Disney has announced that as of February 17, 2022 they will no longer be requiring FULLY vaccinated guests to we masks in the parks.
All guests will still be required to wear masks on all Disney transportation, this includes Disney Skyliner, Monorail, and buses.
Starting on Thursday, April 8th, guests will be allowed to take socially distanced photo pass photos without a mask on… more info to come
Astro Orbiter – OPEN
The Barnstormer – OPEN
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique – CLOSED
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – OPEN
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – OPEN
Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station – CLOSED
Casey’s Corner Pianist -UNKNOWN
Country Bear Jamboree – CLOSED
Dapper Dans -UNKNOWN
Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade – CLOSED
Dumbo the Flying Elephant – OPEN
Enchanted Tales with Belle – CLOSED
Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade – CLOSED
The Hall of Presidents -UNKNOWN
Happily Ever After – CLOSED
The Haunted Mansion – OPEN
Hoedown Happening – CLOSED
It’s a Small World – OPEN`
Jungle Cruise – OPEN
Liberty Square Riverboat – CLOSED
Mad Tea Party – OPEN
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – OPEN
Main Street Philharmonic -UNKNOWN
Main Street Trolley Show -UNKNOWN
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – OPEN
Meet Ariel at Her Grotto – CLOSED
Meet Cinderella & Elena at Princess Fairytale Hall – CLOSED
Meet Daring Disney Pals as Circus Stars at Pete’s Silly Side Show – CLOSED
Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater – CLOSED
Meet Rapunzel and Tiana at Princess Fairytale Hall – CLOSED
Meet Tinker Bell at Town Square Theater – CLOSED
Mickey’s PhilharMagic – OPEN
Mickey’s royal Friendship Faire – CLOSED
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor – CLOSED
Once Upon a Time – CLOSED
Peter Pan’s Flight – OPEN
Pirates of the Caribbean – OPEN
Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – OPEN
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – OPEN
Space Mountain – OPEN
Splash Mountain – OPEN
Swiss Family Treehouse – CLOSED
Tom Sawyer Island – CLOSED
Tomorrowland Speedway – OPEN
Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover – CLOSED
Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid – OPEN
Walt Disney World Railroad – CLOSED
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – OPEN
Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room – CLOSED
Some crowds were gathered as they wait for the opportunity to enter the gates of Magic Kingdom for the first time since March. Disney is opening the gates to the Magic Kingdom today to welcome home Annual Passholders for a preview of what it will be like to visit the”House of Mouse” for the foreseeable future.
Gates are supposed to open at 9am this morning (July 7, 2020) to allow AP back into the parks. Although visiting Disney World will be quite different for a while, a majority of those visiting this morning are just looking for an hour or two of normalcy… To be able to live life the way we did back in February before the Covid-19 pandemic took over the planet.
Even if it is for a short period, walking down Main St toward Cinderella Castle will make you forget all of your worries and problems that exist outside those gates… HAKUNA MATATA!!!
Our first trip was planed for the week of April 15th and Covid-19 obliterated those plans, not only for our family vacation, but for everyone’s life around the world. We then rebooked our trip. We were looking at the numbers and we took an educated guess that Disney would try to reopen in the middle to end of June. So on April 30th, we booked reservations at All-Star Resort for a suite for July 25 – August 1. We also rebooked our plane tickets through Southwest for those same dates.
Even though Disney had yet to announce an opening date, on May 25th, we booked our FastPasses and made diner reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table, 50’s Primetime Cafe and Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White.
When Disney first announced that the parks were reopening, we were happy but cautious. When we found out that there would be no Fireworks, no parades, no character meet and greets, we started to get nervous. In the time since the reopening announcement we have learned that the will be no Park Hopping, Pin Trading, Extra Magic Hours, Resort Hopping among many other things that you will no longer be able to do, we were now contemplating whether it was financially worth going to parks when they reopen.
We have also been monitoring the virus numbers for Florida, particularly Orange and Osceola Counties in which Disney World Resort sits. When we first rebooked the trip, they were averaging 15 and 10 cases a day and 0 deaths respectively. As of yesterday (Wednesday, June 24, 2020) Orange County reported 554 cases with 2 deaths and Osceola County reported 75 cases with 1 death. This is the main factor that made us come to our decision.
We have again postponed our family vacation. We are hoping to rebook again next June, if there has been a vaccine released or if the virus subsides.
I really hated having to make the decision to cancel our trip again, but my family’s health and well being is the most important factor.
Below is the release from Disney Cruise Lines:
All of us at Disney Cruise Line hope you are staying well. While COVID-19 continues to impact all our lives, we are inspired daily by the stories of care, compassion and resilience around the globe.
With the wellbeing of our Guests and team members as our top priority and in line with direction from health experts and government officials, Disney Cruise Line is extending the suspension of Disney Magic up to and including the October 2, 2020 sailing. This means that your sailing has been cancelled.
In light of this cancellation, for guests who are not paid in full, we will automatically refund any payment made toward the booking. This refund will be processed back to the original form of payment, but may be delayed due to the high volume.
For guests who are paid in full, we are offering them the choice of a 125% future cruise credit to be used for a future sailing that commences prior to March 31, 2022, or a full refund. The credit has been automatically added to their account.
For guests who purchased the Adventures by Disney Cruise or Escape Package on six of the sailings as part of their vacation, the package will automatically be refunded back to the original form of payment.
Impacted departures include:
8/5 – 8-Night Northern Europe
8/13 – 7-Night Northern Europe
8/20 – 10-Night Northern Europe
8/30 – 7-Night Norwegian Fjords
9/6 – 7-Night British Isles
9/13 – 5-Night Western Europe
10/2 – 10-Night Westbound Transatlantic
Adventures by Disney Cruise or Escape Packages
8/5 – 8-Night Northern Europe: 8/2 Copenhagen Escape and 8/5 Northern Europe Cruise Package
8/13 – 7-Night Northern Europe: 8/10 Copenhagen Escape and 8/13 Northern Europe Cruise Package
8/20 – 10-Night Northern Europe: 8/17 Copenhagen Escape
8/30 – 7-Night Norwegian Fjords: 8/28 London Escape
9/6 – 7-Night British Isles: 9/4 London Escape
9/13 – 5-Night Western Europe: 9/11 London Escape
If you’ve been following this Blog, you know that we originally had a vacation planned for April, 2020 that Covid-19 totally obliterated. Those plans were to celebrate the 20th Wedding Anniversary of my wife and I. It was to also celebrate our oldest daughter graduating high school as her class’ Salutatorian and it would have most likely been our last vacation together as a family with my daughter leaving for college in September. On a longshot that the parks would reopen in late June or early July, we rebooked our vacation for the last week of July. As you can imagine, we were excited when Disney announced that they were reopening Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on July 11, then Epcot and Hollywood Studios on July 15 seeing that our flight to MCO in Orlando is on July 25. We were able to rebook our FastPasses and Dinner Reservations, and, yes, we were able to rebook Cinderella’s Royal Table for my Graduating High School Senior.
But since then it has been one disappointing notice after another. We understood that there would be social distancing required. We also understood that facemasks would be required for entering any of the parks, we were not thrilled of the thought of wearing a mask in the 90° Florida heat and humidity, but we understood. When I started worrying was when Disney Announced that only 20% of capacity would be allowed in each park. I started to think that they now have almost four months of backlogged reservations that they are going to need to rebook and with a 20% capacity, how are they going to do this.
The next disappointment was that all of the FastPasses that my family spent an entire evening planning and calculating were all of the sudden gone from the MyDisney App. Next were our dinner reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table, 50’s PrimeTime Cafe and Story Book Dining at Artist Point with Snow White… Poof! gone in an instance!
Next we learned that park hours are going to be reduced and Extra Magic Hours are being suspended. On top of that, there would be no fireworks, parades, nighttime shows, character meet and greets, and more.
We also learned that the Resort that we booked and paid for already, All-Star Music Family Suites, may not be open when the parks open. So far it looks like just the Deluxe and DVC Resorts will be opening $$$.
Guests were informed that even if they are staying at a Disney Resort, they are not guaranteed that they will be able to enter any of the parks, WAIT, WHAT???
I know this next one seems small, but for my pride, it is important. It was announced that pin trading with cast members will no longer be allowed. Like I said, it may seem small, but it is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
At no point has there been any mention of a discount on the price of admission and/or price of staying at one of the Disney Resorts.
Let’s take a look at what Disney is expecting everyone to pay full-price for admission and lodging (and that is if you can even get into a park.).
All of the following have been cancelled
I don’t know, maybe its me, but right now visiting the parks looks more like going to Six Flags with the ridiculous Disney price of admission. Also, I can only imagine how much the cost of snacks, drinks, meals, souvenirs, etc are going to be when the park’s reopen. I would not be surprised to see a 20oz bottle of soda costing in the area of $7.
Well, that’s it for us, we’re tapping out, we’re done. At this point it is not worth gettin on a plane, flying 3hrs, paying for a rental car and then MAYBE having a hotel room and MAYBE being able to enter one of the parks… It is just not worth the financial investment.
Let’s face it, everyone knows that Disney Parks are WAY overpriced, but when 2/3 of the things that make Disney World, Disney World are taken away, Why would you waste your money?
Please don’t get me wrong, I still think that it is a wonderful step for Disney, the Orlando and State of Florida’s economies and the general moral of the United States that a large entertainment area is reopening during the Covid-19 pandemic. I think that it will show everyone that the light at the end of the tunnel of this global economic shutdown is quickly coming to an end. But will you be getting your monies worth going to Disney World in July of 2020?
Here is what we know so far:
With all of the above restrictions and limitations, we really need to see if it is financially worth visiting the parks. With no firework shows, parades and character meet and greets and with parks only open about 9 hours a day, if you are able to get a reservation to the park you want, it may not be worth the amount of the ticket to enter the park. If you step back and look at it logically and not as a Disney Fanatic, you are basically getting only half, if that, of the experience of Disney World that you would have gotten before the shutdown back in March.
Not only the fact that you will not be getting the value of which you paid for, I think that wearing a mask at all times in the July and August heat and humidity of Lake Buena Vista, Florida may cause other health concerns for park visitors. Even without masks, the heat and humidity of Central Florida in July and August can be brutal and slow down even the healthiest of persons. Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke may be MAJOR decision for those with health issues.
The biggest decision to make will be if you believe the parks are going to be safe. Nobody really knows what this virus is doing or going to do. Right now, it looks like the warmer weather is slowing it down. That could change, like I said, nobody really knows. At the time of this post Osceola and Orange counties (Where Disney World is located) in Florida has had a total of 2,576 confirmed cases of Covid-19 which has resulted in 59 deaths. Once the parks start to open and tourists are coming into Florida from other parts of the country, it can be assumed that the number of cases will increase in these two counties.
Not only the medical aspect of safety. How is Disney going to handle those that refuse to wear the masks. You know that there will be some that do. How will Disney handle this and how will they handle those that confront the ones that are refusing to wear the masks. There have been many documented instances of violent encounters over mask wearing and social distancing throughout the country. When you add the stress of navigating a “new” Disney World and the heat and humidity of Central Florida in Summer, confrontations will be inevitable.
At this point it is actually personal preference on whether a trip to Disney World in Orlando is actually worth the price. I do believe that Disney should be making some compensation to those guest that are actually visiting the parks when they reopen. Paying full-price for less than half the experience seems a little outrageous to me, but I guess it all depends on what someone would consider value.
Disney World announced today and released plans to Orange County’s economic recovery task force regarding the reopening of all four Disney Theme Parks.
In this presentation, Disney announced that Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom would be reopening on July 11. Epcot and Hollywood Studios will follow a couple of days later on July 15. Parks will be at a very limited capacity and you will need to have reservations along with your park tickets to enter any of the theme parks. As with Disney Springs, temperature monitoring will take place and anyone with a temperature above 100.4° and their party will not be allowed to enter the gates. Disney also introduced signage that will be installed within the parks to promote hand washing and social distancing. They also will be promoting non-contact payment methods such as the MyDisney app or MagicBands but did not say if they will totally prohibit cash transactions.
As of right now, Disney has not mentioned how they will distribute the reservations for entrance into the theme parks. I also hope that they will be making a statement regarding how the FastPass+ system will work during the opening and if they will be using Virtual Queues as with “Rise of the Resistance” in Hollywood Studio. Also, I am assuming that the Water Parks will remained closed for the time being… When would they reopen.
There are still so many questions that need to be answered by Disney, but at least at this point, we have a date in which the parks will officially reopen to the public.
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