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

L

legwand77

Well-Known Member
Gringrinngghost said:
So, I wouldn't hold my breath on what immediate plans to reopen further. If anything I've heard for Universal. Its bad, like REALLY BAD. I feel like this can be a good analogy to it, to surmise the issue. "There’s a hole in the side of the boat. That hole is never going to be fixed and it’s never going away and you can’t get a new boat, this is your boat. What you have to do is bail water out faster than it’s coming in."

So I am sure you might have heard of Universal's new Florida Resident ticket offer, its in the terms of the two-park SeaWorld Fun Card, and for the same price. But for those wondering what it is. For $164, residents can get access to Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure through December 24. For $193, residents can get access to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay. These tickets can be used on non-consecutive days and there are no blockout dates.

Starting August 9th, (The Day before Orange County goes to virtual learning) Universal Orlando Resort has stated these attractions will temporarily close:
  • Kang and Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl
  • Poseidon’s Fury
  • Fast & Furious – Supercharged
  • Storm Force Accelatron
  • Fear Factor Live
  • A Day in the Park with Barney

Universal has actively scaled back certain offerings as the demands haven't been there, mainly in the store/quick service locations. They thought that their attendance would go back up with the opening of Disney's Parks as they figured that more would be comfortable with the parks opening. However since the time Universal opened to Disney's opening, the state of Florida saw an increase of 182,663 cases. Since Disney reopened, they saw a further increase of 242,981 cases. That's not been a great catalyst.

Whilst, I can't go into the nitty gritty specifics on it, with the schools starting to reopen and the ones in CFL will be in some capacity whether they are doing distanced or in-person (some districts really want to try this seriously) in the near future. Universal is expecting a big attendance drop hence why they've cut hours with some estimates being nearly half of what they currently are getting, which is already less than a fifth of the overall capacity. With the spectacular attendance numbers going on at Disney, imagine this if you please.


Think about that, if they are expecting a steep drop of 50% less of the bodies in the park. I fully expect to see reduced hours if not days where the parks are closed to save money.
Click to expand...
Universal has just opened City Walk in California so they are moving forward.
 
James122

James122

Well-Known Member
legwand77 said:
Universal has just opened City Walk in California so they are moving forward.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's no way on earth that the theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood is going to be opening anytime soon. None of the SoCal theme parks including Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm - and of course, Disneyland - are currently open and that's not likely to change in the next two to three months.
 
L

legwand77

Well-Known Member
James122 said:
Yeah, there's no way on earth that the theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood is going to be opening anytime soon. None of the SoCal theme parks including Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm - and of course, Disneyland - are currently open and that's not likely to change in the next two to three months.
Click to expand...
Universal Hollywood already has all the physical distance markers and other mitigations in place and ready to open, bet it is sooner than you think. Would not be surprised to see it open in Sept.
 
F

flutas

Well-Known Member
James122 said:
None of the SoCal theme parks including [...] Knott's Berry Farm [...] are currently open and that's not likely to change in the next two to three months.
Click to expand...

Knott's is currently open on weekends, but no rides. They are doing a food and wine type festival inside the park.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
My guess is WDW might have to go to a plan of closing some parks certain weekdays as well once schools go back. On the earnings call Chapek said they were covering the variable costs of being open but not kicking in as much extra above that as they hoped. If demand and revenues drop further come Sept they may not be making enough to cover the variable costs. Maybe cases drop low enough by then to make up for the kids going back to school.
 
Rich Brownn

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
My guess is WDW might have to go to a plan of closing some parks certain weekdays as well once schools go back. On the earnings call Chapek said they were covering the variable costs of being open but not kicking in as much extra above that as they hoped. If demand and revenues drop further come Sept they may not be making enough to cover the variable costs. Maybe cases drop low enough by then to make up for the kids going back to school.
Click to expand...
Sea World and Busch also don't have on-site guests to worry about. If you drop big bucks to stay at at Disney/Universal hotel and the parks are closed (or even rotating, which at Universal would make the Hogwarts ride unusable) you'd probably not be a happy camper.

One of the reason's Disneyland abanonded the 2-days-a-week closure was due to the Disneyland Hotel.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Rich Brownn said:
Sea World and Busch also don't have on-site guests to worry about. If you drop big bucks to stay at at Disney/Universal hotel and the parks are closed (or even rotating, which at Universal would make the Hogwarts ride unusable) you'd probably not be a happy camper.

One of the reason's Disneyland abanonded the 2-days-a-week closure was due to the Disneyland Hotel.
Click to expand...
Happy campers or not the CEO has said since before the parks re-opened (and repeated again yesterday in the earnings call) that they wouldn’t open the parks or keep them open if they couldn’t cover the variable costs. If the 2 choices are close 1 or 2 parks on certain days to cut costs or close all of WDW, they will probably try for option 1. Not an ideal situation, but a lot of the people going now are Disney fanatics so a lot of them may still go. They aren’t getting as many of the average tourist crowd as they want.

As far as Universal goes they don’t own the hotels so they are less concerned with occupancy. If they wanted to close just 1 park they could keep both Potterlands open and the train even if one or the other parks is closed. If the Studios park is closed you just make it so the only way to get to Diagon Alley is using the HE. I know they would lose the benefit of selling a multi-day ticket but you save a lot on operating costs closing a whole park. The other option is to close both parks a few days a week instead of 1 park each day. Neither is a great option.
 
A

AmishGuy91

Well-Known Member
Rich Brownn said:
Sea World and Busch also don't have on-site guests to worry about. If you drop big bucks to stay at at Disney/Universal hotel and the parks are closed (or even rotating, which at Universal would make the Hogwarts ride unusable) you'd probably not be a happy camper.

One of the reason's Disneyland abanonded the 2-days-a-week closure was due to the Disneyland Hotel.
Click to expand...

But at WDW with four parks, you can still have 2-3 parks open a day. Yeah vacation schedules have to be adjusted but not a huge deal.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom