How Crowded Will Disney World Be After Reopening?
“How bad will crowds be when Walt Disney World’s parks reopen?” and “which months will be busiest when WDW reopens?” are two common reader questions right now. Many readers are understandably anxious about crowds when rebooking vacations, and we’ll attempt to answer here based on history and our expectations.
This is an ongoing series, coming in response to feedback and concerns raised in response to our When Will Walt Disney World Reopen? post. We’ve also tackled the question of Will Huge Discounts be Offered When WDW Reopens? and soon will address operational modifications. (We’ll also revisit the first question.)
A lot of this is speculative, dependent upon how the next couple of months play out and what the national mood is going forward. While we’re comfortable discussing generalized trends and possibilities, it would be incredibly premature to offer numerical crowd levels or an update to our 2020 Crowd Calendars for Walt Disney World. We’ll try to have one of those as soon as possible–if you want to be notified when that’s ready, sign up here for our FREE Disney newsletter here.
When it comes to Walt Disney World crowd predictions for the remainder of 2020 after the parks reopen (whenever that might happen), there are generally two schools of thought. The first is that most guests who have had their trips cancelled will rebook later in the year for the months that remain, meaning several months worth of crowds will be crammed into what’s left of the year. This would mean a significant spike in attendance.
The second is that crowds will be significantly lower across the board due to surging unemployment, plummeting consumer confidence, economic anxiety, travel trepidation, and more. If you’ve read any of our past posts related to the topic, you already know we fall firmly in the second camp.
We’ll cover both theories here, discussing what each means in terms of how busy Walt Disney World will be. However, there are a ton of variables that will be at play and we don’t have a crystal ball–if we did, we’d probably use it for something cooler, like finding out who wins the 2021 World POG Federation Championship…
Before we delve into this discussion, let’s set the economic backdrop. Although people might visit for the “Disney Bubble” they don’t book vacations while in one. Real world circumstances have a significant impact on travel numbers–look no further than the attendance lulls following 9/11 and the Great Recession for conclusive proof of that.
The latest weekly jobs report showed 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment, for a two-week total of roughly 10 million jobless claims. This number is a record by a colossal margin, and is likely still an underestimate given that many states and individuals reported troubles with processing and filing unemployment claims, respectively.
Moreover, some companies have done everything they can to keep people employed, but simply will not be able to do so the longer this goes on. Walt Disney World and other Central Florida theme park operators are good examples of this. The Walt Disney Company has announced it’ll furlough employees on April 19, and it’s likely Universal and other businesses will follow suit–adding to those numbers.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis district has estimated that the United States could see as many as 47 million people lose their jobs when all is said and done. That would put the nation’s unemployment rate at 32%, a figure higher than what was seen during the Great Depression. Other estimates project lower and larger numbers, but the one constant is that they’re all unprecedented highs.
While those numbers are eye-popping, they only tell the beginning of the entire story. Several questions remain unanswered. How rapidly will recovery occur? Have we simply hit “pause” on all economic activity? To what degree will there be lasting damage? Will the American consumer bounce right back? How quickly will those jobs return?
Unfortunately, I’m not an economist or financial expert who simply operates a Walt Disney World blog as a side hustle. Nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. (Although even that sounds delightful right about now!) However, I do watch a lot of CNBC and read a ton of financial news, and one thing is clear to me: no one really knows.
Well-credentialed experts each appear confident in their own personal economic projections, but they contradict one another. Suffice to say, there’s no clear consensus. Unlike the weather forecast (which itself isn’t a hallmark of reliability), these experts are working with even less complete information. So much of the story remains to be written.
Economists have offered up no shortage of predictions for the “shape” of the economic recovery. Initially, a rapid V-shape rebound was favored. Now, more believe it could be an L, W, or U-shape recovery. Some think we’re looking at a “Nike Swoosh” shape (here’s a decent overview of the possibilities). We haven’t yet to hear of any “Hidden Mickey” shape bounce-backs, but there’s still time.
We’ve already spent a lot of time fixating on the current and potential future state of the economy, but the reason for that is simple: it’s the best proxy we have right now for future crowd levels at Walt Disney World. This is all totally unprecedented, so traditional crowd prediction methodology are pretty much out the window.
Consumer confidence is a great barometer for generalized attendance trends, and it already showed a significant drop last month (and that only surveyed sentiment through the 18th–before the parks even closed). It’s safe to assume the consumer confidence numbers for April and May will see an even sharper drop, which is significant because this is the timeframe that average Americans would typically be booking travel for September through December.
On social media, we’ve seen a lot of people worried that Walt Disney World crowds will be colossal in October. (That specific month has come up again and again.) This is based upon comments people have seen posted in Facebook groups, blog comments, and other Disney-centric social media. This fear has been exacerbated by long waits on the phone to book the Free Dining Summer Recovery Offer.
In its own way, this illustrates the problem with online echo chambers. If you’re surrounded by other diehard Disney fans on social media, of course you’re hearing from other people who are rebooking trips and eager to get back to the parks. You thus might assume that “everyone” is booking for the fall and it’s going to be packed.
We’d strongly caution against buying into this–it’s an extreme case of selection bias. High call volume is easy to explain away: there’s also a huge surge in cancellations and we don’t know what staffing numbers are like right now. This is all supported by the reality that only a minority of guests are even eligible for the promo.
Even assuming a number of best case scenarios about the speed and strength of our nation’s recovery from this–plus a lack of health concerns–it’s really difficult to see a massive spike by early fall. For one, September and October are “naturally” Florida’s off-season, a time when school is back in session, meaning less travel.
October has not been off-season the last several years, but that’s largely been due to a huge spike in conventions and other events. The year’s convention schedule has already been decimated, with many events already cancelled for fall. (We wouldn’t be surprised to see no youth events on the calendar for ESPN Wide World of Sports for the remainder of 2020.)
On average, Walt Disney World vacations are booked 5-6 months in advance. (Most people reading this almost certainly begin planning earlier. You’re reading a Disney blog–you’re not the average guest.) In order for those fall months to fill up, people would need to be booking trips right now.
With so much uncertainty in the air, it’s safe to say that this is not occurring on a widespread level. As this closure continues, the same will almost certainly hold true for November and December. At present, it’s difficult to envision the general public eagerly booking trips to a destination with a reputation for crowds and lines. There are simply too many unknowns and anxiety is high.
In our recent post about Walt Disney World Accepting Reservations for June 1, 2020 and Later, we posited that Disney had opened reservations for summer (and offered Free Dining Recovery Deal) to get more bookings and boost the occupancy numbers. Otherwise, it would not even be practicable to open the resorts this summer.
It’s absolutely true that Walt Disney World can work its “magic” to drive reservations. A general public Free Dining offer or even more aggressive discounts could help spike hotel occupancy to acceptable levels. Good deals can overcome a lot, including fears about congestion.
What’s largely out of Disney’s control is occupancy at off-site hotels. Walt Disney World is somewhat dependent upon Florida tourism, as a whole. While fans bemoan the construction of new on-site hotels and how they’ve exacerbated crowds, the reality is that most guests on any given day are still coming from off-site.
Even if Disney can somehow against all odds manage 90% on-site occupancy for the fall and winter, the actual crowd levels in the parks will be largely dependent upon what booking levels look like off-site. It’s safe to say that third party hotels will likewise offer deals to get back on their feet, but those don’t have the same impact of enticing people to visit Walt Disney World. Nevertheless, let’s say those hotels see a recovery and WDW offers a strong general public 4-day ticket deal to recover some off-site guests.
All of that is making a number of best case assumptions about consumer confidence, the economic recovery, and Walt Disney World’s ability to quickly and effectively deploy discounts to buoy resort occupancy.
If the average American has economic anxiety, unemployment remains above 10%, and/or consumer confidence does not rebound, fewer people will be booking trips. To us, the best case scenario looks like a 15% drop in domestic attendance–and that doesn’t even take into account international guests who may not even be able to travel to the United States.
Again, this is all the general public we’re discussing. Walt Disney World fans will no doubt disproportionately make sacrifices, jump on discounts, and do everything they can to return to their happy place. However, Disney fans are a (vocal) minority of all guests on any given day.
All of the above discussion reflects the second school of thought regarding Walt Disney World crowds after the parks reopen–the beliefs to which we subscribe. The other is that most guests who have had their Walt Disney World vacations cancelled will rebook later in the year for the months that remain.
The theory here is that Americans won’t sacrifice their 2020 vacations. If the parks are closed for ~2 months and reopen on June 1, those couple months worth of crowds will be redistributed for the remainder of the year. This is the best (or worst, depending upon your perspective) case scenario.
If Disney can simply spread the crowds that would’ve materialized during the closure over the rest of the year that could mean a 10-25% daily increase in crowds, depending upon how long the closure lasts. This is theoretically possible if you ignore real world reality, we guess. It’s also theoretically possible that Walt Disney World will begin accepting Monopoly money and we’ll each be named Princess or Prince of Magic Kingdom for the day.
However, we will concede that we don’t know how this will end up playing out. This is totally unprecedented in a number of ways, and it seems like every single day has included a new and usually unpleasant surprise. It’s virtually impossible to predict how the nation will look and feel several weeks from now, let alone several months.
We feel our thinking represents a sober view of how the general public’s current attitude towards booking vacations and the variables that will impact that in the coming months. While it’s likely Central Florida locals eager to get out of the house will pack the parks (to the degree that’s even possible) in the first few weeks after reopening, we’d expect that to be a temporary surge. After that, our preliminary expectation (read: total shot in the dark guess) is that you can take normal crowd calendars and drop those numbers by about 50%. Take October’s numbers and drop them even further than that. This doesn’t even take into account crowd control measures and operational modifications Walt Disney World might make, but that’s another topic for another day…
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you think Walt Disney World’s crowds will rise or fall once the parks reopen? Are you anticipating colossal crowds this fall and holiday season, or the lowest levels since the Great Recession or 9/11? Will you immediately book a trip, or wait until the economy recovers? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I performed an interesting experiment to test this, and the results I got completely support your theory that there will be little to no crowds when the parks re-open.
My two day trip to Disney World on March 23rd-24th was cancelled due to the virus, and I’ve been watching the park for deals and hungrily waiting for news of the opening. I finally picked a set of dates at the end of summer (late August) and decided to extend FREE TRIPS to any of my friends that wanted to accompany me for three days in Orlando–airfare, hotels, and food paid for.
Out of six friends, only one showed any interest, all of them citing worries about safety in the parks…and even that one had hesitation. So. If getting to go FOR FREE does not appear to excite the average citizen, it’s even more unlikely Disney will see huge attendance numbers unless they miraculously find a way to make their parks disease-free…
Maggie I tried this and they all said yes! My kids of course and the wife we’ll drag along… : >)))
As a family of healthcare workers. It’s impossible to reschedule vacations. The schedule is out for the year and there are no more opportunities.. we are hoping for a June opening. Or our family simply will not go. I would like to add temperatures taken at the door. How ? It will be 90+ degree in June. The temps will not be accurate unless you have them all taken in an AC environment. Masks. Well yes you could wear them. But again with the heat. Not seeing this possible. I see many passing out on a good day. Now add a decrease oxygen flow. The masks slipping off with sweat. Kind of pointless.. I’m sure Disney will come up with solutions.
We want desperately to go, but my wife is in the high-risk group. I suspect we will go nowhere til a vaccine is invented in 18 months, two years, whatever. I would bet that you will see far fewer scooters as many of the elderly and those with chronic illnesses stay home! Might make it a really amazing trip, for the able-bodied. Wish I could join you all!
Just to reiterate my response from last week since the subsequent thoughts on this post continue to be the same: the common theme amongst these various responses are that people had all these plans and spent all this money for trips that never came to pass because of COVID. Quit planning so far in advance – go last minute…we always do, and always find hotel rooms, airline tickets, Fast Pass opportunities, etc.. I just don’t get planning a trip months (or even a year!), in advance. How do I know where I’ll want to go months from now, or what the varying circumstances will be that would force me to cancel a trip?
Seriously? Why plan in advance? Because most people have jobs and kids who are in school and have other activities that necessitate planning.
Not everyone has the luxury of a job that allows a last minute vacation. My job requires a vacation request nine to twelve months out.
Boy if I only had the freedom of your schedule…
For me it comes down to two things:
1. I enjoy the planning. A year of fiddling with schedules, watching new information become available, budgeting and re-budgeting, and deciding and re-deciding my priorities for the trip is a minor hobby for me. The trip itself is one week of intense good times; the lead-up is twelve months of backburner entertainment I can come back to whenever I’m in the mood.
2. Budgeting. I don’t take trips I can’t afford–everything I put on the credit card must be paid off within a week of getting home. Preplanning a year (or more) out lets me calculate how long I need to go between trips to afford the things I want to do. In my January 2020 trip’s budget I included info not just on how much money I had available for the trip, but how much of my vacation budget I needed to leave unspent to be confident I could afford my planned January 2021 trip.
Yawning Dodo, totally with you on the planning, just love it and it is totally a “Minor Hobby” for me as well!! Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Exactly! Although I didn’t want to reschedule everything again, there is a challenge to it and so much information to look through and enjoy. I thought I did great the first time in 2020, now hope the same for December!
Totally agree with you too about the planning! Love planning and especially when it comes to a Disney trip for my boys which is their first Disney vacation. Very very few people can book a trip last minute especially to Walt Disney world! If you want character dining, last minute trips are not possible. Just saying
I;m looking to book the 1st week of November and the pickings are very slim and prices are high. What does this mean? You would think the bookings would be wide open…
I just booked for beginning of December with no problem except very high prices. Tour company (I checked with three) all think deals will come down for non holiday weeks in November and December. I hope they are correct. Also, some that didn’t cancel yet but will because of restrictions on travel, especially overseas, economics or fear are still showing booked.
Jaan only time will tell. We usually go Thanksgiving week and again at Easter. This would be our first Halloween. I have July booked ATM but I’m hoping something opens up that week… I hope the Tour company is right…
Discounts have not yet been released for November. Many people book rooms for popular times at rack rates to reserve their space at their preferred resort and then apply the discounts to them once discounts are released (though there is no guarantee a discount will be available for their room type and dates, it often is).
Yup that sounds right! It was what I was /am going to do!
You are a senior that has been there a lot. Any experience with Very Merry Christmas party? Do you need tickets to park and event ticket? Any feelings from anyone if it is worth it?
Believe It or Not we’ve never done the party. Considering how much the trip costs us with airfare at that peak time to spend close to $800 to go to a party just doesn’t seem worth it to us…
Jann, I’ve attended the party a few times. I enjoyed the first few, the rest not so much. Too crowded for me now. However, I wouldn’t let that stop you if you’ve never been. The parade, shows and special events are worth the price. As for rides and meets and greets, there will be lines, so be prepared for that.
Tickets for the party are expensive. You shouldn’t use a regular park ticket the day of the party, as they let party guests in early enough to spend sufficient time enjoying all the festivities. There are plenty of other fun things to do at Disney that day that don’t require park tickets. Bottom line – if you haven’t been, go and enjoy. At least once.
Thanks. It is only two people so not as bad. Barbara, I love your suggestions since I’ve never been to event before. Rest, relax, then go!
Wine and Done half marathon weekend occurs the first weekend of November…..that’s why rooms are booked
Ah understand, thank you for the heads up!
For what type of crowds to expect, it is really hard to say. I predict average crowds for the rest of the year. Disney will offer more promotions as needed to keep crowd levels to at least average. September will be a “ghost town” since this is when seniors attend and they won’t attend regardless of discounts. Parents won’t pull kids from school being out all of spring. September will probably be the best time to attend this year.
Everyone I know who rescheduled from Spring moved their vacay to a July or September. (Most September). I think it will be crazy then.
I can hardly find room availability for the 1st week of November… crazy!
Excellent points Keith but for those of us who have kids were stuck going when everyone else generally does. I’m from NJ so we do have a window during the election day week when teachers from NJ also have “Teacher’s Convention” I heard they call it Jersey week at Disney… Hoping it’ll be less crowed than Thanksgiving.
On another note I’ve heard Thanksgiving week is the second busiest time of the year next to Christmas week, however we’ve been there many times during Easter break and even though different parts of the country school systems stagger the weeks around that time in April or March the crowd seemed just as large if not larger than Thanksgiving week, go figure. Maybe in the past times were different before all the hotels were buit Etc but it just seems busy no matter when we go albeit we are kind of restricted of when we can travel.
What are your thoughts on crowd levels at Disneyland?
I’m one of those folks whose Easter vacation scheduled for April 9th was canceled. We rebooked for the end of May but canceled that for July and took advantage of the free dining plan. What I find interesting is trying to book dining reservations many of the prime time spots for popular restaurants are not available. I understand many folks may have had plans and booked 180 days out but with the current situation you’d think there would be availability. It’s too soon for us to book fast passes and I’m hoping they won’t be as difficult. I too share the theory that traffic / bookings will be down due to the virus & economic downturn but based on the reservation system I’m not seeing that in comparison to last trips when I would do our reservations… I also just read an article that FastPasses are seemingly hard to come by in June and the writer of that article thought it might be due to Disney limiting fastpass bookings, but why? Are they trying to give the impression that there are still going to be busy or??? By the way the title to that article is “Is Disney World Limiting FastPasses? Here’s What We Found.” Not trying to promote another website but if you’re interested in reading the article a Google search by that title should bring it up. Anyone car to come in I’d love to know your thoughts!
Docmarmo, one reason why you can’t make dining reservations could be because Disney may be reducing the amount of tables in each restaurant (social distancing) which would reduce availability.
Another would be because the restaurants you want may not be reopening that soon, including World Showcase restaurants. Disney executives may already have an idea that Disney World will not be open in July. Also, Disney World may not be ALLOWED to open because of the type of business it is, one in which people cannot keep to social distancing and the attractions cannot be safely sanitized.
Good points. I think the social distance is be more plausible since I Das able to make over reservations. But one restaurant I like is Rose and Crown late so you can eat dinner and see the fireworks in their VIP area. It’s always tuff to get and I’m finding it difficult in July. I guess we’ll have to see but thanks for the response and theories!
We just booked our fast passes for June and couldn’t get anything we wanted for Hollywood Studios and had to change a few others for the other parks as well
I find this very odd and it seems to me many took advantage of the free dining offer and it remains to be seen if they open and if in fact people will even travel if they do open. I think there might be a psychological effect playing out here, and what I mean by that his people who were scheduled to take vacation before this pandemic tragedy rebooked hoping in their heart of hearts that things would return to normal IE before this ever happened when we all know now this will not happen for some time if ever. With that said I’m trying to make the point that people booked to take advantage of the free dining offer but deep down inside they really don’t have the intention of traveling. Hope that makes sense.
I think there are those optimistic people who really want to go and took advantage of the deal. I cannot go then although eligible but home other deals come out. I think we have a lot of new bookings on top of those who eventually will cancel. Many might be booking like me to be hopeful, look ahead and just plain have something to do, like comment on all these web sites. But probably the main fact is we don’t know anything but just want the magic.
Exactly Jann! We do so wanted to go and even though we’re booked for July, in our heart of hearts we don’t think it’s going to happen and we’re not excited about the hot weather & rainy season. Our ideal time to travel is Easter & Thanksgiving, albeit busy times but we’re seasoned fans and know how to navigate, plus the fact the weather is usually near perfect at those times. At any rate we may cancel July even if Disney does reopen and book for the 1st week in November, even if it means forgoing the free meal plan. We really want to do Halloween which we’ve never experienced.
PS: One never knows how stir crazy we’ll all be by July 9th our travel date, so I’m still going to try and book FastPasses 60 days out and see what I can get. If it’s a good bunch I may still convince the wife to go.
My husband and I are both physicians. We had booked our trip for the end of July and neither one of us feels that the risk of exposing ourselves or our family to potentially asymptomatic carriers is worth the risk. We booked an AirBNB offsite, and unfortunately they are not allowing refunds at this point (nor is the host allowing us the option of keeping our money and letting us rebook at a future time) so we are waiting closer to the date to see if the US extends travel restrictions so we can at least try and recover some of our expenditures. The type of close contact and crowds that is typical for a Disney Day is a potential nightmare in terms of spread and cross-contamination.
Could always write each of yourselves a prescription of hydroxychloroquine and erythromycin considering how effective it is at treating the illness & addressing symptoms and still go…
Love Disney first of all. But for obvious reasons this will be the first year we skip in the last seven years. Sometimes we go twice a year. Although restrictions may be lifted on crowds, that does not mean you should feel your safe. This is something new. It’s easily contagious. And could possibly cause you or a family member to become very ill. Sick possibly on vacation since it can manifest in a couple days. And no one can actually predict how busy the parks will be unless your gifted in seeing the future. The parks may also be terribly crowded. We plan to return to Disney. Disney is a wonderful vacation destination. Just think the risk of my family becoming ill and dealing with possible large crowds will be something we miss at the parks this year and maybe plan our trip sometime late next year. May try a staycation this year or find a quiet beach somewhere later in the year. Everyone do your best to stay safe and well.
Your analysis gets even more complicated if you try to project what the impact will be on WDW visitors from outside the US, a significant chunk of the people at WDW each day. I’m guessing they’ll be even less likely to re-book, especially this year, as the US seems to be the nation who will have the worst C-19 outbreak.
I don’t think a majority of potential visitors, U.S. or otherwise, will feel safe until there’s an effective vaccine. Clearly no way to predict when that will be, but most estimates are in excess of a year. Right now, while most of us are in lock-down, we want to believe that in a month or two there will be an all-clear and everyone can resume their lives sort of as before. I don’t see that happening, but wow, do I sure hope I’m wrong.
I have 2 trips planned for late this year, that I had booked long time ago. If it’s safe health wise we will still go. I’m fortunate to work an essential job. I’m fine if they take our temperature or any other measures deemed necessary. I personally think it will be less crowded. I have other Friends that love Disney but are skipping it this year. Thanks for continuing your blog, thinking about Disney helps distract from today’s problems. So appreciate all you and your wife do!
I will not go anywhere especially florida due to their lack of stay in action
Booked our trip for December. Not worried about the volume of people but worried if parks will be changing rules. Attractions, shows, dining, etc. subject to changes. It may not be the same enjoyment experienced in the past. Will it still be worth the high cost. Will the cast members want to come back due to the crowds and the social distancing. Considering cancelling our Dec. vacation
This is my concern as well. I have heard reports of FP being extremely scant for June. Right now I am booked for the end of July, but I fully realize that may not happen. If I cannot get FP, the parks are not fully open, and/or many experiences like parades, shows, and fireworks are cancelled, I will probably delay my trip until the parks are near to the full experience I am used to. Disney is too expensive otherwise. I am not a local or an AP holder, so I don’t want to waste my hard earned money on a watered down experience. I honestly don’t see how social distancing can possibly be achieved at Disney without SERIOUSLY compromising the product. Nothing at Disney is designed with social distancing in mind. The two are incompatible.
I just booked FP yesterday and all the major rides had none left before 5pm for the duration of our trip. I don’t 100% expect we will go, but we are waiting to see how everything looks in a month before rescheduling for next June. Was absolutely shocked to see how few FP there were though, which made me wonder about crowds.
It could be the lack of FP is because June people haven’t cancelled yet because they are just waiting to hear if they need to cancel or Disney does and then it would be easier to get money back. Many June people might not have transportation, especially from overseas. I don’t think FP will be indicative of crowds for rest of year due to cancellations, it just looks that way.
Yes Jaan, you’re correct that many June arrivals, like my family, have not yet cancelled because we are waiting to see what happens in the next couple of weeks. However, the concern is that June arrival dates are just now available to reserve FP because they are just now getting to the 60 day mark, and even on the first available day to obtain FP, they are already booked up. It’s not like the FP for June were booked weeks ago, the FP themselves are just now available for June arrivals, and they are sparse right from the start. My question is whether Disney would have held any back for some reason and made fewer available.
Yes Geoff. Good points. I hope it all works out for you and everyone else wanting to go. I now booked beginning of December when supposedly and hopefully school is in session. But prices are really high with no deals. I am crossing my figures on so many things…the prices go down, mostly everything is open, the crowds are low, but mostly everyone is safe and well! Everyone stay well and enjoy writing to other Disney fans as you read on this fabulous site!
the problem for the Tourism industry world wide is going to be both simple and devastating. even if someone or a family wants to go somewhere like Disney, in a huge number of cases they won’t have the resources to do so. they will have used up their vacation time with stay at home orders or quarantine, if they had any time to begin with. on top of that they will have in all probability used up the money set aside or maxed out their credit cards for things like paying the rent, groceries etc etc because they were out of work. the desire will be there, but the resources act on the desire won’t be .
You can’t predict it completely because the factors are so different. Everybody has been on virtual house arrest for a month. By June, some places will have been at home for three full months! Floridians will flock to the theme parks, undoubtedly (as we did on the day Disney closed).
But that being said, a lot of people are choosing to postpone their travel until next year opting for more certainty than navigating the potentially tumultuous waters. Furthermore, all of the kids have been out of school for months and unlikely to start back to school on time. Are people going to pull kids out in September?
Thank you for your insight. We have a July trip booked and have for awhile but I’m thinking it’s probably not going to happen. Time will tell I suppose. So many unknowns right now.
Barron’s just published an interview with Bob Iger where he is suggesting a temperate check might be part of the screening process — similar to bag checks currently in place. While that doesn’t eliminate the asymptomatic carriers from entering the park, the temperate check at least filters out the currently ill visitors.
Will see if they opt for other measures such as face masks or social distancing (not sure how that will work in a crowded theme park).
Honestly, a temperature check will simply be theater.
Our family trip is planned for us to arrive May 31 and arrive at Magic Kingdom on Monday morning, June 1. I know it’s very difficult to know if the park will be up and running on these dates but I believe everything should be open and ready to go when it does open. No hit and miss stuff when you have spent $8,000 for a vacation and travelled 800 miles to get there. Either open or stay closed until everything is ready to go.
Hi Karen Robertson:
In a real ‘sense’ you’ve just ‘spotted’ what may possibly be the number one
reason why THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY is ‘rumored’ to be ‘the target’ of ‘a hostile takeover’ by ‘corporate giant’ APPLE.
As I write this comment a ‘news flash’ on the radio reported that soon to be ‘outgoing’ CEO Chairman Robert ‘Bob’ Iger of THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY offers as ‘a solution’ to his dilemma concerning the Disney Parks the taking of everyone’s (guests & castmembers ‘alike’) temperatures before entering ‘the parks’!
Hmm…..not too ‘convincing’ Mr. Iger. You are going to have to offer a few more ‘substantial incentives’ to alleviate Ms. Robertson’s skepticism…..don’t you agree Karen? Let me suggest this to Mr. Iger: a SPECIAL TRIPLE FEATURE EDITION (featuring Disney ‘child actor’ Bobby Driscoll) from Walt Disney Home Video which includes the following three Disney film classics: SONG OF THE SOUTH plus SO DEAR TO MY HEART plus TREASURE ISLAND!!!
What do you think Karen…..would that make the cost ‘more worth it’ to you?
Best,
William Johnson
Temperature check doesn’t really mean anything, IMO. COVID nurse here and seeing patients showing up afebrile. Digestive issues are often a precursor (think diarrhea, as well as nausea/vomiting, loss of smell & appetite). Other signs are low blood glucose for diabetic pts, as opposed to high blood glucose normally seen when ill. The temp check will only make for longer lines and false sense of security, but that’s only my take.