Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Perdita&Pongo]

My husband had to call our finance guy yesterday, and found out that he and his entire family were just diagnosed with COVID after returning from their DVC stay - be careful out there, everyone! I’m feeling somewhat relieved we cancelled our July trip, and worried about how many people are going to bring it back from vacation and spread it here in our state, where we had been doing quite well this month with new case numbers.

Editing to add - and before anyone asks, no, unfortunately I don’t know which resort they stayed at.

June 15 was the opening date for DVC Hilton Head and DVC Vero Beach so a full week before the DVC WDW locations. I am guessing they got it at one of those two places.

 

[courtney1188]

And people like this are the reason I would not feel comfortable getting on a plane and traveling anywhere right now, Disney or otherwise. People keep talking about personal responsibility in the face of this virus but I can only control what I can control and am at the mercy of how personally responsible other people are when I am sharing space with them. So the cries of “stay in your house of you are scared” really rankle me because I don’t want to stay in my house! I want to be back to some semblance of normal but then I wonder how many people are as selfish and callous as this family who were all feeling kind of lousy and STILL moved forward with a vacation that would expose them to hundreds of other people (thousands once the park open) and I know that I can be as responsible as I want but I could still end up sick of I end up sitting next to someone like this on a plane.

I agree 100%! I have a child who can’t/won’t wear a mask (autism spectrum), so we’re stuck at home. I’m very sick of it! But I don’t want to be one of these people making the situation worse and the whole thing last longer because of some nonsensical “that’s not going to happen to me” mindset.

 

[courtney1188]

June 15 was the opening date for DVC Hilton Head and DVC Vero Beach so a full week before the DVC WDW locations. I am guessing they got it at one of those two places.

They were in Florida. I’m sure they contracted it before, since they just arrived Monday and only stayed a few days.

 

[cakebaker]

I think that's going to be a common scenario: You're ready to go to Disney, you start feeling punk the day you leave and think "I've paid a lot of money for this vacation and I'm ready to go, I'm just going to ignore my symptoms and go! It's probably just a cold!"

You go because that money is nonrefundable, darn it, and then when you get home you get tested and...oops.

WDW is going to be a petri dish.

if we can’t get people to show a little concern for others by doing nothing more than wear a mask, why would we ever expect them to cancel a trip just because they don’t feel great? One costs them nothing and they won’t even do that. SMH

People have always gone to WDW when they’re sick and they still will.

 

[Marionnette]

Come on now - saying credibility is being stretched and that the source is stretching things is a softened version of saying something is a lie. My source is the father of the family. I know they were going opening day because they were all excited about it. Dad said they started feeling under the weather the day they were leaving (so yeah, probably caught it earlier and brought it with them) and got tested once they were home. Again, here in Michigan you can have results in a half hour.

People seem pretty willing to convince themselves everything will be fine at Disney so they feel safe visiting, but this is a real situation, and I’m sure it’s not the only one like it - so for those who are going, please take precautions even before you get there so you aren‘t the one spreading it.

Well, then it was selfish and irresponsible of him to go. I’m sure that there will be others just like him who feel that their trip is more important than public health. That’s why it’s important to do whatever you can to protect yourself from infection, which includes cancelling trips to hotspots until they cool down, especially if you are in a high-risk category.

 

[Spridell]

Here at VGF now. Enchanted Rose is closed of course due to new announcement. Splash pad is not open. Visited Gasparilla and the gift shops. They are being very very careful here. Fencing is being put up for the NBA. It’s definitely not pretty. Nice to change resorts mid trip this time due to limited dining and we needed a new pool to hang out in.View attachment 504600View attachment 504601

Well that is just outright ugly.. You think they could of gotten a little more creative.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I think that's going to be a common scenario: You're ready to go to Disney, you start feeling punk the day you leave and think "I've paid a lot of money for this vacation and I'm ready to go, I'm just going to ignore my symptoms and go! It's probably just a cold!"

You go because that money is nonrefundable, darn it, and then when you get home you get tested and...oops.

WDW is going to be a petri dish.

People do this literally all the time. People openly and proudly talk about the one time they toughed it out with *insert symptom here* to enjoy the parks for their kids. People talk about how their reason for a fever was totally legit and not COVID so running around the parks with it would be okay.

The spread prevention is going to be nearly all on Disney because unfortunately there are tons of people who refuse to take other people’s well being into consideration.

 

[TakesFaithTrust&PixieDust]

My husband had to call our finance guy yesterday, and found out that he and his entire family were just diagnosed with COVID after returning from their DVC stay - be careful out there, everyone! I’m feeling somewhat relieved we cancelled our July trip, and worried about how many people are going to bring it back from vacation and spread it here in our state, where we had been doing quite well this month with new case numbers.

Editing to add - and before anyone asks, no, unfortunately I don’t know which resort they stayed at.

That’s fast. It just opened on Monday. Adding the average five days to that I’d more likely wager they got it before they got there or during their travels. Hopefully they didn’t pass it at WDW. Hope they’re doing well

 

[SoShiny]

As someone who is at Disney now and has been here all week, we assume that every person that we see has covid-19. We take precautions accordingly. That being said, we have felt completely safe at our resort and at Universal, except for a couple of times - when other guests were being stupid. Stupid is everywhere. It is definitely in my hometown. Disney is doing a superb job of keeping people as safe as possible in this environment.

 

[Ninjagrrl]

It’s really disingenuous to say “I’m not saying you’re lying” and then say you’re not buying it. Testing processes must be quite different where you are. Here, Walgreens is running drive through test clinics. My dad is a manager there and runs one of them. Takes them 15 minutes to get a result. And these are not super expensive tests. I’m not a new poster here. I’m posting only what I know to be true. What would be the point in me making this up?

No one is saying you are making it up - in fact many have said exactly the opposite. I'm not sure why you are trying to turn it into an attack on you personally. People can believe anything they want.

 

[Jen0107c]

It’s really disingenuous to say “I’m not saying you’re lying” and then say you’re not buying it. Testing processes must be quite different where you are. Here, Walgreens is running drive through test clinics. My dad is a manager there and runs one of them. Takes them 15 minutes to get a result. And these are not super expensive tests. I’m not a new poster here. I’m posting only what I know to be true. What would be the point in me making this up?

Do you know by any chance if the family made Disney aware of the positive COVID test? Just curious how contact tracing will happen.

 

[courtney1188]

Well, then it was selfish and irresponsible of him to go. I’m sure that there will be others just like him who feel that their trip is more important than public health. That’s why it’s important to do whatever you can to protect yourself from infection, which includes cancelling trips to hotspots until they cool down, especially if you are in a high-risk category.

Let me clarify that when I say the day they were leaving, I mean the day they were leaving Disney. But regardless, I still think it was selfish and irresponsible - he was going out in public the days before the trip without a mask on and saying the whole thing was a hoax (we really need to find a new finance guy...ugh. Even if it means losing them as our customers.) In complete agreement about doing whatever you can to protect yourself.

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1276875972411678721

The statement from Disney is interesting!

 

[mmackeymouse]

My husband had to call our finance guy yesterday, and found out that he and his entire family were just diagnosed with COVID after returning from their DVC stay - be careful out there, everyone! I’m feeling somewhat relieved we cancelled our July trip, and worried about how many people are going to bring it back from vacation and spread it here in our state, where we had been doing quite well this month with new case numbers.

Editing to add - and before anyone asks, no, unfortunately I don’t know which resort they stayed at.

Something smells really rotten in Denmark here.

So for one...tests generally produce false negatives more often than not, when they are taken too early, as in within the first 4 days of infection. The resorts only opened 5 days ago. Taken this early in the process, I would think at least one of them would came back with a negative, even if it's just a false negative.

It seems strange that the whole family was tested. I'm not sure if they went to their family doctor immediately upon returning or if it was a drive-thru testing spot. So....unless multiple people were symptomatic...which I'd hope if they were symptomatic, they would inform Disney while they were there so that they could be tested/quarantined. If they were asymptomatic and they were being tested "just in case," what I would expect to happen is one or two people are tested first. Then, if they turn up positive, the rest get tested. If they turn up negative, then they would probably just wait it out and assume they are fine. But, even if they did have a reason for all being tested...turnaround time on those tests are one or two days (unless they live somewhere a 15 minute test is available...although even that is unlikely bc I am pretty sure those are saved for acute cases, not people who are asymptomatic and just being precautionary)

Like others have said, the timeline seems really, really unlikely that they contracted the virus at Disney. Now, it could be that one or two already had it, and then being in close quarters together, it spread to the rest. Or maybe they all had been exposed before the trip. But...for them to ALL be exposed on Monday, get home, get tested, and get results by yesterday seems really, really unlikely.

It's also possible that they were exposed before they even went to WDW, bc it can take weeks to show symptoms.

Yup. Essentially they took the virus TO Disney, not the other way around. Which...sort of counters the major spikes that we have been seeing in Florida. Florida could be in tip-top shape, and if people are taking the virus from their home states TO Disney World...it doesn't really matter what is going on in Florida.

 

[courtney1188]

Do you know by any chance if the family made Disney aware of the positive COVID test? Just curious how contact tracing will happen.

I’d hope so - our county is only seeing about a dozen cases per day, so they’ve been pretty good about contact tracing. Don’t really have details since this isn’t a close friend or relative or anything, just our finance guy who shops at our store occasionally.

 

[AmberMV]

Come on now - saying credibility is being stretched and that the source is stretching things is a softened version of saying something is a lie. My source is the father of the family. I know they were going opening day because they were all excited about it. Dad said they started feeling under the weather the day they were leaving (so yeah, probably caught it earlier and brought it with them) and got tested once they were home. Again, here in Michigan you can have results in a half hour.

People seem pretty willing to convince themselves everything will be fine at Disney so they feel safe visiting, but this is a real situation, and I’m sure it’s not the only one like it - so for those who are going, please take precautions even before you get there so you aren‘t the one spreading it.

This is a reality that everyone needs to be aware of. It's pretty clear this family got CoVid before going to Disney and exposed every single person on the way to and from Disney and while there. This will happen, en masse.

And OP already stated that this particular family has been very nonchalent about precautions, not wearing masks in their local stores or visiting people.

Sad, the society we live in

 

[hereforthechurros]

Let me clarify that when I say the day they were leaving, I mean the day they were leaving Disney. But regardless, I still think it was selfish and irresponsible - he was going out in public the days before the trip without a mask on and saying the whole thing was a hoax (we really need to find a new finance guy...ugh. Even if it means losing them as our customers.) In complete agreement about doing whatever you can to protect yourself.

Thanks for the clarification. From your first post I had the impression they were implying they caught it from their DVC stay. Any idea if they are telling people they caught it at Disney?

 

[Emily3690]

Here at VGF now. Enchanted Rose is closed of course due to new announcement. Splash pad is not open. Visited Gasparilla and the gift shops. They are being very very careful here. Fencing is being put up for the NBA. It’s definitely not pretty. Nice to change resorts mid trip this time due to limited dining and we needed a new pool to hang out in.View attachment 504600View attachment 504601

Yikes! Thank you for posting these pictures. Does it look like VGF guests will be able to use the Courtyard Pool or is that getting "fenced off" too

 

[Spridell]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1276875972411678721

The statement from Disney is interesting!

Seem like Disney saying we have the approval of the govt we are moving forward.

 

[Princess Merida]

Yikes! Thank you for posting these pictures. Does it look like VGF guests will be able to use the Courtyard Pool or is that getting "fenced off" too

It looks like it will be fenced off. It is not open now. Only the beaches pool is open.