Saw this, no dates yet, but some procedures.
Among the recommendations, the task force developed a number of both “guidelines” and “mandates,” including:
Guidelines:
- “Tape marking[s] of six feet apart in ride/attraction queues”
- “Staff to regularly wipe down surfaces at random”
Mandates:
- “All employees required to wear face masks”
- “Touchless hand sanitizer at each ticketing entry and turnstiles”
- “Touchless hand sanitizer at each ride/attraction entry and exit”
- “Temperature checks for staff prior to shift (temp above 100.4 must not enter premises)”
- “All employees with flu-like symptoms advised to stay home”
- “Wipe down of all railings and surfaces regularly”
The task force is also mandating a two-phased reopening plan. In Phase 1, the parks would only be able to operate at 50-percent capacity. In Phase 2, parks would be allowed to operate at 75-percent capacity.
The group also recommended that parks discourage anyone 65 or older from visiting the park during both phases.
Currently, however, the task force did not reveal a time frame for each phase of reopening.
Florida’s Governor is supposed to announce the phase 1 plans today at 5 pm.
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At 50% they should be able to get rid of the queues altogether and just use FPs to schedule entries.
I’m curious what 50% capacity looks like - could they easily do resort guests and for the most part accommodate resorts guests in at least one of the four parks while maintaining 50% capacity? Or is that threshold fewer than the # of resort guests they could be hosting at a given time.
I wonder why Disney wouldn’t do something like only allowing in Florida residents, AP holders and hotel guests. I wonder what the ratio of non-hotel guests was in the past, but this could be a way for them to control the flow a little more, as they could limit the number of hotel reservations. It also gives them some of that income back, too.
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My understanding from what I’ve read from varying sources is that if ALL of the rooms were filled up on Disney property, it would amount to about 30% of the capacity of the parks. So, limiting it to Florida residents, APs, and resort guests seems entirely reasonable and do-able.
I don’t necessarily think that INITIALLY, Disney will actually open to 50% capacity. I think they will likely hold off on that for a few weeks until they see how their new procedures are operating. But I think they will get to the 50% capacity by including Florida residents, APs, and resort guests.
Question is WHEN? I wouldn’t be surprised if they start opening up to limited guests and Disney Springs, and maybe ONE park around June 1. Maybe just locals and cast members first. But once they see how that goes, a few weeks later start opening it further.
The Governor of FL basically said, yesterday, that things can start opening up May 4 in general…but Disney/Universal will likely have to take more time to ramp up, restock, get cast members trained, etc.
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For this reason I’m booking an on property room just in case. I’m currently at a Disney springs hotel so get the perks - but I’m going to book an all star in case I need to be solidly on property to get in to the parks.
Looking at phased closure rules, ADRs may also be useful
In case anyone is interested:
From this chart, we know that Disney resort guests get HIGHEST priority, even ahead of AP holders, etc. It isn’t clear to me if Disney Springs hotels are included in that.
So, likewise, this is why we ultimately decided to book an on-site resort (Pop Century) for our trip in August.
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well - you will likely have a much more manageable crowd for the loss of space and increased cost. As a fellow off-siter it’s at least it has a good trade off.
It isn’t ideal, overall, but we’re kind of in a pickle. Either we risk them not allowing us in because we’re off site and have wasted thousands of dollars on this trip, including my DS22 and DDIL, or we pay up extra to ensure we get into the parks.
The other problem is that most of the cancellation policies for off-site stays (house rentals, etc) end up being that you only get like 50% back at 60 days out (or in some cases, 30 days out), and less than that (30 days or 15 days), you get nothing back. I just don’t want to deal with that. We already lost about $750 for our house rental from May because we had to cancel within the 60 days. I just rather not deal with that possibility again.
This doesn’t put me off the idea of staying off-site again in the future, when things return to normal…but during this time, the truth is, we can afford the extra expense…and if Disney DOESN’T reopen to us by our trip, we cancel without risk.
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You know what I’d have done… 
But I absolutely know the risk on rental cancellations and this way is much safer. I’d bring my toaster and some dishes and make the best of it. It’s an adventure. The kids will probably love the pools and will talk about how much fun breakfast in the hotel room was. Memories.
That trade off if things do get cancelled is also a deciding factor for me. My Disney springs hotel is likely not to give me any kind of perk if we do have to cancel and reschedule. It seems that Disney is at least giving you some kind of perk if you’re on property and get cancelled.
Good idea, I really think if they have to draw a line somewhere to adhere to capacity it’ll be restricting access to off property guests
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