Rumor about potential major reduction in operating hours for WDW if Disney Asia parks remain closed due to coronavirus

[hertamaniac]

It looks like the City of Anaheim is calling for restrictions on non-essential gatherings of more than 250 people. Anaheim is where Disneyland/DCA and Downtown Disney are located.

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/03/11/c...led-statewide-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19/

 

[Remy is Up]

FYI...Bookings are not closed. I just checked and could book just fine for early next week as well as early april and then confirmed with someone who would know. There was an issue with the system but at this time, bookings are working fine. People need to relax. When Disney makes a decision on an official plan or puts a plan into motion, they will make an announcement. And certainly speculating wont help anyone, nor will posting rumors. As with all decisions at any company, the one I work for is no different. This is a situation that is not an every day thing so decisions and plans are fluid and can be changed quickly. All I can say about the prior post that I am comfortable with is there are lots of "discussions" and they are ongoing. The direction and final decision on the route taken is not even close to being decided. At this moment, it is business as usual until either a situation changes it ( Government intervention or a case on property) or unless the decision is reached at the much higher level that the parks need to be closed or cut back in some way. But there is absolutely nothing solidified at this time.

 

[Coffee66]

FYI...Bookings are not closed. I just checked and could book just fine for early next week as well as early april and then confirmed with someone who would know. There was an issue with the system but at this time, bookings are working fine. People need to relax. When Disney makes a decision on an official plan or puts a plan into motion, they will make an announcement. And certainly speculating wont help anyone, nor will posting rumors. As with all decisions at any company, the one I work for is no different. This is a situation that is not an every day thing so decisions and plans are fluid and can be changed quickly. All I can say about the prior post that I am comfortable with is there are lots of "discussions" and they are ongoing. The direction and final decision on the route taken is not even close to being decided. At this moment, it is business as usual until either a situation changes it ( Government intervention or a case on property) or unless the decision is reached at the much higher level that the parks need to be closed or cut back in some way. But there is absolutely nothing solidified at this time.

Disney needs to take responsibility for the craziness. The silence is deafening.

 

[HuskieJohn]

At this point -- if the parks do close -- I am guessing people will cancel vacations beyond that timeframe (for many many months or the rest of the year) --- With the amount of loss caused by closing the park for any amount of days, I would expect some serious cost-cutting when it opens back up -- reduced hours, construction halted, reduced capacity or rides being "seasonal" waiting for the crowds to come up.

Even thought is is 90 days away, I feel my vacation in mid-June is now in Jeopardy. (and that's okay, not complaining, just disappointing). Either my son's school will inevitably cancel classes and extend the school year .. or Disney may not be opened back up OR Disney just not in the shape I would want it to be in for a vacation.

My sister-in-law's family that was planning on going this weekend -- are now thinking of cancelling, especially if it doesn't cost them anything.

I am as cautious about COVID as anyone on this board and I feel like we are both good at 90+ days (I am at 101)...and if it is not then we will be in a whole different world of hurt where missing a vacation (and possibly thousands of dollars) is going to be the least of our worries.

 

[mshanson3121]

Disney needs to take responsibility for the craziness. The silence is deafening.

Agree. When you have Wall Street analysts publicly expecting Disney to cancel, things shuttering left right and center... It's time to make a public announcement.

 

[rteetz]

Disney needs to take responsibility for the craziness. The silence is deafening.

It’s not like they aren’t doing anything. They have taken steps already. Things evolved rapidly last night. Disney isn’t just going to make a knee jerk decision without going through all of their options. I guarantee several discussions were held through the night and are ongoing.

 

[mshanson3121]

FYI...Bookings are not closed. I just checked and could book just fine for early next week as well as early april and then confirmed with someone who would know. There was an issue with the system but at this time, bookings are working fine.

It must have just recently been fixed. I tried earlier and couldn't. Side note, their IT sure has been the pits lately.

 

[hertamaniac]

Disney needs to take responsibility for the craziness. The silence is deafening.

If the local government intervenes, I have to think it would supersede what Disney or other corporations want to do.

 

[Remy is Up]

Disney needs to take responsibility for the craziness. The silence is deafening.

What craziness. If they have not made any decisions and are being told business as usual until we decide otherwise then that's all they can do. Universal is doing the same thing. It is a wait and see but have several contingency plans in place to enact if necessary. Businesses cant over react when the information is limited.

 

[Yinn]

I think there's also the question of what is a smart business move, regardless of what the contract says. Should things escalate further and the parks/resorts close, do the big rental companies want to be remembered as leaving their customers hanging? It already takes a leap of faith to rent points. Word of mouth and the Disney online community has to be big for these guys. Cancellations may also prompt Disney to offer heavier discounts than we've seen in ages, that combined with the rising cost of point rentals and this whole ordeal being in recent memory could hurt.

Completely agreed. The rental companies are the ones in a squeeze. They don't want to lose customers, but they also can't afford to lose their suppliers (owners) Going after an owner for a situation out of their control would make their supply dry up which will affect their customer base anyway.

If WDW resorts closes, disney is going to have a lot of decisions to make in how they handle DVC and that is likely what will decide what rental companies do.

Let's remove the rental company... you as an owner have points you are using in April but the parks get closed and your points expire in June (like in your example) how does disney handle that? Are your points lost? Assume they open mid-may do you now have to use points in 2 weeks or lose them along with a lot of other people trying to use points? Do they let them roll over creating additional point inventory for next year?

How DVC is handled in the event of a shutdown is going to be a legal nightmare even before you get into rental companies and in general I think how DVC handles owner points will determine what rental companies do.

I think there's also a difference between someone cancelling out of their own accord vs Disney shutting down; which is more what I was trying to highlight. If someone is cancelling because they are concerned, but Disney remains open; then while it may make good customer service sense to do something - the reality is that the paid for and agreed upon terms are still valid. If the resort itself is closed, then I think that changes things quite a bit and what you outlined is correct.

Coincidentally I am travelling at the same time. By that token, if I call Disney today and cancel - I don't have an expectation that they'll refund my points and give me an extension if they're still open. But, if they close - the world goes into a full shutdown, then yea I'd ask them and hope they'd offer some concession. In my personal case I'd be ok with just banking the points for the next UY.

 

[Coffee66]

What craziness. If they have not made any decisions and are being told business as usual until we decide otherwise then that's all they can do. Universal is doing the same thing. It is a wait and see but have several contingency plans in place to enact if necessary. Businesses cant over react when the information is limited.

Disney putting its head in the sand doesn't help. Wall Street investors as well as family's who are planning vacations deserve better.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Never thought I would see the day when WDW closes for more than a day. If it happens I hope they have some healthy personnel who can get in there and fix the problems they've been having. Won't ever have this kind of chance again.

 

[kaytieeldr]

It must have just recently been fixed. I tried earlier and couldn't. Side note, their IT sure has been the pits lately.

It must have just recently been fixed. I tried earlier and couldn't. Side note, their IT sure has been the pits lately.

FTFY

 

[Firebird060]

Disney putting its head in the sand doesn't help. Wall Street investors as well as family's who are planning vacations deserve better.

The best thing for Disney is actually to not say anything until things are concrete, By not saying anything officially the only hit they take to the stocks is the hit that is effecting everyone. If they don,t have any positive news to report other then they are monitoring things then they actually risk a larger hit to the stock value. From a management position they are doing the smart thing. As for the government intervening WDW at least is a bit more protected then DL. It would have to come from State or Federal to effect WDW where as DL is beholden a bit to Anaheim.

 

[rteetz]

Disney putting its head in the sand doesn't help. Wall Street investors as well as family's who are planning vacations deserve better.

How is disney ignoring this? They have added sanitizer and hand washing stations throughout the parks. They have waived change fees as well. Like I said earlier they aren’t going to just make a knee jerk decision. This is much larger than cancelling an NBA game. You practically have the entire Orlando economy at stake here. Huge numbers of people work for the Orlando theme parks. Same goes for Anaheim. You also have to think how to get people home in the event of a closure or what happens of areas of resorts become quarantine zones. I can’t imagine they are not working through all of these possibilities right now.

 

[hertamaniac]

Princess Cruise line has just suspended operations.

https://finance.yahoo.com/m/3d8ad7eb-1f7a-3118-9995-8bc837334226/carnival-stock-drops-22-.html

 

[mshanson3121]

Disney putting its head in the sand doesn't help. Wall Street investors as well as family's who are planning vacations deserve better.

This, on FB, sooo many people are worrying and wondering. They're seeing the rumors, the Wall Street predictions, they've seen what's happened in other places, and have no idea what to do because Disney is saying NOTHING. It's not fair to the families who have spent years saving, who have invested copious amounts of time planning, who have so many arrangements and decisions to make especially regarding flights etc....

I mean, I get it - Disney doesn't want to lose any more money than they have to, so they're going to put it off until the very last possible second. But... it's a bad look.

Have some balls and make the call now, that you KNOW you're going to need to make anyways. Put your guests ahead of your wallet. Be proactive.

If not, then at least, make a formal statement - and not about hand sanitizer Let your guests know that "We currently do not have any plans to close the parks. However, if that should change, we will do x,y,z to work with guests who are currently on premises, and with those who have upcoming trips." Give them SOMETHING.

 

[Firebird060]

Never thought I would see the day when WDW closes for more than a day. If it happens I hope they have some healthy personnel who can get in there and fix the problems they've been having. Won't ever have this kind of chance again.

I suspect normal maintenance will continue but I wouldnt expect Disney to look for any major fixes during a prolonged closure. Look for small projects, like painting, thorough inspections of ride vehicles to plan for refurbs later on, maybe costume updates for some of the animitronics basic little things. I wouldn't expect them to take on anything like updating the last segment of The Carousel of Progress or anything. After all when the parks are closed they arent making money.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I suspect normal maintenance will continue but I wouldnt expect Disney to look for any major fixes during a prolonged closure. Look for small projects, like painting, thorough inspections of ride vehicles to plan for refurbs later on, maybe costume updates for some of the animitronics basic little things. I wouldn't expect them to take on anything like updating the last segment of The Carousel of Progress or anything. After all when the parks are closed they arent making money.

I'm not talking about that kind of fixing. They've had unexpected closures in the MK the last 2 weeks. This is their chance to finally fix those problems. IF they close.

 

[tjkraz]

This all assumes everyone gets infected. Personally, given the amount of tested etc I think South Koreas numbers are most accurate at .6% mortality. If we combine that with historic flu infection data of 20-30% of the population we're talking moderate concerns. This virus is only 4x deadlier than the common flu is annually. Our biggest concerns should be like always with elderly, and individuals with compromised immune systems. Those 2 areas have the highest chance of mortality. So nursing homes and hospice Facilities are where we should focus the bulk of or efforts, but reality is even in the best of situations ANY serious outbreak in these type of Facilities tend to have high mortality rates due to the nature of individuals residing within.

I’m not going to debate what you “think” vs the recommendations of trained healthcare professionals. Events aren’t being cancelled and businesses closed due to a media-fueled frenzy. The cancellations and restrictions are coming on the advice of the CDC, WHO, hospital administrators, infectious disease specialists and similarly-qualified individuals.