HopperFan
"It's a bug-eat-bug world out there, princess."
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2003
I just read on a Disney group that someone reported their Coronado reservation was just cancelled and they were moved to French Quarter. They didn’t mention dates, but I am assuming it is part of the NBA plans for this summer. Hopefully Disney moved them to a resort they are planning on opening by then. Hopefully some moderates will be opening!
Sorry, false hope after all. The person just posted the dates and they were cancelled due to the resort still being closed and their rebook date for French Quarter isn’t until early next year. Bummer!
No surprise on the resort being closed BUT the second part is interesting. French Quarter not open to book until 2021 ... now is that just because they aren't booking any reservations until the end of the year "just because" they have so much on their plate and it will open up sooner than that? I can't imagine them staying closed that long.
For at least this part, I believe the logic is that it would be overall less costly to operate certain deluxe resorts due to the way that they are attached to DVC resorts that will be already in a level of operation.
This is very important to think about in addition that these resorts are smaller in occupancy, sometimes need less transportation options, provide table service dining and yes they are making economic decisions on who they think will still be going to Disney in this economic climate.
If I’m disney I’m offering to move people if others are not going to fill my rooms I’d rather make $180 on a $350 room then $0
I don't think Disney will have any problem filling those rooms at the higher price point.
- Disney already has one of the highest occupancy rates of any hotels, so there is probably a good portion of them already booked on existing reservations.
- There will be a Disney hotel "shortage" and with the park reservation system those rooms just became much more valuable.
- Plenty of folks can afford those rooms and are ready to leave their homes and go somewhere.
- The parks will be operating at a lower capacity making the resort a very attractive trip for many.
I think it underestimation to think any room will be empty if they reduce their overall room numbers.
We have a 8 night CSR reservation for the first week of August. Just got off the phone with a cast member, who passed me to two other cast members in a search for information and they had nothing for me. Just keeping waiting...
All three cast members however were very nice, considering what I imagine they've been going through the past few weeks I was impressed with how pleasant everyone still sounded lol
Phone cast members only have in front of them what is happening today. It's why so many come here for help. If they do know other info from their own knowledge they aren't supposed to share anything other than their scripts in front of them. I wouldn't want their job.
I agree it is less costly, but that is the point. They are making their decision based on cost and not the pandemic. The pandemic is causing a reduction in capacity, but not determining which hotels are impacted. . There is no reason that a value hotel cannot be opened if they can open a deluxe. Even if they chose to only open the deluxe hotel. they could also easily choose to go with a lottery system for all existing reservations regardless of resort. If a reservation is selected from the value resort, they simply get upgraded. They won't do this because they want the revenue from the higher priced reservations. Choosing to honor the more expensive reservation while choosing to not honor the cheaper reservation when they had to reduce capacity is just that, a choice.
I agree that it is a stretch to go from there to price gauging, especially since Disney is not raising their prices. They are also suffering their own economic loss from the pandemic even during the time they are reopen. To minimize that loss, I think you can argue they have done it in a way that unfairly penalizes cheaper reservations at the expense of more expensive ones.
We don't know what they are doing for sure as it is fluid and am sure they weigh their options every morning but ....
If they opened POP/AOA that would be the equivalent of opening ALL the deluxes. From an operational point of view that doesn't make sense when they HAVE to open the DVC. Deluxe will be easier to sell and operate. There is a reason; finances and operating under COVID standards. We have to remember they are working numbers in conjuction with greatly reduced park capacity. They have to balance hotel guest with park guest numbers.
Lottery ~ talk about a PR nightmare, I can't imagine the complaints from that. The choice they make, whatever it is, will be to get as many guests in rooms as they can under the COVID requirements and to stay in the black at those hotels. They are not penalizing anyone, they are making hard decisions so they open successfully.
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Thinking out loud math ...
If only deluxe open initially that is about 5400 rooms ... in comparison POP/AOA alone have about 4900 rooms. When you add DVC that another @4800 rooms/villas. The Disney parks are expected to open at 50% capacity tops. You can't even use their normal capacity because when you close all those big shows, you have to reduce your capacity. Shows provide big number adjusters. Normal times Disney hotels only provide around 35% of the guests in the parks. If we take the normal @capacity of 300-320,000 minus the closed shows, attractions and reduced dining capacity ... ballpark it now at 260,000 ... then cut that number in 50% you have top of 130,000. Disney average is 35% of the guests = 45,500 The deluxe/dvc calculate around 41,000. The numbers work for the initial opening of the parks to support only opening Deluxe/DVC.
(numbers are estimates based on posted numbers)
WILL THAT HAPPEN? We won't know until it is actually July 11th or later because nothing is official at Disney, not even if they say so (they often go back) until it is actual done and finished and happening. Our experiences are a very small percentage of Disney guests.
Fingers crossed they find a way to be more fully open, maybe why they waited until July was in hopes the state allows increased capacity at the parks by then. Maybe why they are doing this slowly and weekly and holding back on many July reservations.