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

[Touchdown]

I dont think the parks will exist like this for long. That is because I do not expect Covid cases in this country to be static going forward. They are either going to continue to decrease allowing for things to get back to normal, or they are going to increase and the parks will need to shutdown again. That said my October trip definitely won’t happen without being able to park hop and the theatre shows runnin, and if there is no nighttime spectaculars it will also likely be canceled.

*This is not meant to argue if spectaculars/shows are safe or not, I agree with Disney at this time that they are not, I simply don’t think Disney is worth the price it costs without them.

 

[bcoachable]

Thank you...

I didn’t know for sure...but educated guess says no CPs/IPs till 2021 at the earliest.

If they’re on lower capacity...they’ll want to redistribute the full time staff anyway to maximize the squeeze out of them anyway.

CPers and IPers also pose a concern/problem when one understands their housing puzzle piece... and the potential for a uptick in positive Corona Positive Tests. (I know you understand the housing aspect, just throwing this up on the board)

 

[The Mom]

There is not a concrete schedule or finite details on exactly what will happen and when. He has said repeatedly they are following the federal framework guidelines but they are making adjustments each and every week based on the available data and how the previous phase goes. That is the official state website for the return.

If you are looking for a date that social distancing will not be required by the state you are not going to find it any time soon. The state is taking a very conservative approach to returning and have said the timeline will evolve based on then available data

The openings are also dependent upon individual counties and cities. An area that has had few cases ( rural areas) can move along more quickly than an area that has been the epicenter for the state (Miami). Just as the president is leaving a lot of reopening decisions to individual states, FL's governor is letting individual cities/counties have more autonomy in final decisions.

So the mayors of Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami, for example, are working with different timelines.

 

[Miss Bella]

There is not a concrete schedule or finite details on exactly what will happen and when. He (Governor DeSantis) has said repeatedly they are following the federal framework guidelines but they are making adjustments each and every week based on the available data and how the previous phase goes. That is the official state website for the return.

If you are looking for a date that social distancing will not be required by the state you are not going to find it any time soon. The state is taking a very conservative approach to returning and have said the timeline will evolve based on then available data

OK, thanks. No, I wasn't looking for a date. I was just wondering what phase it occurs in. Every state, county, and city does things so differently. I'm going to visit my mom in the Palm Springs area. There are more than six cities in that area and they all have different rules.

 

[donsullivan]

The openings are also dependent upon individual counties and cities. An area that has had few cases ( rural areas) can move along more quickly than an area that has been the epicenter for the state (Miami). Just as the president is leaving a lot of reopening decisions to individual states, FL's governor is letting individual cities/counties have more autonomy in final decisions.

So the mayors of Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami, for example, are working with different timelines.

Yup. That's why Universal, Sea World and WDW plans had to be approved by Mayor Demming's of Orange County first and then sent to the governor for approval.

It seems some are looking for the date in the plan that social distancing and masks are no longer be required so they can book a trip after that. Realistically, that is going to be a moving target based on how well the re-opening works. If everyone follows the guidelines and things go smoothly, it can be sooner, but if people fight against the guidelines (and there have been clear examples of that), things will move slower. But if you are looking for a specific date for that milestone right now- it doesn't exist.

 

[disneygeek90]

I'm just wondering in what phase is social distancing no longer needed.

When there's a vaccine.

 

[JusticeDisney]

They aren’t forcing people to keep their reservation but if you cancel now and are within 30 days your points go into a holding account. That means you need to use them before your use year is up. Not a big deal if you want to reschedule in July or August. But if you have kids in school and wanted to wait until next June to rebook you are out of luck. During the period of time they were closed the rules for banking and borrowing were suspended and the points could easily role forward to next summer. So by opening in June without the parks you force anyone who has a reservation to rebook quickly or lose the points.

Right, but why about people who have a reservation through, for example, David’s? Unless David’s does something nice - such as offer a credit for future booking - Disney is essentially forcing people to keep a vacation when almost the entirety of WDW is closed. That’s not right, but I guess neither is life a lot of times.

 

[skyphotographer]

A see they now have greatly reduced hours at the parks once they open. No word on reduced prices.

 

[GoofGoof]

Yup. That's why Universal, Sea World and WDW plans had to be approved by Mayor Demming's of Orange County first and then sent to the governor for approval.

It seems some are looking for the date in the plan that social distancing and masks are no longer be required so they can book a trip after that. Realistically, that is going to be a moving target based on how well the re-opening works. If everyone follows the guidelines and things go smoothly, it can be sooner, but if people fight against the guidelines (and there have been clear examples of that), things will move slower. But if you are looking for a specific date for that milestone right now- it doesn't exist.

Also, WDW is not a local attraction. You can’t just look at local conditions on the ground and assume the rules are dictated by that. If Central FL looks good but Miami is still a hot spot there will be plenty of people from Miami coming to WDW. I say can’t, but I really should say shouldn‘t. The truth is they can do whatever they want as long as the government approves it. I haven’t seen one example of a reopening plan rejected so I’m guessing it’s full speed ahead. If WDW wanted to open without a mask rule or with less social distancing I doubt the local governments would say no. It didn’t stop LEGOLAND or many of the other local attractions. That slow and steady approach they talked about appears to be gone. That’s nationwide, not just specific to FL or WDW.

 

[GoofGoof]

Right, but why about people who have a reservation through, for example, David’s? Unless David’s does something nice - such as offer a credit for future booking - Disney is essentially forcing people to keep a vacation when almost the entirety of WDW is closed. That’s not right, but I guess neither is life a lot of times.

People renting points is outside of Disney’s concern. That’s a 3rd party deal. It’s unfortunate but you know the risks going in. You get a better price but less flexibility to cancel. Nobody could have predicted this would happen but Disney can’t worry about people who did that.

 

[Miss Bella]

A see they now have greatly reduced hours at the parks once they open. No word on reduced prices.

LOL

 

[Lilofan]

A see they now have greatly reduced hours at the parks once they open. No word on reduced prices.

I noticed the higher prices on food and reduced portions.

 

[crawale]

I have friends that are going July 5th through the 15th. They waited on hold today for 2 1/2 hours but something came up so they had to hang up. Has anyone gotten through to Disney today? Any idea what they are doing with reservations that are starting before the opening but will be open several days later into the trip? They have limited time for travel that they could go and discussed trying to push it a week or two forward from their original dates. Has anyone talked to a CM today at Disney and got their reservation moved or should they just wait to see if they are contacted first and then change it? I did read that no new reservations could happen but didn't know if that meant rescheduled reservations. They are bummed they are losing their free dining but they are also concerned on how limited things will be. I guess they have a lot of things to think about.

My personal trip is End of August and I hope things are more open by then.

Thanks in advance

Sean

Waited over 1 hour to cancel already paid for special events.

 

[VaderTron]

The openings are also dependent upon individual counties and cities. An area that has had few cases ( rural areas) can move along more quickly than an area that has been the epicenter for the state (Miami). Just as the president is leaving a lot of reopening decisions to individual states, FL's governor is letting individual cities/counties have more autonomy in final decisions.

So the mayors of Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami, for example, are working with different timelines.

Please keep all political posts in the politics thread. This thread is only for reporting facts about the reopening, not speculating about "what-if's". Thank you!

 

[G00fyDad]

They should just open the doors. Masks, no masks. Doesn't matter. We all know full well that as soon as the gates are opened and people are allowed in the parks they will fill it to capacity again and 99% of the people will not be social distancing or wearing a mask. Disney knows this. They are just trying to set themselves up for the inevitable public relations nightmare that could hit them when waves of people are infected with this virus after visiting Disney. They will say "We did everything we could." when in fact they are not going to enforce the rules they are putting in place. I am not trying to be downer here, just a realist. You are seeing it in every state that has opened in phases. As soon as they said "Phase 1 (Masks, social distancing, sanitizing measures, etc)" people collectively got up and said "Well, COVID19 is gone now so let's head to the beach/store/restaurant, etc and forget the masks!"

 

[VaderTron]

Please keep all political posts in the politics thread. This thread is only for reporting facts about the reopening, not speculating about "what-if's". Thank you!

I think I get it now. This is so amusing! I can't stop laughing as I imagine the frustration of the posters who's hands get slapped, but they don't understand what they did wrong. Now I see why this could be a fun job.

 

[wdw71fan]

It looks like what you posted is phase1? Have they not decided what phase two is? I'm just wondering in what phase is social distancing no longer needed.

Thats Phase 3 mostly.. Phase 2 still prescibes moderate social distancing I believe

 

[GoofGoof]

Thats Phase 3 mostly.. Phase 2 still prescibes moderate social distancing I believe

Yes, that was the federal guidelines and at least to start out FL was mostly following the federal guidelines. Not sure anymore, but the official language from the CDC guidance is phase 3 has no limit on group gatherings sizes and only limited physical distancing. When is phase 3? Who knows.

 

[jt04]

Reservations are short term until they see if they’re needed. VQ in the short term are undecided.

Time will tell. Still guessing there are some advocating for scaling back numbers in exchange for lower overhead/higher profits. VQs would have to be part of the formula. Yes guests would pay more but in theory would have a more streamlined experience. Wouldn't be surprised to see APs phased out also over time.

Changes seem inevitable as I mentioned. Lots of good and bad possible as a result.

 

[jt04]

The openings are also dependent upon individual counties and cities. An area that has had few cases ( rural areas) can move along more quickly than an area that has been the epicenter for the state (Miami). Just as the president is leaving a lot of reopening decisions to individual states, FL's governor is letting individual cities/counties have more autonomy in final decisions.

So the mayors of Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami, for example, are working with different timelines.

This is the best way forward now and in the future IMO. Doesn't make sense to keep areas restricted that haven't been impacted much.