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

[Ben_since_1971]

Most of mine are gone, just 3 random reservations left. I say random because one is my first day, one is my second day, and the third is last day of my trip. Package is still showing as original (not reflecting the removal of the DP).

And now the only one left, my last holdout, is a lonely ressie for La Hacienda de San Angel at 6:15 of my arrival day. *sigh* lol

 

[Rider]

This is not true. In the Disney Springs opening information they clearly stated that if you had a beverage or snack and were walking around you could pull your mask down while biting the food or sipping the drink but it had to be immediately replaced. You cannot just walk around all day with a drink cup and no mask. The reports that I have seen from DS all said that masks were being enforced. If that type of behavior starts up Disney could very easily change the rule to no walking around with food or even delay the park opening. I have no desire to be in a theme park with a mask on, but that’s the rule so if you want to go you have to follow it. Advocating people attempting to skirt the rules is just going to ruin this for the people who want to go and are willing to follow the rules.

This was not my experience Memorial weekend. Plenty of people walking around with cups in their hands and masks off while not actively eating. Against the rules or not, it's not being enforced.

The "worst" one of those I saw was a younger couple with no masks walking around with empty* coffee cups they got from outside Disney**.

*they were holding them at their sides
**unless someone forgot to tell me Dunkin opened at WDW

 

[Mainahman]

Same here. All my dining was wiped, except for Yak and Yeti. But I specifically received an email regarding the cancellation of my Homecomin' rezzie - not the others. What's even stranger is that my Yak and Yeti rezzie is for 6:30 PM - which is now 30 minutes after AK is supposed to close.

we shall see what happens. My dining is gone, and all reservations, so we will see.

 

[nickys]

I'm not sure what we really know about the reservation system and what is speculation at this point. So as far as we know the new reservation system has not started yet for anyone right? I assume they are still working on creating it or they maybe have other issues they have to resolve before they open it up. For those of us that are already inside the 60 day window do we expect the reservation system will suddenly open with no warning or do we think we will be given a heads up prior to? I also guess there will be certain people that have access to the system before others. There are also those that will not be given access at all. It would be nice for someone to summarize what we do know versus what is speculation.

This sums up what we know. Everything else is speculation.

An Update on Walt Disney World Resort Reservations

In case you missed it, this week we shared some big news about Walt Disney World Resort, including plans to welcome guests back to the theme parks as part of a phased reopening beginning July 11, pending state approval.

disneyparks.disney.go.com

 

[GoofGoof]

This was not my experience Memorial weekend. Plenty of people walking around with cups in their hands and masks off while not actively eating. Against the rules or not, it's not being enforced.

The "worst" one of those I saw was a younger couple with no masks walking around with empty* coffee cups they got from outside Disney**.

*they were holding them at their sides
**unless someone forgot to tell me Dunkin opened at WDW

I have no horse in the race. I won’t be back at WDW until the restrictions are lifted.

If people want to spread the word that this kind of behavior is accepted and pass around advice on how to beat the rules then more power to you. I personally think it’s pathetic but I’m sure the people advocating it don’t really care what I think and even if you are not advocating people doing this by saying plenty of people are doing it only encourages more people to try it.

 

[GoofGoof]

we shall see what happens. My dining is gone, and all reservations, so we will see.

My last dining reservation just got cancelled. I’m down to just the resort reservations.

 

[peter11435]

This was not my experience Memorial weekend. Plenty of people walking around with cups in their hands and masks off while not actively eating. Against the rules or not, it's not being enforced.

The "worst" one of those I saw was a younger couple with no masks walking around with empty* coffee cups they got from outside Disney**.

*they were holding them at their sides
**unless someone forgot to tell me Dunkin opened at WDW

I’m not disputing your account but based on the time I have spent there and photos I have seen these represent the exception not the rule. There will always be rule breakers if you look for them but the overwhelming majority of guests are adhering to the rules.

 

[Rider]

I have no horse in the race. I won’t be back at WDW until the restrictions are lifted.

If people want to spread the word that this kind of behavior is accepted and pass around advice on how to beat the rules then more power to you. I personally think it’s pathetic but I’m sure the people advocating it don’t really care what I think and even if you are not advocating people doing this by saying plenty of people are doing it only encourages more people to try it.

Ignoring issues doesn't make them go away. Much better to publicize them and make Disney and/or guests do better.

 

[Rider]

I’m not disputing your account but based on the time I have spent there and photos I have seen these represent the exception not the rule. There will always be rule breakers if you look for them but the overwhelming majority of guests are adhering to the rules.

Certainly the vast majority of people are following the rules. But when I saw the people at Disney Springs and the people at CityWalk on the same day you could immediately tell which park has a more difficult road in front of them to make sure everyone is safe.

 

[GoofGoof]

Ignoring issues doesn't make them go away. Much better to publicize them and make Disney and/or guests do better.

All you are doing by saying plenty of people are doing it is encouraging people thinking about breaking the rules that everyone is doing it so it’s OK. Much better to call this out as a few bad seeds than to make it out like it’s what everyone is doing.

 

[MisterPenguin]

If you see some flagrant violation of mask usage, take a pic and send it to:

https://twitter.com/WDWGuestService/with_replies

If it keeps happening, tag some local news outfits next time.

 

[robhedin]

This is not true. In the Disney Springs opening information they clearly stated that if you had a beverage or snack and were walking around you could pull your mask down while biting the food or sipping the drink but it had to be immediately replaced. You cannot just walk around all day with a drink cup and no mask. The reports that I have seen from DS all said that masks were being enforced. If that type of behavior starts up Disney could very easily change the rule to no walking around with food or even delay the park opening. I have no desire to be in a theme park with a mask on, but that’s the rule so if you want to go you have to follow it. Advocating people attempting to skirt the rules is just going to ruin this for the people who want to go and are willing to follow the rules.

This hasn't been true from what I've seen. I just left there about half an hour ago, and have been there three times total over the past 5 days. While most people are wearing masks, I've seen lots of people not. The most "enforcement" I saw was one cast member saying something like "don't forget to cover both your mouth and nose with your mask".

City Walk had a lot more of the reminder (on entrance cast with loud speakers calling people out), but still not so much "enforcement"; I saw one lady wave when she got called out and just keep walking.

Now both places on entrance (when you got your temperature taken) everyone had to have a mask on, but beyond that.... Again, however, probably 85% - 90% of people were wearing a mask.

 

[danv3]

I’m not an insider but my understanding from a friend of a friend (so take it for what it’s worth) is “once it’s working the way we need it to”

So roughly January? After $1.5B spent?

 

[AugieMorosco]

My last dining reservation just got cancelled. I’m down to just the resort reservations.

Same. My resort stay starts 7/6 and is still listed as such. I'm guessing I won't hear much from Disney about my specific options until late June, but I'm so curious as to what happens next.

 

[Mainahman]

Same. My resort stay starts 7/6 and is still listed as such. I'm guessing I won't hear much from Disney about my specific options until late June, but I'm so curious as to what happens next.

We're in August so I'm thinking maybe in July.

 

[AugieMorosco]

We're in August so I'm thinking maybe in July.

Hopefully you'll get some indications as you see how they handle the first wave. I'm in an odd spot of having an 11 day reservation with only the second half being once the parks are opened. At first I assumed they would just cancel my whole trip outright. Now I have no idea.

 

[GoofGoof]

This hasn't been true from what I've seen. I just left there about half an hour ago, and have been there three times total over the past 5 days. While most people are wearing masks, I've seen lots of people not. The most "enforcement" I saw was one cast member saying something like "don't forget to cover both your mouth and nose with your mask".

City Walk had a lot more of the reminder (on entrance cast with loud speakers calling people out), but still not so much "enforcement"; I saw one lady wave when she got called out and just keep walking.

Now both places on entrance (when you got your temperature taken) everyone had to have a mask on, but beyond that.... Again, however, probably 85% - 90% of people were wearing a mask.

I guess I just have a different definition of “lots of people” or “plenty of people”. If 90% are following the rules I would define those who aren’t as a very small minority of morons. Maybe it’s just semantics but for someone reading this thread and deciding what to do when they arrive at WDW, hearing that lots of people aren’t wearing masks probably only encourages similar behavior.

 

[icc2515]

I guess I just have a different definition of “lots of people” or “plenty of people”. If 90% are following the rules I would define those who aren’t as a very small minority of morons. Maybe it’s just semantics but for someone reading this thread and deciding what to do when they arrive at WDW, hearing that lots of people aren’t wearing masks probably only encourages similar behavior.

I would say in my 2 days at DS, I saw about 4 people total walking around without their masks and it was hot out about 93-95. I did see lots of people sitting down at tables, planters, benches having a drink or some food and not wearing their masks. Everybody looked to be enjoying themselves. People were talking and laughing with others, socially distanced. The World of Disney looked to have about twice as many cast members as guests. I do feel like this is one way that Disney is going to enforce the masks is by having an overwhelming number of cast members around at first. There is no way that World of Disney wasn't losing money hand over fist with the amount of labor on site. This was Friday and Saturday. People were out, but except for food nobody seemed to be buying anything else. Even when it was pouring down rain on Sat night, people still had their masks on. My wife and I walked from the B resort to DS with our masks on when it was 93 out, it was a 15 minute walk with 50 stairs up and down the pedestrian overpass (I didn't count them the security guard told me that's how many there are). I do not consider myself in good shape and the walk was fine, really hot, but fine. The mask did not cause any more discomfort than without a mask. We had the blue "paper" type masks that you can buy on Amazon 50 for about $23.

 

[Flugell]

Sorry to ask a question that may have been dealt with earlier, I’ve only got to page 62 in the thread, but if I was an annual pass holder, living in the U.K. would it be reasonable to expect an extension until I was at least allowed to enter the USA irrespective of when the clock started for pass holders who could travel immediately. To be honest I’m not an AP at Disney but bought six for Universal last year and was due to be arriving in Florida on Sunday. I do know AP holders for WDW in the U.K. and am trying to do some research on their behalf. Any thoughts, opinions or facts would be much appreciated.

 

[DisneyCane]

I would say in my 2 days at DS, I saw about 4 people total walking around without their masks and it was hot out about 93-95. I did see lots of people sitting down at tables, planters, benches having a drink or some food and not wearing their masks. Everybody looked to be enjoying themselves. People were talking and laughing with others, socially distanced. The World of Disney looked to have about twice as many cast members as guests. I do feel like this is one way that Disney is going to enforce the masks is by having an overwhelming number of cast members around at first. There is no way that World of Disney wasn't losing money hand over fist with the amount of labor on site. This was Friday and Saturday. People were out, but except for food nobody seemed to be buying anything else. Even when it was pouring down rain on Sat night, people still had their masks on. My wife and I walked from the B resort to DS with our masks on when it was 93 out, it was a 15 minute walk with 50 stairs up and down the pedestrian overpass (I didn't count them the security guard told me that's how many there are). I do not consider myself in good shape and the walk was fine, really hot, but fine. The mask did not cause any more discomfort than without a mask. We had the blue "paper" type masks that you can buy on Amazon 50 for about $23.

There is a 0% chance I'm going to go to an outdoor shopping mall when it is this hot with masks required. It's just not what I consider a pleasant experience.

The parks are debatable. If the limited capacity and virtual queues make a day more like it was 10 years ago as far as spontaneity and rides per hour then the discomfort of a mask in hot and humid weather is a worthwhile trade-off.

Back in 2005 or 2006 my sister in law visited and we rode all e-tickets at all 4 parks in one day and weren't even there all the way until the last park closed. For a day like that in 2020 I'd wear a full biohazard suit.