wouldn't this be the best time for construction on WDW?

[Minnesota disney fan]

I wouldn’t be surprised.

I’m not sure ANYONE Is going to be working for long except in their homes.

If half the world is restricting/locking things down...and Disney has ceased operations - which it will only do for a hurricane that flips cars when it’s on direct tract and 36 hours or less out - why on earth is there any idea that they’ll have maintenance guys changing lightbulbs and fixing details in splash mountain?

I think you’re being “too American” here. This is an entirely new playbook that hasn’t been written. The Chinese parks and japan have been completely locked down. Ghost towns. It’s not worse in Japan than it already is here. They just went straight to Maximum precautions.

Disneyland Paris was business as usual two days ago...now they are in accelerated shutdown. What happened since? France tracked 2000 new cases, 100 deaths and the whole country just banned public places.

If the French just shut all their restaurants...they got issues.

Sir Walter, you have used that phrase, "too American", a few times before. I don't know what you mean. We Americans aren't naïve but have a different outlook than you or other countries. Only natural. I am proud to be "too American" and kind of take offense to what that phrase might mean to you. Also, even though our local k thru 12 schools are being closed for 2 weeks, my husband (who works groundskeeping/maintenance) at the high school Will be doing his job each day to keep the school kept up and maintained.

 

[LauraRose]

christmas in the UK..amazing

Ha it isn’t very exciting here. Lots of rain and bleak days!

 

[Goofy213]

I understand that Disney doesn't want any additional cost during this down time, but why not finish projects that are close to being finished? Understandably shutdown projects like Tron and Gaurdian they are still years away from completion. Yet projects like painting the castle and Ratatouille why not push to complete them? The budget for them has already been set, there is no more additional cost involved and no more logistics needing to be procured. In fact completing Ratatouille my be a god send. Once the parks do reopen why not have a star attraction to intise people to return? Painting the castle was proceeding at a feverish pace before the shutdown, so why stop, and even though Tron is no where near finish why not work on the Railroad and get it back and running? As for Epcot, you could still continue with the demolition of Innoventions. In fact this would be the best time to do so, with no one in the park there is no need to be delicate and quite, go in with excavator and rip the sucker down. One thing for certain is that the cleaning crews will be at full force cleaning and disinfecting ever inch of ever park, resort and hotel room before reopening. In conclusion give the public something to return to, not just a park that was left in mothballs before this all started.

 

[Walt_Disney]

I find this ridiculous that they don’t move forward with at least fixing and repairing all attractions while they are down. They could do lots of deep cleaning and repainting to freshen up the place. Heck for the cleaning and easy tasks they could ask for volunteer cast members who normally work other areas like ride operators to come in and clean and do basic maintenance.
This is the perfect time to bring the parks to nearly opening day quality. I understand they won’t build a new land but at least use this time to do some TLC on the place.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I find this ridiculous that they don’t move forward with at least fixing and repairing all attractions while they are down. They could do lots of deep cleaning and repainting to freshen up the place. Heck for the cleaning and easy tasks they could ask for volunteer cast members who normally work other areas like ride operators to come in and clean and do basic maintenance.
This is the perfect time to bring the parks to nearly opening day quality. I understand they won’t build a new land but at least use this time to do some TLC on the place.

I agree, AND I don't buy into the statements that Disney doesn't have the money to do their much needed maintenance. They DO have enough money to do and buy anything they want with their billions. So, no, I don't think they should put off the maintenance while they have this chance.

 

[Isher]

DH is in FOS (maintenance), they are to report to work as normal. He says there is plenty for them to do. They’ll be able to tackle their backlogged maintenance since the everyday preventative maintenance won’t be an issue. They won’t be able to fix everything since all necessary parts aren’t in stock but his team is excited to get the chance to bring attractions back up to show.

 

[Disstevefan1]

DH is in FOS (maintenance), they are to report to work as normal. He says there is plenty for them to do. They’ll be able to tackle their backlogged maintenance since the everyday preventative maintenance won’t be an issue. They won’t be able to fix everything since all necessary parts aren’t in stock but his team is excited to get the chance to bring attractions back up to show.

This is excellent news.

 

[Clamman73]

I find this ridiculous that they don’t move forward with at least fixing and repairing all attractions while they are down. They could do lots of deep cleaning and repainting to freshen up the place. Heck for the cleaning and easy tasks they could ask for volunteer cast members who normally work other areas like ride operators to come in and clean and do basic maintenance.
This is the perfect time to bring the parks to nearly opening day quality. I understand they won’t build a new land but at least use this time to do some TLC on the place.

Granted it’s not Disney’s fault they have to close, but they do owe it to their guests who had to change plans and possibly lose money that the people returning come back to a Park that’s in immaculate shape and ready for business.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Sir Walter, you have used that phrase, "too American", a few times before. I don't know what you mean. We Americans aren't naïve but have a different outlook than you or other countries. Only natural. I am proud to be "too American" and kind of take offense to what that phrase might mean to you. Also, even though our local k thru 12 schools are being closed for 2 weeks, my husband (who works groundskeeping/maintenance) at the high school Will be doing his job each day to keep the school kept up and maintained.

I just think we in the US may not be grasping the length and depth of the situation we are entering...not “exiting”.

We have it very good and may not be seeing this clearly. Myself definitely included. I’d rather everyone be overly cautious and look at this from the longterm perspective and then back off our estimates of how disrupted we are when it’s clear that we can. If you follow any of these corona or closing threads...the same misinformation and lack of perspective that dominated the narrative was prevalent until just the last couple of days. And now that’s turned around in a big way. I guess it’s just human nature...but I do worry for our collective health and longterm well being.

My intent was not to offend you or anyone...so that’s my mistake if I did. I suggest everyone pause on all planning of trips, cruises, park discussions, etc that involve timeframes and staffing. Seems appropriate. Disney is stunned to have to do this. They aren’t thinking about refurbs or construction timelines - at least not yet. I did work through the September 2001 disruption (near round the clock) and we were stunned and searching for each next best step...and that was a much better national response. In this scenario - we may have too much time. Then the right thing to do was to resume our lives and hand together...that is the exact opposite here.

But I’ve been wrong before. There are benefits to positive social discourse when times are serious. They cancelled some of my kid’s sports leagues in the latter stages - but said they were “postponements” and they would finish - that brought a lot of positive feedback from parents and kids. Now...that’s never going to happen...but it was a wise move to keep the prospect open as they were locked down for 35 days just a few hours later from schools.

 

[MarkTwain]

They tried a while ago

Care to share more? Did Disney get cold feet about new ships? Would explain a lot about the lack of updates....

 

[Disstevefan1]

The US is not being overly cautious. We are trying to slow down the spread so the hospitals are not overloaded. Let’s say we did nothing and there was a spike in cases. The hospitals would be so overloaded that folks would be dying not only from the virus but from other things folks are typically saved from because of the overcrowding of the hospitals

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Schools are still open in NYC. Most of the local politicians from the city council and borough president would prefer them closed. Individual schools have closed as cases are popping up in those schools. I hope that everyone remains healthy and safe!! Marie

The NYC schools shut down...finally

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I just think we in the US may not be grasping the length and depth of the situation we are entering...not “exiting”.

We have it very good and may not be seeing this clearly. Myself definitely included. I’d rather everyone be overly cautious and look at this from the longterm perspective and then back off our estimates of how disrupted we are when it’s clear that we can. If you follow any of these corona or closing threads...the same misinformation and lack of perspective that dominated the narrative was prevalent until just the last couple of days. And now that’s turned around in a big way. I guess it’s just human nature...but I do worry for our collective health and longterm well being.

My intent was not to offend you or anyone...so that’s my mistake if I did. I suggest everyone pause on all planning of trips, cruises, park discussions, etc that involve timeframes and staffing. Seems appropriate. Disney is stunned to have to do this. They aren’t thinking about refurbs or construction timelines - at least not yet. I did work through the September 2001 disruption (near round the clock) and we were stunned and searching for each next best step...and that was a much better national response. In this scenario - we may have too much time. Then the right thing to do was to resume our lives and hand together...that is the exact opposite here.

But I’ve been wrong before. There are benefits to positive social discourse when times are serious. They cancelled some of my kid’s sports leagues in the latter stages - but said they were “postponements” and they would finish - that brought a lot of positive feedback from parents and kids. Now...that’s never going to happen...but it was a wise move to keep the prospect open as they were locked down for 35 days just a few hours later from schools.

Thanks for that , Sir Walter. I do think people are taking it very seriously now. But it's just not here that people are not wanting to believe it's as bad as it is. I communicated with a friend in Europe who hasn't taken it seriously until now. I think it's human nature.
So no harm and no foul. I have always enjoyed your posts

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Thanks for that , Sir Walter. I do think people are taking it very seriously now. But it's just not here that people are not wanting to believe it's as bad as it is. I communicated with a friend in Europe who hasn't taken it seriously until now. I think it's human nature.
So no harm and no foul. I have always enjoyed your posts

I know and contrary to popular rumor - I don’t mean to offend (well...- few maybe but they should know who they are by now . And they deserve it)

I want everything to be back up and running - believe you me. Overcharge me, Disney! Please Do.

But our response in the US has not been good enough. Any way you slice it. Hopefully we aren’t as interconnected as we now fear and the impacts are minimal.

 

[JohnD]

In theory, to prevent the spread, there should probably not be anyone in the parks for any reason. OTOH, they can do construction work with walls down for the next several weeks without guests being in the way.

 

[marni1971]

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/03/17/breaking-walt-disney-world-shuts-down-all.html

 

[Tom P.]

I understand the disappointment that people feel at seeing the news of construction shutting down. But it's the right thing to do. There is no reason that it needs to continue right now. And there are far more important things than repainting Cinderella Castle or the new Tron coaster. Life will eventually resume, priorities will be reassessed, and eventually construction projects will continue. But for now, if it's not necessary, it needs to cease.

 

[Bluewaves]

If maintenance crews are going to be there anyway its a great time to work on whatever they have to do, especially since they can split up and work by themselves, I'm sure the construction crews will report as usual, it may make their lives easier as they don't need to work around guests though

 

[danlb_2000]

If maintenance crews are going to be there anyway its a great time to work on whatever they have to do, especially since they can split up and work by themselves, I'm sure the construction crews will report as usual, it may make their lives easier as they don't need to work around guests though

Go back 2 posts, not happening.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

I assume some work will be on going...they won’t let it rot, but it won’t be as pronounced.