Post COVID Park Policies

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horizons1
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Post COVID Park Policies

Post by horizons1 » May Tue 12, 2020 12:18 pm

I was just watching the Shanghai Disneyland videos posted on Youtube (find them on Screamscape http://www.screamscape.com/html/shanghai_disneyland.htm) and I have to say, first off, I am sooooo excited to see "Today's Park Hours 9:00 - 7:30" instead of "closed". Woo hoo. Anyway, watching the video I am wondering how cooperative guests will be in following these guidelines, especially around spacing in queues and for parades. I think in Japan, people are generally well-disciplined when attending the parks so I predict it will work well if implemented there. Shanghai has some history with line-jumping and other bad guest behavior, so maybe limiting attendance will help. But in the US, I think we Americans suck at following instructions. It's gonna be chaos. The sheer number of cast members needed to keep people following the rules is going to make the entire effort very costly.

What do you think?
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Re: Post COVID Park Policies

Post by Amy » May Wed 13, 2020 5:49 am

I have to agree with you horizons1 ~ the same thought popped into my head. The Japan parks are so orderly, and people tend to be polite. The other parks, particularly the US parks, especially the Florida ones, are not. It will be interesting as it all unfolds. But it is is encouraging some progress is being made toward safely opening the parks!

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Re: Post COVID Park Policies

Post by ImagineerWannabe » May Sat 16, 2020 1:56 pm

I'd like to ask a stupid question. They're reopening Disney Springs, particularly the restaurants, but are requiring people to wear masks. Aren't people going to be taking masks off to eat? For staff, sure fine, do whatever they're comfortable with, but as a diner, coming to eat dinner, I expect I'd be drinking water or eating pretty much the entire time I'm there. Maybe I'm missing how this is supposed to work.

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Re: Post COVID Park Policies

Post by Amy » May Sun 17, 2020 9:05 am

Not a stupid question. I've seen it asked more than once before here and there in the last few weeks since things started opening back up. I'm thinking while you're waiting, but otherwise yeah, it would be silly to put on/take off/put on/take off mask the entire time in a restaurant. You would be more likely to contaminate yourself by all the touching. And where do you place the mask when it is off your face? My personal thoughts are as long as masks are required in public, I won't be eating inside anywhere because it doesn't make sense. Of course, I don't really eat out anyhow, so it's not really a sacrifice for me. I'm not sure what I would do at Disney. I had the thought yesterday that I wouldn't fare well in the heat, but if I had the choice of being at Disney with a mask on, rather than not being there with no mask, I would take Disney every time!

horizons1
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Re: Post COVID Park Policies

Post by horizons1 » May Mon 18, 2020 10:40 am

In Shanghai they said the servers would have masks but guests will not be required to wear them "while dining" so, yeah, presumably they will wear them until their food arrives.
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Re: Post COVID Park Policies

Post by horizons1 » Oct Wed 21, 2020 12:58 pm

Rather than create a new topic I wanted to talk about current events in California related to COVID. As you are probably aware, The Disney Company is officially at odds with the governor of California regarding re-opening. Disney claims they are safely operating all the other parks, the state's position is it's not yet safe to open. While I would love to see Disneyland re-open, I think I am on California's side here. Looking at stories of the crowds at Downtown Disney, which is open, doesn't make me think that opening the parks will make things better or that crowds will be managed well. Also, the argument that it's working fine in Florida doesn't ring true for me. In Florida, a lot of the park visitors are from out of state. In California, the bulk of the daily visitors are local. So whose to say that WDW guests aren't getting exposed and taking that back to their respective states?
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Re: Post COVID Park Policies

Post by Alacrity » Oct Wed 21, 2020 4:00 pm

Is it possible that the Downtown Disney issue is due to Disneyland and California Adventure being closed?

Disney Springs at WDW, looks to me, to have the same issue. The parks at WDW have been closing early and opening late. That seems to funnel those that want a Disney fix to one spot. Both locals and tourists...and quite I few locals go to Disney Springs regularly...end up in the Downtown/Springs area. During our visit to WDW recently, Disney Springs was very busy and reached capacity at least one night while were there. It seems such cautions may have made the situation worse buy funneling crowds, who would otherwise be in the park, into one spot...just the thing the cancelation of live entertainment, parades and fireworks is supposed to prevent; folks collecting densely in one area. If the parks were open it is possible that the crowds would then be distributed over a wider area and, in theory, provide a safer situation.

In the case of The Downtown Disney areas (DL and Springs at WDW), I would be surprised if all the shops and restaurants are owned by Disney themselves. In fact, I'm certain that they are not. As such, they don't fall under Disney management and so, open as they can. So we see the Downtown area open. They also qualify as independent businesses and so don't fall under the same restrictions as CA has placed their on theme parks (at least the large ones. Small parks have different rules it seems, which is part of Disney's issue). I'd guess that individual shops external to the parks, that are owned by Disney, would be open under these rules. World of Disney falls under that idea I would imagine.

The issue seems to be that the State of CA has put such extreme limitations in place that opening, even using proven procedures and voluntary limits as WDW has done, and the other parks around the world by the way, is not possible or even considered in California. Disney believes they have demonstrated that they can operate in reasonable safety...which I think is the best that can be said in any case today.

You mention that the bulk of the daily visitors to Disneyland are locals. Possible. I know a fair number are. But why then keep the parks closed if that is the case? The locals are already in the environment with the same level of exposure. With existing safety measures what would the difference be? With the safety measures enforced, as in the other parks, could the environment improve? By that I mean Disney monitors the guests and enforces the rules...something you won't see around town I'd wager. All of the measures we saw at WDW were very much enforced. Folks not cooperating would be asked to leave the park, potentially, permanently (American Airlines, which we flew to MCO had the same policy, be safe or get off the plane and stay off!) To the credit of the guests, pretty much all were very much into following the rules. You see only the odd few extreme folks on the news...but I can say the WDW was the most orderly that I have ever seen it. Folks were being cooperative, understanding and, above all, careful. I think DL can do the same.

Granted, we took a risk. We all will continue to accept a risk, when we go anywhere today. My wife and I chose to take part in living and enjoying the world. We may yet pay the price but I think, with care, the odds are in our favor. At the same time, it is certainly understandable that folks don't or can't take that risk.

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