Rumor about “modified experiences” when Disney reopens (read 1st post for potential modifications being considered)

[pmaurer74]

At 74 days out .. I don't see how ANY FPs would NOT be available.

This seems odd to me .. I still have my FPs for June 16-20 . .and I can modify/add some of those same FPs for mid-June.
I can make M&G Fast Passes for the princesses on June 25th.

So either they are planning on not being open until July 1 (or later) and thus aren't bothering changing June FPs .. or I guess you are seeing what could not be running come August. And it would make "sense" from a social distancing standpoint - Meet and Greets, the entire SEAS pavilion (lots of touch points). You'd THINK they would say that publicly instead of letting people stumble upon it by making Fast Passess.

And . .if that's the case .. no M&Gs and theatre shows for 2+ months, I don't really see why/how a lot of people would actually vacation there this summer.

Hopefully this is just a placeholder .. not allowing guests to make fast passes for things that MAY be cancelled -- not things that WILL be cancelled.

I have a bunch of show FP for my July trip. It makes me concerned about July opening not happening...

 

[Anna H]

We don't know how they're going to handle entry into the park and we don't know what they're going to cap park capacity at. My guess is they go with the system they already have in place in which resort guests will be the last to be denied entry. Sure, possible they'll hit capacity, but a resort guest would be the last to be affected. I don't think they'll allow more reservations than they have park capacity for, but with low capacity limits, it's entirely possible parks will hit it. There's just no guarantees and it's just another thing we're going to have to wait and see how they handle it. If they run it like I expect, as a resort guest, I'll be at the parks early enough to make sure I get in if it's apparent capacity will be an issue.

Does you think this means Disney is accepting reservations right now that they likely can't accomodate or do they still have room for guests within the lower capacity scenario ? I would imagine that there is a percentage of people (particularly out of the country) who canceled due to the virus or waiting for when the experience would be like it was before.

 

[Sarahslay]

At 74 days out .. I don't see how ANY FPs would NOT be available.

This seems odd to me .. I still have my FPs for June 16-20 . .and I can modify/add some of those same FPs for mid-June.
I can make M&G Fast Passes for the princesses on June 25th.

So either they are planning on not being open until July 1 (or later) and thus aren't bothering changing June FPs .. or I guess you are seeing what could not be running come August. And it would make "sense" from a social distancing standpoint - Meet and Greets, the entire SEAS pavilion (lots of touch points). You'd THINK they would say that publicly instead of letting people stumble upon it by making Fast Passess.

And . .if that's the case .. no M&Gs and theatre shows for 2+ months, I don't really see why/how a lot of people would actually vacation there this summer.

Hopefully this is just a placeholder .. not allowing guests to make fast passes for things that MAY be cancelled -- not things that WILL be cancelled.

It is interesting though that you can make FP for all the things the OP mentioned in early-mid July, going and looking at HS on all of my HS days I can book any of the shows, I was also able to book a safari FP. We don't do M&G so I normally don't pay attention to those, but either they haven't bothered blocking things off for early-mid July because they know they won't be open so why even bother, or their system is just being slow to populate some FP seeing as how it's still early in the game. I've been having luck with FP coming available now at the 40+ day mark that I couldn't get at 60+, so who knows.

 

[Jetku]

How are you able to get fast passes for August already ? I thought it was 60 days in advance?

14 day trip starting in late July

 

[SmittS]

I can do without Character M&Gs, but absolutely NO shows, eliminating an entire pavilion at Epcot (Living Seas), no Safari at AK - these are deal breakers for me. Our June trip is now pushed to July and those FPs are still showing as available if I went to modify. I can deal with a lot of restrictions as we typically go at least once per year. This will be our second year in the past 3 years with APs, so we'll likely go 4 times or so over the course of the AP, so I can deal with a "less than full experience". But this is too much even for me. I can see locals still going, but I have a hard time justifying as an out of stater. I wish we'd get some clarity soon.

 

[Sarahslay]

Does you think this means Disney is accepting reservations right now that they likely can't accomodate or do they still have room for guests within the lower capacity scenario ? I would imagine that there is a percentage of people (particularly out of the country) who canceled due to the virus or waiting for when the experience would be like it was before.

Well, there are definitely a percentage of people outside of the country who now can't travel due to travel restrictions/bans, or the impossed 14 day quarantine once they return home. UK residents especially would be hit hard by this since most take a 2 week or longer trip and probably can't afford to then take another 2 weeks off of work upon returning unless their employer lets them work from home, but there is also the issue of actually finding flights, getting travel insurance, and ESTAs that is almost as big of a problem at the moment. I doubt there will be any international visitors for a while due to all of this stuff.

I can do without Character M&Gs, but absolutely NO shows, eliminating an entire pavilion at Epcot (Living Seas), no Safari at AK - these are deal breakers for me. Our June trip is now pushed to July and those FPs are still showing as available if I went to modify. I can deal with a lot of restrictions as we typically go at least once per year. This will be our second year in the past 3 years with APs, so we'll likely go 4 times or so over the course of the AP, so I can deal with a "less than full experience". But this is too much even for me. I can see locals still going, but I have a hard time justifying as an out of stater. I wish we'd get some clarity soon.

We have a FP for Nemo in July, that spot would normally go to Spaceship Earth, but obviously that's not available right now due to it closing. As I have mentioned earlier I have two theories on this: Either they aren't bothering updating July FP availability due to knowing they won't be open (why even bother), or they just aren't populating some of their FP for August yet. I mean, I don't even have park hours for my back up November trip, so obviously they're a bit behind.

 

[cakebaker]

Does you think this means Disney is accepting reservations right now that they likely can't accomodate or do they still have room for guests within the lower capacity scenario ? I would imagine that there is a percentage of people (particularly out of the country) who canceled due to the virus or waiting for when the experience would be like it was before.

No, I don't think they're accepting reservations at the level that would exceed whatever capacity limits they are setting. Since I don't know what their plan is for opening,and how they're going to prioritize entry , it's impossible to know exactly what will happen. But I don't believe they're going to book more rooms than they think they can accept into the parks in general. I do think it's possible they'll go into closure phasing with resorts guests being the last affected. We're just going to wait and see though how they handle it.

 

[KSL]

Here's a thought:
IF they plan to open before August (during the time when people have FP for all these things that apparently aren't available come August), maybe they are intending to eliminate FP altogether for late June & July, and will close the attractions that are listed as unavailable/closed in August. So they haven't bothered to lock the FP system in MDE, because that would be a clear tell to everyone that something was up and they aren't ready to announce yet. Then by August they plan to phase back in the FP system but with the restrictions that we're seeing in place.
I know, I know, ridiculous grasping at straws here, but trying to find some way to make sense of things!!

 

[Searc]

Then why would they keep ADRs open to the public then? If I can see it on MDE then I can book it along with anyone else. If they want to keep the precious bubble they'll need to close those ADRs off to the public. They can have the restaurants open to the players and other NBA peeps to have access to and not take ADRs, it completely destroys their bubble if people start booking and show up (and you know someone would want to show up to get a chance to see their favorite player)

Because Disney IT is terrible and can't manage to do two things at once.

 

[KSL]

My DH and I were talking the other day that if they DID eliminate FP initially (when capacity is restricted enough that maybe FP isn't even necessary?), they could use both the standby queue space and the FP queue space to help socially distance the lines and then at the merge point, alternate parties from each queue. I know the FP queue is shorter, though, so the lines wouldn't be able to hold an equal number of people. Probably a ridiculous idea.

 

[Eric Smith]

I can do without Character M&Gs, but absolutely NO shows, eliminating an entire pavilion at Epcot (Living Seas), no Safari at AK - these are deal breakers for me. Our June trip is now pushed to July and those FPs are still showing as available if I went to modify. I can deal with a lot of restrictions as we typically go at least once per year. This will be our second year in the past 3 years with APs, so we'll likely go 4 times or so over the course of the AP, so I can deal with a "less than full experience". But this is too much even for me. I can see locals still going, but I have a hard time justifying as an out of stater. I wish we'd get some clarity soon.

I wouldn't get too worried about it until we see something official.

 

[tlmadden73]

I can do without Character M&Gs, but absolutely NO shows, eliminating an entire pavilion at Epcot (Living Seas), no Safari at AK - these are deal breakers for me. Our June trip is now pushed to July and those FPs are still showing as available if I went to modify. I can deal with a lot of restrictions as we typically go at least once per year. This will be our second year in the past 3 years with APs, so we'll likely go 4 times or so over the course of the AP, so I can deal with a "less than full experience". But this is too much even for me. I can see locals still going, but I have a hard time justifying as an out of stater. I wish we'd get some clarity soon.

Right .. I think Disney is probably evaluating this (which is probably why we haven't heard any official details yet) -- they have to know offering a "less than full experience" is the same as just not being open for non-AP, non-locals. That isn't going to get people to come down for a "Disney vacation" (especially at current prices) .. which, I am guessing, Disney needs for revenue more than just local AP-passholders showing up, riding a few rides and then just going home without spending a time except on a snack or two.

 

[SmittS]

Right .. I think Disney is probably evaluating this (which is probably why we haven't heard any official details yet) -- they have to know offering a "less than full experience" is the same as just not being open for non-AP, non-locals. That isn't going to get people to come down for a "Disney vacation" (especially at current prices) .. which, I am guessing, Disney needs for revenue more than just local AP-passholders showing up, riding a few rides and then just going home without spending a time except on a snack or two.

What stinks is the large majority of Disney-goers, those that don't frequent these or other boards, that simply won't know about the changes, or at least their extent. For example, we know Universal is opening 6/5 to the public, and general guidelines, but we have no idea what attractions or closed, etc. There's still a very large portion of Disney vacationers that don't understand you need ADRs or that FP+ exists. Now, I don't particularly feel sorry for those folks as I have never understood how you can spend so much money on a vacation with next to no research, but it will be interesting to see how much of the restrictions are publicized widely prior to opening. I have a feeling the folks on this board will have a pretty good idea as we near closer to an opening, but I doubt Disney will list every single modified experience on their web page. There's going to be a large amount of people that will still travel down for a Disney vacation that may be getting a greatly reduced experience and walking out of the park with a bad taste in their mouths. Again, too early to say definitively, but something Disney needs to be worried about. Universal doesn't seem to care much in this regard due to the lack of details behind their opening. Heck, we still don't know how they are planning to limit capacity. Will there be people coming from out of state to visit Universal that won't be able to enter the park?

 

[cakebaker]

I have a bunch of show FP for my July trip. It makes me concerned about July opening not happening...

When I look and see that all the character meets and virtually all the shows show either closed or unavailable until Aug 1, I'm finding it difficult to find any other reason than they're preparing for that date as an opening date with a great many things closed. If this was a one off, I'd say glitch. But it started showing up last week. Glitches get resolved. Someone give me another reason, because I really don't like that one.

 

[Kestryl]

OK, so because my trip stretches July 25-Aug 1, I thought I’d do some digging.

On Aug 1, I have FP at MK.

Available:
Barnstormer
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Dumbo
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Haunted Mansion
It’s a Small World
Jungle Cruise
Mad Tea Party
Magic Carpets
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Pirates
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Tomorrowland Speedway
Under the Sea

unavailable:
Meet Ariel
Meet Cinderella and Elena
Meet Mickey
Meet Rapunzel and Tiana
Meet Tinker Bell
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

I have FP for:
Buzz Lightyear
Peter Pan
Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride




ETA: For an earlier MK day (7/29), everything is available but Buzz Lightyear, SDMT, and Space Mountain, all of which have the message that they ran out.

ETA2: Updated info on availability vs what I hold because duh, things I hold won’t show up as available. Whoops!

 

[Kestryl]

For my second AK day (7/30), all are available except FoP, Safari, and Na’vi River Journey. (And Primeval Whirl, but that’s a different issue.) All three are listed as no more FP available.

 

[JETSDAD]

I actually hold FP for Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan, and SDMS for Aug 1. It seems weird that those three would be listed as no availability.

In order to see availability for any one of those rides you would need to go in and modify those specific rides. For instance, it won't show you availability for Buzz or PP if you're modifying SDMT.

 

[cakebaker]

No More Availability:
Buzz Lightyear
Peter Pan
Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride

On the Dibb, it shows availability wide open for all of those on Aug 1. But we probably should move the FP discussion over to the existing thread on TPAS before we get a hand slap for filling the thread with FP chatter.

 

[Kestryl]

In order to see availability for anyone one of those rides you would need to go in and modify those specific rides. For instance, it won't show you availability for Buzz or PP if you're modifying SDMT.

On the Dibb, it shows availability wide open for all of those on Aug 1. But we probably should move the FP discussion over to the existing thread before we get a hand slap for filling the thread with FP chatter.

Thank you, yes, you are correct. I will modify my earlier post.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

An article from The Motley Fool on WDW and NBA. Sorry if this has already been posted. More speculation, I know:
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/05/25/will-disney-world-save-the-nba-or-is-it-the-other.aspx