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

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!

That's how I am viewing it too. We have been at busy times of the year when you have to stop and smell the flowers, so it's kind of like that. Heck, we may even go do some stuff around Orlando. We never go anywhere else but WDW and UO. We might go see a movie too. Tenet comes out during our trip, and we really want to see it in a theater. This has been such a strange year for vacations for us already. There was some mild protesting going on last summer when we were in Barcelona. Then they were having violent protests in Chile during our xmas trip, which made us change our plans and not visit family in Santiago. It's just going to be one of those things for a while now. I am thankful that we are healthy, our son did well with online learning, and we both have our jobs and can work from home.
 
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?

Shanghai DL recently announced they are extending APs through the end of the period where you have to make reservations to get into the park, not just the dates the park was closed. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect something similar stateside. My pass is up at the beginning of August and at the rate this is going, I may not even have to renew it before our rebooked trip.

Who knows, though, with the way this free dining thing was bungled.
 
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.
It is difficult knowing you have paid for a $8,000 trip not including travel, and now it doesn’t even include food.
 
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.

I think you might have misread it. I think we just have to wait and see what the communication is from Disney for each of our circumstances. I have absolutely no control over any of this right now, so I am not going to bother worrying. I don't have a dining plan though.
 


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.
I thought this at first, too, but my TA talked me off the ledge. She said we can keep the room (at full price) and tickets, just the dining is gone.
 
Shanghai DL recently announced they are extending APs through the end of the period where you have to make reservations to get into the park, not just the dates the park was closed. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect something similar stateside. My pass is up at the beginning of August and at the rate this going, I may not even have to renew it before our rebooked trip.

Who knows, though, with the way this free dining thing was bungled.

Shanghai APs are limited to visiting once a week right now. We don't know if WDW will be restricting APs like that or not.
 


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 to catch up on my reading. Maybe an ADR at the nearby Chik-fil-A. :rolleyes:
Yeah, I finally had gotten a reservation (180 days out) for Ohana at 7pm. Thought that was a mythical thing that didn’t even really exist! I’m trying to think now - better for my waistline, better for my waistline lol
 
as a AP top-level holder for over a decade id honestly be fine with that with an extension of course :) given the circumstances that is fine to me.

It would be a problem for me, since we are not locals. I have an AP voucher. I would be willing to not redeem it yet and just purchase tickets for my July trip. The voucher is good until 2030, and we have another trip at Thanksgiving and probably more next year.
 
Yeah, I finally had gotten a reservation (180 days out) for Ohana at 7pm. Thought that was a mythical thing that didn’t even really exist! I’m trying to think now - better for my waistline, better for my waistline lol
I have one for the 3rd of July at 730 I feel ya but that chicken and shrimp! and the tiki drinks... sigh
 
Shanghai APs are limited to visiting once a week right now. We don't know if WDW will be restricting APs like that or not.

Yeah, we can really only speculate for now. Does Shanghai have different levels of AP too? I ask because WDW may not have to restrict like that at least in the beginning. A lot of Florida locals probably wouldn't be able to come because of blackouts on their passes, and a lot of out of state APs are subject to FL's quarantine order. NY/NJ/CT have an awful lot of AP representation to be so far away. Not to mention the Louisiana contingent.

I still think it would be a nice gesture. Especially since a lot of APs got screwed out of room discounts (not that I'm bitter lol). But like I said, who knows. This free dining mess is so sloppy on their part.
 
It would be a problem for me, since we are not locals. I have an AP voucher. I would be willing to not redeem it yet and just purchase tickets for my July trip. The voucher is good until 2030, and we have another trip at Thanksgiving and probably more next year.
Yeah, I get that but they have to be fair given the circumstances it won't please everyone no matter what they do. It's a bad situation regardless.
 
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.
Well, I am using my DVC points that have been banked for awhile - and it is cheaper for us since the maintenance fee has already been paid long ago to do a week at Disney than a week’s vacation elsewhere - so that does factor in my perspective. But I admit - I am sure with my lifelong love of Disney - quite a few executives have gotten some nice bonuses off of what I have given Disney over the years!
 
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!
I think you are the type of guest that will be the exception. Most people who are going to Disney world for a vacation won’t be happy to hang out by the pool if they can’t get into a park. You can spend a lot less for a much nicer location if you want to hang out by the pool at a resort. And stay home for free to play board games. 🤷‍♀️
 
Yeah, we can really only speculate for now. Does Shanghai have different levels of AP too? I ask because WDW may not have to restrict like that at least in the beginning. A lot of Florida locals probably wouldn't be able to come because of blackouts on their passes, and a lot of out of state APs are subject to FL's quarantine order. NY/NJ/CT have an awful lot of AP representation to be so far away. Not to mention the Louisiana contingent.

I still think it would be a nice gesture. Especially since a lot of APs got screwed out of room discounts (not that I'm bitter lol). But like I said, who knows. This free dining mess is so sloppy on their part.

I don't think they have very many AP holders in Shanghai. I believe they just started selling them in 2018 or 2019. I also don't think they have any levels, just one type. I think they will compensate people somehow, especially if they only allow 1 visit/week. I have an AP voucher. We are in Texas. I will probably try to by regular tickets for me if they do the once a week thing. DH and DS just have tickets.
 
I thought this at first, too, but my TA talked me off the ledge. She said we can keep the room (at full price) and tickets, just the dining is gone.
It would be great if we could also book at a later date for the 35% off discount, too -- but it is probably one or another not both. I would like to delete the tickets, since you had to purchase tickets for the free dining plan and use my annual pass for this vacation. Thanks again for this information.
 
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.

To be fair, people book ADRs 6 months ahead, Many places are booked solid, I don’t think we can fault Disney for not realizing in January they couldn’t accommodate all those diners,

Only fthing to do was to cancel them all Because no way to privatize those who had them, Now, i do think the offer of free dining was a mistake as a recovery offer...that wasn’t thought through, IMO

But, other than that, I am not sure how they could be doing anything else but suspending it all, Can you imagine a guest having the dining plan and not getting a reservation?

It is not ideal and honestly, the experience will not be the same and Disney knows that.

I just don’t agree they are doing things to purposely make guests angry . I really think they want people to wait and don’t want them thinking they are getting a normal WDW vacation.
 

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