Disney World News: Mask Warning, Another Ride-Based Movie, Hotel Reopening
It’s time for another Walt Disney World news round-up! This one covers a range of topics, including the reopening of another hotel, Park Pass availability/strategy, closure & opening of mini golf, the announcement of yet another movie based on a WDW attraction, and more face mask warnings appearing in the Walt Disney World theme parks and My Disney Experience app.
Let’s start with a big kudos to the NBA and Disney on the conclusion of a successful “bubble season” at Walt Disney World. In July, the NBA resumed its season, bringing 22 teams to ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to compete for a spot in the NBA Playoffs. It was a colossal undertaking, with zero positive player cases and the development of a rapid-return, cheap and easy-to-administer saliva tests coming from the experiment.
After three months and 205 games, the 2020 NBA Finals concluded with a Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Miami Heat. To celebrate the Lakers winning the NBA Championship, Cinderella Castle was lit in purple & gold last night after the game. Unsurprisingly, no one proclaimed “I’m going to Walt Disney World” after the game–more like “I’m going home!” Although technically I think the winners and losers both did spend one last night at Coronado Springs…
Speaking of Coronado Springs Resort, the hotel is still scheduled to open on October 14, 2020. Once that occurs, the trio of hotels that played host to the NBA will all have reopened, whereas most other Walt Disney World resorts have had their dates pushed back or removed from the calendar entirely.
We likely won’t know the full impact of the NBA bubble season on Walt Disney World’s reopening until the inevitable documentary. It sure seems like the league’s use of Walt Disney World paved the way for the parks to reopen even as cases surged in Florida, and buoyed Disney’s business over the summer when guests were in short supply.
As for Coronado’s reopening, here are the restaurants that will return initially:
- Barcelona Lounge
- Dahlia Lounge
- Rix Sports Bar & Grill
- Siestas Cantina
- Three Bridges Bar & Grill
While that’s a pretty formidable slate of options for a Moderate Resort (many more than Caribbean Beach), it still leaves many restaurants shuttered. Notably, the hotel’s new table service restaurant, Toledo – Tapas, Steak & Seafood will not reopen. Additionally, the El Mercado de Coronado food court will not return immediately.
Coronado Springs is probably the resort most likely to see permanent restaurant closures. With a variety of options aimed at conventioneers plus new restaurants that debuted last year with Gran Destino Tower, it probably had too many restaurants even pre-closure.
We’re just happy to see the open-air Three Bridges Bar & Grill returning right away, which is one of our new hidden gem favorites. We’ll be heading there very soon to test out the modified menu, and confirm that it’s still home to the best churros in all of Walt Disney World.
Aside from restaurants, it sounds like pretty much everything is returning at Coronado Springs Resort. The Dig Site, including the Lost City of Cibola Pool, activities, volleyball courts, movies under the stars, and both fitness centers will reopen with the hotel. Bus transportation will also be offered from Coronado Springs to the theme parks and Disney Springs.
As shared a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been seeing Coronado Springs Resort on both ‘blind booking’ sites. It’s currently available from late October through November 2020. Rates are in the $100 to $120 per night range. That’s a solid price–especially if you luck out and get upgraded to Gran Destino Tower.
Next, as one thing opens, another will soon be closing. Walt Disney World has announced that Fantasia Gardens and Fairways Miniature Golf will be closing for the winter on November 5, 2020. We just did Fantasia Gardens last week; while fun and busy, it was definitely in need of a refurbishment. Lots of the features looking in poor shape, surfaces in need of replacement, and drainage issues.
The good news is that all of your mini golf needs will not go unfilled if you’re visiting Walt Disney World this Christmas season. Winter Summerland Miniature Golf will open on November 6, 2020 and operate through January 30, 2021. Fantasia Gardens will then resume operations on January 31, 2021.
Totally switching gears, Disney is developing a Space Mountain movie with ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ writer, per the Hollywood Reporter. The iconic roller coaster is getting the movie treatment, with the studio hiring Joby Harold to write the script for what is to be a live-action adaptation. The producers of Disney’s billion dollar-grossing live-action Aladdin will also be involved.
The Space Mountain movie project is in the early stages of development and is intended for theatrical release. Part of me wishes this were destined for Disney+ with some intentionally cheesy B movie premise paying homage to sci-fi classics of the 1950s and 60s. (My first choice would be for it to not be made at all, but if that’s off the table…)
Rather than being something that’ll someday end up being incorporated into the Magic Kingdom attraction, the Space Mountain movie could be added to the film loop at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant. Just think of the synergy!
Instead of being shoehorned into its own attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean style, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant could be updated to promote both the Space Mountain movie and another Walt Disney World theme park. Yes, still totally pointless–but still a better option than messing with the ride.
Next, a quick Disney Park Pass update. We’re likely going to do fewer of these going forward as refills become more regular and availability becomes less scarce–especially for Annual Passholders.
The noteworthy thing here is that availability at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is starting to fill up for resort guests in November and December 2020. Oddly, this includes dates that the park is available for APs. If you’re planning a Walt Disney World vacation, you should be aware of this trend. (It’s an especially curious move given that ‘full’ Disney Park Pass availability was pretty much the only benefit to staying on-site…and now that’s also gone.)
Since this is happening exclusively with DHS, consider booking that park multiple days if your plans aren’t 100% firm (and they probably aren’t, given all of the park hours extensions). It’s easier to change from Disney’s Hollywood Studios to another park than vice-versa.
On a related note, we’d also recommend prioritizing your most important Advance Dining Reservations as lunches rather than dinners due to the fluidity of park hours. ADRs are becoming increasingly difficult to book, but the walk-up waitlist works pretty well. That’s always an option for dinner if you can’t score any good reservations.
Continuing along, Walt Disney World has debuted a new mask warning in the parks. This new sign, pictured above, informs guests (in polite terms) that they’ll be kicked out of the park if they don’t comply with the face mask rules.
There are some unique wrinkles to these policies—see our FAQ & Guide to Face Masks at Walt Disney World for more on that. For those wondering how adherence to the rules has been—it varies. We recently broke it down park by park (and by time of day) in Face Mask Compliance at Walt Disney World.
There’s also a new My Disney Experience push notification that offers a gentle reminder about the health safety policies and thanks guests for complying. We first noticed the new sign and received the push notification on Friday afternoon at Animal Kingdom.
Walt Disney World has repeatedly tweaked its signage and in-park announcements, which seem to get longer each week. We haven’t noticed compliance falling, but there have been some high-profile “incidents” shared on social media with belligerent guests refusing to wear masks.
We’re also guessing that there’s been some confusion about Florida’s Full Phase 3 Reopening, which suspends fines for not complying with face mask restrictions in public spaces. However, it does not apply to businesses that can deny entry to anyone not complying with their rules. We’ve seen some mild confusion on this among readers, and the same has likely been true for Walt Disney World itself.
Before wrapping up, we want to once again thank everyone for the outpouring of support in response to our Help Give Back to Disney Cast Members & Community initiative. Many of you have contributed, either via monetary donations or in spreading awareness, and the fundraiser has now raised over $60,000 for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. We are incredibly humbled and heartened by all of your support–DTB readers proving yet again that you are all the best!
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
What are your thoughts on the latest Walt Disney World news? Excited for the upcoming Space Mountain movie? Have a stay or meal planned at Coronado Springs Resort? Disappointed to see fewer Disney Park Pass options for on-site resort guests? Thoughts on the new face mask warnings in the parks and My Disney Experience app? Do you agree or disagree with our advice and 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!
We usually pay close to $10K for a week at Disney for our family. There is no way we are paying that kind of money for a trip under current restrictions. We are not even going to consider looking into any reservations until it’s as close to what it was before as possible. Particularly NO MASKS and some kind of Fast Pass system is back. Full price for half the experience is unacceptable, especially considering what you pay.
Even though the magic kingdom says it’s operating at reduced capacity, so much of the park is closed that there are fewer places to go. For example, the que for the haunted mansion at one point stretched all the way to Country Bear Jamboree. For those of you familiar with the magic kingdom… yeah I’ll give you a minute to digest that…
The que begins past the stretch room, goes through the normal que, wraps around the paddle boat que (uses the complete paddle boat que) ALL the way to Country Bears. No carts are open to grab food. Casey Jones, Crystal Palace and Columbia Harbor House. That leaves very few quick service places to eat. You must mobile order and wait to pick up your order. Fine… But because of social distancing, there are FEW tables. If they won’t open these quick service restaurants, Why don’t they open Columbia Harbor House just to give people a place to sit down to eat? You must wear a mask and no eating or drinking while walking. Because there are very few tables, there is nowhere to eat and you can’t walk and eat, so you’re left with 4 choices: either wait for someone to get up (you’re in competition with EVERYONE else waiting), eat in line while waiting to ride, eat on the ride or take your chances getting chewed out by an employee telling you don’t walk and eat. Here’s what I’ve seen most people do – most people are eating in line or in the rides… which kinda defeats the whole “mask” rule. If the magic kingdom would open the restaurants not serving food as just a place to go and eat, this would not be such a problem.
Next, there are no shows, character meet and greets and several rides/experiences are closed. Which translates to everyone in the park being herded to the same FEW attractions (again refer to the haunted mansion example). It’s nearly 90 degrees daily, you have a mask in making it even that more hot and uncomfortable and Disney limits areas of seating by keeping areas closed (like Columbia Harbor House).
Further, you wait and wait and wait in line JUST to enter a store. Adding insult to injury, you average about 1 attraction an hour. Even if this is “reduced capacity” it sure doesn’t feel like it. Again, this is because EVERYONE is herded to the same FEW attractions. Why don’t they increase the hours of operation? Give people a chance to leisurely ride?
We travel at least once a year to Disney, sometimes twice. I’m usually a huge Disney supporter, live everything Disney. Yeah, my tune has changed. We paid FULL price for half the product- half the rides, half the time in the park. Oh don’t get me started on transportation… really???? Not gonna run the monorail??? You REALLY care about keeping us socially distanced, but we’re ALL crammed at the bus stop because you don’t want to run the monorail???? You charged us full price, for less product… you can’t open up places for people to sit or provide better transportation????
Ok, we were not able to really eat in the park… sooooo we thought that’s ok, we’ll stop at the little grocery store (Fantasia Market) to get snacks for the room. Nope, the shelves were bare. We were told the next shipment will be Tuesday.
What a magical day…
Thanks Disney
*****if you are on the fence, especially if this will be you’re once in a lifetime trip, DONT come! Wait until the fireworks are back, the shows are back, the character meet and greets are back. This is WAY too much money for so little!!!!
We met a family on the way back from Hollywood Studios. They saved and saved to come this ONE time. They were so disappointed because they were hoping for so much more. I didn’t have the heart to tell them, “Yeah. Normally R2D2 is our, BB8, Kyli Ren, Darth Vader and storm troopers are all around. (They were Star Wars fans).
Please take my advice, wait. It’s too expensive for half the product.
J –
Totally agree with you on many of the points brought up in your response.
We just got back from 2 weeks — had many of the same issues, bus, monorail, ferry boat, lines, lack of places to grab food and lack of places to eat.
I recall a day at Animal Kingdom, my family grab 3 drinks, shared a pretzel and the pongu lumpia at Pongu Pongu which is right next to Satu’li Canteen. We tried to sit in that covered area and was told we couldn’t and it was for only the Canteen — it was empty with barely 2 or 3 tables with people eating. I even explained that we just purchased from next door. We were told we couldn’t and to move to other areas of the park. Due to other issues first week, I tried making the most of the situation and had a better time the second week going into not sweeting over the small stuff. So we found a section of the wall, uneven section of wall to eat on the outskirts leading to Africa. Wouldn’t know it my wife spilled her drink trying to place it down on the uneven wall.
So, we had our moments but went into the trip with lower expectations and enjoyed our trip. We are happy we went and the family needed it and we are not disappointed that we went. Not sure we would have gone knowing now the trip we actually had experience. Wasn’t the expected Disney experience.
Lissa – you’re correct. The slider every time was Universal. The Disney mess is that I had to pull up each individual name & tap next to the name (the “dot” that picks them) each attempt in order to then finalize it so that we could have a snowball’s chance at the so-called lottery. I asked one lady about it at the empty ride queue that would be a great spot to allow paying customers to stand in line to ride said ride (I angrily digress). She said “the bigger your group, the lesser your chance of getting in line. You’re better off solo or just get all your party to use the app.”. To which I said, “I have young kids so they don’t have a phone & we’re not all that interested in staring at our phones, waiting for the moment where we need to beat all others for the queue to get on the ride.”
She was by far the least happy Disney employee we encountered – and we saw & heard a lot of them (with the exception of those playing character roles, who were great) – and she replied with “outta luck then”.
Other people can love Disney World all they want, but they should know that it isn’t all that large family friendly, Galaxy’s Edge is inconvenient, we certainly hated it & felt like our $100+ per person was not anywhere near worth it, had a terrible experience, and our experience with employees & food was poor at best.
Disney is NOT worth the money right now
Is that really necessary? Hoping that someone gets ill just because they have a different opinion?
We won’t. The experience was not enjoyable, the ride procedure for big rides is a mess, and Universal Studios was so much better (employees were great, park was fun, even the mask management by employees was kind, unlike Disney angry employees).
The wording of the signs is rather draconian, and to be honest, if we weren’t already committed on our next trip, I would probably cancel, just to keep my dear hubby from going off the rails. For one, he trains workers for OSHA compliance with – among other things – Respirator Use in Hazmat situations, so he has some rather strong, educated opinions on the universal masking – especially when outdoors. He’s going to grump and grumble every time he sees one of those signs. For two, he is extremely offended by being told what to do, being very freedom and liberty-minded. He will comply, if asked nicely, as the price of admission, whether it’s Disney or Walmart, but order him around and that goes right up his back. He says he had enough of that in the Navy.
Yeah, I know, unless one is actively resisting instructions to mask up properly, they probably are not actually kicking people out. But some CMs do take their duties overly seriously – I was yelled at by one to pull up my mask. I was sitting, and had been drinking from my water bottle, and was in the process of capping it when the CM yelled from about 30 feet away. It took all of my effort to resist displaying a single finger on each hand – but I did so mentally, and just rolled my eyes.
I’m in the same boat as your husband on the OSHA based training. I got my training at OSHA several years ago. I was trained that surgical masks only protect others from the big stuff coming from the wearers nose and mouth. They would not protect the wearer at all.
I agree with your post. This is very draconian and a lot of problems the anti-maskers have is that the science is flimsy and the way we are being ordered to do things. For me it is a lot of not what they are saying but how they are saying it.
Yelling at someone who clearly just took a drink of water (and you need to drink due to the heat and the masks making you be dehydrated more) and is about to pull up their mask is a bit much. I saw a few people blatantly have their mask down or not fully covering both nose and mouth and they were not always reminded.
Not sure why my comment didn’t turn up, differing views are normally ok here, so I’ll try wording it this way. I agree completely. If the small piece of fabric that some like and some don’t really does takes care of things completely, why are those behind bars being let out? Makes you wonder how good they really are if they aren’t just using them behind bars instead of releasing those residents… Really missing Disney but it’s simply not worth it like this.
Can I just clarify…..I thought you didn’t need to wear a mask while lounging by the pools in our resort.
Hated our Disney trip in late September. I get the mask thing & we were prepared for that (although our family thinks it’s ridiculous & unnecessary). The Disney Parks app is terrible. Awful. Basically – you want to ride the best ride in Galaxy’s Edge – you wait until 10am or 2pm, staring at the stupid app hoping that within 30 seconds you can get your group (to which you have to slide a scale forward for the number of people in your party at every single attempt in the 30-second window) in a virtual queue to come back later. You don’t have to be in Hollywood Studios to do it either. So it’s not for guests who paid & are in the park & want to specifically enjoy the day. A person at Disney Springs can be on a restaurant & try it, then if he gets on, can decide to head to Hollywood Studios at his time.
You literally have less than 2 minutes to get on the ride. Both the 10am & 2pm opportunities closed within 1 minute. At 2:01pm, you get the notice to try again tomorrow at 10am. We paid over $850 for our family of 8 to enjoy that craptastic place.
It was a Thursday & less than 25% capacity & we weren’t allowed on a ride that my kids looked forward to for 8 months. Disney sucks. Don’t go. Wearing a mask stinks, but Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure have much nicer employees (Disney employees were so rude & unhelpful), you can actually ride rides, the app is actually helpful & you don’t miss out.
All our kids said they would love to do all Universal stuff again & didn’t care for Disney (any of the parks we visited) at all.
I’d give Universal an A- (get rid of mask fear) & Disney would be a low F after grading on a curve.
Why can’t people who paid to come to a park stand in line for a ride? It’s idiotic. If they gave the slightest rip for customers, they’d let people in the park, in Galaxy’s Edge, have the actual opportunity to ride the ride.
Avoid Disney.
I’m sorry you feel you had a bad trip. However, I respectfully disagree with your characterization of Disney Cast Members. They are FANTASTIC!! My son, while at Hollywood Studios, dropped a Tower of Terror themed Daisy somewhere in the park. I went back to buy it again and the Cast Member didn’t charge me at all! They are the best! I have been to Disney Parks well over 14 times in the past 5 years and have had one bad instance (it was very brief) of a Cast Member who had any sort of an attitude. There was even one Cast Member at Disneyland who, when she found out I was buying a bracelet for my sister-in-law who was just diagnosed with breast cancer, gave it to me for free.
As far as ROTR, you can’t get in the queue if you don’t have a ticket and park pass and you have to be in the park to obtain a spot in the queue. That means that guy who is at Disney Springs that decides at 10 to try and get a spot in the queue and doesn’t have a ticket/park pass is not going to be able to obtain a place.
I’m sorry you weren’t able to ride ROTR. I feel your pain there. I went in 12/2019 right after it opened. We got boarding group 90 and the ride broke down multiple times and they only reached group 84. We go back in about 7 weeks and I’m hoping to ride it then!
I hope you give Disney another try at some point. Have a great day!
It sounds like you have your parks and Virtual Queue/Boarding Pass mixed up.
It’s at Universal where you only have to be on property somewhere, like resorts or City Walk, to join a Virtual Queue, and you have to move a slider to select the number of people in your party each time you refresh. We found that even though we were on site, in a resort, the Virtual Queues did not open at park open time, but only when the stand by line reached a certain length. I believe for Hagrid, it was 60 minutes. But we were able to get VQs each day we were there, sometimes more than one.
For Hollywood Studios – Rise of Resistance, you have to be INSIDE the park – everyone in your party tapped in at the turnstile, and then the app pre-selects everyone in your Friends and Family list that is tapped in. But you are right – the boarding groups fill up fast, within seconds. It also doesn’t matter how much longer one arrives before park open – the day we got there at 9:15, we didn’t a group at 10, though we did at 2. On the day we tapped in at 9:58, we got boarding group 12. It’s literally a lottery for those tapping Join at 10:00 sharp.
Hi Tom!
I’ve been reading your blog for over a year now. Thanks for all your detailed insight! It has really helped me plan our family trip. We have a trip planned at dvc mid November. We are thinking of canceling (through trip insurance) and trying to book for the following year, same time. I read that you thought booking DVCReservations next year would be hard because everyone postponing trips will be trying to book then. Do you think we have a chance? We wanted the one bedroom villas which I know can be easier than studios to book. I would much rather not deal with the hassle of going through insurance and trying to rebook our trip, but this may be our one and only trip to Walt Disney world. I am worried with crowds rising, no fast passes, limited entertainment and having to wear a mask all day it just won’t feel very magical. Thanks in advance for any input and for all you do!
We’re here right now. You pay full price for half the product…
Save your money- don’t come
The “spit” tests for COVID have proven unreliable and are no longer being pursued by the large companies invested in it.