Disney World’s Park Pass: We Were Wrong
As soon as Walt Disney World announced the advance theme park reservation system that would eventually become Park Pass, we began predicting that most days it’d be unnecessary because organic demand would seldom exceed reduced capacity. Our expectation was that pent-up demand would fizzle out after the first couple of weeks, and Park Pass reservations would be easy to score–if not totally unnecessary.
Thus far, both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom remain available to book for their July 11 reopening day. The latter is fully booked for July 12-13, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios has no reservations available for July 15-18, 2020. However, Magic Kingdom and Epcot have full availability every single day–and all four parks have full availability from July 19, 2020 through September 26, 2021. Given that, it would seem our prediction was vindicated rather than contradicted.
That doesn’t tell the whole story, though. Only resort guests with tickets have been able to book, meaning that Annual Passholders, other ticket holders, resort guests without tickets, and anyone wanting to plan a new trip has not been able to book. While Walt Disney World has indicated there’s more availability set aside for those groups, we’ve nonetheless (already) learned the error of our ways. In short, we were wrong and here’s why…
As regular readers are no doubt aware, this blog has a willingness to make bold predictions. While we probably could fairly easily walk this one back or quietly tweak it going forward, there’s no shame in admitting when you’re wrong. That’s especially true here, as it’s not too late to proactively correct our mistake and offer you sound planning advice going forward.
What really stings here is that this was an unforced error. We had all of the information needed to make a correct prediction in past posts on this very blog! It’s a topic that was covered at great and excruciating length last summer. (The best defense we can offer is that last year is like a decade ago in “2020 time.”)
It should’ve been easily foreseeable that Disney’s Hollywood Studios would regularly ‘sell out’ of Disney Park Pass reservations. While it’s only fully booked for a few days right now, we’d expect that to occur with regularity going forward.
For a concise explanation of why that’ll happen, here’s one borrowed from our Huge Hollywood Studios FastPass Changes post from last June:
“Let’s assume that the capacity of Disney’s Hollywood Studios is 50,000 guests (made up number) with perfect distribution amongst all shows, rides, queues, restaurants, gift shops, and so on. Basically, an ideal distribution of guest attendance, filling in all available space.
That 50,000 number (or whatever it is in actuality) is purely theoretical, and will never be achieved in day to day theme park operations. For one thing, guests don’t naturally distribute themselves in an even manner. Most will flock to popular attractions, leaving less popular spots under-utilized. This isn’t a problem in a park with surplus capacity and space, but Disney’s Hollywood Studios is not such a park.”
“Another example we’ve witnessed recently is with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party—most guests congregate in the hub/Central Plaza for the parade and fireworks, and there are times when these areas feel dangerously congested. Gridlock gets really bad and the areas are barely traversable.
Meanwhile, Adventureland might be almost totally empty at exactly the same time. This is why we’ve seen Walt Disney World increase attraction overlays for these parties. It’s a good way of enticing guests to redistribute their attendance in a more even, safe, and comfortable manner. (It also allows Disney to increase ticket sales while still creating maintaining the impression of lower attendance.)”
This explains why Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party was cancelled, and a very similar idea applies with Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land are the huge draws, with disproportionately large crowds descending upon those lands each morning even before the official park opening time. No one is getting up at 5 a.m. to rope drop Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.
The salient point of so many posts written in the lead-up to the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is that Disney’s Hollywood Studios does a terrible job of absorbing crowds. The layout, crowd-flow, entertainment, and even little things like the park’s approach to shopping & dining are all not conducive to this temporary abnormal of physical distancing.
The top-heavy distribution of attractions also is a major problem, and something we discussed at length in our DHS: Walt Disney World’s Best Rides & Most Frustrating Park post that was published right before the closure. This was reiterated again in our Full List of Reopening Attractions & Entertainment at Walt Disney World post.
To illustrate, let’s once again assume the theoretical attendance limit of Disney’s Hollywood Studios is 50,000 guests. That’s still a made up number, but for the sake of this exercise let’s just assume it’s the level Walt Disney World would allow attendance to hit back in normal times during the highest phased capacity closure.
Whatever the park’s capacity number is, it would assume Disney’s Hollywood Studios is firing on all cylinders–every show, restaurant, shop, and atmospheric entertainment running–plus temporary offerings to help absorb crowds.
Of course, we know from the aforementioned attraction and entertainment list that Disney’s Hollywood Studios won’t be firing on all cylinders. Most of its shows will be dark, including several thousand-plus seat venues. That’s a huge blow to park capacity.
Not operating those shows, plus several restaurants, shops, and snack stands remaining closed reduces the theoretical attendance cap. Let’s say it’s now down to 40,000 thanks to said closures. (Again, made up number–but probably not too far from reality.)
Disney CEO Bob Chapek previously said that when Walt Disney World’s theme parks reopen, they will operate at 20-30% of capacity. In the case of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, that would be 8,000 to 12,000 guests. (Regardless of precise numbers, it should be roughly half of the crowd levels Magic Kingdom or Epcot can handle at present.)
However, that’s without taking the realities of crowd flow into account. If Walt Disney World is truly concerned with physical distancing, further reducing that number might be the conservative course of action.
While every park has its headliners that draw disproportionate rope drop crowds, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a different beast in that regard. As we saw from December through March, DHS crowds peak in the first hour the park is open (every other park gradually builds in attendance, peaking in early afternoon). Thousands of guests swarm to the entrances of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land before Disney’s Hollywood Studios is even officially open.
The elimination of FastPass and the virtual queue and boarding pass system for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will not obviate that crowd cataclysm. Short of staggered entry times or a lottery throughout the day for standby passes to popular attractions, it’s hard to say what could spread crowds out better at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
One thing that would help is distributing far fewer Disney Park Pass reservations at first, allowing operations to assess crowd flow, implementing changes to help the park redistribute attendance to the extent possible, and scaling up from there. (The savviest move of all might be limiting attendance to the average pre-closure throughput of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.)
Hopefully that’s what Walt Disney World is doing. Hopefully DHS already having no reservations available for several days is not simply a matter of intense demand for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
Regardless of what’s happening behind the scenes, the result is the same: Disney Park Pass is going fastest for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That’ll continue to be true in the weeks and months to come, and we’d expect DHS to be fully booked many (if not most) dates for the rest of the year.
With that in mind, plan accordingly. If you have to prioritize reservations for some reason, book Disney’s Hollywood Studios first. It’s not far-fetched to think that Disney’s Hollywood Studios could fill up weeks in advance while Epcot never hits capacity.
Another thing to consider is whether you really want to do Disney’s Hollywood Studios right now. That’s sort of where we are at with this. While we are comfortable easing back into public life, we’re still attempting to avoid crowds and focus primarily on doing things outdoors where spread is far less likely.
Although we focused predominantly on Disney’s Hollywood Studios here, the same applies (albeit to a far lesser degree) with Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It has low ride count, people-eater shows that will be dark, and popular headliners. However, Animal Kingdom has more physical space and can absorb crowds better, so we do not expect as many ‘sold out’ days as with DHS.
Overall, that’s the revised prediction for Disney Park Pass reservations, our mea culpa, and thoughts on why we got things wrong before. Hopefully, it’s not too late for you to book your Disney Park Pass reservations, and you’ll be able to use this info for Walt Disney World planning purposes going forward. We’re still expecting pretty low crowds and organic demand for this summer and fall at Walt Disney World as a whole, but the unique circumstances of Disney’s Hollywood Studios will make it something of an outlier.
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 far fewer Disney Park Pass reservations are being distributed for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or is the park just that much more popular than the other three? Have you booked reservations at DHS yet? Will you avoid or prioritize DHS when making your reservations? Concerned about the morning madness there, even with a low capacity cap? What do you think about the Disney Park Pass reservation system? Will you be attempting to visit Walt Disney World this summer or fall, or are you waiting until after September 2021 when this (presumably) goes away? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
The real floodgates are going to be when they reopen ticket sales for 2020. So many people want to go and many even have resort reservations, but waited to buy tickets and now can’t make park passes. I predict that once that happens, HS park passes will sell out for the rest of the summer, and some others will too.
I notice AK is also selling out some days. That should be the next priority. Everyone wants to ride FOP over and over without crazy long waits. It makes sense to have extra visits to HS and AK now when there is no fastpass and shorter queues, because when things are back to normal, it’ll still be easy to get fastpasses for everything at MK, but impossible to get them at AK and HS without a resort reservation and a very long stay.
Our cases are spiking here right now. My pediatricians is already hearing about families who went to Universal and got sick.
I don’t think they should be opening Hollywood Studios at all until they have meticulous crowd control. Magic Kingdom level crowd control.
Our doctor has told us not to go at all so we look forward to living vicariously through this blog! But if you shy away from Studios we totally understand!
How come when I look at this calander it says all the dates are unavaiable? Am I doing something wrong? https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/
If you look at the calendar there are 3 tabs,
Disney resort guests
annual passholders
theme park ticket guests.
the only ones that can book anything are the diz resort guests, you can click on it to see all open dates, but unless you go through your diz account you cant book anything.
the theme part ticket guest tabs should be open june 28th.
That calendar would not display accurately on my computer in Edge yesterday, but it did so in Chrome so you may want to check your browser.
Here, use this link, and then click on “Disney resort guest” to see availability:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/?segments=tickets,resort,passholder
I am heading down for the weekend of July 11-12. I will go in the park but will also lay by the pool. I know the heat since I live in Florida and will take as many Precautions as I can as well as wearing A mask. Best I can do. I won’t be there long so if I don’t feel safe will distance in room or by pool. Used by dvc points so no cash lost
We have reservations for July 11-18. Re-booked from a May trip that was cancelled. I have now made park resrv for each day of out trip but two. We have water park tickets but I can find no info on whether those will be open or not. Have tried calling all day every day since June 22 and no luck getting through. I got the email to confirm our visit and that is done but I have questions. Will the water parks be open? Can you leave and go back into the same park if you have a park pass? Will rental cars be available from the onsite place? We are two adults who have visited many times and so are okay with all the shows etc being cancelled. Star Wars and Avatar are the main reasons for visiting this time. We will abide by all the safety rules Disney has put into place and see how this very strange trip works out.
There is no announced dates for the water parks so no, they will not be open then. And yes you can leave and return to the same park that you have the reservation for.
No matter what precautions they take, it is not safe. People feel that. I don’t even think they are going to open up in July. Disney Springs is laying off employees because it is empty. The theme Parks may be crowded in the beginning IF they re-open but that will fade because people aren’t ready to risk their lives to ride It’s A Small World.
Any predictions on when they will be releasing new tickets and/or military tickets? We have a room only reservation for December and I am getting a little antsy about the park pass reservations. Thanks!
Same! I have a room only reservation for November and am dying to get word on when I can finally buy tickets!
At the risk of sounding like a suck up I think it is still too soon to call the shot on whether you are right or wrong on this. At this time the only dates that are full are within the first week of reopening. Once the AP and ticket holders are able to log in we may see more dates in July fill but overall I think your original point is still valid. The demand for par days will not be enough to fill the calendar. Kudos to you for owning up to a perceived error. Keep up the good work.
I’ll make a bold prediction, too. There will be an initial surge. But then ugly reality will hit.
People will suffer the plight of mandatory masks under intense FL heat/humidity + no FastPass + no parades + no fireworks + shortened days + all the social distancing measures. They will realize just how un-Disney-like the experience is and it won’t take long for a torrent of negative comments and “wish we had waited” reviews to make the rounds.
Many will conclude that Disney in 2020 is a poor choice, and will defer their visits until at least 2021. The 50th Anniversary celebration and all the features thereof, make for a compelling argument to sit out 2020.
yep, you got it.
Well and also people are going to get sick. They just are. It’s a contagious virus it’s not like you can see if you encountered it.
People will go and get sick and say it wasn’t worth it. That’s really going to be the PR killer.
I’m really hoping a suitable vaccine or antibody treatment will arrive by the end of the year (one can hope, right?) because I am genuinely looking forward to the 50th anniversary, which is in 2021. (October 1, 1971)
For me personally, the summer of 2022 will be particularly special, because it will be my own personal 50th anniversary with WDW. My first visit to MK was the first summer it was open– July 1972. And I’ve been attending ever since.
It’s funny how after nearly 50 years, I still can’t get enough of MK.
My wife is a micro biologist and she said looking at how the disease is progressing though the south of the USA it could literally burn itself out but nobody would realistically want to be in an area while it’s happening.
As for DHS I bagged for my 2 week holiday next year 5 days at DHS, 4 at MK, 3 at EPCOT and 2 at AK.
We’re still wondering what our best course of action is but we will pay the £1000 that Disney wants now for our park passes and if by the time we need to pay for the holiday in total next January we could just blow that money off (not ideal) or book a year later and see if we could move the booking.
I have a reservation for the Dolphin in August. I’ve tried linking to MDE app for over a week, with no success. I’ve contacted the Dolphin and they say they’ve sent the reservation information twice and that it is a Disney issue. Disney says they have not received the information and that it is a Swan and Dolphin issue. Meanwhile, nobody can help me! What am I supposed to do and does anyone have any experience with this?
I have a reservation for the Swan in October. I had the same issue. It took about 2 weeks for it to get straightened out. It took 2 calls to Disney and 1 call to the Swan as well. I just tried linking it every day and all of a sudden it worked one day. Wish I had more concrete steps for you to fix it.
Please folks make plans to go on another vacation at a different location you may be surprised how much fun you will have without all the stress , cost and worries!
You’re probably right! However, when you have 10 year old boys who’ve been planning this for a year, it’s not that simple. They’ve already lost so much this year…sports, birthday parties, time with friends, educational opportunities, their grandparents. It’s been a sad and confusing time for children. Just don’t think I can take yet another thing away.
Oops–please edit my previous post to say “time with grandparents.” Sorry.
Kids are dying in Fla – a 17 year old girl died yesterday. Florida is EXPLODING because of the stupid people not staying inside.
i dont think disney in florida or Ca will open this year…
The world would be a better place if more people would say those words.
That is sad. The difference with Disney is that they are taking way more precautions than most of the rest of the state. The local walmart is way more iffy than a Disney park is going to be. Have you seen the local places?! That’s how it is where I live. The Dollar Store has like 100 people in it at a time. I honestly would feel safer in a Disney park than most places in my home town. Wide open space, fresh air (mostly) and mandatory masks and safety procedures…
A doctor I saw on TV a couple of nights ago said the rise in covid cases in the Sunbelt States, Florida, Texas, and Arizona could be caused by people staying inside in the air conditioning. The recirculating air helps spread the virus. The sun’s UV light and hear kill the virus.
We can’t stay inside and reopen Disney for you. Most people have been called back to work already.
There is no reality where Disney World can open and the state of Florida remains closed there are too many moving parts.
I agree. I think Disney World is going to put off their opening anyway, seeing as cases of the virus have skyrocketed in Florida and other states. Who’d want to go out to a big crowd anyway with a virus running rampant? That’s just crazy.
Wait and see, wait and see, wait and see. After becoming pros at planning trips with discounts, fast passes, virtual queues, early entries, etc. we were able to successfully do everything at galaxies edge and even ride Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway. Now it feels like learning to walk again. But, I think we will all be ok. Just have to have patience.
Should also add – with Tom’s help, of course. Info found here has been invaluable.
“I was wrong”
Words rarely read on a blog/site/anything anywhere. Great analysis and kudos! It’s why you maintain such a great Disney blog.
I’m very curious to see what a “sold out” day at the parks looks like with the new capacity limits. Depending on how seriously Disney is taking social distancing I am wondering if it will offer rare opportunities to enjoy the parks (similar to what I watched with envy during your Extra, Extra Magic Hour visits last summer).
The bigger question for me is whether or not the capacity limits are static and won’t change, or if they are just a moving target and will slowly increase from July through the end of the year. If it’s the latter, someone’s experience from a crowd perspective in July will likely be quite different than one’s from November or December.
It’s amazing to realize how unprepared and thoughtless Disney really is. After three days of torture trying to book parks, I canceled. I inputted my correct log in informative a thousand times. If they can’t make an ap that works for that, they probably aren’t very good at other things too. I will not be making other plans to go there while making reservations at parks exists.
I’m sure that is only for current ticket holders and people with APs. My guess is that new ticket purchases will simply be tickets to specific parks. For example, someone who wants to go on August 1 won’t buy a 1 day ticket to Disney World. They will buy a 1 day ticket to Animal Kingdom (or whatever).
Well I’m super stressed because every time I go to select my park days (end of September 2020) it says that my tickets just be linked before I can select. I had a vacation package and as far as I can see, it’s properly linked?! I don’t know if this is a glitch, or a step I missed somewhere, and I can’t call because it says user busy. So looking like a good chance I’ll miss out on reserving a park day or 2, I’f I can’t get it figured out ??! Anyone have any insight . When I select link the package and type in my number, it then pops up and says that the package is already linked to me.
If everything is linked, just keep calling. It took me tons of redialing and hours on hold, but I was able to get everything booked. I didn’t have the same issue as you, but I’m sure they can figure your issue out as well. Good luck!
If you had to modify your reservation at all your tickets most likely are not showing up correctly. We had to keep calling and finally after two days of trying to get through and several cast members later they were able to book them for us. It is a known glitch with how the modifications are made. Only when we got to the right cast member were they able to help us. It is through their online help desk number.
I don’t know about the linking part, but I did speak to two cast members yesterday. It took me about 20 mints of redialing and redialing. When I finally got through I was one hold for 50 mints the first time and 43 mints the second. The cast members both times were extremely kind. Don’t give up… it’s not easy when you’re trying to get connected and you’re at work though. Good luck!! You can do this!!!
I apologize for this not having much to do with the post but I can’t seem to find any answers and your blog has become my go-to over the last week or so as things got more and more stressful! We’re booked for early Sept, a 5 night stay at Port Orleans. I got an email last night from Disney that listed the new, set resort opening days and as expected, PO isn’t listed. I was given an option to modify, ONLY BY PHONE…great. I was on hold for 1.5 hours last night, got disconnected, and woke up at 7 a.m. this morning only to get disconnected twice after waiting almost 2 hours on one call. I’m holding again after finally getting the prompt. Almost an hour in. Is anyone else experiencing this? I thought I was doing alright so far, got my park passes reserved. But now I fear if I don’t get in touch with someone to modify myself, Disney will try to stick me in a Deluxe resort and upcharge me. What a nightmare. Any advice? The chat is even disabled! Ah! I’ve been handling this ok so far but am getting mad now about the phone situation….
I read somewhere that if you don’t request a specific resort, Disney will choose for you and you will not be charged if you get switched to a Deluxe. I don’t know if that’s true, but it makes sense.
I wouldn’t worry about PO being closed in September unless you are against staying any place else. Disney will offer you another moderate or deluxe resort WITHOUT making you pay the difference. The caveat is is that you won’t have the choice of which other resort. If you don’t like where they put you and you want to choose some place else, then you WILL have to pay the difference IF it is available. Disney will probably not give you any answers now even if you get through on the phone because they are dealing with reservations for July and August. They will probably call you or send you an email when your trip gets closer.
Thanks! I read somewhere, I think on this blog maybe in a comment, that they are upcharging. I recall someone being mad about it. Maybe not? Either way someone actually picked up and now she can’t find my reservation (it exists)…and she put me on hold again. Fabulous. Anyway I’m reassured it should work out. This is still ridiculous though.
@Jess I believe the people who are complaining about upcharging called to proactively move their resort. They chose to move somewhere more expensive and by Disney’s logic, them *choosing* to move somewhere nicer is why they should pay the difference. Disney isn’t going to just cancel your trip (they want that money); they will have to put you somewhere, so if you aren’t too picky about where you stay then I would wait and let them make the move. You will probably be upgraded (not many people are going to complain about moving to nicer hotel), and if they have no other option than to downgrade you to a Value Resort then you have plenty of grounds to request a partial refund (which would probably be proactively offered to you when they make the move).
Hey Jess! This is what I was told (after multiple phone calls and waiting on hold for approximately 10+ hours total). If you are in a moderate they will move you to another moderate. Right now we were supposed to stay at Coronado….they were going to move us to Carribean, and if Carribean was full they’d move us to Fort Wilderness Cabins. If they had moved everyone and both of those were filled then they’d move us to a deluxe resort. If you want a deluxe resort now they will make you pay the difference. If you wait and do not ask there is a chance you will get put in a deluxe but I wouldn’t bank on that because other moderate resorts still have openings. Now…we had to talk to guest services and because we had difficulties with a few things, guest services had the ability to give us a deluxe resort (Contemporary) without paying the 3k difference. But only someone from guest services can do that from you and we had to wait 5 hours to talk to anyone from there. Hope that helps.
Thanks so much again! That’s very helpful. I’m in a weird spot though since I’m now on hold for, I think over 4 hours. Plopping phone next to me wherever I go, partially neglecting my poor children all morning till I just got them down for naps….oof. I’ve most recently been on hold with someone who’s got me on hold while THEY’RE on hold with Guest Services…since my stupid reservation is there, but not? They can’t get into it. I guess I’ll stick it out at this point but I wish I knew this earlier, wouldn’t have bothered! I wouldn’t ask to be upgraded voluntarily…people are nuts and will try to get anything for free. But yeah, it’d be nice! I hope I get this settled by 3….I’ll have to leave for work, that’d REALLY be a waste of a call.
Jess, if you google “Disney Resort Hotels Know before you go” and scroll *all* the way to the bottom of the page it gives good information about what to do for resort modifications. Some people have said they were contacted by Disney in regards to making their modifications, other have pointed out that the page I mentioned above says: “If no action is taken for impacted stays, Disney will automatically cancel your reservation within 7 days of the original check-in date and process any refund due to the original form of payment.” Waiting for hours on hold right now seems to be the norm, and the vast majority of people who’ve made it through report that Disney has moved them to an equal or greater category of resort for no charge *IF* it’s done by a CM, you accept whatever they offer, and no changes such as date or length of stay are made to the reservation. Several people have posted that if the CM tries to charge you, you MUST ask to speak to a supervisor, be kind but firm – some CMs are apparently not trained on the process for this switch. If it were me, I would wait a week or two and let the brouhaha over the park reservations die down so that it would be easier to get through to the correct department – but if you have a pressing need to make the switch right now, you should definitely call rather than make modifications yourself. One person I spoke to was really bummed because he was originally booked in PO and he cancelled and rebooked his family in POP due to the PO closure, only to find out from another guest that they were moved by Disney from PO to Poly at no charge.
If you allow Disney to choose your resort, there will be no upcharge. If you call to make a request of the change, you have to pay the difference.
I have a trip booked for late September and have just waited instead of trying to call and wait for hours on end. So far waiting has worked out for us. We previously had a trip booked in May and instead of calling right away, we waited and everything was changed smoothly. I was even able to add park reservations online to my MDE. Even with the new dates, they have given us a discount and a better room and I haven’t had to do anything….just patiently waiting 🙂 Hope this helps, it seems like they are trying to get to people that have the soonest reservations and those of us still a couple of months out, need to wait.
Oh wow…. you’re a trooper!!!! Good luck… I’m sure all will work out and soon you’ll have your magical vacation!!!
I’ve had a hellish past 4 days dealing with Disney cast members on the phone. Yesterday, I waited 2hrs15mins, only to get the pleasure of speaking to a very condescending male CM; to modify my DVC resort to GRAN Destino, in November. When I called Monday night, a CM quoted me “The recovery deal ”at Coronado springs, for $2000 less than what he quoted me last night. He gave me no discount at all, charge me full rack rate for November! Then I asked to speak to guest service, On hold another 2 1/2 hours and then when they answered they said that Alll guest service managers have went home for the evening. UGH:/ I would not worry about it too much because our trips are in the fall.(September, November. )They’re so busy getting people taking care of that have trips coming in July and August. I think once this week is over the phone lines will be easier to get in touch with cast members.
Still extremely frustrating. Every time I’m on hold with Disney, or speaking to them, I feel my blood pressure going up like I’m going to have a stroke. It shouldn’t be this stressful but it sure has been.
I’m wondering if they’re moving people that don’t usually work the call center for reservations/resorts to take the phone calls. Because, I’ve got some that weren’t so great LOL like, they don’t know any special discounts, care if you cancel, etc. Some are very knowledgeable, it’s just hit or miss. Seems like I’m getting all the duds 🙁
My family has a trip booked for this summer that will be canceled.
Our trip was rebooked after Spring Break was canceled. We kept the vacation, hoping we would be comfortable getting on an airplane to go to Disney World. We have our hotel and parks booked, but we are likely canceling our trip.
I would assume, at the minimum, 50% of people have booked their “planned” trips to the park with the belief of canceling them.
For our family, we went from an 80% chance of going to 1% because of two concerns. The rumor that Disney eliminated virtual lines to increase capacity seems risky. The disaster of booking the parks sapped the belief that Disney is prepared to reopen.
An extra thought, Disney seems to have opened the DVC hotels because people need to use their points, and Disney didn’t want to return the money. While the number one rule is to stay in business, the number two rule is to care for your customers. Disney doesn’t seem to care about the customer.
I’m in the same situation as KJ. We cancelled our original May trip and rebooked hotel, have tickets and reserved park passes for mid-August (but don’t have airline tickets yet). As we get closer and closer to our trip, with Florida showing an increase in COVID-19 cases and my daughter being concerned with flying, our chances of actually going are getting smaller and smaller. We will more than likely end up cancelling our park passes and instead plan for a trip in 2021.
If all the queues were virtual, where would the people be? They would be congregating in shops and such. I think it’s important for Disney to keep the queues, but redesign them so that people stay 6 feet away from others. That’s probably the safest way to ensure social distancing.
I have an update and I think I set a record. I feel like an idiot but I was on the phone for 8 HOURS. 6:55 a.m. to 2:55 a.m., right as I had to quickly get ready to leave for work. I appreciated everyone’s advice but figured I should stick it out and try to solve the resort problem while I had someone. A regular cm said I’d have to speak with guest services, and that transfer/hold itself took…like 4 hours? Insane. I just tried to go about my day in the house and occupy the kids the best I could. Anyway talked to a very helpful lady in guest services who switched me, and my in laws via their reservation number I had, to Caribbean Beach. No change in price. I’m relieved I don’t have to worry about it now or losing the resort stay somehow.
Now I have the quarantine looming on my mind…CT just imposed one on FL etc. FL…get it together!
With the virus increasingly hitting Florida harder and harder the past few days any thoughts on Disney reversing course and pushing back the park opening dates?
Reposting a comment made in reply to yesterday’s Disneyland post…
I think the biggest difference is in terms of local appetite for reopening:
1) California doesn’t need Disneyland to reopen for its state economy—Florida does.
2) Cast Members in California haven’t struggled to collect unemployment—ones in Florida have.
Today’s new case numbers in Florida didn’t look good and that trend is very concerning. So too is the U.S. Census Bureau survey indicating that one-third of adults in Florida either missed their last monthly rent or mortgage payment or expect to miss their next one—and that one in eight Floridians say they didn’t have enough food to eat last week.
Things are going to go from bad to worse in Central Florida if WDW doesn’t reopen. I don’t think the same can be said for Disneyland and CA. Unfortunately, things could also get worse if Walt Disney World does reopen. This is truly a no-win situation, and I wish there were a better solution.
Wearing masks, taking physical distancing seriously, and not fighting every minor inconvenience in the name of “freedom” would be a colossal step in the right direction, but I’m not holding my breath.
“Wearing masks, taking physical distancing seriously, and not fighting every minor inconvenience in the name of “freedom” would be a colossal step in the right direction”
Amen.
I agree with Tom. We live in Florida and have been super careful. I do road side pick up for my grocery, have eaten out only twice (in outdoor restaurants where all the tables near us we’re empty) wear masks if I do need to go out, and truly social distance (min. 6 ft apart), and yes, we plan to go to Disney from July 12-20. We will wear our masks, we will have our own antibacterial soap and use it a million times, we will eat separated from others even if it means sitting behind a wall, and if we can’t social distance at minimum 6 ft (including inside the room of the haunted mansion) then we won’t ride. But we are going!!!! I need to at least see and feel the magic or I will explode!!!