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

GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
tommcp516 said:
I suppose the other piece of this anecdotal puzzle might come from people who have been checking room availability in late spring/early summer, to see if anyone has noticed a decrease in available rooms for that period of time--which would correspond to people cancelling their early April reservations and moving them back.

But if availability during that time has remained the same (or possibly even increased), then it would seem to point to WDW unlocking more rooms for a planned increase in capacity.

Is there anybody following this thread who's been in the middle of booking a late spring/early summer reservation and noticed any changes one way or the other?
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I can’t say for sure. I’ve been looking at DVC availability for Summer but that’s a whole different ballgame. BCV is still booking solid on the first day of the 7 month window in June and July which is on par for last summer. I didn’t look before that. Hotels are different than DVC. Disney did decide to bring BC and Wilderness Lodge back around Memorial Day so to me that points to an expected ramp up of park capacity and bookings. Disney knows what bookings look like and has better projections than any of us do so I do think it’s a good indication of expected demand increasing then but there’s no direct evidence anyone is cancelling earlier in the year in favor of that time. That’s pure speculation. They did push the re-opening of one of the All Stars from beginning of Feb to end of March. The assumption is demand for Feb and early March is lighter than hoped or expected when the original date was set. There’s no direct evidence anyone cancelled during that time either but it seems possible given the roll out of the vaccine and the current 2nd wave hitting most of the country right now.
 
ParentsOf4

ParentsOf4

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
So you are saying that the majority of people at WDW are out of state travelers and not people who drove in? Where are they all staying? Crowds are much larger on weekends than during the week so why are out of state guests who flew in choosing to go to the parks on the weekends but not as much on weekdays? Seems unlikely but I guess we don’t know for sure either way.
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I've stayed onsite 4 times since the reopening (July, September, November, and December).

For the first 2 trips, an out-of-state license plate was a rarity.

We definitely saw more in November.

By the December trip, license plates were from many states. Not necessarily the normal distribution but certainly more than we had seen during our previous 3 stays.

Kinda strange. Even during the December trip, the rest stops were relatively empty while the highways definitely had fewer out-of-states plates than normal.

With most Walt Disney World rooms still closed (including 3 large Value Resorts and 2 Moderate Resorts), I interpret this to mean that out-of-state travel is still down (at least through mid December), while out-of-staters who make it there are staying onsite at WDW at higher rates than out-of-staters staying offsite.

My DW feels safer "in the bubble" so I'm guessing others do as well. Once we got off property, we saw much less mask wearing, with lots of improperly worn masks.

Within WDW, mask compliance remains very high. (To me, mask compliance is a quick visual indicator showing how serious someone is about COVID.19.)

All this leads me to believe that Guests feel safer onsite.

Although crowds were heavier during the weekend on our earlier trips, this seemed to be less so during our most recent trip.

For what it's worth...
 
L

legwand77

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
I've stayed onsite 4 times since the reopening (July, September, November, and December).

For the first 2 trips, an out-of-state license plate was a rarity.

We definitely saw more in November.

By the December trip, license plates were from many states. Not necessarily the normal distribution but certainly more than we had seen during our previous 3 stays.

Kinda strange. Even during the December trip, the rest stops were relatively empty while the highways definitely had fewer out-of-states plates than normal.

With most Walt Disney World rooms still closed (including 3 large Value Resorts and 2 Moderate Resorts), I interpret this to mean that out-of-state travel is still down (at least through mid December), while out-of-staters who make it there are staying onsite at WDW at higher rates than out-of-staters staying offsite.

My DW feels safer "in the bubble" so I'm guessing others do as well. Once we got off property, we saw much less mask wearing, with lots of improperly worn masks.

Within WDW, mask compliance remains very high. (To me, mask compliance is a quick visual indicator showing how serious someone is about COVID.19.)

All this leads me to believe that Guests feel safer onsite.

Although crowds were heavier during the weekend on our earlier trips, this seemed to be less so during our most recent trip.

For what it's worth...
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That is pretty similar to what I have seen over my visits since the reopening.
 
networkpro

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
We saw many more West Coast people the first week of December than we did North Easterners. Easy to distinguish them just from apparel and vernacular.
 
TrainsOfDisney

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
WondersOfLife said:
I agree. But a run down carousel of progress is much better than a run down generic roller coaster.
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Dollywood doesn’t have any generic roller coasters. They are all custom designed and most are award winning.

If it appears “run down” like mystery mine, that’s part of the theme. Kinda like the custom AA’s, Video, Lighting, and Pyro effects that are also part of that “generic” coaster.
 
WondersOfLife

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
TrainChasers said:
Dollywood doesn’t have any generic roller coasters. They are all custom designed and most are award winning.

If it appears “run down” like mystery mine, that’s part of the theme. Kinda like the custom AA’s, Video, Lighting, and Pyro effects that are also part of that “generic” coaster.
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The park did not impress me. ESPECIALLY mystery mine. That coaster just about broke my back because of how rough it was.

Award winning or not, it sucked.

ATMOSPHERE was good. Attractions lacked. Especially if you don’t care for generic coasters. And yes. Their coasters are pretty generic. If they’re outdoors + just on a track with an occasional themed element, then it is generic.

Unlike Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Mount Everest, Slinky Dog Dash... where the coasters’ themes continue throughout the entire attraction, and where Disney has something for everyone to do.
 
Miss Bella

Miss Bella

Well-Known Member
I went to WDW early February 2018 and 2019 and there was plenty of room availability with the 35% off passholder rate. Same thing in June 2019. I'm not sure room availability is a great indicator. A lot of people stay off site. The least inventory always seems to be in the Fall with the Food and Wine and Christmas.
 
Giss Neric

Giss Neric

Well-Known Member
Never thought park hopping and fastpass would make a comeback even before 2020 ends. Safety doesn't apply to Club 33 members after all.
 

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