Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[Museick]

(Reuters) - Walt Disney Inc (DIS.N) Executive Chairman Bob Iger will forgo his salary and newly named Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek will take a 50% pay cut amid the coronavirus crisis, according to an internal email from Chapek.

Disney will reduce the salaries of its vice presidents by 20%, senior vice presidents by 25%, and executive vice presidents and above by 30% effective April 5, according to the email. “This temporary action will remain in effect until we foresee a substantive recovery in our business,” wrote Chapek.

 

[friedela]

YES! it is very frightening being here, in our circumstances. We are relatively lucky in that we live rurally, BUT, the kids go to school etc. it's SUCH a worry. I am actually HOPING that school will close, even if it closes til September, which is the current thinking.

Schools here have been closed for 3 weeks already and aren't opening until September, possibly even longer. Considering the US has the highest case numbers of covid in the entire world right now makes me highly doubt that Disneyworld or any other theme park which is a petri dish for disease will be open anytime in the near future. JMO of course

 

[Busterbailey]

I was thinking about the park reopening today and was wondering how long does Disney need to get back into 'operating' mode? There has to be training/refresh for cast members, hiring back some part-time, restaurants etc. I was thinking 2-3 weeks after an all-clear to open? Or do you all think they are just ready to open day 1 that they're able to?

 

[Spaceguy55]

The offering of free dining is zero indication of an opening date. Noone knows a date right now at all. Hence why the parks are closed indefinitely and even the things they tell you when you book specifically say IF the parks are open prior to or after the date of the reservation. They are not making any guarantees because they know not to.

If I was someone who wanted free dining.... I might book it on this new deal and then if they are not open they might be able to change the date and still get the same deal later when they re-open..just a thought.

 

[rteetz]

I was thinking about the park reopening today and was wondering how long does Disney need to get back into 'operating' mode? There has to be training/refresh for cast members, hiring back some part-time, restaurants etc. I was thinking 2-3 weeks after an all-clear to open? Or do you all think they are just ready to open day 1 that they're able to?

They certainly will not be able to open day one and be ready to go. They have a whole load of College Program kids they need to bring on and they’ll need to replenish food stocks and all sorts of other things.

 

[SMRT-1]

I was thinking about the park reopening today and was wondering how long does Disney need to get back into 'operating' mode? There has to be training/refresh for cast members, hiring back some part-time, restaurants etc. I was thinking 2-3 weeks after an all-clear to open? Or do you all think they are just ready to open day 1 that they're able to?

I was just about to post that same question.

It seems there would need to be some time to ramp up the parks to reopen, since, at the very least, they would need to order food supplies for the restaurants.

Given that there will likely be some lead time, hopefully they will let people know right away once they officially decide on an opening date, rather than wait.

 

[mhautz]

The offering of free dining is zero indication of an opening date. Noone knows a date right now at all. Hence why the parks are closed indefinitely and even the things they tell you when you book specifically say IF the parks are open prior to or after the date of the reservation. They are not making any guarantees because they know not to.

There's no way that Disney is "certain" of anything, but that doesn't mean that the June 1st date has NO meaning. Disney specifically chose to incentivize people who are already dealing with rescheduling their trips (some probably more than once) and chose June 1st as the beginning of that promotion. This is not about them just taking reservations that can be easily be cancelled. This is about people who have already suffered a cancellation and it seems kind of reckless of Disney to set them up for further disappointment unless they felt a certain level of certainty. An educated guess, even one based on optimism, might not be a guarantee, but I think it's more than "zero indication".

 

[skeeter31]

They certainly will not be able to open day one and be ready to go. They have a whole load of College Program kids they need to bring on and they’ll need to replenish food stocks and all sorts of other things.

Yeah pretty much need a form of “spring training” prior to park opening.

 

[burg]

Not sure this has been mentioned before ... but I called in to have the free dining offer for my rebooking, as I cancelled our early April vacation. After a long wait, when I mentioned my new dates were early October, it was a no-go. They are only offering free dining for stays through September. I didn't try to push back as the CM would probably not be able to do anything, but they did say things could change and that I should check back in the future. I think that they should do better than offer the promotion to a four month period (Jun-Jul-Aug-Sep) ...

ETA: and they should probably put this on the website, defining the dates, so people do not wait over an hour on the phone (I wouldn't have called if that info was clear on the website)

 

[only hope]

And what will they do about security checks, security going through one bag after another, any one have any ideas, suggestions ?

I saw one post on Twitter saying now might be a good time for Disney to put in x-ray scanners like at Universal so security doesn't have to stick their hands in bag after bag

Yes, I hope this motivates Disney to bring in xray machines. When they started to redo the entrances, I thought for sure they would catch up the times and follow the higher standard that Universal has set by having xray machines. It’s faster, more thorough, and more important at this point, is mostly hands off. I try to wipe down my stuff after I go through security at Disney. I do not like them touching my stuff- and I can’t afford to buy food each time I go (local passholder), so bringing nothing is not an option.

 

[Joe in VA]

VA has been wayyyyy ahead of the curve, with not a huge amount of cases. 2nd state to close school for the year. I wouldn't gauge Disney's opening on Va. DeSantis just said he misspoke about his stay at home for South Florida, he meant 4/15 not 5/15.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

These are pretty obvious WDW updates at this point, but just an FYI for park event information since Disney added specific cancelled date notes to their website pages for each event:

All MK Disney After Hours, DAK Disney After Hours, and MK Villains After Hours through the end of May are noted as "cancelled" on their respective event websites.

For MK DAH and DAK DAH, the last event dates were 5/25 and 5/26 (respectively). No future dates had been released when the parks closed (we were all waiting for the next chunk of dates to be released). The last MK VAH date in May was 5/29 and dates had previously been scheduled through 7/10 - the June and July dates are NOT noted as cancelled at the moment.

FWIW

 

[SMRT-1]

These are pretty obvious WDW updates at this point, but just an FYI for park event information since Disney added specific cancelled date notes to their website pages for each event:

All MK Disney After Hours, DAK Disney After Hours, and MK Villains After Hours through the end of May are noted as "cancelled" on their respective event websites.

For MK DAH and DAK DAH, the last event dates were 5/25 and 5/26 (respectively). No future dates had been released when the parks closed (we were all waiting for the next chunk of dates to be released). The last MK VAH date in May was 5/29 and dates had previously been scheduled through 7/10 - the June and July dates are NOT noted as cancelled at the moment.

FWIW

After seeing this, I checked MDE, and my VAH tickets for 5/8 are now gone.

 

[TDSAXX]

All the models including the most reliable us model from the university of Washington shows florida peak mid may. CDC confirmed that the us has various time frames due to a lot of factors and the UW stat model.is indeed the most accurate. You cant use the time frame from other places to extrapolate any other place due to different quarantine, stay at home, etc timeframes. Each area is individual. So based on the most accurate model which took those factors into account. Mid may peak in florida, 4- 6 week.peak, puts it early july. Then the decrease in cases moves it to mid july. Those fall in line with what we are actually seeing in florida.

You keep saying the peak will be 4-6 weeks; but the UW model that you quote shows a much shorter peak.

 

[Remy is Up]

You keep saying the peak will be 4-6 weeks; but the UW model that you quote shows a much shorter peak.

It shows the downside or safe zone where the decrease in cases is into july.

 

[TDSAXX]

It shows the downside or safe zone where the decrease in cases is into july.

But the peak is not 4-6 weeks.

 

[Remy is Up]

But the peak is not 4-6 weeks.

Apology for the mistaken verbiage. The peak is may 14 and the "safe" zone after the peak doesnt occur until mid july. They are still not going to open when the CDC and state are saying things are not safe as of yet. And per that data, which at the moment even the CDC says is the most accurate, its mid july.

 

[Thecouch]

Successful lockdown actually pushes peak way back. Australia is doing pretty well this week and they say it slowing down to 10% increase per day (some countries are 30%). Our peak they are now saying will be October. Looks like we will be lockdown restrictions for a while but it will save a lot of people life's

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

(Reuters) - Walt Disney Inc (DIS.N) Executive Chairman Bob Iger will forgo his salary and newly named Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek will take a 50% pay cut amid the coronavirus crisis, according to an internal email from Chapek.

Disney will reduce the salaries of its vice presidents by 20%, senior vice presidents by 25%, and executive vice presidents and above by 30% effective April 5, according to the email. “This temporary action will remain in effect until we foresee a substantive recovery in our business,” wrote Chapek.

Are they really forgoing their salary, or just the “salary” portion. Usually these top CEO’s get like a ton of stock which makes up like 95 percent of what they earn per year and the “salary” portion of it is basically window dressing.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I was thinking about the park reopening today and was wondering how long does Disney need to get back into 'operating' mode? There has to be training/refresh for cast members, hiring back some part-time, restaurants etc. I was thinking 2-3 weeks after an all-clear to open? Or do you all think they are just ready to open day 1 that they're able to?

I wonder what kind of maintenance they are doing on the rides too at this time. Like, is it a bad thing if the rides sit totally idle and don’t even get started up for weeks on end? I guess the cold weather parks are like that.