Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[disneyland_is_magic]

I wasn't a huge fan of Disney's wording in the letter to cast members about the layoffs either, seemingly blaming the California governments "unwillingness to ease restrictions" as a major reason for the layoffs. Sure, it may be true, but saying that in a letter that everyone will read almost makes it seem like "oh we didn't get our way? Well now you'll look like the bad guy when we lay off all our cast members!"

I wasn’t a fan of it either. I am not a fan of the blame game, and don’t think it will play out well in the long term with their relationship with California.

I have a lot of concerns about DL, there are some serious pinch points, even the crosswalks walking in from Harbor and Katella hotels where mask compliance would be lower and beyond Disney’s control. They would need staggered entry times IMO and that creates issues of people getting different values for a ticket that are the same price.

And yes it’s devastating to the economy and Disney has to be frustrated, I am not meaning to disregard that.

But the letter wasn’t a time for politics, it was a time to show great concern and appreciation for the hard work of 28,000. Disney should have focused on saying thank you and wish them well. Perhaps a quick word of reassurance to fans is appropriate, but even still, many life long dreams were ending, and that deserved their full attention and careful thought.

 

[yulilin3]

First in line for the last performance at 6:15. Im recording and then uploading to yt, figured there would be several outlets live streaming anyways. It's a dreary afternoon, been sprinkling steadily.
Talking to the cm, it looks like the frozen sing along will be spaced out by 3 seats, so 3 occupied and 3 left empty with each row in between being empty. Im streaming Monday morning the first performance so I guess I'll find out for sure

 

[rpb718]

First in line for the last performance at 6:15. Im recording and then uploading to yt, figured there would be several outlets live streaming anyways. It's a dreary afternoon, been sprinkling steadily.
Talking to the cm, it looks like the frozen sing along will be spaced out by 3 seats, so 3 occupied and 3 left empty with each row in between being empty. Im streaming Monday morning the first performance so I guess I'll find out for sure

The Frozen Sing-Along was pretty popular. They would have to shorten it to have more shows to eat up the number of folks that might queue up. As described above it wouldn't make too much of a dent in crowds at HS.

 

[Disney Bobby]

I wasn't a huge fan of Disney's wording in the letter to cast members about the layoffs either, seemingly blaming the California governments "unwillingness to ease restrictions" as a major reason for the layoffs. Sure, it may be true, but saying that in a letter that everyone will read almost makes it seem like "oh we didn't get our way? Well now you'll look like the bad guy when we lay off all our cast members!"

Why? I prefer to hear it directly from the source instead of getting spun by the media folks based on their opinion.

 

[yulilin3]

The Frozen Sing-Along was pretty popular. They would have to shorten it to have more shows to eat up the number of folks that might queue up. As described above it wouldn't make too much of a dent in crowds at HS.

I believe they're having 9 shows a day. Anything will help right now, they obviously won't open the show at full capacity

 

[Disneytrippin']

Ok this is long but I wanted to give everybody a heads up on what happened with our outbound flight to MCO.

Today I got an email about yet another schedule change to our flights on Thanksgiving. This is the fourth change since booking. This time it was a biggie.

Our original flight flew out at 6 a.m. and got in to MCO at 4:25 p.m. The new flight left at 1:05 p.m. and gets us in to MCO at 10:55 p.m. ON THANKSGIVING!

I called the airlines, long wait so opted for a call back. Forty minutes later I got a call. I explained my situation. I didn't even need to be a Karen. The agent looked into it and could see the original flight had not been canceled and put us back on the flight and still gave us our upgraded seats we purchased. Looking further into it he said the second leg of the flight had an equipment change and the system can automatically change your flight when that happens.
So,make sure you keep an eye on your flights for any changes. Our Thanksgiving would have been ruined if I hadn't.

 

[rpb718]

I believe they're having 9 shows a day. Anything will help right now, they obviously won't open the show at full capacity

I can't quite remember how long the shows are but I have a feeling they are longer than 15 minutes. Personally I feel having any sing-along within an indoor space for longer than 15 minutes even at 25% capacity is a strange move by WDW given how careful they have been. All things being equal I'd rather they add at least and hour to HS park times which I think would help just as much.

 

[yulilin3]

I can't quite remember how long the shows are but I have a feeling they are longer than 15 minutes. Personally I feel having any sing-along within an indoor space for longer than 15 minutes even at 25% capacity is a strange move by WDW given how careful they have been. All things being equal I'd rather they add at least and hour to HS park times which I think would help just as much.

the show is around 30 and we don't know if they have made changes to the show or the concept of the sing along, we'll find out Monday. The BatB sing along has been playing in France since reopening, granted I haven't been to it since it did, not sure if they are still encouraging people to sing along

 

[fantomhamst3r]

Why? I prefer to hear it directly from the source instead of getting spun by the media folks based on their opinion.

Yea but this is also a one- sided argument from Disney based on THEIR opinion. It wasn't a good time to blame people, as someone above said, and it seemed like a bit of a petty thing for them to say in that particular letter. It's not like California is delaying the reopening in spite of Disney or because they want castmembers to be laid off. They are making that decision because the country, and especially their state, is attempting to recover from a pandemic. Say it for what it is- "we are laying off cast members because this global pandemic and the fallout from it have significantly effected business in our theme park division." Blaming the California government publicly is not a good look, especially in that letter.

Edit: sorry, realize this is off- topic and attempted to delete but couldn't figure out how.

 

[fantomhamst3r]

Lol what? You’re literally coming out of nowhere comparing two COMPLETELY different types of attractions. No one said anything about Rat being better than a rollercoaster that is still 7-10 months away from opening. And you’re also comparing two attractions you clearly haven’t ridden yet. I’m guessing the Universal Monsters ride at the now cancelled Epic Universe is also better than the Avengers Ride that hasn’t started being constructed yet at DCA too?

It ain't "cancelled" yet. Don't kill my hopes and dreams prematurely.

 

[Mit88]

It ain't "cancelled" yet. Don't kill my hopes and dreams prematurely.

Its not happening the way it was presented. But I want that Universal Monsters section to make it into the future plans. Everything else can be reconfigured for all I care. Nintendo will still come. And another Wizarding World will come, even if it’s not Fantastic Beasts

 

[Brianstl]

I wasn’t a fan of it either. I am not a fan of the blame game, and don’t think it will play out well in the long term with their relationship with California.

I have a lot of concerns about DL, there are some serious pinch points, even the crosswalks walking in from Harbor and Katella hotels where mask compliance would be lower and beyond Disney’s control. They would need staggered entry times IMO and that creates issues of people getting different values for a ticket that are the same price.

And yes it’s devastating to the economy and Disney has to be frustrated, I am not meaning to disregard that.

But the letter wasn’t a time for politics, it was a time to show great concern and appreciation for the hard work of 28,000. Disney should have focused on saying thank you and wish them well. Perhaps a quick word of reassurance to fans is appropriate, but even still, many life long dreams were ending, and that deserved their full attention and careful thought.

Who should they blame when a state hasn’t been able to come up with a plan in six months that will give a sector of major employers a realistic timetable for reopening?

 

[LSUmiss]

I wasn’t a fan of it either. I am not a fan of the blame game, and don’t think it will play out well in the long term with their relationship with California.

I have a lot of concerns about DL, there are some serious pinch points, even the crosswalks walking in from Harbor and Katella hotels where mask compliance would be lower and beyond Disney’s control. They would need staggered entry times IMO and that creates issues of people getting different values for a ticket that are the same price.

And yes it’s devastating to the economy and Disney has to be frustrated, I am not meaning to disregard that.

But the letter wasn’t a time for politics, it was a time to show great concern and appreciation for the hard work of 28,000. Disney should have focused on saying thank you and wish them well. Perhaps a quick word of reassurance to fans is appropriate, but even still, many life long dreams were ending, and that deserved their full attention and careful thought.

Except that it’s politics driving Newsom’s decisions so I think fair Disney point out how this kinda nonsense is effecting real ppl.

 

[anthony2k7]

Except that it’s politics driving Newsom’s decisions so I think fair Disney point out how this kinda nonsense is effecting real ppl.

The flip side of that is that, many other businesses are still closed I believe? - bars any other mass gathering type venues.

Why should theme parks open before them?

 

[Leigh L]

The flip side of that is that, many other businesses are still closed I believe? - bars any other mass gathering type venues.

Why should theme parks open before them?

I see two distinct differences. Bars are a) typically indoors and b) alcohol can increase occurrences of bad judgment with safety protocols (I witnessed this in Epcot in August, but this was outdoors with spread out crowds and a CM was on top of him. In a bar, this could have exposed a lot of people if there was no place to move away from him like you could at Epcot and had no one monitoring).

Mass gatherings are different than theme parks because the parks (and I've been to both WDW and UO recently) have demonstrated they can largely establish and enforce safety protocols. At mass gatherings, I suppose it would be the type of gathering and if it was indoors or outdoors. If adequate bathrooms, sinks, sanitizers, are available, etc. and it was outdoors with social distancing, could it be achieved? Very possibly.

 

[anthony2k7]

I see two distinct differences. Bars are a) typically indoors

And so are almost all attractions to some extent at DLR.

Personally, the difference seems negligible to me. Any other venue or business that is closed could equally open with rules in place. Bars being table service only, other venues 25% capacity with distance markers to assist.

Ultimately CA numbers are still too high and so gov is slowly reopening and seeing how that affects numbers. Most visitors would be coming from a purple zone. Should they be going to Disney when numbers are still too high to open schools? Probably not.

 

[fantomhamst3r]

Except that it’s politics driving Newsom’s decisions so I think fair Disney point out how this kinda nonsense is effecting real ppl.

I disagree with this. California still has more than 2.5k cases a day, and New York was even stricter than they were, and now is virtually back to semi- normal. People who want the economy open blame those governers, not the federal government.

 

[Farro]

I disagree with this. California still has more than 2.5k cases a day, and New York was even stricter than they were, and now is virtually back to semi- normal. People who want the economy open blame those governers, not the federal government.

Cases a day....Illinois has over 2,000 cases a day for a couple months now - yet the hospitalizations and ICU have stayed flat, the entire time. We had big spike in May during our first wave, but we've never got back to that. And we are opening up more and more. Masks are required here.
Something is happening that hospitalizations aren't sky-rocketing - either weaker strain (just a guess, not proven at all), at risk people not getting exposed or better treatments now, but I digress.

California has pretty crazy standards for their reopening guidelines and it's going to be next to impossible for anyone to meet those metrics.
I can't see how Disneyland can open and not lose money in the process.

 

[Jrb1979]

Cases a day....Illinois has over 2,000 cases a day for a couple months now - yet the hospitalizations and ICU have stayed flat, the entire time. We had big spike in May during our first wave, but we've never got back to that. And we are opening up more and more. Masks are required here.
Something is happening that hospitalizations aren't sky-rocketing - either weaker strain (just a guess, not proven at all), at risk people not getting exposed or better treatments now, but I digress.

California has pretty crazy standards for their reopening guidelines and it's going to be next to impossible for anyone to meet those metrics.
I can't see how Disneyland can open and not lose money in the process.

Yet here we have had 600 cases a day and everything is open except for amusement parks which are unlikely to open this year at all.

 

[Farro]

Yet here we have had 600 cases a day and everything is open except for amusement parks which are unlikely to open this year at all.

I don't understand your point? I don't care how many positives we have a day (hyperbole, but you get my point) as long as hospitalizations/ICU stay flat.