Theme Parks & Shopping Districts Reopening General Thread

[Tbad556]

IOA is extending hours today, havne't seen anything official yet but TMs were notified.

I've been told this extension will be for every Saturday in the near future as well.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I've been told this extension will be for every Saturday in the near future as well.

Smart, and frankly, should be longer than just one hour.

 

[Teebin]

As for UOR crowds vs Uni's

UOR vs Uni???

Employees will appreciate any extra they can get I am sure!

 

[JoeCamel]

This is my last day at Cabana Bay and I’ve been here for three days. Thursday and Friday wasn’t too bad at Volcano Bay. The hotel is more packed than I anticipated. I tried going back to Volcano Bay again just now and it’s slammed packed. It’s super hot and packed, I ended up just leaving. There was a line to get into the Fearless River and I’ve never seen that happen before. I went to the hotel pool after and I couldn’t find a chair. I was going to go try to hit Studios and IOA but the wait times look crazy.

Pool hop to Sapphire.....

 

[Parkscope Joe]

UOR vs Uni???

Employees will appreciate any extra they can get I am sure!

Oops yeah brain fart, WDW vs UOR

 

[shiekra38]

The crowds are good news quite honestly

 

[HandsomePete]

It's promising but it's still a long ways to go for the industry - excluding Hagrids every ride is at best case 50% capacity so current state "jammed packed" is like is every ride was at 15-30 minutes in old times.

Not knowing you needed extra park hours on the weekends though.... how out of touch with your business can you be.

 

[Alicia]

Surprised no one has mentioned how America’s Got Talent was live and filmed portions during the day all this week, and that might’ve had something to do with this.

 

[Tbad556]

 

[shiekra38]

Not knowing you needed extra park hours on the weekends though.... how out of touch with your business can you be.

It's a volatile time and the best they can do is guess where the crowds could be

I think we will see this "as needed" mindset for a little while

I expect it will happen again around Christmas

 

[Rideguy70]

Surprised no one has mentioned how America’s Got Talent was live and filmed portions during the day all this week, and that might’ve had something to do with this.

View attachment 13002

No, Alicia, that clearly means the park is going to open early September. Where have you been?

For clarity's sake, I am being sarcastic. I know the park in CA is not opening anytime soon.

Speaking of which, because of the state of things, this thread has really become "Florida updates", since still not much is happening in CA theme park-wise.

I just got a haircut on the sidewalk today, that's my SoCal update. Because most salons/haircut places are still closed and can only operate if they're outside. So the few venues who have the space to do so are setting up chairs on sidewalks and streets (if they've been blocked off with a traffic barrier).

 

[Jerroddragon]

No, Alicia, that clearly means the park is going to open early September. Where have you been?

For clarity's sake, I am being sarcastic. I know the park in CA is not opening anytime soon.

Speaking of which, because of the state of things, this thread has really become "Florida updates", since still not much is happening in CA theme park-wise.

I just got a haircut on the sidewalk today, that's my SoCal update. Because most salons/haircut places are still closed and can only operate if they're outside. So the few venues who have the space to do so are setting up chairs on sidewalks and streets (if they've been blocked off with a traffic barrier).

Got one as well today...looked on google and everyone said closed but one guy...so called him made and appointment and when i was leaving two people were waiting there turn.

It was early morning so not the bad..but sure it was heck in the afternoon at over 100 degrees. Also Traffic in LA has been BAD this weekend...like I got to Disneyland from the Valley in less than an hour two weekends ago but traffic was starting early this morning

 

[Victoria]

Smart, and frankly, should be longer than just one hour.

I agree.

The Universal parks have been gradually getting busier every Saturday since they opened. I avoid the weekends now.

The crowds during the week are still fairly low.

 

[Frank Drackman]

I have always thought it was a strange place to slot it into. It needs something more IMO. The grand opening house credit was nice.....

But Sapphire has the water taxi (which the folks for Cabana walk over to use), the part that always killed me was that SF charges deluxe parking rates while CBBR was much lower (and they sometimes used the same lots).

The rooms are nicer at SF and the rum bar!!

 

[HalfGlass]

Another busy one

 

[Mad Dog]

From Touring Plans today...It appears the attendance at Universal has increased, especially on weekends, according to Fred Hazelton, TP's analytics guru. Therefore, they have upgraded their Universal crowd calendar. The good news is that even though there's larger crowds, Touring Plans tested the lines on Saturday August 14th, and the line times were inflated, so the lines aren't as bad as the app makes them out to be. also from Touring Plans, "Our previous update for Universal crowd levels included adjustments for reduced capacity . Since crowd levels are up, we are reducing those adjustments."

 

[Allison]

Just some small, personal anecdotes from my last 5 days in Disney. This was my first time back in all 4 parks since they reopened.

-Epcot & Animal Kingdom felt the emptiest. Morning through night at both parks never felt crowded to me. The longest wait I saw at the end of the night for Epcot was Frozen at 35 minutes, and Navi River was (I believe) 15 or 20.

-Hollywood Studios & Magic Kingdom felt the busiest to me. However, and I know it’s been said ad nauseam, if you have no interest in attempting to ride ROTR you could show up after 2:00 and find a seriously thinned out park. Magic Kingdom, otoh, still had a 40 minute wait wrapped around the building (I know that looks a lot longer due to social distancing) for POTC around 5:00. The week I spent there I believe did see CM block outs lifted for all parks, so, ymmv.

-Resort transportation (the buses) took longer to show up than I remembered, so, for anyone planning on using them I’d prepare for longer travel times.

-If you plan on eating any QS meals in the parks do your mobile ordering further in advance and, if you can, let the app know that you’re there a little bit before you actually get to the restaurant. There was a lot of crowding around outside of the basic QS locations (Cosmic Ray’s, Backlot Express) with people either deciding what to order or waiting for their order to be ready. If you show up with your order already alerted to pick up, you’ll bypass the wait outside.

-If you’re planning to stay in any of the Orlando parks all day, bring more than 1 mask. They get disgusting so having a bunch of the disposable ones was really helpful with a daily heat index of 100+. And a water bottle. And a fan.

Overall, other than some personal gripes it was a fun little staycation, I never really felt unsafe and I’m looking forward to finally getting back to Universal next month!

 

[Teebin]

Was reading the comments on bio’s parking booth pictures and one person interjected that Uni has become very lax on mask wearing and Disney is much more strict. Is this really true of Universal’s handling of things recently; that many are walking around without masks fully on?

 

[Alicia]

Was reading the comments on bio’s parking booth pictures and one person interjected that Uni has become very lax on mask wearing and Disney is much more strict. Is this really true of Universal’s handling of things recently; that many are walking around without masks fully on?

I was there Wednesday. Mask compliance was near perfect. Best I’ve seen in my (admittedly few) visits so far.

Experiences are going to vary.

 

[Mad Dog]

I was there Wednesday. Mask compliance was near perfect. Best I’ve seen in my (admittedly few) visits so far.

Experiences are going to vary.

Probably just some twit users, with hardly any followers, looking to get some clicks on their sorry twitter blogs, nitpicking and looking for a mask down in a sea of mask wearing people. Twits gotta get attention somewhere in their lives.