What's Still On and What's Now Off

[Hawg G]

I don’t doubt they are kicking this plan around, it seems like it was dreamed up by a bunch of managers and lawyers.

I just don’t see how they find the sweet spot that people are going to assume the risk, accept the severe lack of features, and pay enough that Disney can make a profit, I just don’t.

I see zero chance something like this happens. It makes no sense. All omnimovers would be shut down. Coaster CAPACITY would be SEVERELY hurt. You’d need 2 rows between guests. Of course, going 40mph sorta blows the whole 6 feet thing out of the water. 6 feet is for walking. Then you have to clean each car. Then you have a much slower load because of the queue spacing.

Pirate boats would operate at about one third capacity.

I think one third would be the basic capacity. So, even if the park had 15,000 in it, it would still have massive lines everywhere. Of course, since restaurants and stores would run at perhaps 20%, so that would put tons more guests on paths. The paths would need lanes, strict spacing, and no stopping, or the whole lane would stop.

I can’t see more than 5-10,000 people could be at the MK. There is no way Disney has INCREASED ride ops to operate the park for record low numbers, and likely record low food and merch sales. It would make no sense economically.

If cases drop to near nothing I May, which is most likely, companies are going to open up quickly.

No one will be able to sue Disney because they caught Covid there. It’s completely unprovable, and would set a horrific percedent. I’d guess tens of thousands of people catch the flu at Disney each year, and a non insignificant number of them die.

Some folks should take deep breaths and really think about what they are saying. Our “new normal” will be almost identical to the old normal once folks settle down. We survived MERS and SARS without destroying our economies. Society would be incredibly stupid to let the Chinese Coronavirus destroy it.

 

[UNCgolf]

It discussed stuff like turning off all self service vending like Freestyle machines and requiring you to go to a counter for refill. It asked about contactless payment, suspending bag scanning, etc.

Anything that gets rid of the terrible Freestyle machines is a bonus!

Although I guess I should actually thank Coca-Cola for inventing them, because they helped me kick my Coke habit. Easy to skip on ordering a Coke when a place only has the Freestyle machine available.

 

[Jrb1979]

Anything that gets rid of the terrible Freestyle machines is a bonus!

Although I guess I should actually thank Coca-Cola for inventing them, because they helped me kick my Coke habit. Easy to skip on ordering a Coke when a place only has the Freestyle machine available.

I love those machines. Being able to make any flavor I want is great.

 

[MuteSuperstar]

Anything that gets rid of the terrible Freestyle machines is a bonus!

Although I guess I should actually thank Coca-Cola for inventing them, because they helped me kick my Coke habit. Easy to skip on ordering a Coke when a place only has the Freestyle machine available.

Not sure how it works at WDW (I haven't been since they installed the horrible Freestyle machines), but I know at places like White Castle, the drinks at the counter are the same wretched bilge dispensed by the Freestyle.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

People will not be allowed to congregate like that.

Regarding storms - Disney can’t force people not to take shelter in sever weather. That would be a bigger lawsuit than a hard to prove Covid disease death. (Hard to prove because if you are on vacation you could have caught it anywhere... airport, hotel, rest area, wherever).

 

[Dan Deesnee]

I see zero chance something like this happens. It makes no sense. All omnimovers would be shut down. Coaster CAPACITY would be SEVERELY hurt. You’d need 2 rows between guests. Of course, going 40mph sorta blows the whole 6 feet thing out of the water. 6 feet is for walking. Then you have to clean each car. Then you have a much slower load because of the queue spacing.

Pirate boats would operate at about one third capacity.

I think one third would be the basic capacity. So, even if the park had 15,000 in it, it would still have massive lines everywhere. Of course, since restaurants and stores would run at perhaps 20%, so that would put tons more guests on paths. The paths would need lanes, strict spacing, and no stopping, or the whole lane would stop.

I can’t see more than 5-10,000 people could be at the MK. There is no way Disney has INCREASED ride ops to operate the park for record low numbers, and likely record low food and merch sales. It would make no sense economically.

If cases drop to near nothing I May, which is most likely, companies are going to open up quickly.

No one will be able to sue Disney because they caught Covid there. It’s completely unprovable, and would set a horrific percedent. I’d guess tens of thousands of people catch the flu at Disney each year, and a non insignificant number of them die.

Some folks should take deep breaths and really think about what they are saying. Our “new normal” will be almost identical to the old normal once folks settle down. We survived MERS and SARS without destroying our economies. Society would be incredibly stupid to let the Chinese Coronavirus destroy it.

Well said. The facts will start to become clearer over the next month. Based on what I've read (nothing from Facebook...) I'd guess a huge drop in cases by end of May, and deaths. Increased testing will really reveal how bad this whole situation is, and it won't be as bad as we fear.

Does that mean we should rush back to normal in June and have 100,000 people in the theme park? Doesn't seem smart, but neither does closing the economy down while we wait for a vaccine in 2021.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Regarding storms - Disney can’t force people not to take shelter in sever weather. That would be a bigger lawsuit than a hard to prove Covid disease death. (Hard to prove because if you are on vacation you could have caught it anywhere... airport, hotel, rest area, wherever).

They can keep people from unsafely congregating. They already do that. For example, if a gift shop is a ride exit, I have seen them tell people to maintain a walkway and keep moving once crowds reach a certain level.

 

[UNCgolf]

I love those machines. Being able to make any flavor I want is great.

Yeah, I think they're fine if you want to make flavored sodas.

If you actually want regular Coke, though, you really can't get it. Of course it's an option, but it never ever tastes remotely like Coke. I tried those machines in probably 30 (or more) places across multiple states over a couple of years and the regular Coke tasted absolutely terrible in every single one of them. Finally just gave up trying, which is good for my health!

 

[Jrb1979]

Well said. The facts will start to become clearer over the next month. Based on what I've read (nothing from Facebook...) I'd guess a huge drop in cases by end of May, and deaths. Increased testing will really reveal how bad this whole situation is, and it won't be as bad as we fear.

Does that mean we should rush back to normal in June and have 100,000 people in the theme park? Doesn't seem smart, but neither does closing the economy down while we wait for a vaccine in 2021.

No one is saying close the economy til 2021. At the same time I don't know how you can open everything as quickly as most want it too either. Start with what they plan on on phase 1. I don't see how you can jump to open any large gatherings til there is a way to treat this.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

They can keep people from unsafely congregating. They already do that. For example, if a gift shop is a ride exit, I have seen them tell people to maintain a walkway and keep moving once crowds reach a certain level.

They can not keep people from sheltering from a storm with lightning. They can ask people to keep a walkway, and they can ask people to spread out within the store.

Once there is no threat of lightning, perhaps.

 

[Ravenclaw78]

No matter how little is open, how much it costs, or how few guests are allowed, the lifestyle bloggers will still all be beating down the gates to be allowed in on opening day.

 

[CastAStone]

Will y’all keep it down on the epidemiology? You can argue til the cows come home and you won’t convince each other and your posts are getting longer and longer.

You can also stop arguing about whether anyone would go back. I would: I’m pretty sure my immediate family has had the corona so if we all can eventually get an antibodies test and we are able to prove to ourselves that that’s true, I would absolutely go back to WDW under these conditions, provided a sufficient enough discount. Sounds like it won’t be crowded, so bully for me.

 

[twilight mitsuk]

Here’s what is much more realistic:

Late June or July opening of MK and DHS and DAK

No masks required.

Virtual Queues for everything.

No live entertainment of any kind except for a giant 4th of July fireworks spectacular because this is Florida and they’ll want to do that anyway.

Limited entry into the parks.

Hotels could reopen sooner.

They will sanitize surfaces as much as possible, but trying to do every ride vehicle after every guests... I don’t see that happening. Maybe they’ll run the ride with guests, then sanitize every vehicle, then do it again. Basically one load of guests, one load of clean ghosts. And that sanitization will be done via a fine mist application, similar to fumigating a home or an airplane.

Temperature checks at security, but none of that questioning of where you have been. That’s not something people will be comfortable doing.

I don’t expect Epcot to open this year.

Maybe no mnsshp or f&w

 

[UNCgolf]

You can also stop arguing about whether anyone would go back. I would: I’m pretty sure my immediate family has had the corona so if we all can eventually get an antibodies test and we are able to prove to ourselves that that’s true, I would absolutely go back to WDW under these conditions, provided a sufficient enough discount. Sounds like it won’t be crowded, so bully for me.

I think even if it was $20 for a ticket I wouldn't go, because it wouldn't be worth the travel/hotel room for me. I might go if I lived in Orlando.

There's just too much that's going to be shut down/not operating. If there's no EPCOT, no theaters (I assume Carousel of Progress would count as a theater), and no animal trails at Animal Kingdom, then like half of my favorite things at WDW won't be available.

 

[CastAStone]

I think even if it was $20 for a ticket I wouldn't go, because it wouldn't be worth the travel/hotel room for me. I might go if I lived in Orlando.

There's just too much that's going to be shut down/not operating. If there's no EPCOT, no theaters (I assume Carousel of Progress would count as a theater), and no animal trails at Animal Kingdom, then like half of my favorite things at WDW won't be available.

I get that. My 3 year old would spend all day riding the People Mover. All day. Maybe if it’s quiet enough they’ll just let us stay on so they don’t have to wipe our seats down.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

What's the status on the construction at MK's front gate?

Would help with social distancing to not have that space limited by construction walls.

 

[BrianLo]

I'm curious - why is Epcot the agreed upon black sheep?

 

[TrojanUSC]

I'm curious - why is Epcot the agreed upon black sheep?

Much construction at the front of the park, with a lot of rides that aren't the most desirable. Lot of sit down restaurants at the back of the park that would be severely impacted by restrictions on social distancing.

For evidence of this they just sent him the Cultural Reps two weeks ago. They would need them back to fully staff the pavilions, as many of them have some contract in place they must be staffed by people from those countries.

 

[marni1971]

Parks are going to be unrecognizable for the rest of 2020

Thats a given now under any reopening scenario.

Does that mean we should rush back to normal in June and have 100,000 people in the theme park?

You won’t see 100,000

 

[TTA94]

Will be interesting to see how MNSSHP and MVMCP plays out with no entertainment.... or are we/they expecting entertainment to be back on by then?