Disney's "Getting Closer to Normal" Guidelines

[Grabnar]

Right now is not the time to be removing mask requirements. In fact, it’s one of the worst time to be doing it.

Especially a mixed mandate like this.

 

[Nick]

Especially a mixed mandate like this.

And the ludicrous part of it is that I’m assuming that for something like swirling saucers, you’ll still have to wear a mask since there’s a roof, but everyone can pack like sardines in front of Cinderella Castle w/o masks and that’s what Disney is considering to be safe for their guests to be doing.

“This is no time to let our guard down” - POTUS

What the mouse heard: “Time to let our guard down!”

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Since mixed rides still require masks, the only rides and queues this applies to are:

Astro Orbiter (maybe not on the elevator?)
Barnstormer
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (queue only)
Cinderella's Carousel
Dumbo (ride only)
Jungle Cruise (queue only)
Liberty Square Riverboat
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (queue only)
Splash Mountain (queue only)
Tomorrowland Speedway

Spaceship Earth (queue only)

Alien Swirling Saucers
Slinky Dog Dash

Kali River Rapids
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Na'vi River Journey (queue only)
Triceratops Spin

And presumably any outdoor portion of queues before they head indoors. This is too small of a change to be worth the creation of more confusion.

 

[Mad Dog]

Touring Plans is reporting that DHS was so slow, that for a couple of days last week Boarding Groups for RotR were available for hours in the park.....Obviously, Orlando, both Disney & Universal, are
really missing all of those August/Sept. UK tourists that greatly augmented attendance during this normally slow time of the year.

 

[GAcoaster]

Yeah, I saw a couple of people get boarding groups late afternoon, and heard they opened a standby line for rise an hour before park close the other day.

 

[Nick]

Yeah, I saw a couple of people get boarding groups late afternoon, and heard they opened a standby line for rise an hour before park close the other day.

It's been like this for about a week now, although i'm not sure why we're talking about this in the getting back to normal thread because this is most certainly NOT normal

 

[Mad Dog]

It's been like this for about a week now, although i'm not sure why we're talking about this in the getting back to normal thread because this is most certainly NOT normal

Hoping Virtual Lines go away would certainly be getting back to normal.

 

[Nick]

Hoping Virtual Lines go away would certainly be getting back to normal.

It would be a step into the past, certainly. I think we're going to have to accept that Boarding Groups are here to stay for now. They probably want each park to have one attraction that's running on a BG.

 

[Tbad556]

Walt Disney World, union reach agreement on mandatory COVID-19 vaccines

The Service Trades Council Union and Walt Disney World have reached an agreement on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, the union announced Monday afternoon.

www.wftv.com

 

[shiekra38]

So this mask update is going into effect tomorrow, masks are no longer required for outdoor attractions and waiting in outdoor queues.





Keep in mind, for the attractions it's only for those that are fully outdoors. If they go indoors at any point, masks are still required.

So for Everest does it mean I take it off in the outdoor part, put it on in the museum part, take it off for the outdoor sections and put it on for the indoor sections?

Still less complex than Genie +

 

[Frank Drackman]

If Disney would just sell AP's, I know folks that are willing to attend on some slow days (and that would be closer to normal)!

 

[Mad Dog]

New from the 'Administrator' of WDW Magic....and they've started a new thread on the topic.....From Magic Administrator : "I am hearing from multiple areas that the WDW parks
are being asked to heavily cut labor costs. Some of this is normal during (Disney) Q1 (Oct, Nov. Dec.), but 2021 is heavier than normal"......They go on to quantify and said that
cuts will not be in the kitchen and housekeeping labor forces since they are short of staff. This will primarily be park operational staff cuts.......Guessing that their advance reservations
aren't showing much increase from their presently low crowds. Also, I've been monitoring the MK Christmas Party dates, since I might book one, and so far none of the dates have
been sold out, which is a bit irregular for this late on the booking calendar. And, according to Touring Plans, ride times for the 4 parks remain at their lowest 'one level' , even through the
50th Celebration starting last weekend.

 

[GAcoaster]

Anecdotally it's actually appeared the numbers of guests coming to MK are up to much closer to pre-pandemic levels. I know the 50th is bringing more guests, but Disney must have upped the reservations as well. There have been lines of people buying tickets at the TTC and lines for the Monorail and Ferry Boat well beyond the regular morning rush.

 

[Nick]

Anecdotally it's actually appeared the numbers of guests coming to MK are up to much closer to pre-pandemic levels. I know the 50th is bringing more guests, but Disney must have upped the reservations as well. There have been lines of people buying tickets at the TTC and lines for the Monorail and Ferry Boat well beyond the regular morning rush.

Maybe *closer* but still nowhere even close to where they were in the summer. The lines for rides are and have been incredibly low at all 4 parks since September began.

 

[Mad Dog]

Maybe *closer* but still nowhere close to even where they were in the summer. The lines for rides are and have been incredibly low at all 4 parks since September began.

Yes...Pretty much steady '1" crowd levels' ride times across all 4 WDW parks since the second week of August, according to Touring Plans. TP has
downgraded their projections a couple of times and the crowd line times still come in way under even their newer projections.

 

[Nick]

Yes...Pretty much steady '1" crowd levels' ride times across all 4 WDW parks since the second week of August, according to Touring Plans. TP has
downgraded their projections a couple of times and the crowd line times still come in way under even their newer projections.

I got an AP again a few weeks ago and i've been to all parks except for AK multiple times and rarely wait more than 15-20 minutes for anything (normally not even that long). The only time I really have was when I went to go ride RotR when the standby first opened (wait time said 55 and that was around what we waited). Checking the app right now, the line is listed at 65 and Slinky listed at 65 so it is a tad busier.

 

[Mad Dog]

I got an AP again a few weeks ago and i've been to all parks except for AK multiple times and rarely wait more than 15-20 minutes for anything (normally not even that long). The only time I really have was when I went to go ride RotR when the standby first opened (wait time said 55 and that was around what we waited). Checking the app right now, the line is listed at 65 and Slinky listed at 65 so it is a tad busier.

Yes. Touring Plans has been doing 'real' line times tests, a dozen, or two, times every day since it reopened. Most actual ride times have been coming in at 45 to 65 minutes.....and even lower during the last couple hours of the park. Not unusual to get a 20 to 25 minute line time at 7:00 or 8:00 PM. Slinky generally is in the vicinity of RotR times when they've tested.

 

[Frank Drackman]

Yes...Pretty much steady '1" crowd levels' ride times across all 4 WDW parks since the second week of August, according to Touring Plans. TP has
downgraded their projections a couple of times and the crowd line times still come in way under even their newer projections.

I am sure things should slow down from this week, no clue what Disney had projected and I would guess they have a good idea w/ the park pass system in place. Really just wanted to chime in that (I feel) ride wait times have little to do with crowd size.

We missed Disney during the whole FastPassPlus era as the parks had really lost their value on me (as a vacation spot).

Going to the parks these days, I have been enjoying waiting on rides w/o FP/LL running, waits do not seem to bother me when the queues seldom stop moving and maybe the low wait times help that immensely, but that does not stop the parks from feeling busy, looking crowded. Heck, I knew to avoid EpCot on a Friday night during F&W.

Anyway, the stores have been rather crowded at times we went by -- we are also folks just being in the way, walking around and not really riding rides -- but it still amazes me how many folks visit a park like Epcot, I assume AP's and park hopping keep the park going and the festivals still bring the people out.

But yes, we were at EpCot on WED -- walked on Soaring -- very few were being loaded outside of the middle section -- yet an hour and a half before that Harm pre-view, it was way too crowded around the lake for our taste. We were there again on Sunday, and to me, at the same hour and a half before the nighttime show and it looked like Sunday was going to have more people there. Sunday we were kept in the park by our daughter's desire to ride Remy. We got to the park around 12:30 to try for a 1PM boarding group -- we got # 156 and were able to get in the queue at 7:30 PM

 

[Mad Dog]

I am sure things should slow down from this week, no clue what Disney had projected and I would guess they have a good idea w/ the park pass system in place. Really just wanted to chime in that (I feel) ride wait times have little to do with crowd size.

We missed Disney during the whole FastPassPlus era as the parks had really lost their value on me (as a vacation spot).

Going to the parks these days, I have been enjoying waiting on rides w/o FP/LL running, waits do not seem to bother me when the queues seldom stop moving and maybe the low wait times help that immensely, but that does not stop the parks from feeling busy, looking crowded. Heck, I knew to avoid EpCot on a Friday night during F&W.

Anyway, the stores have been rather crowded at times we went by -- we are also folks just being in the way, walking around and not really riding rides -- but it still amazes me how many folks visit a park like Epcot, I assume AP's and park hopping keep the park going and the festivals still bring the people out.

But yes, we were at EpCot on WED -- walked on Soaring -- very few were being loaded outside of the middle section -- yet an hour and a half before that Harm pre-view, it was way too crowded around the lake for our taste. We were there again on Sunday, and to me, at the same hour and a half before the nighttime show and it looked like Sunday was going to have more people there. Sunday we were kept in the park by our daughter's desire to ride Remy. We got to the park around 12:30 to try for a 1PM boarding group -- we got # 156 and were able to get in the queue at 7:30 PM

Yes, I'm certainly sure 'no fastpass' has helped ride times, especially the big max capacity attractions like POC and Haunted Mansion, two rides that FP+ really screwed up, wait times. And, of course,
line waits are not a complete reflection of attendance, but when they're far off they're decent indicators of softer crowds. Looking at TP every morning, I could probably count on two hands the very few times
TP crowd levels were above a 'Level One' since the second week of August. That, coupled with some large Disney hotels remaining closed, and the MK Christmas Party all days still available at this late date are
red herrings. The next big indicator to watch will be if crowd levels go up significantly, or not, next week for the Columbus Day long weekend and some school breaks. During the last 6 or 7 years that's been
one of the heaviest attendance stretches at WDW. So, we probably need to watch what happens then, especially since they have all these new night shows to drive attendance. The 50th marketing and three new
night shows should be packing the parks for a while. If they don't. well, then WDW needs to be concerned, short term at the very least.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Yes, I'm certainly sure 'no fastpass' has helped ride times, especially the big max capacity attractions like POC and Haunted Mansion, two rides that FP+ really screwed up, wait times. And, of course,
line waits are not a complete reflection of attendance, but when they're far off they're decent indicators of softer crowds. Looking at TP every morning, I could probably count on two hands the very few times
TP crowd levels were above a 'Level One' since the second week of August. That, coupled with some large Disney hotels remaining closed, and the MK Christmas Party all days still available at this late date are
red herrings. The next big indicator to watch will be if crowd levels go up significantly, or not, next week for the Columbus Day long weekend and some school breaks. During the last 6 or 7 years that's been
one of the heaviest attendance stretches at WDW. So, we probably need to watch what happens then, especially since they have all these new night shows to drive attendance. The 50th marketing and three new
night shows should be packing the parks for a while. If they don't. well, then WDW needs to be concerned, short term at the very least.

Line lengths don’t equate to per caps. The new Disney model is high prices over lower volume. Can’t really use crowd observations to determine their level of concern or success anymore. That day when all the crazy people went to pick up 50th anniversary merch had some of the lowest wait times ever but was probably the parks’ most successful day since COVID.