News Walt Disney World theme parks increase capacity but see longer waits and less physical distancing

[GoofGoof]

Remember the old extra magic hours? (not the more crowded, newer version) Disney used to keep the park open for an additional 3 hours after close for those staying on property and for years attendance was very low, and yet Disney continued them. It was all about getting more people to stay on site but I sincerely doubt they would have continued them had they been loosing money.

So why is it now that in order to run the park and make a profit those attendance numbers need to be higher than the old EMH ones? They've cut staff, raised pass prices, closed stores and dining locations.

They make what I call “super profits” on the hotel rooms. If someone came and stayed on property they were also much more likely to eat the majority of their meals on property. Disney had turned WDW from a theme park business to a hotel and dining business. They could afford to operate the parks at a loss for several hours if it meant more people in the hotels and eating on property. EMHs time was also used for setup in the morning and cleanup at night. Those CMs were just kept around for an extra few hours vs being brought in just for that time.

Flash forward to Covid times. Half those hotel rooms are empty. The ones filled are all with discounts usually not available this time of year. The parks are filled with local guests a lot of who are on annual passes so there’s less money coming in vs the average tourist crowd. Half the hotels are closed and the restaurants are struggling with capacity limits. That‘s where the biggest losses come from.

 

[wdwfan22]

You don’t think Disney bears responsibility for remaining open and allowing so many people to visit?

You have a choice whether to visit or not. in this country everyone wants to blame someone else for the choices they make. If you don’t feel safe then don’t visit

 

[GoofGoof]

Another point... again to be fair, Disney is still employing at least 50,000 people in Florida and another closing would likely result in far more layoffs than the first did - potentially a LOT more people losing their income and health care. I'm not defending their current decision making process and I feel that they have made some very poor decisions throughout the past 8 months, but it is another factor to the equation that sometimes gets overlooked.

Also, if you acknowledge (not necessarily accept) the fact that they were open in July with a local positivity rate over 13%, then being open now with a positivity rate under 8% seems... dare I say logical? Now, I'm not sure that there is much logic to them being open at either time, but it's hard to argue that they should close now when they weren't closed then.

And... my final comment on this Sunday morning - historically, WDW's biggest crowds from the US tend to be from the northeast, where all the states are currently in the bottom half of US states in terms of testing positivity rate, hospitalization rate, and new cases per 100,000 population. Granted, all states in the US except a small handful have alarming numbers at this time, but it wouldn't be a giant leap of logic to say that the majority of those who are actually traveling to WDW are not coming from the hotspots in the US.

Again, just to be very clear, I'm not defending their decision to be open right now (or in July, for that matter) but there are certainly many factors that they are weighing and there are some that I think can be said to lean in their direction by comparison. I am extremely hopeful that maybe by next Summer we are all looking at this in the rearview mirror and shaking our heads at the stupidity of a lot of decisions that have been made by a lot of people during this crisis.

I don’t disagree with your logic. One point on where guests are coming from, many NE states already had travel restrictions which in the last few weeks were expanded. I live in PA and we have a full travel quarantine now. Anyone who travels out of state must now quarantine for 14 days upon return. NY, NJ and most of the New England states have some form of similar requirement. I know from friends and family members that it’s a big deal, especially for people with kids in school or people who work outside the home. I don’t think WDW is getting anywhere near normal guest % from the NE. I also think flying is still not desirable for a lot of people. My guess would be the majority of guests right now are from FL and the majority of out of state guests are driving in so a larger % of guests from GA, SC, NC and maybe LA than is typical. That’s not to say nobody is flying in from the NE or Ohio or places like that but just that the percentages are way down.

 

[LittleBuford]

There are so many levels to this it’s hard to pin responsibility precisely.

The situation is very much poised to become a perfect storm of inaction, where everyone is staring blankly at the numbers going up and up and yet no one feels like they are empowered to actually do anything about it. From the very top all the way to the bottom.

Agreed. I didn’t mean to suggest that Disney bears all or even most of the blame. As a Disney fan, however, I’m . But whereas I feel no responsibility for other people’s poor choices, Disney acts irresponsibly, I feel like I’m somehow I do feel some sort of responsibility for Disney’s (

in this country everyone wants to blame someone else for the choices they make.

This has zero to do with my point.

 

[brifraz]

I don’t disagree with your logic. One point on where guests are coming from, many NE states already had travel restrictions which in the last few weeks were expanded. I live in PA and we have a full travel quarantine now. Anyone who travels out of state must now quarantine for 14 days upon return. NY, NJ and most of the New England states have some form of similar requirement. I know from friends and family members that it’s a big deal, especially for people with kids in school or people who work outside the home. I don’t think WDW is getting anywhere near normal guest % from the NE. I also think flying is still not desirable for a lot of people. My guess would be the majority of guests right now are from FL and the majority of out of state guests are driving in so a larger % of guests from GA, SC, NC and maybe LA than is typical. That’s not to say nobody is flying in from the NE or Ohio or places like that but just that the percentages are way down.

That is definitely true.

Purely anecdotal - I know a large group (perhaps not the wisest group) from NY who just got back and have gotten tested as per their requirement there. We live in MD and are in a FB group with a lot of VA,DC,MD Disney folks and quite a decent number have driven down in the past couple weeks, or are about to do so. Here in MD it's 'highly recommended' that you don't travel with specific states listed as more of an issue than others, but there isn't an actual order prohibiting any travel (at this time).

I can't imagine getting in a plane right now, but I also drive everywhere (14 hours to Disney at least 30+ times in my life and cross country 3 times now). But, I actually could imagine driving there - as we did in July and at that time, we found WDW to be a safer environment than we what we were experiencing at home.

I digress, but heck, just last week my wife and I were both required for our jobs to be in buildings with 300+ people (both high school teachers, my building had well over 400 total) after our local school board decided it was a good idea to get everyone back in the building despite the current case trend. The only places at WDW that I can think of that is open right now which might have 300+ people in one building would be the queue/ride for Space, Avatar, Rise, and Mickey/Minnie and the Emporium at World of Disney shops and guaranteed those all have far better air circulation than our school buildings!

 

[GoofGoof]

That is definitely true.

Purely anecdotal - I know a large group (perhaps not the wisest group) from NY who just got back and have gotten tested as per their requirement there. We live in MD and are in a FB group with a lot of VA,DC,MD Disney folks and quite a decent number have driven down in the past couple weeks, or are about to do so. Here in MD it's 'highly recommended' that you don't travel with specific states listed as more of an issue than others, but there isn't an actual order prohibiting any travel (at this time).

I can't imagine getting in a plane right now, but I also drive everywhere (14 hours to Disney at least 30+ times in my life and cross country 3 times now). But, I actually could imagine driving there - as we did in July and at that time, we found WDW to be a safer environment than we what we were experiencing at home.

I digress, but heck, just last week my wife and I were both required for our jobs to be in buildings with 300+ people (both high school teachers, my building had well over 400 total) after our local school board decided it was a good idea to get everyone back in the building despite the current case trend. The only places at WDW that I can think of that is open right now which might have 300+ people in one building would be the queue/ride for Space, Avatar, Rise, and Mickey/Minnie and the Emporium at World of Disney shops and guaranteed those all have far better air circulation than our school buildings!

I know a few people locally who still went to WDW. DVC is very popular in this area and it becomes harder and harder to delay trips with the bank and borrow system. I have friends who should be in WDW right now but they got positive Covid tests back the day before they were supposed to leave.

The other issue around here is the testing is up to 4-5 days to wait for results again so even if they allow you to end your quarantine early with one or in NY two negative tests it ends up still taking a week or more depending on how soon you get tested. Maybe Disney should consider setting up a testing site on property somewhere since most states accept a negative test within 72 hours of returning home. People could get tested before leaving WDW and start the clock early on getting out of the quarantine.

 

[brifraz]

Maybe Disney should consider setting up a testing site on property somewhere since most states accept a negative test within 72 hours of returning home. People could get tested before leaving WDW and start the clock early on getting out of the quarantine.

This would be one of the best decisions they would have made in the last 8 months... if they were to do it!

 

[DCBaker]

Maybe Disney should consider setting up a testing site on property somewhere since most states accept a negative test within 72 hours of returning home. People could get tested before leaving WDW and start the clock early on getting out of the quarantine.

There is a state-supported testing site on property near AK at the Maingate Complex -

Page Not Found

www.floridadisaster.org

Walk-up Testing Site

3010 Maingate Lane
Kissimmee, FL

• Days of Operation: 7 days a week
• Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Testing Criteria: All ages, regardless of symptoms

 

[GoofGoof]

There is a state-supported testing site on property near AK at the Maingate Complex -

Page Not Found

www.floridadisaster.org

Walk-up Testing Site

3010 Maingate Lane
Kissimmee, FL

• Days of Operation: 7 days a week
• Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Testing Criteria: All ages, regardless of symptoms

Is there any way to get Disney transport somewhere close to that? I would think that would be a possibility to get the testing done ahead of going home even though that would be taking time away from having fun.

 

[Unbanshee]

Is there any way to get Disney transport somewhere close to that? I would think that would be a possibility to get the testing done ahead of going home even though that would be taking time away from having fun.

Not to that location, or anywhere within walking distance. Your best (read: cheapest) bet would be to grab an Uber from DAK or DAKL after taking Disney transpiration to one of those locations

 

[GoofGoof]

Not to that location, or anywhere within walking distance. Your best (read: cheapest) bet would be to grab an Uber from DAK or DAKL after taking Disney transpiration to one of those locations

It would be easier if they set it up at a place like the TTC but maybe they don’t want to remind people of Covid while on vacation...the masks, distancing, signage and temp scans are probably hard to miss though. Who knows.

 

[legwand77]

It would be easier if they set it up at a place like the TTC but maybe they don’t want to remind people of Covid while on vacation...the masks, distancing, signage and temp scans are probably hard to miss though. Who knows.

Super close to AK though

 

[Magic Feather]

I've had a couple friends at the parks, and I've been getting some really promising reports. All except one found crowds to be low enough to allow for proper distancing 95% of the time, as long as you can clear the mental hurdle of the lines being physically longer and usually spilling into the pathways.
The only one who's review skewed majority negative noticed that people weren't doing great maintaining distancing in lines, younger children (circa age 7) seemed to be the group most prone to take down mask, and that areas where there was no supervision (like monorail cars) had their issues.

 

[legwand77]

TSA gate traffic numbers hit record highs over the weekend, even with all the rising positive tests and travel restrictions.

 

[GoofGoof]

TSA gate traffic numbers hit record highs over the weekend, even with all the rising positive tests and travel restrictions.

Record high based on what? Most since pandemic started? It’s certainly no historical record. Numbers are down almost 60% over the prior year. You say this like it’s a good thing too. People traveling right now will result in more spread, more death and more damage to the economy. There’s really nothing positive about it. People need to follow the CDC recommendations and just stay home.

 

[giantgolfer]

TSA gate traffic numbers hit record highs over the weekend, even with all the rising positive tests and travel restrictions.

This is awful news.

 

[MisterPenguin]

TSA gate traffic numbers hit record highs over the weekend,

Record high based on what? Most since pandemic started? It’s certainly no historical record. Numbers are down almost 60% over the prior year. You say this like it’s a good thing too. People traveling right now will result in more spread, more death and more damage to the economy. There’s really nothing positive about it. People need to follow the CDC recommendations and just stay home.

New York (CNN Business)​

​

Despite a record number of new Covid cases and the Centers for Disease Control recommending against traveling for Thanksgiving, Friday and Saturday were two of the busiest days at US airports since the pandemic brought air travel to a near halt in March.​

​

The Transportation Security Administration screened slightly more than 1 million people at US airports on Friday. Saturday's screenings fell just short of that mark, but were enough to bring the two-day total to 2 million.​

​

That's still only 42% of the volume screened on the Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving a year ago, but it marks only the second- and third- busiest days for US airport traffic since mid-March. The only time that topped those days was October 18, when 1.03 million passengers were screened.​

 

[Capsin4]

Disney is certainly trying to keep people coming. We called about our upcoming Christmas week trip and without much prodding, the cm found a valid discount code that was about $600 lower than the Magic is here offer. It took a while and she went though dozens of options at other resorts. Works out to about another $100 a day off beyond the advertised promotions.

 

[legwand77]

Record high based on what? Most since pandemic started? It’s certainly no historical record. Numbers are down almost 60% over the prior year. You say this like it’s a good thing too. People traveling right now will result in more spread, more death and more damage to the economy. There’s really nothing positive about it. People need to follow the CDC recommendations and just stay home.

I figured that was obvious, but yes record since the pandemic.

I am not saying that it is a good thing or bad thing. It is interesting that even with all the restrictions travel is still increasing. Airlines are even seeing more travel this week, even with including some cancellations.

I do disagree though , more travel done safely will not cause more death. Wear a mask, distance, keep within your group etc. That is like saying going to WDW will cause more death, which is doesn't.

 

[GoofGoof]

I figured that was obvious, but yes record since the pandemic.

I am not saying that it is a good thing or bad thing. It is interesting that even with all the restrictions travel is still increasing. Airlines are even seeing more travel this week, even with including some cancellations.

I do disagree though , more travel done safely will not cause more death. Wear a mask, distance, keep within your group etc. That is like saying going to WDW will cause more death, which is doesn't.

The CDC and just about every infectious disease expert on the planet disagrees with you...but yeah, I’m sure you know more than all of those people