Walt Disney World Park Hours cut starting September 8 2020

[GoofGoof]

Why not change soon, situation is improving in Florida and across the county, Florida hospitalization are back to where they were before the "spike", today posted the lowest case increase since June, case positivity trending down for weeks etc. All those indicators improving will only help the attendance etc.

I would be wary about New Zealand as an example.

The people who run TWDC and specifically WDW clearly are less optimistic considering they announced further reductions in park hours and a delay (in a few cases indefinitely) on opening more resorts. If the demand was expected to shoot up soon why announce those things?

As far as New Zealand goes its an island so easier to monitor border crossings, but overall I’m just jealous of their situation. The government and the people had the discipline to bear down and do what it took and now they are benefiting with a fully open economy and lots of fun leisure activity while we talk about reduced hours and potentially more layoffs.

 

[Lilofan]

Why not change soon, situation is improving in Florida and across the county, Florida hospitalization are back to where they were before the "spike", today posted the lowest case increase since June, case positivity trending down for weeks etc. All those indicators improving will only help the attendance etc.

I would be wary about New Zealand as an example.

Covid situation is improving however record unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies are not improving. Some of the areas families cut is their discretionary spending in uncertain times.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Very True, Is like the guy who is calling out Disney right now for the violating ADA act, one could argue that he should had read up on the policies disney enacted before hand and how strict they are, but anyone will always spread a negative experience faster than a positive one online

That guy is an idiot. 1) He didn't call ahead and expected Disney to be following either the same rules where he is or the same rules the county and State of Florida are following. 2) The ADA refers specifically to "equality of access"...this does not apply to masks. Nor can the ADA law be used to circumvent Disney's mask rule or the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" rules we see everywhere. 3) The ADA law specifically says that businesses are required to (when the law applies) make reasonable attempts to accommodate...telling one child the mask rules don't apply to them during a pandemic is not reasonable and would open the floodgates for people demanding they be let in without masks - likely including some people who have health issues that would make it downright dangerous for them.

 

[robhedin]

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.

I still tend to come down on the value side of the equation. Example- today MGM Resorts announced a "deal" where you could stay at the Bellagio or Aria in Las Vegas for $100/night and get a $50 per night food credit and get a $50 flight credit. I've already talked to 3 people that have said "I'm willing to go back to Vegas for that" (one of which has already booked). While it's not Disney, it's largely a similar demographic -- relatively affluent people (making > $150k/yr), some have kids some don't but all have made regular trips to both Disney and Vegas but had stopped those trips.

I'm not suggesting that Disney needs to do a fire sale by any means, but as long as the relative value (what's open, hours open, ability to get into a park, entertainment options, etc) remain low compared to the cost of going, it's going to be a tough sell. Of course some of us who have tickets/passes and can get there easily will still go (I've already got trips planned for later this month plus October), but to get those people who have to fork over their hard earned cash something, in my opinion, needs to give.

 

[Lilofan]

I still tend to come down on the value side of the equation. Example- today MGM Resorts announced a "deal" where you could stay at the Bellagio or Aria in Las Vegas for $100/night and get a $50 per night food credit and get a $50 flight credit. I've already talked to 3 people that have said "I'm willing to go back to Vegas for that" (one of which has already booked). While it's not Disney, it's largely a similar demographic -- relatively affluent people (making > $150k/yr), some have kids some don't but all have made regular trips to both Disney and Vegas but had stopped those trips.

I'm not suggesting that Disney needs to do a fire sale by any means, but as long as the relative value (what's open, hours open, ability to get into a park, entertainment options, etc) remain low compared to the cost of going, it's going to be a tough sell. Of course some of us who have tickets/passes and can get there easily will still go (I've already got trips planned for later this month plus October), but to get those people who have to fork over their hard earned cash something, in my opinion, needs to give.

Wow! Bellagio or Aria $100 a night with $50 per night food credit? That's incredible !

 

[GoofGoof]

I still tend to come down on the value side of the equation. Example- today MGM Resorts announced a "deal" where you could stay at the Bellagio or Aria in Las Vegas for $100/night and get a $50 per night food credit and get a $50 flight credit. I've already talked to 3 people that have said "I'm willing to go back to Vegas for that" (one of which has already booked). While it's not Disney, it's largely a similar demographic -- relatively affluent people (making > $150k/yr), some have kids some don't but all have made regular trips to both Disney and Vegas but had stopped those trips.

I'm not suggesting that Disney needs to do a fire sale by any means, but as long as the relative value (what's open, hours open, ability to get into a park, entertainment options, etc) remain low compared to the cost of going, it's going to be a tough sell. Of course some of us who have tickets/passes and can get there easily will still go (I've already got trips planned for later this month plus October), but to get those people who have to fork over their hard earned cash something, in my opinion, needs to give.

Wow! Bellagio or Aria $100 a night with $50 per night food credit? That's incredible !

It’s a great deal, but Vegas has gambling revenue coming in. They are banking on at least some people gambling while they are there. Pre-Covid I was still regularly getting offers for a suite at Wynn for $109 a night and usually either VIP access to a club there or dinner. I only stayed there once but I spent a long night at the blackjack tables and won a decent amount of money so they have been chasing me ever since to get their money back . Harra’s (now Caesar’s) was always great for those offers too.

I think the problem Disney has is they can’t offer a deal to some without others finding out and then everyone gets in on the low cost. The only exception is AP disconts on rooms. That can be done without anyone objecting. They usually go to the free dining standard offer but that’s not possible these days. The best they could do is offer a hotel package with park tickets and some form of dining credit. They couldn’t do full DDP. It’s tough to figure out what would work.

 

[Beenhereawhile]

I think that once the dust settles on Covid there’s going to be a surge of pent up demand from a lot of people who are working from home so not economically impacted and/or saving their $1,200 checks for something fun to do. There will also be pent up demand from our neighbors across the pond who are still shut out from flying into the country. That could at least help partially offset the downward demand from people who did lose their jobs.
[/QUOTE

Ahh...the old pent up demand line. Didnt we hear a lot of that back in april and may about july and august.
Fyi just got back from costco and apparently there is pent up demand for toilet paper again!

 

[GoofGoof]

Ahh...the old pent up demand line. Didnt we hear a lot of that back in april and may about july and august.
Fyi just got back from costco and apparently there is pent up demand for toilet paper again!

Fair point, but that was back in April there was hope that the situation would be better by June or July. That obviously didn’t happen. There is pent up demand right now for travel in general and specifically WDW. It’s only going to get more pent up as time goes on. If/when this all blows over and the restrictions are lifted and WDW goes back to business as usual there will be demand. It’s going to take a while to get back to pre-Covid levels but this isn‘t just a regular recession. There’s a large segment of the population that hasn’t been economically damaged by the pandemic and will have disposable income to blow through when it’s safe and the value is there.

 

[markc]

COVID-fearful people say in polls that they want masks and social distancing, but they also say in those same polls that they're not going to go to a theme park anyways, no matter what the rules are. Disney is appeasing people who aren't in the universe of potential customers to begin with.

Guy 1: "Theme parks should have mandatory masks. Hell no, I'm not going to a theme park until there's a vaccine."
Guy 2: "Masks are stupid, I'm not going to a theme park if I have to wear one. Social distancing is a dystopian term out of Orwell."

Disney is catering to Guy 1, who isn't coming no matter what they do, while driving away Guy 2. It doesn't matter if there are more Guy 1s out there than Guy 2s if all of the Guy 1s are waiting for a vaccine.

If your logic was true - Winn Dixie wouldn't have gone back on their "optional mask" in-store policy to complete with Publix and Wal-Mart nor would the airlines have decided to forcefully enforce the mask rule if they felt it made no difference.

Read this poll

How Americans View Bidenâs Response To The Coronavirus Crisis

We’re tracking how concerned Americans are about COVID-19, the economy and President Biden’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

projects.fivethirtyeight.com

70% of the population is COVID fearful - of that 70% - 35.6% (based on that poll) would most likely fall under the "vaccine or no go". The other 35% are the "I'll go if Masks are required".

That leaves 30% who aren't COVID fearful - 5% less than those who will go out and about if mask precautions are in place. Again - backing up the statement that it's almost a 1:1 relationship between those maskers vs anti-maskers.

Completely disagree. The people who LIKE masks aren't going to theme parks until there's a vaccine. The number of people who are pro-mask but also willing to go into a theme park environment even with a mask is extremely small.

Again, the data suggests otherwise.

 

[robhedin]

Wow! Bellagio or Aria $100 a night with $50 per night food credit? That's incredible !

Yeah-- google "Viva Las Office"... there's some restrictions, but it's not a bad deal.

They're trying to get people onto the casino floors, obviously. Disney could do something similar -- offer lower/reduced hotel stay or ticket package or even a form of "dining plan" similar to how Vegas is doing it: a credit on your room charge usable for food only. Unfortunately, that would likely require a good bit of software updates and it's probably not worth it. At the end of the day, I see value as a major driver here. As long as Disney pushes the overall value of their offering down, it's going to continue to be hard to get people to pay the premium prices for it.

 

[Hawg G]

70% of the population is COVID fearful - of that 70% - 35.6% (based on that poll) would most likely fall under the "vaccine or no go". The other 35% are the "I'll go if Masks are required".

That leaves 30% who aren't COVID fearful - 5% less than those who will go out and about if mask precautions are in place. Again - backing up the statement that it's almost a 1:1 relationship between those maskers vs anti-maskers.

Again, the data suggests otherwise.

The power of propaganda. The media has done their job well.

 

[DisneyCane]

I would say the buffet could still exist, you just wouldn’t serve yourself anymore. They could have one server per every 2 or 3 pans of food. Kinda like the guy that cuts the meat or makes an omelette for you now. It’s still a way cheaper option for the restaurants than having individual servers for each table and all made to order food. As @BoarderPhreak said the buffets are a major money maker for Disney so they will find a way to have them going forward but I could see them being a modified experience. Things like the free buffet at hotels may go away.

I don't know if it remained long term because I don't go on cruises but a friend of mine worked on a ship and I visited him in port after some ship had a norovirus outbreak. The buffet was switched to using servers at the buffet and no touch by passengers.

 

[GoofGoof]

I don't know if it remained long term because I don't go on cruises but a friend of mine worked on a ship and I visited him in port after some ship had a norovirus outbreak. The buffet was switched to using servers at the buffet and no touch by passengers.

Some may call it safety theater, but especially for cruise ships, one of the biggest parts of an industry recovery is going to be the cruise lines highlighting safety changes. Amongst other cleaning and sanitation the change from self serve buffets is relatively easy and cheap to implement and is a visual change that people can easily understand and could help people feel safer.

 

[disneygeek90]

So... this just turned into another Covid thread and nothing to do about park hours at Walt Disney World.

 

[easyrowrdw]

So... this just turned into another Covid thread and nothing to do about park hours at Walt Disney World.

Crap.

35 minutes at Navi right now. Longest wait in the parks. How bout that?

 

[Lilofan]

So... this just turned into another Covid thread and nothing to do about park hours at Walt Disney World.

Park hours? , I'm surprised it's not scaled back to a 5 day a week operation.

 

[legwand77]

I wish I could see Pandora at night

 

[Texas84]

Back to the topic: I'm at WDW that week and with the low crowds I'm not that upset about the new times. I'll probably be ready to leave after riding my favorites for the tenth time.

 

[Horizons '83]

Back to the topic: I'm at WDW that week and with the low crowds I'm not that upset about the new times. I'll probably be ready to leave after riding my favorites for the tenth time.

If I could get my wife on board with wearing a mask in the heat for several hours, i'd be right there with you. Sometimes you gotta want it haha

 

[legwand77]

Back to the topic: I'm at WDW that week and with the low crowds I'm not that upset about the new times. I'll probably be ready to leave after riding my favorites for the tenth time.

That is exactly how I felt, since you can get everything done multiple times in much less time , the desire to hang around is not there, especially without fireworks etc. Bring fireworks back, like other parks in Florida have and more people would hang around