Is Walt Disney world going to close

Not necessarily:

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Probably just a baby step move. They don’t want to close any longer than necessary, and they have the option of extending it if they decide to. They really don’t have enough information to plan any farther ahead than that.

It’s also fair to say at this point that the panic has become a crisis in and of itself. Even if a business or other entity is convinced the threat is negligible, they have to be cognizant of the appearance of indifference. Businesses don’t want to damage their brand or be sued, and politicians don’t want to be run out of office because of the perception (true or not) that they failed to take appropriate action.

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Does anyone think the parks will reopen on 4/1?

I’m looking at you, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong - all still closed many weeks later… I’m not super hopeful that this will end after 2 weeks

Thoughts?

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I agree with you. I just really HOPE it doesn’t play out that way…but I kind of fear the writing’s on the proverbial wall.

ETA: I can’t help but feel that with the availability of test kits now coming on line, we are going to see a massive uptick in reported cases. This will contribute to a kind of/sort of unreasonable fear that it is getting worse really fast, which means the April 1 date would be pushed out.

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If I had to bet I’d place on the parks being closed till May.

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Im starting to come around to my backup plan for late May. We could ride SE right before it closes, and hopefully Remy’s if it opens in time. This got me to thinking about refurbs. I wonder if they will be able to accelerate some things without guests in the parks during the day. I’m thinking about the Castle re-painting and things like that, which I’m sure they focus more work during the third shift right now. Just thinking out loud here. I also wonder if Disney will push hard to reopen the US parks because as it is right now, that entire division of the company is about to have zero revenue. I know nothing about how the company operates, but it seems to me that could be disastrous if it persists for more than a month or so.

Domestic parks have been Big Disney’s piggy bank for several years now. This is going to reverberate strenuously through the company.

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I also think with Chapek at the helm now, there will be more of a push to get the parks open as soon as possible.

Can you tell I’m hoping my April trip will still happen? Lol…

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I’m going at the end of April. Hoping it’s still going to happen but I guess we’ll see!

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I’m hoping so too. I don’t want to cancel two trips (just canceled March last night).

Since they have to pay the employees, might as well get the work done faster. I expect they will take advantage of it, unless prohibited by some state mandate.

Less than zero, really. They are still paying their employees even though most of them won’t be doing anything. Basically, they are bleeding money now.

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And we all thought Bob Iger was a dummy.

“Here Chapek! Have fun! I’m out!”

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I agree. At least until May. My wishful thinking is hoping they’ll be back open by then. My trip is May 1-9. I wonder how crazy busy parks will be if indeed May 1 is the first day they’re reopened.

I find it impossible to believe that the parks would reopen in 2 weeks. I hope I’m wrong but I have a feeling this will take months. Also, slightly off topic but I think the number of cases in the US is far, far higher than what is known and will continue to rise. To be clear this is based on nothing but a hunch. The way this has been handled at the highest level of govt is disastrous…

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When the mention of closed until May was brought up it occurred to me…They have extended the waiver on all cancellation fees until June, could they be planning a June re-opening? Even July?

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I think there are a lot of people trying to move their vacations, even some of those who have one in May. I’m sure they are just trying to be as accommodating as possible. I wouldn’t read too much into it. I’m sure they will take it one step at a time. My TA thinks we should be good for our May trip when I asked her about a back up trip (I scheduled one anyway for June).

On the President’s press conference, one of the journalists just essentially asked the doctors “how long” and they said it really depends on how successful we are at “flattening the curve.” They said if we’re successful, maybe 7, 8 weeks, if we’re not, months. This is just my paraphrase, but it doesn’t sound good.

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I’m really curious how they think shutting down everything for months is going to work for society as a whole. There is more to it than just private business and how much money they will lose. There are special needs kids that need services that they will not get. There are people that are going to lose their jobs and livelihood. This is just crazy.

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it is crazy, i agree. i would suspect special needs kids will still get the services they need though. Social workers are still social working. They don’t get to work from home. Vulnerable people who receive social services still need those services, and as long as they do, they’ll continue to be serviced. No one is banning those who provide individual services from working.

I actually am one of those social workers. So far, I am still doing visits. At this point our therapists are continuing to go out as well. But if the state decides to put a stop to it, then yes, they will lose those services. I work with kids under 3. However kids 3 and older will not get their services because schools and our IU are closed. If they have private services through their insurance that could continue at this point. I’m sure emergency situations will get taken care of, but these kids will be affected.

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