I'm kinda ticked at Disney. They shouldn't have stayed open as long as they did.

[kymom99]

Yes.

That’s cool! I teach at CEMS

 

[Donzie]

That’s cool! I teach at CEMS

(CEMS) Seems to be a very nice school. My 3 are at YE. Bless you for teaching. I am sure it is especially challenging right now for you. I assume your students have chromebooks. Hope they are keeping up. My 3 kids miss their teachers and classmates.

 

[kymom99]

(CEMS) Seems to be a very nice school. My 3 are at YE. Bless you for teaching. I am sure it is especially challenging right now for you. I assume your students have chromebooks. Hope they are keeping up. My 3 kids miss their teachers and classmates.

I love YE. I did a couple long term sub jobs there. Made a lot of friends and love the kids. I’m retired but back half days because of shortages.

 

[kymom99]

(CEMS) Seems to be a very nice school. My 3 are at YE. Bless you for teaching. I am sure it is especially challenging right now for you. I assume your students have chromebooks. Hope they are keeping up. My 3 kids miss their teachers and classmates.

These boards are a nice distraction now

 

[tex1989]

I think that Disney is now facing some blow back for not closing earlier. There are a couple of articles online about it. The announcement from Disney that they were closing Disney World came a full three days after the governor of Florida said no gatherings of 50 people or more and then they set the closing effective starting several days after that. Then Abigal Disney piped in with her two cents and all of a sudden everyone is jumping on her bandwagon. The thread on the Theme Park Strategy Board is doing a lot of speculation about when it will reopen and some folks have as early as April 10th reservations and asking do you think it will be open? I don't know a lot but in my humble opinion and based on what I have seen and heard I would not feel comfortable booking or going on a trip to WDW for some time. Like maybe the fall. I know Disney is losing money as many companies are but I just have to wonder if holding out that they will be operational again by April 1 is realistic?

 

[LittleMissMagic]

I think that Disney is now facing some blow back for not closing earlier. There are a couple of articles online about it. The announcement from Disney that they were closing Disney World came a full three days after the governor of Florida said no gatherings of 50 people or more and then they set the closing effective starting several days after that.

The Executive Order was issued March 16 - https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/orders/2020/EO_20-68.pdf

 

[BMB777]

If any part of WDW or Disneyland is open, people will be there, in droves.
Pics of Disney Springs with crowds of people is the exact opposite of what we've been told to do, yet.....

I get it. People don't listen and think they are not affected and being "safe" and making adult decisions for themselves.
But.....come ON. This is not a drill. This is a real crisis.

I seriously can't believe Disney stayed open. I also can't believe they didn't shut down resorts sooner than they are.

I'm cranky and stressed over all of this like everyone else. I think Disney had an opportunity to be a leader and proactive about this. Folks are crazy for Cocoa Puff NUTS about Disney and show up no matter what. They know this. So why? Money? Seriously?

Rant over. Carry on. Be safe.

You have no idea what someone's reasons are for being at Disney or Disney Springs or wherever. It could be that someone has a terminal illness and this was their last opportunity to see the mouse. It could be that a family saved up for years and years to go to Disney and were only informed that Disney would close after they were already there. I'm sure there are a bunch of other reasons as well.

 

[cj.scribbles]

Bro I was so nervous working those last few days at HS.
I love the parks and making magic but omggggg
When we closed it seemed as though everyone wanted to take the opportunity to hug CMs and touch the characters and I felt a little like Hades for a minute. We're closing because of a pandemic -that doesn't mean you need to touch us to express your feelings!

 

[mentos]

Anyone know if Disney had an insurance policy for government mandated closure? Not sure if they did or just self-insured.

If no one knows, hopefully they disclose on the next quarterly earnings call.

Was just really curious.

 

[cabanafrau]

Anyone know if Disney had an insurance policy for government mandated closure? Not sure if they did or just self-insured.

If no one knows, hopefully they disclose on the next quarterly earnings call.

Was just really curious.

Not even Disney's pockets are deep enough IF there were some insurance company to step up to the plate and offer them a policy for a government mandated closure. That kind of risk would have to be spread over more major insurance companies than are in existence. Just take a look at how many companies will not write homeowners' policies in Florida because of the hurricane risk.

 

[cabanafrau]

A friend just messaged me about a man in his 30s dying from the virus. He recently returned from WDW.
It's highly unlikely this is the only case that will be associated with the massive crowds that were swarming the parks only last week IMO. Many will not be associated with the parks because they weren't visitors, but simply came in contact with carriers who were. Wouldn't be surprised to see a pendulum swing to immediate closures in the future, for Disney and other businesses where large crowds congregate.

 

[GeneralTso]

We are going to see a huge increase in people testing positive for Covid that were at Disney resorts over the next few weeks. All those asymptomatic people were infecting everyone in their little bubble. They didn't stay away because they felt fine and did not take this seriously, and with Disney not shutting down, it only increased opportunity for the virus to spread. You will see tons of people mentioning that they were at Disney. Just watch.

 

[fla4fun]

A friend just messaged me about a man in his 30s dying from the virus. He recently returned from WDW.

And Universal and business meetings in Orlando. Plus he had underlying health conditions that put him at risk. He should have never come to Orlando in the first place.

I am not saying that the parks, including Universal and Sea World, shouldn’t have closed earlier. I do think it was nearly impossible to do an immediate closure of the entire resort, including hotels, because people needed a day or two to alter travel plans (both coming and going). But people need to also take personal responsibility.

As I sit in my house, I think about how I could have been over at the beach, in a hotel that is still open now, having a good time visiting family. I had looked forward to this birthday trip for months. I stayed away from Disney to keep myself well to go on the trip, missing out on F&G completely for this year. But I still feel that cancelling was the right thing to do, even though there are only two cases in my county and two in the county I would have traveled to. I am checking my mail in the middle of the night because we have community mailboxes where everyone has to get their mail together. I am doing everything in my power not to be around other people period. I am taking personal responsibility to not only minimize my exposure, but also the exposure of other people. Every single adult on the planet has to make these decisions and some of them just don’t care.

No one forced anyone to go to Disney those last few days. Each one of those guests made an individual decision to go, the decision to visit the parks, and whether to leave early or party until the last moment. Those parks weren’t crowded at the last moment because Disney was holding people at gunpoint. They weren’t crowded because of financial issues, as Disney was working hard to make people whole by refunding and rescheduling. They were crowded because people just didn’t give a flying fig about protecting themselves or others. And when they were finally forced to leave Disney, they still refused to go home, and flocked to beaches and anywhere else they could continue the party. Now, when some of them are starting to get sick, they want to blame everyone but themselves for it, and that just isn’t right.

Just my two cents.

 

[cabanafrau]

And Universal and business meetings in Orlando. Plus he had underlying health conditions that put him at risk. He should have never come to Orlando in the first place.

I am not saying that the parks, including Universal and Sea World, shouldn’t have closed earlier. I do think it was nearly impossible to do an immediate closure of the entire resort, including hotels, because people needed a day or two to alter travel plans (both coming and going). But people need to also take personal responsibility.

As I sit in my house, I think about how I could have been over at the beach, in a hotel that is still open now, having a good time visiting family. I had looked forward to this birthday trip for months. I stayed away from Disney to keep myself well to go on the trip, missing out on F&G completely for this year. But I still feel that cancelling was the right thing to do, even though there are only two cases in my county and two in the county I would have traveled to. I am checking my mail in the middle of the night because we have community mailboxes where everyone has to get their mail together. I am doing everything in my power not to be around other people period. I am taking personal responsibility to not only minimize my exposure, but also the exposure of other people. Every single adult on the planet has to make these decisions and some of them just don’t care.

No one forced anyone to go to Disney those last few days. Each one of those guests made an individual decision to go, the decision to visit the parks, and whether to leave early or party until the last moment. Those parks weren’t crowded at the last moment because Disney was holding people at gunpoint. They weren’t crowded because of financial issues, as Disney was working hard to make people whole by refunding and rescheduling. They were crowded because people just didn’t give a flying fig about protecting themselves or others. And when they were finally forced to leave Disney, they still refused to go home, and flocked to beaches and anywhere else they could continue the party. Now, when some of them are starting to get sick, they want to blame everyone but themselves for it, and that just isn’t right.

Just my two cents.

Stand down. I merely shared some information I thought was fitting for the topic at hand, not launching an attack against the sainted status that is Disney. I said nothing about individuals not having personal responsibility. I'm currently staying and working from home with the 3 other adult family members in our household.

The fact vacation is unlikely this year is the furthest thought in our minds. We've all been adhering to the calls to remain at home for days now unless getting something needed from the store for ourselves or elderly parents, or in the case of DD having to report to work until her company was able to move people online. Even if all of us are lucky enough to remain healthy we anticipate two out of the four of us face loss of employment in the aftermath when the economic realities start to rain down.

It's funny for how Disney has been considered for so long to be so superior to any other competitor, any other company, any other product or experience out there, the moment even a hint of criticism is even wafted so as to potentially drift in Disney's general direction the first line of defense is always -- well what about their competitors, what about the other guys, why is Disney the only one being criticized?

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We are going to see a huge increase in people testing positive for Covid that were at Disney resorts over the next few weeks. All those asymptomatic people were infecting everyone in their little bubble. They didn't stay away because they felt fine and did not take this seriously, and with Disney not shutting down, it only increased opportunity for the virus to spread. You will see tons of people mentioning that they were at Disney. Just watch.

Sadly, it's going to be way more than just Disney. Even in Florida alone, people clearly were flying there (crowded planes), going through MCO, going to Disney, Universal, Sea World, beaches, casinos, other resorts, and then flying home. One of the biggest issues is that people have been testing positive (now that more testing is finally being done), and they have shown no serious outward signs of being sick. The mentality seemed to be I'm not sick, I'm not feeling sick, I'm not staying home. And it's that thinking that's allowed this thing to spread so quickly world-wide.

Hindsight is easy, and perhaps Disney coulda/shoulda closed sooner. And concert venues could have been closed sooner, and beaches could have been closed sooner - all kinds of things. But hopefully, we can get better control of the spread and work together to get back on track in the near future.

 

[GeneralTso]

Don't even get me started on Florida beaches and those spring break kids. Oy.

 

[mentos]

Here’s an article from the Orange County Register, analysis shows that the financial hit is projected to be $500M:

https://www.ocregister.com/2020/03/...million-in-lost-theme-park-admission-revenue/
Basically, it’s the equivalent of wiping DCA off the map for a year. Also, I was slightly surprised at the worldwide average of ~$45/pp, but makes sense with APs and international tickets.