Walt Disney World Park Hours cut starting September 8 2020

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legwand77

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
I think you are focusing too much on your personal anecdotal experiences and extrapolating to “everyone is doing this”. If lots of people are going back to vacations as usual then why are half the Disney resort rooms closed? Why has Universal closed 3/4 of their hotels for the year? If people in a lot of places have gone back to life as usual wouldn’t those rooms be needed, especially being a little over a month from the 3rd busiest week of the year at WDW (Christmas, Spring Break, Thanksgiving, July 4th).

I’m not basing what I’m saying on what I’m personally doing, it’s based on macroeconomic conditions. Air travel overall is still down around 2/3 from the same period the year before. See below. Some of that is business travel (20% of flights in 2019 were business vs 80% leisure- see 2nd link) but leisure travel is way down too. So while you may know people who haven’t modified their travel plans a lot of people obviously have or the numbers would be much better. I’m not trying to be a downer, but just saying “everything is fine now” doesn’t make it so. WDW is surviving...mostly on the backs of locals. Regular travel isn’t close to back to normal. It’s not my opinion, it’s a fact.

Travel Numbers | Transportation Security Administration

www.tsa.gov www.tsa.gov
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I acknowledged it was anecdotal. But I have been all over the county in the past few months, so there is that. Been to Disney multiple times since they opened. Travel is back more than you think though, try going to a beach, national park, or cities/states with less restrictions, super busy. Disney is down because of all the reasons previously mentioned restrictions. The experience at Disney/Universal is less than normal and not a great experience. It is getting more and more normal though every day. The fact that Disney is full as it is, with everything missing all the requirements, lines and masks is pretty amazing.

Here is a HS football game from Georgia last night on ESPN, only 3 hours from WDW. They have been playing like this for almost two months with no issues. I understand in your area it is not like that at all, but it is in many other places. Universal and Island of adventure are at capacity again as of this posting. I am sure Disney is just as busy.

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GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
legwand77 said:
I acknowledged it was anecdotal. But I have been all over the county in the past few months, so there is that. Been to Disney multiple times since they opened. Travel is back more than you think though, try going to a beach, national park, or cities/states with less restrictions, super busy. Disney is down because of all the reasons previously mentioned restrictions. The experience at Disney/Universal is less than normal and not a great experience. It is getting more and more normal though every day. The fact that Disney is full as it is, with everything missing all the requirements, lines and masks is pretty amazing.

Here is a HS football game from Georgia last night on ESPN, only 3 hours from WDW. They have been playing like this for almost two months with no issues. I understand in your area it is not like that at all, but it is in many other places.View attachment 504120
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Again, it has nothing to do with my area. It has nothing to do with local high school football games. There are available statistics on travel and the numbers just aren’t there. I posted the actual national stats. Travel is no where near close to normal. Yes, there are some people who are avoiding WDW solely because of lesser experience for the same price, but it’s delusional to think that if they opened with no capacity limits and no masks and full shows and fireworks that it would mean normal or anything close to normal crowds. There‘s simply no evidence to support that. You keep trying to make it out that I am only focused on my local area and the rest of the country is different but I’m providing national statistics on air travel and direct evidence from Disney itself (layoffs, resorts closed, etc). In a few weeks Disney will have their earnings release and if like you are saying most of the country is back to normal and traveling I’m sure they will highlight that and speak to the very high bookings they are seeing for WDW.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
legwand77 said:
Universal and Island of adventure are at capacity again as of this posting. I am sure Disney is just as busy.
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I get that the parks are full (especially on weekends) but it’s primarily a locals crowd. If Universal parks are really open and filled to capacity at both parks then that’s full evidence of this considering over half their hotel rooms are still closed. If business was back to normal (parks full with no limits) and national travel was back to normal (as you claim) why would they keep half the rooms closed? Doesn‘t make a whole lot of economic sense. Universal offered to convert their one day park tickets to annual passes good through Christmas over the summer so that‘s a big driver of these crowds. It’s not a bad thing to get people back in the parks (still selling food and merchandise), but they aren’t making the kind of money they were from tourists flying into town buying full price tickets and paying for hotel rooms.
 
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legwand77

Well-Known Member
It is not just you and your area, but you leaned very heavy on NY, NJ, PA travel restrictions, ( I list those three b/c they are the only ones with fines etc.). I am noting it is a much different scenario in many (not most) areas throughout the country. The TSA travel stats your listed even show the increase in travel, two of the highest travel days in since March were the past two days, good chance it will hit 1M very soon. Yes travel is down significantly from pre C19 times, but it is coming back slow and steady as things open up. Note auto travel volume is only down 10% back in July (latest numbers posted), from the previous year and up from 40% down in April. I imagine the numbers for sept are only down <5% from the previous year.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
legwand77 said:
It is not just you and your area, but you leaned very heavy on NY, NJ, PA travel restrictions, ( I list those three b/c they are the only ones with fines etc.). I am noting it is a much different scenario in many (not most) areas throughout the country. The TSA travel stats your listed even show the increase in travel, two of the highest travel days in since March were the past two days, good chance it will hit 1M very soon. Yes travel is down significantly from pre C19 times, but it is coming back slow and steady as things open up. Note auto travel volume is only down 10% back in July (latest numbers posted), from the previous year and up from 40% down in April. I imagine the numbers for sept are only down <5% from the previous year.
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That’s my point though. I never said travel was down compared to March/April, of course it’s up. I never said nobody was traveling, of course people are. What I’m saying is that in the context of WDW getting back to normal business they need tourists (especially tourists who are flying in). Having locals at the parks or people driving in from Georgia is great, but that’s not enough to get them where they need to get. Many people did road trips this summer vs flying. There’s stats on that out there too. I never said people weren’t going anywhere, just not flying for travel at nearly a high enough rate.

If people all over the country are back to flying as usual and it’s only 3 states where people aren’t traveling then why are the national stats down 60%+ year over year. Are there that many travelers from those 3 states? Maybe, but its far more likely that there’s a large downturn in flying nationally. That’s bad news for WDW which is a national park and that‘s why half the resorts are still shuttered and parks are nowhere near back to pre-Covid levels.
 
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easyrowrdw

Well-Known Member
techgeek said:
The Rise boarding group situation significantly front-loads arrivals at the studios. The big crowds continue to be at park open and taper off slowly from there. Unless they fix the way that’s handled, there’s no ‘spreading out’ when crowds come and go.
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True, but they can open the park earlier. You won't get nearly the crowds at 7 as you do at 10 - especially with how Disney is shortening the arrival window to the parks. Opening the rest of the shows wouldn't hurt either.
 
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legwand77

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
That’s my point though. I never said travel was down compared to March/April, of course it’s up. I never said nobody was traveling, of course people are. What I’m saying is that in the context of WDW getting back to normal business they need tourists (especially tourists who are flying in). Having locals at the parks or people driving in from Georgia is great, but that’s not enough to get them where they need to get. Many people did road trips this summer vs flying. There’s stats on that out there too. I never said people weren’t going anywhere, just not flying for travel at nearly a high enough rate.

If people all over the country are back to flying as usual and it’s only 3 states where people aren’t traveling then why are the national stats down 60%+ year over year. Are there that many travelers from those 3 states? Maybe, but its far more likely that there’s a large downturn in flying nationally. That’s bad news for WDW which is a national park and that‘s why half the resorts are still shuttered and parks are nowhere near back to pre-Covid levels.
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I pretty much agree but just look at it from a different angle.
 
Miss Bella

Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
Mexico has opened up and there are countries in central and South America opening up. I’m starting to be a little more optimistic about international travel.
South and Central America were never on my radar, but after researching some destinations specifically Costa Rica and Peru. I’m adding those to my list of possibilities in 2021. I’ve always been so focused on Europe and Japan, but who knows I may end up doing something I never considered. One door closes another opens as they say.
 
JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
carand99 said:
Dude I live here for a long time. Apartment buildings are full. Rent is not going down.
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carand99 said:
Ok, will take pictures if I go back during the week. Universal tomorrow you will see 45 min or more for Shrek. Thats how you know if the park is full. A lot of locals go to the parks just to the restaurants. They should open Epcot to 100% if they want more revenue and save jobs. Right now I see so many out of state license plates it feels like summer. If you want to build a pool in your home, you need to wait until 2021, that how bad the economy is.
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Always refreshing when someone feels the need to create a new account to post a contrary and ignorant opinions on a Disney message board. Thanks for keeping my faith in humanity.

LUVMCO said:
Mexico has opened up and there are countries in central and South America opening up. I’m starting to be a little more optimistic about international travel.
South and Central America were never on my radar, but after researching some destinations specifically Costa Rica and Peru. I’m adding those to my list of possibilities in 2021. I’ve always been so focused on Europe and Japan, but who knows I may end up doing something I never considered. One door closes another opens as they say.
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Keep at it, you may just get that cruise yet.
 
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Lilofan

Well-Known Member
LUVMCO said:
Mexico has opened up and there are countries in central and South America opening up. I’m starting to be a little more optimistic about international travel.
South and Central America were never on my radar, but after researching some destinations specifically Costa Rica and Peru. I’m adding those to my list of possibilities in 2021. I’ve always been so focused on Europe and Japan, but who knows I may end up doing something I never considered. One door closes another opens as they say.
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If you are going to the favorite tourist area of Cuzco, Peru you need to drink the coca tea and or chew the coca leaves sold in many places. It helps with altitude sickness. The air is so thin and it's hard on your lungs without help from coca.
 
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GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member

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