Theme Parks & Shopping Districts Reopening General Thread

[Mad Dog]

Any blogger or trip planner that says now is a good time to do your first visit to WDW is a heartless dishonest shill.

They’re going to talk up the “little crowds” as if that’s a good trade off for losing 30+% of the disney experience. Talk any of your friends out of it!

Plus, Disney's reactions/signals to their customers is kind of a "We're DISNEY. Our a _ _ is gold. Consider yourself lucky we're opening. You don't need no stinkin special experiences. Just give us your money".

 

[Scott W.]

Any blogger or trip planner that says now is a good time to do your first visit to WDW is a heartless dishonest shill.

They’re going to talk up the “little crowds” as if that’s a good trade off for losing 30+% of the disney experience. Talk any of your friends out of it!

I could see a recommendation for returning guests if you don’t care about fireworks, parades, dining or meet and greets but not if the price remains the same.

I had kind of assumed that this would start to blow over by the end of summer but I just don’t see things returning to normal until next year at the earliest.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I don't understand this complaint. You paid to have access to the park everyday that it is open. You don't get comp'd days when you normally can't visit. Also from everything I know pass holders don't go to the parks very often during the heat of the summer so if it was a normal season you are only missing out on a small percentage of your annual visits. I am sure that they will take care of their pass holders extending your pass by more than what the park was closed for.

Then announce that?

But the from what I can see you are only losing value right now, and since APs will be who are really going to be supporting the parks the next two years it just sounds like not a great deal. The fact and correct me if im ronf yo can't park hop alone is a huge negative.

 

[SeventyOne]

I don't know if this maybe deserves its own thread at this point, but pre-COVID didn't Martin predict on WDWMagic that FastPass as we knew it would end this year? They were going to sunset it anyway, it sounds the planned sunset date may have fallen during the closure.

As for the restaurants, probably still not sure which resorts will remain open when, not sure whether staff will be available (especially in EPCOT and AKL), and not sure how well supply chain will be able to keep up. If the focus is on locals, 60 days out plenty of time anyway.

 

[Alicia]

 

[DeadSexeh]

Then announce that?

But the from what I can see you are only losing value right now, and since APs will be who are really going to be supporting the parks the next two years it just sounds like not a great deal. The fact and correct me if im ronf yo can't park hop alone is a huge negative.

They haven't announced it because it is not important to them at this time. They need to make sure they can open the park and keep it open. I hate to break it to the pass holders out there but they are not what keeps parks afloat. They are a nice stream of revenue that they can consistently count on but not much more than that. One time visitors are a much higher profit margin and represent a much higher revenue overall so that is what they are going to focus on. The pass holder days coming up are not there as a thank you to being a pass holder, they are there for the much needed stress test to make sure they plans they plan to implement will work. Yes there is also the positive of the pass holders feeling valued because they get early access, but it is there to test their operational procedure. The pass holders complaining about how universal will make it right are probably the least valued customers to them. Those people (not all) have a higher probability to be the ones who show up and don't purchase a thing because they want to make sure they get max value out of their purchase and causing universal annoyance as they ask for more and more. Hope I am not coming off as a jerk because I am not trying to be, just trying to explain how I see things.

 

[HandsomePete]

The Fastpass turn-off is more because if you’re going to more virtual queues and reduced capacity, you can’t still honor all of the FPs that are on the books. There’s no equitable way to cancel half of outstanding Fastpasses, so the easy solution is to just turn it off.

Regarding the sunsetting of Fastpass in general, I don’t really care if people don’t believe what I’m about to type, but paid Fastpass had already died when the folks over on Magic were still acting like it was right around the corner. Yes, you read that correctly... dead.

 

[Alicia]

 

[Magic Feather]

Are these link person specific, or is it the same link for everyone that is just getting emailed out at different times?

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

I’m hoping WDW uses the DL model where you can virtually queue up from the MDE app once you enter the park (tap in). It was great and allowed us to move around the parks without much waiting in line. It was well worth the $10/Day upcharge

 

[Alicia]

Are these link person specific, or is it the same link for everyone that is just getting emailed out at different times?

I would assume same link per category, but I do not know for sure.

 

[HandsomePete]

The booking is an absolute catastrophe. I'll say more in a moment.

Tried to check out and it told me to contact customer service to verify the state of my order.

Edit: finally got through.... 6/3 9am IOA side :clap: wanted 6/4 but beggars can't be choosers

Edit 2: went back in and it looks like the options are loading better now... figured I needed to pull the trigger in case they were actually about to run out of 9am slots.

Edit 3: If you're going to try for a slot, try to get on an actual computer instead of your phone. The date/time selection loaded weird on my phone. Also keep clicking the add to cart button because it kept not actually adding for me. If it's working correctly "add to cart" will take you to your cart to check out.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

So you do need to pre-register, at least for the AP previews. Kind of wonder if this is a test for reservations when fully opening? Maybe I'm thinking too much into it though

 

[Alicia]

The booking is an absolute catastrophe. I'll say more in a moment.

Tried to check out and it told me to contact customer service to verify the state of my order.

Edit: finally got through.... 6/3 9am IOA side :clap: wanted 6/4 but beggars can't be choosers

Edit 2: went back in and it looks like the options are loading better now... figured I needed to pull the trigger in case they were actually about to run out of 9am slots.

Can you share the url so those of us that have not received an email can try?

 

[HandsomePete]

Can you share the url so those of us that have not received an email can try?

Try this... I tried to strip off all the identifiers from the link so I'm not 100% sure it will work:

Universal Studios Theme Parks :: Pass Lookup

Edit also, not to be pedantic, but copy/paste it so they don't see a bunch of inbound traffic from here

 

[darkridelover]

The Fastpass turn-off is more because if you’re going to more virtual queues and reduced capacity, you can’t still honor all of the FPs that are on the books. There’s no equitable way to cancel half of outstanding Fastpasses, so the easy solution is to just turn it off.

I believe they're not doing fastpass so they have extra queue capacity to implement social distancing procedures.

 

[Alicia]

Try this... I tried to strip off all the identifiers from the link so I'm not 100% sure it will work:

Universal Studios Theme Parks :: Pass Lookup

Edit also, not to be pedantic, but copy/paste it so they don't see a bunch of inbound traffic from here

Thanks! Wasn’t for me, but I know some folks that didn’t get an email.

 

[Magic Feather]

Try this... I tried to strip off all the identifiers from the link so I'm not 100% sure it will work:

Universal Studios Theme Parks :: Pass Lookup

Edit also, not to be pedantic, but copy/paste it so they don't see a bunch of inbound traffic from here

Thanks! Wasn’t for me, but I know some folks that didn’t get an email.

I had a friend with a lower level pass try the link, and it still blocks his from working, so thankfully it should stick to the "only allow Premier first" principle.

 

[HandsomePete]

I'd try right at 1... I didn't get the email until a little after 12 and the site was struggling to keep up by then. Having to deal with the I'M FIRST! bloggers will be annoying but for awhile it looked like they ran out of times so I just went with whatever I had in my cart.

 

[darkridelover]

A friend of mine tried on phone. Didn't work. Tried on computer, it worked.