last because of what a nightmare it is to get in and out of the park makes sense. At least with the other 3 you can park and walk to the parks. MK that is not possible. That said, I can't see WDW opening MK last. MK is their main money maker, and your average Disney guest (not fanatics like us) consider MK to be Disney World. I've had numerous people tell me they thought MK was Disney World and the other parks were separate.

 

[Polkadotdress]

It's been hot for two weeks! Just way dry. Reminded me of AZ!
I wore a mask early but to be honest haven't been doing it lately. We're in Polk and never had the mandatory mask requirement. We have had less than 5 cases here in our zip code since the start of this. Looking forward to our trip to Fort Wilderness in October, just hope some of the restaurants will be open by then.

You may want to recheck those counts...as of today Polk Cty has 853 cases and 49 deaths.

Florida COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

Florida COVID-19 Coronavirus update by county with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, current active cases, recoveries, historical data, trends, projections, and timeline.

www.worldometers.info

 

[larryz]

It's true, both parks are right next to each other where you can easily walk to.

While I know there's many rumors, all ranging from opening all the parks at the same time, to only MK first, and now apparently half of Epcot and DHS first, the one rumor stating re-opening MK last because of what a nightmare it is to get in and out of the park makes sense. At least with the other 3 you can park and walk to the parks. MK that is not possible. That said, I can't see WDW opening MK last. MK is their main money maker, and your average Disney guest (not fanatics like us) consider MK to be Disney World. I've had numerous people tell me they thought MK was Disney World and the other parks were separate.

Guests staying at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort can walk to the gates at MK... as will those staying at the luxurious Grand Floridian, once WDW finishes the other bridge over the nearer channel. I wonder if we'll see exclusive opening of MK for those guests...

 

[Getachew]

Guests staying at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort can walk to the gates at MK... as will those staying at the luxurious Grand Floridian, once WDW finishes the other bridge over the nearer channel. I wonder if we'll see exclusive opening of MK for those guests...

Will that be enough to justify opening the park? Those resorts are some of the most expensive.

 

[Hcalvert]

The problem is that most humans don’t know how to act in public...courtesy left this place a long time ago. Certain Disney guests are just the far ends of the bell curve.

I was at BC pool, and this life guard is telling a group of teenagers to stop running. He actually puts one of them in “time out” beside him and says either sit here for five minutes or I can tell your parents why your in trouble. The mother came over and said “I paid for this, and he can do whatever he wants...”

I really cannot understand this viewpoint. This parent is probably from the same ilk as the parent that responded: "Yeah, you probably are and he has the right to speak his mind, even if you don't like it" when I called her to let her know that her son said to me: "You're a f-ing B, bruh" (censored) when I told him he couldn't watch YouTube videos during class. I knew from that point, I had to deal with the kid directly and not contact the parent again.

 

[Rider]

To summarize, Disney regulars/guests are worse than Universal.

For the most part the regulars are the same people.

But Disney has always operated on the "We're a nice family park and everyone here is nice and so you should also be nice too" attitude. The parks (and the Disney brand) are designed to be happy places where you can have a magical day and the cast members will help you do that.

Meanwhile the Universal parks have always been more aggressive. "We're fun too! And not in the boring calm way of that other place but in an exciting way!" which needs a more... proactive... way to make sure people are having fun safely. Just look at how Universal handles HHN... they had metal detectors years before Disney (and Uni added them full time), security and police everywhere, crowd control barriers, and the message that if you acted up you'd be gone.

 

[TeriofTerror]

Guests staying at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort can walk to the gates at MK... as will those staying at the luxurious Grand Floridian, once WDW finishes the other bridge over the nearer channel. I wonder if we'll see exclusive opening of MK for those guests...

Technically, once the walkway is open someone could walk all the way from the TTC to the MK. But even I have to admit that would be a bit of a trek.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You mean the CM or guest could have been ejected?

...take a wild guess.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

The skyliner is an odd choice because it's an enclosed space with ventilation. So there is 0 chance you can wipe these down between guests or at any regular frequency, but since there is some ventilation you won't necessarily give the virus to the party they cram in with you.

Now perhaps in this environment they will actually just sit one party in a skyliner at a time, but you know nobody is wearing masks in there when it's just their family, and if someone were to cough or sneeze into their elbow and really just sneeze on the seat next to them, that's all over the seat where people often rest their hands. I totally get the idea that walking to/from those two resorts presents a great opportunity for social distancing, but I'm not sold on the skyliner. I'd rather be on a low capacity bus that gets wiped every now and then. Sure the CDC is saying surfaces aren't the primary transmission method, but that may well be due to how paranoid people are about surfaces after the initial guidance was issued.

Yeah they plan for it to be one party per cabin, and then they will send the cabin off “fogged” before someone new enters the cabin.