When are all these cutbacks not about COVID anymore?

mickey0825

Active Member
Original Poster
No Christmas party, no snow, no Castle Lights, no Gingerbread houses at resorts....at what point does this not become about COVID and limiting crowds and about Disney becoming extremely cheap in everything that they do. Yes, precautions need to be taken, but its starting not to be about precautions. It's Disney beginning to use this as an excuse to cut every dollar imaginable. Its so sad....I love this place like home and it's turning into a penny pinching monster.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
No Christmas party, no snow, no Castle Lights, no Gingerbread houses at resorts....at what point does this not become about COVID and limiting crowds and about Disney becoming extremely cheap in everything that they do. Yes, precautions need to be taken, but its starting not to be about precautions. It's Disney beginning to use this as an excuse to cut every dollar imaginable. Its so sad....I love this place like home and it's turning into a penny pinching monster.
Most of that is to keep people from congregating. Literally the only choice that I think is cheap is the cancelation of the Dream Lights.

There will be “snow” at DS...

We are lucky they’re decorating.
 

Tom P.

Well-Known Member
They need to be cheap until attendance and spending returns to a respectable level.
Chicken and egg, though. Attendance and guest spending would likely be higher if Disney was offering more for guests to do. I just cannot fathom going when the park closes at 6 p.m. each day, for example. I would imagine the Christmas party would have brought a lot of people in.
 

mickey0825

Active Member
Original Poster
Most of that is to keep people from congregating. Literally the only choice that I think is cheap is the cancelation of the Dream Lights.

There will be “snow” at DS...

We are lucky they’re decorating.
I think its much more than safety...limiting capacity...masks...social distancing...yes all safety.
Everything else that is being implemented....cutting costs....what frustrates me is they're making these cuts in the name of safety, which is not the case for a large majority of things.
 

donsullivan

Premium Member
No Christmas party, no snow, no Castle Lights, no Gingerbread houses at resorts....at what point do all those things. This isn’t does this not become about COVID and limiting crowds and about Disney becoming extremely cheap in everything that they do. Yes, precautions need to be taken, but its starting not to be about precautions. It's Disney beginning to use this as an excuse to cut every dollar imaginable. Its so sad....I love this place like home and it's turning into a penny pinching monster.
With the attendance numbers restricted to some number under 20% of capacity and rarely even hitting those low caps, the money does not exist to do any of those things. With tens of thousands of cast members still on furlough because people are not visiting, this is about survival. Don’t let the ’crowded’ parks from this weekend fool you; people are not returning and visiting the parks.
 

SteamboatJoe

Well-Known Member
No Christmas party, no snow, no Castle Lights, no Gingerbread houses at resorts....at what point does this not become about COVID and limiting crowds and about Disney becoming extremely cheap in everything that they do. Yes, precautions need to be taken, but its starting not to be about precautions. It's Disney beginning to use this as an excuse to cut every dollar imaginable. Its so sad....I love this place like home and it's turning into a penny pinching monster.
The COVID cost reduction fallout is probably going to last well into 2021, possibly further, and its not because they are cheap. Demand is drastically down and they still don't even have every park open. Expecting things to return to normal in the near future is not realistic at all.
 

mickey0825

Active Member
Original Poster
The COVID cost reduction fallout is probably going to last well into 2021, possibly further, and its not because they are cheap. Demand is drastically down and they still don't even have every park open. Expecting things to return to normal in the near future is not realistic at all.
How is not having Gingerbread houses in resorts under the auspices of "crowd control" not cheap?
 

mickey0825

Active Member
Original Poster
With the attendance numbers restricted to some number under 20% of capacity and rarely even hitting those low caps, the money does not exist to do any of those things. With tens of thousands of cast members still on furlough because people are not visiting, this is about survival. Don’t let the ’crowded’ parks from this weekend fool you; people are not returning and visiting the parks.
That's not true...travel to Florida is increasing...Universal and Disney park attendance has risen considerably every week for the past month and will continue to as Florida counts go down. Flights from Northeast to Orlando were up 200% over the past 2 weeks
 

donsullivan

Premium Member
How is not having Gingerbread houses in resorts under the auspices of "crowd control" not cheap?
every single one of these changes is about cost reduction to match the massive reduction in attendance and hotel occupancy. adjusting spending to match massively reduced visitation is responsible management, not being cheap. If the money is not coming in, it is epically irresponsible to spend it ‘just because’.
 

mickey0825

Active Member
Original Poster
every single one of these changes is about cost reduction to match the massive reduction in attendance and hotel occupancy. adjusting spending to match massively reduced visitation is responsible management, not being cheap. If the money is not coming in, it is epically irresponsible to spend it ‘just because’.
then they shouldn't be charging $600 a night for the room...if prices were reduced Id agree
 

donsullivan

Premium Member
That's not true...travel to Florida is increasing...Universal and Disney park attendance has risen considerably every week for the past month and will continue to as Florida counts go down. Flights from Northeast to Orlando were up 200% over the past 2 weeks
Your spinning anecdotal data in an attempt to reinforce a false narrative. Hotel occupancy in central FL is down 80% from last year. Disney is not achieving even their reduced capacity limitations
 

Dan Deesnee

Well-Known Member
Oh they are definitely using Covid as an excuse to cut some costly things. Next thing you know they'll be saying "In order to reduce the stress level of our guests by providing too many choices, the following rides will be temporarily closed due to Covid..."

My personal opinion is that they've written this year off. January and February are slow months anyway. That gives them 6 months to wait things out, regroup, and make their plans for getting things as back to normal next year as they can. Just a complete guess but I wager they are targeting being back to somewhere around 80% normal capacity by holiday season (Q4) 2021. I could see it happening.
 

mickey0825

Active Member
Original Poster
Your spinning anecdotal data in an attempt to reinforce a false narrative. Hotel occupancy in central FL is down 80% from last year. Disney is not achieving even their reduced capacity limitations
Why is it that diehard Disney fans (and I consider myself one) cannot criticize this company even when it is blatantly obvious what is going on? If this is the case....Disney should not be open
 

donsullivan

Premium Member
Why is it that diehard Disney fans (and I consider myself one) cannot criticize this company even when it is blatantly obvious what is going on? If this is the case....Disney should not be open
So 70,000 people should be out of work because you want gingerbread houses at resorts? please do a little homework to actually understand the massive economic impact of the complete collapse of the tourism industry in central Florida right now before whining about stuff like this. when I see cast members in line for food pantries on the local news I don’t worry about gingerbread houses in resort lobbies; I worry about maintaining financial stability of the industry for the recovery that is expected to take close to 2 years.
 

SteamboatJoe

Well-Known Member
Oh they are definitely using Covid as an excuse to cut some costly things. Next thing you know they'll be saying "In order to reduce the stress level of our guests by providing too many choices, the following rides will be temporarily closed due to Covid..."

My personal opinion is that they've written this year off. January and February are slow months anyway. That gives them 6 months to wait things out, regroup, and make their plans for getting things as back to normal next year as they can. Just a complete guess but I wager they are targeting being back to somewhere around 80% normal capacity by holiday season (Q4) 2021. I could see it happening.
I have absolutely no problem with them closing some things near term if it means sound, financial footing long term.
 

Stitch826

Well-Known Member
No Christmas party, no snow, no Castle Lights, no Gingerbread houses at resorts....at what point does this not become about COVID and limiting crowds and about Disney becoming extremely cheap in everything that they do. Yes, precautions need to be taken, but its starting not to be about precautions. It's Disney beginning to use this as an excuse to cut every dollar imaginable. Its so sad....I love this place like home and it's turning into a penny pinching monster.
Was just thinking about this myself. The way Disney is operating currently is merely an amusement park, not as a theme park worth charging well over $100 per day for tickets. My fear is that when life returns to normal, Disney will be too cheap to fully restore the cuts they made. Even before Covid, cuts were made that diminished the value of a Disney vacation, especially for on-site guests. I thought the shortening of park hours and reduction of Extra Magic Hours was already going overboard the last couple of years prior to Covid. What’s happening now is utterly ridiculous.
 

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