Anyone else concerned about the crowd increase?

[Mom2Stitch]

I'm not as concerned with the crowds as I am with what those crowds will do to wait times if Disney does not open up more attractions, shows, and restaurants to accommodate all of those crowds.

We typically only go once a year-this year it's moved from May to Sept and now onto Dec. We have already made the decision that it's ok to go with shortened hours, limited dining options and no dining plan, no fireworks or parades, and fewer attractions open. We made that decision out of our love of Disney and the understanding that they were following good guidelines for safety.

But if Disney makes the decision to increase their capacity and not their offerings, that might be a deal breaker. I have no desire to get in line in Frontierland for a Liberty Square attraction, or in Tomorrow Land for a Fantasy Land attraction, even if it's due to social distancing markers. And if they aren't going to open up more attractions, then FP+ needs to make a return.

 

[BL82]

Not worried at all!

I live here in the north Florida Panhandle on the Gulf Coast and we have been packed all summer. In fact, its one of the busiest summers that PCB, FL has had in years. People everywhere on the beach and out shopping and eating dinners. Its been great to make fun of the "news" all summer watching how they say the country is "shut down" while the Gulf Coast is booming with people traveling and vacationing.

Try going out without a mask and seeing people again. Stop living so sheltered!

Not worried at all either...

I was in Destin this summer for a week and business as usual. Sure was nice to walk around and feel normal. And pretty sure there were no spikes in the panhandle. I understand folks are nervous, so you do you. I refuse to live sheltered and scared because the media tells me too.

 

[Aela]

I am personally hoping that they are currently around 50% capacity, and they will keep it at that through the end of the year. Lines are crazy right now, but over the next 1-2 months they will be opening up more restaurants/shows/etc and helping spread out the people. So by Christmas the park doesn’t seem as packed, but it has the same numbers as currently.

 

[kittylady1972]

Yes - VERY. We have a trip planned 10/31 - 11/8. I have already told my Dreams Unlimited Travel Agent Elaine if the increase capacity and/or change the mask policy, we are NOT going.

We are heading down on 10/31 as well, only staying through Wednesday. We are only going because we just went in August and felt SAFE with the distancing, low crowds and masks. If they do change the policy, we will likely cancel and find something else as it's not worth the extra risk. DH mentioned feeling safer in FLA than at our own local mall walking around (and our state has been doing really well with masks and social distancing and low numbers) but if the posture changes there we will definitely be avoiding it. I truly don't see that happening. We'll likely be doing all these extra precautions in our country at least through the middle or end of next year.

 

[modelar7]

Yes - VERY. We have a trip planned 10/31 - 11/8. I have already told my Dreams Unlimited Travel Agent Elaine if the increase capacity and/or change the mask policy, we are NOT going.

i was at the studios yesterday and didn't see any over crowds. the parks haven't been at 25% since after the closer. t is more crowed on the weekends because you have the locals going to the parks we have only hit capacity twice since reopennig. The mask part is in place and temps are checked as well. hope this helps.

 

[Newbie500]

We had to postpone our July trip to August and then postpone it again because of the CT-FLA quarantine rules. Trip now scheduled for this December Christmas-New Years week. We will deal with the crowds. I need my Disney fix!

 

[lynch34]

I wouldn't feel unsafe but the point is more about the tipping point. They are laying off folks and thus might not be opening attractions and shows back quickly and if they continue to increase crowd capacity but don't address what is open - that's a disaster. This is not a cheap trip.

 

[pezgirlroy]

Not worried at all!

I live here in the north Florida Panhandle on the Gulf Coast and we have been packed all summer. In fact, its one of the busiest summers that PCB, FL has had in years. People everywhere on the beach and out shopping and eating dinners. Its been great to make fun of the "news" all summer watching how they say the country is "shut down" while the Gulf Coast is booming with people traveling and vacationing.

Try going out without a mask and seeing people again. Stop living so sheltered!
[/QUOTE

And this is why I am so thankful that my parents have stayed in Kentucky currently. They live in Perdido Key half the year and have decided not to go down. I know three people who have died from Covid in Florida in the past three weeks. This is just such an upsetting post.

 

[yulilin3]

I guess we all knew it would happen but, the jump from manageable crowds to what appears to be chaos on weekends and recent weekdays seems too much too soon. It appears the need to recover lost dollars outweighs the safety of guests at this point. The pictures/videos and articles over the past couple of weeks makes it look like they have opened the flood gates to guests. I know everyone wants to get out and try to feel normal but, it sure doesn't look like they are limiting attendance. I have not personally been there to experience it but, it looks like pre pandemic currently.

Cheers,

Schuey

I admit to not have read any of the posts so I will just respond to your OP
I have been going to the parks since they reopened, I go to Disney about 3 times a week. Here are my honest, first hand impressions
July was dead, not empty, dead. I believe people were unsure of coming, thinking they would sure catch the virus. It didn't happen, no outbreaks coming from any of the Orland theme parks
August rolls around and people start to get more comfortable, not only did Fl see record number of cases in July without any outbreak coming from the parks so now August visitors wanted to get in on the action, more people started coming but Disney cuts hours because they are losing money from the people they were expecting would come in July
September rolls around and more people are more comfortable, some states begin to ease restrictions on re-entry to their states, still no outbreak
Here's the issue
Ride capacity has not increased
Shows have not reopened
I don't believe DIsney has increased capacity at the parks by much *if at all) it is now they are reaching the original capacity they had in place since the beginning
Are there more people in the parks now? yes
Are the queues looking crazy long? yes, because of social distancing and ride capacity
Is it impossible to social distance and stay safe in the park? absolutely not
You can pretty much walk on to rides at rope drop and have very manageable wait times at the end of the day, in all parks
NOW
Disney does need to either increase ride capacity, which will upset people OR open up the shows

 

[J-Dog]

The increase in guests is a bummer, but we're still planning to go. If they change their policy on masks being mandatory, we'll cancel our trip and take our money elsewhere.

That's fine, because we will fill your spot. We are pretty much set to go as soon as masks become optional.

Crowds increasing is only worrying me because so few attractions/restaurants/events are happening - so I'm worried about bottlenecks and long wait times.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

Nope, I'm happy about it, actually. It's beyond time we get back to living.

 

[soniam]

Please keep this on topic! This is the last friendly warning. Points will be given out and/or thread closed if OT posts continue.

Thanks for trying to keep things orderly around here. I’m a little sick and tired of people coming into threads, passing judgement on others, even name calling, and basically trolling. If you are just going to do this and say the same things on this thread that you do on others (yes, we have noticed), go start your own “everyone else is a stupid scaredy-cat” thread on the community forum. Your comments here have not been helpful. Disagreeing is perfectly fine, but acting like a spoiled child is not.

I am a bit concerned. If mandatory masks go away, I will forfeit my non-refundable DVC rental. If crowds are overbearing, then we might find something else to do. I won’t cancel unless they get rid of masks or if @yulilin3 or Craig say it’s gotten out of hand. I suspect they won’t let bad press last for too long though, because California is watching them.

 

[brockash]

I have not seen any day where the ticket booths closed and they were not selling tickets to walk up purchases, nor have I seen any sign placed out front stating so, or the app stating you could not enter a park due to capacity being reached -- which is what has happened at Universal. Are you saying that this is what has happened many times?

I have no idea if Disney puts a sign out. To enter a Disney park, you have to have a reservation (I understand this is not how Universal does it) and yes there have been many days where 1or all parks were at capacity and no one else was able to reserve/enter a park...however many times Disney has rearranged those numbers and then at some point ppl. were able to again reserve.

 

[Aela]

Actually a bunch of dates closed today. So maybe they cut numbers again?

 

[kdonnel]

I'm not as concerned with the crowds as I am with what those crowds will do to wait times if Disney does not open up more attractions, shows, and restaurants to accommodate all of those crowds.

That is my only concern.

They could reopen to 100% capacity and I would still go this November as long as whatever capacity they open to they match with additional ride capacity, shows, and restaurants.

 

[Tormania]

Actually a bunch of dates closed today. So maybe they cut numbers again?

More likely those dates 100% filled up as more folks are looking to visit knowing that crowds are picking up so better lock in your park reservations ASAP or not get in.

 

[Disney0010]

We were looking to go later this month but couldn’t get the airfare across country to work out with a special ticket fare that we wanted to use. I saw that as a sign that we should not go as the Florida Governor made changes a few days later that we did not agree with. I feel within three weeks Florida will be a mess again. I applaud Disney for still having good common sense on mandatory mask use.

I like Disney but watching the recent Vloggers and hearing their comments and seeing the longer lines and crowds means “no thanks”. Will wait it out for a later date.

 

[Disney Boater]

Sorry, but we are not back to normal.
Florida has had a big increase in Co-Vid cases in the last few days since going to Phase 3.

On September 28th there were only 738 new cases reported in the state of Florida. That is the least since May and the overall trend is continuing to drop. People need to stop making things up to fit their narrative.

 

[lovethattink]

We’ve been going once or twice a week and haven’t had a bad experience yet. Even when we went weekends. It’s like anything else, learning to zig when everyone is zagging.

The only times I’ve seen crowds so big it was hard to social distance, was at park opening and closing. Any place there is tape to tell you where to stand, everyone does. But where there’s no tape, you see bottlenecking.

With no fp, the lines (whether long or short) keep moving, except for when an attraction shuts for cleaning. Wait times posted seem to allow for cleaning, so they are usually less.

I still feel safer at Disney than at restaurant, grocery store or pharmacy, here in Florida.

 

[Carol_]

Just got back from WDW this weekend. The slimmed down version wasn’t great but it was better than a closed WDW. The crowds were awful in DHS. Having to reserve every sit down meal, as well as every park visit, and planning out alternative transportation on a WDW vacation is exhausting. It’ll be longer than usual before I go back.