WDW COVID-19 Operational Changes- Reservation System-Rope Drop Procedures

Adding, anyone else think it's super shady they slipped this into an update rather than as part of the big reopening plan announcement? Makes you wonder what other nasty little surprises they have in store. If they close the resort pools, there really is no hope for our vacation.
 
So my thought is they have (had) too many ADRs for the limited TS seating plus limited park hours. They wouldn’t be able to honor all, so they canceled all. The 35% offer is to encourage rebooking to keep crowds down in the near-term.
Where does it show that you will get a 35% room discount? I didn’t see that on the Disney blog, I only saw the letter from the TA that said we get priority for reservations. I am paying over $1200 extra because I had to give up my discounted room rate for this trip in order to rebook and get the the dining recovery plan. This is why it feels kind of dishonest.
 
So there message says guests who booked for dates from may 28th on will have to rebook but what about the people like us who booked for this past march are APH and were told to modify same trip to may then told again another movement to june..its the same reservation # and i know they have the info on file so will they consider us to be in the pool to modify for when they open in july? cuase that doesnt seem cool they told us twice to modify or it would auto cancel..now we are in the june boat and out of luck?
 
Adding, anyone else think it's super shady they slipped this into an update rather than as part of the big reopening plan announcement?

Not at all. It's understandably easy to lose sight of this when all you're focused on is your specific vacation plans, but the re-opening plans were submitted to a government body and were thus focused on what was most relevant to the Task Force eg compliance with whatever policies and metrics were set forth. I would never have expected information on discounts and free dining and similar in that announcement. Those specifics really aren't relevant to anyone but us and that presentation was not aimed at Disney guests. I figured that we would get more details as days went on.
 


Where does it show that you will get a 35% room discount? I didn’t see that on the Disney blog, I only saw the letter from the TA that said we get priority for reservations. I am paying over $1200 extra because I had to give up my discounted room rate for this trip in order to rebook and get the the dining recovery plan. This is why it feels kind of dishonest.
It's COMPLETELY dishonest.
 
Not at all. It's understandably easy to lose sight of this when all you're focused on is your specific vacation plans, but the re-opening plans were submitted to a government body and were thus focused on what was most relevant to the Task Force eg compliance with whatever policies and metrics were set forth. I would never have expected information on discounts and free dining and similar in that announcement. Those specifics really aren't relevant to anyone but us and that presentation was not aimed at Disney guests. I figured that we would get more details as days went on.
There was an entire wave of announcements yesterday---on the official website, on the parks blog, Bob Chapek and other reps gave several interviews. It wasn't just the presentation to the task force.
 
Adding, anyone else think it's super shady they slipped this into an update rather than as part of the big reopening plan announcement? Makes you wonder what other nasty little surprises they have in store. If they close the resort pools, there really is no hope for our vacation.
Yes, guests that booked with the free dining recovery are loyal Disney fans. I would have preferred a message with the information sent to me, but this was most likely the most efficient method to distribute information to guest. My problem is that Disney is also canceling my resort reservation with this offer - I appreciate the 35 % percent off for a later date booking, but the free dining was made for my only other available week. But, as I said before I am blessed that I can afford a Disney vacation and my family is healthy. On a daily basis, I do not go out and participate in many social activities (dining, movies, etc.)to be able to pay for my Disney trips, so I am disappointed, especially with staying inside for the past 10 weeks.
 


This doesn't affect me as my Resort reservation begins mid August, but...

I understand the logic of 60 day ADR's. Once implemented, everyone will have an equal shot of booking new dinning. However, those with Resort reservations planned within 60 days from now, will be competing for spots with a bigger pool of guests.
 
Yes, guests that booked with the free dining recovery are loyal Disney fans. I would have preferred a message with the information sent to me, but this was most likely the most efficient method to distribute information to guest. My problem is that Disney is also canceling my resort reservation with this offer - I appreciate the 35 % percent off for a later date booking, but the free dining was made for my only other available week. But, as I said before I am blessed that I can afford a Disney vacation and my family is healthy. On a daily basis, I do not go out and participate in many social activities (dining, movies, etc.)to be able to pay for my Disney trips, so I am disappointed, especially with staying inside for the past 10 weeks.
Why are they canceling your resort reservation?I thought it was only the dining part of the plan.
 
I also wonder if they didn’t realize the level of reduced capacity that would be needed to open and had hoped that restaurants would be able to hold more than they are allowed via task force guidelines.

Maybe though, they will come out next year with better deals to make up for this year.
Theyre one of the largest companies in the world...They certainly should have realized...they just didn't care to or make it a priority. It's really unbelievable. I have never been so disgusted by a company as I have with WDW at this point and how they've handled this whole mess. They've literally looked incompetent when compared to basically any other competitor; which is pretty sad considering who they are and the sheer amount of "smart" ppl. they have.
 
There was an entire wave of announcements yesterday---on the official website, on the parks blog, Bob Chapek and other reps gave several interviews. It wasn't just the presentation to the task force.

That's just how massive announcements go, though, it always starts with the biggest news and expand on it from there. I'm not saying you don't have the right to be upset, but like...every single detail isn't going to come out on day 1. Anyone who expected that, idk what to tell you.
 
Here are my other issues with this recent update-
1) the dining prices were recently raised, possibly to make the dining plan more attractive. I'm sure they won't be discounting for lack of characters, etc
2) our APs will be extended for the length of time the park are closed, but I will now have to compete for a park reservation which may render the pass useless
3) the price for a vacation package I had contracted and paid for is now being raised under the guise of guest safety
It seems the same thought process that was in play when they hefted the AP price is apparent again. More of the "get all the $$ we can now and let the next board worry about the future image of the company" behavior. Many other ways they could've handled this. Really bad look for a company that makes a profit based on "the feels"
 
We have a family vacation booked for the first week of August with DVC points. I'm thinking of these latest developments, and honestly, it's like a stress reliever for me. I am always booking things the minute they are available to book - and I have to admit, I was stressed thinking about the Park reservation system and how that would have worked with our ADRs (and FP's for when I would have been able to make them next Tuesday). Now it's all - poof! No more worries about making sure all the plans match up - because there will be no more plans LOL.

Now it's just hoping I can get a park, any park, when the reservation system shows up. If I can't get a park, then it will be a day at the pool. If the pool isn't available, then it will be Disney Springs, or just spending family time playing board games. Not the typical go, go, go that we normally do at Disney, but we'll still be on property with the Disney magic, and we'll still be together as a family.

It will be the most ad hoc Disney vacation that my OCD self would have ever allowed us to have LOL!
 
So there message says guests who booked for dates from may 28th on will have to rebook but what about the people like us who booked for this past march are APH and were told to modify same trip to may then told again another movement to june..its the same reservation # and i know they have the info on file so will they consider us to be in the pool to modify for when they open in july? cuase that doesnt seem cool they told us twice to modify or it would auto cancel..now we are in the june boat and out of luck?
I am curious about this as well. It seems to me that Disney is canceling these guest recovery resort reservations, which is disappointing because my original "closure" reservation was booked 10 months prior. The 35% off is a nice gesture, but I cannot re-schedule for another time.
 
Here are my other issues with this recent update-
1) the dining prices were recently raised, possibly to make the dining plan more attractive. I'm sure they won't be discounting for lack of characters, etc
2) our APs will be extended for the length of time the park are closed, but I will now have to compete for a park reservation which may render the pass useless
3) the price for a vacation package I had contracted and paid for is now being raised under the guise of guest safety
It seems the same thought process that was in play when they hefted the AP price is apparent again. More of the "get all the $$ we can now and let the next board worry about the future image of the company" behavior. Many other ways they could've handled this. Really bad look for a company that makes a profit based on "the feels"
whos to say the annual pass doesn't get extended as a good "faith" effort. I mean the price raising doesn't seem like its unreasonable given the circumstances I get people are upset. I wouldn't be shocked if my AP got extended 6 months for example maybe I expect too much?

also with a guy who looks like lex luther should we be surprised I blame Pete Warner for his references.
 
We have a family vacation booked for the first week of August with DVC points. I'm thinking of these latest developments, and honestly, it's like a stress reliever for me. I am always booking things the minute they are available to book - and I have to admit, I was stressed thinking about the Park reservation system and how that would have worked with our ADRs (and FP's for when I would have been able to make them next Tuesday). Now it's all - poof! No more worries about making sure all the plans match up - because there will be no more plans LOL.

Now it's just hoping I can get a park, any park, when the reservation system shows up. If I can't get a park, then it will be a day at the pool. If the pool isn't available, then it will be Disney Springs, or just spending family time playing board games. Not the typical go, go, go that we normally do at Disney, but we'll still be on property with the Disney magic, and we'll still be together as a family.

It will be the most ad hoc Disney vacation that my OCD self would have ever allowed us to have LOL!
Well your definitely the kind of paying customer Disney's looking for. Don't get me wrong; it's great to be positive; but it's another thing to gladly have a business completely take advantage of you. That is absolutely no offense to you...it sounds like you're happy to pay whatever to do whatever, but Disney is still treating it's paying customers extremely poorly.
 
Is anyone else just sadly looking at their FPs and dining reservations on the app/website before they go away? They were so perfect! I worked so hard! Sigh. But mostly I am finding the humor in all of it, because what else can you do at this point. (Answer: Cry. But I really don't want to do that!)

No doubt about that, I already canceled ADRs for May trip (which were perfect) and it almost killed me since dining is just about my favorite part of vacation :blush:. Now I have a whole new set of ADR's for October ( which are also perfect) that are going to get wiped also. Ok then, so it sounds like this will be the Disney trip where I finally catch up on my reading. Maybe an ADR at the nearby Chik-fil-A. :rolleyes:
 
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Why are they canceling your resort reservation?I thought it was only the dining part of the plan.
Maybe, I am reading it wrong, but it sounded like the resort reservation from the free dining recovery would be canceled and these guests would be offered the opportunity to book another vacation for a later date with the 35 percent off room discount. But, I could be reading that wrong -- this is all so confusing and quite frankly I am tired of thinking and worrying about a Disney vacation. I would absolutely go with all these modifications, but it seems the reservation will be canceled because it is considered a new reservation. But, I could be totally mistaken.
 

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