Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Sara W]

I’d like to ask for some advice from those who have been to both Universal and Disney in the last couple of weeks. I’m thinking about taking my kids down after Labor Day for a break and virtual learn from the hotel. I was at Epcot and MK in late July and felt very safe. However, my son is really getting into Harry Potter and he has never been to Universal. We were at City Walk the week after July 4 and felt very uncomfortable. Granted we felt similarly as DS, we also didn’t have to walk through DS to get to the parks. That being said- would you choose MK/AK or US/IoA based on mask usage, enforcement, and cleaning protocols right now?

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I'm surprised because I thought I read it was doing so well.

I've caught up on my youtubers I follow.
One I like when in the mood for no talking, just the sounds of park - 4K WDW.
Anyway, the parks don't seem sooooo empty lately as they did. Not packed, but a pleasant amount of people so its disheartening to read about all of this.

I’d assume it’s got a lot to do with what @andyman8 discussed in one of his recent posts. The numbers of people in the park, because of the type of guest, don’t translate to enough revenue to justify opening things further or in Uni’s case (I’m gonna assume they’re seeing similar issues as Disney) don’t justify keeping things open.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I think universal is scaling back now in anticipation of the drop in numbers come September.

Some see it as backtracking, personally I see it as making the most of the guests when they're coming and then responding appropriately when numbers drop.

That's kinda how I see it - they took advantage of what they could get this summer in revenue, and knowing there's no big fall draw (with no parties anywhere, no free dining at Disney, kids in school, and no extra reason to come when it's still steamy and hurricane season that wouldn't have already been the case in the summer), they are scaling back. I expect them to "rescale back up" once hurricane season is over and the heat breaks, so probably mid-November...

 

[anthony2k7]

I'll say again as it seems my other post was for some reason deleted...

Apparently rise is now open.

 

[Leigh L]

I’d like to ask for some advice from those who have been to both Universal and Disney in the last couple of weeks. I’m thinking about taking my kids down after Labor Day for a break and virtual learn from the hotel. I was at Epcot and MK in late July and felt very safe. However, my son is really getting into Harry Potter and he has never been to Universal. We were at City Walk the week after July 4 and felt very uncomfortable. Granted we felt similarly as DS, we also didn’t have to walk through DS to get to the parks. That being said- would you choose MK/AK or US/IoA based on mask usage, enforcement, and cleaning protocols right now?

Honestly, I'd say either.
We did feel Potter was too crowded on the weekends since the land is kind of tight space-wise, but we felt very comfortable on the weekdays. We did 3 full days between IOA and US (Sun, Mon, Tues) and then jumped to WDW for EP, DHS, and MK (Wed, Thurs, Fri)

WDW I think had an edge on mask compliance, but UO was still pretty good (except on Sunday, 90% maybe, except at park close a lot of people were whipping their masks off before leaving IoA. I didn't see that nearly as much at WDW.)

UO has a TM squirt sanitizer in your hands before getting on a ride and it's available at the end (but we came across some empty ones but it was easy to find more or jump into a restroom). It seems at WDW every time I turned around a CM was cleaning something, things I'd never seen wiped down before. Sanitizer was available going in and out of an attraction at WDW but not "enforced" like at UO.

We went into the trip decided we'd walk away from a situation we didn't feel comfortable with. Happened only a handful of times between both parks.

 

[Jrb1979]

There does seem to be certain posters that seem to take joy in people losing their jobs and others having their trip plans impacted just because they don’t feel comfortable visiting themselves. It is pretty clear statement on the kind of people they actually are. They are actually rooting for the economic destruction of families.

I don't take joy in any of that. I'm not rooting for economic destruction of families. It is very sad to see what's happening to a lot of people. Things will get better eventually but so many being laid off or having their pay cut I'm not hopeful things will be back to pre-covid before spring at best.

 

[999miles]

I was trying to get more information on my 13 night Fort Wilderness stay today and the cast member helping me told me that Disney will be rolling back all 10 day tickets to 7 soon. Has anyone else heard this or have more information?

 

[anthony2k7]

I was trying to get more information on my 13 night Fort Wilderness stay today and the cast member helping me told me that Disney will be rolling back all 10 day tickets to 7 soon. Has anyone else heard this or have more information?

Bonkers. Was crazy enough when they got rid of the uk 14 day ticket.

It's still not clear what they want people staying longer to do - get APs? Buy multiple 7 day tickets? Or just do 7 days onside then go to universal for the rest??????!

 

[Jrb1979]

Not much different than Hagrids...

I think it's funny that it keeps failing too. You would think both companies by now would a lot more testing and making sure things are working correctly then to get it open ASAP. For those that made comments about new coasters at Six Flags and Cedar Fair, for the most part they figure out the bugs on new attractions within the first month of opening.

 

[chicagoshannon]

This is starting to feel personal. My son's pretty upset, first entertainment now this

We were planning on going on September 8 so this is just great. Already have to work around Sea World being closed Tue/Th.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I’d assume it’s got a lot to do with what @andyman8 discussed in one of his recent posts. The numbers of people in the park, because of the type of guest, don’t translate to enough revenue to justify opening things further or in Uni’s case (I’m gonna assume they’re seeing similar issues as Disney) don’t justify keeping things open.

Plus with Volcano Bay how much is day tickets vs passholders and also how much $ do they make on food and souvenirs vs a regular park?

Honestly not sure but my thought would be guests spend less per day at a water park vs a regular park

I think part of building Volcano Bay was to help draw people to the resorts and treating Universal like a week long vacation destination vs making a ton of $ on its own

 

[skeeter31]

I was trying to get more information on my 13 night Fort Wilderness stay today and the cast member helping me told me that Disney will be rolling back all 10 day tickets to 7 soon. Has anyone else heard this or have more information?

I don’t think they’ll be changing already purchased 10 day tickets into 7 day tickets, it’s just that they’re not currently selling 10 day tickets and most likely won’t for a while. Remember, phone CMs are notoriously uninformed.

 

[rteetz]

I think it's funny that it keeps failing too. You would think both companies by now would a lot more testing and making sure things are working correctly then to get it open ASAP. For those that made comments about new coasters at Six Flags and Cedar Fair, for the most part they figure out the bugs on new attractions within the first month of opening.

Six flags and Cedar Fair don’t often bring in new technology to their coasters. Both Universal and Disney did ample testing too. Testing only does so much. You need to run it to really work out the kinks.

 

[Farro]

sorry, I thought I was responding to a different post about 10 day tickets....

Why? What could possibly be the reason?

Its not like they lose money by offering 10 day tickets, do they?
I have 9 day hoppers for next May. I wonder what they will end up as by the time we go....

I mean yes, if we stay 9 nights and they only allow 7 day tickets, we'll go to IOA for 2 days.

Again, does Disney just want to keep people away? I understand I'm not supposed to question because they are supposed to know more than I do...

 

[only hope]

I’d like to ask for some advice from those who have been to both Universal and Disney in the last couple of weeks. I’m thinking about taking my kids down after Labor Day for a break and virtual learn from the hotel. I was at Epcot and MK in late July and felt very safe. However, my son is really getting into Harry Potter and he has never been to Universal. We were at City Walk the week after July 4 and felt very uncomfortable. Granted we felt similarly as DS, we also didn’t have to walk through DS to get to the parks. That being said- would you choose MK/AK or US/IoA based on mask usage, enforcement, and cleaning protocols right now?

I feel safer at US/IoA, especially compared to MK. The distancing markers at Disney aren’t far enough apart sideways/diagonally. Mask compliance the day I went to MK was horrible- no other park has come close. Out of four days at WDW, I only witnessed one person being told to wear their mask correctly, despite witnessing many instances of non-compliance within view of a cm. I even witnessed one girl who was allowed to ride Magic Carpets with no mask in sight. At Universal, I’ve seen tm enforce masks several times. Universal is generally less crowded than MK during the week, and has less chokepoints. Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley are exceptions, but mostly the paths are much wider, which makes distancing much easier.

I’ve been to Universal three times since the reopen and Citywalk was not crowded at all any of the times I walked through.

 

[skeeter31]

Why? What could possibly be the reason?

Its not like they lose money by offering 10 day tickets, do they?
I have 9 day hoppers for next May. I wonder what they will end up as by the time we go....

I mean yes, if we stay 9 nights and they only allow 7 day tickets, we'll go to IOA for 2 days.

Again, does Disney just want to keep people away? I understand I'm not supposed to question because they are supposed to know more than I do...

They’ll still be 9 day tickets when you go. They’re not going to remove days from already purchased tickets. They’re just not selling 10 day tickets, and haven’t been since reopening. Not really new news.

And, technically they do lose money on longer tickets. I’m sure Disney would much rather make people buy shorter amounts of tickets as they charge more the shorter the ticket is for m

 

[hertamaniac]

Honestly not sure but my thought would be guests spend less per day at a water park vs a regular park

I would also think that the operational costs pale in comparison to a theme park. So maybe the net profit is actually higher per capita?

 

[Farro]

They’ll still be 9 day tickets when you go. They’re not going to remove days from already purchased tickets. They’re just not selling 10 day tickets, and haven’t been since reopening. Not really new news.

And, technically they do lose money on longer tickets. I’m sure Disney would much rather make people buy shorter amounts of tickets as they charge more the shorter the ticket is for m

Must be tickets only because you can still buy 10 day as part of a package.

By the way as an FYI only, CSR is now starting to be booked up for certain room categories (only King rooms left for GDT) for my late April/early May dates...but now Yacht Club shows no availability for any dates which is weird because it was wide open before....

 

[gottalovepluto]

Must be tickets only because you can still buy 10 day as part of a package.

By the way as an FYI only, CSR is now starting to be booked up for certain room categories (only King rooms left for GDT) for my late April/early May dates...but now Yacht Club shows no availability for any dates which is weird because it was wide open before....

I’m seeing YC. Pulled up for a random Nov date & random June date for me.

Standard GDT rooms are a popular category I think. I’ve mostly been able to get them when I want but it takes a lot of checking sometimes. Makes me wonder if they didn’t build the right ratio of Queen/king/suites in GDT... Or is it people don’t want to pay the K upcharge? I opt for the 2 queens at GDT on solo trips just because it’s cheaper than booking a K.

ETA: they have been tweaking the booking system fwiw and that can upset the IT booking apple cart. All CL rooms were pulled a day or two ago (Disney has been booking them starting 1/1/21).

 

[New Mouse]

Six flags and Cedar Fair don’t often bring in new technology to their coasters. Both Universal and Disney did ample testing too. Testing only does so much. You need to run it to really work out the kinks.

Disney didnt do ample testing with ROTR they rushed it and opened when they knew they still had major issues.