Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

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Agree.

Telling people "don't go" can be annoying.

Having posters who swore they were done with Disney/ not going back yet still come and post a complaint post after post is also annoying.

I’m going to bet the complainers are just as irritated with the defenders. Why don’t we just let each of them post what they want and we can discuss the merits of what they say instead of judging whether they should say it or not. We have mods for that.
 
I had a June 10-12 res at Beach Club and when I talked to Disney last weekend they confirmed cancelled, no rescheduling possible. And it was also confirmed that ALL reservations at ALL resorts up to June 21 have been officially cancelled....so I'm not sure how you can modify once it's been cancelled and that they are also not allowing new reservations to be made? I also have a TA for my August trip and she has not heard of this at all
*shrug* .. I still have an open (in MDE) June 16-June 20 reservation that hasn't been forcibly cancelled by Disney yet, though I just did get the e-mail about it today saying "Your upcoming travel dates are impacted by these closures".
And it actually said I could call and cancel and reschedule if I want. (I know I can't) .. so it is just a boilerplate e-mail.

But . .my reservation isn't officially cancelled yet (just "invalid") .. so my hope is that when they let bookings start again .. I can just "modify" my reservation .. but not sure how that would really be any different than just making a new one (besides them just keeping my deposit).

The e-mail that went out to late June guests last night was correct. As of this morning, guests booked with check-ins from June 5 - June 21 can reschedule their resorts for check-in dates between July 11 - December 31, 2020. They can only modify to DVC resorts and Ft. W. If you call the WDW reservation line, you will hear the message announcing this. Options right now for those guests is to modify, cancel themselves or simply wait for WDW to auto-cancel. If you have a reservation from June 5 - June 21 and want to try to reschedule to DVC or Ft. W, I would encourage you to call WDW or reach out to your TA.

Have we had any reports of people being able to re-book in July? Last I read, people weren’t finding availability when they called.

Yes, my TA rescheduled a mid-June value resort stay to a mid-July Ft. W stay.
 
Not like we have a way of knowing, but I imagine Universal is vast majority local guests right now. I wouldn’t be that shocked if it skews more locals less tourists than normal this whole summer. As far as we know Disney is still drawing in a fair amount of tourists who will be staying in their resorts this summer. Those, plus locals, makes for a much more complicated hopping and capacity situation than Universals got. To start with, I bet local guests spend a much shorter time in the park than tourists, making hopping easier to allow. Remy has also alluded to Disney putting these park reservation measures in place not necessarily just for right now but to allow Disney to stay open during spikes and future waves (with hopping not out of the question forever). So again, maybe they are playing a better long game than Universal.

I know people got upset when this was said before, but Universal is more of a locals park than Disney. In some ways Disney and Universal are similar, in some (like this IMO) they are quite different, with Disney being more complicated. If you prefer the way Universal is handling things and what a summer 2020 Universal vacation looks like, I’m sure they’d be happy to have you 🤷🏻‍♀️
I tend to agree with this. Even if they do draw tourists (who are there for Disney, let's be honest) for a few days bookending their trips, I see Universal as a small township where WDW is, quite literally, a city. There are so many gears to get moving again (remember the great hydraulic fluid debate?). At near capacity when factoring in staff, MK alone is larger than Billings, where I live. What HAS been frustrating, however, is just the perceived lack of communication. Maybe because so many of us have invested so much time, money, and emotional energy into our ties with Disney. Now, it FEELS like they are the condescending parent in a time of crisis. Just telling us to sit down, shut up, and relax while the grown ups figure it out. And Universal gets to come off as the cool, rich parents up the street mainly because they are getting the cool toys first.
While I wish Disney would be a little more forthcoming, I don't even know what I expect them to say at this point. I cancelled an August trip, because I wasn't willing to pay the entry fee to be their lab experiment. But, I have a November trip "planned" (whatever that means now), and I hope by then they've ironed things out and opened up at least a little. And, I REALLY hope that MNSSHP goes well and they start selling MVMCP tickets, because we've never been and this is the first time in YEARS I have all of Thanksgiving week off.
 


I'm already prepping myself on how to tour without hopping. I don't like it, but if I have to, I have to.

Also prepping myself to spend a ton of money on the "extraspecialtickets" that allow me to hop!
:rotfl:

My only real hill is the actual virus.

Everything else can be shrugged off and justified lol, even if I don’t like it. Hi I’m DGsAtBLT and I’m addicted to Disney World.
 


But if you were showing up in a week and a half, wouldn't you want to know what those are? I mean that's within what you would have people on a work schedule for. And they posted nothing. That notice was up there when they announced the 6/15 date. If someone is looking to find out more clarity of their WDW trip, you would think at a minimum it would be when the first canary into the coal mine (in this case HHI and Vero) would have a fully defined list of what's going to be there when people show up and people can possibly forecast from there.

Given the current situation and how quickly things could change, no I have no issue with it not being specific,

HH and VB...never been... must have the names of restaurants listed so if it says food options, those will be open for something

I don’t think it is unreasonable for them not to define limited because that could change day to day, week to week. I will be at VGF on July 3rd, and going with the notion I’ll find out when I get there.
 
Yes staying at endless summer this was our backup to our Disney June trip going to Disney in July as well

Hotel feels very empty going to VB and Universal Studios over the weekend.

May I bother you with questions? :)

Is the pool open?
Restaurants - sit down?
Bars/lounges?

(coffee maker in room?)

Thanks! Answer when you have time!
 
When you called no one was eligible to make changes so you were given accurate info then. Today they made the week of June 15 eligible to re-schedule as long as you pay the difference, you can only book DVC or FW at rack rate. Idk if before that week can book as well but if you're cool with rack rate for DVC or FW then I would give them a call sooner rather than later.

There are too many people and TAs reporting this is happening for it not to be working. Disney has a record of your cancelled reservation and if they haven't actually processed the refund they might able to just transfer the deposit to the new reservation if you catch it soon enough. (Disney didn't make an official announcement they would allow this but they did advise TAs they would be ready for their call centers to handle affected guests of that week in June on Friday after they started sending out cancellation notices Thurs evening.)
I called right after I wrote my last message because I needed to ask Disney about an email regarding final payment due for my July 4 Riviera stay, which by the way, she confirmed (like we've all said) that final payments are due 7 days before arrival and to disregard any canned emails saying 30 days.

The CM I spoke with regarding my June 10-12 said that ONLY reservations AFTER June 21 will be allowed to reschedule to later this year. EVERYTHING before June 22 is cancelled and not able to reschedule. She then confirmed it with other people when she put me on a brief hold.

So presumably, if you have, for instance, a reservation at a non DVC resort from between June 22-July 11 you can reschedule to later in the year. If you are booked before June 22 you are cancelled. I just confirmed this 2 hours ago with her, and her colleagues.
 
At this point I've decided my hill to die on is coffee-makers in the room. I want them.
:D
I could stand that one. I’m like Disney- mine was all about the $$$$$’s.
I’m not going to pay rack rate for half the experience. I cancelled everything but 1. That one Disney can cancel for me.

I’m going to admit, that last reservation I have, that still has the AP discount, could well fall during the AP preview. I may or may not shed a tear if it does. But I’m standing firm. Ok, I sway now and then, but always come back to center. lol
 
May I bother you with questions? :)

Is the pool open?
Restaurants - sit down?
Bars/lounges?

(coffee maker in room?)

Thanks! Answer when you have time!
While we wait, and because I'm bored at my kid's swim team practice, I'll answer what I have gleaned trying to decide whether to keep our August week at RPR:
Prince Dev posted a really good video from Surfside during the AP preview period where the pool was open. So was their QS and lobby Starbucks. Not sure on the sit-down, or if Endless Summer has one, tbh. I've seen other reports from the Surfside pool bar, and they are indeed open and pouring your favorite libations, while showing what appeared to be HP movies on the TVs. Like I need a reason to desire Hagride any more.
 
May I bother you with questions? :)

Is the pool open?
Restaurants - sit down?
Bars/lounges?

(coffee maker in room?)

Thanks! Answer when you have time!
Sure! For reference I am a out of town non AP regular guest, although I am incredibly familiar with both universal and Disney since I Go every year to one or both Uni/Disney.

Pool is open - no masks needed in pool area at all. Rest of the hotel masks required besides room of course.

Resteraunts - sit down is open! And it’s nice to take mask off while eating

bars - only been to the pool bar but it was open…
coffe maker - don’t drink coffee so can’t answer wasn’t paying attention... my girlfriend would know...
 
While we wait, and because I'm bored at my kid's swim team practice, I'll answer what I have gleaned trying to decide whether to keep our August week at RPR:
Prince Dev posted a really good video from Surfside during the AP preview period where the pool was open. So was their QS and lobby Starbucks. Not sure on the sit-down, or if Endless Summer has one, tbh. I've seen other reports from the Surfside pool bar, and they are indeed open and pouring your favorite libations, while showing what appeared to be HP movies on the TVs. Like I need a reason to desire Hagride any more.

Awesome! :D

Thanks!
 
Sure as a out of town non Ap regular guest happy to answer, although I am incredibly familiar with both universal and Disney since I got every years to one or both.

Pool is open - no masks needed in pool area at all. Rest of the hotel masks required besides room of course.

Resteraunts - sit down is open! And it’s nice to take mask off while eating

bars - only been to the pool bar but it was open…
coffe maker - don’t drink coffee so can’t answer wasn’t paying attention... my girlfriend would know...

Nice!!!

This makes me happy, thank you for taking time to answer!

:D
 
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