Walt Disney World Park Hours cut starting September 8 2020

[wdwmagic]

Are people really saying this? Do they not realize that daylight savings time ends in November? Why would,they cut back on hours in Sept and even the beginning of Oct when it still stays light pretty late? It’s purely economic.

And hours were cut in the morning, not just the evening.

 

[GoofGoof]

Many sports tournaments and competitions already or still happening, had a big volleyball tournament back in July.

Define many. You named one volleyball tournament. I will quantify my statement and say the majority of conventions, sporting events and special ticket parties are canceled or will be canceled for the fall into winter season.

 

[Lilofan]

And hours were cut in the morning, not just the evening.

Opening all of Epcot at 11am is going to be strange. No more breakfast at the park.

 

[JoeCamel]

Opening all of Epcot at 11am is going to be strange. No more breakfast at the park.

Upside is the whole park opens at once.

 

[wdwmagic]

Opening all of Epcot at 11am is going to be strange. No more breakfast at the park.

Yes, and no park open after 7pm is going to be tough for people. Disney Springs every night?

 

[JoeCamel]

Yes, and no park open after 7pm is going to be tough for people. Disney Springs every night?

Room parties.........

 

[easyrowrdw]

Define many. You named one volleyball tournament. I will quantify my statement and say the majority of conventions, sporting events and special ticket parties are canceled or will be canceled for the fall into winter season.

The rumor I saw on ESPN was that the big 5 football conferences might cancel fall football. That doesn't impact Disney, but it's a huge undertaking. It seems very difficult to plan large gatherings with so much uncertainty.

 

[GoofGoof]

Yes, and no park open after 7pm is going to be tough for people. Disney Springs every night?

Or the pool. I wonder if they will have capacity problems with the pools in the evening.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Numerous posts here and other places from people who actually went or plan to go say different. Go to any of the Covid threads and there are pages of people defending Disney as “safe” due to the precautions. You are not factoring is whether they would have still gone if the safety precautions were not in effect.

We (members of the Disney fan community) are not a representative sample. I'm talking about *random mom and dad in Columbus, Ohio who have never been to Walt Disney World but their kids are 9 and 7 this year and their sister Nancy had great things to say about Port Orleans Riverside when they went in 2017.*

The rumor I saw on ESPN was that the big 5 football conferences might cancel fall football. That doesn't impact Disney, but it's a huge undertaking. It seems very difficult to plan large gatherings with so much uncertainty.

Oh it affects Disney. The degree to which that would be an unmitigated disaster for ESPN cannot be understated.

 

[DISR]

With so few activities available outside the parks, I wonder if this is going to cause crowd problems and overwhelm pools and other limited services available at the resorts. There is a ton outside the parks at WDW during normal times, but that seems to be dramatically curtained for now.

 

[GoofGoof]

We (members of the Disney fan community) are not a representative sample. I'm talking about *random mom and dad in Columbus, Ohio who have never been to Walt Disney World but their kids are 9 and 7 this year and their sister Nancy had great things to say about Port Orleans Riverside when they went in 2017.*

In normal times I would agree, but the first time tourists aren’t who are going to WDW right now (at least in large numbers anyway). The large groups that are going are AP holders, DVC owners with points that expire in the next 6 months and big Disney parks fans who tend to visit more frequently. A lot of those people that I’ve heard from prefer to have the safety precautions to either be safe or at least feel safer.

 

[GoofGoof]

The rumor I saw on ESPN was that the big 5 football conferences might cancel fall football. That doesn't impact Disney, but it's a huge undertaking. It seems very difficult to plan large gatherings with so much uncertainty.

I know the big ten had a meeting over the weekend but the result has been hush hush so far. I believe the commissioner prefers a plan to play football in the Spring which is what the MAC already voted to do. The MAC decision was made easier because they were losing their big money games anyway when the major conferences all decided to go conference schedule only. They have less to lose.

 

[GoofGoof]

That's kind of my point. First time tourists WOULD go to WDW if there was no mask requirement and they were on *that side* of the culture war. The same people who were at Lake of the Ozarks.

It’s an interesting theory but there’s no evidence anywhere to actually support that. A bunch of 20 somethings looking for a good party aren’t going to shell out thousands to go to WDW where everything closes by 7PM when they can get a $35 flight to Myrtle Beach where the party goes all night. I don’t think Disney wants to trade a portion of their long term loyal visitors with families for some kids looking to party. If that was true they would have kept PI open

 

[easyrowrdw]

Oh it affects Disney. The degree to which that would be an unmitigated disaster for ESPN cannot be understated.

Oh, definitely. I meant Disney trips. The loss of sports has been a big issue for ESPN and Disney overall.

I know the big ten had a meeting over the weekend but the result has been hush hush so far. I believe the commissioner prefers a plan to play football in the Spring which is what the MAC already voted to do. The MAC decision was made easier because they were losing their big money games anyway when the major conferences all decided to go conference schedule only. They have less to lose.

That makes sense to me. Obviously there are issues with playing in the spring, but it seems much safer than trying to play in a month.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It’s an interesting theory but there’s no evidence anywhere to actually support that. A bunch of 20 somethings looking for a good party aren’t going to shell out thousands to go to WDW where everything closes by 7PM when they can get a $35 flight to Myrtle Beach where the party goes all night. I don’t think Disney wants to trade a portion of their long term loyal visitors with families for some kids looking to party. If that was true they would have kept PI open

That's fair, I'm being to narrow talking about masks only. I basically mean "WDW operating as normal." I've said from the beginning that they should have either stayed closed or opened fully. Right now they appealing to practically nobody.

 

[legwand77]

Define many. You named one volleyball tournament. I will quantify my statement and say the majority of conventions, sporting events and special ticket parties are canceled or will be canceled for the fall into winter season.

Just named that one because it happened already in July 10,000+ people. Most AAU and travel sports are operating as usual across the country and in Florida. A majority of the Pop Warner teams in the country started August 1st. Of course there will not be any tournaments etc at ESPN WOS due to NBA and closure.

 

[Lilofan]

Room parties.........

It's highway robbery to purchase six packs of cold beer in the hotels.

 

[JoeCamel]

It's highway robbery to purchase six packs of cold beer in the hotels.

Uber, rental, Doordash.......

 

[Ben_since_1971]

Or the pool. I wonder if they will have capacity problems with the pools in the evening.

With so few activities available outside the parks, I wonder if this is going to cause crowd problems and overwhelm pools and other limited services available at the resorts. There is a ton outside the parks at WDW during normal times, but that seems to be dramatically curtained for now.

Potentially, but given demand is already low enough to shave hours, perhaps resort occupancy will not be high enough to warrant any worry?

 

[GoofGoof]

Potentially, but given demand is already low enough to shave hours, perhaps resort occupancy will not be high enough to warrant any worry?

So far I think that has been the case. The only time I saw anything about capacity issues with the pools was in the first few weeks when AKV was open but no parks. There was a long line and it didn’t move.