Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

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The Boardwalk is my favorite non park spot in WDW so this sounds extra depressing to me. It is nuts that they are closing the Screen Door shop so early - surely they’d make some money selling snacks and drinks out of there for at least an hour after park closing. I have not kept up with the status of TS restaurants - is ESPN or Big River open?

Both still closed, along with Flying Fish. And the Ample Hills sign is even gone :(
 
We are at the Swan and popped over to Epcot at 630pm. It was a normal day crowd wise IMO. Not Saturday F&WF but otherwise pretty normal. At 8pm we walked past Frozen, hoping to ride, and the line wrapped back behind Akersus. We kept on walking.

Crowds were thick in places, esp navigating past the new Starbucks, and our Figment ride at 830pm was full (one party per car). IME that's pretty unusual.

No big mask issues but you have to be okay walking close to people for short bursts of time, especially in tighter areas (like France).

We ate at the new BBQ place and it was busy.

After seeing the crowds from 630-9, I'm a tad surprised they are trimming the hours but this weekend may just be a fluke.

Considering that Epcot is supposed to be the lightest crowds of all, this definitely has me concerned.

I really, really genuinely believe there is no capacity restraints right now. I think there are the AP and resort buckets that are restricted so Disney can save face, but day-of at the gate tickets.....I really believe they don't have a max.
 
I dont see how Disney can possibly drop to 5 days a week without royally hosing the remaining resort guests and dvc members.
 




I was at epcot in the evening this past week and there were maybe 100 people around world showcase after 7:30pm. Super empty, cannot even think how much food is being tossed at the end of the night.
I think you have to experience it to really understand it. It is so incredibly empty, especially Epcot at night, there's no reason to keep it open. The real question I have is why not make some fun stuff at the resorts at night? 2 or 3 hour pool party, subject to capacity, drinks, music from a boombox :)
Honestly, we were there yesterday, and it's hard to envision how lifeless it is unless you are there (and that was a Friday). So much is closed between COVID and construction, the ambiance doesn't really lend itself to meandering. I bet that you'll find 8 hours more than enough. We had lunch at Coral Seas at noon. There was one other party of two in the restaurant. We noticed that even the sharks seemed missing from the tank.:(

We were at EPCOT about 1.5 weeks ago and WS definitely wasn't dead. There was a huge line for Frozen, and people walking around, visiting the food booths and eating/drinking. We actually took a short afternoon break that day and went back and closed the park down. I'm sad they'll be closing so early when I go back in Nov with my mom.

I agree that Disney seems to be missing an opportunity to make money on food by having so few places open for dinner. We ate in our room several nights when we were there because there weren't many convenient options.
 
I think you have to experience it to really understand it. It is so incredibly empty, especially Epcot at night, there's no reason to keep it open. The real question I have is why not make some fun stuff at the resorts at night? 2 or 3 hour pool party, subject to capacity, drinks, music from a boombox :)

Play more movies in the courtyard, double features. In September have Mulan viewings where maybe you charge $5 per family. Family friendly ghost stories in September/October. More trivia. Water Slide competitions like they do at Vero Beach. These are things that can easily be done with physical distancing and doesn’t cost Disney a single penny extra if they’re using CMs that were working anyway.

Create a “spooky” trail over at Fort Wilderness for the guests at all resorts during Halloween season.

The parks situation, I get it. But theres an opportunity to keep the magic going when guests get back to their resorts early
 
There must be drastic variation in attendance at Epcot on different days because when I was there week before last, WS was a ghost town in the evening.
That, and people wearing disney tinted glasses who are desperate to convince themselves and others that life is nearly back to normal.

However, the crowds in the parks in the last few days will still be the same splits of people. Predominantly locals, APs now with added CMs as well. The kinda people who were outraged just a few days ago that Disney didn't really want them in the parks as they spend less.
 
Yeah, glad I cancelled our platinum plus annual passes. We live out of state and our original expiration date is Tuesday. I was considering taking Monday off and driving down for the day to one park, yet nothing is available. All parks are available for resort guests and for walk up ticket buyers.

That's BS. They basically changed the blackout date rules for our passes. If we wanted to go, it would be cheaper to just get 1 night at pop for $121 than to pay for tickets. Still, not cool. And not happening.
 
For the rest of the month, AP holders can only get into a park on 8 days, and the only park available on all 8 of those days is Epcot. But you can walk up and buy a ticket for any park for any day for the rest of the month.
 
Play more movies in the courtyard, double features. In September have Mulan viewings where maybe you charge $5 per family. Family friendly ghost stories in September/October. More trivia. Water Slide competitions like they do at Vero Beach. These are things that can easily be done with physical distancing and doesn’t cost Disney a single penny extra if they’re using CMs that were working anyway.

Create a “spooky” trail over at Fort Wilderness for the guests at all resorts during Halloween season.

The parks situation, I get it. But theres an opportunity to keep the magic going when guests get back to their resorts early
I wonder if they will have strict rules at the Fort for trick or treating? There's a large group of campers that come every year and go all out during Halloween and it's the best trick or treating in Orlando, super fun atmosphere
 
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