News Walt Disney World's COVID-19 reopening plans announced - July 11

[Gearbm95]

With no park hopping, serious question here, are Epcot, AK, and DHS full day parks? I’ve been able to do all three in one day and hit the major attractions.

Also, a lot of people keep saying some attractions won’t open, but other parks that have reopened haven’t kept any attractions closed. The only thing not open at Universal is the Horror Makeup Show.

 

[Horizons '83]

With no park hopping, serious question here, are Epcot, AK, and DHS full day parks? I’ve been able to do all three in one day and hit the major attractions.

Also, a lot of people keep saying some attractions won’t open, but other parks that have reopened haven’t kept any attractions closed. The only thing not open at Universal is the Horror Makeup Show.

DHS is a full day now with G:E. Toy Story Land and Mickey's open now.
Epcot for me is a full day, but I tend to work less about the amount of rides I hit and more on walking around and enjoying a stroll through WS.
AK was never a full day for me, but I know I am in the minority here.

 

[the_rich]

With no park hopping, serious question here, are Epcot, AK, and DHS full day parks? I’ve been able to do all three in one day and hit the major attractions.

Also, a lot of people keep saying some attractions won’t open, but other parks that have reopened haven’t kept any attractions closed. The only thing not open at Universal is the Horror Makeup Show.

I think ak is full day, epcot and hs right now are probably not.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

I believe I read yesterday that resort guests will not have guaranteed entrance which baffled me. So the guest paying $300+ per night to stay at your resort doesn’t get preferential treatment on attendance policies? Who in Gods name is making these policies?

"doesn't get preferential treatment" =/= no guarantee of park access.

Resort Hotel guests with tickets *will* have preferential access to park reservations in the first wave, and Resort Hotel guests without tickets will have access to new tickets and park reservations prior to AP and day guests.

 

[robhedin]

I believe I read yesterday that resort guests will not have guaranteed entrance which baffled me. So the guest paying $300+ per night to stay at your resort doesn’t get preferential treatment on attendance policies? Who in Gods name is making these policies?

If you think about it, this makes sense.

For example: If they have limited capacity at a given park, and everyone staying at the resorts wants go on a given day, there may not be enough capacity to allow everyone admittance.

That said, since reservations are required and that I believe they've said that certain groups (i.e. guests with resort reservations) will have priority to make their reservations first. Of course, if you have that opportunity and decline to take it immediately, then you may not be able to get in if you change your mind later on.

 

[GoofGoof]

Many schools are considering Elearning at the beginning of the year that will be a wait and see decision.
Honestly after 2 months of Elearning I question how missing a week of school for a vacation makes that large of an impact. We've already discussed the possibility of a mini vacation if our district does Elearning because we start towards the beginning of August already.

I think a lot of schools have contingency plans for distance learning but I can’t see how that’s justified now. Back when the country was discussing a slow and steady reopening with a phased approach if we hadn‘t reached the phase that would allow full schools by Aug/Sep then it was possible schools wouldn’t be able to go back. That phased plan has been tossed out the window in a lot of states. Pretty much everything is opening now and whatever hasn’t opened will definitely be open by August. Unless there’s some second wave starting I can’t see how any state could justify opening theme Parks and concert venues in June but saying school isn’t safe in August.

 

[floydbeatle]

With no park hopping, serious question here, are Epcot, AK, and DHS full day parks? I’ve been able to do all three in one day and hit the major attractions.

Also, a lot of people keep saying some attractions won’t open, but other parks that have reopened haven’t kept any attractions closed. The only thing not open at Universal is the Horror Makeup Show.

IMO no, although it depends how you tour the parks. In January I did both DHS and EPCOT in one day. I felt like I hit all the major attractions in both parks including RoTR and MFSR in DHS. Since I have no need to see stage shows or the films at EPCOT it was fine. I am not sure how much this helps, since I am sure you can get a varying amount of opinions on this question.

 

[GoofGoof]

With no park hopping, serious question here, are Epcot, AK, and DHS full day parks? I’ve been able to do all three in one day and hit the major attractions.

Also, a lot of people keep saying some attractions won’t open, but other parks that have reopened haven’t kept any attractions closed. The only thing not open at Universal is the Horror Makeup Show.

None of the parks is a full day experience if you skip half the attractions and just ride a few headliners.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I believe I read yesterday that resort guests will not have guaranteed entrance which baffled me. So the guest paying $300+ per night to stay at your resort doesn’t get preferential treatment on attendance policies? Who in Gods name is making these policies?

Like I said, No matter what they say to the public, they better (in secret) have a policy that guarantees folks staying on property entrance to a park.

 

[GoofGoof]

Like I said, No matter what they say to the public, they better (in secret) have a policy that guarantees folks staying on property entrance to a park.

I think every Resort guest will have no problem getting a park reservation each day. What may be a problem is getting a specific park. Especially DHS. That park has the newest attractions and the lowest capacity. Due to its size and lack of popularity I doubt EPCOT will ever ”sell out”. AK is quite large too.

 

[wdwmagic]

From reading some of the posts here and on social media, it seems that some people are not realizing that WDW is going to be far from normal for a while. The parks and resorts are not going to be back to their old self for some time, and those that aren't OK with that really need to consider if they should be visiting until things return to normal.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

None of the parks is a full day experience if you skip half the attractions and just ride a few headliners.

Exactly. We tend to do 2 days at Epcot and AK and still don’t get everything in. One day at the studios is more then enough for everything including shows.Just headlines make any park half day. Enjoying everything offered 3 out of the 4 parks are 2 days or more. With these restrictions, and lower crowd capacity, shows closed and no entertainment for the most part, they may all be half day parks.

 

[mpostak]

We purchased annual passes last October for our family as we did a trip with my parents and had a June trip planned with my wife's mom and sister. When Covid hit we moved our trip to the end of July and mother-in-law and sis-in law are waiting til another year. So as a result we have a hotel reservation with our AP. Our agent is waiting as is everyone for what the pecking order for the reservation system will be but the debate between my wife and I is she thinks we would be in the first group of resort guests with tickets and I kind of feel that since we are annual passholders, we may be seen as resort guests with no 'tickets'. Anyone care to weigh in? I am enjoying this site and reading from all of you by the way

 

[disneygeek90]

With no park hopping, serious question here, are Epcot, AK, and DHS full day parks? I’ve been able to do all three in one day and hit the major attractions.

Also, a lot of people keep saying some attractions won’t open, but other parks that have reopened haven’t kept any attractions closed. The only thing not open at Universal is the Horror Makeup Show.

DHS is my current favorite park. I can easily be there for 12 hours.

 

[kgoose23]

We purchased annual passes last October for our family as we did a trip with my parents and had a June trip planned with my wife's mom and sister. When Covid hit we moved our trip to the end of July and mother-in-law and sis-in law are waiting til another year. So as a result we have a hotel reservation with our AP. Our agent is waiting as is everyone for what the pecking order for the reservation system will be but the debate between my wife and I is she thinks we would be in the first group of resort guests with tickets and I kind of feel that since we are annual passholders, we may be seen as resort guests with no 'tickets'. Anyone care to weigh in? I am enjoying this site and reading from all of you by the way

Annual passes should make you considered "resort guest WITH tickets"

 

[Parker in NYC]

The thing that's impossible to quantify is how many people don't want to come back for which specific reason.

Group A doesn't want to come back because they're concerned about the virus and don't feel safe even with Disney's protective measures in place.

Group B doesn't want to come back because they don't want to visit the parks with Disney's protective measures in place.

Satisfying one group further alienates the other, and by trying to walk the tightrope between the two, they're not satisfying either.

I don't want to get on an airplane, much less the subway. I can't even think about Disney without confronting those obstacles.

 

[duder]

Is it confirmed that there will be no park hopping?>

 

[JohnD]

The thing that's impossible to quantify is how many people don't want to come back for which specific reason.

Group A doesn't want to come back because they're concerned about the virus and don't feel safe even with Disney's protective measures in place.

Group B doesn't want to come back because they don't want to visit the parks with Disney's protective measures in place.

Satisfying one group further alienates the other, and by trying to walk the tightrope between the two, they're not satisfying either.

So you're saying they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. (Cue the censor -- or not).

 

[GoofGoof]

Is it confirmed that there will be no park hopping?>

I don’t think officially. With park reservations (and the communication about the potential for reservations being hard to get for AP holders) they will likely not allow someone to book multiple reservations for the same day. I did see a rumor that they may allow park hopping the day of, meaning if you reserve MK and are there that day you could hop to EPCOT later in the day assuming they are not at capacity. In that case you wouldn’t be allowed to book EPCOT in advance so no ADRs but you could still park hop there. Until we see the reservation system there’s no way to know.

 

[JohnD]

From reading some of the posts here and on social media, it seems that some people are not realizing that WDW is going to be far from normal for a while. The parks and resorts are not going to be back to their old self for some time, and those that aren't OK with that really need to consider if they should be visiting until things return to normal.

As they say, "the only constant is change", so I'm willing to go as things stand now. If that means fewer people in the parks, so much the better for me. But not knocking anyone who doesn't want to go right now.