Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

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I think if you are a year round park operator right now you want low attendance for a while. It lets you work through the kinks of reopening and smaller crowds mean less chance for a bad PR incident. Accomplish those things for a couple months they give you a track record to show the hesitant public you know what you doing.
 
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Seems fishy to me. Universal announces June 5th opening and NOW we get the rumors of Disney wanting to open August 31st?

Seems like someone at Disney wanted to leak a very far out date to look like they were taking safety precautions to the limit while outing Universal for being reckless. And now because of Universal, theyre being “forced” to push the date up.
I finally went to that forum and read the thread. This latest crystal ball reading isn't really anything new from this guy. He's predicted Aug for quite some time now, including a lot of the "details" in the post that was shared here. He also claims DLR will not open in 2020 at all. So if it's a leak, it was leaked long before Universal announced their opening. He claimed he had never mentioned Aug as a target date before this latest reading, but he had, at least a couple of times. So now he's threatening to leave and take his insider knowledge with him because people are calling him on the discrepancies.
 
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I finally went to that forum and read the thread. This latest crystal ball reading isn't really anything new from this guy. He's predicted Aug for quite some time now, including a lot of the "details" in the post that was shared here. He also claims DLR will not open in 2020 at all. So if it's a leak, it was leaked long before Universal announced their opening. He's also threatening to leave and take his insider knowledge with him because people are calling him on the discrepancies.
That poster has always had "insider" info that rarely pans out.
 
I Imagine there are people who have universal vacations booked for June just as there are people who have WDW trips booked for June. Sure some will cancel, but I don’t think they all will cancel. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some people who have Disney vacations booked for June jump over to Universal if Disney is still closed. I have a trip booked for WDW in July and if they aren’t open by then I plan to go to Universal.

We have a mid-July trip (rescheduled from March 14). I am seriously considering moving to Universal for several reasons, but the biggest one is that by mid-July, Universal will have been open and running for six or so weeks. They'll have the kinks worked out and it should be fairly smooth. If Disney doesn't open until after July 4, we're going to be their guinea pigs. I'm also not feeling too kindly about Disney right now and their lack of information. I need to make decisions. The biggest concern to me is that the "7 days before check in to pay package" ends June 30, so it doesn't apply to me. I have to Pay in Full mid-June. I need information to make that decision.
 


I missed all of this last night, because sleep, but I do have multiple friends who had/have WDW vacation for June and have now booked for UO and I'm sure they're not the only ones. It won't be packed or anything, UO rarely is unless it's a holiday or special event, but it won't be completely empty I don't think (I don't think they'l have trouble with going over capacity though, that probably won't be an issue).

As far as this WDWpro stuff, I read it and had to contact my friend that works in analytics/logistics (can't remember her job title, I know she does data/numbers) and tell her about it. She says there might be shreds of truth in there, but most of it is just off the wall and she hasn't heard anything like it coming from anyone. D'amaro was still there because they hadn't done the change off yet, they overlapped his end and the next guys start so the new guy could be brought to speed. D'amaro is still in charge technically because he's all the presidents of the parks boss now, but they have definitely handed over the baton at this point. She said the mask issue is not something she has heard fly around as to why they haven't opened, it's all data driven, they are watching case numbers and don't want to open or promise to open if suddenly things take a turn for the worse and they have to shut down again. WDWpro makes it sounds like they have zero clue what they are doing and are just fumbling around, and it does feel like it at times. While they don't have 100% handle on the situation (because really, who does), my friend said don't think that they are all sitting around twiddling their thumbs not doing anything to get the parks ready and are so shocked at UOs move, it's not like they'll get approved and have to scramble like chickens with their heads cut off.

She has no clue when they are actually looking at reopening because they are keeping that very close to the vest, she just knows that this info is crazy and should be taken with a pinch of salt (maybe lining a cup with a nice strong, fruity drink inside).


I suspect there are a lot of plans discussed at Disney and this Aug 31st plan could likely have been one of them. So this person may be correct that Aug 31st was something Disney was thinking of, but doesn't mean it was *the* plan

I do think they want to be cautious and would rather open up later and people be safe/confident attending vs too early and a 2nd breakout happens or Heath issues with people wearing masks in the heat, etc. They definitely attract more you get kids and multigenerational families than Universal.

I also don't think they would care if they weren't first but I do think likely they would be concerned about losing an entire summer to Universal. So I suspect there are multiple plans with differ dates and Universals actions don't cause Disney to create a new plan but shifted more focus to the earlier opening options than before
 
I finally went to that forum and read the thread. This latest crystal ball reading isn't really anything new from this guy. He's predicted Aug for quite some time now, including a lot of the "details" in the post that was shared here. He also claims DLR will not open in 2020 at all. So if it's a leak, it was leaked long before Universal announced their opening. He claimed he had never mentioned Aug as a target date before this latest reading, but he had, at least a couple of times. So now he's threatening to leave and take his insider knowledge with him because people are calling him on the discrepancies.

Yeah that’s what people told me last night that he predicated this date for a while. My question is, Rumors from that site spill over to here all the time, if hes been predicting it for a while, and he has legit sources, why was it yesterday that we first heard about it?

A lot of YouTube Disney news channels relay what Marni says all the time. If WDWPro had sources that should be taken seriously, I just think we would have heard a lot more rumblings that August 31st was their original target date. It all just seems too convenient
 
We live in Arkansas and my 22 year old daughter has a co-worker that had a phone interview with Disney World last week for a cast member position. My daughter asked her if she knew anything about opening and she told my daughter she is not allowed to say anything about anything. I know this is literally no information but just interesting to know that they are hiring and interviewing.
 
I finally went to that forum and read the thread. This latest crystal ball reading isn't really anything new from this guy. He's predicted Aug for quite some time now, including a lot of the "details" in the post that was shared here. He also claims DLR will not open in 2020 at all. So if it's a leak, it was leaked long before Universal announced their opening. He claimed he had never mentioned Aug as a target date before this latest reading, but he had, at least a couple of times. So now he's threatening to leave and take his insider knowledge with him because people are calling him on the discrepancies.

Man! I try and get some work done in the garden and look what I miss! A true blue DISboards temper tantrum!

To save rereading a dozen or so pages, what was his supposedly big leak?
 
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Personally with this whole thing, I think Disney shot themselves in the foot by laying all the CM's off. This makes it so much harder to bring back employees and to prevent having to hire new ones. I know Disney is bleeding money but with all they nickel and dime for, you'd think they could afford this. Meanwhile, UOR has been paying their people (80%?) and that speeds the re-opening of things so much faster and easier. I can't help but think of all the cm's that went with Disney over joining UOR thinking they'd be better taken care of. I would about almost wonder if this situation could hurt Disney for years with employee retention. With UOR opening a new park in several years I would about bet that they will be fishing fresh disney employees away from them by the truck loads.
 
I didn't even think of this! And except for one time, we've always gotten stuck with the strangest (not in a good way) people.

We always seem to get stuck with people who want to pick apart the ride. "That's not a real window. Those aren't real people outside the car.' Why even ride if you just want to act like that?
 
I suspect there are a lot of plans discussed at Disney and this Aug 31st plan could likely have been one of them. So this person may be correct that Aug 31st was something Disney was thinking of, but doesn't mean it was *the* plan

I do think they want to be cautious and would rather open up later and people be safe/confident attending vs too early and a 2nd breakout happens or Heath issues with people wearing masks in the heat, etc. They definitely attract more you get kids and multigenerational families than Universal.

I also don't think they would care if they weren't first but I do think likely they would be concerned about losing an entire summer to Universal. So I suspect there are multiple plans with differ dates and Universals actions don't cause Disney to create a new plan but shifted more focus to the earlier opening options than before
According to my friend they have a lot of scenarios depending on what happens, any of them equally likely to happen. She of course is privey to 99% of it because she just does her job and waves bye bye to the data as it leaves her desk. I believe my friends exact words were "I don't know the opening date, but I know this is pretty much BS!" .

I don't think Disney is concerned with UO opening first either, I think they are 100% playing a very conservative game but obviously don't want to give UO the entire summer either. I also think there are only a very small number of people who actually know anything about what's going on, and peoples previous "reliable insider info" sources aren't necessarily those people at the moment with how sensitive all this info is.
 
Not surprised that DS is super quiet. No tourists in town and many of the restaurants and stores are still closed. When I watched the vloggers last week, most of them were just walking around talking about how just about everything was still closed. There's nothing really to do there right now except walk around and eat and look at all the closed stores.
 
Personally with this whole thing, I think Disney shot themselves in the foot by laying all the CM's off. This makes it so much harder to bring back employees and to prevent having to hire new ones. I know Disney is bleeding money but with all they nickel and dime for, you'd think they could afford this. Meanwhile, UOR has been paying their people (80%?) and that speeds the re-opening of things so much faster and easier. I can't help but think of all the cm's that went with Disney over joining UOR thinking they'd be better taken care of. I would about almost wonder if this situation could hurt Disney for years with employee retention. With UOR opening a new park in several years I would about bet that they will be fishing fresh disney employees away from them by the truck loads.
For one thing, the employees were furlouged which is a big difference, they didn't get "layed off". Also, UO has put their new park on hold so we'll just have to see when they decide to start putting money towards that, for now that project is on hold indefinitely. Disney is just a different place to work overall, they are different work cultures that will appeal to different peoples personalities. A person who loves working at Disney may hate working at UO and vice versa, I don't think they'll have any easier or harder time getting employees to switch when they eventually do open the new park than they would have previously.
 
For one thing, the employees were furlouged which is a big difference, they didn't get "layed off". Also, UO has put their new park on hold so we'll just have to see when they decide to start putting money towards that, for now that project is on hold indefinitely. Disney is just a different place to work overall, they are different work cultures that will appeal to different peoples personalities. A person who loves working at Disney may hate working at UO and vice versa, I don't think they'll have any easier or harder time getting employees to switch when they eventually do open the new park than they would have previously.

They were definitely working on the new park when I drove by it yesterday unless I imagined all the earth movers and trucks moving around , I think they mean certain types of work are on hold.
 
We have a mid-July trip (rescheduled from March 14). I am seriously considering moving to Universal for several reasons, but the biggest one is that by mid-July, Universal will have been open and running for six or so weeks. They'll have the kinks worked out and it should be fairly smooth. If Disney doesn't open until after July 4, we're going to be their guinea pigs. I'm also not feeling too kindly about Disney right now and their lack of information. I need to make decisions. The biggest concern to me is that the "7 days before check in to pay package" ends June 30, so it doesn't apply to me. I have to Pay in Full mid-June. I need information to make that decision.
I have an early July trip booked. I hope they let us know by June 1 what the plan is if they're not going to extend the 7-day payment period. I don't want to pay in full unless I know if they're going to be open and in what capacity.
 
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