Florida Theme Park Roundtable: Increasing Capacity, Travel & Awareness
Governor Ron DeSantis held a Florida Theme Park Roundtable today with top leaders from Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, and SeaWorld…plus the manager of Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, for some reason (maybe they were the sponsor?). In this post, we’ll offer some key takeaways and commentary from the meeting.
The roundtable was broadcast on the Florida Channel; we joined a bit late, potentially missing key information (like why Toothsome was involved?) but it didn’t seem like a particularly info-dense or revelatory session. Essentially, DeSantis asked questions of Central Florida theme park leaders, with a brief Q&A that was cut short because–I kid you not–Professor Doctor Penelope Tibeaux-Tinker Toothsome interrupted the event to deliver milkshakes.
For the most part, the Florida Theme Park Roundtable was devoid of substance and didn’t really offer any insight into the specific forward-looking plans of Universal, SeaWorld, or Walt Disney World. We were hopeful that there’d be something offered on that front–perhaps a mention of holiday plans or discounting strategy. Nevertheless, here are some things we found interesting from the panel…
One message that was fairly pervasive: Visit Florida. It’s very, very safe for you to come and spend money at any of our state’s theme parks. All of the park leaders said that in one way or another, and the need to raise ‘awareness’ about the safety measures the parks are taking and their track records thus far.
This was essentially the salient point by the theme park reps: greater efforts should be undertaken to spread the “good word.” They feel that once that happens, more people will visit the state and each of the parks. Various leaders spoke to the frustrations and discomfort of being stuck at home, and posited that Florida could be marketed as the antidote to these troubling times.
Generally speaking, DeSantis was supportive of this, pointing to decreasing case numbers following the reopening of Walt Disney World and other parks. However, nothing particularly actionable was discussed–just that a better job could be done of marketing Florida as a destination and its theme parks as safe places.
It could just be the fairly superficial nature of the roundtable, but it struck us that leaders from all three parks identified the obvious issue with attracting visitors from out of state, but only addressed it as a marketing matter. We’re a bit too close to the topic to view it from an outsider’s perspective, but it’s very clear to us that messaging isn’t the sole barrier to better attendance. There are a number of reasons people are not booking theme park vacations right now, and marketing won’t overcome many or most of those.
In terms of specifics, only SeaWorld offered any concrete steps for enticing more guests to visit. Their interim CEO mentioned things they’ve learned while reopening based on guest feedback. This led SeaWorld to offer extended evening hours, adding fireworks and bringing back fan-favorite festivals with plans for more Halloween and Christmas events.
DeSantis was asked about the parks increasing capacity, and said that he would be comfortable with Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal allowing more guests to visit. There wasn’t a ton of specificity in this response, but he did point out that physical distancing requirements are less than 6 feet in some other countries.
We should note–and it was noted elsewhere in the panel–that capacity caps are not the limiting factor on attendance right now. Even if these parks removed all limits, there’s still a lack of organic demand. In fact, aside from a couple of weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World has yet to run out of Disney Park Pass reservations (meaning all three buckets being empty–not just the AP one, which happens regularly). To our knowledge, Universal’s two theme parks and SeaWorld are not hitting capacity with any degree of regularity, either.
The first actual test of the Disney Park Pass system and park capacity might come over Labor Day weekend. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is fully booked for September 4-7, 2020 and other parks are nearing their reduced limits, too (except Magic Kingdom, which has availability all days of the long weekend for theme park ticket holders and resort guests).
In attempting to address issues with visitation, DeSantis spoke about travel restrictions. He noted that Florida originally didn’t allow visitors from certain states with higher numbers (a hot topic on our Quarantine Rules for Walt Disney World Travelers) and that there are intuitive but irrational fears surrounding air travel.
This dovetailed into DeSantis mentioning measures to allow and facilitate travel from Brazil, which has seen a drop in cases. I didn’t catch everything he said here, but it’s worth noting that in the past DeSantis has been delicate when discussing Brazil, undoubtedly recognizing the country as one of Florida’s biggest sources of international visitors.
Each of the parks also discussed what they were doing to bring back employees. Universal stated that they’ve brought back around 85-90% of full-time employees, but they also have a “vast supply” of part-time or seasonal employees and there currently are not opportunities for the vast majority to come back. Universal’s hope is that increasing visitation, park hours, and capacity, they can bring more employees back.
Walt Disney World indicated that with all four parks and many hotels up and operating, they’ve brought “tens of thousands” of Cast Members back, and hope to continue to do more as volume and demand increase moving forward. Otherwise, there wasn’t much discussion of unemployment measures, furloughs, or job assistance–all of which seems like a major oversight given the circumstances.
Personally, I found the most interesting portion of the roundtable to be the kind words exchanged between SeaWorld and Walt Disney World. They discussed their animal care and rescue efforts during the closure of Animal Kingdom and SeaWorld. Leaders for both noted that even though their respective parks were closed to visitors, they were continuing many of their normal animal operations and conservation initiatives.
SeaWorld specifically noted the birth of a baby manatee that had to be shared via social media. I missed this story when it happened back in May, so I was glad to hear about it now (see above video). Disney and SeaWorld emphasized that they were “collaborators, not competitors” during the closure.
Ultimately, the big thing that stuck out to me was reiterating that message of safety and that being a necessary first step to tourists returning. Theme park leaders all stressed this repeatedly, and it felt as if it’s a message they somehow want the State of Florida or some other third party to convey.
As we’ve noted in the past, Walt Disney World’s reticence to release general public discounts for fall and winter likely stems from the negative PR surrounding their reopening and a fear of backlash for “luring” tourists to what was previously a global hotspot. If this panel was any indication, these parks absolutely do want out-of-state tourists…but perhaps they don’t want to be the messengers that people should visit Florida?
Other than that (and even with that), nothing major was discussed. Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting with this Florida Theme Park Roundtable, but more than what was presented. Given that it was a public-facing panel, I wasn’t anticipating trade secrets or granular calendars of events or pricing strategies to be unveiled. Nevertheless, plans for enticing guests to return (beyond the vague notion of “let’s market our safety”) would’ve been nice.
Hopefully there are also behind-closed-doors meetings taking place between Governor DeSantis and these same leaders, so the parties can discuss what needs to happen in real terms to bring back tourism, jobs, and more to Central Florida–and how the state can facilitate that. Oh, and I’d also love to get to the bottom of the mystery about Toothsome’s presence at this event.
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Your Thoughts
If you watched the Florida Theme Park Roundtable, what did you think of it? Any feedback on Governor DeSantis being comfortable with the parks increasing capacity? Does that concern you, or do you think it’s a non-factor for now? Thoughts on increasing marketing/messaging about Florida and the parks being a safe place to visit? 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!
I love reading all of Tom’s post and all the comments but not today. Some of the comments on here were very political and they shouldn’t be. I come here every evening because at night I want to forget all about politics and think about my upcoming D isney vacatioin.
I have been to Disney several times since reopening I am a passholder and live in Florida. I was feeling safe until the numbers started increasing. If more people come I will not go I have seen many with masks down below their nose and some with them off completely that are not eating and drinking. I get it that it’s hot and the masks are uncomfortable. The lines are long in the heat and if they open it up to more numbers it will be unbearable I get the economics but Disney will lose guests if they no longer feel safe
Thanks for your thoughts. Are you visiting mainly on the weekends or during the weekdays?
I agree, I was there in August and felt safe, so much so we booked another trip for our group in October. I am watching and am quite concerned. While in August I only had one instance of feeling unsafe and that was at Hollywood Studios upon entry at the 10am time frame for ROR and of course everyone was there at the same time. We had to rush down the entry street and get out of the masses. NOW I am reconsidering the trip in October. An increase will definitely affect the ability to distance. I am closely monitoring, our magic bands have already been mailed and I have a feeling we are all going to be disappointed in a cancelled trip. While even writing this is making me depressed we just cant take the chance, Covid 19 is nothing to play around with.
That 6% number was removed from Twitter (again today) because it was false information.
You do understand that any vaccine will be only partially effective, and that they’ve separated the numbers to admit that only 6% of deceased were solely due to this plague, right? My uncle died because he had severe COPD and had needed a lung transplant years ago.
Well if they do up the capacity for the parks do you think Disney will reconsider the hours it’s open? Maybe extend instead of reduce them. Your thoughts?
My neighbor cancelled her trip due to pricing being the same for a WDW trip minus the meal plan and minus the extras like fireworks. To out of staters, this is a huge deal if they are going to risk their health and families to come, they at least want the fullest experience possible. Also, it’s hot right now and many schools are already back in session. And since school has changed so much anyway and many people find themselves homeschooling in various forms, people are just not going to add this to the mix. I also think there are many people who have waited this long, might as well wait for a vaccine. Finally, money troubles for people who were not essential workers. They maybe back at work now, but many maybe playing catch up on mortgages and car payments and you name it. While stocks are back, gas is still cheap, for those that missed work or even those that beat covid and have medical bills, it may be quite some time before they travel. While the interim CEO at Sea World seems to understand a bit better about putting forth which many families appreciate on vacation, safety is not what any big city is doing so well at right now. And even if they had the safest parks anywhere, the airplane and the fact of you get sick away from home, is scary too. If you 7 days plan and you get deathly ill on day 5, well that would no fun whatsoever and horrendous for your family. Maybe they can’t hang out at a hospital anyway, but at least they could be home and not stuck wondering if they should break the bank by staying at a hotel or go home and fly back out to pick you up if you recover. We recently lost a member of our former church home who was just fine before covid. So, losing someone is a real possibility no matter what, but throw in trying to deal with care or possibly arrangements from afar, nightmare.
Has Disney waived the parking fees for resort guests since reopening?
I don’t think so. Nobody likes it, but I think it’s here to stay.
After 9/1, people were scared about flying anywhere on a plane. I remember how loose the rules were at terminals when we flew in the Summer of 2001. It took a while for a coordinated effort to secure the terminals, move equipment around, restrict and alter traffic flow, but by the Fall of 2002 I felt OK with flying again. Not great, just OK. Then in 2003 I flew again and felt more secure and more assured. This however is not something that just 6 ft social distancing and masks will solve. A disease is a disease–something you cannot see. COVID-19 does not care how many temperature checks you do or how far apart you space the customers. It will fundamentally alter the way many people view travel for years. We Americans think of travel as a birthright…what we found out is travel is precarious. The house of cards fell because this exposed how casual we take things, like it did after 9/11.
I think the only thing that would entice people back at this point would be Fauci saying “definitely go to Disney” which is not going to do.
Forbes actually did a great articles on the US mixed messaging (I know right? Forbes) that clarified the types of responses. I didn’t know this but pre Covid lockdowns were not considered a good strategy by experts, but China locked down and Italy was in a dire position and there was too much virus around. Then if you do lock down you typically try to flatten or suppress the curve, we never really got much agreement which we were doing. Then some states opened early. Lack of a federal plan makes people feel really unsafe. There were several options for plans but we opted to see none of them through.
Things might be more under control now but it doesn’t feel or look like it because of the lack of coherent messaging. It’s bigger than a PR problem. I don’t think Disney is considering the scope of it.
Also the WHO just said children under 5 should not wear a mask but Disney has guests 2 and up wearing a mask per CDC guidelines? It’s not clear and it feels out of control.
Maybe Fauci should do a commercial similar to the MVP of the Super Bowl.
“Where are you going?” Answer: “I’m going to Disney World?”
***
I think the only thing that would entice people back at this point would be Fauci saying “definitely go to Disney” which is not going to do.
I, along with I suspect the silent majority, continue to be gobsmacked with the level of denial in some of the comments – including those of your Governor.
Internationally, the USA is now widely seen as a plague nation. Literally. We watch our local news showing COVID maps of the world with red dots in each country – except the USA, which is a sea of red, like someone tipped over a bucket of blood on your part of the map.
Inside the plague nation, Florida is widely viewed as the worst of all the plague states. We’ve seen your mind-blowing infection rates. We hear the scandals of your governor lying and trying to hide covid data. This undermines confidence in the current AND FUTURE safety of travel to Florida.
Some commenters here want to remove the mask mandate. Which group of tourists do you think Disney execs want to lure? The ones who throw tantrums about wearing a mask and start fights with cast members, swarms of unprotected visitors who then infect staff and each other and create headlines and sudden park closures? No, if you’re a rabid anti-masker they don’t want you. You’re bad for business because you’ll keep all the other peaceful, healthy tourists away.
And more broadly, the world is watching almost daily images of riots in your streets and your police beating protesters or killing Black people – internationally the word on the street is the USA is showing signs of a failed state, one that could descend into literal chaos pending your upcoming election. It all adds up, frankly, to international visitors deciding to spend their money elsewhere – likely for a very long time.
Florida tourism doesn’t exist in a bubble. The way to protect tourism was to keep the virus under control, but Florida (and the USA) obviously failed spectacularly in that regard. Luring locals is one thing, but a full recovery will require international guests and for us to come, we have to trust you with the safety of our most beloved family members.
Right now, that day feels very, very far away.
Was this a joke post or what? Seems like you’re watching the wrong news channels. It’s true the riots are the product of the historic utter mismanagement of those cities and the failed policies there. But you’re only seeing what the media wants to show you. I have friends in Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, and other cities. Things on the ground are not as they appear on tv.
I’m flying to FL one week from right now. Will see how it feels in the heat…
I think it is difficult to easily compare and the media is not helping (I want facts not opinions). It is difficult to just compare numbers as some countries have higher populations. As of August 27, The US ranks 9th in the number of deaths per million (1: Peru, 2. Belgium, 3, UK, 4 Spain, 5 Chile, 6 Italy, 7 Sweden, 8 Brazil. The US ranks 3rd in the number of tests per million 1. Russia, 2. Israel. I live in Massachusetts and we have worked hard to get our numbers down after we had a super spreader event before even knew what covid was. Yes, there are people that don’t want to wear masks, but that is not just a US problem or at least that is what the news is reporting about other countries.
But right now I am not traveling anywhere.
You are 100% correct!
Mrnico, my post is an accurate depiction of how MANY – likely most – of the international community currently views the situation in the USA. You know the way you feel about, say, Kazakhstan as a tourist destination? That’s how we are starting to feel about you.
This is the reality of the USA’s international reputation right now. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Cate – truth
My husband works for a global company, talks to people all over the world every day/week. This is what the rest of the world thinks of the USA. We have been viewed as a joke since the last election. The handling of COVID-19 was just more fuel for the fire. I have travelled several times to Europe in the past 4 years (last trip Feb 2020) and I am always questioned about the general absurdity coming out of our country. It is disheartening to hear, but I definitely agree. And it isn’t a “joke” anymore, look at what happened in Wisconsin yesterday. I am local and I go to the parks. If they increase attendance too much and it becomes obvious that they can’t enforce masks/social distancing then I will stop. I already stopped going to DS at night or on weekends just for that reason. If I lived out of state I would never spend the money for a theme park vacation without all the extras like parades, fireworks, characters etc. Just my opinion and what I have seen. I love Disney and hope they continue to get back to normal.
I have heard this from various friends around the world as well. It’s not at all surprising. Any American would come to these same COVID conclusions as long as s/he is following unbiased, scientific resources. As for the protests and unrest, it is not due to mismanaged cities, it is due to centuries of systemic racism. The first step to fixing the wholly unequal and unjust way people of color are treated here is to acknowledge the institutional problems that were built into the very foundations of this country. I don’t fault anyone not coming from another country. I live here, and I don’t want to be here at least once a day.
Totally agree. Trying to convince my son and his family to relocate his business to Shanghai. .. depending on election ….nuff said. They have Disney too .
Cate, we were in Paris and then Germany when this thing was ramping up, and the sentiments on the ground were not in agreement with your reflections. Friends living in various parts of the world say it’s the same, all depends on who you talk with.
Marylee, that’s insane! Let us know how that works out. Maybe someday Shanghai will be safe to travel to, but not today.
I see some rather “interesting” posts about masks that indicate people are still in denial about their effectiveness. Masks are here for the foreseeable future–maybe permanently. It’s not even up for argument any longer. They are effective. Wearing them in the heat is a whole other issue.
It seems to me as well that Governor DeSantis (who gets a lot of bad press in mainstream media–deservedly so) is also in a kind of denial. The infection rates are still very high in Florida, and the idea that he would welcome plague-carrying Brazilians seems pretty idiotic, and is probably based on politics and pressures from the business community.
And since Disney is also offering a diminished product why would anyone want to pay full price? We have also changed our plans and would be going until late 2021–maybe even into 2022. I feel it will take that long before the U.S. gets control of the pandemic. And hopefully a change in leadership in November. We need it.
Masks ARE NOT and WILL NOT be here permanently. Plus, you’re trying to place blame in the wrong places and insulting Brazilians isn’t very nice even though I’ve dealt personally with the large tour groups as a CM at WDW…
I don’t care at all about COVID. I just won’t go and wear a mask in the heat, and I won’t pay full price for a half experience.
In the winter, if the mask is more tolerable, and the discounts are good enough, I will consider it. Otherwise we’re waiting until the mask mandate is gone. It’s just too miserable.
My family and I just came home from a trip to Disney a few days ago. We felt very safe and although we stood in some longer lines than expected we were able to go on everything in the parks they had to offer. Although we had a great time we will not return until more dining opens up without having to place mobile orders and fireworks return. Dining was a problem at our resort with wait times. After placing mobile order and waiting for the food my son was still hungry and you can’t get more food without placing another mobile order and waiting yet again. The park hours should also increase so you can leave for a few hours and return when a little cooler. From sweating all day and the mask being wet from sweat I now have a serious sore throat and am hoping it’s only an infection and not COVID.